Parties flock to contest Vanni seats

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 August 2000, 04:14 GMT]
Twelve political parties and independent groups are to field nominations in the Vanni Electoral District in the forthcoming elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament scheduled to be held on 10th of October.
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Sri Lanka extends Emergency Regulations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 August 2000, 12:50 GMT]
Sri Lankan parliament extended the Emergency Regulations for further one month on Wednesday. 117 MPs of the 225 member-parliament voted in favour of the extension and 7 voted against. The main opposition, United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians abstained from voting.
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Numbers game worries PA

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2000, 18:24 GMT]
A government MP joined the opposition Monday in protest against the new constitution bill. Mr.Dixon J. Perera MP said that he is leaving the government because he believes that the bill will harm the nation. Meanwhile, Mr. P.P Devaraj of the Ceylon Workers Congress spoke critically of the bill in Parliament today, giving rise to speculation that he too might vote against it despite his party's pledge to support the government. Dharmalingam Sidarthan, the leader of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) told the Parliament that his group finds major aspects of the new constitution bill totally unacceptable.
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Tamil parties say autonomy bill disappointing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 August 2000, 10:44 GMT]
Tamil parties Wednesday reacted with thinly veiled disappoinment and chagrin to the government's decision to table in the Sri Lankan Parliament tomorrow the constitutional reform proposals agreed upon last month by the ruling People's Alliance and the main opposition United National Party which falls much short of their basic expectations about autonomy. "The reform package to be presented tomorrow aims to make the country exclusively Buddhist. We have already objected to three fundamental aspects of this package" said TULF MP for Batticaloa Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham. The leaders of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) said categorically they will reject this 'package'.
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PA to contest in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 July 2000, 14:08 GMT]
The ruling People's Alliance will contest the elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament in Jaffna, the secretary of the Jaffna branch of the Sri Lanka Freedom's Party, Mr.S.Thevakulanayakam told TamilNet Monday. The Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP) is the main constituent and convener of the People's Alliance. "The SLFP's Jaffna district branch has resolved that the PA shall not align with any other party or group for the elections" he said. Mr.Velmurugu Thangaraja will be the SLFP's chief candidate for Jaffna according to Thevakulanayakam.
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'Autonomy package' - Much ado about nothing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 July 2000, 20:48 GMT]
"If Prabhaharan had not pulled out of talks with the UNP government in 1990 and with the PA in 1995, he too would have been doing this futile political jig in Colombo, going from pillar to post like us in search of the political solution" said the leader of an ex-Tamil militant group reacting to Sri Lanka's main opposition party's decision announced Tuesday that it will not support the constitutional reform package in Parliament.
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Numbers game bodes ill for package

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 July 2000, 23:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge told the Tamil parties she met Friday for discussions on constitutional reforms aimed at resolving the ethnic conflict in the island that she will try to persuade the main opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), to consider their demands. If the UNP's response is not positive she would try to arrange a tripartite meeting between the government, the Tamil parties and the UNP to further discuss the points of disagreement the President told Tamil politicians who met her Friday afternoon.
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TELO, EPRLF reject PA-UNP proposals totally

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 July 2000, 14:03 GMT]
Mr.Suresh Premachandran, the leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), and Mr.Sri Kantha, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) told Peter Westmacott, Deputy Secretary, British Foreign Office that they totally reject the constitutional reform proposals to solve the ethnic conflict agreed upon by the Sri Lankan government and the United National Party when they met the British official Friday afternoon along with representatives of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC).
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PLOTE, EPDP dissatisfied with PA-UNP plan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 July 2000, 15:23 GMT]
The People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) that met representatives of the Sri Lankan government Wednesday said that they could not accept the referendum to determine the continuation of the northeastern province as one unit and the powers relating to state land in the constitutional reform proposals agreed upon by the People's Alliance and the United National Party. The President was not present at the meeting Sri Lankan government sources said.
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Indian FM meets minority parties

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 June 2000, 12:00 GMT]
The Indian Foreign Minister Mr.Jaswant Singh held separate meetings with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a group comprising representatives of three hill country Tamil parties and five ex-Tamil militant groups at India House, the official residence of the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Monday Afternoon. The brief discussions mainly centered around India's role as a mediator, devolution, the plight of civilians in the war zone and the need for a ceasefire. Mr. Singh reaffirmed India's stand on the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka to the Tamil and Muslim delegations during his discussions with the minority parties this afternoon.
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All party backing sought for war

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2000, 16:56 GMT]
"The government doesn't intend stopping the war. The Tigers wont be allowed to advance any further in Jaffna" said Sri Lankan President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga addressing an all party meeting convened today to discuss the military crisis in the north. A proposal that all parties should unanimously resolve to defeat the Liberation Tigers was objected to by the Tamil United Liberation Front although the President was in agreement with this suggestion of the Mahajana Eksath Peramuna and the Sinhala Mahasammata Bhoomiputra party.
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EPDP member killed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 May 2000, 16:49 GMT]
A member of the Valikamam South Pradeshiya Sabha (PS), Santhanam Kandeepan,30, representing the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EDPD) was shot dead by unidentified youth in Jaffna around 12.30 p.m. today said sources.
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President briefs PLOTE, EPDP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 May 2000, 18:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan President briefed the leaders of the People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) this evening about the war situation in Jaffna and the state of the talks between the government and the opposition on reaching a consensus on the constitutional reform package. She told them she hopes for a lot of assistance from India to deal with the crisis in the north.
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Bill defeat - UNP wants Govt. out

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 April 2000, 14:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition, the United National Party, boycotted Parliament this afternoon to protest against the government's refusal to step down over the defeat of a bill to dissolve the Paddy Marketing Board, a money losing public enterprise. According to the UNP, the Sri Lankan President who is also the Minister for Finance had stated in her budget speech on February 14 that the Paddy Marketing Board would be dissolved by her government. Therefore the defeat of the bill to scrap the PMB is in effect the defeat of the Statement of Government Policy argued the UNP.
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Tamil journalist's home attacked

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 April 2000, 05:42 GMT]
A grenade was lobbed at the house of senior Tamil journalist 'Nellai' G. Nadesan in the early hours of the morning today around 1 a.m. in the high security zone of Batticaloa town. Mr.Nadesan is a senior correspondent in the eastern town for several electronic media and political columnist for the Sunday edition of the Tamil daily, Virakesari . His home is in the high security zone of the Sri Lanka army's 233 brigade headquarters and is in the vicinity of the well defended camps of four Tamil para-military groups and the military intelligence in the heart of Batticaloa town.
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Grenade attack in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 March 2000, 09:11 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers threw a grenade at a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry post at Aariyakulam junction in the high security zone of the Jaffna town around 9.30 a.m. today. No damages were caused by the explosion, SLA sources said.
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News in Brief:

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 March 2000, 20:26 GMT]
Two policemen, including an officer, were wounded in a grenade attack in Trincomalee, SLA search operation in Vavuniya, EPDP member flees party in Jaffna.
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Grenade attack at Pt.Pedro EPDP office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 March 2000, 19:11 GMT]
The office cum camp of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in Pt.Pedro was attacked with grenades tonight around 8.15 p.m, said sources in the area.
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SLA officer escapes suicide attack

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 March 2000, 07:42 GMT]
22-1 Brigade Commander, Colonel Piyal Abeyasekara, escaped with minor injuries in a suicide attack by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the heart of Trincomalee town around 10.45 a.m. this morning. One SLA soldier was killed and two others were wounded in the attack security sources said.
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JMC member killed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 March 2000, 08:31 GMT]
Unidentified youth shot and killed a member of the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC), representing the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna Town, around 12.25 p.m. today.
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