SLN, SLA reject requests to fish, resettle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 October 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and Navy Tuesday refused to open the main road along the peninsula’s southeastern coast, refused to allow free access to the lagoon within the limits of the Jaffna town and rejected a request by an MP to relocate defence positions at the Tellipalai Junction to facilitate refugee resettlement.
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WFP denies report as more spoilt rice arrives

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 October 2002, 14:55 GMT]
As the World Food Program (WFP) this week denied a TamilNet report of October 8 that rice the UN agency had supplied and the Trincomalee Multi-Purpose Cooperative Society (MPCS) says it is being forced to distribute is unfit for consumption, reports from the eastern port town said further supplies of spoilt rice, infected with insects and weevils, had arrived this week.
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Left PA government because Kumaratunga was bent on war - Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 October 2002, 17:10 GMT]
“Prof. G.L Pieris, Mr. S. B Dissanayaka and I left People’s Alliance government last year because President Chandrika Kumaratunga was bent on war and detested peace. We could have been ministers in the PA government until 2005. But had we remained in the PA regime for the full term of the Parliament elected in 2000, war would have continued in this country. It is in this context that we left the PA and helped form a new government. The war came to an end because of this government,” said Sri Lanka’s Minister for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, Mr. Mahinda Wijesekera.
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JVP leader to appear before Bribery Commission

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 October 2002, 16:11 GMT]
The parliamentary group leader of the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (Peoples Liberation Front-JVP) Mr.Wimal Weerawanse has been ordered to appear before the Bribery and Corruption Commission of Sri Lanka Monday. Commission officials are to question Mr.Wimal Weerawanse regarding the bank account maintained by the JVP, sources in Colombo said Sunday.
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Workers demonstrate against privatization

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 October 2002, 10:55 GMT]
Thousands of workers belonging to state and private sector establishments Thursday afternoon held a large demonstration for about an hour in front of the Fort Railway station in the heart of Colombo protesting against the United National Front government's (UNF's) privatization policy. They shouted slogans and carried placards condemning the wholesale sell out of the country's remaining resources to the transnational companies.
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Kanjirankuda inquiry in Tirukovil completed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2002, 19:13 GMT]
The three-member committee appointed to investigate the October 9 killings of eight Tamil civilians at Kanjirankuda completed its sittings at Thirukovil divisional secretariat auditorium today. The committee will have further two days of hearings at the Bandaranaike Memorial Hall in Colombo.


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Karuna, Thamilselvan in LTTE team for Thailand - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 October 2002, 01:41 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have finalised their negotiating team for the second round of direct talks between the movement and the Sri Lankan government scheduled to be held in Thailand next week, the Tamil Guardian newspaper reported this week.
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Norway delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 October 2002, 09:59 GMT]
A Norwegian delegation headed by Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen, visited the northern Jaffna peninsula Tuesday ahead of meetings in the Vanni with the Liberation Tigers scheduled for Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning.
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Committee begins Kanchirankuda probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 October 2002, 20:15 GMT]
The three-member committee of inquiry into the killings of eight Tamil civilians at Kanchirankuda began its sittings at Thirukovil divisional secretariat auditorium in southeast Ampara district Monday morning. Eight civilians were killed and at least 20 others were wounded when the Special Task Force (STF) opened fire on protestors.
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AG transfers PTA cases to special HC in Welikada jail

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 October 2002, 17:48 GMT]
The Attorney General has transferred about 150 cases filed in the Colombo High Court (HC) under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to a special court. The special High Court has been set up in Welikada jail to expedite the disposal of cases filed under the PTA.
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Norwegian government team meets Opposition leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 October 2002, 16:51 GMT]
The Norwegian government delegation Monday morning held wide ranging discussions with the Leader of the Opposition Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse regarding the second round of peace talks between the United National Front (UNF) government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) which is scheduled to commence on October 31 at Sattahip in Thailand. In the afternoon the Norwegian team met with the leader of government's peace delegation, Professor G.L. Peiris, ruling party sources said.


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Pulithevan spells out realities of a solution

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 18:13 GMT]
“Any solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka has to be based on the reality that we have an army, navy and police and an administrative and judicial system,” said S. Pulithevan, an official from the headquarters of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, addressing the second day sessions of the conference organised by the Arts and Culture Division of the LTTE in Jaffna Sunday.
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STF refuses to vacate homes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Five Tamil refugee families of Kittanki at Kalmunai in the southeastern Amparai district have appealed to the authorities to return their houses now being occupied by the Commandos of the Special Task Force. The STF earlier promised to leave these houses on 16 October. The STA now has gone back on its promise, said refugees in a complaint to the district parliamentarian.
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Sri Lanka Army recruits, eyes UN role

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 October 2002, 07:13 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s United National Front government is exploring plans to allow its armed forces to participate in United Nations peacekeeping missions, the Sunday Times newspaper reported this week. A new recruitment drive for the Army has also been launched.
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CTTU workshop on formulating Tamil medium education policy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 October 2002, 18:43 GMT]
The two-day residential workshop for Tamil educationists and teachers began Saturday in Colombo organised by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU), sponsored by the Education International (EI) and the Friedrch Ebert Stiftung (FES). At the end of the workshop, proposals for the development of Tamil medium education will be submitted to the government to incorporate in its national policy on general education, CTTU officials said.
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Evidence of dead witness read out in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 19:08 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Friday allowed an application in the Mylanthanai massacre case by the prosecution to read out the evidence of two witnesses given in the lower court to the Jury, as these witnesses could not attend court. One of the two witnesses Thavarajah Rajmohan is dead and the other witness Nallammah Nallasekaram has gone abroad and working in Kuwait.
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AG indicts five SLA soldiers in Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 17:30 GMT]
The Attorney General Friday filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against five Sri Lanka Army soldiers for murdering eight Tamil civilians, including a five year old child, in Mirusuvil in Jaffna district two years ago.
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‘Unmask political forces behind staged abduction’- Nehru

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 16:22 GMT]
The Amparai district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. A. Chandra Nehru asked the secretary to Sri Lanka’s Interior Ministry to take all possible steps unravel the mystery and identify the political forces behind the alleged ‘abduction’ of the Muslim youth who was found in his home Friday.


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Helgesen to visit Jaffna, Vanni, South

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 11:37 GMT]
A Norwegian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgesen will visit Sri Lanka next week and holding meetings with the government and the leadership of the Liberation Tigers. In a statement issued Friday, the Norwegian embassy in Colombo said the delegation would also meet President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Parliamentary opposition, international ceasefire monitors and representatives from the civil society and the business community.
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'Douglas Devananda not questioned over journalist’s murder' - RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 03:50 GMT]
The international media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) Friday slammed Police investigators inquiring into the murder of Jaffna journalist Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan for never questioning persons who might have been behind the murder. Gunmen suspected to be members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) murdered Nimalarajan at his residence on October 19 2000.
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