Diplomatic delegation meets Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 19:52 GMT]
An eight-member diplomatic delegation from Denmark, Greece and Italy held discussions with the Mr.Anton Balasingham, LTTE's chief negotiator, in Killinochchi, Wednesday. The diplomats expressed their fullest support to the current peace process and assured their readiness to provide funds for Northeast development and de-mining in the province, LTTE sources in Vanni said.
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Landmark SC judgment in PTA case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Supreme Court Wednesday set aside the conviction by a High Court and acquitted the accused in a Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) case. The three-member bench of the SC, which heard the appeal of the accused, held that "it is contrary to law to punish a person only on his confession without any corroborative evidence against him." The SC bench comprised Justices C.V.Vigneswaran, Mark Fernando and Ameer Ismail.
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Norwegians to meet Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 12:26 GMT]
A Norwegian delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgessen will meet the leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, in Vanni, next week, the Voice of Tigers Radio announced Wednesday, quoting Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief negotiator. Mr.Balasingham arrived in Vanni Tuesday from London.
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Medical officers give evidence in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 09:37 GMT]
"One year old Latha, a girl who was rushed to the Colombo general hospital in critical condition the day after the Mylanthanai massacre succumbed to cut and chop wounds caused by pointed weapons such as axe and knives on admission," said Dr.K.Niranjan, Assistant Judicial Medical Officer before the Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Tuesday.
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British MPs tour Jaffna, Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 04:52 GMT]
Progress in peace talks will largely determine if Britain will lift the ban on the LTTE or not, said Mr.Gareth Thomas, British Member of Parliament, Tuesday after visiting Jaffna and Vanni areas accompanied by Mr.Robert Evans, Member of European Parliament.
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Sinhala nationalists step up campaign against talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2002, 20:21 GMT]
The Sinhala Nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, People’s Liberation Front) vowed Tuesday to bring down Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe’s government and defeat its peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers. The JVP launched a campaign last week to convince Sinhalese that the peace process is a ruse to divide the island.
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Balasinghams arrive in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2002, 09:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr.Anton Balasingham, and his wife, Adele, arrived in Vanni around 10.15 a.m. Tuesday, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. Mr. Balasingham arrived by a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter from Colombo.
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Thirukkovil resentful, STF said concocting evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 13:02 GMT]
“The Special Task Force will pose a dire threat to our lives as long it remains in this region. There is no security now for farmers who have to pass the Kanjirankudah STF camp to cultivate their fields. The sole access to more than twelve thousand acres of our people’s fields is controlled by the STF which has no qualms about killing us like animals,” said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, the sole Tamil MP for the Amparai District, Monday.
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TNA calls for Tamil home guard

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:12 GMT]
The security of the Tamil people can no longer be left in the hands of Sinhala dominated Army and Police, the Trincomalee district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. R. Sampanthan, told Sri Lanka’s Interior Minister, Mr. John Amaratunge Sunday afternoon. Arguing “the security of Tamils should be entrusted to Tamil youths,” the TNA leader urged the Minister to take immediate steps to form home guards units comprising Tamils.
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Jayawardene orders MPCS to distribute spoilt rice

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2002, 19:51 GMT]
The management of the Trincomalee Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society is in a dilemma following instruction by the Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Minister Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene personally to distribute 950 bags of rice, which has been condemned as unfit for human consumption by the Government Agent and co-operative officials.
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TNA calls for Hartal in NE

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2002, 20:11 GMT]
Human rights lawyers, NGO activists and leaders of the Tamil National Alliance resolved in Colombo Monday evening to step up action on several fronts to persuade the Sri Lankan government to release Tamil political prisoners who have been languishing in the island’s jails for many years. Mr. N. Sri Kantha, speaking on behalf of the TNA after an urgent meeting convened Monday to discuss the fast deteriorating condition of the fasting prisoners, told Tamilnet that a general shut down all over the northeast would be called for on Friday 11 October.
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JVP denounces US action against Iraq

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2002, 14:25 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, the main Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, demonstrated Monday near the American Embassy in Colombo against US plans to attack Iraq. Police prevented the demonstrators from getting too close to the US Embassy premises. Sinhala and Muslim members of the JVP led by its MPs Mr. Bimal Ratnayaka, Ms. Anjaan Umma and Mr. Vijitha Herath carried placards and shouted slogans denouncing US actions against Iraq. The JVP has been closely linked to President Saddam Hussein’s Baath Socialist Party.
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SL Tamil refugees rescued at mid-sea

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 October 2002, 14:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Sunday rescued twelve members of three displaced families at midsea west of Mannar and handed them over to the Talaimannar police, sources said. They were returning from Rameswaram in South India after spending twelve years in a refugee camp there. They had left in a boat Saturday midnight on the promise that they would be given safe passage to Talaimannar in Sri Lanka. They paid three thousand rupees per head to Indian boatmen as hire. But the boatmen left them on a sandbank in mid-sea around early morning Sunday, sources said.
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NE observes 15th death anniversary of Pulendran and Kumarappa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 October 2002, 20:42 GMT]
The fifteen-death anniversary of senior commanders of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Lt. Colonel Pulendran and Lt. Colonel Kumarappa and ten other cadres was observed at several places in the northeast province Saturday. Remembrance meeting was held at the mausoleum at Theeruvil, Valvettithurai in Jaffna district where their bodies were buried and at LTTE political office in Trincomalee town.
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Women witnesses give evidence in Mylanthanai massacre case

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 October 2002, 20:21 GMT]
"About 50 Sri Lanka government troops entered our village with arms and started harassing the villagers. On seeing them I started running from my house towards jungle area. I fell on the ground. Some army personnel came to the spot and stabbed my hands with rifle bayonet. When I regained consciousness I saw 10 bodies of our villagers with gunshot and cut injuries," said Ms Sinnathurai Indrakala, 28, giving evidence before Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah, Friday, when Mylanthanai massacre case resumed in Colombo High Court.
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Chamber of Commerce to strengthen Trinco entrepreneurs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 October 2002, 20:29 GMT]
"The entrepreneurs in Trincomalee district suffered immensely for the last twenty years. Local industrialists were left to struggle on their own. Banks refused to give financial assistance. After the cease-fire agreement came into force for the first time in its 54 year old history, the National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka has come forward to assist the local entrepreneurs of the district," said Mr.K.Thurairajah, the newly elected President of Trincomalee District Chamber of Commerce, addressing the inaugural meeting.
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Mylanthanai massacre accused remanded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 October 2002, 18:00 GMT]
The inquiry into the Mylanthanai massacre case commenced before a Sinhala speaking Jury in the Colombo High Court Wednesday. In this case twenty-one Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have been indicted by the Attorney General on several counts including the murder of thirty-five Tamil civilians. The High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah ordered all the accused present in court be kept in remand till the trial is concluded.
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Action committee demands release of PTA suspects

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 October 2002, 18:47 GMT]
The Action Committee for the Immediate Release of all Political Prisoners (ACIRPP) Tuesday appealed to the Tamil National Alliance to announce its strategy on using its parliamentary strength to expedite the release of all political prisoners.
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New Tamil daily launched in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 October 2002, 14:52 GMT]
A new Tamil daily newspaper, Namathu Eelanadu, hit the stands in Jaffna Tuesday. With the arrival of Eelanadu, readers in the northern peninsula will have four daily papers to provide them news and views. The paper’s editor Mr. Sivasubramaniam Raguram, said that Eelanadu will be published on the web too. Jaffna has one of the oldest and richest regional newspaper publishing traditions in South Asia.
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Demonstrators seek free access to Valaichenai intersection

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 October 2002, 11:20 GMT]
More than a thousand protestors demanding the opening of the Valaichenai junction on the Batticaloa-Colombo highway Tuesday smashed road barriers and damaged a Police jeep when Sri Lankan security forces occupying the key intersection declined to accede to their request.
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