AG to charge police officials for torturing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 August 2002, 20:49 GMT]
The Attorney General (AG) has taken steps to expedite filing indictments against police officers who face charges of torturing arrested suspects. Most of the tortured persons are Tamil youths and have been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). A special unit has been set up for this purpose with a senior state counsel Mr.Yasantha Kotegoda as its head, AG department sources said.
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Court seeks Chemmani report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 August 2002, 14:42 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to submit on November 26 a full report regarding the investigation into the mass graves at Chemmani. The court issued the directive when the case against six Sri Lanka Army suspects held in connection with the Chemmani graves was taken up for inquiry Tuesday.
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LTTE decides on delegation for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2002, 16:50 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have decided on the delegation they will be sending to the Norwegian facilitated peace talks in Thailand next month, a Tamil expatriate newspaper reported Tuesday. The LTTE will be sending a four person delegation led by the movement's chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham, to the 3-day negotiations scheduled to begin on September 16, LTTE sources told Tamil Guardian Monday. The paper also quoted LTTE officials as welcoming the Sri Lankan government's announcement Sunday that the ban on the movement would be lifted on September 6.
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Prime Minister briefs Archbishop on peace process

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 August 2002, 16:40 GMT]
The Archbishop of Colombo, Right Reverend Dr. Oswald Gomes, Tuesday urged Prime Minister Ranil Wickremasinghe to take forward the peace process and find a honourable solution to the ethnic conflict. The Archbishop made the plea when the Prime Minister met him Tuesday afternoon and briefed him on the present status of the Norwegian peace initiative.
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Announcement on lifting ban due soon

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 August 2002, 20:50 GMT]
The United National Front government said Saturday that official announcement on lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam will be out in a day or two. "The government has already decided to lift the ban on the LTTE if it would be an obstacle for having direct talks with that organisation to find a negotiated political solution to the present conflict. There is no change in that decision. The government is now in the process of making arrangements to issue an official announcement in this regard," said the Defence Minister Mr.Tilak Marapone.
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Govt. peace official holds talks with Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 August 2002, 21:01 GMT]
The Peace Secretariat Secretary, General Mr.Bernard Gunatillake, Friday held talks with the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The two-hour talks held with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan by the government peace official centred on various issues including the development of the north east province, government sources said.
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TNA meets Armitage

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 August 2002, 09:35 GMT]
"The United States of America should help the Tamils to find an alternate and just political solution to their longstanding problems while reiterating its stand against the division of the country," the delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told the visiting US Deputy Secretary of State Mr. Richard Armitage when it met the latter at the official residence of the US ambassador in Colombo Thursday evening.
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US Deputy Secretary of State visits Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 August 2002, 11:36 GMT]
The United States Deputy Secretary of State, Mr. Richard Armitage, visited Chavakachcheri Urban Council grounds Thursday morning accompanied by Sri Lanka’s Economic Reforms Minister Mr. Milinda Morogoda, Defence Ministry Secretary Mr. Austin Fernando, US Ambassador in Colombo Mr. Ashely Wills and the three heads of the armed forces. While touring the Chavakachcheri area, the visiting US diplomat said, "It reminds me of Vietnam where I served for six years. This shows the urgent need of finding a political solution to Sri Lanka's crisis."
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Nimalarajan murder suspects further remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 August 2002, 18:11 GMT]
The Jaffna acting Magistrate Tuesday allowed an application made by the Police seeking permission to send the 9 mm pistol and two spent bullets which had been recovered from the office of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) to Colombo for forensic examination and report. The Police recovered the pistol and bullets when they raided the EPDP office, August 9.
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Batticaloa SLA commander replaced

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 21:38 GMT]
Col. Rajitha de Silva will assume duties as the commander of the 23-3 Brigade of the Sri Lanka army in Batticaloa from Wednesday, replacing Lt. Col. V. L. R Anthoniz, sources in the eastern town said Tuesday.
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SLA hands over two schools in Tellipalai

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 20:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday (SLA) officially handed over Tellipalai Union College and ‘Thanthai Chelva’ Tamil School to the Department of Education in Jaffna district. The SLA allowed only students and teachers to enter buildings of these two schools.
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US Deputy Secretary to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 August 2002, 17:45 GMT]
A three-member defence team of the American Embassy in Colombo Monday arrived Jaffna to ensure security for the UA Deputy Secretary of State Mr. Richard Armitage who is scheduled to visit the peninsula Thursday. The US team flew into Palaly main SLA base Monday morning.
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SLAF crash in Dodangoda

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 August 2002, 18:07 GMT]
A Sri Lankan Air Force Y-8 flight crashed in a paddy field in Dodangoda 51 kilometres south of capital Colombo in the district of Kalutara District Thursday afternoon, military officials said.
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Opposition protests against UNF economic policy

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 August 2002, 22:11 GMT]
A protest campaign was held Monday afternoon at Lipton Square, in down town Colombo against the increase of cost of living and privatisation. A procession and rally in commemoration of 1953 'hartal' (general shut down) by leftist political parties was organised by the main opposition People's Alliance (PA) and its trade unions.
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Relatives of disappeared persons demonstrate in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 August 2002, 22:09 GMT]
Hundreds of relatives of the disappeared persons in Jaffna district Monday held a demonstration in front of the Jaffna district secretariat, demanding that Colombo investigate the fate of more than 600 youth who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1997-96. The demonstration was organised by the Missing Person's Guardian Association (MPGA).
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Soaring demand for flights to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 August 2002, 21:14 GMT]
More airlines are set to start flights to Jaffna while present operators intend to expand services to meet soaring demand for seats, the state-owned Daily News reported Saturday. Sri Lanka's only domestic airline in operation, Expo Aviation (Pvt) Ltd, servicing the Colombo-Jaffna route is doing brisk business with over 11,000 seats being sold within the last two months, the paper said.
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Mylanthanai massacre commemorated

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 August 2002, 00:08 GMT]
The tenth anniversary of the massacre by Sri Lankan troops of thirty nine men, women and children in the eastern village of Mylanthanai was marked Thursday by survivors who have been living in Kalmadu refugee camp. Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Army held a remembrance ceremony for the Army and Navy officers, whose deaths in a landmine attack on August 8, 1992, triggered the retaliatory massacre.
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Valaichchenai refugees starve without relief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 19:53 GMT]
More than four hundred families living at Valaichchenai refugee camp in the Batticaloa district undergo untold hardships in running their day-to-day lives, as they have not been provided with dry rations for the last two months.
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Stolen vehicles 'sold in north'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 August 2002, 17:52 GMT]
People in the north of Sri Lanka should be wary of buying vehicles which could be stolen in the south of the island, the Vavuniya Magistrate warned. "People in Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Jaffna, Vavuniya and Mannar should think twice before purchasing a vehicle from strangers, as a gang is operating in selling vehicles which have been stolen in the south," Mr.M.Illancheliyan, said at a murder inquest.
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NE District Unions in new Consortium

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 01:56 GMT]
A new organisation, the Consortium of North East Thrift and Credit Co-operative Societies Unions (TCCS) has been formed with its headquarters in Trincomalee. Eight district member unions of the NorthEast province which had been aligned with the Sri Lanka Federation of TCCS Ltd with its headquarters in Colombo became members of the TCCS.
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