Students of school inside navy camp protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 14:42 GMT]
Hundreds of students and parents Tuesday morning blocked roads in the island of Kayts in Jaffna to protest against Sri Lanka Navy defence positions around Velanai Duraisamy Central College. The protestors sat across roads at Saravanai Junction, Vankalavadi Junction and Velanai Bus Company Junction from early morning. The Duraisamy Central College is inside the SLN base in Velanai.
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Velanai committee begins inquiry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 13:26 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Committee of Inquiry tasked to investigate the assault on June 20 of two unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers’ political section, allegedly by naval personnel and Tamil paramilitaries, commenced its public sittings Tuesday morning at the Jaffna Secretariat. The committee has been appointed by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence at the behest of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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Legal aid plan for internally displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 July 2002, 20:53 GMT]
Over seven hundred thousand people are internally displaced in Sri Lanka as a result of the ethnic conflict and have been deprived of the rights and privileges enjoyed by other citizens, Mr. S. S. Wijeratne, Chairman of the Legal Aid Foundation of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) said in his key note address at the inaugural event of the Free Legal Aid clinic held Saturday morning in Trincomalee.
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Bank workers protest privatisation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 18:20 GMT]
Employees of Sri Lanka's largest banks Thursday launched a major campain against measures stipulated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to privatise the island's financial giants.
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SLMM head holds talks in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 July 2002, 18:30 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (retd) Major General Trond Furuhovde Wednesday evening arrived Trincomalee town by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter with LTTE's political division official Mr. Pulithevan from Batticaloa. A conference was held later in the evening at the auditorium of the provincial ministry of education at Orrs' Hill, Trincomalee.
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Students' protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 19:17 GMT]
More than twenty thousand Tamil and Muslim students Tuesday marched in protest against the continuing occupation of schools by the Sri Lankan army and the general discrimination they are subjected to by Colombo. The students handed over memorandums to the Vavuniya government agent, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the UNHCR and the UNICEF in the northern border town.
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Sri Lanka opposition exhorts rejection of cease-fire deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition parties and several Sinhala nationalist groups held a large public rally of more than five thousand in Colombo Tuesday, condemning peace negotiations between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government and the Liberation Tigers as a conspiracy to divide the island. The main speakers at the rally exhorted the Sinhala people to reject the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE.
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Pandemonium in parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 13:29 GMT]
The Speaker suspend the sittings of the Sri Lanka's parliament Tuesday morning when parliamentarians of the main opposition People's Alliance (PA) and the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) created an uproar by shouting slogans and carrying placards blaming the government for not issuing a statement regarding to the security situation in the Eastern province. At one state opposition MPs rushed forward and tried to seize the mace, but were thwarted by others.
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Village rejects SLA school offer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 04:55 GMT]
The people of Morakkoddanchenai, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Monday rejected an offer by the Sri Lanka army to construct a new building for the village children's education instead of vacating the local school under the terms of Colombo's cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year. The SLA has been occupying the Morakkoddanchenai Government Tamil Mixed School, public market, post office, library, village council, the local temple and scores of private homes in the heart of the village for more than 12 years.
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SLA permits visit to temple in Palaly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 02:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Monday permitted devotees to visit and clean the premises of the Sri Rajarajeswari Amman temple near the Palaly military airport. The temple is among more than hundred places of worship occupied by the SLA in Jaffna's Waligamam North division. More than 2000 residents who lived in the temple's neighbourhood were evacuated by the SLA in 1987 and 1990 for expanding the defence perimeter of the Palaly military base and airport.
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Police charge student demo in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:57 GMT]
Four students were wounded when riot Police baton charged a large demonstration in downtown Colombo Thursday against World Bank/IMF recommended privatisation of university education and the slashing of higher education subsidies in Sri Lanka.
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Ceasefire has reduced human rights violations - Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 11:15 GMT]
Ending a two-week visit to Sri Lanka, Amnesty International (AI) delegates welcomed the positive engagement and cooperation from both the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on issues of human rights and the peace process. "The current climate is one of pragmatic hope," Derek Evans, head of the delegation said. "The cease-fire agreement has made a significant impact in reducing human rights abuses in Sri Lanka."
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Dutch Ambassador, deputy meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 01:22 GMT]
The Netherlands Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Ms. Susan Blankhart met the head of the Liberation Tigers' political section, Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, Thursday, LTTE sources said. The Ambassador was accompanied by her deputy, Mr. Petrus Jan Kuperus, who is also head of the development co-operation section at the Colombo embassy. The two and a half hour discussion at the LTTE's political headquarters in Kilinochchi was described as "very cordial and constructive," by the sources.
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SLA fishing ban despite Colombo promise

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:28 GMT]
A Sri Lanka army imposed ban on fishing in the southeastern parts of the Jaffna lagoon has driven hundred and ninety fishing families to destitution, a spokesman for the Federation of Northern Province Fisheries Co-op Societies said Saturday. None of the families receive relief from the Sri Lankan government, the spokesman said. Colombo promised to remove restrictions on fishing in the northeast ninety days after signing the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year.
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Islamic extremists attack Mutur journalist's home

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
Armed persons said to be members of an extremist Islamic militant group attacked the home of Tamil journalist, Mr. P. Satsivanantham, in Mutur town Wednesday afternoon, causing considerable damage to equipment and property, Sri Lanka Police sources said. Hundreds of Tamils in Mutur sought refuge in the local Church as armed gangs of an Islamic group calling itself 'Osama Front' went on rampage through the eastern town Wednesday morning, attacking houses in the Tamil neighbourhoods of the eastern town.
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Ampara monitors say govt. apathy hampering work

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 June 2002, 21:10 GMT]
Sri Lankan security forces continue to occupy two hospitals, ten schools and five Hindu Temples in the Ampara district. Speaking at a discussion arranged by a local journalists' association, Mr. Svein Myklebust, acting head of the SLMM for the Ampara district, said seventy-four complaints of cease-fire violations in the region have been received so far, adding, "the number of complaints is not a reflection of the ground reality." Meanwhile, the two LTTE nominees of the Ampara SLMM told TamilNet Colombo's apathy regarding their status is seriously hindering them from carrying out their duties as cease-fire monitors.
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Monitoring chief to visit as SLMC urges calm

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:34 GMT]
The head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Trond Furuhovde is scheduled to visit Trincomalee by next week urgently to sort out two major complaints - including an attack on the Liberation Tigers' office in Mutur allegedly by Muslim militants - and some other matters pertaining to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, SLMM sources said. Sri Lanka's largest Muslim party, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), said "sinister elements" were seeking to forment communal strife and urged calm.
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Island attack said test for Colombo's bona fides

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 June 2002, 16:51 GMT]
Mr. Pulithevan, a senior official of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, told a conference attended by the Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, Major General Sarath Fonseka, Vice Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema of the Sri Lanka Navy, Mr. Kirthie Gajanayake, Deputy Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police and the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd) Trond Furuhovde in Jaffna Saturday that a full inquiry should be held on the attack on Mr. Semmanan, the head of the LTTE's political division for the islands off Jaffna, and that the culprits be brought to book if Colombo is serious about stabilizing the island's peace process.
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Colombo to recruit 1600 for STF

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 17:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister for Interior, Mr. John Amaratunga, told troops frontline in Mannar Thursday that his government will recruit 1600 to the Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of the island's military. Speaking among STF commandos and military trained Policemen manning forward defences on the border separating the Vanni region held by the Liberation Tigers at Kannatti, Mr. Amaratunga dismissed rumours that Colombo intends to downsize the elite counter insurgency force.
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Jaffna humanitarian agencies slam Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 June 2002, 16:17 GMT]
The Council of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) in Jaffna Thursday slammed the Sri Lankan government for ignoring the plight of thousands who want to resettle in their villages in the northern peninsula. "In Jaffna, restoring normalcy as promised in the cease-fire agreement means the resettlement of internally displaced people.
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