A5 reopens after seven years

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 July 2002, 06:55 GMT]
The forty-kilometre stretch of road on the A5 highway from Chenkaladi to Maha Oya which goes through territory controlled by the Liberation Tigers has been opened to the public after seven years. The opening ceremony was held near Karuththapalam Monday morning around 10.30, attended by senior LTTE officials and Sri Lanka Army officers.
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MoD says 'no case' amid public protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 01:18 GMT]
(News Feature) A Sri Lankan Defence Ministry inquiry into the assault of two senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers on June 20 ruled that "there was no evidence ... to establish a case against any individual or person," state media reported. The Defence Ministry statement was issued Wednesday, the day after a massive demonstration in Kilinochchi to protest the attack by Sri Lankan naval personnel and members of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) on the LTTE cadres.
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Four returning refugees drown

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 June 2002, 12:21 GMT]
Four Tamil refugees coming home from India drowned in the seas off Mannar on 23 May when the boat up to seventeen people were travelling in capsized in strong winds, press reports said. The dead included a five-month-old baby and her mother. Two other women also drowned.
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Tamil mine-clearers struggle without equipment, funds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2002, 18:20 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) The estimated 1.4 million pieces of live ammunition, including 86,700 anti-personnel mines, remaining in territory formerly controlled by the Sri Lanka Army are taking a long time to clear due to the lack of equipment and funding, according to the official in charge of clearing the unexploded ordnance.
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"Muslims will join LTTE's struggle" - SLMC organiser

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 May 2002, 19:48 GMT]
"The leader of the Liberation Tigers has recognised that the Muslims also have a right to this land. We, the Muslims, have a right to live on this soil. Therefore, we too shall join the struggle if the war starts again," said the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress's chief organiser for the Vavuniya district, Mr. Aariff, speaking at the May Day rally in Vavuniya Wednesday evening.
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Balasingham returns to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 March 2002, 10:22 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers' chief negotiator and political strategist, Mr. Anton Balasingham, returned to the Vanni Monday, arriving from the Maldives in a seaplane which landed on the Iranamadu irrigation tank in the LTTE controlled region. Accompanied by his wife, Adele, and an official from the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Mr. Balasingham was upon arriving met by the LTTE's leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, head of the movementís political section, Mr. Thamil Chelvan and senior LTTE military commanders.
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'I'll don the stripes if UNF peace fails' -Chandranehru

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 February 2002, 21:43 GMT]
"A river of blood will flow in this island if the United National Front government fails to make every effort to bring about peace. Why? Even I, Chandranehru, will wear the LTTE uniform and go to the battlefield. This is the last chance for Sri Lanka to solve the Tamil problem politically. The three communities of this country yearn for peace today.
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Vanni flooding misery continues without relief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 January 2002, 20:22 GMT]
(News Feature) The effects of heavy flooding two weeks ago in the Mullaitivu and Kilinocchi districts of the Vanni are still being felt across the regions, with roads rendered impassable, schools and settlements flooded out and residents suffering a lack of support from the government and Non Government Organisations (NGOs) based in the area, Tamil press reports this week said. Hundreds of thousands of people have been affected, with many being displaced from their homes and refugee camps as a result of the deluge. Vital supply routes have been cut, aid workers said.
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Tamils to shun next Parliament if no solution -TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2001, 18:13 GMT]
"No self respecting Tamil would enter the next parliament if a just and permanent solution is not found to the Tamil national question by this parliament," declared Mr. R. Sampanthan, MP, the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the 12th parliament Wednesday.
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Five SLA surrender over Muslims' massacre

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 December 2001, 18:36 GMT]
A Lieutenant and four soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were remanded by the Teldeniya Magistrate Monday in connection with the massacre of ten Muslim youths at Udawalathenne in Kandy district on 5 December, the day of the general elections. They surrendered at the official residence of the Magistrate through their lawyer and made statements about the killings. The Magistrate Mr. C. V. Rajapakse then ordered the suspects be remanded till 26 December. Meanwhile a high-powered team of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Police led by its Director Monday questioned the former Deputy Defense Minister General Anuruddha Ratwatte about the whereabouts of his two sons.
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Army controls pose acid test for UNP

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 December 2001, 16:50 GMT]
Thousands of farmers face ruin in the northern parts of Batticaloa because of Sri Lanka Army imposed restrictions on tractors, sources said. On 12 November the SLA banned farmers from taking their tractors to plough fields in the western hinterland of the eastern district. The ban was imposed on the eve of the ploughing period. More than 15, 000 acres couldn’t be tilled on time for sowing as a consequence. “Our problem is an acid test for the UNP government which says it will lift such unfair restrictions by the SLA which affect ordinary Tamils like us in the north and east. If the army comes up with its usual excuse that this is a security related matter, will the new government have the mettle and authority to determine the truth and let us carry on with our cultivation?” asked a senior member of the Agrarian Services Committee for Peruvelikandam, the body representing the interests of farmers in this region.
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Two EPDP in Jaffna, one PLOTE in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2001, 18:20 GMT]
The TNA got 102324 votes in Jaffna, 86284 in Batticaloa and 41959 in the Vanni electoral district, election officials said Thursday. It got more than forty four thousand votes in the Ampara (Digamadulla) district, according to votes counted so far. Only two EPDP MPs were elected in Jaffna with 57208 votes. The EPDP, a close ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s regime, was routed in all other districts of the north and east. Mr. Dharmalingam Sitharthan, the leader of the PLOTE, which came third in the Vanni with 9614 votes, was elected the sole MP from the group. The PLOTE too demands the lifting of Colombo’s ban on the Tigers and starting peace talks with them. The TNA lost the fourth seat in the Vanni by about 1200 votes, a spokesman for the Alliance said.
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TNA wins Jaffna, Vanni, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2001, 02:13 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) won in the Jaffna, Vanni and Batticaloa electoral districts, according to results announced until Thursday morning. It came second in the Trincomalee district. Election officials said, according to the votes counted so far TNA would get six seats in Jaffna, four in the Vanni and three in Batticaloa.
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EPDP on rampage in southeastern village

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 December 2001, 08:31 GMT]
Two Tamil National Alliance campaign offices were set on fire and three TNA supporters' houses were damaged by a group of heavily armed cadres of the Eelam People's Democratic Party, a major coalition partner of Sri Lanka's ruling People's Alliance regime, in Komari, about 96 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Sunday night, Police sources in Ampara said.
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4160 candidates contest parliamentary elections

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2001, 10:08 GMT]
4610 candidates are contesting the forthcoming general elections scheduled to be held on 5 December to elect Sri Lanka's 12th parliament. Of them 3196 candidates have been fielded by registered political parties in the twenty-two electoral districts in the country. The rest are candidates nominated by independent groups, the Election Secretariat said Sunday.
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UNP Muslims threaten to quit over 'SLMC deal'

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 October 2001, 18:18 GMT]
United National Party organisers in the Muslim dominated coastal electorates of the Ampara district Friday decided to contest as an independent group if their leadership in Colombo were to go ahead with its seat sharing arrangement with the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. “Under the agreement that our party appears to have tacitly reached the only Muslims candidates on the UNP list in the Ampara (Digamadulla) Electorate would be members of the SLMC. We fought against great odds at the last elections to keep the UNP flag flying in the Muslim electorates of the Ampara district. But now our party is ready to jettison us to accommodate the SLMC candidates on its list here,” one of the chief Muslim organisers of the UNP told Tamilnet in Kalmunai Friday.
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Kilinochchi rising from rubble

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 September 2001, 13:53 GMT]
The Kilinochchi St. Theresa’s Girls’ School will start functioning in its former premises in the northern town after a gap of four years when the third term begins next week, education officials in Vavuniya said. St. Theresa’s is one of the two schools in the town that escaped complete destruction during Sri Lankan security forces operations and bombing five years ago. Kilinochchi was abandoned when the Sri Lanka army captured this once bustling town in August 1996. The Tigers overran the base and recaptured Kilinochchi in September 1998. A program to gradually rebuild and resettle the destroyed town began early this year. A project to remove thousands of anti personnel mines and mine fields left behind by the SLA was launched by the White Dove Movement (WDM) after the garrison fell. More than 50000 APLM’s and explosive booby traps have been recovered by the WDM in the Kilinochchi town and its environs so far, western aid agency sources in the Vanni said.
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Two killed in Vavuniya FDL skirmishes

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 September 2001, 10:08 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka army soldiers were killed and three were wounded in attacks by the Liberation Tigers in the Forward Defence Localities north of Vavuniya Thursday and Friday, military sources in Vavuniya said. The SLA shelled a forward defence locality in Pampaimadu Thursday morning, having observed a group of Tigers in the area. Three soldiers were wounded when the Tigers ambushed an SLA unit that was sent to clear the locality subsequently.
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Referendum cancelled, Parliament meets on Sept. 6

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2001, 10:38 GMT]
President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge Monday issued proclamations cancelling the referendum fixed for October 18 and reconvening prorogued parliament on Thursday, a day earlier of the scheduled date. Meanwhile a top-level discussion is now in progress between the ruling People's Alliance and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna at the Prime Minister's official residence, government sources said.
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Marxists and Buddhist monks join for protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 August 2001, 18:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka's politically powerful Buddhist clergy aligned with the island's radical and 'moderate' Marxists Monday to demand that the Sri Lankan government should reconvene the Parliament and call off the proposed referendum on a referendum for a new constitution. The People's Centre for Democracy and the Freedom of the Country held a demonstration Monday around 2.30 p.m. at the Lipton Circus, a busy intersection in downtown Colombo. Thousands of protestors held placards and shouted slogans against the People's Alliance regime.
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