SLA pulls down Poopathy remembrance pandols

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 March 2002, 17:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Wednesday stripped decorations and pulled down wood and paper memorials in the Kiran and Santhively, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, that were put up to mark the 14th death anniversary of 'Annai' Poopathy, the woman who fasted unto death in April 1988 in a protest against atrocities by the Indian army in the island's northeastern province.
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JVP demonstrates against cease-fire agreement

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 March 2002, 23:07 GMT]
More than a one thousand Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) cadres and activists, including a large number of buddhist monks demonstrated Monday afternoon in Colombo protesting against the cease-fire agreement signed by the Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers.
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Court rejects Ratwattes' medical certificates

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 March 2002, 23:05 GMT]
The Teledeniya Magistrate Ms Inoka Ranasinghe Monday rejected special medical reports submitted on behalf of former Deputy Defence Minister Gen.Anuruddha Ratwatte and his sons Lohan and Chanukah in the Udathalawinne massacre case, stating that they were unable to attend courts due to ill health. The Magistrate further directed the Judicial Medical Officers of Colombo and Kandy and the Government Analyst to appear in courts at the next date.
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Batticaloa GA complains ceasefire violation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 March 2002, 21:43 GMT]
The Government Agent for Batticaloa, Mr. S.Shanmugam, told Scandinavian cease-fire Monitoring Mission Sunday that the Sri Lankan army is violating the terms of the agreement signed by Colombo and the Liberation Tigers in the eastern district. He said that the SLA is harassing civilians at Mylambaveli, 8 kilometres north of against the terms of the agreement and that it is still imposing undue restrictions on the supply of unregulated commodities.
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"Tamil teacher vacancies being filled by Sinhalese" -CTTU

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 March 2002, 15:52 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) Sunday blamed the Education Ministry for filling vacancies exist in Tamil medium schools in provinces ,except Northeast, in the country with Sinhalese teachers who have been found excess in Sinhala schools. "Ministry officials in Colombo are adopting this ruse to show the World Bank (WB) that no excess Sinhala teachers are employed in Sinhala schools," said Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the CTTU.
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Top US official meets PM

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2002, 19:43 GMT]
US Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs Christina Rocca Friday afternoon held a discussion with Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe at Palaly air force base, where Jaffna District's main army headquarters is situated.
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'Graduates' protest to destabilize govt' -UNF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 21:17 GMT]
About two thousand unemployed graduates and their parents demonstrated in front of Temple Trees, the Prime Minister's official residence, Wednesday night, demanding appointment within twenty hours. "If no action is taken to find employment for all thirty thousand unemployed graduates we would go on a hunger strike", organisers of the protest said. United National Front sources said that nationalist forces were behind the graduates' agitation with a view to destabilizing the government.
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US envoy's concern for children said hypocrisy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 March 2002, 20:12 GMT]
"More than hundred and fifty innocent Tamil children under five are being held in Sri Lankan prisons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Scores of little children were massacred when the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the Nagar Kovil School in Jaffna. Thousands of Tamil children whose parents were murdered in cold blood by the SLA are destitute orphans in the northeast today. The US ambassador's humanitarian concern was blind to the plight of these Tamil children until this week.
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LTTE denies accusations of truce violations

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 March 2002, 11:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Monday denied categorically the accusations levelled against the organisation that it is involved in activities that could jeopardise the permanent truce reached between the Sri Lankan government and itself and which came into effect on February 22.
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Grenade attack kills 5 at UNP meeting

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 March 2002, 06:59 GMT]
Five civilians were killed and at least twenty others were wounded in a grenade attack at the ruling United National Party (UNP) election meeting held at Kohuwala area, a suburb of Colombo, Friday night, police said.
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Restriction on Colombo Tamils lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The United National Front (UNF) government Friday decided to suspend immediately the practice of providing information about Tamil civilians residing in Colombo and its suburbs to the Police. Till Friday permanent residents and owners of boarding houses and lodges in Colombo had to furnish information about Tamil civilians who come from outstations, especially from the Northeast province and stay with them, to the police.
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SLA armoury on fire

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2002, 06:07 GMT]
Fire broke out in the armoury of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) at Kankesanthurai in the northern Jaffna peninsula 4.45 a.m, Friday morning, army sources in Colombo said.
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SLN personnel produced in disappearance case

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2002, 20:59 GMT]
Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officials in Colombo Thursday produced three Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel before the Trincomalee Additional Magistrate Mr.T.L.A Manaf for an identification parade, in connection with the alleged disappearance of a young Tamil fisherman, Vairamuthu Jeyakili of Salli in Trincomalee. Jeyakili and two others were arrested by SLN personnel near Pigeon Island, close to Nilaveli sea, on 5 March 2000 while they were fishing.
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LTTE leader compliments Norway for historic peace agreement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2002, 15:10 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Wednesday hailed the truce agreement between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers as a historical achievement that laid a strong foundation for the peace process and negotiated political settlement. The LTTE leader praised the Norwegian facilitators for their sincere and untiring effort to bring peace in the island when he met the head of the Norwegian monitoring mission, the retired Norwegian army general Trond Furuhovede in Killinochci, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday evening.
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Monitoring Mission Chief arrives Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 March 2002, 12:06 GMT]
The Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Retired Norwegian Army General Trond Furuhovde arrived in Colombo Saturday morning, accompanied by four other Norwegian monitors. Monitors from Finland and Sweden are also expected to arrive shortly, government sources said. The sixteen-member Monitoring Mission comprising officials from Nordic countries was set up according to the permanent cease-fire agreement signed between the Sri Lanka government and the Liberation Tigers last month.
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Isolation blamed for Kumaratunga’s CHOGM absence

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 March 2002, 18:11 GMT]
(News Feature) Increasing international isolation rather than government persecution of her supporters compelled Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga to abort her participation at the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this weekend, government sources said Friday. Dismissing the President’s accusations that the newly elected United National Front (UNF) was harassing supporters of her opposition People's Alliance (PA), the sources said Kumaratunga “was unable to face” the Commonwealth’s other leaders due to her opposition to the ceasefire accord between the government and the Tamil Tigers.
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SLA recruits, restructures for greater efficiency

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2002, 12:14 GMT]
(News feature) The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is at the cross roads today, warily eyeing the prospect of a long peace and the schemes of the modern technocrats of the new government who might be inclined, as the negotiations progress, to prune its lavish budget and compact it to its 'natural size'. But the United National Front has sought to allay the SLA's apprehensions by promising to help it achieve greater efficiency.
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Sihala Urumaya urges President to nullify MoU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2002, 20:18 GMT]
The Sihala Urumaya (SU), the hard-line Sinhala nationalist party, declared Tuesday that it would launch a campaign among the Sinhalese to urge President Chandrika Kumaratunga to use her executive powers to invalidate the cease-fire agreement between the United National Front government and the LTTE. Mr. Tilak Karunaratne, leader of the Sihala Urumaya (SU), addressing a press conference in Colombo Tuesday said that his party has decided to file a case on Thursday in the Court of Appeal seeking the nullification of the MoU and the cease-fire agreement as these, according to him have contravened the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
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Despondent paramilitaries mull arms surrender

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2002, 15:48 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army has given 48 hours to Tamil paramilitary groups operating in the Batticaloa district to disarm or join the military and serve outside the Northeast, the regional Tamil daily, Thinakathir reported Tuesday, quoting sources in SLA's 23-3 Brigade Headquarters in the eastern town.
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'PTA will not be repealed' -Prime Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 February 2002, 12:00 GMT]
"We cannot be too rigid in regard to the talks. We have to first bring the LTTE to the negotiating table. We should not put too many prohibitions, too many restrictions, and too many conditions that would prevent them from coming to the negotiating table.
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