JVP wants urgent Parliament debate on MoU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2002, 17:08 GMT]
The Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Saturday said that a memorandum with the signatures of forty parliamentarians has been submitted to the Speaker to summon the parliament immediately to discuss the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU)signed between the United National Front government and the Tamil Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on Friday.
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UNF rejects President's accusation on truce signing

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2002, 17:08 GMT]
The United National Front (UNF) government Saturday rejected the accusations made by the Presidential Secretariat on the cease-fire agreement signed between the government and the Liberation Tigers were entirely incorrect. The Presidential Secretariat Friday blamed the UNF government that it signed the Memorandum of Understanding without informing the Cabinet.
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General Ratwatte's sons surrender to CID

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 February 2002, 15:48 GMT]
The two sons of the former Deputy Defence Minister, General Ratwatte who had been absconding arrest since December last year in connection with the murder of ten Muslim youths at Udathalawinne in Kandy Saturday surrendered to the Criminal Investigation Department.
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International community hails permanent ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2002, 22:43 GMT]
The international community Friday welcomed the signing this week of a permanent ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lanka government. India, the United States, the United Kingdom and Japan released statements urging a negotiated settlement to Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict.
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Kumaratunga expresses 'shock and dismay' over truce signing

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2002, 19:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Chandrika Kumaratunga, expressed her "shock and dismay" at the government's hurried signing of a permanent ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers. In a statement released by the Presidential Secretariat, she lashed out at her arch-rival Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe for not seeking her prior approval, describing his entering into the truce as "an undemocratic act."
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Ranil visits A9 entry point to mark MoU signing

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 February 2002, 11:30 GMT]
(Photos) Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe visited the main entry point on the A9 highway to the LTTE held Vanni region Friday afternoon to mark the historic signing of the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on a permanent cease-fire between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo. The Prime Minister was accorded a reception at the last SLA point on the edge of the no man's land supervised by the ICRC.
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UNF govt to hold parliamentary debate on MoU

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2002, 12:02 GMT]
The United National Front government said Thursday that it is willing to conduct a full parliamentary debate on the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) between the government and the Liberation Tigers as soon as it is signed. "The MoU between the UNF government and the Liberation Tigers has not yet been finalised. The meeting of leaders of the political parties represented in the parliament would be summoned to fix the date for the debate, once the MoU came into force. The government is willing to hold a full debate on it if the opposition wanted," Mr.W.J.M.Loku Bandara, Leader of the House and Minister of Justice told parliament Thursday morning.
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Mullaitivu incident no obstruction to cease-fire agreement -Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 February 2002, 12:00 GMT]
Media spokesman and a senior minister of the United National Front Government Professor G.L.Peiris told a press conference this morning that clashes between the Sri Lanka Navy and the Liberation Tigers, Thursday morning would in no way obstruct the signing of the cease-fire agreement between the government and the LTTE. Defence Ministry sources in Colombo said a Sri Lanka Navy officer was killed in the clashes that took place off the northeastern coast of Mullaithivu. The clashes erupted when navy patrol boats intercepted a flotilla of LTTE boats. Sri Lanka Air Force jets were called in to assist the navy, the sources said.
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Gen. Ratwatte indicted in massacre case

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2002, 17:02 GMT]
The Attorney General Wednesday decided to indict the thirty-three suspects, including General Ratwatte in the Udathalawinne Murder case before a Trial at Bar inquiry. At a conference presided by the AG at his office Wednesday afternoon, it was decided to request the Chief Justice to nominate three High Court judges to the Trial at Bar inquiry, legal sources said. AG department sources said that this decision was taken to treat the Udathalawinne murder case as a special one.
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Gen. Ratwatte remanded till March 4

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 February 2002, 05:52 GMT]
The former Deputy Defense Minister General Anurudhha Ratwatte was remanded Wednesday by the Teldeniya Magistrate Ms Inoka Ranasinghe until March 4. The Magistrate made the order overruling several objections raised by a group of attorneys appeared on behalf of General Ratwatte.
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Former Defence Minister General Ratwatte arrested

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 February 2002, 19:37 GMT]
Former Defence Minister and presently Kandy district parliamentarian General Anurudhha Ratwatte was arrested Tuesday night by a team of Criminal Investigation Department ( CID ) officials at his Rajagiriya residence in Colombo. General Ratwatte was preparing himself to be hospitalized at the time of arrest, police sources said.
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JVP criticised for sabotaging peace efforts

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2002, 19:44 GMT]
The Colombo based Sinhalese weekly 'Hiru' has criticised the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) for its chauvinistic stance on the current peace initiatives by the United National Front government. "The JVP has violated all socialist norms by keeping silent on the political and economic rights of the Tamils in the Northeast province", the paper said in its political column Sunday.
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LTTE denies Maldives venue reports

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 February 2002, 16:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Sunday denied news reports in a popular Colombo-based Tamil daily that suggested that negotiations between the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE would be held in the Maldives on the 16th of April. Mr. Anton Balasingham, the LTTE’s chief negotiator and political advisor, when queried by TamilNet over the report in the Virakesari said that there is no truth to the story.
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A9 highway reopens

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 February 2002, 11:14 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka's main A9 highway, the target of an abortive and bloody 18-month Army offensive in the mid nineties was reopened Friday morning from Vavuniya up to Killinochchi, as part of ongoing efforts to de-escalate the conflict. The move provides greater access for people and supplies to the Liberation Tigers held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped an economic embargo for more than a decade. Goods were scheduled to flow into the area Friday, while seven hundred people waiting on either side of the former separating line had been cleared to cross. "Civilians would be allowed to travel to and from LTTE held Vanni region through these roads after their identities are checked and only five days a week between 8 am and 5 pm," authoritative sources told TamilNet.
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Tigers say ready to open A9 highway as scheduled

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 February 2002, 06:09 GMT]
In a statement issued in the Vanni Sunday, the political wing of the Liberation Tigers said that the A9 highway and the Uyilankulam road in Mannar would be opened on Friday 15 February. The two roads would be the only access arteries to the LTTE held Vanni region on which successive government in Colombo clamped a harsh economic embargo for more than a decade. The Vavuniya GA told TamilNet last week that the district secretariat was ready for opening the A9 on 15 February.
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Jaffna supply snag despite A9 euphoria

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:49 GMT]
The Pt. Pedro jetty in Jaffna will now operate till 10 p.m. Sri Lankan government officials in the north told TamilNet Sunday. The move would increase the quantum of supplies that can be unloaded from ships, they said. But shippers are reluctant to hire additional vessels to increase supplies to the peninsula as the A9, the main highway to Jaffna, is expected to reopen after the Liberation Tigers and Colombo sign the Memorandum of Understanding on a ceasefire, according to a senior official. An entry point on the highway for civilian traffic into the Vanni is scheduled to open on 15 February at Vilakkuvaiththa Kulam, 18 kilometres north of Vavuniya.
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CID to expedite Nimalarajan, Kumar murder investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:44 GMT]
The Attorney General (AG) has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police to expedite the investigations into the murders of Mr.Maylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna based Tamil journalist and Mr.Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, legal sources said. The Attorney General would shortly review the progress of the investigations so far conducted by the CID in this regard, the sources said.
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SLAF officers jailed for threatening journalist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 21:02 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Thursday found guilty two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) officers who had threatened to kill Mr.Iqbal Athas, Consultant Editor of the Sunday Times in 1998, and sentenced them to nine years rigorous imprisonment. Delivering his order the High Court Judge Mr.Sarath Ambepitiya said, "Media personnel have the freedom to criticise any member of any rank of the society. The accused had committed the offence to prevent the complainant from exposing corruption and malpractice of the Sri Lanka Air Force".
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Tamil festival for self-determination on 'pearl coast'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 February 2002, 19:28 GMT]
More than twenty thousand, including Muslims, thronged the seaside village of Mutharipputhurai in Mannar Thursday for the 'Tamil is our Being' (Thamil Engal Uyir) celebration. The organisers of the event made a declaration that the homeland of the Tamils and their right to determination should be recognised; that the Liberation Tigers should be accepted as the sole representatives of the Tamils and that the ban on the LTTE should be removed; that the Prevention of Terrorism Act should be repealed and all Tamil political prisoners held under this draconian law should be released.
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