Women protest against new army sentry points in Trinco

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 December 2004, 04:42 GMT]
Hundreds of Tamil women in Trincomalee Thursday protested in front of the Trincomalee office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) demanding the removal of new sentry points established by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) following the violent incidents on 2 December in the east port town, sources said.
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Sri Lanka army permits hinder Kalmadu resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Refugee families that resettled in Kalmadu, 15 kilometres northwest of Vavuniya, said Thursday that rebuilding their lives is difficult because they have to obtain special permits from the Sri Lanka army for access to their fields. The village was destroyed in a Sri Lanka army operation in 1999. The villagers of Kalmadu lost all their belongings when they fled the war. They returned in late 2002, many months after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers.
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New SLA sentry points in Trincomalee violate CFA- Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 December 2004, 13:28 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Wednesday lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has established several sentry points in the Trincomalee town and its suburbs after December 2nd in violation of the Ceasefire Agreement signed by the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, SLMM sources said.
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SLA humiliates women in Jaffna- Ms Sithamparanathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2004, 12:13 GMT]
"Women in Jaffna suffer humiliation daily. Smartly dressed women are asked whether they belong to the Liberation Tigers and whether they received military training. Women, especially those with fair complexion, are sexually harassed, said Ms Padmini Sithamparanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian speaking during the voting at the Committee stage of Ministry of Social Welfare, parliamentary sources said.
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Jaffna SLA refuses access to garbage disposal site

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2004, 04:31 GMT]
The administration of the Jaffna Municipal Council (JM) is struggling to keep the city clean as the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission to use the dumping ground of the council located in the Sandilipay Divisional Secretariat division to dispose garbage collected within the municipal limit, JMC Commissioner Dr.S.Gunarasa said.
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VVT murder inquiry to commence in Point Pedro Courts

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 December 2004, 20:23 GMT]
The non-summary inquiry into the murder of two Tamil youths while playing soccer in Valvettithurai (VVT) Chidambara College grounds on November 19 is to commence on 8 December, Wednesday, in the Point Pedro Magistrate Court, legal sources said.


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Two nations theory is not new to Sri Lanka-TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2004, 14:08 GMT]
"Theory of two nations is not a new idea to Sri Lanka," said Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Saturday participating in the committee stage debate on the votes for Labour Relations and Foreign Employment in Parliament. He reminded the prophetic speech made by a Sinhala leader Dr.Colvin R.De Silva of Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) forty-eight years ago during the debate on the Sinhala only bill that "Do you want one nation with two languages or two nations with one language?" parliamentary sources said.
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Massive rise in Sri Lankan firepower amid peace

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 19:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s armed forces substantially expanded their offensive capability after the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers was signed in February 2002, a book published by a senior United States military analyst says. The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has doubled its manpower and acquired twenty new aircraft, while the Army (SLA) has tripled its tanks and doubled its artillery firepower.
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Police power to detain crime supects to be extended

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 18:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is to introduce an amendment to the Criminal Procedure Code (CPC) next week enabling the Police to detain suspects related to rape, murder and organized crime for seventy two hours in their custody since the time of arrest, Mr.John Seneviratne, Minister of Justice in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government told parliament Saturday, sources said.
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SLA suspends passes on loss of free fish

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 14:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in coastal area of Kachchai in Thenmaradchi division Thursday withdrew passes from four fishermen of the Kachchai village for not supplying free fish to the SLA camps daily, sources said. Fisherman have been regularly providing free fish provisions to SLA camps in a 'mafia' style extortion arrangement by the SLA, residents of the village said.


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Army imposes new restrictions in Vadamaradchchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2004, 14:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has ordered residents of Vadamaradchchi East, which comes under control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to get passes from the SLA military base located in Palaly to take generators to their villages from the government controlled areas, civil sources complained


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Norway promotes learning in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2004, 09:38 GMT]
The Norwegian Government has granted Rs. 11.1 million to purchase library books for 120 Cultural Centres in the island. Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar handed over the cheque to the Hon. Minister of Cultural Affaires and National Heritage Vijitha Herath Friday at the Ministry, according to a press release issued from the Royal Norwegian Embassy.
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Army, Police, LTTE meet in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 14:55 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Police and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Trincomalee district Thursday agreed at a discussion held in the presence of monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to take steps to diffuse tension in the east port town and its suburbs to restore normalcy. The discussion was held at the SLMM office in Trincomalee at the initiative of the SLMM, sources said.
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Vepankulam shooting, gross misuse of power- Judge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 08:53 GMT]
Vavuniya district Judge M Ilancheliyan issued orders on Monday to Sri Lanka Army Commander of Vanni region and to the 211st Division Commander to assist the Police investigations relating to the shooting at the Tamil Marty’s Day celebrations in Verpankulam , legal sources said. Use of T-56 type weapons to disperse crowds when the Emergency Regulations is not in force will be seen as ''gross misuse of power,'' the Judge said.
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Navy, Army chiefs meet Trincomalee civil, religious leaders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 08:45 GMT]
Rear Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Chief of Defence Staff and the Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy Tuesday morning met a group of religious dignitaries of all faiths and civil leaders representing all communities in Trincomalee town. Chief of Defence Staff said he and the SLA Commander had come to Trincomalee to review the current security situation in the east port town, which witnessed several violent incidents on Monday and to make necessary steps to bring normalcy. Religious and civil leaders expressed their opinions on how to bring normalcy in the troubled town.
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SLN, SLA chiefs arrive in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 15:34 GMT]
Rear Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and the Chief of Armed Forces and Major General Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are reported to have arrived in Trincomalee Monday evening to assess the security situation in the east port town on the instruction of the Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge following violent incidents that have taken place Monday, Colombo security sources said.


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Court delays Mirusuvil massacre inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 01:20 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case which was to resume Monday, 22 November, is to be delayed further with the murder of the High Court Judge Mr.Sarath Ambepitiya, legal sources said.


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TNA faults SLA for violence in Tamil districts

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2004, 15:53 GMT]
"Unwarranted interference by the armed forces in the lives of the Tamil civilian population in the North-East must be brought to an end," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group in a statement of national public importance tabled in Parliament Saturday in regard to several violent incidents that had taken place in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Vavuniya and in Trincomalee during Heroes Day week.
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Tamil Tigers will launch freedom struggle if peace talks are further delayed - LTTE leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2004, 12:39 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr Velupillai Pirapaharan, in his annual statement marking Heroes’ Day, cautioned the Sri Lanka government that his organisation would be compelled to launch the freedom struggle of the Tamil nation if peace talks were further delayed and the suffering of his people continued. In an urgent appeal the LTTE leader called upon the Government of Sri Lanka to resume the peace talks, without conditions, on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority as proposed by his organisation.
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LTTE Commanders speak on Pirapaharan's 50th

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2004, 05:06 GMT]
Senior Commanders of the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and Senior members of LTTE's Political Wing, sent congratulatory messages to the Leader of LTTE Velupillai Pirapaharan on reaching 50 years, France-based Tamil Television Network (TTN) reported.
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