Marxist women protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 January 2001, 16:12 GMT]
A mass protest against the rising cost of living in Sri Lanka was led Tuesday in downtown Colombo by the women's wing of the radical Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP - People's Liberation Front). Hundreds of women carrying placards and shouting slogans gathered in front of the city's main railway station in Fort, Colombo's bustling business hub from 4 p.m. this afternoon for the protest. The cost of living in the island shot up when the cash strapped Sri Lankan government devalued the rupee and hiked up fuel prices last month in addition to taxes and heavy borrowing to finance a massive war budget.
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President to meet Ministers, party officials

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 December 2000, 22:21 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunge will meet key government ministers and prominent members of the ruling People's Alliance (PA) tomorrow, 1st January 2001, to discuss possible responses to the unilateral declaration of ceasefire by the Liberation Tigers, said political sources in Colombo.
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Tamil parties appeal for ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 December 2000, 04:20 GMT]
"Sri Lankan government should respond favourably to the call by the Liberation Tigers for a ceasefire and, USA, Britain, India, members of the European Union and other countries interested in solving the conflict in Sri Lanka should exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to bring an end to the war," said a joint statement issued by a coalition of ten Tamil political parties after they met in Colombo yesterday. .
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No compensation for Palaly expansion

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 December 2000, 14:52 GMT]
Hundreds of families in Valikamam-north sector who had to vacate their houses when the Sri Lanka Army expanded its Palaly base in the Jaffna peninsula have not received compensations from the government, according to the Consortium of Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs) in the northern town.
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"Offensive against Tigers will continue" - P.M

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 14:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka, told reporters in Colombo Friday that military offensives against the Liberation Tigers will continue and that a response to the month long cease-fire declared by them unilaterally Thursday night could be considered only after President Kumaratunga returns to the island. Meanwhile the massive three pronged offensive launched Friday by the SLA barely 8 hours after the cease-fire offer by the Tigers faced fierce opposition south west of Madduvil but another prong from Nunavil has advanced close to the Kaithady bridge east of Jaffna town sources said.
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Aid ‘disconnect’ in Paris

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 December 2000, 03:27 GMT]
(News Feature) The ambiguity surrounding the outcome of the Sri Lanka Development Forum in Paris this week has been rapidly seized upon by Sri Lanka’s main opposition and (belatedly in response) by the government’s supporters, with confident assertions of failure or success respectively. However, with the meeting concluding sans the customary pledges of monetary assistance and the critical tone of the final statement from the Forum - with warnings of the need for “an utmost sense of urgency” from the government and “a sense of frustration amongst donors” - it is clear that things have not gone according to plan for President Chandrika Kumaratunge.
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ICRC vessel returns with unloaded medicine

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2000, 23:22 GMT]
Inclement weather in Point Pedro forced the vessel 'Jaya Gold', to abandon unloading a portion of 13 metric tones of medicines badly needed for use at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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Sinhala nationalists protest against talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 December 2000, 14:34 GMT]
The militant Sinhala Buddhist nationalist group, the National Movement Against Terrorism (NMAT), urged the Sri Lanka army to continue the war until the Liberation Tigers are defeated when they met the SLA commander Lt.Gen. Lionel Balagalle Wednesday and gave him a memorandum against peace talks to end the ethnic conflict in the island. The NMAT held a protest in downtown Colombo against peace talks Wednesday afternoon. Protesters burnt an effigy of LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan and poked fun at two persons dressed up as Norwegian peace emissary Eric Soleheim and British Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Peter Hain.
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US ambassador visits Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 16:32 GMT]
The US ambassador for Sri Lanka, Ashley Wills, held discussions Friday with the Government Agent (GA) for Vavuniya about the situation in the border town and about the conditions obtaining in the Vanni. Officials at the Vavuniya Kachcheri said that the US ambassador had keenly ascertained the ground realities in the region, particularly regarding food and medical supplies to the Vanni during his hour long meeting with the GA, K.Ganesh.
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Peace efforts at impasse - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 December 2000, 12:03 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's refusal to lift its economic embargo on Tamil areas not held by its military and Colombo's imposition of fresh conditions for negotiations threaten to stall Norwegian efforts to bring about a peaceful resolution of the island's protracted conflict, the London-based Tamil Guardian said this week. "The Sri Lankan government is well aware that adopting this position effectively creates an impasse," the paper said in the editorial column of its latest issue, which hit news stands Friday.
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Police tortured say young Jaffna women

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 December 2000, 17:20 GMT]
The Vavuniya High Court last Tuesday discharged two young girls from Jaffna charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), on the ground that the Police had obtained confessions from them under duress. Mariyathas Mary Sharmila,18, of Alvai north and Shanmugam Sharmila, 21, of Sivankoviladi, Madduvil south told the court that they were severely tortured by male Police personnel during their detention.
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JVP protests foreign involvement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 December 2000, 22:49 GMT]
Hundreds of people participated in a rally held in Sri Lanka's capital Colombo on Wednesday evening, protesting against the involvement of foreign countries in solving the island's protracted ethnic conflict and soaring cost of living. The rally was organised by the People's Liberation Front (JVP).
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Six TELO cadres arrested for murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 December 2000, 16:04 GMT]
The Batticaloa Additional District Judge on Tuesday remanded six members of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in connection with the murder of Parameswaran Yugendran, a security guard at Insurance Co-operation who was severely assaulted by the suspects on 26 October at Aaraiyampathi, about 8 km. south of Batticaloa. Yugendran died in Colombo Hospital after 45 days in coma.
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TELO cadre succumbs to injuries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 December 2000, 20:03 GMT]
Parameswaran Ugendran, a member of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), who was severely beaten by fellow members on October 26th Deepavali day, died at the Colombo National Hospital at 4 pm today due to injuries suffered in the attack, hospital sources said.
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Police discover hand bombs in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 December 2000, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police discovered and diffused four hand bombs hidden buried in an unused landsite in W De Silva Mawatte, Wellawatte today morning, sources in Colombo said.
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Northern plight - Jaffna MP carts in protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 14:44 GMT]
United National Party MP for Jaffna Mr.A.Maheswaran led a protest Wednesday against the high price of goods in Jaffna and the government embargo on essentials to the Vanni by riding a bullock cart to the Sri Lankan Parliament. Six UNP Parliamentarians, including Dr.Jayalath Jayawardena and Mahinda Samarasekera joined him in the protest. Mr. Maheswaran told TamilNet that he was protesting over the exorbitant rates charged for taking goods to Jaffna by sea, adding that it is very much cheaper to ship things from Pakistan to Sri Lanka than from Colombo to Jaffna.
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Blast kills 4

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 December 2000, 11:30 GMT]
A Sri Lankan policeman and three civilians were killed when a bus was hit by a mine at Sathurokkondan 5 km. North of Batticaloa around 1.15 p.m. Wednesday, police sources said. Twenty other passengers were also wounded in the incident. The bus was travelling behind a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) convoy to Polonnaruwa the sources said.
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Sri Lanka determined to continue war - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 December 2000, 22:38 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government's continued silence on Liberation Tigers' offer of unconditional peace talks last week cast doubt on Colombo's commitment to peacefully resolving the conflict, Anton Balasingham, the LTTE's theoretician and political advisor said Saturday. Sri Lanka's President Kumaratunge seemed determined to prosecute the war, he said in his Heroes' Day address in London. Nevertheless, the Liberation Tigers were seriously considering a Norwegian proposal for staggered and gradual de-escalation of the conflict, he said.
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Diplomats optimistic over Tiger peace call

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2000, 21:51 GMT]
(CORRECTION) Officials representing Norway and India met Monday evening with Mr.Karl Inderfurth, US State Secretary with his officials, Donald Camp and Gary Usery, at the residence of the US Ambassador Mr.Ashely Wills in Colombo, source said. Officials representing Sri Lanka's government, main opposition and a local Tamil party were also present.
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Seven killed in mine blast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 November 2000, 08:05 GMT]
Seven passengers were killed and 24 others were wounded when a bus in which they were travelling was hit by a land mine in the Anuradhapura district around 6.30 a.m. Tuesday, police sources said.
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