Hartal to protest journalist's slaying

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 October 2000, 19:56 GMT]
A hartal was observed on Friday in Batticaloa, Trincomalee and Vavuniya to protest against the killing of Jaffna based journalist Mylvaganam Nimalanathan allegedly by pro-government militiamen. Shops and schools were closed and few reported for work in government offices, sources said.
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Several said missing after massacre

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 October 2000, 00:36 GMT]
(News Feature) Four more Tamil detainees who were seriously wounded in Wednesday's massacre at the Bindunuwewa detention centre have succumbed to their injuries bringing the death toll to twenty-nine, Joseph Pararajasingham, an MP for the Batticaloa district said. Twenty Tamil detainees amongst those held at the detention centre remained unaccounted for Wednesday night, sources said.
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Journalists protest colleague's slaying

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2000, 14:37 GMT]
Over six hundred Sri Lankan journalists protested Wednesday against the brutal slaying of Jaffna based reporter Mylvaganam Nimalarajan allegedly by pro-government militiamen. The picket, conducted by the Free Media Movement, Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance and other media institutions in Colombo took place opposite Fort Railway Station for about one and a half hours commencing from 12 noon. Meanwhile, other correspondents say they have been threatened in the wake of the killing.
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25 killed in detention centre massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 October 2000, 08:46 GMT]
Twenty-five Tamil detainees were massacred and sixteen others were seriously wounded Wednesday when hundreds of villagers attacked the Bindunuwewa detention centre, in the Bandarawela district, about 65 km. south of Kandy, police said.
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10000 more required to fight war - Lt.Gen.Balagalle

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 October 2000, 16:54 GMT]
"We need at least ten thousand extra troops to continue the war against the Liberation Tigers at this rate" said Sri Lanka army commander Lt.Gen. Lionel Balagalle Monday addressing a press conference at the army headquarters in Colombo. An island-wide recruitment drive for the army will begin from Wednesday 25 October and will continue for a month according to the commander.
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Thousands mourn slain Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 October 2000, 14:09 GMT]
More than four thousand mourners took part in the funeral of the slain Tamil journalist Nimalrajan Saturday as he was laid to rest in the cemetery of the church of Konjanji Maatha this afternoon in Jaffna town around 3.30 p.m. Posters condemning his killing came up in many parts the peninsula. Black flags were also flown in the town. Meanwhile, in Colombo, the opposition Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) charged that the EPDP was behind the Nimalrajan's killing.
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SLA disarms TELO "in revenge"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 13:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troops Thursday raided the camps of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) in Mannar town and Vavuniya around 4 p.m. and seized more than 90 assault rifles from them. Prasanna, a TELO leader in Colombo, told TamilNet that the government is taking revenge on his organisation "for refusing to compromise the national interests of the Tamil people".
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Bomb explodes in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 October 2000, 04:50 GMT]
Twenty three persons, including three American women and three Policemen, were wounded in a suicide bomb explosion near the Viharamaha Devi Park in Colombo around 10.10 a.m Thursday morning police said.
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Ex-SLA spokesman elected deputy speaker

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 October 2000, 11:41 GMT]
Members of the Sri Lanka cabinet will take their oaths at 9.a.m Thursday at the Presidential secretariat in Colombo. The portfolios, however, are yet to be announced. Mr. Anura Bandaranaike's name was proposed by Prime Minister Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka and was seconded by opposition leader Mr.Ranil Wickremesinghe when the new Parliament met Wednesday. Former Sri Lanka Army spokesman Maj.Gen.(ret) Sarath Munasingha was elected the deputy speaker of the house.
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Re-deployed deserter shoots himself

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 October 2000, 17:08 GMT]
A Sri Lanka army deserter who was arrested and sent to the front in Jaffna shot and killed himself Monday Police told a judge in the northern town Tuesday. The soldier, identified as H.P.S Mathusampa, was arrested in Colombo during a search operation for deserters in the city and had been posted two days ago to the Forward Defence Line in Irupaalai in the Kopay sector, north-east of Jaffna.
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Sinhala nationalists squabble and split

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 October 2000, 13:15 GMT]
Sihala Urumaya, the hardline Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, split Monday over who should represent it in the Sri Lankan Parliament. The President of the party Mr.S.L.Gunasekera told a press conference in Colombo Monday that he and seven members of the Sihala Urumaya's central committee had walked out in protest Sunday from a meeting that had been convened to select one of its senior members as the national list MP of the party. The Sihala Urumaya got only one seat in the Parliament on account of the total number of votes it polled island wide at the general elections on October 10.
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Jaffna SLA Civil Affairs Office to go

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 October 2000, 17:58 GMT]
The functions of the Sri Lanka army's civil affairs office in Jaffna will be transferred to the District Secretariat, government officials in the north said. The SLA's civil affairs office was in charge of controlling the passage of civilians from Jaffna. The change was due to a political decision sources said.
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SLMC gets bargain, internecine clash in east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 October 2000, 12:50 GMT]
The Police announced and unofficial curfew in the Muslim town of Oddamavadi,35 kilometres north of Batticaloa, from 8 p.m. Saturday and called in the army to keep the peace following a rampage by supporters of National Unity Alliance (NUA) MP, Mohideen Abdul Carder, against persons who had worked for Mr.M.L.A.M Hisbullah, former Deputy Minister for Posts and a senior leader of the SLMC. (NUA is the multi-ethnic front of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress) Meanwhile, in Colombo, the 'co-leader' of the SLMC, Rauf Hakeem, said that his party will have two cabinet portfolios and four deputy ministries in the new government.
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Wickramanayaka PM, UNP to sit in opposition

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2000, 08:41 GMT]
People's Alliance sources said that the Mr.Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka will be sworn in as the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka at three p.m. Friday. They said that the PA is confident of obtaining the support of the majority of MPs in Parliament to form the government. Meanwhile, the leader of the United National Party Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe told a press conference in Colombo Friday noon that his party would sit in the opposition.
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Police detain Gen.Ratwatte's son over shooting

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 October 2000, 08:39 GMT]
Lohan Ratwatte, the son of former Deputy Minister for Defence, General Anuruddha Ratwatte was taken into custody Friday morning by the Police in Kandy and was brought to Colombo for interrogation over his alleged involvement in election violence and shooting. Meanwhile the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress said that it will urge the government to take strong action against PA politicians who indulged in rigging and violence in the Kandyelectoral district.
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SLMC crucial for PA forming government

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 October 2000, 17:00 GMT]
The People's Alliance and its minority allies, the Eelam People's Democratic Front and the National Unity Alliance, together have obtained enough seats to form the government in Sri Lanka. However, the decision of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress will be crucial for the PA in forming the government this week. Six SLMC candidates, four who contested on the PA list and two on the NUA list, have been elected.
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PA accused of rigging, thuggery in hills

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 09:23 GMT]
Independent polls observers reported widespread rigging by thugs and armed persons working for two powerful People's Alliance (PA) politicians in several parts of central province Tuesday morning. The United National Party charged that armed PA groups had blocked its polling agents from reaching their polling centres in Hanguranketha in the electoral district of Nuwara Eliya.
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Sirimavo Bandaranaike dies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2000, 06:20 GMT]
World's first elected woman prime minister Mrs.Sirimavo Bandaranaike,84 died Tuesday morning around 10.30 a.m. while she was returning to Colombo after casting her vote at her home constituency of Attanagalle.
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No franchise for Mullaithivu Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 21:10 GMT]
None of the Tamil voters in the Mullaithivu district will be able to vote in elections to Sri Lanka's eleventh Parliament Tuesday 10 October. They have been precluded from the polls due to a decision by the Sri Lankan government not to have any polling booths in the district except one for 996 Sinhalese in Ibbanweva, a state backed settlement in the southern corner of Mullaithivu. "This is tantamount to denying them the exercise of their sovereignty as Sri Lankan citizens through the franchise or, in real terms, disfranchising them" said a political analyst in Colombo Monday asked to comment on the Mullaithivu situation.
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NUA Batticaloa list challenge dismissed

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 October 2000, 15:44 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Court of Appeal Monday dismissed an application challenging the National Unity Alliance (NUA) nomination for the Batticaloa district. The Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) candidate, Mr.N.Indrakumar, filed a writ application requesting the court to issue a Writ of Mandamus directing the Commissioner of Elections and the Returning Officer to reject the nomination paper of the NUA. Justice Asoka de Silva made this order upholding the preliminary objections raised by the counsel for the respondents.
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