SLA soldier dies at Thenmaradchi training ground

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 20:59 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army, Mr.Dingiri Bandage Pushpakumara,27, of Mahavilachchiya in the Anuradhapura district, Monday collapsed on the ground and died when he was participating in routine exercises at the 52-1 Brigade base in Nunavil in Chavakachcheri, the main town of Thenmaradchi in the Jaffna district, police said.
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Clashes in Vattamadu discussed at LTTE-Muslim meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:56 GMT]
A meeting was held Monday at the Thirukkovil divisional secretariat between the Tamil and Muslim representatives, attended by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lanka Army, to discuss the clashes that occurred in Vattamadu in the Amparai district between Muslim farmers and cattle ranchers, sources said.
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Sinhala,Tamil scholars explain joint festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:29 GMT]
“There is an unfortunate stereotyping of Tamils in the minds of the Singhalese and vice versa. This literary/cultural festival will enable artistes from both sides to discover developments over the last twenty years. This would foster an understanding where it matters”, said Prof. Sucharitha Gamlath, a distinguished and leading Sinhala scholar, addressing a press conference in downtown Colombo Monday on the Tamil/Sinhala cultural festival to be held in Sri Lanka’s capital this week.
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Balagalle is Sri Lanka's Defense Chief of Staff

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Monday assumed duties as the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) in Sri Lanka, the post that has remained vacant since June last year. Balagalle is the first serving SLA commander to hold the new office, defense ministry sources said.
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Police supervise SLA's checking of fishermen passes

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 15:30 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday commenced checking passes of the fisher folk of Munai village in the Point Pedro division under the direct supervision of the police, fisheries sources said
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Subsidy to Thenmaradchi farmers refused

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 04:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Department of Agrarian Services has refused to provide subsidies for seed paddy and fertilizer to farmers to cultivate paddy lands adjoining the high security zones in the Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district, as the Sri Lanka Army has not officially informed the department of its decision to release one fifth of the roughly five thousand acres of land in the HSZ, representatives of several farmers organizations said Monday.
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Salinity endangers Northwest Vanni farmland

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Vast tracks of farmlands in impoverished villages close to the northern and western coast of Vanni face imminent danger from ocean waters penetrating inland making the arable land unsuitable for cultivation. Civil Engineering staff in Kilinochchi involved in development planning say that although plans are available to convert the areas in northwest coast including Jaffna peninsula resistant to creeping salinity, they are awaiting financial resources to be earmarked for such activity as part of Northeast rehabilitation.
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Police to provide Munai fisher families protection from soldiers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 16:37 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police have started providing police protection to four fisher families of Munai area on complaints lodged by them at the police station that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army are likely to take revenge on them, human rights sources said.


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LTTE urged to bring upcountry parties together

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 12:26 GMT]
“The Liberation Tigers should help bring together the Up Country People’s front (UPF) and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). All the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka should be united”, said Mr. P. Chandrasekeran MP, Minister for Social Development, speaking to the press after meeting Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Tigers’ political division, for a briefing and discussion on the LTTE’s Interim Administration proposal Sunday.
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Batticaloa TULF tells ‘Sangaree’ to step down

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 11:33 GMT]
The Batticaloa branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front resolved Sunday that the party’s leader Mr. V. Anandasangaree MP should step down. “If he fails to do so the secretary general of the TULF should convene the central committee and take necessary measures to remove him from his position as the party leader”, states a resolution passed Sunday by this politically strategic branch in the east.
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Fishermen say threat from Munai SLA sentries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 04:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Pt. Pedro Sunday posted constables at three military sentries in Munai where fishermen have to surrender their special permits before setting out to sea, after several villagers complained Saturday night that soldiers had visited their homes looking for them.
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SLMM says ceasefire monitoring will continue

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Sri Lanka said Saturday that the President's letter asking the Norwegian Prime Minister to remove the SLMM head would not affect the SLMM monitoring activities in the island, the State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation reported in its evening news broadcast Saturday quoting the SLMM spokesperson Ms Agnes Bragadottir.


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Munai fisher folk march in protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 09:30 GMT]
Hundreds of fishermen and women from Munai carrying placards and shouting slogans against the Sri Lanka army marched into Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna Saturday. They handed over memoranda to local Parliamentarians, the Pt. Pedro Divisional Secretary and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission demanding the abolition of the military pass system and condemning the attack on men and women in the village of Munai last Wednesday.
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Police arrests fisherman in Munai SLA assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 17:05 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police Friday arrested a Tamil fisherman, Mr. Peter Maran, 23, in connection with an attack by the Sri Lanka Army and Navy personnel on him in the Munai area, in the Point Pedro division, Wednesday. Police recorded a statement from him that ran into five pages, fisheries sources said.
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Book on Charles Anthony Brigade released

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 10:59 GMT]
A Book on the ten-year history and achievements of Charles Antony Special Brigade of the LTTE "Nerupatru Neechalil Paththandukal" was released in an event held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall Thursday evening. The inaugural release of the book was earlier held in Vanni and the first introductory event was held later in Jaffna, sources said.


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SLA stand scuttles Munai peace meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 19:01 GMT]
A meeting convened by the National Human Rights Commission in Jaffna to amicably resolve the row between Sri Lanka army (SLA) and fishermen in Munai in Pt. Pedro ended inconclusively after the SLA insisted that it had nothing to do with the damages suffered by villagers during Wednesday’s incidents.
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MP slams criminal outfit for Kinniya troubles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 12:20 GMT]
Police declared indefinite curfew in Kinniya, south of Trincomalee, Thursday after Muslim mobs attacked the homes of two Parliamentarians in the area and abducted six Tamils. Police said the mobs, inflamed when Sri Lanka army units rescued the abducted Tamil civilians, stoned the troops. “This is the work of a criminal outfit that is trying to create a big Tamil Muslim clash for narrow political gain”, charged Mr. M. A. M (Sinna) Mahroof, UNP MP for Trincomalee whose house in Kinniya was attacked and completely ransacked.
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Soldiers scuttled boats, allege Munai fishermen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 03:01 GMT]
Fishermen in Munai alleged Thursday that Sri Lanka army troops in the area had scuttled five boats and cut the moorings of another two in retaliation to Wednesday’s incidents in this coastal village on the outskirts of Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna. Latest reports said that SLA has prevented injured persons from being taken to hospital.
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Fisheries project abandoned due to SLA's condition

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 16:47 GMT]
Fishermen of Vadamaradchi north Wednesday abandoned their attempt to deepen the fisheries landing point at Inbaruty due to the continued imposition by the the Sri Lanka Army of new conditions that frustrate work on the project, fisheries sources said.
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SLA assaults Jaffna fishermen, 20 injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 14:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka army soldiers assaulted and injured twenty civilians, eight seriously, including two students, in Munai, a coastal village on the outskirts of Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna Wednesday afternoon. Troops were poured into the area following tension between army sentries on the beach and crowds of fisher folk over SLA sentries assaulting a young fishermen who sought permission to return home before the time stipulated by the SLA for beaching boats in Munai.
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