War shattered town seeks freedom to bury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 16:39 GMT]
Three years ago the people of Chavakachcheri saw their town being bombed and shelled into gnarled ruins and dusty rubble heaps. The guns have fallen silent and the fortunate few are keenly rebuilding. But the resettling residents of Chavakachcheri are also eager to enjoy their freedoms long circumscribed by the war – including the right to bury their dead in the town’s cemetery.
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SL Govt. servants at meeting on Pongu Thamil face SLA action

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 04:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government servants who participated at a meeting held last Sunday, August 17, in Vavuniya, in preparation for the Pongu Thamil celebrations in the city to be conducted on September 15, have been asked to provide an explanation for their attendance at the meeting by the Sri Lanka Army, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Jaffna undergrads study Potpathi villagers' problems

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 16:55 GMT]
A group of Jaffna university students and members of the International Student's Association of Tamil Eelam held a discussion Friday with the residents of Potpathi village in the Vadamarachchi east division in Jaffna district under the auspices of Jaffna University Students' Union (JUSU) regarding an attempt by the Sri Lanka Army to construct several camps and checkpoints surrounding the village, sources said.
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SLA restricts video, camera equipment inside Weber stadium

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 23-3rd brigade commander Brigadier Rajitha De Silva has barred public and journalists from taking camera and video equipment inside Weber sports stadium in Batticaloa, security sources in the east said. The Brigadier said that the order was issued due to the security sensitive nature of the location which falls within the High Security Zone (HSZ).


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Thenmaradchi fishermen want freedom to fish

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 19:42 GMT]
Fisheries co-operative society representatives of Kovilakandy Thursday told the Sri Lanka Army officials at a conference held at Navatkuli Sakalavalli Vidiyalayam that they would launch an agitation campaign if the SLA refused to remove the barbed wire fence in the Kaithady-Navatkuli south sea in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district, enabling them to do their fishing without any obstruction, civil group sources said.
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Thenmaradchi farmers ordered to obtain new IDs from SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:31 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Thursday said farmers who are allowed to do cultivation in the released paddy fields in the high security zone in Thenamaradchi division of the Jaffna district should obtain fresh military identity cards to enter their lands, and that the military identity cards already issued and national identity cards will not be accepted, sources said.
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SLA blocks resettlement within 600 m radius of Palaly HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 19:43 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has declared that the internally displaced families will not be allowed to resettle within a 600 meter radius of the Palaly high security zone in Jaffna district, and SLA authorities have asked those already resettled within 600 meters of the HSZ in Kuppilan north to vacate immediately from the area, civil groups in Jaffna said.
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Batticaloa Tamil journalist harassed by SLA - SLTMA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 05:54 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) Tuesday notified the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Batticaloa about the harassment and humiliation caused to Mr.T.Vethanayagam, a Batticaloa based Tamil journalist, by the Sri Lanka Army, and sought the SLMM's action to investigate into the complaint and prevent such harassment to journalists in future, sources said.
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SLA soldiers arrest LTTE activists at Muhamalai checkpoint

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 15:25 GMT]
Two political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.Kanthasamy Pugalmaran and Mr. Yogarajah Mayavan, were arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers at the Muhamalai checkpoint Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m and later handed over to the Kodikamam police, police said.
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University non-academic staff strike enters eighth day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 14:36 GMT]
The strike by approximately ten thousand members of the Inter University Trade Union Federation (ITUF) entered its eighth day Tuesday as the talks held with the University Grant Commission ( UGC ) representatives Monday failed to reach a consensus on their twenty-one demands. Activities in all universities in the island including the northeast have come to standstill due to the strike, ITUF sources said.
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Tamil medium teachers still receive Sinhala only letters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 20:53 GMT]
Tamil medium teachers and principals in Sri Lanka, especially in the northeast province where Tamil is the main medium in schools, are still undergoing untold hardships in transacting official business with the relevant departments as the central ministry of education and other related departments still correspond with them only in the Sinhalese language, the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU)'s General Secretary, Mr.T.Mahasivam, said.
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Thailand promises demining assistance to northeast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 18:41 GMT]
The Thailand ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr.Jerm Tivyanond, Saturday told the officials of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that his country is willing to assist in the de-mining programme in the northeast province, sources said.


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SLA, Police conduct search operations in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Sri Lanka Police officers searched general public and passengers in passing vehicles in Mulli, in Vadamaradchy district throughout Saturday, security sources in Jaffna said. Vehicles along the Point-Pedro Kodikamam road in Vadamaradchy also were stopped and searched, according to the same sources.
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SLA refuses permission for parents to enter Point Pedro schools

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 19:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday evening denied permission for parents and education officials to enter two leading schools in Jaffna, the Methodists Girls' High School and Hartley College in Point Pedro when they arrived at the army checkpoint near the institutions, parents and officials said.
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New Sinhala families settled in Nelukkulam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Even as thousands of internally displaced Tamil people are languishing in refugee camps, prevented by the Sri Lanka Army from resettling in their own homes, Sri Lankan government officials with the support of the SLA are actively engaged in recruiting new Sinhala families from the South to settle in lands abandoned by earlier Sinhala occupants in the traditional Tamil village of Nelukkulam in the Manalaru region in the Mullaitivu district, sources said.
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EPDP protests Batticaloa killing of its member

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:27 GMT]
The Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP)'s members Friday held a demonstration in Batticaloa town against the killing of their member Mr. Arasaretnam Ratheeskaran on Thursday afternoon. The protest campaign was called off Friday night around 9 p.m and the coffin with Ratheeskaran's body was removed from the premises of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's (SLMM's) Batticaloa office, police said.


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Thenmaradchi farmers riled by SLA's new restrictions

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 21:27 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday directed the farmers and agricultural workers in the Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district to produce new identity cards if they wanted to enter paddy lands that were released recently from the high security zones for rain-fed paddy cultivation this year. The directive will cause several hardships and delays to the farming community in cultivating their fields in time before the proper northeast monsoon rain starts, civil sources said.
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SLA distributes handbill to ‘advise’ Jaffna people

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 19:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday started distributing anonymous handbills in the Jaffna district, stating that the removal of military camps from civilian houses and government buildings would get delayed if the people held demonstrations against relocating camps in abandoned state lands, civil sources said.
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ICRC hears Vadamaradchi fishermen's complaints

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 19:27 GMT]
Vadamaradchi fishermen Thursday complained to a representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross that their fishing crafts are getting damaged as the Sri Lanka Army has allocated inadequate space to beach their crafts in the northern shore, fisheries sources said.
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‘Indian Minister’s visit to SL historic’ - Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 18:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s cabinet spokesman, Mr. G.L.Peiris, said Thursday that the proposed visit of the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr.Yaswant Sinha, to Colombo next week would be 'historic.' Replying to a question at the weekly press briefing, Mr.Peiris, who is also the government’s Chief negotiator in the peace talks, said that there would not be any problem in obtaining Indian assistance to the present peace process, media sources said.
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