Vavuniya schools destroyed by SLA still not reconstructed

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 18:27 GMT]
As a result of the Sri Lanka Army’s actions prior to the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement, only fifty-eight schools out of the eighty-nine in the Vavuniya North Education Zone are operating from their original locations, said a deputy education director for the zone, Mr. S. Pathmanathan, on Friday.
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SLA establishes new camp in Ariyalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 15:43 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is constructing a new camp at Ariyalai-Mampalam junction in the Jaffna town area since Thursday evening, civil groups in Jaffna said.


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LTTE Puthur political head released on bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 14:00 GMT]
The East High Court Judge Mr.S.Paramarajah Friday allowed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) political head of the Puthur division in Batticaloa district, Mr.Satyaraj (Subaraj Devanayagam), on cash and surety bail at the Trincomalee session of the High Court Friday, legal sources said.


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200,000 mines removed by HDU - report

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 13:41 GMT]
Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU), the land-mine removal arm of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) operating in Vanni area, has removed and destroyed 182,944 landmines, a report issued by the HDU said.
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Northeast prepares to celebrate Black Tigers' day

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 12:52 GMT]
Red and Yellow flags, decorative ornaments and picture boards adorned streets and junctions in key towns including Jaffna, Point Pedro, Vavuniya, Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, projecting a festival atmosphere as Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and people of Northeast prepared to celebrate the Black Tigers day, Saturday, 5th July, sources said.
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SLA expands Navalady camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 11:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are taking steps to expand and fortify its camp in Navalady junction near Valaichenai, security sources in Batticaloa said. Efforts by the SLA to make the Kallady camp permanent and the imposition of other arbitrary security measures such as stopping Batticaloa bound night trains at Welikande for more than two hours are causing fear and anxiety among Batticaloa residents, according civil society sources.


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SLA delays Batticaloa bound train for two hours

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 11:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are refusing to allow Colombo-Batticaloa train to travel past Welikanda before 5.45am in the morning holding the train at the station for two hours citing security concerns, security sources in Batticaloa said.


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LTTE, TNA Parliamentarians meet in Kokkadicholai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 04:02 GMT]
Officials of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Parliamentarians from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met Wednesday night at the 'Cholai Aham' Guest House in LTTE controlled Kokkadicholai in Batticaloa district to review the current political situation and other matters related to the region's economic development, sources said.


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STF resumes checks at Batticaloa ferry points

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 00:11 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers, Wednesday, resumed checking of bags and goods carried by the passengers at Mandoor and Ambilanthurai ferry points in the Batticaloa lagoon on the side controlled by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), security sources said.


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Move to make SLA camp permanent sparks protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 11:25 GMT]
“The effort to establish the Sri Lanka army’s Kallady camp on a permanent basis goes against the grain of the Cease Fire Agreement”, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance MP, told TamilNet, Wednesday, referring to recent moves by the military to acquire property and land in a suburb on the southern outskirts of the Batticaloa town.
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’Trincomalee Hindu temple lands encroached’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 18:32 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Young Men Hindu Association (TDYMHA) Tuesday brought to the notice of the Hindu Religious Affairs Minister of Sri Lanka that lands belonging to several Hindu temples in the Trincomalee district are being unlawfully occupied by members of the majority community of the country, thus depriving the income from the lands to these temples, sources said
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HRC requests SLA to submit report on HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 18:20 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has asked the Sri Lanka Army to furnish a report regarding complaints made by several internally displaced people of the Jaffna district that they are unable to resettle in their homes and do cultivation in their agricultural lands as they have been occupied by the SLA in the name of high security zones (HSZ), sources in Colombo said.
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SLA-LTTE in standoff over control of area in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 15:37 GMT]
In the wake of the ruling by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Monday that the controversial Kurankupanchan area in the Trincomalee district comes under Sri Lankan government control, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Tuesday warned of grave consequences if the Sri Lanka Army advanced into Kurankupanchan, sources said
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Returnees find Thanankilapu farmland in ruins

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 02:00 GMT]
Residents of Thanankilapu and Maravanpulo in Thenmaradchy district, Jaffna, who returned to inspect their properties and agricultural lands expressed shock at the devastation left behind by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), local reports said.


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Fear of re-introduction of Police registration unfounded - Amaratunge

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2003, 10:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Government is not contemplating re-introducing legislation requiring Tamils residing in Colombo to register the details of households with the Police. Tamil people therefore need not worry about such procedures coming into force again, said John Amaratunge, Minister of Interior.


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'Armed challenge to imposed national territory inevitable'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 June 2003, 00:33 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's colonial rulers left military power solely in the hands of a single community within an artificially created national territory on this island, created without the consent of the Tamils who, nevertheless, were included in it. Therefore the majority community had to increasingly depend on its monopoly on military force to hold on to this artificial national territory it acquired from the British. Under the circumstance, a military challenge to this was inevitable among the Tamils," said Mr. V. T. Thamilmaran, senior lecturer in law in the University of Colombo, Saturday.
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129 families resettled in Omanthai area

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 June 2003, 05:57 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Agent K. Ganesh said Friday at a meeting held in Vavuniya Secreatariat that in three villages adjoining the High Security Zone in Omanthai area 129 families have been resettled, according to Secretariat officials.


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Police-SLA arrest thirteen Tamils in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2003, 19:39 GMT]
Police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) conducted cordon and search operation in Wellawatte, a predominantly Tamil suburb in Colombo Friday and arrested thirteen Tamil youths, security sources said. This joint operation took place as part of the new security measures now being carried out in the capital of the country since the gunning down of a police intelligence unit head in Dehiwala, police said.


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Record crowds throng Jaffna Pongu Thamil rally

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2003, 12:33 GMT]
Around hundred and fifty thousand people crammed the Jaffna Medical College grounds and its environs for the Pongu Thamil rally Friday said the organisors of the event. Pongu Thamil calls for the immediate return of thousands of homes and lands occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the northern peninsula. The Pongu Thamil flame was lit by the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University Prof. S. Mohanadas. Buddhist nuns, monks and two officials from the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s office were among the special guests.
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‘Together against Torture’ Seminar in Trinco

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Legislation against torture in Sri Lanka is kept in law libraries as an ornament and is not implemented to prevent torture, said Human Rights lawyer, Mr. K. Sivapalan, addressing a seminar on ‘Together against Torture,’ held Thursday in Trincomalee to commemorate the United Nations (UN) International Day.
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