UNP opposes calls to delay elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Buddhist clergy of the Malwatte, Asgiriye, Amarapura Nikaye and Raman Maha Nikaye chapters requested the Sri Lanka Government today to postpone the Provincial Council Elections until the island's war was won.
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Father attempts suicide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Depressed by the death of his son, Damayanthan, last August, and disillusioned by subsequent delays in legal proceedings, S. Lakshmikathan (60), of Trincomalee, tried to commit suicide last month by eating four oleander seeds, said sources in Trincomalee.
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Editor's home shot at

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The home of Lasantha Wickramatunge, controversial editor of the Sunday Leader newspapers, was sprayed with bullets last night around 11:30 p.m., by an unidentified gang, said journalist sources.
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News briefs from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The incidence of Malaria is increasing in Chavakchcheri and the Jaffna Teaching Hospital has requested a 3 month supply of medicine from the Health Ministry, said health officials in Jaffna. Storage and transport difficulties causes food spoilage and private Diploma holders fail University exam.
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Conflicting claims in Vanni fighting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Thirty five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and 4 officers have been killed and 2 officers and 79 soldiers have been wounded in fighting between 11 and 17 June, in the forward areas of Operation Jayasikurui, said SLA Brig. Sarath Munasinghe at a weekly press briefing held in Colombo today.
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BBC broadcasts irk censor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Competent Authority on press censorship, Maj. Gen. Jaliya Nammuni has ordered the chairman and director general of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) to take action against the BBC for broadcasting news on the war which have to be subject to the censorship regulations.
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Indian parties said urging pressure

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The leader of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda said yesterday political leaders in Tamil Nadu have told him that the opposition and the Tamil political parties in Sri Lanka press the Sri Lankan government at this juncture when the renewed support for the Sri Lankan Tamils in Tamil Nadu has helped them (the Tamil Nadu leaders) to bring pressure on Colombo through the Indian government.
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Peradeniya students involved in ragging expelled

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Three students have been expelled and another suspended, for one year, from the University of Peradeniya for ragging Mr. Varapiragash, a junior student, to his death, said sources at the University. Mr. Varapiragash died in a Colombo hospital in October last year due to kidney failure that developed following the severe ragging.
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Demonstrators criticize calls for peace

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An organisation calling itself "Peace Loving Citizens of Sri Lanka" marched in the capital Colombo today and handed over memorandums to the British and the Norwegian High Commissions, demanding that their governments ban the Liberation Tigers. The demonstrators also called on the Sri Lankan government to punish those who called for negotiations with the LTTE.
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UNP has 30 days to submit Proposals - PA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government will consider a referendum if the country's main opposition party, the UNP, does not submit its counter proposals to the ruling People's Alliance package for constitutional changes in a month said Sri Lanka's minister for justice and deputy minister for finance G.L Pieris today answering questions from the media at the weekly cabinet press briefing in Colombo.
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New Regulations for foreign investors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
It will become mandatory for foreigners who want to invest or enter into project contracts in Sri Lanka to operate through local agents according to a Sri Lankan cabinet decision announced to the press in Colombo yesterday.
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Behind closed doors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
On 5 June 1998, the Sri Lankan President once again imposed censorship on foreign and local media barring them from reporting 'sensitive military information'. The PA promised to introduce legal and institutional reforms to strengthen the freedom of expression when it came to power in 1994. According to ARTICLE 19, the international censorship watchdog that has studied press freedom in Sri Lanka in detail, none of these reforms have been implemented. The following report is based on their research.
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Attempt to disfranchise Hill country Tamils?

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Voters in Sri Lanka's hill country, home to a large Tamil population working in the tea industry, will be asked to produce their national identity cards to qualify for voting at the forthcoming provincial council elections, said sources in Colombo. Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections Mr.Dayananda Dissanayaka, who will be meeting the secretaries of political parties on Wednesday, is expected to advise them to pass a bill in Parliament to enable the elections department to demand national identity cards from hill country voters.
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UNP proposes 'no confidence' motion

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
The Parliamentary Committee of the main Sri Lankan opposition party, the United National Party (UNP), which met in Colombo today decided to propose a motion no-confidence against the Sri Lankan Government.
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Grenade injures Senior Police Officer

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An Assistant Superindentent of Police (ASP), Shanthikumar, was critically wounded when a grenade was lobbed at his car today around 1.45 p.m. in Colombo, said police sources there when contacted by Tamil Net. The incident took place near Chetti Street-Kochchikkadi police check post.
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Conflicting casualty claims

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Over 100 soldiers were killed and many more wounded when the Tigers counter attacked the Sri Lankan Army which tried to advance towards Kilinochchi in two directions backed by Air Force jets and artillery yesterday, said the Liberation Tigers in the Vanni today.
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Tributes to Charles Abeysekera

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An array of notable individuals, including political leaders, intellectuals, aesthetes and human rights activists hailed the work of the late Charles Abeysekera (1926-1998), at a commemoration ceremony held in Colombo yesterday evening.
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Heavy casualties in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
Heavy fighting has broken out in the Kilinochchi area between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan Army. Fighting went on for 10 hours and casualties are believed to be heavy on both sides, said sources in Vavuniya.
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Explosions around telephone exchanges

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
A bomb was found at the Kaluvanchikkudy telecommunication exchange at around 7.30 a.m. this morning and was later diffused by the Special Task Force (STF) of the Sri Lankan Police, said sources. This building was damaged last Saturday in a bomb explosion.
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Attempt to surround Mankulam abandoned

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 June 1998, 23:59 GMT]
An attempt by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) to surround the strategic Mankulam junction from the northern direction is said have been temporarily abandoned, said sources today.
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