Black band protest held in Jaffna condemning Manipay attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 February 2003, 16:24 GMT]
Teachers, students, public and private sector employees in Jaffna district Wednesday attended their routine activities wearing black bands and black waist belts in protest to the attack by the Sri Lanka Army on women cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at Manipay on February 12, sources said.
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101 Villages in NE selected for NIAP development

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 February 2003, 12:45 GMT]
The World Bank assisted North East Irrigation and Agriculture Project (NIAP) officials said that under the 2003 program for renovating irrigation tanks in NorthEast, 101 villages have been selected in districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Trincomalee and Batticaloa where implementation activities will begin in March, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Public to hold black waist-belt campaign in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 February 2003, 22:52 GMT]
The Jaffna District People's Forum (JDPF) Monday announced that it would hold a black belt wearing campaign on Wednesday in protest to the attack on LTTE women cadres, civilians and journalists at Manipay by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, sources in Jaffna said.
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Jaffna Journalists stage sit-in protest over Manipay attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 February 2003, 15:25 GMT]
The Jaffna Journalist Association (JJA) Monday held a protest demonstration outside the office of the District Information Office in the Jaffna district secretariat condemning the attack on two journalists at Manipay by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers last Wednesday. Members of the JJA with black bands and covered their mouths with black clothes participated in the demonstration which commenced Monday morning and concluded in the afternoon, sources said.
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Vavuniya traders demand SLA to vacate public buildings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 February 2003, 04:20 GMT]
In a meeting convened at Vavuniya Urban council, the traders and business persons in Vavuniya requested the officers of the Police and security forces that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)should immediately vacate the buildings owned by the Vavuniya paddy marketing board to allow immediate procurement of paddy from Vavuniya farmers at guaranteed prices to provide a stable livelihood for the area farmers, sources said.


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Kilinochchi protesters condemn SLA assault in Manipay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 19:58 GMT]
Hundreds of residents of Kilinochchi and surrounding areas marched through Kilinochchi Saturday protesting the attack on Wednesday 12 February on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) unarmed female cadres in Manipay, Jaffna, by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and by the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) members. The march was organized by the Tamil National Uprising Front in Vanni, sources said.


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SLA soldier killed near Kilali

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 19:11 GMT]
Around 2.15pm Saturday near the Forward Defense Line (FDL) of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Kilali in Jaffna district , a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier who trespassed into LTTE controlled area was killed in gunfire, said sources in Jaffna.


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Eastern Media Associations condemn SLA attack on Northern journalists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 16:40 GMT]
District Media Associations in Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara in the eastern province have issued statements condemning the attack on two Tamil journalists, Mr.S.Sivabalan (Thinakural) and Mr.S.Manoharan (Eelanadu) at Manipay in Jaffna district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in which LTTE women cadres and members of public were also assaulted, sources said.


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Muhamalai soldiers interrogate Tamil student leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 15:25 GMT]
The President of the International Thamileelam Students' Forum, Mr.S.Gajendran, is alleged to have been subjected to intimidation and rigorous interrogation for more than two hours by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday at the Muhamalai SLA checkpoint, sources in Jaffna said.


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Protest in Vavuniya condemns Manipay SLA assault

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 12:24 GMT]
More than thousand residents of Vavuniya and surrounding areas marched in Vavuniya Saturday wearing black belts in their waists protesting the attack on Wednesday 12 February on Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) unarmed female cadres in Manipay, Jaffna, by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers. The marchers handed over a memorandum to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), sources in Vavuniya said.


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US to announce significant assistance in Japan meet - Armitage

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 02:59 GMT]
In a conference on "Srilanka: Prospects for Peace," held at the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C Friday, Richard Armitage, Deputy U.S Secretary of State, in his Keynote address said that, "..it is my intention to return to the follow-on meeting [to Oslo] of donors" in June in Japan and "I will be able to announce significant further assistance to Sri Lanka for both humanitarian and economic aid," sources said.
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Unimpeded travel access authorized to South-bound lorries

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 01:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint at Iratperiyakulam. 6 km south of Vavuniya town on highway A9, will be open 24 hours allowing lorries transporting goods to towns in the South from Vavuniya unimpeded travel facilities, said Major General Susil Chandrapala, Wednesday, in a meeting organized by Police for the traders and businessmen from Vavuniya, sources said.


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'Government troops are not for peace' - Trinco Tamils tell Akashi

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 February 2003, 18:43 GMT]
A Tamil delegation comprising of leading citizens of Trincomalee Friday told the visiting Japanese peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that Tamils of the east port district have lost confidence on the present peace process as they think the government troops are only preparing for war and not for peace, sources in eastern province said.
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Protesters in Jaffna burn effigies, condemn Manipay attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 February 2003, 17:24 GMT]
Protest demonstrations were held Friday condemning the attack on LTTE women cadres, members of public and journalists at Manipay by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA), aided by members of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP). Effigies of President Chandrika Kumaratunge and the Jaffna area commander of the SLA, Major General Sarath Fonseka, were taken in processions and burnt down in Jaffna town, Udupiddy junction, Malisanthai junction and Methaikadai junction, sources said.
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Trincomalee Orr's Hill Vivekananda College celebrates its silver jubilee

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 February 2003, 06:46 GMT]
The silver jubilee celebrations of the Orr's Hill Vivekandanda College, a leading educational institution in Trincomalee town are underway with the swearing ceremony of the prefects of the school and the College Day held at the newly built auditorium named Vivekandanda Kalai Arangam.
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Sole survivor in Mirusuvil massacre identifies army accused

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 21:54 GMT]
The sole survivor in the Mirusuvil massacre, Mr. Ponnuthurai Maheswaran, Thursday identified at the Colombo High Court all five soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) indicted for the murder of eight Tamil civilians when they returned to their Mirusuvil homes to look for belongings on 19th December 2000, legal sources said.
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Rising from the shambles of a counter insurgency campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The large Vadamunai-Tharavai region, northwest of Batticaloa, is struggling to rise out of the havoc wreaked by one of the most sustained text book counter insurgency campaigns waged by the Sri Lanka army. A few hundred of the thousands of families which were driven out of their villages by the SLA more than 12 years ago have begun venturing back to their homesteads and lands here. But there are no schools for their children, no medical facilities for the sick, no transport, no sanitation and no basic amenities in any of the villages in the region.
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Jaffna journalists to conduct black band demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 12:01 GMT]
The Jaffna Journalists Association (JJA) Thursday informed the Media Minister by a letter that a non-violent black band demonstration will be held in front of the office of the Information Department in Jaffna on February 17 at about ten o'clock in the morning, sources said.


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Japanese special peace envoy meets Buddhist prelates

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 06:50 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy Mr. Yasusi Akashi arrived Colombo Wednesday early morning on a four-day visit. He immediately rushed to Kandy, capital of the central province and held vital discussions with the Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte Chapter Venerable Vipassi and Venerable Palipane Buddharakita Thera, sources said.
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Sri Lanka military 'jeopardizing' peace talks - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 06:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers this week condemned the attack Wednesday on their unarmed female cadres in Manipay by Sri Lankan soldiers and warned that such incidents would "seriously jeopardize" the Norwegian peace process, the London based Tamil Guardian reported.
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