Tigers escorted SLA troops

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 October 2002, 08:55 GMT]
(News Feature) In a reciprocal gesture to earlier actions by the Sri Lanka Army, cadres of the Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa last Sunday escorted SLA soldiers through areas in which angry Tamil demonstrators had set up road blocks protesting the earlier killings of several civilians by Special Task Force (STF) commandos.
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Evidence of dead witness read out in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 19:08 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Friday allowed an application in the Mylanthanai massacre case by the prosecution to read out the evidence of two witnesses given in the lower court to the Jury, as these witnesses could not attend court. One of the two witnesses Thavarajah Rajmohan is dead and the other witness Nallammah Nallasekaram has gone abroad and working in Kuwait.
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SLA soldier assaults Vadamaradchy fishermen

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 19:03 GMT]
Two young Tamil fishermen were assaulted by a Sri Lanka Army soldier manning a sentry in the coastal village of Katkovalam in Vadamaradchi, Wednesday night, fisheries co-operative sources said. SLA officials at the 52-4 Brigade apologized to the injured, saying that the said soldier was mentally deranged.
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AG indicts five SLA soldiers in Mirusuvil massacre case

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 17:30 GMT]
The Attorney General Friday filed indictments in the Colombo High Court against five Sri Lanka Army soldiers for murdering eight Tamil civilians, including a five year old child, in Mirusuvil in Jaffna district two years ago.
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Buddhist monk warns of disruptive forces in Trinco

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 13:26 GMT]
Venerable Dodantuwe Thammanatha Thero of Mahamayapura Buddhist temple in Trincomalee town said that miscreants are bent on instigating clashes in the eastern district by portraying the Liberation Tigers as anti- Singhalese. He was addressing a peace conference at the Trincomalee Police Headquarters to promote reconciliation between all communities in the eastern port town Thursday evening. The Buddhist monk showed the audience a leaflet printed in Sinhala stating that LTTE leader Mr. Pirapaharan considers the Singhalese as his enemies.
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'Douglas Devananda not questioned over journalist’s murder' - RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 03:50 GMT]
The international media watchdog, Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) Friday slammed Police investigators inquiring into the murder of Jaffna journalist Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan for never questioning persons who might have been behind the murder. Gunmen suspected to be members of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) murdered Nimalarajan at his residence on October 19 2000.
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Jaffna Media Research Centre opened with Danish aid

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 17:38 GMT]
The High Commissioner of Demark for India who is also accredited to Sri Lanka, Wednesday, declared open the Media Research and Training Centre in the Jaffna University. " Eleven member countries in the European Union (EU) are wholeheartedly supporting the peace process now being taken forward with the sole intention of finding a lasting political solution to the conflict in Sri Lanka," said Mr. Michael Steraberg, High Commissioner of Denmark when addressing a gathering following the opening of the centre.
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Medical officers give evidence in Mylanthanai massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 October 2002, 09:37 GMT]
"One year old Latha, a girl who was rushed to the Colombo general hospital in critical condition the day after the Mylanthanai massacre succumbed to cut and chop wounds caused by pointed weapons such as axe and knives on admission," said Dr.K.Niranjan, Assistant Judicial Medical Officer before the Colombo High Court Judge Mr.S.Sriskandarajah Tuesday.
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Sinhala nationalists step up campaign against talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2002, 20:21 GMT]
The Sinhala Nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP, People’s Liberation Front) vowed Tuesday to bring down Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe’s government and defeat its peace negotiations with the Liberation Tigers. The JVP launched a campaign last week to convince Sinhalese that the peace process is a ruse to divide the island.
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Balasinghams arrive in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 October 2002, 09:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ chief negotiator and political advisor, Mr.Anton Balasingham, and his wife, Adele, arrived in Vanni around 10.15 a.m. Tuesday, LTTE sources in Kilinochchi said. Mr. Balasingham arrived by a Sri Lanka Air Force helicopter from Colombo.
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SLA blocks displaced fishermen's return

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 17:38 GMT]
Thirty two displaced fishermen who were returning Monday morning from Vanni to resettle in Valvettithurai (VVT) town in the Jaffna peninsula were not allowed to land and ordered to turn back to Vanni by Sri Lanka Army soldiers, said sources. The fishermen have been living in Vanni for the past seven years.
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Thirukkovil resentful, STF said concocting evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 13:02 GMT]
“The Special Task Force will pose a dire threat to our lives as long it remains in this region. There is no security now for farmers who have to pass the Kanjirankudah STF camp to cultivate their fields. The sole access to more than twelve thousand acres of our people’s fields is controlled by the STF which has no qualms about killing us like animals,” said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru, the sole Tamil MP for the Amparai District, Monday.
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TNA calls for Tamil home guard

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:12 GMT]
The security of the Tamil people can no longer be left in the hands of Sinhala dominated Army and Police, the Trincomalee district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. R. Sampanthan, told Sri Lanka’s Interior Minister, Mr. John Amaratunge Sunday afternoon. Arguing “the security of Tamils should be entrusted to Tamil youths,” the TNA leader urged the Minister to take immediate steps to form home guards units comprising Tamils.
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Buddhist monks slam Tigers, Tamils at Trinco review

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 October 2002, 03:09 GMT]
The conference convened Sunday morning at Trincomalee district secretariat and presided over by Sri Lanka's Interior Minister Mr. John Amaratunge was apparently meant to review the security situation in the eastern port town. But there was no Tamil or Muslim representation – because the authorities didn’t even notify local representatives. Instead, Buddhist monks dominated the conference – which was conducted entirely in Sinhalese - hurling allegations against the Liberation Tigers and the Tamil community.
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LTTE, Sri Lanka military meet over civilian deaths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 20:17 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Saturday requested international ceasefire monitors to take immediate action against those responsible for Friday's gun and grenade attack on Tamil civilians in Trincomalee and demanded Sri Lankan military commanders take steps to prevent future attacks on civilians.
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Hartal in northeast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 October 2002, 09:03 GMT]
Shops remained closed and streets were deserted in all the towns in the northeast as a general shut down ('hartal') was observed in protest at the attacks on Tamil civilians in Trincomalee and Kanchirankuda. Black flags were hoisted on shops, houses and at public places. Burning tyres were seen on main roads, sources in several north-eastern towns said.
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Tigers say assaulted in custody

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 October 2002, 13:00 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers being held by the Liberation Tigers were Wednesday released to the International Committee of Red Cross in Trincomalee, while two LTTE members arrested by the SLA were released by the Trincomalee magistrate on as ordered by the Court of Appeal on Tuesday. The SLA soldiers said they had been treated well in custody, but the LTTE cadres said they had been beaten and manacled in police custody.
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STF fire on demonstration - 5 killed, 15 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 October 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Five civilians were killed and fifteen were wounded when commandos of the Special Task Force, an elite wing of the Sri Lankan armed forces, opened fire on a public protest at Kanjirankudah, 84 kilometres south of Batticaloa, around 6.30 p.m. Wednesday. The shooting followed tension in Tamil areas in Sri Lanka’s southeastern coast after word spread that two members of the Liberation Tigers were severely assaulted by the STF and had been admitted to hospital.
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TNA presses PM for immediate action on prisoner release

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2002, 17:24 GMT]
The adjournment motion moved by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in parliament regarding the hunger strike of Tamil political prisoners that has entered eighth day would be taken up for debate pending on the outcome of the top-level talks the TNA parliamentarians are scheduled to have Wednesday with the Prime Minister (PM) and the Attorney General, sources said. Tamil political prisoners detained at Welikada, Kalutara and other prisons are on hunger strike since October 1 demanding their immediate release.
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EPDP cadres, ammunition handed over to SLMM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 October 2002, 11:36 GMT]
Six members of the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) whose camp in Delft was attacked Sunday by angry residents following the stabbing of a local shop keeper were handed over to international monitors Monday, local press reports said.
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