TNA to meet Ranil before Vanni visit

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 July 2002, 16:44 GMT]
The Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians for an important discussion about the current state of the peace process. The meeting comes a day ahead of the last deadline mentioned in the Cease-fire Agreement (CFA) between the Liberation Tigers and Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe's government.
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IDPs find skeletons near SLA camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 July 2002, 15:39 GMT]
Displaced persons clearing land for resettling near a Sri Lanka Army camp in Nunavil in Jaffna found a bag Monday morning with several human skeletons without skulls. There were some pairs of slippers too in the bag, residents said. The remains are beleived to be of local residents who were killed during Sri Lanka Army operations in the area two years ago, according to them.
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SLA vacates Hartley College, Morakkoddanchenai School

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 July 2002, 13:34 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday vacated the Morakkoddanchenai Ramakrishna Mission School in the Batticaloa district after twelve years of occupation and handed two buildings of the Point Pedro Hartley College in Jaffna. Students and parents who object that the SLA's continues to occupy several private homes and public buildings, including the local library and village council surrounding the school in the heart of Morakkoddanchenai, boycotted the event.
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T. E, S. L Police investigate Madhu murder

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 12:21 GMT]
The Tamileelam Police service Sunday afternoon handed over to the Sri Lanka Police the bodies of three persons from Kandy, suspected to have been murdered in the Madhu region last week. The Government Agent for Vavuniya arranged the transfer, officials said. Mr. Manikavasakar Ilancheliyan, the Vavuniya district judge who inspected the bodies Sunday at the Vavuniya hospital, directed the Police to seek, through the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, evidence, productions, witnesses and suspects arrested in connection with the murder in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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Kanniya resettlement begins after 12 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 July 2002, 10:11 GMT]
Displaced Tamil families from the predominantly Tamil village Kanniya, 7 km north of Trincomalee town are returning to their own land. More than one thousand families had been displaced since 1990 from Kanniya due to violence by the State armed forces. "Under the first stage, about one hundred displaced families are to be resettled ,"said Mr.Iynkaran, the Head of the LTTE’s Political Division for the Trincomalee district Sunday.
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Protests over Jaffna hospital security zone

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 July 2002, 22:09 GMT]
The ban imposed by the Sri Lankan military on civlian use of the roads around Jaffna teaching hospital, which presently come under the high security zone, should be removed immediately as it causes severe hardship to patients and medical staff, the visiting Health Ministry Secretary Dr. Reggie Perera was told Saturday at a conference.
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SLA trooper dies attacking Tigers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 July 2002, 22:07 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier was killed when he crossed into the zone of separation in Jaffna and opened fire on a group of Liberation Tigers who fired back, international ceasefire monitors said Thursday. LTTE and SLA commanders “showed tremendous responsibility and constraint in a very difficult situation,” Major General Trond Furuhovde, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said.
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US urges Sri Lanka peace

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 July 2002, 21:14 GMT]
United States' President George Bush offered Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremsinghe American support in efforts to resolve the island's ethnic conflict, a White House spokesman said Wednesday. The two leaders' meeting lasted approximately 15 minutes, the spokesman Ari Fleischer said.
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SLA re-opens Varani road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 July 2002, 18:05 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army re-opened the main road through Varani in Jaffna this week. The SLA was encamped in the heart of the village, astride the Kodikamam - Pt. Pedro Road, occupying private property in the area, including many homes. Varani residents who were evicted from their homes and properties by the SLA wrote to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe after he signed the Cease-fire Agreement with the Liberation Tigers, urging him to open the road and return the village centre to them.
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Legislators trade blows in parliament

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 July 2002, 16:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliamentary sitting was suspended Wednesday morning for about fifteen minutes when a group of ruling and opposition members exchanged blows in the well of the House. Pandemonium erupted when the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, made a statement calling for an apology from, and the resignation of, Commerce Minister Mr. Ravi Karunanayake on the grounds that he had accused the President of carrying a bomb in her handbag.
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Trial-at-Bar inquiry for Mirusuvil massacre

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 July 2002, 16:28 GMT]
The Attorney General has decided to indict a group of Sri Lanka Army officials for the killing of eight Tamil civilians at Mirusuvil in Jaffna district before a three-member bench of the High Court. The Attorney General is to make a request to the Chief Justice shortly to name the judges for the Trail-at-Bar inquiry, legal sources said.
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LTTE political officials harassed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 July 2002, 03:46 GMT]
A senior political cadre of the Liberation Tigers was assaulted by Sri Lankan troops last week whilst another was arrested and interrogated, Tamil press reports said. Protests were lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the reports said.
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Tigers welcomed on Jaffna island

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 July 2002, 03:08 GMT]
Political cadres of the Liberation Tigers Monday landed in Analaitheevu, one of the islands off the Jaffna peninsula, and received an enthusiastic welcome from the residents, Tamil press reports said Tuesday.
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Defence Ministry Secretary concludes Jaffna visit

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 July 2002, 10:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defence Ministry Secretary Mr. Austin Fernando accompanied by the Sri Lanka Army commander, Lt.Gen. Lionel Balagalle and Sri Lanka Navy commander, Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri concluded his two-day visit to Jaffna district Sunday.
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Sri Lanka stands by ceasefire agreement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 19:07 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Thursday dismissed calls for its ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers to be revised. “Although several political groups have requested for the revision of the ceasefire agreement the Government considers it a complete document," Minister G.L. Peiris said at a press conference held Thursday to announce the cabinet decisions taken Wednesday.
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LTTE, SLN give evidence on Kayts assault

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 16:42 GMT]
The independent commission inquiring into the alleged assault of a political worker of the Liberation Tigers by Sri Lanka Navy personnel in the island Kayts in Jaffna visited the scene of the incident Thursday. The chairman of the commission, Air Vice Marshall (retd) Harry Gunatillake, urged civilians from the area to come forward without fear to give evidence about the incident.
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EU delegation meets LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 July 2002, 10:22 GMT]
Ambassadors and Deputy Heads of Mission of six European Union countries visited the Vanni Wednesday, and held discussions with the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political section, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan. The delegation was headed by Mr. Salvatore Zotta, Ambassador of Italy and Chairman of the EU Heads of Mission in Colombo.
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HC discharges accused in PTA cases

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 July 2002, 21:23 GMT]
The Eastern High Court Wednesday discharged the accused in two cases filed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Emergency Regulations (ER) when the prosecution brought to the notice that the key police witness who had recorded the confession of the accused was not present in the court for the seventh time.
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Students of school inside navy camp protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 14:42 GMT]
Hundreds of students and parents Tuesday morning blocked roads in the island of Kayts in Jaffna to protest against Sri Lanka Navy defence positions around Velanai Duraisamy Central College. The protestors sat across roads at Saravanai Junction, Vankalavadi Junction and Velanai Bus Company Junction from early morning. The Duraisamy Central College is inside the SLN base in Velanai.
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Velanai committee begins inquiry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 July 2002, 13:26 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Committee of Inquiry tasked to investigate the assault on June 20 of two unarmed members of the Liberation Tigers’ political section, allegedly by naval personnel and Tamil paramilitaries, commenced its public sittings Tuesday morning at the Jaffna Secretariat. The committee has been appointed by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Defence at the behest of Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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