Bank workers protest privatisation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 July 2002, 18:20 GMT]
Employees of Sri Lanka's largest banks Thursday launched a major campain against measures stipulated by the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund to privatise the island's financial giants.
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SLMM head holds talks in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 July 2002, 18:30 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (retd) Major General Trond Furuhovde Wednesday evening arrived Trincomalee town by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter with LTTE's political division official Mr. Pulithevan from Batticaloa. A conference was held later in the evening at the auditorium of the provincial ministry of education at Orrs' Hill, Trincomalee.
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Students' protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 19:17 GMT]
More than twenty thousand Tamil and Muslim students Tuesday marched in protest against the continuing occupation of schools by the Sri Lankan army and the general discrimination they are subjected to by Colombo. The students handed over memorandums to the Vavuniya government agent, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the UNHCR and the UNICEF in the northern border town.
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"Third force" behind eastern troubles - Minister

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 19:16 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers have no hand in the recent troubles in the East. They very keenly interested in taking forward the peace process," said Mr. M. H. Mohammed, a veteran Muslim political leader of the ruling United National Party and cabinet minister, at a press conference Tuesday afternoon at his ministry following a tour in the districts of Batticaloa and Ampara during the weekend.
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Sri Lanka opposition exhorts rejection of cease-fire deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 18:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition parties and several Sinhala nationalist groups held a large public rally of more than five thousand in Colombo Tuesday, condemning peace negotiations between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesighe's government and the Liberation Tigers as a conspiracy to divide the island. The main speakers at the rally exhorted the Sinhala people to reject the cease-fire agreement between Colombo and the LTTE.
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New Army fortifications in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 13:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka armed forces are hurriedly building fortifications and expanding their bases in the Jaffna peninsula while public buildings vacated by the military remain beyond the public use as the surrounding areas are declared high security zones, Tamil press reports said last week.
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Village rejects SLA school offer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 04:55 GMT]
The people of Morakkoddanchenai, 26 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Monday rejected an offer by the Sri Lanka army to construct a new building for the village children's education instead of vacating the local school under the terms of Colombo's cease-fire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year. The SLA has been occupying the Morakkoddanchenai Government Tamil Mixed School, public market, post office, library, village council, the local temple and scores of private homes in the heart of the village for more than 12 years.
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SLA permits visit to temple in Palaly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 02:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Monday permitted devotees to visit and clean the premises of the Sri Rajarajeswari Amman temple near the Palaly military airport. The temple is among more than hundred places of worship occupied by the SLA in Jaffna's Waligamam North division. More than 2000 residents who lived in the temple's neighbourhood were evacuated by the SLA in 1987 and 1990 for expanding the defence perimeter of the Palaly military base and airport.
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HRC inquiry into Mutur troubles

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 02:08 GMT]
Officials from the Human Rights Commission (HRC) held discussions Monday in Trincomalee with police officials, members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and civil authorities regarding the destruction of the Liberation Tigers’ political office in Mutur area and the communal violence that followed. The meeting was held at the regional office of the HRC, sources said.
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Children trigger grenade blast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 July 2002, 02:02 GMT]
Two young students and a 4-year old girl were wounded Sunday when they played with a grenade they found in their school which had once been a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp. The Maha Vilankulam, north of Trincomalee town, was abandoned by the SLA two years ago.
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SLA takes over library, houses

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 July 2002, 06:48 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army in Jaffna Saturday marked the village of Amban and its environs as a high security zone. The SLA took over a public library and six homes in Thumpalai East near Pt.Pedro town Friday to set up defence positions in the area. Amban is on the southeastern coast of the Jaffna peninsula.
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Local body asks SLA to lift fishing ban

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 July 2002, 06:46 GMT]
The Chairman of the Chavakachcheri Pradeshiya Sabha (local government institution) said Saturday that he has written to the Jaffna Security Forces Commander, Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka urging him to immediately lift the ban on fishing in the Jaffna lagoon off Koilakandy and Kilali.
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Black Tiger day marked at site of first attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 July 2002, 01:40 GMT]
Over five thousand people gathered in Nelliady in the Jaffna peninsula Friday to mark Black Tigers day - the first time the event had been held here since 1995. July 5 is the anniversary of the death of the first Black Tiger, Captain Miller, who was killed destroying a Sri Lanka Army base located in the Nelliady Madhya Maha Vidiyalyam - the site of the commemoration this Friday. His mother was amongst those who paid their respects to fallen Black Tigers.
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Police charge student demo in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:57 GMT]
Four students were wounded when riot Police baton charged a large demonstration in downtown Colombo Thursday against World Bank/IMF recommended privatisation of university education and the slashing of higher education subsidies in Sri Lanka.
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MoD says 'no case' amid public protests

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 01:18 GMT]
(News Feature) A Sri Lankan Defence Ministry inquiry into the assault of two senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers on June 20 ruled that "there was no evidence ... to establish a case against any individual or person," state media reported. The Defence Ministry statement was issued Wednesday, the day after a massive demonstration in Kilinochchi to protest the attack by Sri Lankan naval personnel and members of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) on the LTTE cadres.
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LTTE urges Muslim Tamil harmony in east

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 July 2002, 16:01 GMT]
"We, the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers, fought face to face in battlefields for 25 years. But today we are seated side by side as friends. All of us should explore the reasons why, while this is so, we, the Muslims and Tamils who speak the same language, are unable to live in amity," said Mr. N. Karikalan, a senior official of the political division of the Liberation Tigers addressing a peace conference in Batticaloa town Wednesday.
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LTTE political office opened at Velanai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 19:59 GMT]
The first political office of the Liberation Tigers in the Jaffna islands was open Tuesday at Velanai Chaatti road. The Assistant Government Agent of Kayts Mr. S.Theivanayagam declared open the office.
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Karikalan, 23 Div. GOC meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 17:34 GMT]
Mr. N. Karikalan, senior official of the LTTE’s political division in the east, had discussions with the General Officer Commanding of the Sri Lanka army’s23 Division, Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennekoon on opening theA5 highway and rebuilding peaceful relations between Tamils and Muslims in the east at the Bishop's House in Batticaloa town Tuesday.
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Jaffna journalist says beaten up, threatened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 July 2002, 05:26 GMT]
The President of the Jaffna journalists' Association, Mr. Veluppillai Thavachelvam complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the International Committee of the Red Cross Tuesday that he was abducted and beaten up by armed persons who accused him of working for the Liberation Tigers.
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Protests after troops injure 20

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 10:17 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army and Police assaulted and severely wounded more than twenty civilians in the village of Nanattan in Mannar Sunday night. More than six hundred villagers began a protest Monday morning demanding that the SLA camp in the area should be removed immediately. Shops were closed and the streets were deserted in protest against the assault.
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