SLA takes over scores of homes in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 02:46 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army last week took over scores of civilian homes amid its efforts to expand its fortifications in the Thenmaradchi district of the Jaffna peninsula, Tamil press reports said. Sri Lankan forces have occupied 43 houses in one part of the district and have begun turning them into army camps, according to a complaint made to the District Secretary S Srinivasan. A new SLA base is being constructed in the village of Kaputhu also, the reports said.
Full story >>

LTTE, military discuss recent violence as conspiracy suspected

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2002, 02:43 GMT]
(News Feature) The leaders of the Liberation Tigers' political section in the Amparai-Batticaloa region, Mr. Visu (Head) and Mr. Thurai (Deputy Head) met senior Sri Lankan security officials late Friday night and Saturday to discuss last week's violence in Valaichenai and to seek ways to avoid a repetition of such incidents in the future. Meanwhile LTTE officials in the east, the leader of Sri Lanka’s largest Muslim party, Mr. Rauf Hakeem, and the Interior Minister, John Amaratunga, said this weekend that elements opposed to the peace process had instigated the recent chain of violence in the eastern province.
Full story >>

'Valaichenai attack premeditated'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 19:07 GMT]
"The 'Hartal' was a pretext for the Islamic extremiststo destroy the Tamil people's economy in Valaichenai. They used guns, claymore mines and grenades to attack us. The Police stood by when Islamic extremists were attacking us with these weapons. Who gave them these weapons?," asked Mr. Ethirmannasingham Kamalranjith, the spokesman for the Tamil community leaders and traders, during a discussion with Sri Lanka's army commander, Lt. Gen. Balagalle, and Minister for Economic Reforms, Mr. Milinda Moragoda in the eastern town Sunday.
Full story >>

Curfew lifted in troubled eastern town

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 12:39 GMT]
The four-day long curfew clamped in general area of Valaichenai - Oddamavadi 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa was lifted Tuesday morning. Tamil traders and businessmen were Monday permitted to see the gutted remains of their shops and buildings in the Valaichenai bazaar. The area has been under curfew since Friday 28 June.
Full story >>

SLA troops advance to LTTE lines - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 00:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units in the Kilali-Nagerkoil axis in the Jaffna peninsula have advanced closer to the positions of the Liberation Tigers and taken up positions well inside the minimum separation distance stipulated in the ceasefire agreement, according to complaints received by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Tamil press reports said this week.
Full story >>

Youth found shot dead

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 22:52 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri acting Magistrate A.Premashankar Friday ordered an investigation to the unexplained death of a Tamil youth whose body with was recovered with gunshot injuries Thursday evening from a paddy field close to the forward defense line of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp at Eluthumadduval, Thenamaradchchi in Jaffna district.
Full story >>

Muslim extremists attack Minister’s house

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 15:15 GMT]
A large mob of Muslims led by Islamic extremists attacked and demolished the home of Sri Lanka’s Deputy Minister for Fisheries, Mr. Mohideen Abdul Cader, Friday afternoon after prayers at a local mosque in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa. The attackers removed weapons of the Minister’s security unit that were in his home, Police sources in the eastern town said. The extremists had railed Mr. Cader after the Friday’s Jummah prayers for not backing their cause and had incited the crowds at the mosque to deal him justice. Meanwhile, another mob led by the Islamic extremists set fire to a local government body’s office in the town’s Tamil quarter.
Full story >>

Tamil journalists condemn attack on colleague

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 June 2002, 11:02 GMT]
Tamil journalists Friday slammed the attack by an unidentified group on the residence of a Tamil journalist who had named in a recent report, an extremist Muslim group as behind recent communal violence in the Mutur area of Trincomalee. "We strongly condemn the attack on the house of Mr.Satchivanandam on Wednesday morning," said a statement issued by the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA).
Full story >>

13 injured in attacks by Islamic extremists

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:56 GMT]
Thirteen Tamil civilians were wounded and one killed in attacks by armed persons suspected to be members of an extremist Islamic group in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa Thursday. Islamic extremists wounded four Tamils, one seriously, in a grenade attack in the morning and killed one and wounded nine hours after the Police clamped curfew Thursday afternoon to quell the violence. Ten Tamil women were abducted by the extremists in Oddamaavadi near Valaichenai, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA fishing ban despite Colombo promise

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 14:28 GMT]
A Sri Lanka army imposed ban on fishing in the southeastern parts of the Jaffna lagoon has driven hundred and ninety fishing families to destitution, a spokesman for the Federation of Northern Province Fisheries Co-op Societies said Saturday. None of the families receive relief from the Sri Lankan government, the spokesman said. Colombo promised to remove restrictions on fishing in the northeast ninety days after signing the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers in February this year.
Full story >>

Thousands march against Jaffna paramilitary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 June 2002, 11:31 GMT]
More than eight thousand people took part in a protest march and public rally in Kayts in Jaffna Thursday against the activities of a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lanka Navy in the islands off the northern peninsula. The protestors shouted slogans denouncing the paramilitary group, a close ally of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga, and condemning the attack on LTTE political activists in Kayts on 20 June. The organisers of the march and rally said that cadres of the paramilitary had threatened the public in Kayts Wednesday night to prevent them from participating in the protest.
Full story >>

'Torture continues despite stringent laws' -HRC co-ordinator

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 18:57 GMT]
"Almost in every household in the Trincomalee district there would be a complaint of disappearance. Torture still continues in the island although necessary legislation has been enacted to end this humanrights violation against the humanity," said Ms V.Mathiaparanam, Co-coordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka in Trincomalee at a one-day seminar held Wednesday.
Full story >>

Islamic extremists attack Mutur journalist's home

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 June 2002, 11:36 GMT]
Armed persons said to be members of an extremist Islamic militant group attacked the home of Tamil journalist, Mr. P. Satsivanantham, in Mutur town Wednesday afternoon, causing considerable damage to equipment and property, Sri Lanka Police sources said. Hundreds of Tamils in Mutur sought refuge in the local Church as armed gangs of an Islamic group calling itself 'Osama Front' went on rampage through the eastern town Wednesday morning, attacking houses in the Tamil neighbourhoods of the eastern town.
Full story >>

Mutur town under curfew after clashes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 June 2002, 14:27 GMT]
(News Feature) Mutur town in the Trincomalee district has been put under night curfew from 12 noon Tuesday till Wednesday morning following clashes between Muslims and Tamils which ended in several injured on both sides, police sources said. Five people have been admitted to the Trincomalee hospital and two are said to be in critical condition, medical sources said.
Full story >>

US urges ceasefire implementation followed by talks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 07:58 GMT]
(News Feature) The United States' Ambassador to Sri Lanka said his government urges a negotiated settlement to the island's ethnic conflict and said the Tamil people have "legitimate grievances about the way that they have been treated in this country." Speaking to The Sunday Leader, Mr. Ashley Wills said: "We agree with [Sri Lanka's policy of talking to the LTTE], and that we don't see a military solution to the conflict. We do see a political solution." Calling on the LTTE to renounce its armed struggle, the Ambassador expressed confidence the LTTE wanted to participate in talks.
Full story >>

Navy seeks safe keys

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:29 GMT]
The Commander of Sri Lanka Navy in the islands off the Jaffna coast has ordered all cooperative stores, government departments and offices in the area to hand over a copy of the keys to their safes, sources said.
Full story >>

Independent probe into Velanai assault - SLMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 June 2002, 01:18 GMT]
The head of the international ceasefire monitors in Sri Lanka, Major General Trond Furuhovde, has called on the government to appoint an independent commission into the assault of two members of the LTTE's political section in Velanai village on the Jaffna island of Kayts. “In addition to this, the Army, Navy, Police and LTTE will each do a separate thorough investigation on the alleged assault,” the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said in a statement Saturday. The SLMM also said it would establish a permanent presence in the islands.
Full story >>

Island attack said test for Colombo's bona fides

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 June 2002, 16:51 GMT]
Mr. Pulithevan, a senior official of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, told a conference attended by the Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, Major General Sarath Fonseka, Vice Admiral Mohan Wijewickrema of the Sri Lanka Navy, Mr. Kirthie Gajanayake, Deputy Inspector General of the Sri Lanka Police and the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd) Trond Furuhovde in Jaffna Saturday that a full inquiry should be held on the attack on Mr. Semmanan, the head of the LTTE's political division for the islands off Jaffna, and that the culprits be brought to book if Colombo is serious about stabilizing the island's peace process.
Full story >>

LTTE blames SLN for sabotaging peace efforts

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 22:35 GMT]
The Jaffna district political unit of the Liberation Tigers Friday issued a statement condemning the brutal attack carried out jointly by the Sri Lanka Navy and the para military group Eelam People's Democratic Party.
Full story >>

'Velanai attack an attempt to derail peace process' - TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 22:34 GMT]
"The Tamil National Alliance views the Velanai attack on Liberation Tigers political activists by the Sri Lanka Navy and some men wearing masks as an attempt to derail the peace process and to disrupt the implementation of the ceasefire agreement," said TNA parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan in a statement issued Friday night.
Full story >>