Four LTTE boats sunk - Navy

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 April 2001, 10:37 GMT]
Gunboats of the Sri Lanka Navy intercepted and attacked a Sea Tiger supply convoy of the Mullaitivu coast Friday morning and a fierce battle ensued in which four LTTE boats were sunk, military officials said.
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SLN, Sea Tigers clash off Mullaithivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 April 2001, 16:47 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Navy gun boat was damaged and seven sailors were wounded in a sea battle between the Sea Tigers and the Navy off the coast of Chaalai in north-east of the island in the early hours of Monday, military sources said. Voice of Tigers radio said the fighting erupted when the SLN crafts engaged Sea Tiger boats off the coast of Mullaithivu around 1.45 a.m.
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Norway Ambassador, Thamil Chelvan hold talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2001, 16:17 GMT]
Norway’s Ambassador in Sri Lanka Jan Westborg and an official of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangland held discussions with Mr. S. Thamil Chelvan, the leader of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, at Pallamadu in the Vanni this afternoon from 4 p.m., Voice of Tigers said in its night news broadcast Friday. The radio did not comment on the content or nature of the discussions between Norway’s Ambassador and Mr. Thamil Chelvan.
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One Dvora captured, weapons stripped - VOT

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 March 2001, 17:07 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers (VOT) said in its night news broadcast Wednesday that a battle erupted in mid sea when the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) attacked patrol craft of the Sea Tigers off the coast of Mullaithivu this morning. The Sea Tigers counter attacked, sinking one Dvora Fast Attack Craft and capturing another, the radio said. The Sea Tigers stripped the captured FAC of a 23 mm cannon, a 20 mm cannon, two 40 mm grenade launchers, two 50 calibre heavy machine guns etc., and sank the vessel, according to the VOT. Two Dvora’s in the SLN flotilla were damaged in the sea battle, the radio said.
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Lawyers slam Emergency, PTA wrongs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 March 2001, 17:30 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) "The war and emergency cannot be excuses for completely denying all the rights of citizens. Human rights activists who speak of the limits of the government's power are looked upon as enemies of the state", said Mr. V.TThamilmaran, senior lecturer in law at the University of Colombo, addressing a two-day seminar on human rights education in Trincomalee Sunday. "Persons arrested and detained under the Emergency Regulations are remanded few months later by the Trincomalee courts under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, on applications made by the Police. Is this not a violation of human rights? Is it not contrary to the law?" asked Mr. Arumugam Jegasothy, President of the Trincomalee Bar Association, in his inaugural address Saturday.
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Fifteen Batticaloa undergraduates's lives at risk -union

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 March 2001, 17:29 GMT]
The students' union of the Eastern University in Batticaloa said Friday that it fears for the safety and lives of the undergraduates who were involved in organizing the Pongu Thamil program urging peace and expressing the political aspiration of the Tamil people. In a statement issued Friday evening the union said the lives of 15 students are at risk and appealed to the international community and human rights organizations that they face a threat from the army and paramilitaries. The statement said that the Pongu Thamil is a democratic, free and peaceful expression of the deepest political desires of the Tamil people and students.
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Students condemn Batticaloa Brigadier's comments

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2001, 11:56 GMT]
Undergraduates of the Eastern University demonstrated Tuesday condemning the statement of the Sri Lanka army's Batticaloa brigade commander that their 'Pongu Thamil' program had been organised by the Liberation Tigers. Col. V.L.R Anthonis, the SLA commander for Batticaloa, charged Monday at a meeting for local journalists and school principals that the Liberation Tigers had organised the 'Pongu Thamil' rally by students and teachers of the Eastern University on 20 February. .
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Media helps us stay on track- Col. Anthonis

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2001, 23:36 GMT]
The condition of education in the north and east was discussed by the Sri Lanka army at its headquarters in Colombo said Colonel V.L Rohan Anthonis, the commander of the 23-3 brigade in Batticaloa, addressing a meeting with local journalists and school principals Monday. He emphasised that students should not take part in anti-government activities. "We want to make sure we are on the correct track" officer said, speaking about the importance of monitoring the media. Col. Anthonis, a former cricketer from St. Thomas' College, the island's most prestigious private school for boys, claimed that he and his staff look up the press daily to check whether army has wronged anyone in Batticaloa.
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Poster taunts SLA for massacre apology

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 February 2001, 07:56 GMT]
A poster showing a Sri Lanka army soldier shedding tears over a heap of skulls with the caption "the army repents the Batticaloa massacres for the first time" appeared Sunday morning in the heart of Batticaloa town's high security zone.
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Eastern Tamil protestors demand self-determination

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 February 2001, 23:40 GMT]
Eastern University Community, concluding 'Pongu Thamil' (Tamil Upsurge) programme on Tuesday declared that a solution to the island's ethnic conflict should recognise the Tamil people's right to self-determination, their traditional homeland and their distinct national identity. Until then the Tamil people would continue their agitation vigorously. More than three thousand students, staff and people took part in the event at the Eastern University in Batticaloa.
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Top LTTE official escapes ambush

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 February 2001, 19:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army commandos Monday ambushed senior LTTE officials as they were leaving after meeting an inter-religious peace group at Madhu in the Vanni, sources said. The LTTE officials' vehicle was caught in a claymore blast which badly damaged it, but the occupants escaped unhurt, the sources said.
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Trincomalee students boycott classes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 February 2001, 12:40 GMT]
Tamil students in Trincomalee town boycotted their classes Tuesday in support of the 'Pongu Thaml' (Tamil Upsurge) program at the Eastern University in Batticaloa. An effigy of Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was set on fire by the students at the conclusion of the rally.
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'Pongu Thamil' draws thousands in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 February 2001, 05:07 GMT]
More than three thousand students, staff and people took part in the 'Pongu Thamil' (Tamil Upsurge) program Tuesday at the Eastern University in Batticaloa. An effigy of Sri Lanka Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was hung near the campus entrance. Hundreds of people and school children from nearby villages and towns began arriving at the University from early morning. The program began at 9.31 a.m. with the lighting of a flame aloft a pedestal near the stage.
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'Pongu' Tamil continues in East

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 February 2001, 20:50 GMT]
The Independent Students Union in Batticaloa has called on pupils and teachers to boycott schools and take part in 'Pongu Thamil' (Tamil Upsurge) programmes scheduled to be held at the Eastern University campus on Tuesday. Tuesday's event, organised by the Eastern University community and more than 50 non-governmental organisations, will begin at 9 a.m by lighting the 'freedom- flame', organizers said.
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SLA exhorts against memorandum, arrests two

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 February 2001, 09:29 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army exhorted the people of Jaffna over loud hailers Saturday not to put their signatures on the memorandum by students of the Jaffna University urging the British government not to ban the Liberation Tigers and stymie the peace process in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, the SLA arrested two Jaffna University students who were collecting signatures for the memorandum at Navindil, near Vathiri junction, 23 kilometres northeast of Jaffna, around 10.30 a.m. Saturday morning. The two students have been taken to the Udupiddy SLA camp for interrogation, a University official said.
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Demonstration against British ban

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 February 2001, 12:53 GMT]
A big demonstration was held in Kokkadichcholai in the Batticaloa district on Friday urging the British government not to proscribe the Liberation Tigers under the Terrorism Act and demanding the Sri Lankan government to begin negotiations with the Tigers. The protesters also burnt effigies of Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga, Prime MinisterRatansiri Wickremanayake, Deputy Defence Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and Foreign Minister Luxman Kadirgamar said sources.
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Court provides language reprieve to Tamil defendants

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 February 2001, 21:19 GMT]
The Trincomalee Magistrate on Wednesday instructed the Police to file plaints and issue summons in Tamil language in cases filed against Tamil speaking people. Mr.S.Thiagendran, Magistrate and Additional District Judge made this order when an Attorney-at-Law pointed out to him that his Tamil client had received summons in Sinhala language, contrary to the Section 44 (2) of the Criminal Procedure Act of 1979.
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Jaffna, Batticaloa students lobby against UK ban

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 February 2001, 15:23 GMT]
Jaffna university students have organised a signature-campaign to urge the British Government not to proscribe the Liberation Tigers under its new anti-terrorism legislature, said student sources. The campaign, which began on Friday, is a part of 'Pongu Thamil' (Tamil Upsurge), the sources said.
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Batticaloa University appeals over possible UK ban

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 February 2001, 12:00 GMT]
Hundreds of students, and members of the academic and non-academic staff of the Eastern University in Batticaloa picketed Thursday urging the British Government not proscribe the Liberation Tigers under the new Terrorism Act. The protest was also in support of the Tamil people's right to self determination, organisers said.
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"Right to life not guaranteed in constitution"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 January 2001, 05:10 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan constitution does not guarantee the right to life. Many human rights violations and murders are possible due to such loopholes in the constitution. The Sri Lankan government refused to sign an international convention that would have obliged it to act responsibly on the question of human rights violations and missing persons. It is the governmentís duty to explain the fate of persons reported missing. But it does not do anything. This is the reason why it is possible not to take any action to bring those responsible for murdering journalists to book" said V.T Thamilmaran, senior law lecturer at the University of Colombo Wednesday, addressing the 90 days remembrance meeting for slain Jaffna journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan in Colombo.
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