LTTE, SLA discuss Batticaloa incidents

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 January 2003, 18:32 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka army should supervise the activities of the paramilitary groups and keep them under control. Recent incidents in Batticaloa appear to be aimed at casting aspersions on us and confounding the peace process. Agent provocateurs have been attempting to derail the peace process in the east by instigating violence against communities in Valaichenai, Mutur and Akkaraipattu and by staging abduction dramas," said T.Ramesh, LTTE’s special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, at the conclusion of a discussion with the Sri Lankan armed forces near the eastern town.
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HRC hears police statements on Nelliady attack on picketers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 January 2003, 19:58 GMT]
The Jaffna office of the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka Thursday recorded the statements of two senior police officers regarding the violence that took place on December 10 at Nelliady in the Vadamarachchi division when several hundred people picketed the office of the paramilitary group Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) demanding their withdrawal from Jaffna district, sources said.
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Paramilitary group member shot in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 17:51 GMT]
M. Uthayakumar, 25, a member of the paramilitary Varathan group working closely with the Special Task Force, a paramilitary force of the Sri Lankan government, was shot today at 6:55 pm in Aaraiyampathy in the Batticaloa district, and is admitted at the Batticaloa hospital where he is undergoing emergency surgery and in critical condition, sources in Batticaloa said.


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Fishermen demand removal of Kaluwankerni SLA camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 December 2002, 17:52 GMT]
The Fishermen's union of Kaluwankerni, a village located 24 km northeast of Batticaloa town, has demanded that the Sri Lankan Army encamped at the ice production factory at the village be withdrawn, in a letter to the Sri Lankan Armed Forces officers, sources in Batticaloa said.
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EPDP, PLOTE, EPRLF meet SLA officers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 December 2002, 20:38 GMT]
The paramilitary EPDP, PLOTE and EPRLF(V) groups met with officers of the Sri Lanka armed forces at the headquarters of the 23-3 brigade of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Batticaloa today to discuss their own security, sources said.
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LTTE police stations 'not a new phenomena' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 December 2002, 15:26 GMT]
The LTTE's Police and law and order systems would not extend into areas controlled by the Sri Lankan government while continuing to maintain law and order in Tiger-controlled areas, Mr. Anton Balasingham, the movement's Chief Negotiator and political advisor told reporters in Oslo Tuesday. He was speaking at a press conference held during lunch on the second day of the third round of peace talks between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government.
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Thenmaradchi EPDP office attacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 November 2002, 16:51 GMT]
The Thenmaradchi office of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) located at Nunavil east in the Jaffna district was attacked by unidentified men around mid night Wednesday, police sources said.
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Protests against EPDP presence in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 November 2002, 19:33 GMT]
All commercial, judicial, governmental and transport activities in the Jaffna district came to a standstill Wednesday for about two hours starting 8.30 a.m. in support of the demand of the people of Delft that the members of the paramilitary Eelam People Democratic party (EPDP) be withdrawn from their village immediately.
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EPDP return to Delft draws protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 November 2002, 20:42 GMT]
Forty cadres of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) landed on the island of Delft, Saturday, travelling in a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) craft. The people of the Delft immediately lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna opposing the presence of EPDP cadres.
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SLA asked for EPDP weapons over journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 November 2002, 19:13 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Monday directed the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army to hand over to court all firearms received from the paramilitary group EPDP under the provisions of the Ceasefire Agreement between the Liberation Tigers and Colombo to identify the weapon allegedly used for murdering journalist Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan on 19th October 2000.
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‘Unmask political forces behind staged abduction’- Nehru

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 October 2002, 16:22 GMT]
The Amparai district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. A. Chandra Nehru asked the secretary to Sri Lanka’s Interior Ministry to take all possible steps unravel the mystery and identify the political forces behind the alleged ‘abduction’ of the Muslim youth who was found in his home Friday.


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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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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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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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EPDP knifes shopkeeper, Delft tense

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 October 2002, 12:04 GMT]
Tension prevailed in Delft (Neduntheevu) Sunday as locals prevented a paramilitary group working with the Sri Lanka army and Navy from landing on the island southwest of Jaffna. Angry islanders smashed the paramilitary’s office in Delft and set fire to office furniture after armed members of the group knifed a local shopkeeper during an altercation Saturday night. The islanders stoned a boat carrying the paramilitary’s cadres that had tried to go ashore Sunday morning.
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Black September remembrance in Batticaloa university

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 September 2002, 21:53 GMT]
Batticaloa marked the beginning of Black September Thursday with a largely attended function at the Eastern University in Vantharumoolai on the 12th anniversary of the massacre of 174 refugees who had sought asylum on the campus during Sri Lanka army operations in the area in 1990.
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Police to search EPDP offices

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 August 2002, 16:33 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Tuesday allowed an application by the Police to search two offices in Jaffna of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), in connection with the murder two years ago of journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan.
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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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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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