Ex-EPDP cadre makes confession on journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:56 GMT]
The confession of an ex-member of the paramilitary group EPDP to the Jaffna Magistrate, Thursday, may throw fresh light on the investigation into the murder of journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, legal sources in the north said.
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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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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.
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EPDP snubs official inquiry

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 June 2002, 02:42 GMT]
A Tamil paramilitary organisation whose armed cadres are accused of assaulting senior political cadres of the Liberation Tigers snubbed a request by a Sri Lankan government board to send representatives to an inquiry into the incident, press reports said Saturday. Cadres of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) along with army and naval personnel are accused of assaulting the LTTE’s top political cadre in the islets of the Jaffna and one his team members, on June 21.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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Paramilitary, Navy assault LTTE political worker

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 12:01 GMT]
A group of armed persons suspected to be troopers of the Sri Lanka Navy and cadres of a paramilitary group working with it in the islands off Jaffna assaulted and attempted to abduct the head of the Liberation Tigers' political division in Kayts, Mr.Semmanan, Thursday night, LTTE sources in Jaffna said. The armed persons had attempted to force Mr. Semmanan into a vehicle at the 'Bus Company' near the Velanai junction Thursday night around 9.15 p.m.
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Sri Lanka to expand paramilitary auxiliaries

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 June 2002, 10:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka's government said this week that paramilitary forces working alongside the military in the eastern province are to be expanded. The home guards will be given additional training and the force will be expanded from its current strength of 23,000 members, Interior Minister John Amaratunga said Monday.
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Tigers begin political work in Delft

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 June 2002, 19:56 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday entered the islet of Delft in the Jaffna district for political work. A large number of residents gathered to receive the Tiger cadres, who were led by the head of the LTTE's political section in Delft, Mr.Kannan.
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Tigers start political work in Jaffna islands

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 June 2002, 20:32 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers began political work in the islands of Jaffna Monday amid objections and hindrances by the Sri Lanka Navy. They were delayed at Allaipitti, the main entry point to the islands when the Sri Lanka Navy objected to the LTTE's women fighters wearing belts and refused to let them pass. The public welcomed the Tigers near the entry point when the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission resolved the issue.
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Jaffna journalists said facing 'calculated discrimination'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 June 2002, 18:18 GMT]
"Journalists in Jaffna do not have the same rights and privileges that their colleagues enjoy in the south. None of the governments that came to power in Colombo bothered to look into the grievances and problems we face here. We feel that the discrimination against us is calculated. In this context I would like to draw your attention to the tardy pace of the investigations into the dastardly murder of our colleague Mylvaganam Nimalarajan. This wouldn't have been the case if he had been a journalist in the south," said Velupillai Thavachelvam, the President of the Jaffna Journalists' Association, speaking at a conference Saturday called by Sri Lanka's media minister, Mr. Imtiaz Bakeer Makkar who is on a visit to the northern peninsula this weekend.
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Navy builds Karampon base

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 June 2002, 10:27 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Navy is constructing a new base in Karampon, Kayts, near the Kannaki Amman landing point, a central location from where boat services are conducted for people traveling to Analaitivu, Eluvaitivu, Nainativu and other islands, the Jaffna based daily Uthayan reported on Tuesday.
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Jaffna court seeks EPDP's weapons list

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 June 2002, 12:26 GMT]
The Jaffna magistrate Mr. R. T Vignarajah Friday directed the Sri Lanka Police to serve notice on the Eelam People's Democratic Party's (EPDP) deputy organiser for Jaffna, Mr. K. Manipallavarajan, to appear in court on Monday, 10 May with the list of weapons the paramilitary group had in its possession when the journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, was murdered. Mr. Nimalarajan, Jaffna correspondent for the BBC, the Tamil daily, Virakesari and the TamilNet was killed at his home on 19 October 2000 by gunmen suspected to be members of the EPDP, a key ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga.
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"Rules for islands humiliating, wont enter" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 May 2002, 21:43 GMT]
"We will not enter the islands of Jaffna in compliance with the conditions that the Sri Lanka Navy has imposed on us now. The Navy's action is aimed at further subverting the peace process and creating a fear psychosis among the people of the islands," said Mr. Ilamparithi, the head of the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, responding Thursday to the 12 conditions stipulated by the Sri Lanka Navy for allowing his colleagues to engage in political work in the islands of the northern peninsula.
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Prisons check disappoints missing youths' parents

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 May 2002, 16:38 GMT]
The Missing Person's Guardian Association (MPGA) of Jaffna said Thursday after visiting Sri Lankan government prisons outside the northern peninsula that it would launch fresh protests to demand that Colombo investigate the fate of more than 600 youth who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1997-96.
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Paramilitaries blamed for UNP candidates murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 May 2002, 00:58 GMT]
Members of a Tamil paramilitary group working alongside the Sri Lanka Army had shot and fatally wounded Mr.Thambiraja Jeyakumar, a United National Party candidate, during last December's parliamentary elections, an inquiry learnt Thursday. The Batticaloa Magistrate ordered that the firearms and ammunition recovered from those suspected of involvement in the murder should be sent to the Government Analyst.
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Tigers object to COMNORTH declaration

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 April 2002, 05:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have objected to the Northern Navy Commander declaring the islands off the Jaffna peninsula as military zones. The LTTE has sent its objection in writing to the Sri Lanka Peace Monitoring Mission's (SLMM) office in Kilinochchi, sources in the Vanni said Tuesday.
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Nainativu residents protest military restrictions

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 April 2002, 22:57 GMT]
Residents of Nainativu, an islet in the Jaffna peninsula, are struggling without a bus service as the Sri Lanka Navy has banned any vehicle movement along the main road where the Naga Vihare Buddhist temple is situated. A bus delivered to Nainativu has been parked unused for over a month due to this ban, residents said.
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Paramilitaries handover weapons partly

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 March 2002, 20:50 GMT]
Tamil paramilitary groups operating with the Sri Lanka army began handing over a section of the weapons in their possession from Sunday in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa. The EPDP, a close ally of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, turned in the largest number of weapons to the SLA on Sunday, including mortars and Rocket Propelled Grenades. Addressing the function to mark the handing over of weapons by the EPDP Sunday, Sri Lanka's Security Forces Commander for Jaffna said that the group had rendered yeoman service to the army to fight the war in the north.
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