Military to conduct Jaffna elections

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Local government elections will be held in the Jaffna peninsula in January next year said Sri Lanka's deputy minister for defense, Gen.Anuruddha Ratwatte. He stated that the PA government is making arrangements for the elections with a view to creating a leadership for development work in the peninsula.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan army leaves its landmines in University grounds. New passports for Jaffna's troublesome citizens while its farmers face a new problem.
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Norwegian aid faces MoD hurdles

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Norway granted 520 million rupees to the Sri Lankan government to improve the standard of living and the economy of the Batticaloa district.The grant agreement was signed at the Sri Lankan government's treasury last evening (10 Oct).
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JVP resurgence in Yala?

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
An armed group set fire to fifteen buses and other vehicles in the Kadirgamam peoplised transport board last night.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Heavy fighting is taking place in the Vanni. The Jaffna satyagraha protests are to continue and several Tamil Nadu fishermen have been arrested allegedly for assisting the LTTE. A Sinhala paper says a Buddhist priest raped 4 teenagers.
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LTTE rolls back Sri Lankan advance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
In two days of heavy fighting, LTTE units have rolled back Sri Lankan army columns to their former positions in the Periyamadu region, just north of the Nedunkerni-Puliyankulam road. However, the Sri Lankan army claims its forces are 'consolidating' captured positions.
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US says LTTE engages in terrorism

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The US Secretary of State, under the authority provided by the Anti-terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996, with the concurrence of the US Attorney General and Secretary of the Treasury, has designated 30 armed groups as foreign terrorist organizations, including the LTTE.
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Tigers keep up Vanni attacks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The LTTE said today that they had surrounding Sri Lankan troops at Kara Patta Murippu who had been trapped when the rest of the 53rd SLA division had been forced back by LTTE counterattacks. Sources close to the army also said that the LTTE had launched a massive attack southeast of Kankarayan Kulam.
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Former President ordered assassination

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The commission of inquiry into the assassination of Lalith Athulathmudali, minister for National security in the UNP regime between 1984 and 87 has concluded that former UNP President Premadasa (1988-1993) was directly responsible for the killing.
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Crime being encouraged in Jaffna?

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Crime is on the increase in the Jaffna peninsula. A large shop in the Maththiya Maha Viththiyalayam road in the Nelliady town was robbed of several hundred thousand rupees and a large quantity of valuable goods last week.
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Kilinochchi unprecedented defeat -UNP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 1997, 22:51 GMT]
The United National Party's (UNP) Parliamentary group met today to discuss the military situation in the north and the government censorship. The meeting was chaired by the UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Tamil refugees in Trincomalee demand to be kept and moved together. Sri Lankan navy further restricts movements of people to islands off Jaffna. Meanwhile, Jaffna's crops are failing and the city's infrastructure, destroyed by Sri Lankan shelling, is in tatters.
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JVP seeks Tamil support

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna told the Sinhala press today that his 'party' was going to hold propaganda meetings in the main towns of the northeast to muster Tamil support for the group's campaign against the devolution package proposed by the PA regime. The JVP is a militant left wing Sinhala revolutionary group that led two bloody insurrections to capture state power.
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Jaffna tense after killing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Sources in Jaffna said today that the Jaffna town was quite tense today following the killing of the SLFP organizer on Friday night in a high security zone of the Sri Lankan armed forces.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
A PLOTE militant suspected of several murders is organising a satyagraha campaign to aid his election campaign and the LTTE have destroyed two SLA trucks at Omanthai.
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Sinhalese doctors quit over 'army vulnerability'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Fourteen Sinhalese doctors along with some of their Muslim colleagues working at the Mannar base hospital vacated their posts on Friday. On their way to Colombo, they reported to Sri Lankan military officials in Vavuniya that they were abandoning their posts due to a major threat from the Liberation Tigers which the Sri Lankan security forces were facing in the Mannar island, where the base hospital is located.
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TULF woos UNP over package

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The TULF met with Sri Lanka's United National Party today to discuss the PA government's devolution package. The TULF delegation went to the meeting with the intention of persuading the UNP leadership, ultimately to agree to the main critical portion of the PA's proposals.
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Wounded soldiers condemn Sri Lanka's war

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Speaking at a public meeting held in the Ampara town hall recently, Commander H.K Dayaratne, president of the association representing the permanently wounded soldiers of the Sri Lankan army, condemned Sinhala politicians for opportunistically seeking political advantage by carrying on with the war in the Tamil homelands.
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News In Brief

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan military is restricting the amount of food allowed into the islands off the Jaffna peninsula. In Trincomalee district, the LTTE has released 12 detainees and the Sri Lankan navy has arrested 98 Tamil fishermen - for fishing.
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Former Jaffna GA granted bail

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 1997, 23:59 GMT]
Legal sources in Colombo said yesterday that Mr. Chellaiah Pathmanathan, the former Government Agent (GA) for Jaffna had been granted bail by the Sri Lankan government's attorney general. Following a bail application by Mr. Pathmanathan's lawyer, the Colombo Fort magistrate directed that he be produced in court today.
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