LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                28. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE 
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM
                                           
COLONISATION OF ACQUIRED NORTHERN TAMIL LANDS UNDERWAY
	Recently captured Tamil lands in the north are undergoing the
	well-established pattern of 'Sinhalisation'. Sri Lanka's Sinhala
	armed forces first changed the name of the Tamil town of
	Parayanalamkulam (on the recently captured Vavuniya-Mannar road)
	to the Sinhala name "Sapumalpura" following the Edibala military
	operation. True to tradition a Sinhala military camp was
	established nearby and, now, Sinhalese colonists are reportedly
	arriving. Soon, "official" history books will designate the town
	as part of the traditional homelands of the Sinhalese, as has
	been the case with all land areas taken from the Tamils since
	Independence. The forced conversion of the island into a "Sinhala
	territory" in which Tamils are 'assimmilated' into the Sinhala
	nation (and their national status forever obscured) is the
	underlying project of this government. This explains the
	callousness with which these military operations are being
	conducted at the expense of half a million Tamil displacements
	and acres of the Tamil population's finest vegetation. This
	latest Sinhala colonisation attempt - if nothing else - should be
	an eye-opener that there is not any measure of a desire to
	"liberate" Tamils by Sri Lanka's military operations. The Sinhala
	nation, rather, is engaged in an intricate programme of
	expansionism into Tamil territory, with the unwitting approval of
	many in the international community. This is why it is correct to
	refer to Sri Lanka's war as a "war on Tamils".
	
PARENTS OF JAFFNA'S "DISAPPEARED" REJECT A MILITARY ENQUIRY
	Furious Tamil relatives of Jaffna's 700 recently-disappeared
	people have refused to co-operate with a commission of enquiry
	which the government has handed to senior military officials. The
	move to appoint military officials to conduct the enquiry comes
	as an affront to the families, who have been clamouring for an
	independent enquiry into the disappearances of their loved ones.
	The 700 missing Tamils, all of whom disappeared since the
	occupation of Jaffna by Sri Lanka's exclusively Sinhala military,
	were mostly young people, both male and female. Ten were school
	girls. The horrendous plight of these families is mostly kept
	under wraps by the Sri Lankan government which has blocked all
	outside media contact with the peninsula. It was only due to the
	hard campaigning of these families that the government, to avoid
	embarrasment, conceded to an enquiry at all. But its decision to
	appoint senior military officials to the board - when the
	perpetrators of these crimes are themselves Sinhala military
	personnel - has added insult to injury. It is clearly an attempt,
	the families say, to brush the whole issue under the carpet
	quickly. An independent enquiry into the staggering 700
	disappearances would in any civilised country be regarded a basic
	human right. But Sri Lanka's official behaviour on this occasion
	demostrates once again the status of Tamils in the country.
	
TAMIL HOUSEWIFE SHOT IN BATTICALOA
	Sinhala soldiers have shot and wounded a young Tamil woman while
	she was cleaning her house. The soldiers from Kamuraumoolai army
	camp fired randomly at Tamil houses from the street in a typical
	show aimed at frightening residents. The 24-year old woman is
	still in a "dangerous" condition in Batticaloa hospital.
	
JAFFNA ARMY ORDERS RESIDENTS TO DISPLAY PHOTOS OUTSIDE HOUSE
	Tamil residents in Jaffna are under army orders to hang photos of
	all family members at the front of their houses. Sri Lanka says
	Jaffna has been liberated by Sinhala forces.
	
6 TAMIL BUS PASSENGERS ARRESTED
	Six Tamil travellers in a bus going from Batticaloa to Colombo
	have been arrested at Kelani bus stop by Sinhala police. The
	police ordered the bus to halt and told all the Tamil passengers
	to dismount. Six were arbitrarily hand-picked and marched away.
	This occured last Wednesday. None of those taken have been seen
	again.
	
THREE SOLDIERS DIE
	LTTE forces killed 3 Sri Lankan troops and injured many more as a
	contingent of Sri Lanka's occupation forces tried to advance to
	Puliyankulam. The attack took place one kilometre from the town.
	The LTTE lost one fighter.


Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road,
London E6 1BU, United Kingdom.  Tel:0181- 503 4294)