Helgesen talks on Sri Lanka at US Peace Institute

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 19:58 GMT]
In a public discussion at the United States Institute of Peace, located in 17th Street NW, in Washington D.C, Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Monday spoke on "Norway's Experience in Sri Lanka and Elsewhere: Lessons for Conflict Resolution."
Full story >>

Sri Lankan railway workers to launch 48-hour strike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 16:52 GMT]
The Railway Trade Unions' Federation (RTUF) has given notice to the Sri Lankan Railway Authority that about 18,000 members belonging to several trade unions would launch a 48-hour strike with effect from Tuesday midnight, putting forward three demands including a seventy five percent salary increase, railway department officials said.
Full story >>

SLA threatens to demolish refugee’s home

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Tuesday threatened to demolish the home of a family that had resettled in Valalai in the Valigamam Division of Jaffna, residents of the village said. On Monday the SLA ordered families in Valalai that had built brick houses to dismantle their homes immediately. Soldiers warned the family that refused to comply with the SLA’s order that its home would be demolished by Wednesday, residents said.
Full story >>

Anti-peace march reaches final stage

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 15:34 GMT]
The final leg of the five day protest march organized by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an umbrella group of Sinhala nationalist parties, against what it called the "division of the country" and the proposed establishment of an interim administration in the northeast province, is to start Wednesday morning from Kudawatte towards Lipton's Park in Colombo, organizers said.
Full story >>

UNICEF survey on Muttur zone children begins

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 13:56 GMT]
The third and final phase of the house-to- house survey conducted by the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) to identify non school going children and drop-outs for various reasons in the Trincomalee district was inaugurated Sunday at the Poonagar village in the Muttur education zone by the UNICEF Child Protection Officer, Ms. Christina Torsein, who is based in Trincomalee town, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE activists released on bail in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 04:38 GMT]
The Point Pedro Magistrate, Mr. K.Ariyanayagam, Monday allowed cash and surety bail to two activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when they were produced in court on a complaint of abducting a private vehicle and possessing pointed weapons on September 23, legal sources said.
Full story >>

SLA rejects IDP's resettlement in Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 04:20 GMT]
A conference held Sunday in Jaffna between the Sri Lanka Army, representatives of the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies in Jaffna (CHA-J) and some peoples' organizations ended without reaching a consensus on the question of resettlement of internally displaced persons (IDPs) in their lands that come under the high security zones (HSZ) in the peninsula, civil sources said.
Full story >>

SLA again stops work on NECORD project in VVT

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 18:12 GMT]
Vadamaradchi fishermen Monday began work on micro breakwater for mooring fishing boats and deepening boat-mooring space inside these in Valvettithurai (VVT), Inbaruty and Thumpalai coastal areas, defying the ban on the project by the Sri Lanka Army, and tension arose when the SLA rushed to the area, and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) had to intervene to keep the situation under control, sources said.
Full story >>

Bishop says hidden hand behind shrine demolition

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 18:09 GMT]
At an emergency meeting held Monday evening at the Mannar District Secretariat following the demolition in the morning of the Catholic shrine in Erukkalampiddi, a Muslim village in the western part of the Mannar district, Muslims and Catholics agreed to amicably settle the shrine demolition issue after three hours of deliberations, sources said.
Full story >>

Fasting campaign to demand inquiry into Nimalarajan’s murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 17:24 GMT]
A fasting campaign is to be held by the Jaffna Journalists’ Alliance (JJA) in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat to remember the slain journalist, Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who was killed three years ago in Jaffna, and to call for a commission of inquiry into his murder, the Jaffna-based Tamil daily, Uthayan, said Monday.
Full story >>

Health sector strike called off

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 17:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Health Sector Trade Union Alliance Monday evening decided to temporarily suspend its thirteen-day-old strike when the Health Ministry issued a circular providing solutions to many of its demands, its spokesman Mr.Saman Ratnapriya said.
Full story >>

Catholic shrine demolished, Mannar tense

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 11:23 GMT]
Mannar town was tense Monday following the demolition of a catholic shrine in Erukkalampiddi, a Muslim village in the western part of the Mannar Island. Officials from the Mannar District Secretariat, the Liberation Tigers and officers from the Sri Lanka army and Police were engaged in talks to defuse the situation amid a sit in protest in the town by more than a thousand catholic fishermen from Pallimunai, a coastal suburb of Mannar town, who had built the shrine.
Full story >>

'Tamils disappointed by lack of normalcy' - ACTC leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 01:02 GMT]
”The people of Jaffna are a disappointed lot today even after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the United National Front Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," said the Jaffna district parliamentarian and President of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Mr.A.Vinayagamoorthy, at a seminar held in Trincomalee Sunday evening on the current political situation in the Northeast.
Full story >>

Career Center for Trinco youths opened

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 00:16 GMT]
The Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Sunday morning declared open the Career Guidance and Counseling Center of the Trincomalee Technical College, constructed with the assistance of the Tertiary Education Ministry of the Sri Lankan government, sources said.
Full story >>

Veteran Tamil activist in Trincomalee passes away

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 23:11 GMT]
Veteran Federal Party member and leading Hindu religious worker, Mr.Kanagarajah Muthiah, fondly called Muthiah Swamiyar, who had been staying in a hut opposite the Hindu pilgrim rest located in close proximity to the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram temple for more than thirty years, passed away at the age of 91 Saturday morning, sources said.
Full story >>

SLMM, LTTE meet focuses on strengthening CFA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 21:26 GMT]
Members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) lead by Maj. General Tryggve Tellefsen met with Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Wing S.P.Thamilchelvan and LTTE regional political leaders at the LTTE political head quarters in Kilinochchi Sunday between 11am and 2pm to discuss issues related to strengthening the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), sources in Vanni said.
Full story >>

SLN arrests poaching Indian fishermen in northern sea

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 21:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Sunday morning arrested seven Indian fishermen including two boatmen while poaching in the Sri Lanka territorial waters. They were taken to the navy installation in the Kankesanthurai port for questioning, police said.
Full story >>

Valvettithurai fishermen to defy SLA order

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 15:49 GMT]
The Fisheries Co-operative Society officials in Athikoviladi, Valvettithurai, Sunday said they would commence work Monday on micro breakwater for mooring fishing boats and deepening boat mooring space inside these, regardless of whether the Sri Lanka Army allows it. The SLA had Thursday stopped the fishermen from starting the work, fisheries sources said.
Full story >>

Women's gathering to be held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 14:41 GMT]
The leaders of different Women's Organizations in the Jaffna district are to assemble in Veerasingam Hall in Jaffna town this Thursday between 9am and 5pm to discuss pressing issues that affect women and address the urgent needs of women in the Northeast, sources in the Vanni said.
Full story >>

IDPs launch campaign demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 14:32 GMT]
The Valigamam Peoples’ Associations’ Consortium Sunday decided to launch agitation campaign in the Jaffna district demanding that the internally displaced families should be allowed to resettle in their lands which come under the high security zones of the government security forces, civil sources said.
Full story >>

Literary meet promotes Muslim Tamil relations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 12:19 GMT]
“A Tamil student would come every year to our house with a gift for my father when I was a little boy. He would seek my father’s blessings on the day of his father’s death anniversary. His esteem for my father’s Tamil scholarship was such that although he had many uncles he honored my father as his own. This is but an instance of the great and deep bond between Tamils and Muslims in the east”, said Mr. Jinnah Serifudeen, the well regarded poet speaking at a literary meet Sunday to promote Tamil Muslim relations in Kattankudy, near Batticaloa town.
Full story >>

Eleven Jaffna campus freshmen suspended

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 September 2003, 01:53 GMT]
Eleven first year students attached to the Arts and Commerce department of the University of Jaffna were suspended from attending lectures for allegedly bringing outsiders into the campus to attack senior students Friday night, local media reported.
Full story >>

SLMM, LTTE district political heads to meet in Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 19:10 GMT]
Members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and political heads of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from different districts of northeast province are scheduled to holdl talks at 10 a.m. Sunday at the peace secretariat in Killinochchi, SLMM sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil monthly from Trincomalee released

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 18:44 GMT]
LTTE's Trincomalee district women military wing leader Ms Thayalini released the first copy of the Trincomalee's new Tamil monthly magazine "KONAMARUTHAM (Gentle Breeze of Trinco)" to the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan Saturday at an event held at Trincomalee Town Hall.
Full story >>

Failure to devolve power will lead to war, secession - Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 15:08 GMT]
"In a multi-ethnic society devolution of powers is an essential pre-requisite to strengthen local administrations. Secession is inevitable if ruling polities fail to recognize this fact. Sri Lanka has to urgently address this issue if its people are to live in peace and to prevent war breaking out," said Mr. S.B.Dissanayake, Samudri and Agriculure and Livestock Minister in the United National Front (UNF) Government when speaking at the Agricultural Conference held at the Devanayagam Co-opertive theater in Batticaloa, Saturday morning.
Full story >>

JVP, SLFP foot march begins from Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 13:13 GMT]
Leaders of sinhala nationalist marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Buddhist Monks and thousands of party activists, supporters joined together under the Patriotic National Movement banner today morning and started a five- day, 116 kilometers foot march from Kandy to Colombo as a protest against to the establishment of separate an interim administrative structure for the northeast province and United National Front (UNF) government.
Full story >>

Ex-EPRLF cadre shot dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 11:40 GMT]
Velupillai Yogendran, 39, a former member of the Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) was shot dead by unknown gunmen at 8pm Friday at Pandiruppu in Kalmunai area, local reports said.
Full story >>

British HC officials meet LTTE in Amparai

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 22:05 GMT]
A team of officials from the British High Commission (HC) in Sri Lanka, led by Ms. Margaret Tongue, the head of the Press and Public Affairs division at the HC, met with the Amparai district political leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the LTTE’s Akkaparipattu political secretariat Thursday, sources in Amparai said.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan health workers' strike enters tenth day

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 20:28 GMT]
The Health Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA)'s strike entered tenth day Friday as its spokesman, Ravi Kumudesh, announced that the alliance has totally rejected health ministry stand on the question of recruiting new casual and temporary workers to the health service, sources said.
Full story >>

A life as rough as coir

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 18:09 GMT]
Few would dare to make a living on Jaffna’s ‘forgotten coast.’ Layers of concertina, sentry points, fences, bunkers and watch towers seal the lagoon shore for about 12 kilometres between Koilakandy and Kilaly, southeast of the Jaffna town. But for the coir makers and fishermen who survive here, it is home – the waters and soil where their forbears made their livelihood for centuries.
Full story >>

TRO launches wind energy project in Kuchchaveli

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 17:17 GMT]
The Tamils' Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee district Thursday inaugurated a wind energy project in the Kuchchaveli village, 34 km north of Trincomalee town, which has not been supplied with electricity from the national grid even after the country gained political independence, sources said.
Full story >>

Trincomalee district commemorates Thileepan

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 16:25 GMT]
The sixteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was observed in the Trincomalee district on Friday, with token fasting and public meetings and cultural events held in several places, including Sampur in Muttur east, Eachchilampathu, Tampalakamam, Nilaveli and Kumburupiddy and other Tamil villages, sources said.
Full story >>

SLMM, LTTE meet in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 11:00 GMT]
Members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and officers of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met at the LTTE Batticaloa office at 6pm Thursday to discuss matters related to improving relationship between communities, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Jaffna shuts down as thousands honour martyr

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 08:19 GMT]
Jaffna came to a standstill Friday as thousands gathered at the Nallur Temple grounds to observe the sixteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, the LTTE leader who fasted unto death in 1987 when the Indian army was in occupation of Jaffna and most parts of the northeast. Shops, offices and workplaces were closed to mark the final day of the weeklong remembrance.
Full story >>

Parliamentary debate on independent Muslim group in talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 02:15 GMT]
Muslim parliamentarians at a meeting held Wednesday agreed on the request by the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and Minister Mr.Rauff Hakim that a motion should be moved for a one day debate in parliament on the participation of Muslims as an independent group at the peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when the talks resume, sources said.
Full story >>

Schools complicate Valaiyiravu SLAF airport expansion plans

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 02:04 GMT]
High level officers from Colombo head quarters of Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) visited Valaiyiravu military airport in Batticaloa district yesterday to investigate the feasibility of expanding the airport while the two schools, Puthur Vigneswara Vidiyalayam and Valaiyiravu Methodist Vidiyalayam, remain located in close proximity to the perimeter of the airport, security sources said.
Full story >>

Edward Said dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 00:44 GMT]
Edward W Said, a Columbia University professor, literary critic and leading spokesman in the USA for the Palestinian cause, died last night at a New York hospital due to complications from leukemia he had since early 1990.
Full story >>

Hazing, clashes in Jaffna Campus injure freshmen

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 00:11 GMT]
Clashes which erupted between freshmen and Junior year students of the Jaffna University over a ragging incident Monday continued for the fourth day Thursday. Arts faculty freshman, Mr.P.Thanaraj of Kalmadu in Vavuniya, was injured in Thursday’s clash inside the premises of Jaffna Campus, police sources said.
Full story >>

British Embassy officials meet TNA's Amparai MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 21:33 GMT]
A team headed by the head of the Press and Public Affairs division at the British Embassy (High Commission) in Sri Lanka, Ms.Margaret Tongue, Wednesday met with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Amparai, Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandraneru, at his office in Amparai, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Madhu road opened for civilian use

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 19:28 GMT]
The Madhu road in Mannar district was opened Thursday for the use of over 13,000 villagers living in 11 villages around the historic Madhu church by the Sri Lanka Army after several years, with restrictions on the type of vehicles that can travel on the road, civil sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna Osmania College reopened

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 18:55 GMT]
The Jaffna Osmania College, closed in 1990 following the displacement of Muslims from the Jaffna district, was reopened Thursday with the participation of Mr.Kavianban, the Jaffna district education head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), education sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

SLA stops NECORD work in Valvettithurai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 16:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Thursday stopped an Asian Development Bank funded project to assist fishermen on Jaffna’s Vadamaradchi coast even though the fisheries societies had obtained permission for the project from the SLA, fisheries sources in Vadamaradchi said.
Full story >>

Special project to develop primary education in Muttur

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 16:38 GMT]
The North East Provincial Department of Education is to implement a special educational development programme for primary students in the Muttur education zone in the Trincomalee district from next year, said Provincial Director, Mr.S. Mahalingam.
Full story >>

'GOSL should listen to IDP’s demands' - Ezhilan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 15:11 GMT]
"Those who say that the Ceasefire has brought peace and all problems are solved should go to the refugee camps and see the refugees who cannot return to their homes because of the Sri Lanka Army’s occupation of their lands. Only then they will understand the plight of the internally displaced people (IDP) and the fairness of their demands," said Mr. S. Ezhilan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vavuniya, speaking at the Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya town Wednesday, sources said.
Full story >>

Ethnic Reconciliation Programme launched in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 02:31 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Development Association (TDDA), founded twenty years ago to provide relief to victims of 1983 violence in the district, Tuesday inaugurated an Inter Ethnic Reconciliation Programme (IERP)with the opening of a computer-training centre and a training hall with the assistance of the Canadian International Development Agency, sources said.
Full story >>

Pongu Thamil calls for IA with 'adequate' powers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 19:11 GMT]
At the Pongu Thamil event held in Vavuniya Wednesday, the participants made a declaration emphasizing Tamil people's aspirations, and said that to restore the people's normal life, an interim administration (IA) with adequate powers should be established. "The IA should include powers to deal with Land, Finance, Police and Judicial services," the declaration said.
Full story >>

Hospital strike enters eighth day, no solution in sight

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 18:40 GMT]
The Health Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA) strike in Sri Lanka entered its eighth day Wednesday with no solution in sight to the main demands as the Treasury committee has requested six weeks to study and submit recommendations to the salary anomalies proposals prepared by the health ministry sub-committee, Sri Lankan government sources said.
Full story >>

Pipe explosion kills mother and child in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 16:50 GMT]
A mother and her child were killed in Vavuniya Wednesday as a pipe exploded when another child was playing with the pipe at their home in Sekkadipilavu-Selvanagar on Vavuniya-Mannar road, 11 km west of Vavuniya town, sources said.
Full story >>

Thileepan's commemoration to conclude Friday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 16:08 GMT]
Elaborate arrangements are being made to observe the final day of the commeomration of the 16th anniversary of the death of Lt. Col.Thileepan throughout the Northeast province on Friday with a token fasting and cultural event depicting the freedom struggle of Tamils, sources said.
Full story >>

'War destroyed all infrastructure of Northeast'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 12:18 GMT]
The North East Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Ministry Secretary, Mr.S.Sivathasan, addressing the annual general meeting of the Trincomalee branch of the National Construction Association of Sri Lanka (NCASL) during the weekend, said the two-decades old war had destroyed all infrastructure facilities of the Northeast province.
Full story >>

Vavuniya Pongu Thamil festival draws thousands

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 11:44 GMT]
Thousands of Tamil men, women and students from all walks of life thronged the urban council grounds in Vavuniya Wednesday evening from five corners of the town to attend the Pongu Thamil festival meeting, sources said.
Full story >>

'Codbay harbor rehabilitation benefits big businessmen' - Fishery Society

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 10:17 GMT]
Representatives of fisheries co-operative societies in Trincomalee district complained at a conference held at Trincomalee Town Hall Monday that the rehabilitation of the Codbay fisheries harbour under the Asian Development Bank funded Eastern Province Coastal Community Development Project (EPCCDP) would only benefit the big migrant businessmen who use multi-day boats for fishing and not small fishermen who are natives of the district, sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna agrarian services said neglected by Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 08:43 GMT]
A farmer whose fields lie inside the Sri Lanka army’s high security zones in Jaffna loses up to 500,000 rupees (5250 USD) annually in terms of income and land depreciation, according to Mr. Balasubramaniam Ponnaiah, an agrarian services official in the northern peninsula. He said that Colombo didn’t allocate any funds at all for agricultural development in Jaffna since 1995. The Sri Lankan military has garrisoned about 27 percent of Jaffna’s arable lands.
Full story >>

Festival atmosphere marks Vavuniya Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 03:38 GMT]
"If we desire permanent peace let us negotiate a permanent solution to the conflict," said many of the yellow-red banners in the Pongu Thamil celebrations being held in a festival atmosphere in Vavuniya Wednesday, sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

UNICEF inaugurates survey on children in Kantalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 19:02 GMT]
The second phase of a house-to-house survey, conducted by the UNICEF to identify children who do not attend schools or who have dropped out, was inaugurated Sunday at Seruvila Vidiyalaya in the Kantalai education zone in the Trincomalee district, UNICEF sources said.
Full story >>

Resettlement allowance not paid to Thenmaradchchi IDPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 18:35 GMT]
Eighty percent of the resettled internally displaced persons(IDP) in Thenmaradchchi division in the Jaffna district have not been paid their resettlement allowance by the Sri Lankan government, divisional secretariat sources said.
Full story >>

Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya tomorrow

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 15:21 GMT]
The preparations for the Pongu Thamil (Tamil upsurge) event in Vavuniya have been completed, and the event will be held at the Vavuniya Urban Council grounds on Wednesday at 2 p.m. The theme of the event is, "We want to live in our own homes. The Sri Lanka Armed forces occupying our homes should go back to their homes. An interim administration with full authority should be created toward a permanent solution for permanent peace. We shall tell the world about our aspirations,” organizers of the event said.
Full story >>

Nine Indians smugglers, fishermen remanded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 13:35 GMT]
Nine fishermen and smugglers from India have been remanded by the Mannar magistrate’s court for smuggling refugees and explosives and for poaching in Sri Lanka’s maritime zone, legal sources in the northwestern town told TamilNet Tuesday.
Full story >>

Daily edition of Tamil paper launched in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 13:28 GMT]
Thamil Alai, the weekly newspaper published in Batticaloa, was launched as a daily from Monday. “We have started small but hope to soon become the main daily newspaper in the Batticaloa-Amparai region. One of our main aims is to strengthen and promote Tamil-Muslim amity. We also intend to focus on development issues,” said Mr. Pakkiaselvam Ariyanethiran who publishes the paper from Kokkoaddicholai, 15 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
Full story >>

SLA fails to release Thenmaradchchi fields for cultivation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 11:32 GMT]
Displaced farmers of Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district complained Tuesday that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has not released paddy fields yet as promised although the farmers have made necessary arrangements to plough and sow their fields, civil group sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE Eastern commanders visit Vanni to discuss IA proposals

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 11:15 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) military officers led by Senior Commander of the East, Col. Karuna departed by a special helicopter from Iluppaiyadichenai Sports Grounds to Vanni at 9am today to participate in discussions towards finalizing the LTTE's Interim Administration (IA) proposals to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL).
Full story >>

SLA disallows resettlement close to HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 10:53 GMT]
The Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka informed its headquarters in Colombo that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities are not in a position to allow internally displaced families to resettle in their own lands which are close to the High Security Zones (HSZ) in the Valigamam north of the Jaffna district, authoritative sources said.
Full story >>

Destruction of coconut trees continues despite MoU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 02:54 GMT]
Several owners who visited their coconut estates located in Thenmaradchchi division inside the high security zone in Jaffna district last week complained Monday that several hundred coconut trees that survived the war have been found felled and removed from the fenced compounds, civil group sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna students killed in SLAF bombing remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 September 2003, 16:22 GMT]
Hundreds of parents, teachers, students and well-wishers gathered Monday afternoon at the Puloly Roman Catholic School in the Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district to commemorate the 8th death anniversary of 40 people, including 26 students, who were killed on 22nd September 1995 in an aerial attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force bombers on the Nagarkovil Maha Vidiyalayam, education sources said.
Full story >>

International Aid groups meet LTTE in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 September 2003, 16:09 GMT]
A team of representatives of the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the United Nations Development Plan met with Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, head of the Political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, at the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Monday, sources in the Vanni said.
Full story >>

UNICEF launches programme on HIV/AIDS for NE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 September 2003, 07:08 GMT]
The UNICEF organized five-day training of trainers programme for a group of trainees on Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) on HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention among young people affected by the conflict in the northeast province concluded last week in Trincomalee. The trained resource personnel would begin their training programme in their respective areas in the province in the coming weeks to take forward the LSBE on HIV/AIDS at the grass root level organizations, UNICEF sources said.
Full story >>

SLA bans reconstruction of Point Pedro Post Office

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 September 2003, 01:23 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has ordered that the Point Pedro Post office located close to the 52-4 brigade headquarters of the SLA cannot be reconstructed, saying that it falls under the High Security Zone, sources in Point Pedro said.
Full story >>

Batticaloa weekly celebrates 25th publication

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 20:31 GMT]
The Eastern Journalists' Union organized a research conference Saturday at the Batticaloa Devanayagam Co-operative Arts Theatre to celebrate the 25th publication of 'Thamil Alai (Tamil Wave),' a weekly published from Kokadichcholai in Batticaloa district.
Full story >>

Jaffna fishermen wrestle with increased Navy harassment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 19:10 GMT]
Fisheries societies in Jaffna district Sunday complained to civil authorities that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers, alleging that they have been directed by Sri Lanka defense authorities to tighten security of the coastal areas in Jaffna town, have started harassing fishermen from Gurunagar, Pashaiyoor and Colombagam, sources said.
Full story >>

SLN arrests returning Sri Lankan Tamil refugees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 16:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy Saturday arrested 21 Sri Lankan Tamil refugees and 2 boatmen transporting them from Tamilnadu in South India to Mannar, and the Mannar Magistrate, Mr. N M.M.Abdulla, remanded the boatmen and directed the resettlement of the refugees, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Thileepan's death remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 02:09 GMT]
The commemoration of the death of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who fasted unto death in a campaign during September 15-26, 1987, is being observed fervently in all major towns in Jaffna, including in schools and Sri Lankan government offices, despite threats from the Sri Lanka Army, sources said.
Full story >>

First stage of final oral polio immunization held in NE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2003, 19:27 GMT]
The first stage of sub-national final oral Polio immunization programme in the northeast province with the assistance of UNICEF was held Saturday at several centres in the eight districts of the province inspite of the strike of the Health Sector Trade Unions Federation Alliance, provincial health ministry official said.
Full story >>

Muslim delegation meets Col. Karuna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2003, 12:18 GMT]
LTTE’s senior commander for the Batticaloa–Amparai District, Col. V. Karuna, Saturday had discussions with a delegation of Muslim community leaders and civil society activists at ‘Thenaham’ conference center in Karadiyanaaru, 24 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa. “The discussion was a further step in cementing and deepening the traditional bond between Tamils and Muslims in the east,” an LTTE official in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Conference on Eastern rural development held

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2003, 04:13 GMT]
A conference on rural development and progress for the Batticaloa district was held Thursday at 9:30 am at the Kannankuda Maha Vidyalayam, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Southern sports coaches in Jaffna return home

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 September 2003, 02:44 GMT]
Coaches engaged in training Jaffna sportspersons in preparation to the planned National Peace Sports Festival have now returned to their home stations in the south of the country as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has told the Sri Lankan authorities concerned that it could extend its co-operation to the event only after the resumption of the stalled peace talks, district secretariat sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna fishermen to boycott minister's Colombo conference

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 20:58 GMT]
Jaffna district fisheries societies Friday decided to boycott the conference summoned by the Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister, Mr.Mahinda Wijesekara, next week in Colombo. The conference has been summoned to discuss and find ways and means to solve the problems confronting the fishermen of the Jaffna district, fisheries sources said.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's AG suspends withdrawal of PTA cases

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 20:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Attorney General has directed all state counsels appearing in high courts in the country not to withdraw indictments filed under the prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) any more until they receive further direction in this regard, human rights sources said.
Full story >>

‘Claims of 13 camps after MoU totally unfounded’ -LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 19:29 GMT]
The Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col. Pathuman, and the district political head, Mr.Thilak, Friday jointly made an appeal to the Sinhalese and Tamil journalists in the Trincomalee district to inform the international community and people of the country that there was not an iota of truth in the allegation spread by anti-peace elements that the LTTE had constructed thirteen new camps in the government controlled areas in the district since the signing of the ceasefire agreement.
Full story >>

Canadian High Commissioner meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 17:58 GMT]
The Canadian Highcommissioner in Sri Lanka, Ms. Valerie Raymond, met with the Political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, at the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Friday, and encouraged the LTTE “to move forward steadfastly [in finding a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict] in spite of any obstacles that are usually expected in such protracted conflict resolutions,” sources said.
Full story >>

Vavuniya MP says SLA disrupts Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 17:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army in Vavuniya has beefed up its checkpoint outside the Pongu Thamil (Tamil Upsurge) office, and SLA personnel are checking and video taping those who visit the office. Such actions are intended to disrupt the Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya, said Mr.N.Sivashakthi Anandan, the Vanni district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, Thursday.
Full story >>

Karachi displaced given resettlement grants

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 15:08 GMT]
7130 of the displaced families from Karachi in Kilinochchi district who had applied for resettlement grants have been given financial assistance ranging from Rs. 25000 to Rs.3000, said Secretary of Karachi Pradeshiya Sabai, Pon.Nithyananthan.
Full story >>

SLA bars cafetaria in HSZ Cancer hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 14:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission for continued operation of the cafetaria run by the Tellipalai Multi-purpose co-operative society (MPCS) in Tellipalai Cancer Hospital located in the High Security Zone (HSZ), said S.Sivamaharajah, the president of the MPCS, Jaffna daily Uthayan reported.
Full story >>

Jaffna HSZ to remain - Marapone

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 01:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Defense Minister, Mr.Tilak Marapone, said Thursday that until a permanent solution to the ethnic conflict is found, no concrete decision could be taken regarding the removal of high security zones in the Jaffna district, political sources said.
Full story >>

Veteran sportsman Anandarajah dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 00:35 GMT]
Mr.J.S.N.Anandarajah, senior co-ordinator for the promotion of football under the Youth Development Programme in the North East province, passed away Monday night at a private nursing home in Colombo after a brief illness. His funeral was held Thursday at Kanatte cemetery in Colombo, attended by a large crowd, sources said.
Full story >>

Chandrika cancels meeting with Wickremesinghe, Helgesen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2003, 21:21 GMT]
Meeting between President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe did not take place Thursday as scheduled and Ms. Kumaratunge cancelled her meeting with the Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen and special envoy Mr. Erik Solheim which also scheduled for Thursday, Presidential Secretariat said in a press release said. .
Full story >>

Thai army completes de-mining training in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2003, 14:07 GMT]
A ten member team of the Royal Thai Army Thursday completed a three week special training in de-mining equipment handling for forty five personnel of the Humanitarian De-mining Unit of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in Kilinochchi. The Royal Thai army team leader Lt. Col. Suchart presented certificates to the HDU personnel who took part in the special training program.
Full story >>

Tamil wins Oslo municipal elections

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2003, 11:04 GMT]
Yogaraja Balasingham (Baskaran) contesting on the Labor party ticket became the first Tamil ever to win a seat in the municipal council elections for Oslo, Norway, sources in Norway said.
Full story >>

‘No time frame for restarting talks’ – Helgesen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2003, 08:46 GMT]
“We will not give any time frame for the possibility of restarting the talks. But as of mid October we expect to start planning resumption of talks”, said Mr. Vidar Helgesen, Norway’s Deputy Foreign Minister after discussions with the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political division, Mr. S.P Thamilchelvan, Thursday in Kilinochchi on the LTTE’s counter proposals for an Interim Administration for the northeast and the status of Sri Lanka’s eighteen month long ceasefire agreement.
Full story >>

Nagarkovil IDPs oppose relocation, demand resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 September 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Nagarkovil in Vadamaradchi east in the Jaffna district, who were displaced during the 1999 military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and are now living in a refugee camp close to the St.Lourdes Church in Point Pedro, are opposing the move by the Sri Lankan government to relocate them at a place called Punitha Nagar instead of resettling them in their own village, civil groups said Wednesday.
Full story >>

SL Defense Ministry to hold conference on Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 19:45 GMT]
The controversy over the resettlement of internally displaced people (IDP) in their lands and houses located in the high security zones in the Jaffna district is to be discussed at a high level conference scheduled to be held in Colombo at the Sri Lankan defence ministry office Thursday, security sources said.
Full story >>

Police bans Thileepan commemoration in Jaffna school

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 19:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Point Pedro in the Jaffna district Wednesday ordered the principal of Puloly Methodist Tamil Mixed School that he could not organize any event that is connected with the activities of LTTE in school premises without the permission of the police, civil sources said.
Full story >>

Mines prevent resettlement in 39 Mannar villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 17:23 GMT]
The Mannar district secretariat Wednesday said the internally displaced families in thirty nine villages in the district could not be resettled as the villages have still not been declared mine-free areas, sources in Mannar said.
Full story >>

Bhikku Front protests against IA for Northeast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s National Bhikku Front (NBF), an organization of Sinhalese Buddhist monks, Wednesday held a Satyagraha (non-violent demonstration) campaign in thirty major towns, protesting against the establishment of an interim administrative structure for the northeast province, which the NBF said would pave way for the division of the country, sources said.
Full story >>

Norwegian peace team arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 15:34 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen and special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim arrived in Colombo Wednesday around 9.30 a.m. The visiting Norwegian envoys are scheduled to meet the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, Wednesday night and will proceed to Kilinochchi to meet the leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Thursday, media sources said.
Full story >>

UNICEF's training on mine risk concludes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 13:47 GMT]
The integrated Training of Trainers under the UNICEF sponsored Mine Risk Education (MRE) programme, which commenced in April this year, concluded Tuesday at the Hotel Club Oceanic in Trincomalee, with the awarding of certificates to participants who are field officers of non-government organizations, the White Pigeon, Sarvodaya and Tamil Refugees Rehabilitation Organization in the northeast province, UNICEF sources said.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan hospital workers strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 11:29 GMT]
Thousands of workers excluding medical officers, nurses and pharmacists in the government hospitals in Sri Lanka began their strike Wednesday morning as talks held between the health ministry officials and leaders of the Health Sector Trade Unions' Alliance (HSTUA) Tuesday night failed to a reach a consensus on a demand for the removal of salary anomalies, government sources said.
Full story >>

Armed forces to cover for striking health workers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 11:00 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Health Minister Mr.P.Dayaratne Tuesday sought the assistance of Sri Lanka's three armed forces and the police to maintain uninterrupted health service in government hospitals through out the island to counter the strike threat by seventy five thousand strong Health Sector Trade Union Alliance demanding increase of salary and removal salary anomalies, government sources said.
Full story >>

Sports competitions mark women’s upsurge day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 08:26 GMT]
Sports competitions are being held in the Vanni among women’s brigades of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to mark the remembrance of 2nd Lieutenant Malathy, the first woman LTTE fighter to die, and the women’s upsurge day, sources in the Vanni said.
Full story >>

SLA, SLN firing exercises hamper fishing in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Jaffna district fisheries co-operative sources complained Tuesday that firing practices by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) along the coast of northern sea have rendered several areas dangerous for fishermen, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA bars Halo Trust from de-mining HSZ paddy fields

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 15:35 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army said Tuesday that it would not allow demining groups to de-mine the released paddy fields for cultivation in the high security zones in Thenmaradchi south division in Jaffna district, and instead would use its own soldiers for the de-mining, security sources said.
Full story >>

SLMC, NUA remember late leader Ashraff

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 14:26 GMT]
The third death anniversary of the founder leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and National Unity Alliance, Mr.M.H.M.Ashraff, was observed Tuesday in the country by the rank and file of his party and its breakaway groups, sources said.
Full story >>

Buried mines prevent rehabilitation of Mulliaitivu hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 11:50 GMT]
Uncleared landmines surrounding the Mullaitivu district hospital are preventing rehabilitation work on the destroyed buildings from proceeding, said health officials in Mullaitivu.
Full story >>

Helgesen, Solheim to hold discussions on peace talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 11:28 GMT]
Deputy Minister Vidar Helgesen and Special Adviser Erik Solheim are to visit Sri Lanka during 17-19 September 2003, to have discussions with different parties on the current state of the peace process, said the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo in a press released issued Tuesday.
Full story >>

Akashi concludes Lanka visit, leaves to India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 11:22 GMT]
Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi said that the donor countries are not prepared to spend the funds pledged at the Tokyo aid conference for the reconstruction and development of the northeast province until stalled peace talks resume, media sources said.
Full story >>

Eravur muslim traders and LTTE meet in Karadiyanaaru

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 11:02 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Special Commander Ramesh met with muslim traders from Eravur at the 'Thenaham' Guest House in Karadiyanaaru Monday at 5 pm, civil sources said.
Full story >>

Permission sought to deepen Vadamaradchi fisheries jetties

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 21:47 GMT]
The Divisional Secretary (DS) of the Point Pedro division Monday requested the Jaffna Commander of the Sri Lanka Army to give permission to deepen ten fisheries jetties in the coastal areas of Vadamarachchi north including the Koddady jetty which is close to the Point Pedro high security zone, fisheries sources said.
Full story >>

De-mined Mannar village ready for resettlement

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 19:00 GMT]
The Swiss Foundation for Mine Action (FSD) said Monday that the Mallavarayankattu Adampan village in the Mannar district had been cleared of mines and is fit for resettlement of the displaced persons, and it ceremoniallly handed over the village to the Mannar Government Agent, Mr.V. Visuvalingam, Monday evening at a function held at the Adampan Matha Church, district secretariat sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE-SLA meeting held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 18:43 GMT]
A conference was held between the Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, and the northern commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Major General Sarath Fonseka, around noon Monday at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources said.
Full story >>

Thileepan’s 16th year commemoration begins in NE

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 17:10 GMT]
The Tamil people in the Northeast Monday began observing the sixteenth death anniversary of Lt. Col. Thileepan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam who died after twelve days’ fasting unto death due to the failure of the Indian government in fulfilling five demands put forward by him to meet the aspirations of the Tamil people soon after the signing of the Indo-Sri Lankan agreement, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE's polythene ban in Vanni earns plaudits

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 16:07 GMT]
The ban on Polythene use in the Vanni by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has heartened the Environmental movement in Sri Lanka, said Dr. (Ms.) Ajantha Perera, the head of the project for solid waste recycling in Sri Lanka, in a press statement, the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan, reported Monday.
Full story >>

Verugal Murugan temple festival draws crowd

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 15:16 GMT]
The eighteen-day annual festival (Mahotsavam) of the several centuries old historic Verugal Sri Sithtiravelautha Swamy temple, which is located on the border of Trincomalee and Batticaloa districts in the eastern province, comes to a conclusion with the water cutting ceremony (Theertha Thiruvizah) on Tuesday, sources said.
Full story >>

Thanthonreeswarar chariot festival draws thousands

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 03:16 GMT]
The chariot ('Ther') festival at the Thanthonreeswarar Sivan temple in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled area of Kokkadicholai in Batticaloa district took place between 4pm and 6pm Sunday, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

CWC requests Japan to abandon funding Kotmale project

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 03:01 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a key constituent of the United National Front (UNF) government Sunday made an appeal to the Japanese peace special envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi to withdraw funding for the controversial Upper Kotmale electricity project to which the Cabinet had given approval despite opposition by the CWC, media sources said.
Full story >>

Court hears petition against Interim Administration

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 September 2003, 00:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Court of Appeal directed the Attorney General (AG) to submit written submission for the petition filed by a group of persons including the Chief Incumbent of the Seruvila Raja Maha Vihare, Venerable Saranakeerthi Thera, against the establishment of an interim administrative council for the northeast province without holding a referendum, legal sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Thileepan's 16th death anniversary to be commemorated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 17:31 GMT]
Northeast province is preparing to observe the sixteenth death anniversary of late senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Lt Colonel Thileepan Monday, September 15, the day he began his fast unto death when the Indian Government refused to meet the demands he made on behalf of Tamils. He passed away on 26th September 1987, on the twelvth day after he began his fast, sources said.
Full story >>

Akashi holds talks with Thamilselvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 12:05 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi Sunday morning arrived at Killinochchi grounds by a special helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) accompanied by HE.Mr. Soiiehiro Otsuka, Japanese ambassador in Colombo, and met the Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) S.P. Thamilselvan at the LTTE's Peace Secretariat building, Vanni sources said.
Full story >>

Rights violation complaints against Police prompt action by IGP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 11:31 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mr.T.E.Anandarajah Sunday in an attempt to curb human rights and fundamental rights abuses in the police service, announced that police officers who are found guilty by the Supreme Court for violating fundamental rights of citizens would be interdicted from service immediately and would be subjected to departmental disciplinary inquiry irrespective of their grade, police sources said.
Full story >>

Northeast Muslim parliamentarians brief Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 11:20 GMT]
The North East Muslim Parliamentarians' Association (NEMPA)Saturday told the Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that it would not send its representatives to participate in the future peace talks until the Sri Lanka Government includes participation of Muslims as a separate group, its general secretary M.L.A.M.Hisbullah said according to media sources.
Full story >>

Sinhalese fishermen enter northern sea for fishing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 11:14 GMT]
Vadamaradchchi fisheries society sources in Jaffna district Saturday complained to the civil authorities concerned that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) is providing security to Sinhalese fishermen from the South who are engaged in fishing in the northern sea close to Vadamarachchi coast.
Full story >>

'HSZ prevents resettlement of 80,408 Jaffna families'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 03:33 GMT]
In the Jaffna district, 80,408 families have been unable to resettle in their own lands for the last 13 years as the Sri Lanka Army has been occupying their lands in areas it has declared as High Security Zones, said the Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations in Jaffna in a statement Saturday.
Full story >>

Thondaman to meet Akashi on Kotmale dam issue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 00:14 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a key constituent of the United National Front government, is to hold talks with the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, on Monday regarding the proposed construction of the Kotmale Dam Electricity Project in the hill country with Japanese aid, sources said.
Full story >>

Tamils' history to be taught to Jaffna students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2003, 20:09 GMT]
The Thamileelam Education Development Board (TEDB) is to introduce a new textbook to teach the history of Tamils in Sri Lanka to students in the Jaffna district from January next year, and in preparation to the implementation of the project, the TEDB is now engaged in holding a workshop on "Thamileelam social education and history" for teachers who teach Grade 6 and Grade 7 students in the peninsula, Jaffna education sources said.
Full story >>

'Japan will stand by Sri Lanka in restoring peace' -Akashi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2003, 14:16 GMT]
Japan will stand by Sri Lanka to restore peace in gratitude to what Sri Lanka had done for Japan during the second world war, said the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, addressing journalists at Kalmunai in the eastern province Saturday, media sources said.
Full story >>

Akashi confers with Amparai Muslim, Tamil leaders

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2003, 14:10 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, Saturday held talks with Muslim and Tamil delegations separately and jointly at Kalmunai in the eastern province. Mr. Akashi arrived at Kalmunai Saturday morning by a special helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force, accompanied by Minister and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader Mr.Rauff Hakeem and SLMC parliamentarians Mr. H.M.M.Harris and Mr.Anwer Ismail, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE hands over underage youths to parents in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 September 2003, 03:41 GMT]
Two underage Tamil youths from the Periya Neelavanai area of Amparai district who wanted to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were handed over to their parents by the LTTE in the presence of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials Friday, sources in Amparai said.
Full story >>

SLA soldier in Batticaloa remanded for sexual assault of girl

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 22:28 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier who sexually assaulted a 13-year old girl in Pansala road in Batticaloa town was further remanded till September 25 by the Batticaloa Magistrate on Friday, court sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Provincial committee formed to prevent HIV/AIDS in NE

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 20:42 GMT]
A provincial HIV/AIDS committee is to be established for the northeast, which has the second highest incidence of AIDS victims in the country, to take preventive measures against the disease, said Dr.S.A.P.Gnanissara, a consultant to the National HIV/AIDS Prevention Project, which is funded by the World Bank, at a conference held Friday at the provincial health ministry auditorium in Trincomalee.
Full story >>

'Funds to NE only after resumption of peace talks'-Akashi

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 18:05 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, said Friday that the funds pledged at the Tokyo donor conference will be channeled for the reconstruction of the northeast only after the resumption of stalled peace talks. The international aid community and the World Bank are also of the same view, he said at the end of the discussion held at Colombo Hilton Hotel Friday to find ways and means to release the funds pledged to the national development of Sri Lanka, sources said.
Full story >>

TNA briefs Akashi on urgent need for IA in NE

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 16:45 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), led by its parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Friday told the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, that an interim administrative structure with adequate powers is urgently needed to rebuild the war ravaged northeastern province as the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has no political power to implement a permanent political solution to the ethnic conflict immediately, sources said.
Full story >>

STF-LTTE meet in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 16:22 GMT]
A high-level meeting to improve relations between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Batticaloa-Amparai and Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force was held Thursday at the Akkaraipattu office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

PA, UNF trade charges over claims of new Trinco LTTE camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 14:37 GMT]
The main opposition in Sri Lanka's parliament, the People's Alliance, Friday rejected the claim by the ruling United National Front government that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has not constructed any new camp in the government controlled areas in the northeast except the Kurankupanchchan LTTE camp now in dispute, and reiterated its original claim of many new LTTE camps in Trincomalee in areas controlled by the Government of Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Akashi to be briefed about Amparai Tamils' plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 14:18 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, is scheduled to visit Amparai Saturday and would hold a discussion with Tamil and Muslim leaders of the district to assess the present political situation in the eastern district, sources said.
Full story >>

Kanchirankudah displaced left to fend for themselves by GoSL, NGOs

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 04:34 GMT]
The displaced people of Kanchirankudah in the Amparai district are resettling in the village, but neither the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) nor any Non Governmental Organization has come forward to provide support for their basic needs, Human Rights activists say.
Full story >>

SL Police express regret for humiliating LTTE activist

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 20:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police officers at Kodikamam and Chunnakam in Jaffna district Thursday openly expressed their regret at the inquiry held at the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka for the arrest of a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam political activist, Mr. Nadarajah Premachchandran alias Jegan, at the Muhamalai check point, due to a mix up in identifying the suspect in a crime alleged to have been committed elsewhere in the peninsula, human rights sources said.
Full story >>

Danish Ambassador concludes tour of Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 17:15 GMT]
The Danish Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Michael Sternberg, met with officials of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Kilinochchi Wednesday and the commander of the Naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col. Soosai, in Mullaitivu, Thursday, and concluded his tour of the Vanni, sources in the Vanni said.
Full story >>

JVP’s second anti-peace march to commence in Kandy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 16:58 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) announced Thursday that its second five-day march from Kandy to Colombo, protesting against the present peace talks between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers, would commence on September 27.
Full story >>

SL govt. expects LTTE response to IA proposal within 14 days

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 16:42 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government expects to receive the Liberation Tigers' response to its interim administration proposals in two weeks and would ask the Norwegian facilitators to take steps to recommence peace talks with the LTTE once it received the response, said Cabinet spokesman, Minister Mr.Peiris, at a press briefing Thursday.
Full story >>

'NE conflict cannot be solved through talks' -Sihala Urumaya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 14:53 GMT]
At a press briefing held Thursday in Colombo, Mr.Tilak Karunaratne, the General Secretary of the Sinhala extremist political party, Sihala Urumaya (SU), said that in the SU's view, the northeast conflict could not be solved through negotiations, media sources said.
Full story >>

SL govt. rejects PA claims of new Trinco LTTE camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 13:59 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Thursday totally rejected the charges leveled by the opposition, including the People's Alliance (PA), that the security of the Trincomalee harbor and the eastern province is in danger, and said that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam had not established any new camp in the government controlled areas in the Trincomalee district, except the Kurankupanchan camp, after the ceasefire agreement, denying the PA claims that there are 13 new LTTE camps in Trincomalee.
Full story >>

Col. Karuna meets parents of LTTE martyrs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 00:30 GMT]
A meeting between the parents martyrs of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and Col. Karuna, the Senior Commander of the LTTE for the Eastern region, took place at ‘Thenaham’ Guest House in Karadiyanaru at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Plans for Pongu Thamil in Vavuniya moving ahead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The organizers of the The Pongu Thamil (Tamil upsurge) event in Vavuniya are moving ahead with plans to hold the event on September 24, and have earned widespread support from the Tamil and Muslim people of the area, including strong support from the merchants in Vavuniya and the Vanni district Tamil National Allaince parliamentarians, sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

Akashi to commence Sri Lanka visit Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 19:09 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, will arrive in Colombo on a six-day visit Thursday. He will stay in Sri Lanka until September 16 and hold discussions with several political leaders regarding the present stalled peace process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, political sources said.
Full story >>

'Symmetrical devolution will not work'- Minister Peiris

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 19:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister and the Leader of the Sri Lanka government's peace delegation Professor G.L.Peiris said Wednesday that attempting to find a solution to the conflict based on symmetrical devolution of powers for all provinces as in the case of provincial council would be a futile exercise, media sources said.
Full story >>

Trinco fishermen return from Tamilnadu with boats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 15:33 GMT]
Fifty-three Tamil fishermen of Trincomalee arrived at the Codbay fisheries jetty in Trincomalee harbour Wednesday morning with 49 boats, which were towed by 12 Indian trawlers with 74 Indian crew, including 12 skippers and escorted by the Sri Lanka Navy gunboats. Two Indian government officials also accompanied the returnees, provincial rehabilitation ministry sources said.
Full story >>

Danish Ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 September 2003, 10:45 GMT]
Ambassador for Denmark in Colombo, Mr. Michael Sternberg, met with the Political Wing Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. S.P. Tamilchelvan, at the Peace Secretariat Building of the LTTE in Kilinochchi Wednesday, sources in the Vanni said.
Full story >>

Trinco district to get two new local bodies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 18:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Provincial councils and Local Government Minister, Mr.Alick Aluwihare, has appointed a committee to carve out two new local authorities in the Trincomalee district. Accordingly, the Muslim dominated Kinniya will get an Urban Council (UC), and a new Pradesya Sabah (PS,village council) by the name Verugal is to established in the Tamil dominated Eachilampathu Divisional Secretariat (DS) division in Muttur east, provincial local government sources said.
Full story >>

Emergency action plan to control HIV, AIDS in NE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Health Ministry is to formulate an emergency action plan to control and prevent the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS) in the northeast province. A high level conference to work out a comprehensive plan is to be held on Friday morning at the North East Provincial Health Ministry auditorium, which is to be attended by high officials from the central health ministry, health authorities said.
Full story >>

NE children to get final polio oral dose

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 14:46 GMT]
The final oral polio vaccine immunization programme in the Northeast province, with the assistance of UNICEF, will be held between 20 September and 18 October, Consultant Epidemiologist of the Ministry of Health Dr. (Ms.) Paba Palihawadene told provincial health officials at a conference held Monday at the provincial health ministry auditorium in Trincomalee.
Full story >>

'GOSL responsible for disappearance of Trinco youth' - HRC(UN)

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 14:43 GMT]
The Human Rights Committee of the United Nations, established under article 28 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, has said in a public statement that the Government of Sri Lanka is under an obligation to make a thorough and effective investigation into the disappearance and fate of J.Thevaraja Sarma, who disappeared after being arrested in Trincomalee by the Sri Lanka Army in 1990.
Full story >>

Norwegian Ambassador meets LTTE in Karadiyanaaru

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 01:58 GMT]
Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Mr Hans Brattskar met with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Senior Commander Col.Karuna and other LTTE officers at the Thenaham Guest House in Karadiyanaaru, Batticaloa Monday 7.00 pm, security sources said.
Full story >>

Boats return from Tamilnadu after thirteen years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 01:48 GMT]
Sixty one mechanized fishing boats of Tamil fishermen of Trincomalee left Monday morning around eight from Nagapatinam port in South India to Trincomalee towed by twelve Indian trawlers after thirteen years in the custody of Indian officials, northeast provincial council (NEPC) sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil Eelam Netball team wins Championship

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 20:37 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, V. Pirapaharan, Monday congratulated and honored the Tamil Eelam Netball team that participated at the 8th Tamil National Sports Festival in London, United Kingdom, and won the championship shield, sources said.
Full story >>

Shortage of English language teachers in NE

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 19:52 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has requested Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, to take steps to fill the vacancies that exist for English language teachers in Northeast schools by granting permanent appointments to part time English teachers who have been working in the region for several years, sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil women's event concludes with plan of action

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 19:35 GMT]
The gathering of Tamil women’s associations at the Vavuniya Town Hall concluded its three-day event Saturday with a serious plan of action that seeks to identify and solve problems of women through village level associations and empower them with education and self-employment skills, sources said.
Full story >>

'SLA destroyed houses in HSZ during ceasefire'

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 18:50 GMT]
Peoples' Organizations in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district Monday accused the Sri Lanka Army of destroying their houses and other buildings in the villages of Maravanpulo and Kovilankandy, located in the high security zones, after the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came into operation, sources said.
Full story >>

Workshop on ‘Democratic Youth Leadership’

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 18:22 GMT]
A five day workshop for youths of all parts of the country, including the Northeast province, on the ‘Democratic Youth Leadership’ programme organized by the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute (SLFI) and sponsored by the National Council of the Swedish Youth Organization (LSU), commenced Monday morning at the Trincomalee-Uppuveli Pastoral Centre.
Full story >>

Tamil, Muslim MPs to meet to discuss eastern situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 16:14 GMT]
At the conference convened Monday evening by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, at his Temple Trees official residence in Colombo, to discuss the ethnic tensions between Muslim and Tamil communities in the East, parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Eastern Muslim Parliamentarians' Union attended and unanimously decided to meet again after holding extensive talks with the representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Sports meet for war affected children held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 14:11 GMT]
The North East Provincial Department of Social Services (NEPDSS) Saturday evening conducted a sports meet for the children maintained by registered Children's Homes in the Trincomalee district. Such sports meets to inmates of children's homes are held with a view to "making the [children] self confident and moulding them to fit into the society" and ultimately "to instill in their minds that they are the leaders of tomorrow," said the Provincial Director of Social Services, Ms. N.R. Ranjini, addressing the gathering at the event.
Full story >>

Sathurukondan massacre to be remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 13:52 GMT]
The People of Sathurukondan village in the Batticaloa district will hold the thirteenth year Remembrance Day of 184 Tamil civilians massacred by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at the village, on 9th September 1990, civil sources said.
Full story >>

Pirapaharan opens Tamil Eelam Police HQ

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Tamil Eelam Police Head quarters complex today, Sunday 7th September 2003, at 06.40 am in Kilinochchi, Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) V. Pirpaharan congratulated the Chief of Police, the young men and women of the police service and the liberation fighters who contributed to the growth of the Tamil Eelam police force, Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said this morning.
Full story >>

SLFP launches member recruitment campaign

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 16:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), chief constituent of the main Opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) Sunday launched a house-to-house campaign to strengthen its grass root level organizations the day after the collapse of the talks with the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), party sources said.
Full story >>

'Talks failed due to divergent views on Peace Process' - JVP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 16:21 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist, marxist, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said Sunday that talks to form a political alliance with the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) failed because of divergence views held by both parties on the national crisis and Norwegian role in the peace process, media sources said.
Full story >>

SLA blocks resettlement in Meeravodai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 13:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission to 352 displaced Tamil families to resettle in their former homes and land in Meeravodai in Valaichenai Pradeshya Sabai in Batticaloa district, said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).
Full story >>

Fishermen urge GoSL not to release detained Indian trawlers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 03:29 GMT]
Jaffna District Fisheries Societies Federation (JDFSF) called on the Sri Lanka Government not to return captured Indian trawlers caught poaching in the northern waters of Sri Lanka until the Indian authorities release boats belonging to Sri Lankan fishermen which are being detained at Rameswaram in South India by the Indian coast guard authorities, civil group sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna IDP Federation to boycott NGO activities

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 21:17 GMT]
The Valigamam Federation of Internally Displaced Welfare Associations in the Jaffna district Saturday informed the authorities concerned that it would not allow representatives of non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) to enter welfare centres where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) live as NGOs are exploiting the IDPs for NGOs' benefit, civil group sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

SLFP-JVP talks fail

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 21:12 GMT]
Seven months of talks between the leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the chief constituent of the main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) and the marxist, Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to forge a political alliance failed Friday, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Jaffna against holding national sports festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 20:54 GMT]
Tamileelam Sports Co-ordinating Committee (TSCC) Saturday said in a statement that the decision of the Central Ministry of Sports to hold the 29th National Sports Festival in Jaffna is an act against the feelings of Tamil people, sources said.
Full story >>

Madhu road to be opened for public

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 14:02 GMT]
After a high level meeting with the Mannar district Government Agent (GA) V.Visvalingam and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday at the SLA camp located at Madhu road junction it was announced that the Madhu road leading to the famous Madhu shrine from Vavuniya-Mannar highway will be opened for public use, security sources said.
Full story >>

'Need advisors to promote peace, not war' - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 12:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe appealed to his ministerial colleagues during last week's cabinet meeting that he needed persons who could advise him on how to achieve permanent peace and not to launch war again, according to Colombo media sources.
Full story >>

Restoration work begins at Kanniya Nadesar temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 02:34 GMT]
Restoration work of the Kanniya-Sivayogapuram Nadesar Temple, destroyed by the Sri Lanka security forces and Sinhala mobs 20 years ago during the 1983 July pogrom, commenced Friday. The only temple for Lord Nadesar in the island is located along the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura road, about 5 km northwest of the Trincomalee town, sources said.
Full story >>

Fishing boats to leave Nagapatinam for Trincomalee Sunday

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 20:52 GMT]
Sixty one fishing crafts of Tamil fishermen of Trincomalee, being kept in the custody of Indian customs since 1990, will leave Nagapatinam port in Tamilnadu in South India Sunday to Trincomalee and the boats are expected to arrive in Trincomalee Monday or Tuesday, said the North East Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Social Welfare Ministry Secretary, Mr.S.Sivathasan, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA reneges on agreement, orders house demolition

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 20:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday ordered an internally displaced person (IDP), who had constructed a new house in the Ponnalai area of Jaffna district, to demolish his house, saying it is located inside the high security zone, even though permission to construct the house had been granted under a resettlement program, security sources said.
Full story >>

British political leaders visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 19:46 GMT]
The deputy leader of the opposition in the British Parliament, Mr. Michael Ancram, and former treasurer of the Conservative Party, Lord Ashcroft, Friday arrived in Jaffna and held discussions with the Government Agent, Mr.S.Pathmanathan, representatives of the international and local non-governmental organizations, and heads of government departments at the Jaffna district secretariat, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Women’s gathering emphasizes Tamil women’s potential

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 17:35 GMT]
At the women’s gathering held Thursday at the Vavuniya Town Hall, the leaders and members of the women’s wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from all districts emphasized the importance of solving Tamil women’s problems together and attaining women’s liberation along with National liberation, and discussed the contributions Tamil women have made to the struggle of the Tamil people for self-determination, sources said.
Full story >>

Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The people of Batticaloa district Friday observed the Black September Day, remembering the Tamil civilians, men, women, and children killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Muslim guards thirteen years ago on September 9 when 158 Tamil civilians who sought refuge in the East University Refugee camp and 184 Tamil villagers from Sathurukondan village disappeared after their arrest by the SLA soldiers, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Elephant Pass: From battlefield to salt capital

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 01:19 GMT]
Before 1990, Elephant Pass and Kurunchativu located 10km apart had the largest salterns in the northeast with a combined area of 100 acres, and produced more than 85,000 metric tons of salt a year. This output met all the salt needs of SriLanka and left enough surplus for export. These salterns, destroyed during the war, are being reconstructed and rehabilitated, and are currently producing close to 15% of the total capacity.
Full story >>

HRC assistance sought to locate missing boy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 22:40 GMT]
A complaint has been lodged at the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Thursday that a thirteen-year-old boy, Thevasagayam Jesuthas, had mysteriously disappeared when staying with his relatives at Alvai in Vadamarachchi division in the Jaffna district, human rights sources said.
Full story >>

Permits introduced to remove sand in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 22:01 GMT]
At a conference summoned by the Point Pedro Magistrate, Mr.K.Ariyanayagam, Thursday, it was decided to introduce a permit system to remove sand for local building construction purposes in the Amban and Kudathanai areas in the Vadamaradchi east division with effect from next week, civil sources said.
Full story >>

SLA to bar soldiers' night prowl

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 20:31 GMT]
In the wake of protests against an attempted rape of a housewife by a Sri Lanka Army soldier in the Manalkadu village in the Vadamaradchi east division, the Sri Lanka Army Thursday gave an assurance that its soldiers would not be allowed to move out of camps in the village after 7 p.m. to avoid soldiers' misbehavior with women, civil sources said.
Full story >>

HRC to hold inquiry into LTTE's complaint

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 20:18 GMT]
The Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ruwan Chandrasekara, Thursday decided to hold a full-scale inquiry next Wednesday after obtaining the advice of the Inspector General of Police of Sri Lanka into the complaint by a LTTE political activist, Mr.Nadaraja Premachandran alias Jegan, that he had been humiliated and mistreated by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and the police Tuesday, HRC sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation meets British Tory leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 17:22 GMT]
The political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S.P.Thamilchelvan, met with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament and Shadow Foreign Secretary, Mr. Michael Ancram,M.P., and Lord Ashcroft, the former treasurer of the British Conservative party, in Colombo Thursday shortly after his return from abroad, LTTE peace secretariat sources said.
Full story >>

SLMC, UNP to work out new political arrangement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 16:46 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), constituents of the ruling United National Front government of Sri Lanka, at a meeting Wednesday decided to explore the possibilities of contesting provincial and general elections under one banner in the future. The meeting was held at the Temple Trees residence of Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, the Prime Minister and leader of the UNP, to thrash out differences between the two UNF partners, political sources said.
Full story >>

SLA constructs new road through Thenmaradchi lagoon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 15:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is now engaged in constructing a new 3 km long road from Kachchai harbor in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district through the nearby lagoon to connect the Chalambamthivu and Aruhuveli areas in the south. A large number of army personnel have been deployed to construct a bridge with Palmyra logs and iron bars to connect the lagoon with the land, civil sources in the peninsula said.
Full story >>

SLMM raises LTTE flag issue at Tamil women's event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 14:28 GMT]
When the Tamil Eelam National flag was about to be raised at an event organized by Tamil women’s organizations in the Northeast at the Vavuniya Town Hall Thursday, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission objected to it, saying that such flag-raising in the Sri Lanka Army controlled area violated the ceasefire agreement. However, following an argument between the LTTE’s women wing political leaders at the event and the SLMM’s foreign monitors, the flag was raised and the event went on peacefully, sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

Japanese peace envoy Akashi to visit Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 11:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Cabinet spokesman, Minister Mr. G.L.Peiris, said Thursday at the weekly press briefing that the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi will be visiting Sri Lanka on September 11 to preside over a conference on the proper utilization of funds pledged at the Tokyo donor conference held in June, media sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation returns home

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 11:01 GMT]
The delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by its political wing leader, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, and comprising Batticaloa-Amparai district special commander Col Karuna and Director of the LTTE Peace Secretariat Mr.Puleedevan returned to Colombo Thursday early morning after about two weeks' stay abroad, where the delegation held extensive discussion with their constitutional and legal experts in the French capital, Paris, sources said.
Full story >>

Lorries confiscated for removing sand in Vadamaradchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 18:13 GMT]
The Point Pedro Magistrate, Mr. K.Ariyanayagam, Wednesday ordered the confiscation of two vehicles with sand excavated from the Vadamaradchi coastal area violating the temporary ban imposed by the authorities concerned. Several persons are engaged in removing sand violating the temporary ban imposed, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil youth killed in Sammanthurai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 16:06 GMT]
A Tamil youth in the Sammanthurai area of Ampara district was killed close to a paddy field Wednesday, sources in Sammanthurai said.
Full story >>

Part time English teachers picket NE provincial education ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 15:49 GMT]
The activities of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education and the Provincial Department of Education located at Orr's Hill in Trincomalee, the administrative capital of the NE Provincial Council, came to a standstill Wednesday due to picketing by hundreds of part time English teachers who launched a fasting campaign on a rotating basis Monday, demanding that they should be granted permanency, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE activist complains of harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 14:37 GMT]
Mr.Nadaraja Premachandran alias Jegan, a political activist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Wednesday lodged a complaint at the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka that the Sri Lanka Army at Muhamalai checkpoint had humiliated him when he was on his way to Kilinochchi, human rights officials in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Varani SLA enjoys economic benefits from coconut estates

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 11:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers operating from camp located in Idaikurichchi and central Varani area in Thenmaradchy district have disallowed owners of nearby coconut estates to collect coconut and other produce from their estates, according to local residents.
Full story >>

Hakeem’s help sought to block giving Sinhala name to Trinco village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 20:08 GMT]
The Trincomalee district branch of the Sri Lanka Muslim Teachers' Congress (SLMTC) Tuesday urged the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader and Minister in the United National Front government, Mr.Rauff Hakeem, to take immediate steps to stop re- naming a traditional Muslim village in the Kinniya division, Vaanaru, with a Sinhalese name, Bandulupura, sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

Trinco fishermen to bring their boats from Tamilnadu after 13 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 19:41 GMT]
Sixty one fishing crafts of Tamil fishermen in Trincomalee that have been lying at Nagapatinam in Tamilnadu, India, under the custody of Indian custom authorities since 1990, will be brought back to Trincomalee next week with the assistance of Indian and Sri Lankan Navies, North East Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement Ministry Secretary, Mr.S.Sivathasan, said Tuesday.
Full story >>

‘PA for, JVP against devolution’ - Chandrika

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 16:27 GMT]
Addressing the 52nd annual convention of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party Tuesday, Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, said that the People’s Alliance was prepared for devolution of power but the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) was opposed to it, and therefore they could not come to a consensus on an alliance and talks were still continuing, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE delegation meets Swiss officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 15:23 GMT]
A delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by its political wing leader, Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan and comprising Batticaloa-Ampara Special commander, Col. Karuna, and Director of the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat, Mr. Puleedevan, met with Swiss government officials in Bern, Switzerland, Monday, Tamil media sources said.
Full story >>

Eravur police investigates Batticaloa youth's death

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 10:53 GMT]
Tharmaratnam Vanarajah (25) who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Chenkalady, Batticaloa in November 2002 and kept in Batticaloa prison, died at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital when he was taken there after suddenly falling ill, prison authorities said.
Full story >>

Trinco Tamil scholar's birthday remembered

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 02:01 GMT]
140th birthday of Trincomalee Tamil scholar late Mr.T.T.Kanagasundarampillai was celebrated with the release of a book about his literary works Sunday evening at an event held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College which was organized by the Trincomalee Muththamil Valarkalai Mantram and Trincomalee District Young Men Hindu Association.
Full story >>

Ranil says UNF is committed to ‘peace with security’

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 19:03 GMT]
Responding to a query from Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, on the issue of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam’s camp at Kurankupanchan in the Trincomalee district, the country’s Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, said Monday that his government was continuing its efforts to resolve the issue peacefully and that Ms. Kumaratunge should not approach the issue on the basis of political expediency, media sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Trinco Lions assist resettled in Paththinipuram village

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 18:56 GMT]
The District Governor of International Lions in Trincomalee, Ms. Soma Edirisinghe, Sunday evening declared open a children's park constructed by the Trincomalee New Century Lions Club at the Paththinipuram Siththivinayagar Tamil Vidiyalayam, and later handed over school materials to students of resettled families at an event held the same day at the school, sources said.
Full story >>

NE part time English teachers begin fasting protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 18:28 GMT]
Hundreds of part time English teachers working in the Northeast provincial schools began a fasting campaign on a rotation basis Monday in front of the provincial education ministry office in Trincomalee, demanding the authorities to make their appointments permanent immediately, North East Part time English Teachers' Association (NEPETA) officials said.
Full story >>

SLMM, SLA escort LTTE women cadres from Batticaloa to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 12:23 GMT]
One hundred fifty women cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led by the Special Commander of the LTTE Batticaloa-Amparai district Ms Nilavini left Batticaloa Monday morning to Vanni region in two buses escorted by members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), security sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

NECORD supported Irrigation project to begin in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 03:36 GMT]
Rehabilitation efforts of the Kanchikudichaaru Irrigation development project under the North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) plan are expected to start Monday, according to NECORD officials. The Asia Development Bank (ADB) has allocated Rs.30m and World Food Program (WFP) has given Rs.8m for this project.
Full story >>