SLA, LTTE commanders discuss Trinco situation

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 19:59 GMT]
The General Officer Commanding of the Sri Lanka Army for the Trincomalee district, Major General Sunil Tennekon, and the Trincomalee district commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Colonel Pathuman, held discussions Friday evening at the no-man zone in Muttur division at Kattaiparichchan, gateway to the LTTE held Muttur east villages in Trincomalee district, civil sources said
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Sinhalese workers arrested in Kilinochchi with T-56 rifle

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 17:51 GMT]
The Thamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS) Thursday arrested two Sinhalese workers of a construction firm engaged in road development on the A-9 highway in Paranthan, with a T 56 rifle concealed in a polythene bag, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) reported Friday in its news broadcast.
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Manalkadu victim retracts statement under SLA threat

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 17:26 GMT]
A group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday threatened Anthony Prabha Manjula, 19, of Manalkaadu in Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district and obtained a statement from her denying earlier allegation that two soldiers had attempted to molest her while returning home with her infant, relatives of the woman said.
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SC concludes inquiry on SL President's petition

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 16:20 GMT]
The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka Friday concluded its one-day inquiry into the application made by President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, to determine whether the Executive President or the Defense Minister has the executive powers regarding the country's security, legal sources said.
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'SL President's intereference could harm peace process'

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 15:40 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Minister, Mr.Jan Petersen, has warned the Sri Lankan President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, that her continuous interference in the peace process could have serious consequences both on the peace process and Norway's role in the process, State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) said in its evening news broadcast, quoting Norwegian embassy spokesman in Colombo Friday.
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UNF to send LTTE proposals to all parties

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 15:08 GMT]
The Norwegian ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, Friday evening handed over the interim administrative structure proposals from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to the Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, at the latter's official residence in Colombo on his return from Kilinochchi, media sources said
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Vellaveli child injured by landmine, dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 13:19 GMT]
Arulanantham Diloshan (8) who was injured Monday when a landmine exploded while he was playing near his home in Liberation Tigers controlled Vellaveli in Batticaloa district succumbed to his injuries Thursday night at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, according to Hospital sources.
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Cultural Interaction unites and does not divide - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 12:01 GMT]
Commending the organisers of the Sinhala-Tamil Arts Circle for organising the cultural interaction events in Colombo this week, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued in Colombo today condemned the "attitude of a section of the media who ran, and continue to run, stories claiming that the cultural interaction was an LTTE orchestrated one."
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LTTE submits IA proposals to Norwegian Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 07:37 GMT]
Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Head of the Political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday submitted the Interim Administration (IA) proposals to the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Navy occupation leaves cattle on the road

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 01:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy has barred cattle from grazing in Attavaniakulam pastureland in Thampalakamam in Trincomalee district as the pastureland falls within the newly expanded High Security Zone (HSZ), security sources said. While the cattle breeders bemoan the loss of prime grazing area, farmers are scrambling to safeguard their paddy crops in more than 5000 acres from wandering cattle.
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Helgesen to visit Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 18:39 GMT]
The Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, will arrive in Colombo on November 10 to revive the suspended peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said the GoSL's cabinet spokesman, Minister G.L.Peiris, at Thursday's press briefing held at Information Department office, media sources said.
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Sampanthan warns against falling prey to saboteurs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 17:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, at a special press briefing held Thursday evening at his Trincomalee residence, cautioned the Tamil people, especially Tamil youths, against falling prey into the hands of persons who are plotting to sabotage the peaceful environment in the Trincomalee district at a time when historically important events are to take place with the handing over of interim administrative structure proposals by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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HRC to conduct workshop for Thamil Eelam judiciary

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 16:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) is to conduct a workshop Friday on international human rights law for judges of the Thamil Eelam judiciary in the Liberation Tigers-held Kilinochchi, Jaffna regional HRC sources said.
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SL Govt. to issue statement on LTTE's proposals on IA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 16:06 GMT]
The United National Front government of Sri Lanka will issue a special statement on Saturday on the interim administrative structure proposal of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is scheduled to be submitted to the government through the Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Friday evening, Cabinet spokesman and UNF's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, said at the weekly press briefing held Thursday at the government information department, media sources said.
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SLN woman soldier dies

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 14:35 GMT]
A twenty-three year old woman soldier of the Sri Lanka Navy, Ms. Ratnayake Mudiansalagae Nanithakumari, was found dead Wednesday with gunshot injuries in her room at the Karainagar navy detachment in the Jaffna district, police said.
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Trinco SLA, LTTE commanders to meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 14:15 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Trincomalee district has arranged a meeting between Major General Sunil Tennekon, Sri Lanka Army's General Officer Commanding in the Trincomalee district, and the Liberation Tigers' Trincomalee district military commander, Colonel Pathuman, on Friday evening at the no man zone in Kattaiparichchan in the Muttur division, SLMM sources said.
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SU demonstrates against Sinhala-Tamil cultural meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 13:03 GMT]
Leaders of the extreme Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka, the Sihala Urumaya (SU), members of the Marxist and Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), hundreds of the parties' supporters, including Buddhist monks, held a demonstration in Colombo against the Sinhala-Tamil cultural event being held at the Colombo Town Hall Thursday, sources in Colombo said.
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LTTE restores Heroes cemeteries for November ceremony

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 12:37 GMT]
Heroes cemeteries in Tharavai in Batticaloa district and Vakarai Kandaladi are being renovated in preparation for the Heroes day ('Maaveerar Naal') celebrations to take place on the 27th November. Work on the heroes day memorials in other parts of Vanni, Jaffna and Trincomalee are also in progress, according to sources.
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Two Tamil traders shot dead in Muttur

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 06:36 GMT]
Two Tamil traders were shot dead by unidentified persons near Iruthaiayapuram in Muttur division, south of Trincomalee, Wednesday night. The police have launched search for the missing third Tamil person who had accompanied the two, police said.
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SLMM head leaves for Oslo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 18:58 GMT]
Major General (Retd.) Triggve Teleffsen, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), left Wednesday for Oslo to brief Norwegian foreign minister about the functioning of the SLMM in Sri Lanka, media sources in Colombo said.
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‘Proud to shed blood to protect Tamils’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 18:36 GMT]
“We are really proud as Singhalese today because we shed blood to protect our Tamil brethren from the racist thugs”, said Mr. Rohitha Bashana, the main organiser of the Sinhala/Tamil arts festival that was attacked by Sinhala nationalist mobs at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday. Five Singhalese, including two journalists, were injured in the attack. Police officers said that Sinhala nationalists were planning massive, hostile demonstrations against the Sinhala/Tamil arts festival Thursday.
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Aussie MP meets Jaffna LTTE political head

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 15:57 GMT]
Australian parliamentarian Mr. Alan Griffin Wednesday held discussions with the Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, the women's political wing head, Ms. Kalaivizhi, and activist Mr.Manivannan at the district political office of the LTTE located at Kokkuvil, sources said.
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Norwegian FM responds to SL President's letter

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 15:45 GMT]
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry in a press release Wednesday said that the Foreign Minister, Mr. Jan Petersen, has responded to the letter from Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, in which she referred to incidents on October 16, 2003, involving the Norwegian-led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The response described the steps the Government of Norway (GoN) would take in response to her complaints and said that the SLMM would continue its monitoring without change while the GoN looks into the complaints of Ms. Kumaratunga.
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LTTE activist released on surety bail

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 15:14 GMT]
The Point Pedro Magistrate Wednesday released an activist of the Sea Tigers (of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) in the Vadamaradchi division, Mr. Gamini, on surety bail when a woman witness failed to identify him as the person who attempted to abduct a private vehicle on the day of the incident, legal sources said.
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Mullipottanai Muslims protest against attack

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 14:41 GMT]
A group of Muslim villagers of Mullipottanai in the Trincomalee district Wednesday held a hartal (general shutdown) and a picketing campaign on the Trincomalee-Kandy highway, blocking all traffic to and from Colombo and Trincomalee, protesting an attack by unknown persons that injured at least three Muslim civilians Tuesday night at 4th milepost on the Mullipottanai-Kinniya road, police said.
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SLA soldier in Jaffna charged for traffic offence

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 14:38 GMT]
The Jaffna Additional Magistrate, Ms. Srinithi Nandasekaran, Tuesday ordered a soldier of the Sri Lanka Army, Mr. Liyanage Somawanse, to pay two thousand rupees as charity in a case in which he had been charged with driving an army truck negligently, causing damage to two vehicles belonging to civilians, legal sources said.
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Mobs attack Sinhala-Tamil Cultural Festival in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 October 2003, 06:07 GMT]
Four persons including two journalists were wounded when a Sinhala nationalist mob attacked the Sinhala Tamil Cultural Festival at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday morning.
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Court hears petition against Sri Lanka's president

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 17:41 GMT]
The Court of Appeal Tuesday decided to inquire into a petition filed by the Public Legal Aid Foundation, challenging the non-establishment of the National Election Commission by President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and seventeen other respondents, under the 17th amendment to the Constitution, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka's Interior minister visits Kinniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 17:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Interior Minister, Mr.John Amaratunge, Tuesday evening visited Kinniya in the Trincomalee district and inspected the residences of three Muslim parliamentarians of the district that had been damaged by Muslim mobs due to the recent unrest that prevailed over the abduction of a cart and tractors belonging to Muslims by unknown persons last week, sources said.
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More Indian fishermen released by Jaffna courts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 16:03 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr. A.Premshankar, Tuesday released fifteen Indian fishermen who had been captured by local fishermen and Sri Lanka Navy when poaching in northern sea and were kept in remand, on the instructions of the Attorney General, legal sources said.
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Roundtable on salination of Jaffna lands, water sources

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 15:58 GMT]
Means of preventing salination of arable lands and fresh water sources in the Jaffna peninsula were explored at a roundtable organised by the National Water Supplies and Drainage Board at the Jaffna District Secretariat Tuesday. Thousands of acres of fertile lands have been rendered barren and many fresh water sources in Jaffna have turned brackish due to saltwater permeation from the inland lagoon system across the Vadamaradchi and Thenmaradchi divisions of Jaffna.
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TULF Ex-MP resigns

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 12:33 GMT]
E. Thurairatnasingam, former Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Member of Parliament (MP) for Batticaloa submitted his resignation from the party and from all positions he held in the party, political sources in Batticaloa said.
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Must for us to talk to Muslims - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 12:22 GMT]
“It is a must that we talk to the Muslim ‘side’ after we give the Sri Lankan government our proposal on the Interim Administration (IA) for the Northeast. I can say that Muslims will have their rightful place in it. The aspirations of all the communities in the northeast find expression in our proposals”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE’s political division, emerging from a meeting Tuesday with a delegation of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress in Kilinochchi.
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Landmine injures two Vellaveli children

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 03:00 GMT]
Arulanantham Diloshan (8) and Arulanantham Nilojini (6) were seriously injured when a landmine exploded while they were playing near their home in Liberation Tigers controlled Vellaveli in Batticaloa district Monday, sources said.
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Indian boatmen released in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The Point Pedro Magistrate, Mr.K. Ariyanayakam, Monday discharged two Indian boatmen, Mr.Thurairajah Mahendran and Mr. Thiruvonam Balamurugan, who had been in remand since their capture by local fishermen when they poached in Sri Lanka's territorial waters, on the instructions of the Attorney General, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka power struggle goes to Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 00:01 GMT]
The Chief Justice of the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka Monday decided to appoint a panel comprising five judges to hear the application of President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and to determine whether the Defence Minister of the United National Front government had encroached the power vested with the Executive Presidency of the country under Section 129 of the Constitution, legal sources said.
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SLA soldier dies at Thenmaradchi training ground

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 20:59 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army, Mr.Dingiri Bandage Pushpakumara,27, of Mahavilachchiya in the Anuradhapura district, Monday collapsed on the ground and died when he was participating in routine exercises at the 52-1 Brigade base in Nunavil in Chavakachcheri, the main town of Thenmaradchi in the Jaffna district, police said.
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Clashes in Vattamadu discussed at LTTE-Muslim meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:56 GMT]
A meeting was held Monday at the Thirukkovil divisional secretariat between the Tamil and Muslim representatives, attended by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lanka Army, to discuss the clashes that occurred in Vattamadu in the Amparai district between Muslim farmers and cattle ranchers, sources said.
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Sinhala,Tamil scholars explain joint festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:29 GMT]
“There is an unfortunate stereotyping of Tamils in the minds of the Singhalese and vice versa. This literary/cultural festival will enable artistes from both sides to discover developments over the last twenty years. This would foster an understanding where it matters”, said Prof. Sucharitha Gamlath, a distinguished and leading Sinhala scholar, addressing a press conference in downtown Colombo Monday on the Tamil/Sinhala cultural festival to be held in Sri Lanka’s capital this week.
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Balagalle is Sri Lanka's Defense Chief of Staff

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army, Monday assumed duties as the Chief of Defense Staff (CDS) in Sri Lanka, the post that has remained vacant since June last year. Balagalle is the first serving SLA commander to hold the new office, defense ministry sources said.
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Fishermen's problems discussed at Batticaloa meet

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 16:37 GMT]
A meeting to discuss issues affecting the fishermen in the Batticaloa district was held at the Mahajana College in Batticaloa Saturday, sources said.
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Police supervise SLA's checking of fishermen passes

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 15:30 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday commenced checking passes of the fisher folk of Munai village in the Point Pedro division under the direct supervision of the police, fisheries sources said
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Tamil workers warned against visiting Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 12:34 GMT]
Following yesterdays confrontation between Muslim farmers and owners of livestock in Vattamadu, Muslim youths have attacked Tamil masons and warned them from coming to work in Akkaraipattu area, civil sources in Akkaraipattu, Amparai district said.
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Big demo in Mannar against Police rape

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 09:43 GMT]
More than two thousand people blocked the Mannar- Medawachchiya road Monday morning, demonstrating against alleged molestation and rape of women in Uyilankulam by Sri Lankan armed forces last week. Traffic on this key road to Mannar was blocked for more than two hours due to the demonstration. Hundreds came from villages around Uyilankulam to take part in the protest, TamilNet’s Mannar correspondent said.
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Subsidy to Thenmaradchi farmers refused

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 04:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Department of Agrarian Services has refused to provide subsidies for seed paddy and fertilizer to farmers to cultivate paddy lands adjoining the high security zones in the Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district, as the Sri Lanka Army has not officially informed the department of its decision to release one fifth of the roughly five thousand acres of land in the HSZ, representatives of several farmers organizations said Monday.
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Muslim, Tamil farmers attacked in Vattamadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 02:59 GMT]
Three muslim farmers and two Tamil tractor drivers were attacked Sunday morning by a group of men tending cattle in Vattamadu, Thirukkovil Pradeshya Sabha, in Ampara district, security sources said. The identity of the attackers has not yet been released, according to sources.
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Police to provide Munai fisher families protection from soldiers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 16:37 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police have started providing police protection to four fisher families of Munai area on complaints lodged by them at the police station that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army are likely to take revenge on them, human rights sources said.
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Manalkadu residents boycott meeting on sand excavation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 16:32 GMT]
Residents of Manalkadu village in Vadamaramarchchi division in Jaffna district boycotted a meeting summoned by the Vadamarachchi east Divisional Secretary Mr.V.P.Velauthampillai and held at the public library building Sunday to discuss the crisis related to removing sea sand from the village for construction purposes in the peninsula, sources said.
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LTTE, Muslim representatives discuss Kinniya crisis

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 15:02 GMT]
Representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Jemiyathummal Ulama Council (JUC) in Kinniya Sunday at a discussion held at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee agreed to identify elements who are working to derail the peace process and not to relentlessly work together to identify such elements. Both parties further agreed to have continuous dialogue to resolve differences that may arise in future, sources said.
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LTTE urged to bring upcountry parties together

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 12:26 GMT]
“The Liberation Tigers should help bring together the Up Country People’s front (UPF) and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). All the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka should be united”, said Mr. P. Chandrasekeran MP, Minister for Social Development, speaking to the press after meeting Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Tigers’ political division, for a briefing and discussion on the LTTE’s Interim Administration proposal Sunday.
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Batticaloa TULF tells ‘Sangaree’ to step down

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 11:33 GMT]
The Batticaloa branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front resolved Sunday that the party’s leader Mr. V. Anandasangaree MP should step down. “If he fails to do so the secretary general of the TULF should convene the central committee and take necessary measures to remove him from his position as the party leader”, states a resolution passed Sunday by this politically strategic branch in the east.
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Curfew in Mutur after Muslims attack four Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 07:04 GMT]
Police declared curfew in Mutur, south of Trincomalee, from Sunday noon after four Tamils were attacked and injured by Muslim mobs. Superintendent of Police for Trincomalee Mr. Daya Samaraweera told that the curfew would extend till Monday 6 a.m.
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Fishermen say threat from Munai SLA sentries

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 04:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police in Pt. Pedro Sunday posted constables at three military sentries in Munai where fishermen have to surrender their special permits before setting out to sea, after several villagers complained Saturday night that soldiers had visited their homes looking for them.
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SLMC delegation leaves for London to study devolution

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:39 GMT]
A delegation of Muslim politicians and intelligentsia, led by Mr.Rauff Hakeem, left for London, United Kingdom, Saturday at the invitation of the British government on an official visit to study the constitutional arrangements in Ireland and Scotland, sources said.
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LTTE to meet hill country leaders on IA proposals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:15 GMT]
The Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, is to continue his dialogue on the northeast interim administration proposals with the hill country Tamil leaders this Sunday. Last week he held discussions with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders, sources said.
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SLMM says ceasefire monitoring will continue

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Sri Lanka said Saturday that the President's letter asking the Norwegian Prime Minister to remove the SLMM head would not affect the SLMM monitoring activities in the island, the State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation reported in its evening news broadcast Saturday quoting the SLMM spokesperson Ms Agnes Bragadottir.
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Normalcy returns to Kinniya after two days' unrest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:06 GMT]
Night curfew which was in force on Thursday and Friday was lifted from Saturday and normalcy returned to Kinniya town in Trincomalee district after two days' unrest, sources said.
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Munai fisher folk march in protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 09:30 GMT]
Hundreds of fishermen and women from Munai carrying placards and shouting slogans against the Sri Lanka army marched into Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna Saturday. They handed over memoranda to local Parliamentarians, the Pt. Pedro Divisional Secretary and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission demanding the abolition of the military pass system and condemning the attack on men and women in the village of Munai last Wednesday.
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Police arrests fisherman in Munai SLA assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 17:05 GMT]
The Point Pedro Police Friday arrested a Tamil fisherman, Mr. Peter Maran, 23, in connection with an attack by the Sri Lanka Army and Navy personnel on him in the Munai area, in the Point Pedro division, Wednesday. Police recorded a statement from him that ran into five pages, fisheries sources said.
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Norwegian Advisor on Gender Issues visits Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 15:34 GMT]
Dr. Astrid N. Heiberg, the Advisor to the Subcommittee on Gender Issues (SGI) and Ms. Kjersti of the Norwegian High Commission in Colombo, visited the women’s secretariat in Kilinochchi Thursday morning and held discussions about women’s issues throughout the day, sources in the Vanni said.
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SLFP demonstrates against "betrayal of Sinhala nation"

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 14:17 GMT]
Thousands of people participated in the demonstration organized by the main constituent of the opposition People’s Alliance, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), against the United National Front (UNF) government of Sri Lanka Friday in Colombo, saying the UNF has 'betrayed' the 'Sinhala nation,' sources said.
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Book on Charles Anthony Brigade released

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 10:59 GMT]
A Book on the ten-year history and achievements of Charles Antony Special Brigade of the LTTE "Nerupatru Neechalil Paththandukal" was released in an event held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall Thursday evening. The inaugural release of the book was earlier held in Vanni and the first introductory event was held later in Jaffna, sources said.
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Curfew reimposed in Kinniya town

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 09:17 GMT]
Curfew has been reimposed in Kinniya in Trincomalee district Friday with effect from 2 p.m. following continued unrest in some parts of the town, police said.
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Curfew lifted in Kinniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 October 2003, 06:47 GMT]
Sixteen-hour curfew imposed in Kinniya, 16 k.m. south of Trincomalee was lifted at 6 a.m. Friday morning. However, the re-imposition of curfew depends on developments during the day, police sources said.
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SLA stand scuttles Munai peace meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 19:01 GMT]
A meeting convened by the National Human Rights Commission in Jaffna to amicably resolve the row between Sri Lanka army (SLA) and fishermen in Munai in Pt. Pedro ended inconclusively after the SLA insisted that it had nothing to do with the damages suffered by villagers during Wednesday’s incidents.
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SLFP to hold anti-UNF demo on Deepavali day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 18:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, who is also the leader of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), rejected appeals made by Tamil parliamentarians and Hindu organizations against holding the SLFP’s demonstration against the United National Front government in Colombo on the Deepavali day, Friday, sources said.
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Sri Lanka's President wants SLMM head sacked

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 17:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, has requested the Norwegian Prime Minister to remove the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (retd.) Triggve Teleffsen, immediately from his post, saying his actions have caused serious doubts in the implementation of the ceasefire agreement, the Presidential Secretariat said Thursday.
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Hindus celebrate Deepavali

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 17:05 GMT]
Hindus in Colombo celebrated the Deepavali Festival, the festival of lights, at the New Kathiresan hall in Bambalapitiya Thursday.
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LTTE leader honors Karate Grand Master

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 14:46 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, Thursday conferred national honor on the father of Karate in Tamil Eelam, Grand Master Shihan Bonnie Roberts,74, who holds eight black belts and contributed yeoman service to the growth of the art of Karate, sources in the Vanni said.
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MP slams criminal outfit for Kinniya troubles

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 12:20 GMT]
Police declared indefinite curfew in Kinniya, south of Trincomalee, Thursday after Muslim mobs attacked the homes of two Parliamentarians in the area and abducted six Tamils. Police said the mobs, inflamed when Sri Lanka army units rescued the abducted Tamil civilians, stoned the troops. “This is the work of a criminal outfit that is trying to create a big Tamil Muslim clash for narrow political gain”, charged Mr. M. A. M (Sinna) Mahroof, UNP MP for Trincomalee whose house in Kinniya was attacked and completely ransacked.
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Kinniya under indefinite curfew

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 11:38 GMT]
SL Police clamped an indefinite curfew in Kinniya, south of Trincomalee, Thursday after Muslims abducted six Tamils and attacked homes of two local MPs, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Soldiers scuttled boats, allege Munai fishermen

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 03:01 GMT]
Fishermen in Munai alleged Thursday that Sri Lanka army troops in the area had scuttled five boats and cut the moorings of another two in retaliation to Wednesday’s incidents in this coastal village on the outskirts of Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna. Latest reports said that SLA has prevented injured persons from being taken to hospital.
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Fisheries project abandoned due to SLA's condition

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 16:47 GMT]
Fishermen of Vadamaradchi north Wednesday abandoned their attempt to deepen the fisheries landing point at Inbaruty due to the continued imposition by the the Sri Lanka Army of new conditions that frustrate work on the project, fisheries sources said.
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Thamilchelvan meets TNA over IA proposals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 16:04 GMT]
Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, met with parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Wednesday at the Kilinochchi peace secretariat, LTTE peace secretariat sources said.
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JVP holds meeting to publish 'National Program'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 15:07 GMT]
The Marxist and Sinhala Nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) today held a public council meeting and produced what it called a ‘National Program’ for building up the country at the open theater inside the Viharamahadevi Park in downtown Colombo.
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SLA assaults Jaffna fishermen, 20 injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 14:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka army soldiers assaulted and injured twenty civilians, eight seriously, including two students, in Munai, a coastal village on the outskirts of Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna Wednesday afternoon. Troops were poured into the area following tension between army sentries on the beach and crowds of fisher folk over SLA sentries assaulting a young fishermen who sought permission to return home before the time stipulated by the SLA for beaching boats in Munai.
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Police block anti-peace demonstrators reaching Trinco SLMM office

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 14:37 GMT]
The Eastern Peoples' Front, which is locally considered as a front organization of the Sinhala nationalist and Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Wednesday held a hartal (general shutdown) and demonstration in Trincomalee town against the presence of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the establishment of an Interim Administration for the northeast province, sources said.
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NECORD opens new building in Trinco Nalanda College

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 04:30 GMT]
The Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) Mr.John R. Cooney Tuesday evening declared open a two-storied block at the Chinabay Nalanda College in Trincomalee, which had been constructed at a cost of about four million rupees under the ADB funded North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) project.
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Girls' sports champion hailed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 20:42 GMT]
The women’s wing of the Liberation Tigers has commended Miss.Tharani Seevaratnam, a student at the Akkarayankulam Maha Vidiyalayam in Kilinochchi, who was placed second in Discus Throw and third in Shot Putt in the under-15 category, in an island-wide competition held at the Sugathadasa stadium in Colombo in September, sources said.
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Raalkuli celebrates inauguration of ferryboat service

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 18:59 GMT]
Residents of Raalkuli in the Trincomalee district were in a jubilant mood Tuesday morning, saying it was a day of special significance in their lives when the Country Director of the Asian Development Bank (ADB), Mr.John R.Cooney, made his first ever visit to the Raalkuli village using the new ferry boat supplied by the ADB funded North East Community Organization for Restoration Development (NECORD).
Full story >>

Jaffna medical staff massacred by IPKF remembered

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 16:48 GMT]
The staff of the Jaffna Teaching Hospital Tuesday observed the 16th annual commemoration day of twenty one employees of the hospital who were massacred while on duty by the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) on 21st October 1987, sources said.
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Mannar villagers angered by rape want Police out

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 12:46 GMT]
Villagers of Uyilankulam, east of Mannar, angered by the rape of a retarded woman living with her parents on Saturday night demanded that Sri Lankan Police posts in the area should be removed forthwith. The 32-year-old woman was admitted to the Anuradhapura Hospital on Sunday after she was allegedly raped brutally by two Policemen who had come to buy cigarettes at her father's shop.
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Maj. Gen. Fonseka reproves Jaffna media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 11:36 GMT]
Commander of Sri Lankan armed forces in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Sarath Foneseka told a group of northern journalists Tuesday that newspapers in the peninsula publish “half information’ and distorted reports intended to make people angry at the military. Speaking to representatives of the North Ceylon Journalists’ Association about recent attacks on media persons in Jaffna by Sri Lankan armed forces soldiers, he said: “We are not hundred percent happy about the way media people in Jaffna are carrying out their jobs”.
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Finnish Ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 10:20 GMT]
Mr. Mikko Pyhala, Ambassador, Asia and Oceania, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Finland expressed his country's support to the peace process in a meeting he had with the Head of Political Wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P. Thamilchelvan at the Kilinochchi Peace Secretariat Building today, sources said.
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Skeletal remains unearthed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 04:04 GMT]
Construction workers unearthed human skeletal remains while they were laying the foundation for the common market in Kalviyankaadu in Jaffna on Monday, the Jaffna based Tamil language daily, Uthayan, reported Tuesday.
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Raalkuli residents win battle for electricity

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 19:40 GMT]
The residents of Raalkuli, a small hamlet about ten square km in extent in the LTTE held area in Muttur division, have succeeded in their struggle for electricity with the facilitation of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) when the Ceylon Electricity Board (CEB) Monday unveiled the name board of the electricity supply project for the village.
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Palmyra Development Board celebrates silver jubilee

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 19:16 GMT]
About 2.5 million Palmyra trees in Jaffna district had been felled during the two decade old war by the Sri Lanka armed forces, said Mr P.Sivapatham, President of the Palmyra Development Board (PDB), at the inaugural session of the two day silver jubilee celebrations of the PDB held Monday at the Jaffna Central College, sources said.
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Nimalarajan murder suspect remanded

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 19:05 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, Monday ordered remand for a suspect in the murder of Jaffna based journalist, Mr.M.Nimalarajan, till Tuesday, legal sources said.
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Vadamaradchi residents ban removal of coastal sand

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 18:54 GMT]
Residents of Kudathanai and Manalkadu areas in the Vadamaradchi east division in Jaffna district Monday imposed a ban on removing coastal sand from the northern coast. Hundreds of vehicles that had gone to these areas to remove sand returned empty due to the ban, sources said.
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SLA constructs new camp in Manalkaadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 10:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is constructing a new camp in the ManalKaadu area, 3km south of Point Pedro in Jaffna Peninsula, said the Voice of Tigers (VoT), a radio broadcast service run by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according to local media reports Sunday.
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STF attack prompts hartal in Kaluwanchikudy

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 04:43 GMT]
The people of Kaluwanchikudy in the Amparai district observed a hartal (general shutdown) on Saturday to protest an attack carried out by personnel of the Special Task Force (STF) against an innocent civilian, sources said.
Full story >>

Media’s role in solving ethnic conflict discussed

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 04:17 GMT]
“The Muslim people should come together to express their aspirations in one voice and first talk to the representatives of the Tamil community candidly. Then both communities can make compromises, turn their aspirations into policy, and negotiate with the Sri Lankan government; by doing so, a solution [to the ethnic conflict] can surely be found,” said Mr. M.S.Mookiah, the Vice Chancellor of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka, at a conference titled “Media’s role in solving the ethnic conflict” Saturday at the Mahapola training center in Oluvil.
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Veteran Tamil scholars honored

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 19:10 GMT]
Eight veteran Tamil scholars were honored at the final day celebrations of the North East Provincial Tamil Literary Festival held Sunday at Vavuniya Irambaikulam Girls Maha Vidiyalayam with the presentation of Governor's Award-2003, sources said.
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SLA lays down new condition for NECORD work

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 16:54 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Sunday told the Vadamaradchi north fisheries co-operatives representatives that they could deepen the 26 fisheries landing points on the Vadamaradchi coast but only under their supervision, fisheries sources said.
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'Failure to accept IA proposal will invite International displeasure' - Karuna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 16:11 GMT]
"If the Government of Sri Lanka fails to accept the Interim Administration proposals that we have developed with the assistance of our legal and constitutional experts and consultations with many Governments of the West, the Sri Lanka Government will have to face severe international displeasure," said Col.Karuna during a special interview to a local daily when he arrived at the Illupadichcheni sports ground on his return from his foreign trip.
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Foundation stone laid for Karadiyanaaru school building

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 14:42 GMT]
T. Ramesh, Batticaloa-Ampari Special Commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), laid the foundation stone for a three-storey school building in Karadiyanaaru Saturday during a ceremony organized by the school officials, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Competition to felicitate late Trinco Tamil scholar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 12:24 GMT]
"People of Trincomalee should be proud of Tamil scholar Mr.Kanagasuntharampillai who had rendered immense service to the development of Tamil language and its literature," said Dr Gerard Robuchon, a linguist and a lecturer in the Department of Modern languages of the Kelaniya University in Sri Lanka, speaking as a special guest at the prize giving event held Friday in Sambaltivu Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam located 10km north of Trincomalee town.
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LTTE delegation returns from Dublin, European meetings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 12:04 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegation, led by its Head of Political Wing S.P.Thamilchelvan, which had been to Dublin Ireland to finalize LTTE's proposals on Interim Administration to Northeast returned to Sri Lanka Saturday. Senior Commander Karuna arrived at the Illupadichenai Sports Grounds at 10.30 am in a special military helicopter, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

SLA strengthens coastal sentry points with coral reef

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 11:53 GMT]
Vadamarachchi Fisheries Co-operative Societies Federation Saturday accused the Sri Lanka Army for destroying coral reef in the northern coast to strengthen their security and not safeguarding coastal resources, fisheries sources said.
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Book on history of Eelam newspaper journalism released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 October 2003, 06:34 GMT]
A book under the caption "Eelathu Ithaliyalin Varalarum Mathipeedum" (The history of Eelam newspaper journalism and its evaluation) was released at the second day celebration of the North East Provincial Tamil Literary Festival held Saturday evening at Vavuniya Irambaikulam Girls Maha Vidiyalayam. The event took place in the specially named dais Maveeran Pandara Vanniyan Arangu, sources said.
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Hindu Religious Ministry to celebrate Deepavali

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2003, 16:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Hindu Religious Affairs Ministry has released 1.5 million rupees to Administrators of thirty five institutions such as orphanages, homes of the aged, children homes and women welfare centres in the northeast to purchase and supply new clothes to celebrate Deepavali (Festival of Lights) which falls on October 24th Friday, said a ministry media unit press release Saturday.
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LTTE, Muslims meet in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2003, 15:03 GMT]
Representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Kinniya Muslim Jemiyathummal Ulama Council (MJUC) met in the presence of two members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) based in Trincomalee met Saturday morning at Alankerni Sithivinayagar Maha Vidiyalayam, and agreed that Muslim cultivators could construct access roads and watch-huts in their paddy fields allowed for cultivation this season at Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, sources said.
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NECORD reinstates ferry service to Muttur village

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2003, 10:34 GMT]
Raalkuli, a Tamil village in Muttur division, south of Trincomalee town, which is separated from the mainland by Mahaweli gangai, is to get a ferry service from Tuesday after nearly ten years, residents of Ralkuli said.
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'Safeguard Tamil language and culture' -GA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 October 2003, 00:46 GMT]
"Tamils in Ilankai (Sri Lanka) and those displaced from here in the Diaspora are rendering great service to the promotion and continued vitality of the Tamil language. The services they render to the creation of literary work in Tamil have been commended as being better than even in India," said Mr. K. Ganesh, the Vavuniya district Government Agent, speaking at the evening program of the Tamil literary festival in Vavuniya Thursday.
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Grenade attack in Vavuniya injures 3 civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 19:44 GMT]
Unidentified persons hurled a hand grenade on a private home in Pandarikulam in the Vavuniya district Friday at about 11:30 p.m., injuring three people, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Protests in Batticaloa over reduction in university admissions

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 15:56 GMT]
The Alliance for the Promotion of Education (APE) in Batticaloa Friday held a protest to complain against the reduction in University admissions of students from the district, as the University Grants Commission (UGC) in recent years has been considering the Batticaloa district as comparatively advanced in education in the Northeast, sources said.
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WFP launches "Food Basket" programme for displaced

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 14:51 GMT]
The World Food Programme (WFP) has launched a " food basket" scheme to support the resettled displaced families under the Protective Relief Recovery Operation (PRRO) in the districts of Killinochchi, Mullaithivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa in the northeast province and the border areas in the districts of Puttalam, Anuradhapura and Polonaruwa.
Full story >>

Tamil Literary festival begins in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 11:40 GMT]
"While cherishing the ancient nature of Tamil literature we need to march courageously towards accommodating newly emanating concepts in our culture. Debates and research should probe deeply into our culture and contribute to healthy development of our literature," said R Thiyagalingam, secretary to the Northeast ministry of education and culture, during the opening ceremony of the 3-day literary festival which opened at Irambaikulam Girls School Thursday.
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Jaffna journalists fast to mark colleague’s murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 11:30 GMT]
“Today we see those who murdered Nimalarajan walking about freely. Investigations into his foul murder have been going on for long without any progress. But none of his murderers have been brought to book. We have no faith in Sri Lanka’s system of justice”, said Mr. Velupillai Thavachelvam, President of the Jaffna Journalists’ Association, addressing a protest fast Friday in the northern town to mark the third death anniversary of Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, the well-known Jaffna journalist.
Full story >>

Eight veteran NE Tamil scholars to be honored

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 03:41 GMT]
The thirteenth annual Tamil Literary festival of the North East Provincial Education, Cultural, Sports and Youth Affairs Ministry is to commence Friday at Vavuniya. On the final day of the festival to be held on Sunday eight veteran Tamil scholars in the northeast province are to be conferred with the Governor’s Award-2003, sources said.
Full story >>

NE provincial level science-math competition held

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 00:01 GMT]
The North East Provincial Department of Education held the first provincial level Science-Mathematics Quiz Competition for Grade 11 year students who have excelled in zonal level competitions. The winners of twenty-four zonal level competitions participated at the provincial level competition held Wednesday in Trincomalee Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies College hall, sources said.
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Hakeem meets Indian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 18:51 GMT]
Mr. Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and a Minister in the United National Front Government, met with the visiting Indian Foreign Minister, Mr. Yashwant Sinha, Tuesday evening, and told the latter that it was of paramount importance to safeguard Muslim interests in the proposed Interim Administration for the Northeast, sources said.
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Security and land Tamils' chief concern – Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 17:13 GMT]
“The Singhalese should decide whether we are going to have a united Sri Lanka or Eelam and Sri Lanka. The peace process may take years. But the conflict should be resolved before the next elections”, said Dr. Rajitha Senaratne, Minister of Lands, speaking at a workshop on ‘Devolution of Power: To what extent in Sri Lanka – Lessons Learnt in Europe’, in Colombo Thursday.
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Wickremesinghe said to agree in principle to IDPs' resettlement in HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 16:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, in a meeting with a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday, accepted 'in principle' that all internally displaced families are entitled to resettlement in their own lands and houses in the northeast province, regardless of whether those lands or houses come under areas declared as high security zones (HSZ) by the Sri Lanka Army, TNA sources said.
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SLA checking, harassment on the rise in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 16:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa has increased its checking of civilians. People traveling in vehicles, including motorcycles or bicycles, are stopped, asked to alight from their vehicles, and their vehicles and personal belongings are checked thoroughly, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Batticaloa Deminers to be given one month training

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 15:40 GMT]
New deminers recruited recently for the Batticaloa district will be given one month training starting on October 25, said Ms. Teresa Tavares, the official in charge of demining in the district.
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LTTE delegation meets Norwegian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 15:26 GMT]
The LTTE's peace delegation led by the head of the organization's political wing, Mr.S.P.Mr.Thamilchelvan, met with the Foreign Minister of Norway, Mr. Jan Petersen, Thursday at 5 p.m. at the Royal Norwegian Foreign Ministry, sources said.
Full story >>

Canadian Foreign Minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 13:28 GMT]
"I have come to Jaffna today to see first hand the devastation wrought by the long and tragic conflict, and to gain better understanding of the ground realities," said Canadian Foreign Minister Mr. Bill Graham, addressing a press conference Thursday at the UNHCR office in Jaffna.
Full story >>

Police interrogates Thiraikerni community leader

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 10:31 GMT]
Following the news stories from Thiraikerni related to the finding of human remains near the Periyathambiran Temple, Sri Lanka Police summoned Sinnathambi Karthigesu, 46, President of the Village Development Council, for inquiries, sources said.
Full story >>

Vadamaradchi forum spotlights educational problems

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 03:13 GMT]
Educational Development Forum for the Vadamaradchi Zone (EDFVZ) in the Jaffna district has been inaugurated to raise the standard of education in the zone and to put into maximum use the available teaching resources and to provide proper training to teachers, education sources said.
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LTTE protests SLA's funeral restrictions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 20:40 GMT]
Mr.S.Ezhilan, the Vavuniya district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE), Wednesday wrote to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, saying that he was concerned about the SLMM’s endorsement of the conditions laid down by the Sri Lanka Army on holding the funeral of an LTTE cadre in Vavuniya, as these conditions amounted, in his view, to interference in the political activities of the LTTE.
Full story >>

Civilian bus crashes into SLA sentry point

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 19:24 GMT]
Two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were seriously injured Wednesday evening when a private passenger bus crashed into a sentry of the SLA at Nelliyady town in the Vadamaradchi division of the Jaffna district. The injured army soldiers were on duty at the time of accident inside the sentry point, police said.
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SLA vehicle collision causes panic in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 17:39 GMT]
Another accident involving the Sri Lanka Army and civilians took place at Mampalam junction in Ariyalai in Jaffna town Wednesday at about 6 p.m. in which a SLA vehicle and a civilian motorcycle collided and the motorcyclists sustained minor injuries, police sources said.
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NE Provincial English Day held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 17:02 GMT]
Twenty years of civil war and displacement have severely affected the educational standards of the Northeast province, said Mr.R.Thiagalingam, the North East Provincial Education Ministry Secretary, addressing the provincial English Day celebrations in Trincomalee Tuesday evening at the St.Joseph's College auditorium.
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Dead whale washed ashore in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 16:06 GMT]
A large dead humpback whale was found washed ashore at the Bambalapitiya beach in Colombo Wednesday. Curious onlookers, including school children, gathered at the beach to see the mammal, sources said.
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TNA meets Indian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 14:27 GMT]
The visiting Indian Foreign Minister, Mr. Yaswant Sinha, told the Tamil National Alliance Tuesday that the Indian government would extend its support to all efforts taken to find a peaceful political solution to the island's ethnic conflict through democratic means, safeguarding human rights and based on the concept of multi-racial country, TNA sources said.
Full story >>

STF commandos stay on in hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 13:57 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF), the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan armed forces, said Wednesday it would further delay moving out of the Thirukkovil District Hospital, 76 kilometres south of Batticaloa. The hospital, which is in the midst of a large Tamil village, has been garrisoned by the STF for 17 years despite protests by local rights activists and politicians.
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Massive crowds pack Mannar Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 13:55 GMT]
More than thirty thousand people packed the Mannar town grounds Wednesday for Pongu Thamil Wednesday. Large processions led by political and religious leaders started from three corners of the Mannar town at 3. 30 p.m. and converged on the ground one hour later. "We want our land", "soldiers! Go back to your homes", the marchers shouted.
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Maligawa bombing accused sentenced to death

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 07:20 GMT]
The Kandy High Court Wednesday sentenced to death three persons accused of involvement in the bombing of Dalada Maligawa, the Buddhist temple of the tooth, on January 25, 1998. The judge, Mr. D. S. D Lekamwasam, gave 680 years each to Mr. Subramaniam Raveendran and Mr. Krishnasamy Ramachandran, two of them and 490 years to the third. The fourth accused, Mr. Muthulingam Jeevarajah, was acquitted.
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Funeral of LTTE cadre held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 03:38 GMT]
Mr. Aliventhan, a cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, died in a motorcycle accident Sunday in Mullaithivu, and a large number of people attended his funeral held at the martyr’s cemetery in Eachankulam in Vavuniya Tuesday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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UNDP project to improve Trincomalee fishermen livelihood

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The United Nations Development Programme has launched a transition programme fisheries project in Trincomalee funded by AusAID to strengthen the capacity of fisheries department and fisheries co-operative societies to enable fishermen to improve their livelihoods as many of them have not been active for a long time due to the restrictions imposed on fishing and also they lost part or all of their fishing gear and other equipments, UNDP sources said.
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Northern Principals propose fully empowered IA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 17:00 GMT]
The Northern Province Principals' Association (NPPA) said Tuesday that it has sent a memorandum to Mr. Velupillai Pirapakaran, the leader of the Liberation Tigers, urging him to ensure that the proposed Interim Administration (IA) for the Northeast is vested with fiscal, executive and judicial powers.
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Education on Tamil history stressed by Eastern academic

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 16:40 GMT]
Tamil students are forced to learn the history of the Sinhalese, but the history of the Tamils is not part of the subjects taught to them under the current education plan in Sri Lanka, said Ms. Ruby Valentina Francis, a researcher and lecturer at the Eastern University, speaking at the release of a new book titled "Vanniar of Tamil Nadu and Vanniar of Eelam," authored by poet Vellavur Gopal, held Sunday at the Mahajana College hall in Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

HRC to meet SLA commander on Jaffna road 'accidents'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 16:08 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka is to take up the matter of increased involvement of army vehicles in road accidents in Jaffna district in recent times with the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army Lionel Balagalle following a report from its regional office in Jaffna, HRC sources said.
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Kinniya protesters set fire to Tamil newspaper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 15:53 GMT]
A group of Muslim protesters carrying placards at the Al Aksa college junction in Kinniya, in the Trincomalee district, set fire to copies of the Tamil daily with the largest circulation in Sri Lanka, The Virakesari, as the group considered the newspaper's coverage of Muslim-Tamil ethnic clashes in the area as unfavorable, sources in Trincomalee said.
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SLPA ignores Point Pedro harbour workers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 15:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Port Authority (SLPA) is not paying hundreds of workers who are engaged in loading and unloading of cargo in Point Pedro harbor regularly. A sum of 1.7 million rupees has accumulated as salary arrears to be paid for the workers since June this year, port trade union sources allege.
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SLMM political advisor meets Jaffna LTTE leaders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 14:29 GMT]
The political advisor of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Sri Lanka Mr.Geir Sjøberg Tuesday held discussion with the Jaffna LTTE leaders at the office of the Jaffna LTTE political secretariat. Jaffna district political head of the LTTE Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, women political head Ms Kayalvilzi and education head Mr.Kavianban participated in the discussion, sources said.
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Sinhala nationalists' convoy to LTTE camp turned back

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 11:25 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police Tuesday peacefully turned back a large convoy of vehicles in which activists of Sihala Urumaya (SU), an ultra Sinhala nationalist party, were travelling towards Kurankupanchaan Kulam in Southern Trincomalee, vowing to enter the camp of the Liberation Tigers, which Colombo claims to be in territory under its control. More than a hundred Buddhist monks and about three hundred SU activists began the drive to the LTTE's camp from Kantalai around 1 p.m. Tuesday with the slogan "The arms are yours, the land is ours".
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$649m aid committed to Northeast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 09:40 GMT]
"The World Bank, the Asian Development Bank, UNHCR, UNICEF, UNDP, the World Food Program, the European Commission, Australia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States have committed a total of US$ 649 million to the North East to date. The donor community stands ready to support reconstruction and recovery in the conflict-affected areas," said a joint donor press release issued from the offices of Worldbank in Colombo today.
Full story >>

Jaffna Magistrate orders bail for eight Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 09:21 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah Monday released eight Tamil civilians of the ten who were arrested and remanded in connection with some incidents that took place Saturday on bail with a warning that they should not interfere with the police investigation, court sources said.
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Women complete job training in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 08:08 GMT]
The job training of women conducted by the Centre for Women's Development and Rehabilitation (CWDR)'s Job training division was completed on Monday, and a function to mark the event was held with speeches and exhibitions starting at 10:00 am, sources in the Vanni said.
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SLA expels resettled Kanchirankudah families

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 07:23 GMT]
Ten Tamil families who resettled in Kanchirankudah in the Amparai district have been forced out of their homes again by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which is saying the families could not live in their homes as these are close to the SLAâs camps, sources in Amparai said.
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SLMM holds discussion on SU threat with SLA, Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 05:54 GMT]
A conference was held following a message to the SLMM by the Defense Ministry Secretary Mr. Austin Fernando that SLMM should take appropriate steps in consultation with army, police and civil administrative officials if the Sinhala nationalist party Sihala Urumaya (SU) continued its foot march towards Kurankupanchchan beyond Soorankal, sources said.
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Colombo urged to act on church attacks

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 20:25 GMT]
The National Peace Council, a Sri Lankan peace group called on Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's government Monday to investigate and prevent recent attacks on Christian churches. Sinhala nationalists and powerful sections of the Sri Lankan Buddhist clergy charge that Christian churches, particularly evangelical groups funded from the west, are engaged in an aggressive effort to convert Buddhists to Christianity by what they claim to be "unethical" and "unscrupulous" means.
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Nimalarajan Memorial Lecture to be held at LSE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 18:28 GMT]
A lecture to commemorate Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Tamil journalist based in Jaffna who was murdered allegedly by gunmen of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in 2000, will be held at the London School of Economics in London, UK, on October 30, sources said.
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Criminals terrorise Udupiddy under SLA's aegis

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 18:22 GMT]
Civil society groups, residents and school students from Udupiddy in Jaffna Monday complained to the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) that Sri Lanka army is providing special protection to local criminals who are on a bloody rampage in the village. One of the criminals attacked and grievously wounded Mr. A. S. Sivagnanam, senior resident of Udupiddy, with an army bayonet Sunday at the Veerapthirar Temple.
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EPDP's Batticaloa leader absconding from police

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The leader of the Eelam Peopleâs Democratic Party (EPDP) in Batticaloa district, Mr. Paraneetharan Pratheepan, and his wife are absconding from the police as the police have been ordered by the Batticaloa Magistrate to produce him in court regarding violations of the law during the elections conducted on December 03, 2000, the Batticaloa head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Mr. Suriyaradchi, said.
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LTTE-Muslim representatives meet in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 17:14 GMT]
A meeting to discuss land issues of Muslim people in the Amparai district was held Sunday at the Amaparai district political secretariat, sources in Amparai said.
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Molest try fails, soldiers threaten woman

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 16:29 GMT]
A young woman who reported an attempt by two Sri Lanka army soldiers to molest her Sunday morning in Manalkaadu, a village on Jaffnaís southeastern coast, was threatened by colleagues of her attackers not to speak about the incident to anyone, her family said. Relatives told TamilNet the womanís husband had fought off the two soldiers while they were trying to snatch her infant and to drag her into the shrub jungle by the road.
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Human skulls, bones unearthed in Thiraikerni

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 14:15 GMT]
Human remains were found in a pit near the Periyathambiran Temple in Thiruaikerni, 57km south of Batticaloa town in the Batticaloa-Pottuvil road when Thirukerni residents were cleaning the temple compound during a shramadana effort Sunday.
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TRO's third divisional office opened in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 08:22 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in Trincomalee district opened its third divisional office Sunday evening at Kuchchaveli village which is located about 34 km off north of east port town. Trincomalee district political head of LTTE Mr.S.Thilak unveiled the name board of the Branch and TRO's Trincomalee district director Mr.K.Mathavarajah declared open the office, sources said.
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International Elders-Children Day held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 23:56 GMT]
“Society should not forget the fact that, as a result of war, children have been facing severe problems with respect to education and nutrition. Poor nutrition affects the development of the body and the brain. If these effects on the children are not immediately addressed, nothing could ever be done later, as the effects would be permanent. Society will then be faced with insurmountable problems in the future,” said Dr. Arumugam Ketheeswaran, the deputy director of health services in Vavuniya, speaking at the international Elders-Children day held at the Vavuniya town hall Sunday.
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Jaffna journalists protest against attack

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 19:54 GMT]
Journalists in Jaffna protested Sunday against the Sri Lankan armed forces for attacking four reporters in the northern peninsula Saturday night. "This attack calls the bluff that Tamil journalists face no problems now in the Sri Lankan government controlled areas of the northeast", said Mr. Velupillai Thavachelvam, the President of the Jaffna Journalistsí Association, addressing the protesting journalists.
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TRO hands over ten houses to Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 18:06 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in Trincomalee district Sunday handed over ten newly constructed houses to ten internally displaced families now resettled in war ravaged Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village, about 42 km off north of Trincomalee town. TRO launched this housing project funded by the America's TRO last April, sources said.
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SLA, Police torture Jaffna resident hung by feet

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 11:37 GMT]
"Soldiers stopped me at the Maambalam junction last night when I was going home, dragged me inside a building there, hung me upside down by my feet and brutally assaulted me until I fainted, said Mr. Balasingham Daiyaniharan, 21, a resident of Ariyalai, in his statement to the Jaffna magistrate, Mr. R. P Vicknarajah, at the Teaching Hospital in the northern town Sunday noon. Three civilians and two journalists attacked and injured by SLA soldiers and Police Saturday night have been admitted for treatment at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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SLN soldiers attack young Mathakal woman

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 10:37 GMT]
A young woman was attacked by two Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers who came in civil dress at Mathakal on Saturday night at around 9.30, Jaffna daily Uthayan reported. The injured woman has been admitted to Chankanai hospital according to the report.
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Muslim farmers allowed to cultivate Vakaneri fields

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 19:36 GMT]
In a meeting with muslim farmers from Ottamavadi, Valaichenai and Meeravodai held at the Gokulam Maha Vidyalayam Saturday morning, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) representatives agreed to allow cultivation of lands within the Vakaneri irrigation scheme except the lands that lie close to the LTTE camps, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Salt threatens eight thousand acres in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 18:43 GMT]
Yields in more than eight thousand acres of rice fields in Kopay South in the peninsula are steadily declining due to salination of the lands from waters seeping from the saltpans of Chemmani, on the eastern outskirts of the Jaffna town, local farmers told TamilNet Saturday.
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SED bank branch opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 17:53 GMT]
Socio Economic Development (SED) Bank, which has its headquarters in Killinochchi, opened its first branch in the east of the island, Sunday. The General Manager of the SED Bank Mr.S.Sriskandarajah, declared opened the branch in Kadatkaraichcenai village in Muttur east in Trincomalee district.
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Police attack journalists in Jaffna melee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 14:39 GMT]
Four journalists were brutally assaulted while covering a clash between Police and crowds in the neighbourhood of Maambalam Junction in Jaffna town Saturday evening. One of them, Mr. K. Ithayapavan, a staff reporter of the daily Valampuri, was admitted to Jaffna Hospital with a severe head injury. Police hit him on his head with batons and smashed his camera after he showed his press accreditation card and identified himself as a local journalist, according to his colleagues at the Valampuri.
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Trade exhibition opens in Kiran

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 12:06 GMT]
"Samurdhi sponsored development projects play a vital role in the economic progress of our district and for creation of self-employment opportunities," said E. Kausalyan, Batticaloa-Amparai Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, when speaking Saturday morning at the opening ceremony of the Trade exhibition organized by the Kiran Pradeshya Sabha in Batticaloa district.
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Women's Awakening Day celebrated in NE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 October 2003, 00:01 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Women's Awakening Day and the sixteenth death anniversary of 2nd Lieutenant Malathi (Pedurupillai Sahayaseeli) were marked Friday throughout the Northeast Province on a grand scale with rallies and public meetings where thousands of women from all walks of life participated in the events, TamilNet sources said.
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UNICEF assists hearing-impaired children in NE

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 19:31 GMT]
The United Nations Children Fund (UNICEF) has donated hearing aids for sixty-three students with impaired hearing in the Trincomalee district. The event where such students were fitted with hearing aids was held Thursday at the office of the Trincomalee education zone, UNICEF sources said.
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SLMM political advisor meets Mannar LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 18:27 GMT]
The political advisor to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Mr. Gejir Sebeasd Deniy, met officials of the Liberation Tigers in Mannar Friday for discussions about the ground situation in the district during the 17 months of cease-fire between Colombo and the LTTE. Head of the LTTE political division in Mannar Mr. C Amithaab, told Mr. Deniy that there weren't any problems with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the district only during the first five months of the cease-fire.
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LTTE delegation to visit Norway

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 14:27 GMT]
A delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by Mr.S.P. Thamilchelvan, head of the political division of the LTTE, will visit Norway during October 14-17, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement Friday.
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Tamils, Muslims should work for harmony -LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 12:02 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday said elements that had been responsible for the recent clash in Mutur are now involved in creating ethnic tension in Kinniya division between Tamils and Muslims. The LTTE Trincomalee district political secretariat Friday issued a statement appealing to both communities to maintain patience and to understand the truth behind the current tension in Kinniya.
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Jaffna SLA trains for crowd control

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 08:37 GMT]
Units of the Sri Lanka army’s 51-4 Brigade in Ariyalai East are training for crowd control on the outskirts of Jaffna town from this week, military sources in the northern town said Friday. “The training was initiated to prepare the army too for tackling any civil unrest here”, said a source. “In Jaffna’s present political climate it would be counter productive to deploy the army even to assist Police for managing restive crowds”, Mr. M. K Sivajilingam MP for Jaffna told TamilNet, reacting to the report.
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LTTE commemorates first woman martyr

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 02:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is commemorating the 16th anniversary of its first woman martyr, 2nd Lt. Malathy, throughout the Northeast on Friday. The LTTE’s women wing said in a statement that it would also observe the women’s awakening day on the same day.
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SLA commander dismisses reports of new Trinco LTTE camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 18:11 GMT]
Maj. Gen. Sunil Tennekoon, commander of the Sri Lanka army’s 22 Division, in a meeting with journalists Wednesday night, dismissed reports in the Colombo press that the Liberation Tigers pose a very serious threat to the Trincomalee port by strategically ‘encircling’ it with several new camps, sources said.
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Kinniya under police curfew

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 16:50 GMT]
The Divisional Secretariat division of Kinniya in the Trincomalee district has been brought under dusk-to-dawn curfew with effect from Thursday evening till Friday morning to defuse tension between Muslims and Tamils at the Faizal Nagar area following a land dispute, police said.
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British military team visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 15:49 GMT]
A team of British military officers and defence specialists visited Jaffna Thursday. The team met the Bishop and the Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies (CHA) of Jaffna and discussed the situation in the peninsula and the stand of the Liberation Tigers on several issues, including an Interim Administration for the Northeast, sources said.
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TNA briefs new US Ambassador in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 15:36 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday told the new US Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Jeff Lunstead, that the US government should have helped to take forward the peace process by lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, TNA sources said.
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LTTE, Muslims meet in Valaichenai and Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The subcommittee on Tamil-Muslim issues met Wednesday at 3pm at the Valaichenai Hindu College Hall and also on Thursday morning at the Vavunathivu Secretariat building to discuss issues confronting the muslims in different areas of the east, sources said.
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Garrison holds 6645 destroyed, damaged homes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 03:29 GMT]
Six thousand six hundred and forty five homes remain completely destroyed or damaged in the Valigamam North Division of Jaffna, which is heavily garrisoned by the Sri Lankan armed forces, rehabilitation officials in the northern peninsula said Thursday. All the houses are large and medium permanent brick and cement structures, according to them.
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Kurankupanchan Martyrs’ tombs built in 1996 - Thilak

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 00:01 GMT]
Mr.S.Thilak, the Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Wednesday afternoon showed to the visiting Colombo-based journalists the tombs of two LTTE martyrs, Lt.Lingan and Second Lt. Ganesh, who were buried in the Kurankupanchan camp area in 1990, sources said.
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Veteran carnatic music exponent of Jaffna passes away

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 19:29 GMT]
A veteran carnatic music exponent, Maha Vidwan Brahma Sri M.T.N.Veeramani Ayer, passed away Wednesday morning at the age of seventy-two at his residence at Inuvil in the Jaffna district. His body was cremated the same day evening at the Inuvil Hindu cemetery, in a function attended by a large gathering, sources said.
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SLA bus hits woman in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 19:29 GMT]
A bus used by the Sri Lanka Army to transport its soldiers knocked down a married woman, Ms. Ramkumar Jesuranee, 27, of Kachchai in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district, Wednesday night around 7 p.m., and she is now in a critical condition, police said.
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Muslim-Tamil tension in Trinco south village

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 18:50 GMT]
More than four hundred families from Aalangkulam, south of Trincomalee, left their village Wednesday evening in fear of attacks by a Muslim group, residents from the area said. “The situation remains tense here among the Tamils,” Mr. Ketheeswaran Arunasalam, President of the village temple’s trustee board, told TamilNet.
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IA shouldn’t erode Tamil sovereignty- CTTU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 18:46 GMT]
The branch of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) in Mullaithivu Wednesday evening urged the leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, to secure an interim administration for the northeast ‘without giving up even in least measure’ the Tamil nation’s sovereignty.’ In a memorandum addressed to the LTTE leader, the Mullaithivu CTTU said: “Law and order should be under the interim administration to safeguard our sovereignty."
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SLA said baulking shortest route to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 18:43 GMT]
The Consortium of Humanitarian Organisations in Mannar Wednesday called upon the Sri Lankan government and military to reopen the coastal road connecting the northwestern district with Jaffna. “The road has to be reopened as soon as possible to address the dire marketing problems faced by farmers in the district,” said Mr. Peter Sinclair, the President of the Consortium.
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Journalists allowed to visit Trinco LTTE camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 15:12 GMT]
For the first time since the controversy broke out over the location of the Kurankupanchan camp of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Trincomalee district, the LTTE Wednesday allowed a group of journalists from Colombo and Trincomalee to visit the camp, located 32 km west of Trincomalee town, sources said.
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IGP under heat to resign

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 14:28 GMT]
The Sihala Urumaya, a Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka, has called for the resignation of Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police (IGP), T.E.Anandarajah, saying the IGP is “misusing his position of authority” and “supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam,” and has warned it would conduct a protest campaign against the IGP, media sources in Colombo said.
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Pre-school teachers celebrate teachers’ day in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 October 2003, 00:02 GMT]
At the Teachers’ day held at the Suthananda Hindu Youth Union Hall in Vavuniya town Monday, with the support of the Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), more than 350 pre-school teachers from the 24 zonal districts of the Northeast province participated, sources said.
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Tigers deny abduction charge amid allegations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 18:38 GMT]
The spokesperson for the Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa denied Tuesday that they had forcibly recruited school children from the town of Valaichenai amid widespread allegations that they abducted the young persons to serve in their military. The United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) on Tuesday criticised the incident as “completely unacceptable” and a serious violation of children’s rights.
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‘War has ruined education of NE Tamil students’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 18:12 GMT]
The Dean of the Faculty of Business Studies in the Vavuniya campus of the Jaffna University, Mr.R. Nanthakumar, Tuesday said that the twenty-year war has ruined the education of students in the Northeast province, and the standard of education among Tamil students in the province has gone down to the extent that more students enter universities on district quota system than on merit as in the past.
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SLN truck collision injures motorcyclist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 16:45 GMT]
A motorcyclist, Mr.Magikson Sahayathasan, 40, was knocked down by a speeding truck of the Sri Lanka Navy Tuesday night around 8 p.m. near the Vilundy Pilliayar Kovil in Koddady, a suburb in Jaffna town, police said.
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Vavuniya police arrests youths over abduction

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 16:16 GMT]
The Vavuniya district judge, Mr. M. Ilancheliyan, ordered remand under high security for three youths arrested by the Vavuniya Police Monday in connection with the abduction of two girls who were thought to have joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, but were in fact abducted by unidentified men who later abandoned the girls at the Maravankulam settlement, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Mannar fishermen's woes spotlighted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 10:27 GMT]
Livelihood of local fishermen of Mannar district are threatened by Indian poachers and migrant fishermen from south of the country, complained representatives of 34 fisheries co-operative societies federation in Mannar district at a conference held Monday at the federation office, sources said.
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Women associations' gathering held in Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 05:17 GMT]
An event to bring together several women’s development organizations in Mullaitivu was held on Saturday at the auditorium of Vithiyananda college, and more than 500 women from the district participated, sources said.
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Trinco TRO honors Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim pre-school teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 02:00 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee made history Monday honoring sixty pre-school teachers of all communities -Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim- under one roof at an event held in connection with the World Teachers' Day at Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel.
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Child development program for NE launched

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 19:18 GMT]
The North East Provincial Department for Social Services, Probation and Childcare Monday launched a project aimed at improving the care for children currently living in children’s homes as well as children at risk of being admitted to children’s homes across the province, in collaboration with the UNICEF and with the direct support from Volunteer Service Overseas (VSO), which is said to have a solid background in childcare and child development.
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SLA’s flip-flop puts NECORD project in jeopardy

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The northern command of the Sri Lanka Army Monday officially informed the Jaffna Government Agent that it would allow the deepening of only those fisheries landing points in the peninsula that are located outside the high security zones, thus denying permission for work on the project on the Vadamaradchi north coast, district secretariat sources said.
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Teachers protest 'Sinhalization' of Tamil schools

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 15:11 GMT]
The Twenty thousand-member strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Monday warned that it would launch a massive agitation campaign in collaboration with Tamil political parties if the Western Provincial Council failed to stop posting Sinhalese teachers to Tamil medium schools. The People's Allaince (PA) controls the Western Provincial Council administration.
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LTTE Constitutional Affairs Committee meet in Dublin

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 13:09 GMT]
A delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), led by the head of its Political Wing, Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, is meeting in Dublin, Ireland, with legal experts from the Tamil diaspora who took part in the Paris discussions in early September to finalize the LTTE's proposals for an Interim Administration for the Northeast, sources in the Vanni said.
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LTTE-Muslim representatives meet in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 12:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the All Ceylon Jemiyyathul Ulama in Kinniya Monday signed an agreement regarding cultivating paddy lands surrounding the Kurankupanchan LTTE camp area in the Kinniya division in Trincomalee, sources said.
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LTTE, SLA meet in Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 11:31 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and military officers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) met at the Vavunathivu district secretariat building at 10am Monday morning for two hours, security sources in Batticaloa said. Batticalo district head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Antii Juntunen presided the meeting.
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SLA arrests two Pt. Pedro MPCS workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 08:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army arrested two persons working at the Multi Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Pt. Pedro, Jaffna Monday morning for having in their possession two copies of the tenth anniversary volume of the Charles Anthony Brigade, the first conventional military formation of the Liberation Tigers. The Pt. Pedro MPCS is located inside part of the town centre garrisoned by the SLA’s 52-4 Brigade.
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‘SLA, Police should vacate Batticaloa MC offices’

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 04:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army should remove its 23-3 brigade headquarters operating at the Batticaloa Municipal Council (MC) buildings and government employees’ quarters, and return the buildings to their rightful owners, the Tax Payers Association of Batticaloa (TPAB) has demanded in a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLA stops Valalai temple repair

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 03:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Sunday stopped repairs to the Kaali Temple in Valalai, a village in the Valigamam division of Jaffna, residents said. Last week the SLA ordered several families in this resettled village to dismantle their homes that they had rebuilt as permanent structures. The Sri Lankan military, however, insists the village is part of its security environs, although it lies outside the bounds of its Palaly-Kakesanthurai base, which encompasses most of the Valigamam North Division.
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Two missing girls in Vavuniya found

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 02:42 GMT]
Two school-going girls aged 15 and 16, who left letters at their homes saying that they were going to join the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), were later found in a vacant home in the Maravankulam settlement in Vavuniya by neighbors, sources in vavuniya said.
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Kumbam festival held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Hindus in Trincomalee town at the conclusion of annual Navarathiri (Nine auspicious nights) religious event celebrated the more than two hundred year old Kumbam festival Sunday evening with pomp and pageantry. Specially constructed "Kumbam" from Hindu temples in the district were taken in procession across the east port town throughout the night of Sunday.
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NE observes death anniversary of LTTE leaders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 18:55 GMT]
The sixteenth death anniversary of twelve LTTE cadres, including senior commanders Lt. Col. Pulendran and Lt. Col. Kumarappa, was held at Theeruvil in Valvettithurai in Jaffna district Sunday with the opening of the renovated memorial tomb, which was destroyed by the Sri Lanka Army when it captured the peninsula in 1996, sources said.
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Arrest over leaflet stops work in harbour

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 16:32 GMT]
Ship unloading at the Pt. Pedro Jetty in Jaffna stopped when workers walked out of the harbour in protest over the detention of two of their colleagues by the Sri Lanka army Sunday morning. Sri Lankan military in Pt. Pedro said the two had brought into the harbour leaflets to mark the sixteenth death anniversary of twelve Liberation Tigers, including two senior commanders, who committed suicide in SLA custody in Palaly, refusing to be flown to Colombo for interrogation and detention in October 1987.
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Railway strike called off

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 16:25 GMT]
The United Alliance of Railway Trade Unions (UARTU) Sunday evening called off their strike following successful discussions with Transport Minister Mr.Tilak Marapane. Railway Authority Chairman Mr.Hemachandra Manatunge said. Train services which had come to a standstill since Tuesday midnight would return to normal Monday morning, media sources said.
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'Open discussion needed on LTTE's proposals' - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 15:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said Sunday that LTTE's response to the Sri Lanka Government proposals on the Interim Administrative (IA) structure for the northeast, which is expected to be submitted by the end of this month, needs to be discussed openly, political sources in Colombo said.
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SLA expands camps in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 15:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is expanding and strengthening its camps in Kumpurumoolai and Navalady in Valaichenai in the Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. Kumpurumoolai is located 30 km north of Batticaloa town, and the Navalady junction 36 km north, on the Batticaloa-Colombo road.
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LTTE, SLA to meet in Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 13:04 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) delegation led by 23-3 Brigade Commander Col.L.Ameratunge will meet with a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegation led by Senior Commander T.Ramesh at the Vavunathivu district Secretariat building Monday, security sources in Batticaloa said.
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Ex-EPRLF cadre shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 12:03 GMT]
Subramaniam Kirubakaran, 36, a former member of the Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) was shot dead in Araiyampathy in Batticaloa district Saturday morning at 10 am, ex-militant sources said
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Railway strike continues to cripple train services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The United Alliance of Railway Trade Unions (UARTU) said Saturday that it would continue its strike, which was originally launched for forty-eight hours with out a break till their demands are met. Meanwhile entire train services in the island have ground to a halt since Tuesday midnight.
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Trinco residents receive free medical help

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 16:19 GMT]
The World Medical Team (WMT) comprising sixty-one medical specialists from United States of America, Holland and Nigeria are conducting an eight-day free medical service in Trincomalee since September 29 at American Mission hall which is located at Uppuveli about two km north of Trincomalee town, WMT sources said
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Army, Police clash with residents in Jaffna suburbs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 08:22 GMT]
Widespread clashes erupted between Sri Lanka army and large crowds of angry residents in the Jaffna town suburbs of Gurunagar and Paashaiyoor Saturday morning. Three civilians were injured in the clashes that rapidly spread to all the neighbourhoods of these densely populated coastal suburbs, Police said. Four people and a Policeman were wounded when Police tried to break up a protest at Kondavil junction in the northern environs of the Jaffna town.
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UNICEF book on mine risk education launched

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 03:53 GMT]
The UNICEF launched a book on Mine Risk Education (MRE) at the Puthukulam Maha Vidiyalayam in Vavuniya with the support of the Department of Education, and the book will be included in the curriculum of Vavuniya schools to create an awareness among children of the dangers posed by land Mines, booby traps and unexploded ordnances, sources in Vavuniya said.
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SLA intensifies checking in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 02:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up checking pedestrians and vehicles at several key roads and junctions in Batticaloa district inconveniencing civilians and causing delays to vehicular traffic, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Women's issues discussed in Jaffna gathering

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 17:55 GMT]
More than 1500 representatives of women’s organizations in Jaffna gathered at the Veerasingham hall in Jaffna town Thursday at 9 a.m., and critically discussed the problems confronting women, in particular, the lack of awareness of social issues among women in villages and barriers to women's development in the spheres of education and economics, sources said.
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Two youths die in SLA truck collision

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 17:17 GMT]
Mahalingam Lingaruban,21, of Urumpirai and V.Rasakumar,30, of Point Pedro were killed instantly Friday evening around 5 p.m. when a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) truck collided with their motorbike at the Gurunagar water tank junction in Jaffna town, police said.
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Compensation demanded for SLA's use of estate produce

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 16:31 GMT]
Owners of coconut estates in High Security Zones (HSZ) in Thenmaradchi Jaffna, through the Northern Province Coconut Estate Owners Association (NPCEOA), requested the Government of Sri Lanka to pay compensation for the loss of trees used to construct SLA bunkers and for the revenue lost due to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers' use of estate produce, sources said.
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SLA bars devotees from temple in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 15:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has refused permission for devotees to hold the Navarathiri festival in Ketpali Tharavai Nachchimar Temple, which is located outside the high security zone of Kilali naval detachment in the Thenmaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district, temple sources said.
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TNA briefs Australian parliamentarians on peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 13:25 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday told the visiting Australian parliamentary delegation that the establishment of an interim administration with adequate powers has become a sine qua non for rebuilding the war ravaged northeast province and to ensure the survival of the present peace environment, sources said. "There is no immediate opportunity to find a permanent political solution to the ethnic conflict under the current constitutional set up," the TNA's parliamentarians told the Australian delegation.
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US says LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 11:06 GMT]
The United States yesterday re-designated the Liberation Tigers as a foreign terrorist organization, saying that the LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities, and noted that the designation can be revoked at any time the U.S. is satisfied that the organization no longer meets the statutory criteria for designation, the US embassy in Sri Lanka said in a press release Thursday.
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Postal employees threaten strike demanding salary hike

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 01:55 GMT]
The United Alliance Postal Employees' Unions (UAPEU) Thursday announced that a picketing campaign would be conducted in Colombo Friday to force the Sri Lanka government to consider three demands including a salary increase, said Alliance organizer Mr.V.Vivekandalingam. At the end of the picketing the date for strike action would be announced, he added. .
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SLFP to mobilize people support against UNF government

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 01:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to conduct agitation campaign against the policies of the United National Front (UNF) government in Colombo within the next two weeks, party sources said.
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More skeletons found in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 00:04 GMT]
Human skeletons were found Monday under the debris of the Kilinochchi provincial health services building during its reconstruction, sources said.
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Spanish Red Cross assists Trinco returnees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 18:48 GMT]
The Spanish Red Cross (SRC), with the assistance of Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) and funded by the European Commission Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO), Wednesday began distributing agricultural inputs and implements to the returnees and war affected communities in the Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Soldier deserts SLA, wants to join LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 17:22 GMT]
A soldier of the Sri Lanka Army, who deserted the SLA and surrendered to the political division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was handed over to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) at the HRC’s office in Vavuniya Tuesday night, sources said.
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Railway workers suspend strike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 17:02 GMT]
The United Alliance of Railway Trade Unions(UARTU) Thursday appealed to its members to return to work from Thursday midnight after the forty eight hours' strike, which crippled the railway services in the country, with a warning to the government that it would resort to stringent trade union action if their demands were not met within the next fourteen days.
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'Opposition instigating masses against peace process' - Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 16:22 GMT]
“A conducive environment would be created to resume peace talks once the LTTE [Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam] submitted its response to the Sri Lanka government's proposal on the establishment of the interim administration for the northeast province,” said Mr. G.L.Peiris, Constitutional Affairs Minister in the United National Front government of Sri Lanka and Cabinet spokesman, addressing the weekly press conference held Thursday.
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SLA intelligence officer killed in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 14:18 GMT]
Mr T.Vigneswaran, an intelligence officer of the Sri Lanka Army working at the 221 Brigade headquarters located in Plantain Point in Trincomalee died Thursday evening due to severe assault with pointed weapons and iron rods by unidentified persons, Trincomalee police said.
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Killinochchi children transit center opens on Friday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 10:36 GMT]
The first of three transit centers under the Action Plan for Children Affected by War (APCAW) established in Killinochchi in Vanni region will be declared open Friday. Regional Director of UNICEF South Asia Mr.Sadig Rasheed and UNICEF Sri Lanka representative Mr. Ted Chaiban are scheduled to attend the opening event of the Killinochchi center, UNICEF sources said.
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“We will benefit from Ireland's experience” - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 08:56 GMT]
“We would be having discussions with Irish experts who were associated with the peace process in Ireland. The Irish have also struggled for their rights like us. Their experience and knowledge will help us better understand the intricacies of negotiating peace”, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political division told TamilNet while waiting at the Kilinochchi town grounds to board the Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter to Colombo Thursday morning.
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Tenth anniversary of Charles Anthony brigade observed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 20:28 GMT]
The tenth anniversary celebration of the formation of Charles Anthony special brigade of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam was held at the Jaffna university auditorium Wednesday evening with the release of a book named “ Nerupatru Neechalil,” which is a documentation of achievements made by the special brigade in the war front, sources said.
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Book on LTTE’s first conventional formation launched

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 19:47 GMT]
“The successful interdiction of the A9 highway, which we held for thirty-three days until the fall of Elephant Pass despite massive onslaughts by the Sri Lanka Army to dislodge our troops, is the greatest achievement of the Charles Anthony Brigade. He who owns Elephant Pass owns Jaffna,” said Col. Balraj, senior commander of the Liberation Tigers, speaking at the launch of a special volume on the first conventional military formation of the Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Kilinochchi.
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SLA agrees Vadamaradchi NECORD work can go ahead

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 19:43 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Wednesday said it would allow the deepening of fisheries landing points in the Vadamaradchi north coastal areas, from Kerudavil to Katkovalam east, after fisheries societies representatives and Divisional Secretariat (DS) officials brought to the notice of the army officials present at the conference held Wednesday that they had already sought permission from the SLA in this regard, sources said.
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PNM vows to thwart 'foreign attempt to divide' country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 17:43 GMT]
The leader of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), Venerable Elle Gunawanse Thera, addressing the public meeting held at the conclusion of the five-day anti-peace march Wednesday said that the majority Sinhalese people will not allow foreign elements now involved in the peace process to divide the country, sources said.
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Habeas Corpus filed for Jaffna disappearances

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 17:23 GMT]
The Jaffna High Court Judge, Mr.K.P.S.Varatharajah, Wednesday entertained Habeas Corpus (HC) applications filed on behalf of seven Tamil youths who have been reported disappeared after their arrest by the Sri Lanka Army during the 1996-1997 period, and fixed the inquiry into these applications on October 29, legal sources said.
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Palaly teachers' college has no permanent place to function

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 17:15 GMT]
Students of Thirunelvely Muthuthamby Vidiyalayam Tuesday commenced a boycott campaign demanding the Palaly English Teachers' Training College now functioning in their school buildings since 1990 should be shifted immediately. The training college had been displaced in the 1990 operation by the Sri Lanka Army from its own buildings located in Palaly, which comes under the high security zone of the SLA, sources said.
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JVP awaits invitation to resume talks with SLFP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said Wednesday it has not received official invitation from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), chief constituent of the main opposition Peoples Alliance regarding the resumption of failed talks to form a political alliance to oust the present United National Front government from power, political sources said.
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Foreign NGOs' plans in Jaffna said ineffective

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 04:15 GMT]
In the Jaffna peninsula, the rehabilitation and reconstruction assistance plans of several international NGOs and aid organizations have not made any discernible improvement in war-affected people’s lives, and some families receive only marginal assistance or no assistance at all, said the Consortium of local NGOs in Jaffna, in a letter to the Government Agent (GA) of Jaffna, sources said.
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Sports meet in Vanni marks Tamil Eelam women’s day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 00:02 GMT]
The final rounds of the sports competitions among the women’s brigades of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam were held Tuesday afternoon by the Tamil Eelam Sports division, and the LTTE’s leader, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, senior commanders, special commanders, commanders and political leaders, cadres and supporters, attended the meet, sources in the Vanni said.
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