Preliminary aid conference held in Washington D.C

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 11:05 GMT]
A preliminary conference to the forth coming international aid conference in Japan was held in Washington D.C on 14 Monday at Loy Auditorium. The seminar, hosted by the State Department, was attended by representatives from 26 countries and 16 international organizations. Japan's special envoy to Sri Lanka Yashushi Akashi, Norway's Deputy Secretary of State, Vidar Helgessen and India's ambassador to U.S, Lalith Mansingh, were also present.
Full story >>

LTTE holds arts festival in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 April 2003, 19:08 GMT]
"We are not against the Sinhalese and we are not for violence; we do not use the word 'peace' as a mere slogan. Our future depends on the success of peace," said Jaffna district political head of the LTTE, Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, delivering the keynote address at the five-day music, dance and drama festival inaugurated Tuesday at the Orr's Hill Vivekananda College Auditorium in Trincomalee, sources said.
Full story >>

Sinhala settlements in Batticaloa Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 16:22 GMT]
Tamil people from Mayilankarachchi and Thiyavaddavan, near Ottamavadi in the Batticaloa district, who lost their belongings and their lands in past riots between Muslims and Tamils, have complained of attempts to create Sinhalese settlements in their village, and the construction of a Buddhist temple (Vihare) while they were displaced.
Full story >>

NIE discriminates Tamil medium education -CTTU

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2003, 18:59 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) has requested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to take up the problems confronting Tamil medium education in the Northeast province at the next round of peace talks which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Japan this week.
Full story >>

Trinco historic Pathirakali Amman temple festival begins

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 18:18 GMT]
The annual festival ('mahotsavam') of the historic Pathirakali Ambal Temple in Trincomalee commenced Saturday with the flag hoisting ceremony. The ten-day 'Mahotsavam' comes to an end on March 17 with the chariot (Ther) festival. The next day water cutting ceremony will be held in the Back Bay Sea in the east port town, sources said.
Full story >>

Three-day Konesar procession commences in Trincomalee town

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 March 2003, 00:31 GMT]
The annual procession of the chief deity Lord Konesar and his consort Maathumai Ambal (Parvati) of the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram temple, which is located inside the Fort Frederick in the east port town, commenced Sunday evening, the day after the Holy Maha Sivarathiri Day. This year a new chariot built at a cost of about two hundred thousand rupees will carry deities Lord Konesar and Maathumai Ambal, sources said.
Full story >>

Commonwealth Union delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 February 2003, 17:07 GMT]
A four-member delegation of the Commonwealth Union, led by its Secretary General, Mr. Don McKinnon, arrived in Jaffna Thursday and held a meeting with the Government Agent and representatives of people's organizations, sources said.
Full story >>

Protest march in Jaffna against Kantharodai Buddhist Vihare construction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 February 2003, 15:03 GMT]
The Confederation of Valikamam South Public Organizations Wednesday conducted a protest march condemning the construction of a Buddhist Vihare at Kantharodai in Jaffna district by the Sri Lanka Army. The protest march, which commenced Wednesday morning from Kantharodai, arrived at Uduvil Divisional Secretariat around afternoon, sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna Journalists stage sit-in protest over Manipay attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 February 2003, 15:25 GMT]
The Jaffna Journalist Association (JJA) Monday held a protest demonstration outside the office of the District Information Office in the Jaffna district secretariat condemning the attack on two journalists at Manipay by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers last Wednesday. Members of the JJA with black bands and covered their mouths with black clothes participated in the demonstration which commenced Monday morning and concluded in the afternoon, sources said.
Full story >>

'Gopalapuram memorial, not a ceasefire violation'- SLMM

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 17:43 GMT]
Construction of the LTTE war memorial at Gopalapuram junction in Nilaveli village about 16km north of Trincomalee town cannot be cnsidered a ceasefire violation, four local members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee decided at their meeting held recently. The SLMM officials decided not to participate in the war memorial dispute in the future between the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and the local security forces, sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Sri Lankan workers protest Oil farm lease to IOC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 17:18 GMT]
More than two hundred workers, mostly Sinhalese, who are employees of the Ceylon Petroleum Corporation (CPC) in Trincomalee Saturday struck work demanding that the oil storage facility at Chinabay oil tank farm should not be handed over to the Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), sources said.


Full story >>

US to announce significant assistance in Japan meet - Armitage

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 February 2003, 02:59 GMT]
In a conference on "Srilanka: Prospects for Peace," held at the Center of Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) in Washington D.C Friday, Richard Armitage, Deputy U.S Secretary of State, in his Keynote address said that, "..it is my intention to return to the follow-on meeting [to Oslo] of donors" in June in Japan and "I will be able to announce significant further assistance to Sri Lanka for both humanitarian and economic aid," sources said.
Full story >>

Jaffna library opening put off as Mayor, councilors resign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 February 2003, 21:25 GMT]
All twenty one members of the Jaffna Municipal Council led by Mayor Mr.Sellan Kandian Thursday tendered their resignation in protest to the pressure exerted on them by some organizations to put off the opening of the renovated Jaffna public library scheduled to be held on February 14, Friday, sources said.
Full story >>

Archive to preserve Trincomalee Tamils' historical records

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 February 2003, 21:47 GMT]
At a meeting held at the North-East Provincial Council Education Ministry's Management Centre Monday evening, a decision was taken to establish an archive to collect and preserve historical documents and other valuable pieces of literary and other research works that prove that the Trincomalee district has historically been a land of the Tamil people.
Full story >>

NE Tamils ignore Independence Day celebrations

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 February 2003, 13:43 GMT]
Except a handful of government servants, other officieals and majority Tamils including students kept away from participating in the country’s 55th Independence Day functions held at district secretariats in the northeast province Tuesday, sources said. The Jaffna undergraduates hoisted a big black flag in the university premises and observed the Independence Day as a mourning day. The university area was decorated with black flags, Jaffna Students Union sources said.
Full story >>

'Independence celebrations not for Tamils' -JSU

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 February 2003, 23:04 GMT]
In a statement issued Monday on the eve of the country's fifty-fifth independence day, the Jaffna Students' Union (JSU) questioned the reluctance of the United National Front government in removing high security zones and rehabilitating the displaced people at a time when there is a peaceful environment in the country, and said that the Tamil people have been denied the benefits of independence the country gained 55 years ago.
Full story >>

Victims of Mahiladi village massacre remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 15:50 GMT]
A memorial commemorating the 86 Tamil people killed in a massacre by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) on January 28, 1987, in Mahiladitheevu, 25 km southwest of Batticaloa town in the Kokkadicholai area, was declared open yesterday in a ceremony organized by the Mahiladi village development council, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Exclusive use of Sinhala in Trinco Courts must stop - Lawyers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 January 2003, 12:28 GMT]
The Trincomalee Bar Association has complained to the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLMM) that complaints made by Tamil speaking people in the Trincomalee are recorded only in Sinhala and the police file plaints in law courts only in Sinhala language causing immense hardships to Tamil speaking litigants and lawyers, sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

'Federalism will unite divided Sri Lanka' – Jaffna don

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 January 2003, 12:48 GMT]
“This country is already divided. This is the ground reality. The Sinhalese people have to be told this. There is no point in talking about history now. The Indo-Lanka Accord, the Banda-Chelva Pact and the Dudley Chelva Pact have recognized the separate distinct identity of the Tamils in the past. The Sinhalese have to be told that the divided country can be united by granting a federal solution," said Prof. S. K Sittampalam, a senior historian, speaking at a seminar on ‘Federalizing the Sri Lankan State’ in the University of Jaffna Sunday.


Full story >>

TNA demands compensation to Tamil victims of police violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 19:14 GMT]
Following a request Tuesday by the Tamil National Alliance that the relatives of the dead and injured during police violence should be paid compensation, Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, directed the Interior Ministry to submit a report about the victims of violence that took place at Kanjirankuda in Ampara district, an eastern port town in the outskirts of Trincomalee district, and Nelliayadi in the Jaffna district last year.
Full story >>