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.
Full story >>

Col. Karuna meets parents of LTTE martyrs

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


Full story >>

Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

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


Full story >>

Maintaining ethnic ratio in Police recruitment imperative - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
At a conference held Thursday morning between the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan at the parliamentary complex, it was decided to summon all Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians for a conference on Tuesday or Wednesday next week before finalizing the list of new recruits for the police force in the eastern province, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Batticaloa Tamil journalist harassed by SLA - SLTMA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 05:54 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) Tuesday notified the Chairman of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Batticaloa about the harassment and humiliation caused to Mr.T.Vethanayagam, a Batticaloa based Tamil journalist, by the Sri Lanka Army, and sought the SLMM's action to investigate into the complaint and prevent such harassment to journalists in future, sources said.
Full story >>

Bomb explosion injures two civilians in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 August 2003, 18:30 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians, Mr.S.Sahayanathan (45) and Mr.S. Pararajasingham (57),were seriously injured in a bomb explosion that took place Wednesday morning at Sarasalai area in Madduvil north of Thenamaradchchi in the Jaffna district, police said.
Full story >>

Fourth meeting of Tamil-Muslim subcommittee held

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2003, 03:53 GMT]
The fourth meeting of the subcommittee on Tamil-Muslim issues was held Sunday 10am at the Vavunathivu divisional secretariat, sources said. The meeting started by Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Batticaloa Head lasted about two hours.


Full story >>

LTTE, TNA Parliamentarians meet in Kokkadicholai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 04:02 GMT]
Officials of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Parliamentarians from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) met Wednesday night at the 'Cholai Aham' Guest House in LTTE controlled Kokkadicholai in Batticaloa district to review the current political situation and other matters related to the region's economic development, sources said.


Full story >>

Move to make SLA camp permanent sparks protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 11:25 GMT]
“The effort to establish the Sri Lanka army’s Kallady camp on a permanent basis goes against the grain of the Cease Fire Agreement”, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance MP, told TamilNet, Wednesday, referring to recent moves by the military to acquire property and land in a suburb on the southern outskirts of the Batticaloa town.
Full story >>

Proposed IA should lead towards final political solution - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2003, 11:05 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday requested the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to formulate a structure for an Interim Administration (IA) for the Tamil dominated northeast province that serves as a step towards finding a permanent political solution to the national conflict, TNA sources said.


Full story >>

Tokyo donors' conference will not benefit Sri Lanka -PA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 20:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) led by President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Tuesday said ninety percent of aid pledged at the Tokyo donors' conference are loans and not grants. "Majority of the aid given at the donors' conference are on various interest rates with several conditions attached," said People’s Alliance media spokesman Mr.Sarath Amunugama at a press briefing held Tuesday at the office of the Leader of the Opposition.
Full story >>

Political confusion in Colombo said undermining peace

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 20:04 GMT]
"It would be absolutely imprudent on our part to predicate the future of the Tamil people on the unpredictable political climate we are witnessing in Colombo now. It is getting progressively unstable. A politically powerful section of the Sinhala Buddhist clergy asserts that President Kumaratunga wowed during a meeting with its leaders that she would divide the Northeast province. The political bankruptcy of the Sri Lankan state in solving the ethnic conflict never stood so well exposed," said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP, a senior leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Thursday.
Full story >>

Colombo urged to drop ‘double standard on interim mechanism’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 18:07 GMT]
“The cease fire agreement (CFA) between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers has no basis in the laws of Sri Lanka. It is an extra constitutional instrument on which the island’s peace has stood for more than 15 months. Therefore, why can’t the Sri Lankan government look beyond the constricting parameters of its constitution to formulate an interim mechanism for rebuilding and rehabilitating the war ravaged northeast? We are urging the Sinhala polity to drop its double standard on this matter for the sake of peace," Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, a senior Tamil National Alliance MP, said Tuesday.
Full story >>

Muslim, LTTE delegations meet in Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 May 2003, 11:04 GMT]
A Muslim delegation and representatives of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) met Thursday morning in Vavunathivu in Batticaloa district, political sources in Batticaloa said.


Full story >>

TNA briefs foreign envoys on NE interim administration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 May 2003, 15:57 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance Thursday told the American Ambassador for Sri Lanka Mr.Ashely Wills the urgency in setting up of an interim administration to rebuild the war ravaged northeast province and to rehabilitate the displaced families in their villages, TNA sources said.
Full story >>

‘Border pioneers’ face uphill task

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2003, 12:44 GMT]
“We settled here in 1954 to safeguard our homeland. Today there is nobody to save us”, says Mr. Kanapathipillai Poopalapillai, 79, former President of the Rural Development Society of Sinnawaththai, a destroyed border Tamil village in the east coast’s interior. The Special Task Force and Sri Lanka Police built their camps in the Sinhala sector of this border zone with bricks and wood from the Tamil homes they dismantled or demolished in Sinnawaththai.
Full story >>

TNA delegation meets LTTE leadership in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 14:30 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance delegation led by its parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tuesday held discussion with the LTTE’s political head, Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, regarding the possibility of the resumption of peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
Full story >>

TNA delegation meets Helgessen, Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 May 2003, 00:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation met with Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen and the Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe separately Monday and held discussions regarding resumption of peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Vesak Massacre remembered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 May 2003, 18:19 GMT]
In Aayiththiyamalai, a village in the district’s interior, 16 kilometres west of the eastern town, a special service was held Saturday at the local church for ten orphans who were massacred by Sri Lanka army soldiers and Policemen during the Vesak festival in Batticaloa town three years ago on 17 May. Sri Lankan armed forces, however, celebrated Vesak, the annual Buddhist light festival as usual in Batticaloa this week.
Full story >>

LTTE,TNA spell out basis for Tokyo meet participation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 May 2003, 10:55 GMT]
“The LTTE is of the view that before it participates in the Tokyo Aid Conference currently fixed for 9th and 10th June, the administrative, financial and other structures with adequate powers need to be established in order to reconstruct the northeast and to rehabilitate and restore normal civilian life in the northeast province”, said the Tamil National Alliance in a press release issued Wednesday on the outcome of the talks its delegation had with the LTTE political leadership on Tuesday in Killinochchi.
Full story >>