SLA directs artillery fire towards LTTE area in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 August 2006, 18:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan Army (SLA) from its Vavunativu camp directed artillery fire on Wednesday from morning 7.00 a.m. till evening 5.00 p.m towards the LTTE controlled Vavunativu and Ayiththiyamalai area in Manmunai West Divisional Secretariat Division.
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Paduvankarai faces misery

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 August 2006, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil people living in LTTE controlled Paduvankarai area in Batticaloa District face starvation and danger of health hazards due to the closure of all the entry points to the LTTE controlled area from Military controlled Eluvankarai area by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA) from 12 August, local residents said. "This act of collective punishment by the SLA has affected mostly the poorest civilians in the LTTE-controlled areas in Batticaloa," civil society sources in Batticaloa said.
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Pon Ganeshamoorthy: a Tamil Nationalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 August 2006, 00:12 GMT]
Pon. Ganeshamoorthy who was killed Friday was a well known literary figure, author, long time freedom activist and ardent campaigner for the independence of Tamil Eelam. He was the General Manager of Peoples Bank, Kankesanturai Branch and was on his way to work when he was killed. His killers are alleged to be Intelligence operatives of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Water war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 August 2006, 16:33 GMT]
"Defensive attacks" launched by Liberation Tigers four days ago with the surprise artillery attacks on Trincomalee naval base, and the sweeping attacks on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps and positions in Muthur and southern sector of Trincomalee, were interpreted as the Tiger response to the three-month-long humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in Muthur East, where 30 000 civilians were forced to live as Internally Displaced People (IDPs). Supply of drinking water, one of the most basic needs, emerged as a critical issue as wells dried in the hottest spell as August approached, says Trincomalee Parliamentarian K. Thurairatnasingham.
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Youth shot dead by SLA in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 April 2006, 19:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed a Tamil youth, Thursday morning near Kanniay village during a road patrol, sources said. The body is lying in Trincomalee hospital and has not been identified yet, hospital sources said. Meanwhile, a civilian has gone missing and another youth shot and injured by unknown gunmen in a separate incident in Trincomalee between Wednesday evening and Thursday, sources said.
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Father of four shot dead in Eravur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 March 2006, 07:03 GMT]
Unidentified gunman shot and killed a Tamil man with T-56 assault riffle at Iyankerny in Eravur, 14 km. north of Batticaloa, around 9.30 p.m., Monday, police said.
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Secondary School, pre-school open in Thattuvankotti

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 March 2006, 21:03 GMT]
Ceremonial opening of a pre-school and a secondary school, constructed with financial assistance of German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Federal Government, took place in the ex-garrison town of Thaduvankoddy near Elephant Pass Wednesday, sources said. Mr. Sivakurunathan, Social Development officer at the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), presided the event.
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Ex-garrison town gets new school buildings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 February 2006, 11:29 GMT]
German Technical Co-operation (GTZ) of the German Federal Government and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) announced that new buildings to house a school and a pre-school in Thattuvankotti, a village in close proximity to Elephant Pass are to be opened Wednesday at 10 a.m., marking an important milestone in the development of the village after the residents were displaced 1996.
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TRO expresses dismay, concern over Govt. allegations of non-cooperation

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 13:28 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) expressed "dismay and concern" over allegations made to the media by Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Mangala Samaraweera, and Cabinet spokesperson Priyadharsana Yapa, that TRO was not helping with ongoing investigations. TRO refuted these statements as politically motivated propaganda by the Sri Lanka Government aimed at discrediting the TRO, TRO officials told TamilNet. TRO said in a press release issued Friday from Colombo that it is fully cooperating with the investigations, and has provided detailed account of the actions taken by TRO from the time of abductions.
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Book on Baratha Natyam released in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 16:44 GMT]
A research book on Baratha Natyam written by Miss Pavithra Edwin Christie of Mannar was released at an event held in Mannar Town Hall Monday evening. The author is a Fine Arts graduate passed out from Trichy Arts College in South India. Mr.Vithianantharasa, Principal of Mannar Siththivinayagar Hindu College presided.
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Anbu Illam student wins poetry prize

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 01:27 GMT]
A student from Anbu Illam, a children's home in Trincomalee, won the first prize of ten thousand rupees in an island wide-open poetry competition conducted by a Norway Tamil group. Miss Pakiyaluxmy, an GCE A/L Bio-Science student, received her prize money and savings book from Mr.S.Kumaraguruparan, Trincomalee District Deputy Director of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization. in a ceremony held at the children's home Thursday.
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Mother, child nutritional center opened in Pattalipuram

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 October 2005, 11:39 GMT]
The first Day Care Centre for Mother-Child built at a cost of about 1.5 million rupees was declared open Monday in Iththikulam- Pattalipuram in the Muttur east area in Trincomalee district. The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) through its Trincomalee district secretariat has implemented this project with the funding of Tamil expatriates. The center provides nutritious food and health care for malnourished pregnant mothers and children, TRO officials said.
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Trinco Fine Art Institute holds annual festival

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 October 2005, 00:41 GMT]
Trincomalee Fine Art Institute held its annual Art Festival-2005 during the weekend in Sri Muthucumaraswami Kovil Wedding Hall. The Sri Muthucumaraswami Thevasthanam runs the Institute free of charge for courses in fine art such as carnatic music and oriental dance to Tamil children in Trincomalee.
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Malteser International rebuilds Trincomalee Children's Home

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 September 2005, 00:07 GMT]
Renovated at a cost of about 3.5 million rupees donated by the German based Malteser International (Order of Worldwide Relief), the building complex of the Trincomalee "Anbu Illam," a leading children's home sheltering children made destitute due to war was handed over to the administration of the institution Saturday. Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian unveiled the name-board of the renovated building complex, sources said.
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Mannar Police arrests seven persons with explosives

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 July 2005, 08:14 GMT]
Mannar Police Sunday early morning around 1:45 a.m. seized two plastic boats and a three-wheeler with a consignment of claymore mines and explosives. Police arrested four persons while they were landing at Konthaipiddy shore with explosives and another person with his three-wheeler waiting to transport the consignment, according to the Police.
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GTZ funds resettlement of ex-garrison town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 July 2005, 04:47 GMT]
More than 110 displaced families from the village of Thattuvankotti near Elephantpass moved into their reconstructed houses, built with financial support of the German Government through the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ), at a ceremony organized by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Thursday 3.00 pm, sources in Vanni said.
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Police constable and paramilitary cadre injured in grenade attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 June 2005, 14:25 GMT]
A Police constable, Mr. Shiampala Vadagamage Sumatithilake (36), and a PLOTE paramilitary cadre, Mr. sathasivam Siththiravel, (32), were injured in an attack by unidentified gunmen when they were travelling in a tractor in Kallady, 3 km south of Batticaloa town, Friday around 4.15 pm, Police said.
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Sivaram Dharmeratnam: A Journalist’s life

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 April 2005, 21:11 GMT]
Mark Whitaker, an associate professor of anthropology at the University of South Carolina, Aiken, U.S.A, is completing an intellectual biography of Dharmeratnam Sivaram’s life and work in a book entitled “Learning Politics from Sivaram.” Prof. Whitaker summarizes Sivaram’s life and work in this feature.


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Work on ancient history of Batticaloa released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 April 2005, 13:26 GMT]
“We should write the people’s history of the northeast. It is important to discover and publish old palm leaf manuscripts such as ‘Mattakkalappu Poorva Sariththiram’ (Ancient History of Batticaloa) to bring out the history of the communities that live in this region. We have to search and preserve valuable primary sources of our history”, said Prof. S. Mounaguru, former dean of fine arts at the Eastern University, speaking Sunday at the release of a work that relates the settling and history of Batticaloa from pre-Christian times to the eighteenth century.


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A question of land

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 03:04 GMT]
“We appealed to the President, we appealed to the Special Task Force, we wrote to the Government Agent and we wrote to several ministers in the government. We pleaded with all of them to find us suitable land to restart our lives. We explained to them why we wanted to leave the camp for Tsunami refugees in Akkaraipattu. But no one responded. That’s why we packed our belongings and came here when we heard of this opportunity”, Ms. Pathmanathan Seetha, told TamilNet, explaining her decision to move to Kavudaapuddi, a mound overlooking the lagoon behind her Tsunami destroyed village on Sri Lanka’s remote southeast coast.
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