JHU Buddhist monks submit Colombo nominations

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2004, 16:00 GMT]
The leading monks of the JHU, Ven. Uduwe Damaloka Thera, Ven. Ellawala Methananda thera, Ven. Athureliye Ratthana Thera, and Ven. Kolannawe Sumangala addressed a press conference in downtown Colombo in connection with the submission of the nomination papers. Speaking at the press conference, Ven. Kolannawe Sumangala, the chief candidate of the JHU in Colombo said he considers the elections as a just war (Dhamma Yuddhaya) to safeguard the Sinhala nation and Buddhism.
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Ultra nationalist Sinhala buddhist monks to contest in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 February 2004, 11:07 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya(JHU), an ultra Sinhala nationalist party of Buddhist monks, Friday filed nominations in Jaffna to contest elections to Sri Lanka's Parliament in the northern peninsula. "We will talk to the Tigers only if they accept Sri Lanka as a unitary state and give up their arms", said Ven. Vitharandhenige Methananda, the chief candidate of the JHU for Jaffna, responding to question about the peace process after he had handed in his party's nominations.
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"Tamil party support needed for stable govt"-UNF minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 16:38 GMT]
Senior minister in the United National Front (UNF) government, Dr.Rajitha Senaratne, addressing a meeting in Ratnapura Sunday said that no stable government could be formed after the forthcoming general election without the northeast Tamil parliamentarians and that the United National Party (UNP) is prepared to collaborate with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) after the forthcoming general election, political sources said.


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Sihala Urumaya to field Buddhist monks

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 14:41 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Sihala Urumaya (SU) has decided to contest all the electoral districts in the island in the forthcoming parliamentary general election including northeast province and majority of SU candidates would be selected from the Buddhist clergy, said its Propaganda Secretary Mr.Champika Ranawake.


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Sihala Urumaya opposes direct foreign aid to NorthEast

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 January 2004, 16:21 GMT]
The Sihala Urumaya (SU) Monday appealed to all political parties in the south to come forward to oppose channeling foreign aid direct to the five-year development plan of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, according to a report carried by the State controlled Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation in its Monday's late night news bulletin, sources said.


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Pro-Peace, United Sinhala leadership unlikely to emerge soon - Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 00:06 GMT]
"Our expectations of resuming peace talks with the Government of Sri Lanka under a united leadership with clear authority to command Sri Lanka's security forces are fast receding," said V.Balakumaran, a senior member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, speaking at the Kumar Ponnambalam commemoration ceremony held at the Kailasapathy Hall of Jaffna Campus Monday, local media in Jaffna reported.
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2003: The year in review

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The widespread optimism on peace that greeted the dawn of 2003 has evaporated and the power struggle between Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President that threatens the peace process now occupies the center stage of politics in Colombo. High Security Zones (HSZ) in Jaffna continue to deny displaced Tamils their fundamental rights. Colombo's unwillingness and inability to disburse funds stalls development and rehabilitation in NorthEast, as international aid remains blocked, awaiting concrete signs of progress in peace.
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TNA rejects SU invitation for public debate

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 16:15 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday rejected the invitation extended by the Sinhala nationalist political party, Sihala Urumaya (SU), for a public debate on the "Vaddukoddai resolution" and "Thimpu principles," saying that they cannot enter into "any debate with any political or any other group which has not got a mandate from the Sinhala people," according to the TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan.
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Displaced Kinniya Tamils want permanent solution

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 15:12 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil families from Kadaloor and Upparu in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, who have been staying as refugees at the Eechantivu Vipulananda Tamil Vidiyalayam, Sunday complained to the Trincomalee district parliamentarians, Messrs R.Sampanthan and K.Thurairetnasingham, that they should find a permanent solution to their problems as they had been displaced due to threat and violence thrice since 1990.
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Sinhala nationalists dared to go beyond Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 03:40 GMT]
“I dare Wimal Weerawanse and Champika Ranawaka to go beyond Vavuniya. They can’t. But I can take them now or even during war because we have trust in the Tamil people,” said Mr. Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka, a well known and respected Sinhala film director, addressing a meeting organised by leftist political parties, trade unions and civil society groups at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers control most of the northern province beyond Vavuniya.
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‘Would have shot down Patten’s copter’ – Sihala Urumaya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 09:56 GMT]
"If we had an anti aircraft missile we wouldn’t have hesitated to shoot down the helicopter in which Mr. Chris Patten would be travelling to Kilinochchi to meet the LTTE leader," said Mr. Tilak Karunaratne, the leader of the ultra Sinhala nationalist Sihala Urumaya party, in comments published Wednesday in the Sinhala extremist daily Divaina. President Kumaratunga’s uncle publishes the paper, which enjoys wide readership among the Singhalese.
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Paper slams EU peace visit as "pig headed act"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2003, 08:27 GMT]
Commissioner of External Affairs of the European Union, Mr. Chris Patten’s visit to Sri Lanka next week is expected to draw strong protests from Sinhala nationalists, political observers in Colombo said. ‘The Island’, an English daily published by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s uncle, slammed Mr. Patten’s plan to meet the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochchi next Tuesday as a “pig headed act” in a prominent front-page editorial Saturday. “This is bloody European gumption and insolence of the highest order”, the paper said.
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SU demands Colombo to abandon peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Extreme Sinhala nationalist party, Sihala Urumaya (SU), Sunday appealed to the United National Front (UNF) Government to terminate the peace talks with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the basis of the contents of the proposals for interim self-governing authority (ISGA), which the SU said will lead to the formation of a separate state, media 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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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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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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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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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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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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'NE conflict cannot be solved through talks' -Sihala Urumaya

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