RDS members complain army harassment in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 August 2005, 20:26 GMT]
Officials of the Rural Development Societies (RDS) in the Trincomalee Town and Gravets Division Sunday complained that the presence of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in large number is disrupting normal lives in their areas. Soldiers are conducting cordon and search operations during nights and walk into the Hindu temples with shoes, they said.
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TNA delegation meets UK envoy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 August 2005, 15:48 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance parliamentary delegation Wednesday morning met with Mr. Stephen Evans, British High Commissioner in Colombo and exchanged views on the proposed talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) regarding the implementation of the ceasefire agreement to its word, current position of the P-TOMS following the Supreme Court's interim order, the urgency of establishing the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) and the future political scenario in the south which is expected to be followed with the order of the Supreme Court on the presidential election date controversy on Friday, TNA sources said.
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TNA statement on Kadirgamar killing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 August 2005, 06:49 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday expressed shock and consternation on the killing of Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister. "We urge that the peace process be recommenced in a meaningful way. That would be the only way to sustain the Ceasefire Agreement and discourage all forms of violence," said the TNA in its press release.
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P-TOMS fate confirms Tamils' grave skepticism- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2005, 02:57 GMT]
Mr. R. Sampanthan M.P. Leader Parliamentary Group TNA, speaking during the adjournment debate on the P-TOMS structure Thursday in the Sri Lanka Parliament said that JVP mounted a "high profile challenge levelled against the P-TOMS" because the "agreement was intended to substantially benefit the Tamil speaking people of the Northeast," and that the failure of P-TOMS has confirmed the "grave sense of skepticism amongst the Tamil people."


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TNA seeks govt. stand on Trinco Buddha statue issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 06:06 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance ( TNA ) parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian made a statement in parliament Wednesday morning seeking the Government to reveal its stand on the Trincomalee Buddha statue issue following the withdrawal of the case filed by the Attorney General in the Trincomalee District Court for the removal of the statue.
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Kantalai ancestral farmers face denial of water rights

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 July 2005, 13:19 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district parliamentarian, has requested the Sri Lanka's Ministry of Irrigation not to divert water from Kantalai tank for irrigating fields in a newly created Sinhala settlement Jayanthipura undermining the preferential rights of ancestral (Purana) farmers of Tampalakamam and Mullipoththanai of the down stream. When the augmentation of Kantalai tank took place in 1950s to support new Sinhala settlements Government of Ceylon gave an undertaking to traditional Tamil and Muslim farmers ensuring their right to water from the tank.
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Court ruling adds fuel to Sri Lanka chauvinism- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 July 2005, 19:36 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's Supreme Court's ruling on the P-TOMS is not a challenge to Tamil people but to the two main political parties, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP). The ruling ia a boost to the chauvinist forces that insist on the continuation of the unitary constitution and would like to see the P-TOMS abrogated," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader addressing members of the Trincomalee branch of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Saturday morning in his residence, sources said.
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One LTTE cadre killed, two Navy soldiers injured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2005, 16:21 GMT]
One Liberation Tiger cadre was killed and two Sri Lankan Navy soldiers were injured in a shooting incident that took place near Perkar area in Kumburupiddy division north of Trincomalee, according to Police sources. The incident took place near the German radio relay station Deutche Velle around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, Kumburupiddy villagers, who have taken refuge in the Methodist Church, said that two Tamil civilians are missing in the area following the shooting incident.
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Trinco district secretariat conference hall opened

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 16:03 GMT]
Mr.Pandu Bandaranayake, Deputy Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs declared open the new conference hall built at a cost of 12.7 million rupees in the Trincomalee District Secretariat built inside the Fort Frederick in the east port town last weekend. The District Secretariat has been functioning in a two-century-old building constructed during the British rule. The conference hall is the first new building constructed in the District Secretariat premises after about two hundred years, said Mr.Gamini Rodrigo, Government Agent and District Secretary at the opening event, sources said.
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Historic Trinco Sivan Temple Chariot festival held

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 01:21 GMT]
The annual "THER" festival of the four-century-old historic Sri Visvanathaswami (Sivan) Temple in Trincomalee was held Tuesday morning after about twenty-two years in a newly constructed thirty-three feet tall chariot. The trial run of the new chariot buit at a cost of Rs 4 million was held Monday morning.
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Trinco mourns deaths of LTTE cadres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 10:11 GMT]
"The ceasefire now in operation has become a question mark because of the complicity and collusion of a section of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with paramilitaries in attacking unarmed LTTE cadres doing political work in army controlled areas," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head Monday evening at the meeting held in Trincomalee esplanade to pay last respects to LTTE cadres killed in the Sunday Chelvanayakapuram attack, sources said.
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ICRC takes bodies of LTTE cadres from Trinco to Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 July 2005, 17:07 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Monday evening took charge of bodies of Lt.Colonel Dikkan alias Vengai (Sebastiampillai Jeyachandran, Ward No 06, Periyakulam, Sambaltivu), Second Lieutenant Ilampuli (Thangarajah Wijendrarasa, Koonitheivu, Muttur) and Anushan Kulasingham, National Auxiliary Force member at the Trincomalee esplanade to be handed over at Sampoor in the LTTE held Muttur east for burial, sources said. They were killed Sunday morning by an unidentified group at Chelvanayakapuram farm complex.
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TNA condemns Chelvanayakapuram killings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2005, 17:14 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday condemned the Chelvanayakapuram killings and said that the motive of the attack is the disruption of the ceasefire agreement. "The government cannot be unmindful of its obligation to take the maximum possible measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur. It is necessary for the Government to take steps to erase the impression of collusion or complicity in such attacks," said in the press release signed by Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader.
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SL Parliament approves Terrorist Financing Suppression Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 July 2005, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday adopted the Draft Bill to give effect to the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing with a majority of sixty votes, 81 parliamentarians including ruling party, United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United national Party (UNP), National Unity Alliance (NUA), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the four dissidents of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) voted for the bill. 21 parliamentarians including 20 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs and one UNP MP Mr.T.Maheswaran voted against the bill. parliamentary sources said.
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World Bank funded Varothayanagar water supply scheme commissioned

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 June 2005, 02:35 GMT]
Mr.Tyronne Fernando, North East Governor Wednesday evening declared open the Varothayanagar water supply scheme constructed at a cost of 118 million rupees by the World Bank (WB) funded North East Emergency Reconstruction Programme (NEERP). The National Water Supply and Drainage Board (NWSDB) implemented the project. Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarians also associated with the Governor in the event, sources said.
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Sambaltivu Boys Home gets new building

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 June 2005, 10:14 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr.R.Sampanthan, Mr.Mavai Senathirajah and Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Monday, laid the foundation stones for a new building for the Boys Home in Sambaltivu in Trincomalee district administered by the Trincomalee Welfare Association (TWA), sources said. The new building and facilities costing nearly Rs 3m is being funded by a group of expatriate Canadian Tamils and will replace the existing temporary building, sources said.


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TNA, UNP discuss aid deal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 June 2005, 17:15 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday appealed to the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to openly declare its full support to the joint mechanism proposal and to insist that the Sri Lanka Government sign the agreement before tabling it in the parliament. TNA parliamentary delegation led by its leader Mr.R.Sampanthan met with Opposition Leader Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, Sunday afternoon and held discussions regarding the current political crisis following the withdrawal of the Sinhala Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) from the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, TNA sources said.
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TNA urges Colombo to sign aid deal

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 June 2005, 09:06 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Saturday appealed to the Sri Lanka Government to sign the post-Tsunami agreement with the LTTE as agreed between the Government and the LTTE with Norwegian facilitation. Noting that the main barrier to signing the agreement, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), has quit the alliance, the TNA said it would support fully all steps taken in the right direction by the minority Government.
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TNA meets SL President on Joint Mechanism proposal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 June 2005, 13:03 GMT]
A delegation of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians met with Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge and discussed the state of the Joint Mechanism for post-tsunami rehabilitation and the rising tension among the communities in Trincomalee triggered by the Buddha statue, a press release from from TNA issued in Colombo Sunday said. The meeting was held between 11am to 3.00pm Sunday, at president house.
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TNA MPs protest over SL Government's failure to pullout troops

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 June 2005, 08:40 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Tuesday brought the proceedings of Sri Lanka parliament to a halt twice staging a protest in the well of the House spotlighting the failure of the Sri Lanka government to keep its promise to withdraw government troops in deployed in the east port town after the unlawful erection of the controversial Buddha statue near the central bus stand in Trincomalee, parliamentary sources said.
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