Pirapaharan's Heroes' day address

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2003, 12:22 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his annual statement commemorating the Heroes’ Day rejected accusations made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that his organisation was strengthening its military power and preparing for war, and pointed to the power struggle between Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister as historical repetitive pattern of "political drama [which] has been continuing for the last fifty years aggravating the plight of the Tamil people.”
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“Defense and ceasefire must flow from single authority”-TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 18:00 GMT]
“It is the considered view of the Tamil people and of the fifteen Members of Parliament of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the responsibility on the part of the government to sustain the ceasefire, and to continue with the peace process, must flow from one single authority," said the TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, speaking in the budget debate in parliament Monday.
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Two Muslims killed in Kinniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 02:44 GMT]
Two Muslim civilians were killed by unknown assailants in two separate incidents in the Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, security sources said. The first incident took place at Faizal Nagar on Sunday night at about 9 p.m. and the other at Kachchaikoditivu on Monday early morning around 2 a.m, sources added.
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JUSU condemns SLA's behaviour in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 17:41 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU), in a statement released Sunday evening, warned that grave repercussion would follow if the Sinhala dominated Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police continued their hostile activities against Tamil students and civilians in the Jaffna district with the assistance of their quislings.
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Tensions over Heroes’ Day continue in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 12:08 GMT]
Tension between civilians and Sri Lanka army troops over arches and decoration for the Great Heroes’ Day continued in Jaffna Sunday. SLA pulled down a hardboard arch that local residents constructed at the Windsor Theatre Junction in Jaffna town Sunday morning. A large crowd of people gathered there in the afternoon and put up the arch again amidst objections and protests by the military. More troops were deployed in the area following altercations between the SLA and townspeople at Windsor Junction.
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Army-students clash averted in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 06:26 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army Saturday night deliberately destroyed a decorated structure constructed by the students and civilians at the Parameswara junction along the Jaffna Palaly trunk road in connection with Great Heroes Day celebration by crashing their heavy vehicle against the structure. A group of army soldiers at the scene had reported to have loaded their guns when a group of students at the site objected to the army's action, police said. High tension prevailed at the site when a gunshot was heard.
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Jaffna celebrates Heroes Day amid SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2003, 14:25 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army Saturday continued their interference with Tamil civilians who have been erecting arches, festoons and other decorations in Jaffna district in connection with the Great Heroes Day celebrations, civil sources said.
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SLMM defuses tension in Jaffna over SLA's interference

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 18:19 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday afternoon stopped officials of the Jaffna district consumers' co-operative societies federation from hoisting the LTTE flag at the event held in the federation’s premises as a part of the Great Heroes' (Maveerar) Day celebrations. However, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials in Jaffna rushed to the site and defused the tension in the area following the SLA's action, civil sources said.
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LTTE, SLA discuss Heroes’ Day in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2003, 08:30 GMT]
“Sri Lanka army officers told us their troops won’t object to anything with the Tiger insignia being used in decorations put up by the people for the Great Heroes’ Day in Jaffna”, said Mr. S. Thangan, the deputy leader of the political division of the Liberation Tigers after a meeting with Maj. Gen. Ratnasabapathy, deputy Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna and senior Sri Lankan Police officials in the northern town Thursday.
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SLA prevents Maveerar Day preparations in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Tuesday prevented Tamil civilians renovating the welcome arch made of concrete across the junction where the Kachchai and Kandy roads meet in the heart of Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna district. The Chavakachcheri Urban Council (UC) constructed this welcome arch and it was destroyed in the military operation launched by the SLA in the year 2000, UC sources said.
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Committee completes Jaffna SLA accident report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:59 GMT]
The high level committee appointed by the Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Chief of Defense Staff Lt.General Lionel Balagalle to inquire into the recent spate of accidents involving army and civilian vehicles in the Jaffna district is to submit its report Monday, security sources said.


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SLA said attacking Kiran villagers

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 04:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army personnel at the Kumburumoolai SLA camp in the Batticaloa district are attacking Tamil civilians following the recent death in nearby Kiran village of a soldier attached to the camp, who was part of a gang of soldiers engaged in several robberies in the village, sources said.
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Jaffna islets' IDPs reluctant to return

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 11:30 GMT]
Only less than thirty percent of the internally displaced families from the islets of Jaffna district who fled the islets following 1990 military operations by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) have returned back to their former homes since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), according statistics collected by civil authorities.


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Getting tough on the Tigers

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 00:31 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s strategy for holding fast to the reins of power in Colombo is fundamentally in conflict with sustaining the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tamil politicians and commentators say. The President and her allies assert that the Sri Lankan state should get tough on the Liberation Tigers to safeguard Sinhala national interests. As her standoff with Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took a new turn Sunday, it appeared inevitable that she might match her words with deeds in tune with the sentiments of her increasingly hawkish Sinhala constituency.
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Book on "Ceasefire 2001-Lessons for the present” released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2003, 17:17 GMT]
"The time has come for all the lovers of peace to engage in a serious dialogue by contributing their share in solving this vexed [ethnic] problem by studying the [LTTE's] proposal and arriving at a consensus to implement it,” said Professor S.K.Sitrampalam, Professor of History and Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Jaffna, addressing the introductory event of the book “ Ceasefire 2001-Lessons for the present” held at the Colombo Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Friday evening, sources said.
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Piling coal in Thampalakamam said cause of pollution

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 November 2003, 17:42 GMT]
Many thousand metric tons of coal unloaded at the Trincomalee harbor and piled on a plot of land located in a residential area at Thampalakamam, a Tamil village about 24 km west of the Trincomalee town, before being taken to the Puttalam cement factory, has caused environmental problems to the residents of the village and crops, said Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian for Trincomalee, Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham, in a letter faxed to Environment and Natural Resources Minister, Mr.Rukman Senanayake, Monday.


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Civilian injured in SLA vehicle collision in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2003, 04:03 GMT]
S.Vijayaratnam of Nachchimar Kovilady in Jaffna, was seriously injured in an accident in which a truck of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and a motor bicycle collided Saturday morning at the Kankesanthurai road junction in Jaffna town. The injured civilian was riding the motorcycle at that time, and was admitted to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital by a group of residents of the area, police said.
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Tigers release proposal for Interim Self Governing Authority

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 November 2003, 06:25 GMT]
The Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposed by the Liberation Tigers will have plenary power for the governance of the northeast, including powers in relation to resettlement , rehabilitation, reconstruction and development, raising revenue, law and order, and over land, according to the LTTE document released on Saturday. The ISGA will continue until a final settlement to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict is reached and implemented, according to the document.
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Navy occupation leaves cattle on the road

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 01:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy has barred cattle from grazing in Attavaniakulam pastureland in Thampalakamam in Trincomalee district as the pastureland falls within the newly expanded High Security Zone (HSZ), security sources said. While the cattle breeders bemoan the loss of prime grazing area, farmers are scrambling to safeguard their paddy crops in more than 5000 acres from wandering cattle.
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Sampanthan warns against falling prey to saboteurs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 17:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, at a special press briefing held Thursday evening at his Trincomalee residence, cautioned the Tamil people, especially Tamil youths, against falling prey into the hands of persons who are plotting to sabotage the peaceful environment in the Trincomalee district at a time when historically important events are to take place with the handing over of interim administrative structure proposals by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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