JVP backed anti-NE merger campaign begins in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 16:55 GMT]
A new campaign ''Awakening East'' organized by a Sinhala nationalist group and backed by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, demanding the de-merger of the northeast province was held Wednesday in Kalmunai Town Hall in Amparai district in the eastern province. The meeting was attended by mainly Sinhalese and by a few muslims, media sources said.
Full story >>

AI lauds UN Human Rights Committee ruling on missing Tamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 14:27 GMT]
Amnesty International welcomed the recent ruling by the UN Human Rights Committee in the first case from Sri Lanka submitted under the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) concerning the “disappearance” of Thevarajah Sarma in favour of the relatives of the victim. The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that the Government of Sri Lanka is responsible for the “disappearance” and is under an obligation to provide Thevarajah Sarma’s family with an effective remedy.
Full story >>

Big protest against Bata in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 10:16 GMT]
More than a thousand Bata workers and rights activists demonstrated in downtown Colombo Wednesday, demanding the giant footwear manufacturer to take back the six hundred employees it sacked two months ago. The demonstrators also urged President Kumaratunga's government to repeal the Termination of Workmen's Services Act, which removes legal safeguards against indiscriminate lay offs by employers, according to organisers of the protest. Traffic was blocked by the protestors in the heart of Colombo's busy business hub.
Full story >>

Jaffna Bishop urges govt. to recommence talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 August 2004, 17:52 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop Rt.Rev. Thomas Soundaranayagam Saturday appealed to the Sri Lanka government to engage in confidence building with the LTTE without delay and to take forward the peace process with sincerity on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal submitted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

UPFA urged to adopt consistent stand on ISGA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 August 2004, 00:41 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) in an 8-page statement issued Monday said that UNP is "saddened by the steadfast refusal of the present UPFA government to adopt a coherent and internally consistent stand in respect of their attitude to the current ISGA proposals," and accused the UPFA government for making confusing and contradictory statements leading to the current impasse, jeopardizing the ceasefire agreement.
Full story >>

JVP intensifies its campaign against ISGA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 13:48 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), major constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has been actively engaged in a campaign in the south of the country against the Interim Self Governing Authority proposals of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the topic " Who is the real enemy of peace?" It launched its campaign on August 11
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's railway workers protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 August 2004, 10:02 GMT]
More than three hundred railway workers demonstrated in Colombo Wednesday against moves by the Sri Lankan government to privatise the railway system in Sri Lanka. The Joint Trade Union Front of Railway Services, which comprises 32 unions, wants Colombo to abolish the Railway Authority Act. Unions say the act is designed to facilitate the privatisation of railways in Sri Lanka. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which took up the cause of the railway workers stridently when it was in the opposition, did not take part in the raiway workers' protest Wednesday.
Full story >>

Peace talks should be over ISGA proposals - Mannar Bishop

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 02:35 GMT]
“The Interim Self Governing Authority [ISGA] document was only a proposal for discussion as a step towards a viable alternative to separation. The current talk of a counterproposal to be made by the [Sri Lanka] government is not acceptable to the Liberation Tigers, as the LTTE feels this will become an opportunity for the government to bide its time…The government can bring up all its proposals at the discussion table over the ISGA proposals,” said the Bishop of Mannar, Rt.Rev. Rayappu Joseph, when TamilNet interviewed him Monday.
Full story >>

SLFP, UNP should act together to recommence negotiations - NLF

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 02:57 GMT]
"It is indeed absolutely incumbent on the two so-called major parties (UNP and SLFP) to get their act together to recommence negotiations and take them forward fruitfully to an equitable outcome, especially because it is these two parties that are irrefutably responsible, jointly and severally, for the sins of omission and commission that triggered the 20 year long war," Dr. Vickramabahu Karunaratne, the leader of the New Left Front (NLF), told TamilNet in an interview Monday.
Full story >>

SLMC dissident to be made Minister in UPFA government

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 August 2004, 11:41 GMT]
Mr. Najeeb Abdul Majeed, Trincomalee district parliamentarian who successfully contested the April 2 general election in the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) ticket is to be made a cabinet minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government shortly, political sources said.
Full story >>

ISGA critical to prevent secession- MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2004, 10:50 GMT]
"There is increasing evidence that the Sri Lanka Government is unwilling to accept Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for NorthEast. If this situation is not reversed soon, Tamil people will have no option other than to seek a path of secession, said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) member of Parliament for Jaffna District, M.K.Sivajilingam, during a debate on Regulations on Electricity Board, Wednesday, parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

"No talks on the basis of ISGA"-UPFA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2004, 02:15 GMT]
United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) led by Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge declared Tuesday that the Sri Lanka government will not recommence peace talks with the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by the LTTE, State-run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) announced in its Wednesday morning news bulletin in English, Sinhala and Tamil quoting Minister Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, the General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP).


Full story >>

Norway says peace hopes at new low

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 July 2004, 18:02 GMT]
Hopes that the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers would soon restart peace talks plunged Wednesday after a top Norwegian envoy said there is “little reason for optimism” and warned of a resumption of the protracted ethnic conflict.
Full story >>

Six new Parliamentarians sworn in

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 July 2004, 00:32 GMT]
Six new parliamentarians were sworn in when the fifth session of the Sri Lanka's thirteenth parliament began Tuesday morning at 10 a.m with Speaker Mr.W.J.M.Lokkubandara in the chair. Three of the parliamentarians were from the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the rest were from the main opposition United National Front (UNF), parliamentary sources said.
Full story >>

PTA was big blunder by Tamil politicians - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 July 2004, 16:46 GMT]
“Tamil Parliamentarians committed a great blunder by not opposing the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). It was wrong on our part for not objecting or raising our voices against the draconian bill”, said Mr. Nadarajah Raviraj, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, speaking Monday at a public meeting in Colombo to mark the 25th anniversary of the PTA and to launch a campaign for its repeal. The meeting was organised at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute in Colombo jointly by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and the Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD).
Full story >>

CWC blows hot and cold

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 July 2004, 12:46 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), a member of Sri Lanka’s opposition, blew hot and cold on joining the President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s minority government, according to reports in the Tamil press last week. Meanwhile, the Sunday Times said that the plantation workers’ party was still undecided on the switching sides, while the Sunday Leader said this week “joint opposition was buoyed by information the CWC for the foreseeable future will not join the government.”
Full story >>

SL Prime Minister leaves for India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 July 2004, 16:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse Saturday night left for India on a two day official visit at the invitation of his counterpart Dr.Manmohan Singh. This is Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse's first official visit abroad after he became the Prime Minister.
Full story >>

UPFA, UNF draw battle lines to prove Parliamentary majority

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 July 2004, 00:53 GMT]
With three days to go for the next session of parliament, the minority ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the main opposition United National Front (UNF) are making frenzied efforts to prove their majority. The UNF still claims it has 114 members of the 225 member parliament. But the ruling UPFA says that there would be a dramatic turn in the power struggle in favour of the government after its sweeping victory in the six provincial councils' poll last Saturday, political sources said.


Full story >>

JVP wants police promotions probed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 16:00 GMT]
The Sinhala Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government Tuesday requested Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to order a full scale probe into the alleged irregularities in the recent promotion of police officers made by the National Police Commission (NPC), sources said.
Full story >>

JVP declines to accept post in Provincial Council

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 July 2004, 18:05 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), coalition partner of the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government said Monday that it would not accept post of chief minister or minister in the newly elected six provincial councils.
Full story >>