Two Tamil ministers of Kumaratunga govt. submit resignations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 15:07 GMT]
A minister and a deputy minister of President Kumaratunga's coalition government submitted their resignations Thursday. The ministers, Mr. Muthu Sivalingam MP and Mr. M. S Sellasamy belong to the Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), a key coalition partner of President Kumaratunga's government which represents workers in Sri Lanka's large plantation sector.
Full story >>

Kumaratunga ally threatens to quit if talks resume

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 February 2005, 06:48 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main coalition partner of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government Thursday threatened to pull out of the ruling alliance if the long stalled talks between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers on setting up an interim administration to address the immediate humanitarian needs of the war torn Northeast of Sri Lanka are resumed. In a hard hitting statement issued Thursday, JVP slammed President Kumaratunga’s government for neither consulting nor informing them about the announcement Wednesday that Colombo is ready to restart talks with the Tigers on the basis of a proposal for establishing an interim administration.


Full story >>

No Tamil Unit in Central Education Ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:59 GMT]
Tamil and Muslim educationists have expressed serious concern that despite assurances given by Education Ministry Secretary, Dr.Tara de Mel, a separate Tamil Administration Unit has not been established in the Central Ministry of Education. Development of Tamil medium education has been severely hampered by the absence of this unit, the educationists complained.
Full story >>

US Tamils call for an end to East violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 February 2005, 12:00 GMT]
Condemning the recent killing of LTTE's Political Head of Batticaloa-Amparai Mr Kausalyan and others in the East, a group of expatriate Tamil organizations in the US called upon Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga "to suspend immediately the military officers who were in charge of Welikanda and Punnai, where this inhuman act took place...[and to take] swift actions and measures to prevent similar atrocities in the future," in a press release issued Tuesday.
Full story >>

Civil groups demand action against sex assaults

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2005, 15:16 GMT]
Citizens Committee, Justice and Peace Commission, Peoples Forum and Traders Association of Mannar district Monday appealed to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take stern action against errand policemen who are involved in sexual assaults on students and women in Mannar, sources said.


Full story >>

Clinton expresses hope on joint mechanism for Tsunami reconstruction

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 February 2005, 10:37 GMT]
Expressing hope on a joint mechanism for reconstruction of Sri Lanka's tsunami-shattered coastal areas, US ex-president Bill Clinton Monday said that he was informed Sunday night that the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) and the Sri Lanka Government were working together to create such a mechanism for tsunami relief. "My experience is, whether it is Middle East or Northern Ireland, whenever people work together on specific issues, it helps to resolve the differences," media sources said Clinton as saying. The ex-US presidents met with Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga Sunday night.
Full story >>

Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W.Bush arrive in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 February 2005, 10:35 GMT]
Former US Presidents Bill Clinton and George H.W.Bush arrived in Bandaranaike International Airport, Katunayake, Sunday evening at 4.12 PM as part of their tour of tsunami-hit countries in South Asia and Southeast Asia. Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, Media Minister Mr. Mangala Samaraweera, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Vishva Warnapala and Interior Ministry Secretary Mr.Tilak Ranaviraja were present at the Airport to receive the two former US presidents. US President George W Bush appointed the ex-presidents to lead private fundraising efforts in the wake of the tsunami.
Full story >>

US Ex-Presidents Clinton, Bush to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2005, 18:14 GMT]
Former Presidents of the United States, Bill Clinton (1993-2001) and George H.W.Bush(1989-1993) are expected to arrive in Sri Lanka during the weekend as part of their tour of South Asian nations hit by Tsunami, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Chandrika appoints new secretary to JVP's Fisheries Ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 February 2005, 09:52 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga on Tuesday has appointed a new Secretary to the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, one of the three ministries under the JVP control. Mr. E. Jinadasa, a senior officer in the Sri Lanka Administrative Service has been appointed as the new Secretary to the Ministry, replacing the former Secretary, Nandasena Bambaravanage.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka President warns main coalition partner

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 February 2005, 16:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga Sunday warned her main coalition partner that it can leave her government if it continues to obstruct her politically. In a hard hitting speech at the opening of a Multi Purpose Co-operative Society in Attanagalla, her home electorate in Sri Lanka’s western province, she warned the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP): "If they want to leave, let them leave. I cannot rule like this. They threaten to leave the government even over paltry issues. They are more interested in getting rid of me than doing away with Pirapaharan".


Full story >>

Pirapaharan honours slain TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 February 2005, 12:39 GMT]
Leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan Saturday posthumously honoured Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandra Nehru as Maamanithar, the highest honour granted by the LTTE. The citation signed by the LTTE leader was given to Mr. Nehru's widow and son at a special ceremony in Pavattah, in the interior of Sri Lanka's southeast coast. Nehru's body, draped in the LTTE flag was taken from Thirukkovil to the LTTE conference centre in Pavattah, in the Kannjikudichcha Aaru region which is controlled by the Tigers.
Full story >>

Government's ability to prevent killings limited, says Mangala Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 February 2005, 07:46 GMT]
Cabinet Spokesman of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance government Minister Mangala Samaraweera said Friday that although the government was taking all steps to prevent killings in the future, there was a limit to which it can prevent them. The killings took place between Sri Lanka army garrisons at Welikanda and Punanai on the Pollonnorawa-Batticaloa road Monday.
Full story >>

Thamilchelvan slams Colombo for Kousalyan's slaying

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 February 2005, 14:35 GMT]
"The cowardly act of the Sri Lankan government has taken away Kousalyan and his colleagues from us. Kousalyan came back to Batticaloa with many dreams. He came back with ambitious plans to rebuild this land, devastated by the Tsunami and impoverished by the war imposed by the Sinhala chauvinist state", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of LTTE's political division on Thursday, speaking at the funeral of Mr. E. Kousalyan, at Thandiyadi Martyr's Memorial in Batticaloa.
Full story >>

New offer no match for HSZ lands, say Jaffna Displaced

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 February 2005, 12:37 GMT]
Mr N Ganesh, president of the displaced people welfare association in Jaffna said that the displaced people of Valikamam North Military High Security Zones categorically reject Sri Lankan governments recently announced offer of alternative lands in place of the lands occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces in High Security Zones in Valikamam north, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Akashi to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 February 2005, 12:30 GMT]
Special Representative of the Government of the Japan and Peace Envoy Mr Yasushi Akashi is scheduled to visit Srilanka to "discuss the current situation of the peace process after the tsunami disaster," a press release from the Embassy of Japan said Tuesday.
Full story >>

TNA boycotts Tsunami reconstruction meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 February 2005, 11:09 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) boycotted a meeting convened by Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to discuss the question oTsunami reconstruction, held at 11 a.m. today at the Presidential Secretariat, political sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

Institutional Decay perpetuated ethnic conflict- Don

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 13:36 GMT]
Noting that from 1950s Sri Lanka's politicians resorted to ethnic outbidding to attain power and in doing so systematically marginalised the country's minority Tamils, Dr Neil Devotta from Hartwick College New York, in an article published in Nations and Nationalism, argues that "institutional decay. which was produced by the dialectic between majority rule and ethnic outbidding, was what led to Tamil mobilisation and an ethnic conflict that has killed nearly 70.000 people over the past twenty years."
Full story >>

JVP, JHU boycott Independence Day celebrations

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 18:29 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the powerful ultra Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monks' party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, boycotted Friday's Independence day celebrations organised by Chandrika Kumaratunga's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, ven. Ellawala Madhananda Thera, the Head of the JHU, told media Friday. Another significant player absent in Friday's celebrations was the marxist extreme Sinhala nationalist party, Janatha Vimukti Peramuna (JVP).
Full story >>

Netherlands calls for 'conflict sensitivity assurance' in allocation of rebuilding aid

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 14:42 GMT]
Expressing its belief that the government of Sri Lanka would effectively and efficiently channel the international support to all Sri Lankan citizens in need, irrespective of their ethnic and religious affiliations, the government of Netherlands on Friday called for conflict sensitivity assurance in disbursing the international post-tsunami assistance for relief and reconstruction effort.
Full story >>

CNO function to be taken over by new body

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 February 2005, 11:13 GMT]
The operation of the Centre for National Operations (CNO) established by Sri Lanka President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge following December 26 tsunami devastation brought to an end Thursday and its functions have been handed over to Line Ministries and provincial authorities, said Mr.Dhammika Hewapathirana, Manager of the CNO at a press briefing.
Full story >>