Bus shortage plagues northern region transport system

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has sent only five buses to Northern Region Transport Board (NRTB) instead of fifty as promised. The SLTB made an order with a foreign firm to import two thousand buses to be distributed among various depots in the island. Only three hundred out of 2000 buses have arrived in Colombo, sources said..


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Maha Sivarathiri to be observed in historic Sivan Temples

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 02:43 GMT]
Maha Sivarathiri Day religious observance is to be held in the historic Trincomalee Koneswaram Temple, Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar and Kantalai Choleeswaram (Siva) Temple, about 20 km southwest off Trincomalee town on February 26th Sunday night . Arrangements are being made by the temple societies and Hindu Affairs Department , sources said.


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NEHRP provides carpentry, masonry training for NorthEast youths

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 February 2006, 02:03 GMT]
The World Bank (WB) funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has started a masonry and carpentry training project in the NorthEast to meet the acute shortage of masons and carpenters in the eight districts of the province. The project now being implemented in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar and Vavuniya are to be extended to other districts in the province from March, NEHRP sources said.


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Muslims hold protest in Mannar, Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 February 2006, 18:52 GMT]
Several hundreds Muslims held demonstrations in Mannar town in the north and Akkaraipattu in the east Friday afternoon after Jumma prayers against the publication of a caricature by the newspaper in Denmark defaming Prophet Mohamed.
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Armed men beat MAG staffers in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:49 GMT]
Armed men in civilian clothes claiming to be belonging to paramilitary Karuna Group entered the offices of MAG (Mines Advisory Group) in Batticaloa at 2.55 p.m. Wednesday and beat a local staffer working at the office, and threatened the British national heading the Batticaloa office of MAG, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Mannar fishermen woes spotlighted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 11:15 GMT]
In a memorandum issued to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Wednesday, the Mannar District Fisheries Community highlighted the deprivation of their livelihood due to the ban and restriction imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on fishing, and urged human rights organizations to take efforts to improve the livelihood of fisher families, sources from Mannar said.
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Grenade attack damages house in Pesalai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 10:36 GMT]
Unidentified persons hurled a grenade at a house belonging to a Tamil civilian along Jude's Road in Ward No:01 of Pesalai town in Mannar district Wednesday afternoon 12.45 p.m. The front portion of the house was badly damaged due to explosion. No one was hurt in the incident, Talaimannar Police said.
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Mannar fisherman found dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 17:03 GMT]
The body Mr. James Julie Peiris, 34, a Tamil fisherman and a father of a child who failed to return from the sea on February 18th evening was found washed ashore in the Talaimannar Pier Monday morning. Fellow fishermen identified the body as of missing Mr. Peiris. His fiberglass boat was found anchored in the Pesalai Sea area, fisheries sources said.
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Lankan Deep Penetration Unit retreats leaving behind Claymore mine - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 February 2006, 14:31 GMT]
A team of Sri Lanka Army soldiers who entered LTTE controlled Mahilankulam 25 km southeast of Mannar near Iluppaikulam withdrew from the site when intercepted by an LTTE patrol, Media Coordinator of the Liberation Tigers, Daya Master told media Monday evening. The Sri Lankan soldiers had left behind a claymore mine when they withdrew from the site, he added.
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LTTE releases second Sri Lanka policeman

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 February 2006, 11:56 GMT]
Following the Sri Lanka Government facilitated release of four LTTE sea tiger cadres in Trincomalee, Liberation Tigers released a policeman held in custody for more than five months as a goodwill gesture ahead of Geneva Talks, Daya Master from the media section of the LTTE said from Kilinochchi Saturday.
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Mannar civilian detained in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:23 GMT]
The Mannar Citizens Committee (MCC) has appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to take steps to obtain the release of a Tamil civilian Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan of Pesalai who is being detained at the Terrorist Investigative Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police, sources said. The Police following a grenade attack at the army post located near Mannar hospital premises on January 16 took him into custody. An SLA soldier was killed in this incident.
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Three suspects arrested for transporting explosives to Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Mannar Police Thursday arrested three persons, two Muslims and a Sinhalese, in two separate incidents when they were allegedly transporting dynamite sticks from outstations to Mannar Island. The Police recovered 125 dynamite sticks from one incident and about 100 in the other, police sources said.
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TNA, UPFA, SLMC to contest Mannar local council elections

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 16:27 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) Wednesday submitted its nomination list to contest the Musali pradesiya Sabah in the Mannar district. Meanwhile the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has decided to contest all the five local authorities in the Mannar district in the forthcoming local council election, sources said.
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TNA to contest local council poll in Mannar district

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:01 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to contest all the five local authorities, one urban council ( UC ) four pradesiya sabahs (PS), in the Mannar administrative district in the forthcoming local election, Mr.S.Vinoharathalingam, Wanni district TNA parliamentarian said Monday.
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Boat explosion reported off Mannar, four feared killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 13:58 GMT]
At least four persons were feared killed in an explosion involving a boat off the seas of Pesalai in Mannar, Saturday afternoon Police said. Sri Lankan Police said those on board the suspect vessel set the explosion that destroyed the boat when a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessel tried to intercept the boat. Meanwhile, fishermen in Pesalai, expressed fears that the victims could be civilians travelling in a boat with high horsepower engines, that came under RPG fire from the SLN vessel.
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Vidathaltivu war victims receive income generating aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 13:14 GMT]
Seven hundred thousand rupees were distributed to fifty beneficiaries from war affected families in the Vidathaltivu in Mannar district Thursday afternoon at an event presided by the Vidathaltivu Village Co-ordinator, Mr Palisu, sources in Mannar said. The income generating project was implemented by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD).
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Pesalai fishermen protest against Navy restriction

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2006, 17:29 GMT]
Several hundreds of fishermen held a sit-in-protest blocking the Talaimannar-Mannar main road at Pesalai bazaar Tuesday morning from 6 a.m. to 11 a.m. demanding the immediate withdrawal of restriction imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on day and night fishing. The SLN has directed the fishermen to obtain pass for them and their fishing crafts and other related equipments before leaving the shore for fishing daily morning. The SLN has banned night fishing, fisheries sources said.
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Book on Baratha Natyam released in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 16:44 GMT]
A research book on Baratha Natyam written by Miss Pavithra Edwin Christie of Mannar was released at an event held in Mannar Town Hall Monday evening. The author is a Fine Arts graduate passed out from Trichy Arts College in South India. Mr.Vithianantharasa, Principal of Mannar Siththivinayagar Hindu College presided.
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Rajapakse's Independence address avoids Geneva talks, Norway facilitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 16:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, in his address at Galle Face on Sri Lanka's 58th Independence Day on Saturday, avoided mentioning Norwegian peace efforts and the critical talks in Geneva on strengthening implementation of Cease Fire Agreement. The Sri Lankan President, who promised "honorable peace" to the people of Northeast at his address, said the independence achieved 58 years ago from the British, was at stake. Meanwhile, districts of NorthEast observed widespread shutdown.
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SLA mines injure Mannar elephants

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:37 GMT]
Three wild elephants which have sustained injuries from landmines buried in Ganshapuram along Sri Lanka Government controlled Mannar-Vavuniya Road Wednesday morning have crossed over into the jungles at the Madhu side. Wild Department officials and veterinary surgeons are reported to have refused to enter the forest located in the Liberation Tigers controlled area to treat the elephants, sources said.
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