TNA refuses to sign electoral reforms interim report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2004, 00:10 GMT]
Parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr.R.Sampanthan, representing the TNA refused to sign the interim report of the Parliamentary Select Committee (PSC) on Electoral Reforms tabled in parliament on Friday, saying that electoral reforms within the existing constitution is meaningless for Tamil people as the constitution cannot accomodate a just and fair political solution to the Tamil national question, parliamentary sources said.


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TNA delegation meets Akashi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2004, 12:05 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday told the Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi that the international community should come forward to help the Tamils in the north east province with an alternative plan to restore normalcy in their lives and to develop their war-ravaged homeland if the political rivalry among Sinhala political leaders stalls the peace process, TNA sources said.


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Akashi arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 02:04 GMT]
Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi arrived at Katunayake International Airport in Colombo Monday around midnight for a weeklong stay in Sri Lanka. "We will not interfere in the current political impasses now prevailing in Colombo. It is the duty of the political leaders of of Sri Lanka to find solution to their problem," Mr.Akashi told journalists on his arrival, media sources said.


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Separate body a must to reconstruct NorthEast - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2004, 15:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Saturday appealed to the international community to take steps to create a separate structure to the Tamil speaking people to rehabilitate themselves and reconstruct their war ravaged province if the current political power struggle between the executive presidency and head of the parliamentary legislature in the south continues without settlement to take forward the stalled peace process.


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Col.Kittu memorial held in Vakarai

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2004, 15:17 GMT]
The 11th death anniversary of Col.Kittu and nine LTTE cadres who died with him on 16 Jan 1993 was held in Panichchangkerni, Vakarai in Batticaloa district Friday, sources said. Panichchangkerni is village located 50km north of Batticaloa town.
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Enjoining order in Anandasangaree case extended

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 January 2004, 15:44 GMT]
The Colombo Additional District Judge Mr.W.Ganepola Wednesday extended the enjoining order preventing the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) from summoning the central working committee or any meeting of the TULF without the permission of the party's President Mr.V.Ananadasangaree and rejected the application moved by respondents to vacate the enjoining order, legal sources said.


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"Hold Tamil medium teacher recruitment exam in NE" - CTTU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 19:18 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have protested to the United National Front (UNF) government that the advertisement published by the Ministry of Human Development Resources, Education and Cultural Affairs calling for applications for the appointment of one thousand G.C.E. (Advanced Level) qualified teachers to Tamil medium schools in northeast province is "faulty and imperfect," according to a memoranda submitted to Ministry of Education, sources said.
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2003: The year in review

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The widespread optimism on peace that greeted the dawn of 2003 has evaporated and the power struggle between Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President that threatens the peace process now occupies the center stage of politics in Colombo. High Security Zones (HSZ) in Jaffna continue to deny displaced Tamils their fundamental rights. Colombo's unwillingness and inability to disburse funds stalls development and rehabilitation in NorthEast, as international aid remains blocked, awaiting concrete signs of progress in peace.
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Teacher shortage imperils NorthEast education - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 19:21 GMT]
"The quality of education in Tamil medium schools in the North East province is very adversely affected from the level of primary education through the level of secondary education as a result of the severe shortage of Tamil medium teachers," and dismal student performance at the GCE (advanced level) examination is a direct result of this shortage, said the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr.R.Sampanthan in a six page letter sent to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Monday.


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CEB said ignoring Trincomalee electrification

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 15:58 GMT]
The Ministry of Power and Energy came in for severe criticism Monday at this year's last meeting of the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee (DCC) for not implementing a single electrification project in the Trincomalee district although a sum of 3.8 million rupees had been allocated for the year 2003 under the decentralized budget for such projects.
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Colombo court calls for objection in “Sangaree case”

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2003, 14:39 GMT]
The Colombo District Court Saturday called for objection through press advertisement published in three daily newspapers, Daily News, Thinakaran and Dinamina to the plaint filed by Mr. V.Anandasangaree against the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham respectively for summoning the party central committee meeting without his written approval, legal sources said.
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Committee formed to promote Tamil-Muslim amity in Trinco

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2003, 16:20 GMT]
A twelve member committee comprising six Muslims and six Tamils was formed at a meeting held Wednesday evening at the conference hall of the Jumma Mosque located on the Ehambaram Road in Trincomalee town to strengthen relationship between the Muslims and Tamils in the Trincomalee bazaar area and to resolve differences that may arise in future, sources said.


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Table Tennis tournaments begin in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2003, 16:17 GMT]
Four-day North-East and All Island Table Tennis tournaments for the year 2003, based on the theme " Peace through Sports," began in Trincomalee Sunday at the Hindu Cultural hall under the aegis of the Asian German Sports Exchange Programme in collaboration with the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association, Trincomalee District Table Tennis Association, Eastern Province Table Tennis Association and the Sri Lanka Police Department in Trincomalee.
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"Don't miss this opportunity for peace" - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 12:35 GMT]
"We call upon the Sri Lankan State to put its house in order and the bring the current constitutional impasse to an end and commence negotiations on the interim self-governing authority on the basis of proposals submitted by the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr.Rajavarothayam Sampanthan said participating in the committee stage debate on the Votes of Defense Ministry in Parliament Wednesday afternoon.


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Court issues temporary order against TULF meetings

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 11:25 GMT]
Colombo district court today issued an interim injunction against the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) holding Central Committee meetings until the 31 December, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Tamils warned to prepare for snap election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2003, 16:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Sunday said Tamil people should rally round under one banner to increase their parliamentary strength if the current crisis between Sri Lanka's President and the Prime Minister precipitates a snap election. “The LTTE leadership has endorsed this stand,” said Mr.Sampanthan.


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TNA, LTTE urge end to southern instability

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 15:37 GMT]
The political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, responding to a question at the press briefing he held Tuesday afternoon in Kilinochchi, said that if the current political crisis in the South were to continue indefinitely, it would seriously impact the peace process and the LTTE would carefully study its options, the Voice of Tigers radio said Tuesday.
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TNA parliamentarians meet LTTE political leadership

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 09:08 GMT]
Talks between Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and the political leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) began Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. at the Killinochchi LTTE political secretariat, Vanni sources said.
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SLN occupies Thampalakamam grazing land

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 19:16 GMT]
The Trincomalee district Parliamentarian, Mr.Sampanthan, has made representations to Sri Lanka’s President, Prime Minister and Defence Ministry officials to take urgent action to release Attavaniakulam pastureland in Thampalakamam for cattle grazing. Cattle breeders in Thampalakamam say the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) High command has barred cattle grazing in the village, saying it comes under their High Security Zone (HSZ). Attavanaikulam is situated about 8 k.m. from Kalmuttian Kulam SLN camp.
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TNA rejects SU invitation for public debate

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 16:15 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday rejected the invitation extended by the Sinhala nationalist political party, Sihala Urumaya (SU), for a public debate on the "Vaddukoddai resolution" and "Thimpu principles," saying that they cannot enter into "any debate with any political or any other group which has not got a mandate from the Sinhala people," according to the TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan.
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