Monks' Sinhala Buddhist call will derail Kumaratunge - NSSP Leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2004, 04:23 GMT]
Dr. Vickremabahu Karunarathne, the leader of the leftist Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), when asked if United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has any chance of getting absolute majority in the 2 April elections said that "with Buddhist Monks contesting separately, openly proposing 'Sinhala Buddhist' dictatorship, it is very unlikely that United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) could become first in any of the districts."


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Grenade attack on EPDP in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 March 2004, 12:38 GMT]
An Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) candidate contesting the General Election in the eastern province was injured in a grenade attack in Kulmunai Thursday afternoon, police said.
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Sri Lanka Elections: News in Brief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 March 2004, 01:14 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a party fielding Buddhist monks in parliamentary elections, begins its campaign in Kandy, candidates withdraw nominations in Digamadulla and Batticaloa, and a Tamil candidate dies of heart-attack in Nuwara Eliya, media reports said.
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Lagoon fishing ban irks Thondamanar fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2004, 17:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army agreed Tuesday to permit a limited number of fishermen to wade for prawns in the Thondamanar lagoon in Jaffna after fishermen’s organisations in the region threatened to launch a mass struggle. SLA prohibited fishermen from entering the Thondamanar lagoon from 26 February. More than 200 families in the villages of Thondamanar and Kerudavil in Jaffna’s Vadamaradchi Division depend on this lagoon for their livelihood during prawn season from mid February to April.
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EPDP cadre shot dead in east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2004, 05:55 GMT]
Unidentified gunman shot dead a cadre of the EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lankan army Monday night in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Police said. Mr. Ponnaiah Yogendran, 25, was walking towards the EPDP camp in the SLA Valaichenai fisheries harbour garrison around 10 p.m. when he was shot, according to Police sources in the eastern town.
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Sri Lanka army declines to lend a hand to EPDP

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2004, 06:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka army refused to allow the paramilitary EPDP to take a group of refugees inside the Palaly military base to see their homes during the weekend. “We already had a problem in Chavakachcheri where the group claimed that it was responsible for persuading us to vacate a sector of our high security zone there. We want better relations with the public. But we don’t want politics. Our only duty is to defend our country”, a Sri Lanka army officer in Jaffna told TamilNet.
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171 candidates vie for six Vanni seats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 February 2004, 11:28 GMT]
Ten different registered parties and nine independent groups are presenting 171 candidates for the forthcoming elections in the Vanni district for six seats. In the last elections held in 2001, 207 candidates from 23 groups competed in Vanni, according to Vanni election offiicials.
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Ten groups compete in elections for Vanni district

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2004, 10:26 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Agent (GA) and Vavuniya election officer, K.Ganesh, accepted nominations papers from three independent groups and seven different political parties for the Vanni electoral district comprising Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaitivu districts, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Sri Lanka Elections: News Brief

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2004, 12:06 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) plans to submit nomination papers in the districts of NorthEast at the same time Monday noon, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress is to compete in Jaffna alone, Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission is exploring ways to help people in LTTE controlled areas to exercise their right to vote, EPDP and EPRLF (Varather faction) to contest jointly in Jaffna, and in Nuwara Eliya district Hill country Tamils to fight the elections in four fronts, popular Jaffna dailies Uthayan and Veerakesari reported in their Sunday Edition.
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SLA gives back houses in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2004, 00:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army vacated seventy nine houses in two suburbs on the outskirts of Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna this weekend. The military pulled back its forward defense line (FDL) 400 meters to free the houses it has been occupying since 2000. Meanwhile in a move to woo Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) votes in Jaffna for the general elections on 2 April, the EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the northeast, Monday claimed responsibility for securing the release of the garrisoned homes in Chavakachcheri’s environs.
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EPDP to support JVP-SLFP alliance from outside

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2004, 15:35 GMT]
Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), paramilitary group that works with the Sri Lankan armed forces in Sri Lanka’s northeast, said in a Memorandum that it agrees with the policies of the newly formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and that it would extend its support to the UPFA, political sources in Colombo said.
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Four Party Leaders sign pact with JVP-SLFP alliance

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2004, 15:22 GMT]
Leaders of four political parties Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), National United Alliance (NUA), Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP) and Desha Vimukthi Janatha Peramuna (DVJP) Monday signed a pact with the newly formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) at a ceremony held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference hall (BMICH), political sources said.


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JVP for elections -Amarasingha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 14:29 GMT]
Leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr. Somawansa Amarasingha, said Thursday his party is for holding general election in Sri Lanka soon, addressing a massive public meeting of the new alliance between the JVP and President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Colombo.
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Norwegian Ambassador meets Col.Karuna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2004, 19:59 GMT]
The Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, Tuesday morning met with the Senior Commander of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Col.Karuna at the Thenaham Guest House in Karadiyanaaru, Batticaloa. The meeting lasted more than an hour. Discussions centered on the political situation prevailing in the South and the Muslim, Tamil relationship in the east, according to sources.
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Court asks SL Police for progress report on Nimalarajan case

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2004, 19:27 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate Mr.R.T.Viknarajah Tuesday instructed the Jaffna Police to submit a progress report on the Journalist Mylvaganam Nimalarajan murder case on the next date of hearing, February 24, legal sources said.


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Sri Lanka police constable commits suicide in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2003, 19:57 GMT]
Mr.S.M.Premaretna, a constable of the Sri Lanka Police Saturday night committed suicide by shooting himself while staying in barracks located at Nedunthivu in Jaffna district. His body was handed at the Jaffna teaching hospital Sunday morning, police said.


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Sri Lanka's parliament adopts UNF budget

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 16:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday evening passed the 2004 draft budget of the United National Front (UNF) government with a majority of thirty-two votes. 112 parliamentarians voted for and eighty voted against, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA votes against Sri Lanka's defense budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 09:20 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance voted against the Sri Lankan government’s 2004 budget allocation for defense and interior when it came up for voting at the committee stage in Parliament Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, TNA MP for the Vanni, told TamilNet the alliance opposed the 80 billion-rupee allocation “to register a strong protest against the increase in defense spending in peace time and against President Kumaratunga for jeopardizing the peace process by her precipitate actions”.
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Jaffna undergrads condemn army firing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 16:45 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students' Consortium Tuesday in a press release condemned the action of the Sri Lanka Army for having opened fire at a newspaper seller at the Jaffna bus stand and causing injury to a private bus conductor. The JUSC further blamed the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) for aiding and abetting the army in this regard.
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Thenmaradchchi civilians assault EPDP members

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 16:14 GMT]
Members of the public Tuesday evening assaulted a group of members of the paramilitary Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), which works closely with the Sri Lanka Army, when they were engaged in distributing handbills with the assistance of soldiers of the SLA at the common market in Kodikamam in the Thenmaradchchi division of the Jaffna district. The EPDP cadres later complained to the SLA officials that some persons had assaulted them, police said.
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