Displaced Kinniya Tamils want permanent solution

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 15:12 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil families from Kadaloor and Upparu in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, who have been staying as refugees at the Eechantivu Vipulananda Tamil Vidiyalayam, Sunday complained to the Trincomalee district parliamentarians, Messrs R.Sampanthan and K.Thurairetnasingham, that they should find a permanent solution to their problems as they had been displaced due to threat and violence thrice since 1990.
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Sangaree objects to TULF Central Committee Meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 11:50 GMT]
The Central Committee meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) scheduled to be held in Amparai on the 14 December is against the Party's constitution, said Anandasangaree the 'past' president of TULF who was the subject of a no-confidence motion that passed successfully on 30 November in a TULF meeting held in Colombo, media reports said. Anandasangaree, however, has rejected the validity of the voting procedure that dislodged him from his post.


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TNA parliamentarians meet Kinniya Muslim religious leaders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2003, 17:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham Sunday held discussions with the leaders of the Kinniya Jamiathul Ulama Council (Muslim Theologians) at the office of the Kinniya Police station in an effort to restore normalcy in the division hit by several incidents of violence since November 26.
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TNA questions Kadirgamar's competence for Commonwealth post

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 15:02 GMT]
Commenting on the reported candidacy of Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka's former foreign minister and a confidante of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General, the Tamil National Alliance in a statement Thursday highlighted several grave human rights abuses of his government and said, "... Kadirgamar’s misrepresentations in regard to [such] incidents, which constituted a flagrant violation of human rights, are a severe indictment on his capacity to be impartial and truthful."
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“Implement NE disappearance commission recommendations” - TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 18:10 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan of the Tamil National Alliance, participating in the committee stage debate on the votes of the 2004 budget Monday, urged the United National Front government to implement the final report of the Presidential Commission of Inquiry into the Involuntary Removal or Disappearance of Persons in the Northern and Eastern provinces.
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Row erupts at TULF meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sunday evening voted on a no confidence motion on the President Mr.V.Anandasangaree. The meeting ended in uproar. Jaffna TULF organiser Mr. T. Kulasingham, Vavuniya TULF organiser and TNA parliamentarian Mr. N. Raviraj were assaulted.
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“Defense and ceasefire must flow from single authority”-TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 18:00 GMT]
“It is the considered view of the Tamil people and of the fifteen Members of Parliament of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the responsibility on the part of the government to sustain the ceasefire, and to continue with the peace process, must flow from one single authority," said the TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, speaking in the budget debate in parliament Monday.
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TNA denies report on President’s invitation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:16 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday denied reports in a section of the media that the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has invited the TNA for urgent talks. The leader of the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group Mr.R.Sampanthan told Tamilnet that the TNA has not received any invitation from the Presidential Secretariat for such talks.
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TNA urges SL President to restore status quo ante

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 20:27 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance in a statement Friday urged Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, to take appropriate steps to ensure that the situation of a lack of clarity and uncertainty now prevailing in the country following the take over of three ministries is ended by restoring the status quo ante.
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TNA urges UNF not to abdicate responsibility

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Wednesday told Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, that its support to the United National Front government was totally related to the peace process and assured him its continued support to further the peace process. The TNA urged the Prime Minister that the United National Front government should not abdicate its responsibility to meaningfully continue with the peace process.
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'Sangaree' issue to be decided at TULF working committee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 17:25 GMT]
A request has been made to the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr.R.Sampanthan, to summon the central working committee of the party to take disciplinary action against the party president, Mr.V.Ananadasangaree, for making statements contrary to the Tamil National Alliance’s stated positions as outlined in its manifesto, sources said.
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"SL President's lack of sincerity will hamper peace efforts" -TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 12:34 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Tuesday told the Norwegian peace envoys that defense arrangements of the country should be left in the hands of one party that is dedicated to take forward the current peace process with sincerity. Sri Lanka's President's past actions of not responding to LTTE's unilateral ceasefire in December 2000 and her attempts to sideline Norway's peace envoy Eric Soleheim reflect her lack of sincerity and leaving the Peace Process in her command will damage peace efforts, TNA delegation added.
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Sri Lanka's PM invites TNA for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited the Tamil National Alliance for talks on Wednesday evening to discuss the present constitutional crisis and the future of the peace process. Earlier on the day Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is scheduled to meet the President at the latter's invitation at the Presidential Secretariat, political sources said.
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Helgesen, Solheim arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 03:45 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, and special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, arrived in Colombo Monday night in an attempt to revive the stalled peace talks between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and on Tuesday morning conferred with the members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources said Tuesday.
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UNF prepared to face snap elections - Peiris

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 09:37 GMT]
The UNF spokesman and Minister of Constitutional Affairs Mr. G.L.Peiris said Monday that the Prime Minister Mr. Wickremsinghe and his government are prepared to face a snap election, media sources said. It is logical to assume that we have to resolve the "threshold issue" before anything else, Mr. Peiris is reported to have told the media. The Prime Minister's office denied earlier reports on the talks being postponed. The decision is to be taken after the LTTE's views are received through the Norwegian Foreign Deputy Mr.Helgesen, who is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka today.
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Speaker to entertain request to reconvene parliament

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 08:30 GMT]
The Speaker of the Parliament, Mr.Joseph Michael Perera, Monday requested the leaders of the political parties who had attended a meeting in his chamber to submit a written request to reconvene the parliament before Tuesday. The main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) and the Sinhala nationalist -Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) boycotted the party leaders meeting convened by the Speaker stating it was illegal, parliamentary sources said.
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TNA leaders meet to discuss Sri Lanka crisis

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2003, 14:16 GMT]
The parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) held a meeting Saturday evening at the office of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) in Colombo and reviewed the President's address to the nation and the present political situation following the dismissal of three key ministers and the prorogation of the parliament for two weeks, TNA sources said.


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ISGA proposals discussed at Colombo seminar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 November 2003, 00:02 GMT]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) in Colombo held a one-day seminar on the “Interim Self Governing Authority “ (ISGA) proposals submitted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as its response to the government of Sri Lanka’s interim administrative structure proposals for the NorthEast, Friday afternoon at the Colombo Jai Hilton Hotel, sources said
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Coconut trees in 20,000 acres destroyed in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2003, 04:25 GMT]
The Coconut Cultivation Board (CCB) Tuesday inaugurated its seedling distribution to coconut growers in the Trincomalee district from its nursery after about twenty years. "Since 1983, coconut trees in more than twenty thousand acres of land have been destroyed in the two-decade-old war in the Trincomalee district," said the CCB’s Chairman, Mr. Lincoln Fernando, addressing the inaugural event held Tuesday in the premises of the CCB office at Kumburupiddy.
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TNA urges Sri Lankan President to respect people's verdict

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2003, 10:31 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Wednesday urged Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to respect the verdict of the people at the parliamentary election held in December 2001. “Violation of democratic rules of Governance will inevitably lead to a situation of chaos and anarchy in the whole country,” the TNA said in a press release.
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