Asylum seeker says EPDP recruiting in India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2003, 07:22 GMT]
The EPDP cadre who sought asylum from the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochchi, Mr. Iyampillai Yogarajah, 33, told mediapersons in Kilinochchi Saturday that the paramilitary group recruited him from a refugee camp in India eight months ago. He said the EPDP is recruiting many Tamil youth like him from refugee camps in India promising good pay and perks. The paramilitary group works closely with the Sri Lankan armed forces in psychological operations, intelligence and counter insurgency.
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EPDP cadre seeks asylum in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 10:51 GMT]
A member of the EPDP , a paramilitary group that works with the Sri Lankan armed forces in Sri Lanka’s northeast, has sought asylum from the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, military sources in the northern town said Friday. The LTTE’s media co-coordinator, Mr. Daya Master, confirmed that a member of the paramilitary was given asylum in Kilinochchi. The EPDP is a close ally of President Kumaratunga.
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"Prepare to face election instead of losing identity"- Peiris

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 23:21 GMT]
"The United National Front government is willing to meet a snap general election instead of losing its identity in the proposed national reconciliation government," said Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, addressing a UNF party meeting held Saturday evening at Borella in Colombo, media sources said.
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Eluvaithivu survives in the grip of Sri Lanka’s Navy

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 13:24 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy has a tight grip on Eluvaithivu and its residents. It is a small island in the sea off the Jaffna peninsula. The SLN recently stepped up checking at the island’s small jetty. Locals say the Navy fears they might smuggle into the island posters to mark the LTTE’s Great Heroes’ Day. Thirteen years ago, on 4 November, twenty-three men from Eluvaithivu were massacred by the Sri Lanka Navy at mid sea.
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Naranthanai murder case accused to be tried in High Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 16:11 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, on Thursday committed the four accused in the Naranthanai murder case to stand trial in the High Court at the end of the non-summary proceedings, stating that there was prima facie case against the accused, legal sources said.
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Political impasse widens in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 11:25 GMT]
The political gap between UNF and PA widened today as Prime Minister earlier today said he is prepared to face an immediate election while the President in a letter addressed to the Prime Minister has demanded to form a "Grand Alliance of all national and patriotic forces" with the objective of forming a "Government of National Reconstruction and Reconciliation".
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EPDP, SLA said colluding in sand business

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2003, 15:25 GMT]
The Eelam People’s Democratic Party, aided by the Sri Lanka Army and the Police, is removing sand at night from the Vadamaradchi east coast, where civil organizations recently imposed a ban on sand removal formed a committee to regulate it, and selling the sand in the Jaffna town area, sources in Jaffna said.
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Struggle to take Sri Lanka Parliament gathers pace

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 November 2003, 06:02 GMT]
Tamil and Muslim MPs and the Sinhala nationalist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna are set to play a key role as frantic efforts by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s People Alliance and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Front to cobble together a majority in Parliament before 19 November gathered momentum in Colombo Wednesday. Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP for Vanni told TamilNet: “We won’t go for horse deals. The TNA will take a principled stand in the interests of peace”.
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Sinhala,Tamil scholars explain joint festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 18:29 GMT]
“There is an unfortunate stereotyping of Tamils in the minds of the Singhalese and vice versa. This literary/cultural festival will enable artistes from both sides to discover developments over the last twenty years. This would foster an understanding where it matters”, said Prof. Sucharitha Gamlath, a distinguished and leading Sinhala scholar, addressing a press conference in downtown Colombo Monday on the Tamil/Sinhala cultural festival to be held in Sri Lanka’s capital this week.
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Maj. Gen. Fonseka reproves Jaffna media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 11:36 GMT]
Commander of Sri Lankan armed forces in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Sarath Foneseka told a group of northern journalists Tuesday that newspapers in the peninsula publish “half information’ and distorted reports intended to make people angry at the military. Speaking to representatives of the North Ceylon Journalists’ Association about recent attacks on media persons in Jaffna by Sri Lankan armed forces soldiers, he said: “We are not hundred percent happy about the way media people in Jaffna are carrying out their jobs”.
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Nimalarajan murder suspect remanded

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 October 2003, 19:05 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, Monday ordered remand for a suspect in the murder of Jaffna based journalist, Mr.M.Nimalarajan, till Tuesday, legal sources said.
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Jaffna journalists fast to mark colleague’s murder

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 October 2003, 11:30 GMT]
“Today we see those who murdered Nimalarajan walking about freely. Investigations into his foul murder have been going on for long without any progress. But none of his murderers have been brought to book. We have no faith in Sri Lanka’s system of justice”, said Mr. Velupillai Thavachelvam, President of the Jaffna Journalists’ Association, addressing a protest fast Friday in the northern town to mark the third death anniversary of Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, the well-known Jaffna journalist.
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Civilian bus crashes into SLA sentry point

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 19:24 GMT]
Two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were seriously injured Wednesday evening when a private passenger bus crashed into a sentry of the SLA at Nelliyady town in the Vadamaradchi division of the Jaffna district. The injured army soldiers were on duty at the time of accident inside the sentry point, police said.
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Nimalarajan Memorial Lecture to be held at LSE

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 18:28 GMT]
A lecture to commemorate Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Tamil journalist based in Jaffna who was murdered allegedly by gunmen of the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in 2000, will be held at the London School of Economics in London, UK, on October 30, sources said.
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EPDP's Batticaloa leader absconding from police

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 October 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The leader of the Eelam Peopleâs Democratic Party (EPDP) in Batticaloa district, Mr. Paraneetharan Pratheepan, and his wife are absconding from the police as the police have been ordered by the Batticaloa Magistrate to produce him in court regarding violations of the law during the elections conducted on December 03, 2000, the Batticaloa head of the Criminal Investigations Department, Mr. Suriyaradchi, said.
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SLMM political advisor meets Mannar LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 October 2003, 18:27 GMT]
The political advisor to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Mr. Gejir Sebeasd Deniy, met officials of the Liberation Tigers in Mannar Friday for discussions about the ground situation in the district during the 17 months of cease-fire between Colombo and the LTTE. Head of the LTTE political division in Mannar Mr. C Amithaab, told Mr. Deniy that there weren't any problems with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the district only during the first five months of the cease-fire.
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Fasting campaign to demand inquiry into Nimalarajan’s murder

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 17:24 GMT]
A fasting campaign is to be held by the Jaffna Journalists’ Alliance (JJA) in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat to remember the slain journalist, Mr. Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, who was killed three years ago in Jaffna, and to call for a commission of inquiry into his murder, the Jaffna-based Tamil daily, Uthayan, said Monday.
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Festival atmosphere marks Vavuniya Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 03:38 GMT]
"If we desire permanent peace let us negotiate a permanent solution to the conflict," said many of the yellow-red banners in the Pongu Thamil celebrations being held in a festival atmosphere in Vavuniya Wednesday, sources in Vavuniya said.
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‘Claims of 13 camps after MoU totally unfounded’ -LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 19:29 GMT]
The Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col. Pathuman, and the district political head, Mr.Thilak, Friday jointly made an appeal to the Sinhalese and Tamil journalists in the Trincomalee district to inform the international community and people of the country that there was not an iota of truth in the allegation spread by anti-peace elements that the LTTE had constructed thirteen new camps in the government controlled areas in the district since the signing of the ceasefire agreement.
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Helgesen, Solheim to hold discussions on peace talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 11:28 GMT]
Deputy Minister Vidar Helgesen and Special Adviser Erik Solheim are to visit Sri Lanka during 17-19 September 2003, to have discussions with different parties on the current state of the peace process, said the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo in a press released issued Tuesday.
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