Tigers dismiss Batticaloa attack reports as SLA psy ops

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 November 2004, 04:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers dismissed reports in the Sri Lankan state controlled media that more than thirty LTTE fighters were killed in a landmine attack in the Batticaloa district's interior. "This is clearly another psy-ops gimmick by the Sri Lankan armed forces to disrupt the Great Heroes' Week in Batticaloa", an LTTE spokesman told journalists Monday night. Meanwhile, residents of Batticaloa town said Sri Lanka army troopers had dropped hundreds of handbills in the name of the paramilitary Karuna Group in the early hours of the morning Tuesday.
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Pakistan, Sri Lanka discuss defence

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2004, 18:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka and Pakistan agreed to further strengthen their traditional cooperation in defence during high level talks between visiting Pak premier and President Kumaratunga on Sunday. Both sides agreed to review the defence credit line of US $ 20 million ''with a view to its operationalization.'' President Kumaratunga accepted an invitation by Pakistan to visit the country early next year, according to a press note by the Sri Lankan govt.
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Sri Lanka says death penalty for murder, narco trade, rape

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2004, 14:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Saturday said it will mete death penalty for murder, rape and narcotics trafficking. A communique from Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga said necessary amendments would be made to the Sri Lanka's criminal law to give effect to the decision. The reintroduction of capital punishment follows the murder of high court judge Mr. Sarath Ambepitiya by gunmen allegedly linked to drug trafficking.
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Pak PM to discuss trade, regional security

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 November 2004, 13:26 GMT]
The Prime Minister of Pakistan, Mr. Shaukat Aziz, is scheduled to arrive in Colombo on Sunday 21 November on a two-day visit. He will mainly hold talks on a free trade agreement between Sri Lanka and Pakistan. A press note issued by the Pakistan High Commission in Colombo Saturday noted that the Pakistan PM's discussions with his counterpart in Colombo "will also focus on enhancing trade as the current trade volume neither reflects the warm political relations between the two governments nor does it match the aspirations of the people".


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Give Talks priority over self-serving constitutional reforms, TNA tells SL President

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2004, 11:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance, in a statement issued to the media Friday, said that the Sri Lanka President, by her recent statement, is attempting to "deflect focus from contradictions and inconsistencies that prevail in her own government," and instead, she "should communicate to the LTTE at the earliest, that the Government is prepared to commence talks on the basis of the ISGA proposals." The 22 TNA parliamentarians signed the statement.
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Ex UNP minister joins UPFA government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2004, 13:18 GMT]
Mr. Rohitha Bogollagama, ex United National Party (UNP) minister, crossed over to President Chandrika Kumaratunga's ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Thursday, while the UPFA's maiden budget was being presented in Parliament. He was immediately sworn in as Minister for Advanced Technology and National Enterprises. The cross over of the powerful UNP Parliamentarian from the Kurunagala district has further strengthened the UPFA's position in the Sri Lankan legislature.
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JVP slams WB, IMF on eve of Sri Lanka budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 November 2004, 14:07 GMT]
A trade union of the Marxist, Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main coalition partner, put up thousands of posters in Colombo Wednesday warning that her government’s maiden budget, which is to be presented Thursday in Parliament, should not fall prey to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. The JVP is stridently opposed to the influence that World Bank and IMF have had on Sri Lanka’s fiscal policies since the country’s economy was deregulated in 1977.


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Jaffna-Pannai road is to go under sea due to erosion

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2004, 17:24 GMT]
Due to neglect and lack of maintenance by the Road Development Authority the Pannai road which links Jaffna mainland with islets, is in the verge of going under sea between Pannai and Allaipiddy due to sea erosion, civil sources said.
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'Will come to power soon' proclaims JVP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2004, 17:57 GMT]
Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Sri Lanka's powerful Marxist Sinhala nationalist party and President Chandrika Kumaratunga main coalition partner, Saturday marked the 15th death anniversary of its founder Rohana Wijeweera with a massive public meeting at the Sugathadasa Indoor Stadium in Colombo.Addressing the meeting, Mr. Tilvin Silva, general secretary of the JVP, lambasted the United National Party, accusing its leader Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe of conspiring with the Liberation Tigers to divide the island nation. JVP is stridently opposed to granting regional autonomy to Tamils.
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Jaffna islet families demand removal of pass system

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 November 2004, 15:19 GMT]
Pungudutivu Division Civil Groups Consortium (PDCGC) Saturday wrote to Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge to take immediate action to completely lift the residential pass system introduced for resettled families in Pungudutivu by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Paramilitary operative arrested for claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2004, 11:36 GMT]
Batticaloa Magistrate Friday remanded a ‘Karuna Group’, cadre accused of attempting to murder two civilians by exploding a claymore mine and lobbing a grenade at them on Thursday around 2.30 p.m. near Kaluwankerni Junction on the main coastal artery of the district. Mr. Dharmasena Ratnayaka, Officer in Charge (OIC) of the Eravur Police said the Karuna Group cadre was operating from the EPDP camp in neighbouring Chenkalady.
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Norwegian FM meets Sri Lanka's President

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2004, 03:31 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr. Jan Petersen met with Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, Wednesday night, and discussed the resumption of peace process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), sources said.
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"Tamils have right to make their own constitution" – Mavai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 08:52 GMT]
“The objective before us is to make our own constitution on the basis of our sovereignty, which is inalienable. We have the right to do it. The signing of the ceasefire agreement between the leader of the Tamil nation and the Prime Minister of the Sinhala nation proved that there are two states on this island”, said Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, speaking at the opening of the new building of the Thamil Eelam Law College in Kilinochchi Wednesday. The Thamil Eelam Law College was declared open by Ms. Adele Balasingham.
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Norwegian FM to meet Sri Lanka's President Wednesday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 02:03 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister Mr.Jan Peterson accompanied by his deputy Mr.Vidar Helgessen and special envoy Mr.Erik Solheim is due to hold talks with Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Wednesday evening regarding the resumption of peace talks with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Liberation (LTTE), Presidential secretariat sources said.
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WFP expands school meals project in northeast

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 17:36 GMT]
''Standard of education in the North East has deteriorated due to the two-decade old war and malnutrition in children has further impacted the educational standards,'' said Mr.M.S.Jayasinghe, Secretary of Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconstruction addressing the launching of School Feeding (Expansion) of the World Food Programme of United Nations at Nilaveli Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam located sixteen km off the east port town Trincomalee Monday.


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Who will espouse Tamil concerns to Delhi?: paper questions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2004, 13:18 GMT]
Stating that, "Although India has unambiguously said that she will not become directly involved in Sri Lankan peace process, yet, the two main southern political camps as well as the Norwegian facilitators have never failed to brief Delhi on the status of the issue, and even Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi who was in Sri Lanka last week also flew direct to Delhi," the editorial in Tamil daily Thinakkural Sunday, urged the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians to take immediate steps to meet with India's leaders to convince them of the legitimacy of the Tamil cause.
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Secession demand, Tamils right until aspirations constitutionalized- NSSP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2004, 11:33 GMT]
"Tamils have the right to demand a separate State until their aspirations are adequately met, constitutionally entrenched and implemented. If this were done the demand would cease to be valid. It is well known that the Provincial Council system failed, as did all previous attempts at a solution to the Tamil national question since the l950s," said Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), a pro-peace marxist party, in a media release issued Friday in Colombo.
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UPF demands compensation for Bindunuweva victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2004, 00:04 GMT]
Senior member of Upcountry People front (UPF) and Uva provincial council member A.Arvindakumar in a letter to Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga and distributed to the media Friday, demanded urgent and speedy action to provide compensation to the families of those who were massacred in the Bindunuweva transit camp and to the victims of the 1983 ethnic riots and violence, sources said.
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SL President visits India

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2004, 10:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, accompanied by Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr Lakshman Kadirgamar and Minister of Power and Energy, Mr Premaajayantha left for India on a working visit from 3 to 5 November, a media release by Ministry of External Affairs in Colombo said Wednesday.
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Tamils concerned over India's moves- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 04:28 GMT]
"Visits of Indian military and naval chiefs to Sri Lanka and Indo-Sri Lanka defence agreement expected to be signed next week in India by both governments during the visit of Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge have caused apprehension among Tamils that preparations are underway for another war in the island," said Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in a press release issued Tuesday.


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