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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Sampanthan to address seminar on ISGA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 November 2003, 18:03 GMT]
The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is organizing a one-day seminar on Friday, November 7, on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposed by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the Tamil dominated NorthEast province. Mr. R. Sampanthan, the parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is expected to speak on behalf of TNA, sources in Colombo said.


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Navy occupation leaves cattle on the road

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 01:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy has barred cattle from grazing in Attavaniakulam pastureland in Thampalakamam in Trincomalee district as the pastureland falls within the newly expanded High Security Zone (HSZ), security sources said. While the cattle breeders bemoan the loss of prime grazing area, farmers are scrambling to safeguard their paddy crops in more than 5000 acres from wandering cattle.
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Sampanthan warns against falling prey to saboteurs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 17:35 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, at a special press briefing held Thursday evening at his Trincomalee residence, cautioned the Tamil people, especially Tamil youths, against falling prey into the hands of persons who are plotting to sabotage the peaceful environment in the Trincomalee district at a time when historically important events are to take place with the handing over of interim administrative structure proposals by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Thamilchelvan meets TNA over IA proposals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 16:04 GMT]
Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, met with parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Wednesday at the Kilinochchi peace secretariat, LTTE peace secretariat sources said.
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Wickremesinghe said to agree in principle to IDPs' resettlement in HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 October 2003, 16:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, in a meeting with a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday, accepted 'in principle' that all internally displaced families are entitled to resettlement in their own lands and houses in the northeast province, regardless of whether those lands or houses come under areas declared as high security zones (HSZ) by the Sri Lanka Army, TNA sources said.
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TNA meets Indian Foreign Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 October 2003, 14:27 GMT]
The visiting Indian Foreign Minister, Mr. Yaswant Sinha, told the Tamil National Alliance Tuesday that the Indian government would extend its support to all efforts taken to find a peaceful political solution to the island's ethnic conflict through democratic means, safeguarding human rights and based on the concept of multi-racial country, TNA sources said.
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TRO hands over ten houses to Thiriyai resettlers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 October 2003, 18:06 GMT]
The Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in Trincomalee district Sunday handed over ten newly constructed houses to ten internally displaced families now resettled in war ravaged Thiriyai, a traditional Tamil village, about 42 km off north of Trincomalee town. TRO launched this housing project funded by the America's TRO last April, sources said.
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TNA briefs new US Ambassador in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 October 2003, 15:36 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday told the new US Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Jeff Lunstead, that the US government should have helped to take forward the peace process by lifting the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, TNA sources said.
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TNA briefs Australian parliamentarians on peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 13:25 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday told the visiting Australian parliamentary delegation that the establishment of an interim administration with adequate powers has become a sine qua non for rebuilding the war ravaged northeast province and to ensure the survival of the present peace environment, sources said. "There is no immediate opportunity to find a permanent political solution to the ethnic conflict under the current constitutional set up," the TNA's parliamentarians told the Australian delegation.
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Career Center for Trinco youths opened

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 00:16 GMT]
The Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Sunday morning declared open the Career Guidance and Counseling Center of the Trincomalee Technical College, constructed with the assistance of the Tertiary Education Ministry of the Sri Lankan government, sources said.
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SLMM, LTTE district political heads to meet in Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 19:10 GMT]
Members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and political heads of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from different districts of northeast province are scheduled to holdl talks at 10 a.m. Sunday at the peace secretariat in Killinochchi, SLMM sources said.


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Tamil monthly from Trincomalee released

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 18:44 GMT]
LTTE's Trincomalee district women military wing leader Ms Thayalini released the first copy of the Trincomalee's new Tamil monthly magazine "KONAMARUTHAM (Gentle Breeze of Trinco)" to the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan Saturday at an event held at Trincomalee Town Hall.
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TNA briefs Akashi on urgent need for IA in NE

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 September 2003, 16:45 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), led by its parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Friday told the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi, that an interim administrative structure with adequate powers is urgently needed to rebuild the war ravaged northeastern province as the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has no political power to implement a permanent political solution to the ethnic conflict immediately, sources said.
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Boats return from Tamilnadu after thirteen years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 September 2003, 01:48 GMT]
Sixty one mechanized fishing boats of Tamil fishermen of Trincomalee left Monday morning around eight from Nagapatinam port in South India to Trincomalee towed by twelve Indian trawlers after thirteen years in the custody of Indian officials, northeast provincial council (NEPC) sources said.


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Tamil, Muslim MPs to meet to discuss eastern situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 16:14 GMT]
At the conference convened Monday evening by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, at his Temple Trees official residence in Colombo, to discuss the ethnic tensions between Muslim and Tamil communities in the East, parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Eastern Muslim Parliamentarians' Union attended and unanimously decided to meet again after holding extensive talks with the representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, political sources in Colombo said.
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Restoration work begins at Kanniya Nadesar temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 02:34 GMT]
Restoration work of the Kanniya-Sivayogapuram Nadesar Temple, destroyed by the Sri Lanka security forces and Sinhala mobs 20 years ago during the 1983 July pogrom, commenced Friday. The only temple for Lord Nadesar in the island is located along the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura road, about 5 km northwest of the Trincomalee town, sources said.
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Part time English teachers picket NE provincial education ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 15:49 GMT]
The activities of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education and the Provincial Department of Education located at Orr's Hill in Trincomalee, the administrative capital of the NE Provincial Council, came to a standstill Wednesday due to picketing by hundreds of part time English teachers who launched a fasting campaign on a rotating basis Monday, demanding that they should be granted permanency, sources said.
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Trinco fishermen to bring their boats from Tamilnadu after 13 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 19:41 GMT]
Sixty one fishing crafts of Tamil fishermen in Trincomalee that have been lying at Nagapatinam in Tamilnadu, India, under the custody of Indian custom authorities since 1990, will be brought back to Trincomalee next week with the assistance of Indian and Sri Lankan Navies, North East Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement Ministry Secretary, Mr.S.Sivathasan, said Tuesday.
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NE part time English teachers begin fasting protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 18:28 GMT]
Hundreds of part time English teachers working in the Northeast provincial schools began a fasting campaign on a rotation basis Monday in front of the provincial education ministry office in Trincomalee, demanding the authorities to make their appointments permanent immediately, North East Part time English Teachers' Association (NEPETA) officials said.
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