Supreme Court requests details on HSZ displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 April 2006, 14:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court requested details of families displaced from the High Security Zone in Valigamam North and who requested court intervention to allow them to resettle back in their homes, legal sources in Colombo said. The Court ordered the report to be submitted before the 8th April when it took up for further inquiry the Fundamental Rights (FR) applications filed by Mr.Mavai Senathirajah, Jaffna district parliamentarian, who was also displaced due to the HSZ.
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UPFA victory should pave way for progress in peace- TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2006, 12:33 GMT]
"Local electoral rout of Sinhala extremist parties, the marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), and Buddhist monks party Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is a clear mandate to Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse to take immediate steps to move peace process forward. Urgently, the Unitary Constitution and rejection of concepts of Tamil Homeland should be removed from "Mahinda Chintanaya," and replaced with concepts supporting Tamils right to self-determination," said Sivajilingam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian commenting on the unfolding local election results giving UPFA huge victory and ITAK demonstrating its support base in the East.
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Two killed in Sri Lanka election violence

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 March 2006, 02:33 GMT]
One person was knifed to death in Weligama at 7.30 p.m., and another was shot to death in Belliatte in Sri Lanka's south at 9.30 p.m., Thursday in election related violence between supporters of ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and opposition United National Party (UNP), sources in Colombo said.
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Polling commences for 266 local councils in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 05:16 GMT]
Polling in about 8829 centers to elect 3624 members to 266 local government authorities comprising 12 municipal councils (MC), 34 urban councils (UC) and 220 pradesiya sabahs (PS) countrywide began Thursday morning at 7 a.m. A total 11,037,763 voters are eligible to cast their franchise to elect their members from about 25,523 candidates fielded by political parties and independent groups.
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Muslim regiment, a calculated attempt to seed disunity- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 March 2006, 00:24 GMT]
"President Mahintha Rajapakse's announcement of launching a Muslim Regiment, recruiting Muslim youth, ostensibly for the security of the Eastern province Muslims, is a calculated attempt to drive a wedge between the Eastern province Tamils and Muslims," said S. Jeyanandamoorthy, Tamil National Alliance Batticaloa parlimentarian, Wednesday. "This can be construed only as a deliberate attempt to derail the peace process and to wage war against the Tamils," added Jeyanandamoorthy in his statement.
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LTTE will participate at Geneva Talks if safe passage guaranteed through Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 16:15 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will participate at the second session of peace negotiations in Geneva during 19-21 April provided that the Government of Sri Lanka and the Norwegian facilitators guarantee the safety and safe passage of the Tamil Tiger negotiating team through Colombo Katunayake international airport. Mr. Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator of the LTTE, said he made this specific request for the security of the negotiating team when he met the Norwegian Development Minister, Mr. Erik Solheim Wednesday at his residence in London.
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Solheim and Hanssen-Bauer to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 13:29 GMT]
Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim who met Liberation Tigers Chief Negotiator Wednesday in London, will be visiting Colombo next Thursday, according to a press release issued by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the newly appointed Norwegian Special Envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will be visiting Sri Lanka on Monday 3 April on a four day visit.
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Expel Norway, demands JVP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 01:39 GMT]
"If Norway is not sacked immediately from the peace process, we will amass more than two hundred thousand people in a protest demonstration in front of the Norweigian Embassy," warned Wimal Weerawanse, parliamentarian and propaganda Secretary of marxist Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), at a meeting in Colombo Tuesday evening, sources said. Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an alliance of extreme Sinhala nationalists, organized the meeting at Mahaveli Centre Colombo.


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JVP accuses UPFA of attack on party members

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 March 2006, 00:12 GMT]
Mr.Tilvin Silva, General Secretary of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sinhala extremist party accused the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) as the force behind the attacks on its party members, in a press conference in Colombo Tuesday, political sources in Colombo said.


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Indian parliamentary delegation visits Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 12:43 GMT]
A group of seven Indian parliamentarians and officials of the Lok Sabha secretariat, led by Deputy Speaker of Lok Sabha, the Honorable Sardar Charanjit Singh, arrived in Colombo to participate in a SAARC conference, a press release issued by the Indian Embassy in Colombo said Tuesday.
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Local election opens fault lines in ruling alliance

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 05:20 GMT]
The ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its key constituent, Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), are engaged in battle of words to assert electoral dominance in the forthcoming local council elections, and this combined with the recent escalation in attacks against JVP members by UPFA supporters portend dangers of creating permanent fissures in the alliance, political sources in Colombo said.
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Army plans new Muslim unit amid militancy furore

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 02:01 GMT]
Amid a furore over the Liberation Tigers’ demands that Sri Lankan government disarms a Muslim entity called ‘Jihad’ which is amongst five anti-LTTE paramilitary groups being sponsored by military intelligence, the Sri Lanka Army is reportedly planning to raise an exclusive Muslim unit in the island’s volatile eastern province. The issue of Muslim militancy has been gaining focus amid renewed suggestions by the LTTE that Jihad has links to Pakistani intelligence – a charge leveled by Indian military analysts as early as in 2004.
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Fire destroys Chandrasekaran's Colombo residence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 March 2006, 01:43 GMT]
Nuwara Eliya district parliamentarian and Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Mr Periyasamy Chandrasekaran's residence in Kepitikollawa in Colombo was destroyed by fire at 10.30 p.m. Monday, sources from Colombo said. No one was injured in the incident and the cause of the fire is under investigation, Cinnmon Garden police said.
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SLA, constant threat to security of Jaffna residents– Ilamparithy

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2006, 20:49 GMT]
"Residents from 26% of land area of Jaffna peninsula remain driven out of their homes; Fishermen, trying to recover from the tsunami devastation, are unable to freely pursue their occupation; and the entire student community in Jaffna district is continuously being targetted and victimised by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers," LTTE's Political Head C. Ilamparithy told media Tuesday after meeting the new Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Mr. Ulf Henricsson at the LTTE Jaffna district political secretariat located in Pallai.
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SLMM condemns Kalpitti attack, raises paramilitary issue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 11:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in a press release issued in Colombo Sunday condemned the attack on Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Kalpitti, and said that the SLMM is conducting inquiries to establish the details of the attack. While appealing to both parties to "refrain from provocative acts," the SLMM urged the Government of Sri Lanka to "take the [paramilitary] matter seriously and not close their eyes to armed elements that to our knowledge still operating in Government controlled areas."
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Provocations and smear campaign cast peace doubts - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:36 GMT]
The vitriolic language increasingly being used by the Rajapakse administration against the LTTE and the concerted smear campaign it has launched against the Tigers casts doubts on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the peace process, the Tamil Guardian argues in its latest editorial. “Protagonists who wish to strike peace deals seek to deescalate tensions, build mutual trust and demonstrate goodwill so as to make securing an agreement more likely. But the Rajapakse administration is doing the exact reverse of that,” the expatriate fortnightly said.
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Blast in seas off Kalpitti, 14 feared dead

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 11:22 GMT]
Six persons, on board a boat which was being intercepted by a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) vessel, have blown themselves sinking their boat and causing extensive damage to the approaching Dvora Fast Attack Craft with 19 SLN troopers on board, Sri Lanka military sources in Colombo said. At least eight Sri Lanka Navy sailors are reported missing. The blast occured 17 nautical miles off Kuthiraimalai in Kalpitti, 145 km north of Colombo Saturday afternoon, the sources added. A press statement issued by the Government of Sri Lanka said that the "magnitude of the expolsion and the damage it caused to the approaching Navy vessel indicated that the trawler was transporting a large quantity of explosives."
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CFA flawed, allows Tigers access to SLA areas for political work - Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 20:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, at a ceremony held at the Army Headquarters in Colombo Friday said that there are many flaws in the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "The LTTE has exploited these flaws to enter the Sri Lanka government controlled areas to carryout political activities," charged the Sri Lankan commander.
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USAID funded Children's Park opens in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 11:24 GMT]
The third of 85 planned children parks and the first in Trincomalee district built with assistance from U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) was opened by USAID Director Dr. Carol Becker Thursday, a press release from US Embassy in Colombo said.
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LTTE Sentry Point in Trincomalee ambushed, one dead, two wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 06:03 GMT]
A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two injured in an attack on the LTTE Forward Defense Line sentry point located in Poonagar in Trincomalee district Thursday around 8 p.m., said LTTE sources in the east. The Tigers charged that the ambushmen had come from the Sri Lanka Army camp in Mahindapura.
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