GoSL delegation announced for Geneva talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 11:14 GMT]
The Sri Lankan delegation to the talks in Geneva would comprise of SL Ministers Nimal Sripala De Silva, Jeyaraj Fernandopulle and Rohitha Bogollagama, said Sri Lanka's cabinet spokesman, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, on Thursday, sources in Colombo said. Talks in Geneva between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are scheduled for 22-23rd February.
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Preparations ahead of Geneva talks should focus on people's plight - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 07:58 GMT]
"One of the key issues in the February 2002 Cease Fire Agrement was ensuring a safe life to the civilians in Sri Lanka military controlled areas of the Tamil homeland," Liberation Tigers Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan told media, following a preparatory meeting with the Ambassadors of Norway and Swtizerland, at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Thursday. "It is therefore vital that the team participating in the talks, study the ground situation prevailing in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas," he added.
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Abuse of political power led to Judges resignations, says State Bar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 February 2006, 00:01 GMT]
The resignation of two Senior Judges of the three-member Judicial Commission (JSC) of Sri Lanka, has caused shock and alarm within the legal community, civil society and trade unions in Colombo. The resignations, reported on the eve of Sri Lanka's 58th anniversary of gaining Independence, were due to the "simmering state of discontent prevailing for some time within the Judicial Service Commission," said Desmond Fernando, President, Bar Association of Sri Lanka, addressing a press conference in Colombo Wednesday. The JSC which has authority over the appointment, transfer, dismissal and discipline of the judiciary, is rendered non functional with the resignations, he added.
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Tamil businessman abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 20:09 GMT]
A Tamil Jewellery shop owner was abducted by an unknown armed gang Wednesday night at 11.30 p.m. near his residence at Alexander Road in Wellawatte Colombo, sources said.
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Kandy UNP Local council members join SLFP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 12:39 GMT]
United National Party (UNP) members of Urban Council and Pradeshya Sabah from Kandy district obtained membership in the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in a ceremony held at the Temple trees, office of the President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapakse, Tuesday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.


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"Federal model, a durable solution to Sri Lanka's conflict"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 12:20 GMT]
"A federal constitution offers a reasonable accommodation in a conflict where one side is committed to a unitary state and the other a separate state," a declaration passed at the National Symposium organised by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) and U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) on The Future of Sri Lanka and The Federal Idea held at the BMICH on 6th February 2006, said. Over a thousand participants agreed to the declaration, the organizers said.
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Colombo lacks will to resolve Tamil National question, says Banu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 February 2006, 11:49 GMT]
"Disarming the paramilitaries, their expulsion and the creation of normalcy in people's daily life are the essential prerequisites for the continuation of peace talks. But Sri Lanka is unlikely to agree," said Colonel Banu, Batticaloa district military commander of Liberation Tigers, in the first memorial anniversary held in remembrance of Kowsalyan on Tuesday in Kowsalyan Education Centre at Ampilan in the Paduvankarai region of the Baticaloa district. Tamil National Alliance M.P for Batticaloa, S. Jeyanandamoorthy also participated and spoke at the event.
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Japan provides boats, gear to tsunami affected fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 February 2006, 11:53 GMT]
In a ceremony held in Unawatuna, Galle on 27 January, the Government of Japan donated to 8 large fishing boats as part of a 40-boat gift program to tsunami affected fishermen from districts of Galle, Matara, Hambantota, Ampara, Batticaloa and Jaffna, a press release from the Embassy of Japan in Colombo, released 7 February said.
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Govt. rejects appeal to hold SLEAS examination in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 16:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Commissioner General of Examinations Monday rejected an appeal made by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) to postpone the Limited Competitive Examination of Sri Lanka Education Administrative Service Class III scheduled to be held only in Colombo on February 11 for a later date and also to take immediate steps to hold the examination in the northeast province to make it easy for the Tamil medium candidates to take the exams, sources said.
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Colombo's bona fides on creating normalcy ahead of talks, questionable - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 13:25 GMT]
Uthayan, the Jaffna based daily, in its Monday editorial warned of the potentially dangerous consequences of the attitude being displayed by the Sri Lankan Government insisting on its innocense and not taking urgent action to secure the release of the seven humanitarian workers of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in the east. Referring to the "strict adherence" by the Tamil side in living up to its pledge on the cessation of hostilities the last two weeks, since the meeting between Norwegian Peace Envoy and the LTTE leader commenced on January 25, the paper questioned whether Colombo has demonstrated its will to create a conducive environment in the run-up to the truce talks.
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Political parties finalize nomination lists for local polls

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:51 GMT]
The Writ Application filed by the Peoples Action for the Free and Fair Election (PAFFREL), a poll monitoring body in Sri Lanka, seeking the Court of Appeal to postpone the scheduled local government election for a period of six months is to be taken up for inquiry Monday (February 6) while the leaders of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), main constituent of the ruling party and its allies, Sri Lanka Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party and few small parties are to finalize their deal at a meeting scheduled to be held on the same day at Temple Trees presided by President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse, political sources said.
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USAID, CPA hold symposium on federalism

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), in partnership with the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), Monday held a symposium titled "The future of Sri Lanka and the federal idea," at Bandaranaike Memorial Center, Colombo, engaging more than 500 participants in a discussion on the history of the Sri Lanka's conflict, past attempts at negotiated settlements, and the basic facts about devolution of power and federalism, a press release issued by the US embassy in Colombo said Monday.
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Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission head passes away

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 06:38 GMT]
Srimath Swami Geenavanandaji, Head of the Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission passed away at the age of 82 on Saturday night in a private hospital in Batticaloa. His funeral is to be held Tuesday evening in the premises of Saratha Girls Home in Batticaloa. He was appointed head of the Batticaloa Ramakrishna Mission on 17th March 1967 and served the institution till his death. His body is now kept at the mission building in Kallady for paying last respects, mission sources said.
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Solheim to meet Balasingham Monday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Norway's Minister of International Development, peace envoy, Erik Solheim, is scheduled to meet LTTE's Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Mr. Anton Balasingham at Balasingham's London residence Monday, sources in London said. Norwegian Minister is expected to announce the date of the talks in Geneva between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers after the meeting, diplomatic sources in Colombo said.


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Ashraff demands regional education office in Amparai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 15:56 GMT]
A regional office of the North East Education Ministry should be opened in Amparai without delay in order to facilitate teachers and principals of the district to fulfill their needs without traveling to Trincomalee and Colombo, said Minister Ms Ferial Ashraff at an event held in Amparai during the weekend, sources said.
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WorldBank, ADB to brief media on tsunami reconstruction

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 15:44 GMT]
The representatives of the World Bank (WB) and Asian Development Bank (ADB) are scheduled to meet the media Monday, February 6, in Colombo to discuss the current state of tsunami and post conflict reconstruction and rehabilitation work. The press conference is to be held in the World Bank office, media sources in Colombo said.
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Released TRO staffers to register complaint with HRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 04:59 GMT]
Head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), K.P.Regi, told TamilNet Sunday, that his staff are making arrangements to get the three released TRO workers later Sunday to register complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC). "We feel that it is important that released staffers meet with an impartial group such as the Rights Commision, so that facts about the abduction, obtained without any coersion, can be presented to the public and to the International Community," said Mr Regi.
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Court to hear FR petition from Kadirgamar-case detainee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 18:01 GMT]
The Supreme Court Thursday granted leave to a suspect in the Kadirgamar assassination case to proceed with his Fundamental Rights (FR) application for the alleged infringement of his right to freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention. Mr.Sivarasan Sivaranjan, one of the suspects arrested and remanded in this case has filed this application seeking the court to order his immediate release and to order the State to pay compensation of Rs 500K to him, legal sources said.
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Rajapakse's Independence address avoids Geneva talks, Norway facilitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 16:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, in his address at Galle Face on Sri Lanka's 58th Independence Day on Saturday, avoided mentioning Norwegian peace efforts and the critical talks in Geneva on strengthening implementation of Cease Fire Agreement. The Sri Lankan President, who promised "honorable peace" to the people of Northeast at his address, said the independence achieved 58 years ago from the British, was at stake. Meanwhile, districts of NorthEast observed widespread shutdown.
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"Sri Lanka, an Asian Gaza strip"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:58 GMT]
Describing Sri Lanka's people as "talented, educated and ready for the globalization experience," and extolling Sri Lanka's virtues as a country that "could mature into a gem like Switzerland or Singapore, that it could offer the rest of the world an exemplary measure of hope," Prof Tom Plate of University of California, Los Angeles, says that two decades of conflict has converted the tourist postcard island into an Asian Gaza strip and that "things are getting worse. Its new, recently elected President, Mahinda Rajapakse, is demonstrating astonishing ineptitude," in an article that appeared on a UCLA Asia Media news journal, 3rd February.
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