Sri Lanka army permits hinder Kalmadu resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Refugee families that resettled in Kalmadu, 15 kilometres northwest of Vavuniya, said Thursday that rebuilding their lives is difficult because they have to obtain special permits from the Sri Lanka army for access to their fields. The village was destroyed in a Sri Lanka army operation in 1999. The villagers of Kalmadu lost all their belongings when they fled the war. They returned in late 2002, many months after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers.
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Halt the drift and resume peace process, NPC tells GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 14:19 GMT]
''The danger in the present situation is the possibility of escalation that suddenly goes out of control of both sides and plunges the country into inadvertent war...We also call upon the two parties to make a concerted effort to ensure that the safeguards in the Ceasefire Agreement are functional,'' said the National Peace Council, in a press release issued in Colombo Thursday.
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Grenade attack on Thinakkural Batticaloa office

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 December 2004, 17:11 GMT]
Unidentified persons threw a grenade Wednesday around 6 pm targeting the Batticaloa office of Thinakkural, a leading Tamil daily published in Colombo, Batticaloa police said.
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ISGA is a credible document, Business Leader says

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2004, 11:55 GMT]
"Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal from the Liberation Tigers is a credible document. Many Southern political parties endangering peace by rejecting the ISGA without comprehensively analysing the proposal and identifying the positive aspects," said Deva Rodrigo, chairman of the Sri Lanka chamber of commerce, during a discussion at Colombo Plaza Hotel last week with a delegation of South African businessmen, sources said.
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Private TV-Radio regional station in Jaffna damaged

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2004, 04:19 GMT]
A gang of unidentified persons caused serious damage to the Jaffna regional broadcasting station of a Colombo based Sakthi TV and Radio station, a private sector television and radio network, located on the second floor of the Jaffna Veerasingham Hall on Monday night around 9 p.m., Jaffna police said.
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Two nations theory is not new to Sri Lanka-TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2004, 14:08 GMT]
"Theory of two nations is not a new idea to Sri Lanka," said Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Saturday participating in the committee stage debate on the votes for Labour Relations and Foreign Employment in Parliament. He reminded the prophetic speech made by a Sinhala leader Dr.Colvin R.De Silva of Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP) forty-eight years ago during the debate on the Sinhala only bill that "Do you want one nation with two languages or two nations with one language?" parliamentary sources said.
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Sri Lanka is drifting towards war- Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2004, 12:20 GMT]
"The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government has not taken any forward looking steps towards peace talks or to finding a solution to our pressing national question. Sri Lanka is inexorably drifting towards war with the continued stalemate in peace talks," said Mr Ranil Wickremesinghe, former Prime Minister and leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP) at the 50th year annual convention of UNP held at the Colombo Municipal grounds Sunday morning.
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Massive rise in Sri Lankan firepower amid peace

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 19:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s armed forces substantially expanded their offensive capability after the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers was signed in February 2002, a book published by a senior United States military analyst says. The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) has doubled its manpower and acquired twenty new aircraft, while the Army (SLA) has tripled its tanks and doubled its artillery firepower.
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Missing Jaffna youths remanded in Welikada

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 09:04 GMT]
Confused reports emerged Saturday about the reported missing of seven Jaffna Tamil youths who went to Colombo in a vehicle last week to receive a relative who was scheduled to return from abroad. Meanwhile parents of these youths have complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to take steps to trace their sons in Colombo, civil sources said.
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"Colombo should stop elements inciting violence"- Thamilchelvan tells Brattskar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 14:19 GMT]
"Incidents of violence in Trincomalee and elsewhere are the result of provocative actions of disruptive elements should be controlled by the government since they tend to create tension leading to public rioting" S.P. Thamilchelvan, Head of Liberation Tigers Political Wing told the Norwegian Ambassador Mr. Hans Brattskar in a meeting held at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. Thursday, sources from Vanni said.
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Muzzling Parliamentary Speech will further estrangement- Premachandran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 December 2004, 12:18 GMT]
''Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs participate in the Parliamentary procedures only because of their desire to promote amity between the two polarized peoples in Sri Lanka. But if the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the opposition United National Party (UNP) members join forces to restrain free speech then it will be another step towards encouraging division of Sri Lanka,'' said Suresh Premachandran responding to attempts to curb privileges of TNA MPs in Sri Lanka's Parliament Wednesday, parliamentary sources in Colombo said.
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Srimani Athulathmudali dies

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2004, 14:16 GMT]
Former Minister of Transport, environment and Women Affairs and wife of late Lalith Athulathmudali died after a brief illnesss in Colombo, media reports in Colombo said.
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UPFA ignoring critical national issues- Prof Peiris

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2004, 12:09 GMT]
"Political parties in the South should recognize the "potentially dangerous" situation Sri Lanka is facing. The United National party (UNP) is ready to support any genuine steps the Government of Sri Lanka takes to resolve critical National issues faced by this country," said Prof G L Peiris Monday in Kandy after meeting Asgiriya Mahanayake Thera in Dalda Maligawa, sources said.
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UNP protests against UPFA's budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2004, 11:49 GMT]
Hundreds of supporters of United National Party (UNP) and many of its senior parliamentarians held a protest march against the Sri Lanka's budget, the price increases of essential goods and the increase of an hour in the working day, sources from Colombo said. The protest march started from Rajagiriya junction and moved towards the parliament square.
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Australian aid for peace-building, humanitarian efforts

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 15:44 GMT]
Australian Government is to provide $4M aid to support projects in peace building and humanitarian efforts, a media release from Australian Embassy in Colombo said.
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President cannot prolong No war, No peace situation - Jaffna Daily

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2004, 10:03 GMT]
''The Sri Lankan President should take urgent and constructive steps if the cease fire agreement is to survive'', said the Jaffna Tamil daily Uthyan in its editorial Monday, commenting on Colombo's stand on the peace process in the aftermath of Great Heroes' Day speech of LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan. The paper referred to recent statements from the Government prior to the LTTE leader's urgent appeal on Saturday that peace talks should be resumed.
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Tamil Media Alliance holds award ceremony

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 16:59 GMT]
Former news editor of Virakesari and Sudaroli newspaper Mr. S. Edward won the Senior Journalist award during the annual award ceremony held by Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) at the Wellwatte Ramakrishna Mission Hall Sunday, sources in Colombo said.
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SLN, SLA chiefs arrive in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 15:34 GMT]
Rear Admiral Daya Sandagiri, Commander of the Sri Lanka Navy and the Chief of Armed Forces and Major General Shantha Kottegoda, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are reported to have arrived in Trincomalee Monday evening to assess the security situation in the east port town on the instruction of the Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge following violent incidents that have taken place Monday, Colombo security sources said.


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Court delays Mirusuvil massacre inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 November 2004, 01:20 GMT]
The Colombo High Court Trial-at-Bar inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case which was to resume Monday, 22 November, is to be delayed further with the murder of the High Court Judge Mr.Sarath Ambepitiya, legal sources said.


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Colombo's new proposal aims to hurt NorthEast education- paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 November 2004, 13:58 GMT]
"Educational planning is Sri Lanka is not oriented towards the benefit of all its citizens, but is used as an instrument to suppress the progress of Tamils," said Uthayan in an editorial Thursday criticizing Sri Lanka Government's attempt to reintroduce merit system when the Northeast education is suffering from devastation of war. "When Tamils captured more places under the merit system, the SriLankan Government introduced the district quota system, and now when the Tamils are highly dependent on the district quota system the Government is out to topple this avenue," the editorial added.
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