Sinhala leaders didn't understand power sharing -Rupasinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2004, 18:49 GMT]
"Sinhala leaders have no understanding of the Tamil question. They did not understand how to share power since 1948 (when the island was granted independence by the British). Power has been Sinhala. Sri Lankan armed forces are 99 percent Sinhala. Tamil is not implemented as an official language. How can we transform a Sinhala hegemonic state into a federal one? This is the challenge before us" said Mr. Kumar Rupasinghe, a leading peace activist in Sri Lanka.
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Inter faith group meets in Jaffna to discuss Peace

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2004, 12:09 GMT]
Three-day workshop on Inter Faith Collaboration on Peace Process in Sri Lanka began Saturday at the Jaffna Young Men Christian Association (YMCA) auditorium located in Chundikuli, a suburb in Jaffna town. Dignitaries of all faiths participated in the inaugural event, 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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Media should promote ISGA- paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 November 2004, 11:48 GMT]
Pointing out the declaration by South Asia Free Media Association (SAFMA) that said "ISGA proposal could serve as useful basis for the commencement of talks to map out an interim structure," and to the statement made by Prof Uyangoda that there is "imperative need for the Sinhala leadership to abandon its mindset vis-à-vis the State structure based on majoritarian hegemony," Tamil daily Thinakural in its Wednesday editorial said that the "regional and the national media organizations which have taken hardline positions on ISGA should adopt a positive, flexible attitude."
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Norwegian Foreign Minister begins talks with Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2004, 07:20 GMT]
Norwegian Foreign Minister, Jan Peterson, began discussions with leader of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, late on Thursday morning in Kilinochchi. The talks are expected to cover the current state of Sri Lanka’s peace process and efforts to further stabilize the ceasefire between the LTTE and Colombo. The LTTE leader was assisted by Mr. Balasingham at the discussions with the Norwegian Foreign Minister.


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GAs, LTTE, Harim Peiris meet to discuss North rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 November 2004, 11:52 GMT]
Mr.Harim Peiris, Advisor to Sri Lanka's President on the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction and Reconciliation of the North East, Wednesday held a conference in the circuit bungalow of the Vavuniya district secretariat with the Government Agents of the districts of Jaffna, Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya and political activists of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the proposed rehabilitation and reconstruction activities to be undertaken in the northern province, sources said.
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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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NPC expresses peace hopes amid pessimism

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 11:47 GMT]
Warning that "mismatch between the goals and expectations of the government and LTTE with regard to peace talks" is a major obstacle to peace, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued in Colombo Tuesday, said, "Norwegian facilitators could make a valuable contribution," by reorienting the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE "to approach the peace process in a manner that would ensure that both parties gain."
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TNA MPs meet Solheim

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 11:25 GMT]
Norwegian Special Peace Envoy, Mr Eric Solheim, who arrived in Sri Lanka Tuesday morning, met with a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by Senior M.P Joseph Pararasingham at the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, political sources in Colombo said. Jaffna district parliamentarians Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Ms Padmini Sithamparanathan, S. Gajenthiran, and Suress Premachchandran accompanied Mr Pararajasingham to the meeting.
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Balasingham, Solheim arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 01:44 GMT]
Mr.Anton Balasingham, political strategist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam(LTTE) arrived in Colombo Tuesday morning around 5 a.m. Mr.Erik Solheim, Norwegian special peace envoy arrived in Colombo after midnight Tuesday, political and diplomatic sources said.


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Colombo's peace attempts, ploy to obtain aid funds- Prof Peiris

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 01:36 GMT]
"Sri Lanka President's double-speak is evident from the fact she tells the TNA one thing, and the JVP quite another. Her duplicitous attempts at peace are ploys to obtain aid funds without commencing talks", said Professor G.L.Pieris, who was the Guest speaker at a discussion held in Bright inn Hotel Colombo, Sunday, organized by the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) presided over by its Leader and Parliamentarian, Mano Ganeshan.
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St.Mary's sings for unity

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 00:20 GMT]
"The absence of open conflict is not peace. Peace will start only when the parties have found solutions for their disagreements," said Mr. Dagfinn Aadnanes, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee district speaking as the chief guest at a musical event organized by the Past Students Association of the Trincomalee St. Mary's Girls College Sunday evening at the school's Theresian Auditorium. One hundred selected students of all communities from several schools in the district participated in the musical program.
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Balasingham Vanni bound to attend Norwegian FM meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2004, 20:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers’ Political Strategist and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, and his wife Adele are scheduled to arrive in Colombo Tuesday morning and will travel to Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter the same day afternoon, sources close to the LTTE told TamilNet.
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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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Ex paramilitary supporter shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2004, 17:09 GMT]
A former supporter of the PLOTE, Mr. Velayutham Dayalakumar, 44, was shot dead in Dehiwela, a suburb in the southern outskirts of Colombo, around 7.30 p.m. Thursday, Police said. A man identified as 'Jayasingha' was seriously wounded in the attack by unidentified gunmen in a very busy part of Dehiwela Junction. The ex PLOTE supporter and Jayasingha were shot when they were having tea at Sumihiri Hotel at Dehiwela Junction, according to Police.
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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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Government workers demand salary increase

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 11:39 GMT]
Hundreds of Government workers under the "Committee For Salary Increase Of The Public Services" banner today held a protest demonstration at Lipton Square in Colombo against to United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government's economic policy and demanding increase in government workers salary, sources in Colombo said.


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President meets opposition leader

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 15:13 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday urged opposition leader, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe to participate in the all party parley to find a solution to end the island's ethnic conflict. Mr. Wickremesinghe and President Kumaratunga met in Colombo for discussions on Tuesday. All the main opposition parties, including the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress are boycotting the NACPR, charging that it is a time buying ruse by President Kumaratunga.
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Protest held against assault on journalist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 10:54 GMT]
Free Media Movement (FMM) including Sri Lanka Working Journalist Association, Sri Lanka Journalist Guild and Dinamina Editorial Staff held a protest demonstration in front of the Colombo, Fort railway station Tuesday to condemn the assault on Lake House Kandy Correspondent Sanjaya Asela Maturata while covering the protest campaign organized by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) in Kandy on 26th October 2004, sources in Colombo said.
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Parochial politics delaying peace, LTTE tells Japanese

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 10:58 GMT]
"Parochial political concerns and lack of consensus in the south are delaying the peace process and humanitarian delivery to the war affected people of the northeast", Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, told Japanese Special Envoy Mr. Yasushi Akashi who met head of Liberation Tigers' political division in Kilinochchi Monday.
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