Tamil media Alliance slams raid on journalist's home

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2004, 13:07 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA) said Tuesday it strongly condemns the Police raid on journalist Sivaram Dharmeratnam’s home in Colombo on World Press Freedom Day. “The Sri Lankan government and its armed forces have long attempted to portray Tamil journalists as supporters of armed violence with a view to destroying their professional credibility. We consider the raid on Mr. Sivaram’s home as a continuation of this policy," the SLTMA said in a statement Tuesday.
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Balasingham to visit Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2004, 10:36 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ theoretician and political strategist, Mr. Anton Balasingham, will travel to Vanni this week to meet the movement’s leader, Mr. Vellupillai Pirapaharan, to map out its strategy for future peace talks, TamilNet learns.


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Police raid Tamil journalist’s home on Press Freedom Day

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2004, 01:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police raided a Tamil journalist’s home in Colombo Monday night. During the raid by a large group of Police personnel, the journalist, Mr. Sivaram Dharmeratnam (‘Taraki’), a political affairs columnist for English and Tamil papers published from Colombo and a member of TamilNet's editorial board, was away in Batticaloa in connection with the World Press Freedom Day on Monday, 3 May. The journalist’s family said that the raid was intimidating. Mr. Dharmeratnam was threatened and intimidated several times in the past for his comments and reporting on Tamil issues.
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LTTE ready to resume talks based on ISGA- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 May 2004, 09:47 GMT]
Ambassador for Norway in Colombo, Mr. Hans Brattskar, Norway's special peace envoy, Mr. Eric Solheim, and Second Secretary of the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo, Ms. Kjersti Thomsdal, met with Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Head of the LTTE Political Wing at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. The talks, started at 10.45 a.m. lasted for more than two hours and focused on the resumption of stalled peace talks and about preparing the agenda for the talks between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), sources in Vanni said.
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Norwegian facilitators meet Sri Lanka's President

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 2004, 17:13 GMT]
Norwegian peace delegation led by Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Vidar Helgessen Sunday morning met with Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge at the President House in Nuwara Eliya in the Central Province on the latter's invitation. Special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim and Norwegian Ambassador in Colombo Mr. Hans Brattskar also participated in the talks, Sri Lanka government sources said.


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Norwegian peace delegation arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 May 2004, 10:38 GMT]
A high level Norwegian peace delegation led by Norways's Deputy Foreign Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgessen, arrived in Colombo Saturday early morning in a bid to resume the peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on an invitation extended by Sri Lanka’s President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge, sources said.


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Security strengthened in Colombo for May Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 April 2004, 19:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka's capital Colombo has been put on red alert and more police and army personnel have been deployed at strategic places to ensure a violence-free May Day celebrations Saturday. Several roads have been prohibited for traffic within certain periods on the May Day to avoid traffic jam and to ensure security for processions and rallies, police said
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UPFA will not accept JHU as an ally - Anura Bandaranaike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 18:23 GMT]
Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, Minister of Investment Promotion and Tourism in the United People's Freedom Alliance government of Sri Lanka, said Thursday that the UPFA would not form a coalition with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), saying that his party could not accept the JHU's policies, according to media sources.
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‘Need to know Colombo’s stand on resuming talks’ – Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 09:20 GMT]
Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE’ political division, said Thursday that the Tigers would state their stand on for resuming the island’s stalled peace process only after Norwegians peace facilitators first find out and apprise them of Colombo’s position regarding the basis for restarting negotiations. He was speaking to the local press after meeting head of Sri Lanka’s truce monitoring mission, Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furuhovde in Kilinochchi.
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UNHCR IG calls for renewed focus on Sri Lanka's IDPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 08:17 GMT]
UNHCR Inspector General Dennis McNamara Thursday called for renewed attention to the plight of Sri Lanka's hundreds of thousands of displaced persons. "It also requires greater investment to ensure that conditions in return areas are conducive to a safe and dignified return – that families are able to earn a living, send their children to school, access health facilities and live in safety”, he said in Colombo Thursday.
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School uniforms not supplied to Jaffna students

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 19:01 GMT]
Students in the Jaffna district government schools have not received their free uniforms supplied by the line Ministry of Education even after the second term of academic year has begun. According to the Education Ministry in Colombo, all students should get their uniforms in the beginning of the year, education sources said.
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US Ambassador inaugurates BRAVA mission in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 09:05 GMT]
Mr.Jeffry J.Lunstead, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, wednesday inaugurated the US military humanitarian medical mission in Jaffna teaching hospital. " We are able to visit Jaffna because of peace in this country. US government will continue to support the peace process in Sri Lanka," Mr.Jeffry Lunstead said at the inaugural event held on wednesday morning.
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Batticaloa youth shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 09:51 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a youth and wounded another in Maligawatte, a congested suburb near downtown Colombo, Monday night around 10 p.m. Police said. The youth are from Batticaloa, according to Police sources. The gunmen who shot the youth while they were negotiating an apartment for rent in Maligawatte got away. No arrests have been made in connection with the killing, the sources said.


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SL Government assistance to IDPs nil - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 20:15 GMT]
"I dare say that the [Sri Lankan] government has no right to rule our people as it has failed to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands internally displaced who have been languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres to return to their lands and resettle," said the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing a meeting in Kanniya village Monday morning.
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Sri Lanka Buddhist monks’ party slams Marxists

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 16:22 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the party of ultra Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monks, Monday charged that the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s chief coalition partner, is planning to eliminate its leaders. Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, General Secretary of the JHU, told a press conference at the party’s headquarters in a plush Colombo suburb that leading monks of his party had received death threats again on Sunday night. Meanwhile thousands of posters lambasting the JHU monks appeared in Colombo during the weekend.
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Hidden hand behind murder of disabled cadres- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 14:11 GMT]
“The murder of our disabled cadres is clearly the work of criminal elements that are working with the Sri Lanka army. I have requested the SLMM to arrange an early meeting with the SLA to discuss this matter. I hope this would be the last incident of this sort. No one could have gone in a van with arms at midnight in the direction of Vavunathivu without the SLA’s knowledge. There are no jungles in these parts to hide a van and armed men”, said Mr. Kousalyan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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LTTE to await official word from Norway on peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 03:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will inform their stand on resuming the peace process if the Norwegian government officially informs the LTTE about the Sri Lankan government's stand, Mr. Daya Master, the media coordinator of the LTTE, told the Tamil media on Saturday. Meanwhile, sources quoting the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo say a high level delegation of the Norwegian government will visit Colombo in the first week of May to hold discussions with the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
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Conference against war held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2004, 14:20 GMT]
Members of National Anti-War Front, a coalition of more than one hundred Sinhala peace movements across Sri Lanka, in a conference held in Colombo yesterday, expressed their opposition to war and resolved to raise public awareness against a return to a state of war, a popular Canadian radio broadcast said.


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Anandasangaree case goes to Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 16:12 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, the Secretary General and the Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) respectively, Friday filed an application in Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court, seeking an order to suspend the interim injunction issued by the District Court of Colombo preventing them from holding the central working committee or any other meeting of the TULF without the approval of Mr. V.Anandasangaree, President of the party, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka's President betrayed renegade commander - JHU

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 10:31 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) blasted the Sri Lanka Government for the pandemonium caused in Parliament on Friday, and asked Ms.Kumaratunge's government to take responsibility for its defeat. Although the JHU assured Ms.Kumaratunge of their votes, her betrayal of renegade Eastern Commander forced them to decide against supporting her, JHU said in a press conference held in Colombo today. JHU further said that its members would willingly sacrifice their lives to prevent the creation of Tamil Eelam.
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