Sampanthan concludes Jaffna election campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2004, 00:46 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan appealed to Jaffna district Tamil voters to return TNA candidates in all nine Jaffna parliamentary seats in the forthcoming general election while addressed several election meetings in the Jaffna district Tuesday. He left Jaffna by road Wednesday morning to Pulmoddai, a Muslim village in the Trincomalee district for election campaign, sources said


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UNP denies printing UPFA's second manifesto

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 2004, 11:23 GMT]
The United National Party (UNP) has called the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate an allegation by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) that the UNP was responsible for printing a second UPFA's manifesto which is currently in circulation, political sources in Colombo said.


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Japan donates ambulances to NE hospitals

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 17:26 GMT]
Mr.Hiroshi Karube, Charge d' Affaires of the Japanese Embassy in Colombo, Tuesday handed over a consignment of six ambulances and three transport vehicles to the hospitals in the northeast and in the neighbouring districts under the Japanese Government funded Project for Improvement of Maternal and Child Health Care in the Conflict Affected areas.
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Sampanthan meets EU envoys

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 12:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Tuesday told the envoys of member countries of the European Union (EU) based in Colombo that Tamils of northeast would lose faith in the Sri Lanka's election process and its democracy if tens of thousands of voters residing in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas are not allowed to exercise their franchise, political sources in Colombo said.


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TNA holds record election meetings in Muttur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 10:35 GMT]
"The current ceasefire has been signed and peace talks commenced with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) when the successive governments in Colombo failed to destroy the LTTE militarily. This should be clearly borne in every one's mind," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the lead candidate of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) contesting the forthcoming general election in the Trincomalee district when addressing a series of election meetings held in Muttur division from morning till late in the night of Sunday.
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Sampanthan to address TNA election rallies in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 18:31 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan is scheduled to attend several election rallies in Jaffna electoral district Tuesday. He will fly to Palaly from Colombo Tuesday afternoon after meeting the ambassadors of the member countries of the European Union (EU), TNA sources said.


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TNA leader to meet EU ambassadors in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 18:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan is scheduled to meet the ambassadors of European countries in Colombo Tuesday around noon, TNA sources said.
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LTTE hands over underage youths to UNICEF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2004, 09:10 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Sunday morning handed over thirty-five youths who are under 18 years of age to the UNICEF at an event held at its political secretariat in Sampur in the LTTE held Muttur east in the Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Top US official to visit Sri Lanka next week

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 11:15 GMT]
Mr. Torkel L. Patterson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the United States Government will visit Sri Lanka as a part of his familiarization tour of the region, said US embassy sources.


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Tamil unity is vital for struggle to succeed - Sivajilingam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 00:11 GMT]
"Tamil people are convinced and firm in their belief that only Tamil unity will propel us to succeed in our struggle. We can see their anguish and despair whenever they sense appearance of divisive tendencies within the Tamil community. We can be certain that Tamil people will reject all elements that can endanger Tamil unity," said Mr.Sivajilingam, a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate in Jaffna, during a radio interview with International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC), Thursday.
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Confessions in Mirusuvil massacre case valid - Supreme Court

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 16:50 GMT]
The inquiry into the Mirusuvil massacre case is to recommence in the High Court of Colombo shortly as the Supreme Court last Tuesday dismissed an appeal made by one of the five accused soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army against the order of the Trial-at-Bar judges on the admissibility of confessions by the accused made to the military police officers, legal sources said.


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Anandasangaree case postponed

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 16:19 GMT]
The Colombo District Judge Mr.D.Ganepola gave time till May 10 for the two respondents, Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) respectively, to file their objections to the petition filed by the President of the TULF Mr. Veerasingham Anandasangaree, legal sources said.


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More Australian Funding for Land Mine Action in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 11:34 GMT]
Australia and UNDP signed an agreement 10 March 2004, which allocates AUD 1 million (LKR 75 million) towards the UNDP Mine Action Project in Sri Lanka. The Australian aid will assist capacity building, technical support and operational coordination, according to UNDP officials in Colombo.
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Japan to send Election Observers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2004, 14:01 GMT]
The Goverenment of Japan has decided to dispatch an election observation mission to Sri Lanka for the general election on April 2nd. This the first time that Japan is sending such mission to Sri Lanka, according to political sources in Colombo.


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Rotarians hold medical clinic in Muttur villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 17:16 GMT]
The Trincomalee Rotary Club last weekend conducted a one-day medical clinic in the village Nallur which is located in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam held Muttur east in the Trincomalee district. Rotarian Dr.G.Gnanagunalan organized this clinic with the assistance of Humanitarian Rehabilitation Services of NE (Lanka) Ltd, Colombo, that provided thirty thousand rupees worth of medicine to the clinic, sources said.


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Eastern poet decries regionalism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 16:20 GMT]
In a statement to Tamil media on the recent raising of regionalism in the East by renegade commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), Mr. Kasi Anandan, a well-known poet from the East, said that the more than 17,700 fighters from Tamil Eelam who sacrificed their lives in the liberation struggle did not do so for Jaffna or Batticaloa, but for Tamil Eelam. “I will never accept the division of Tamil Eelam as Jaffna and Batticaloa. The people of Tamil Eelam will live until their last breath for Tamil Eelam,” he said.


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Police file plaint on Anandasangaree complaint

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 16:12 GMT]
The Jaffna Police Wednesday filed a plaint in the Chavakachcheri Magistrate’s Court on a complaint made by Mr. Veerasingham Anandasangaree that a group of persons had attacked his supporters when they were campaigning on March 11, legal sources said.


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26 Indian boatmen remanded in Jaffna to be indicted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 14:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Attorney General Mr.K.C.Kamalasabeyson has issued instructions to authorities to file indictments against 26 Indian boatmen out of sixty seven now in remand after their capture by local fishermen and the Sri Lanka Navy personnel while poaching in northern waters recently, legal sources said.


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Colombo signs UN convention against corruption

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 12:09 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Government on Wendsday ratified the United Nations convevtion against Corruption. Sri Lanka is the second country in the world to ratify the convention,after Kenya.
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Karuna’s revolt is 'temporary aberration' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 08:43 GMT]
The rebellion by the LTTE’s former Batticaloa-Amparai commander is “not a major politico-military crisis in the LTTE,” the movement’s theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said this week in his first public comment on the estrangement between Mr. V. Muraleetharan (Karuna) and the LTTE leadership. In a wide-ranging interview with the London based Tamil Guardian newspaper, Mr. Balasingham said “Karuna’s dissent would not seriously undermine the peace process or the Tamil national struggle.”
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