Demining assistance, Japan's high priority - Embassy official

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 18:18 GMT]
"The government of Japan is closely observing the emergency humanitarian needs of the people in the northeast in Sri Lanka and is supporting the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka in demining operations," said Mr.H.Onishi, First Secretary Japan Embassy in Colombo, Tuesday, while addressing at the inauguration ceremony of The Japan Center for Conflict Programme (JCCP) in Vavuniya.


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Empower TNA to decide next government, Sampanthan tells voters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:36 GMT]
"Tamils are in the verge of achieving their legitimate rights after several years of freedom struggle through the military might of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Hence it is the duty of Tamils to strengthen the hands of LTTE by sending at least twenty-one Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians thus making the TNA as a force to decide the future government," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA leader and the TNA lead candidate for Trincomalee district when addressing a series of election meetings in the LTTE held area villages in Muttur east and Eachilampathu division Sunday evening.


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Ensure franchise to Tamil voters, TNA tells Cushnahan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:21 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan has appealed to the European Parliament member Mr.John Walls Cushnahan to take immediate steps to ensure that voters in Liberation Tigers held areas in the northeast province to exercise their franchise freely and without any restriction in the polling stations located in no man zones in the forthcoming general election, sources said.
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Karuna Group eyes cabinet portfolio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:28 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance candidates in Batticaloa who might be elected in the April polls to Sri Lanka’s Parliament should be ready to work with the government that comes to power in Colombo, according to instructions issued Monday by the Karuna Group to Tamil politicians in the troubled eastern district, sources said. One of the TNA MPs elected from Batticaloa would be given a cabinet portfolio, according to Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a TNA candidate who is a confidante of Mr. V. Muraleetharan, the leader of the Karuna Group.
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SLA officer, soldier killed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 17:33 GMT]
An army officer and a trainee soldier were killed when a hand grenade accidentally exploded during a training session on Friday evening at the Boogoda Army camp in Anuradhapura, the Defence ministry said. Another officer was injured in the explosion.


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Refugee women seek asylum in LTTE office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 14:40 GMT]
Twelve women from refugee camps India sought asylum at the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya Saturday. The women said they had forcibly been kept in safe houses in Colombo by men who had promised to get them jobs abroad. People chased away a gang that tried to abduct the women when they arrived in Vavuniya by train on Saturday morning. The women alleged the gang had sexually harassed and intimidated them.
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Sri Lanka election violence on the increase

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:49 GMT]
The Police Election Secretariat said Saturday that it receives daily at least ten complaints related to election violence from political parties. From February 17, the first day political parties started submitting their nomination list at the district election offices, until this Friday the Election Secretariat has received 373 complaints, Police sources said.


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Solheim to meet Sampanthan Monday

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:38 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan will brief the Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim on Monday morning in Colombo on the ground situation of the northeast province, TNA sources said.


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Negotiations with LTTE, Presidency to be abolished - UPFA manifesto

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:19 GMT]
"The ceasefire will continue. We are committed to take all measures required to prevent the nation from going back to war," said the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in its forty four-page election manifesto released Thursday night at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, political sources in Colombo said.


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"Election is a referendum on ISGA" - Thilak

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2004, 10:58 GMT]
Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Wednesday that Tamils of the northeast province should consider the April 2 general election as a referendum on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals and a democratic recognition for the liberation struggle, sources in Trincomalee said.


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German ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2004, 06:14 GMT]
German ambassador for Sri Lanka, Mr. Jueger Elias met Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Liberation Tigers' political divison Thursday in Kilinochchi for discussions on the April general elections, the status of the ceasefire agreement and the possibility of resuming the peace talks between Colombo and LTTE. German funded development programs in the northeast were also reviewed during the discussions, LTTE officials said.
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Colombo won't interfere in Karuna split - spokesman

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2004, 17:50 GMT]
Colombo will not exploit the current situation in the east to gain political milage, the spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's care taker government, Prof. G. L Pieris said Wednesday. He said that his government will not interfere in Karuna's matter because it is an internal affair of the LTTE.
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EPDP supports Kumaratunga, Marxist alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2004, 15:07 GMT]
EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lanka army, said Wednesday in Jaffna that it supports the alliance between President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Addressing press conference in its heavily fortified camp in Jaffna town, the leader of the group, Mr. Douglas Devananda, defended the JVP, saying that it was not a Sinhala chauvinist party.
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Unidentified youths prevent THINAKURAL sale in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 13:59 GMT]
An unidentified group of persons is reported to have forcibly removed several parcels containing more than three thousand copies of a leading Tamil daily "THINAKURAL" between Valaichchenai and Vantharumoolai in Batticaloa district Tuesday morning when they were transported from Colombo to Batticaloa for distribution, sources said.


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Civilian interests must be upheld - NPC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 11:35 GMT]
"It is incumbent on the LTTE, government, political party leaders and civil society groups, and international ceasefire monitors to ensure that the ceasefire agreement is not violated by any party. In particular, we call on the government not to abdicate its responsibilities by the civilian population," said the National Peace Council (NPC), in a media release issued in Colombo today.
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SLAF soldier commits suicide in Palaly

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2004, 03:40 GMT]
K.V.V.Srisena, a Sri Lanka AirForce soldier, stationed in Palaly Airforce Base in Jaffna district, committed suicide by shooting himself, according to media reports in Jaffna.
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Vavuniya celebrates International Women's Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 March 2004, 12:18 GMT]
International Women's Day was celebrated in Vavuniya today under the sponsorship of Oxfam International, Bridge Asia Japan (BAJ), Danish Coucil (DRC), Save the Children and World Food Programme (WFP), sources in Vavuniya said. Several hundred women joined the silent march which was followed by a cultural event at Royal Hall, Vavuniya, according the sources.
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SLFP, JVP confusing everyone says former minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 March 2004, 08:50 GMT]
Former Minister of Lands Mr. Rajitha Senaratne accused the JVP of having no clear policy to resolve the northeast crisis and said the contradictory positions of the two coalition partners - the SLFP and the JVP -were confusing everyone. The outspoken United National Front politician was addressing a press conference in Colombo Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka President’s Marxist ally slams devolution again

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2004, 17:44 GMT]
The leader of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main political ally, Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe categorically rejected the concept and practice of devolution in an interview published in the latest issue of ‘Business Today’, a monthly magazine from Colombo. “ On the national question, people are talking about devolution, division or sharing of power or other formulae. But everyone has become prisoners of devolution....What we say is please stop talking about devolution,” states Mr. Amerasinghe in the interview.
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Protest paralyses Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2004, 15:52 GMT]
The Mothers Front and Missing Persons Guardians’ Association of Jaffna Monday began a sit in protest at the entrance of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission demanding that Colombo should make a concrete response regarding the fate of their children, spouses and relatives who went missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1996-97. The protesting organizations said that Maj. Gen (ret) Janaka Perera, currently Sri Lanka’s ambassador for Australia should be brought to justice as the officers and troops who carried out the massacres were acting under his orders.
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