Sri Lanka President, PM at Colombo Independence Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2004, 10:45 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took part in Sri Lanka's Independence Day celebrations in Colombo Wednesday. President Kumaratunga as head of state and the supreme commander of Sri Lanka's armed forces hoisted the lion flag and addressed the nation.
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"No agreement on peace process with PM" - Kumaratunge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 23:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe's insistence to take control of the defense ministry is the main obstacle in concluding an agreement to end the current political impasse, said the Presidential Secretariat in a media release issued Tuesday. Speculation is rife in Colombo that the dissolution of parliament is to be announced at any moment, political sources in Colombo said.


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Indonesian manpower minister visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 19:02 GMT]
Indonesian Minister for Manpower and Transmigration, Mr. Jacob Nuwa Wea, and a trade delegation arrived in Colombo on February 2. The Minister held discussions with the Sri Lanka’s Employment and Labour Minister Mr.Mahinda Samarasinghe and officials of the National Chamber of Commerce in Colombo, political officials said..


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Teachers proficient in 'Marine Fishery' needed - MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 18:46 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham and North East Provincial Education Ministry Secretary Mr.R.Thiagalingam Tuesday appealed to the Minister of Human Resources Development and Cultural Affairs to recruit Tamil medium teachers who are qualified to teach Marine Resources as a subject in the NorthEast schools, civil society sources said.


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EPDP to support JVP-SLFP alliance from outside

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2004, 15:35 GMT]
Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), paramilitary group that works with the Sri Lankan armed forces in Sri Lanka’s northeast, said in a Memorandum that it agrees with the policies of the newly formed United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and that it would extend its support to the UPFA, political sources in Colombo said.
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Resettled village honors its good student

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2004, 00:05 GMT]
Parents and students of Kappalthurai, a village with Tamil resettlers, honored Jenitta Vipulanandan, a student of Saraswathie Vidyalayam, for passing the island wide Year- 5 Scholarship examinations. This was the first in the school's twenty-five year history, school teachers said.


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Thampalakamam massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:23 GMT]
The sixth death anniversary of the killing of eight Tamil civilians including two students by Sri Lankan police on 1st February, 1998, was observed Sunday at Potkerney and Puthukuddiruppu, suburbs of Thampalakamam village in Trincomalee district, sources said. Thampalakamam is located twenty four km off south west of Trincomalee town on Trincomalee-Colombo highway.


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TULF central working committee appoints nomination board

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 13:14 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), main constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday appointed a seven-member nomination board to select its parliamentary candidates to face a snap general election, said TULF Administrative Secretary and parliamentarian Mr.N.Raviraj.


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Pirate power supply for army kills elephant

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 04:37 GMT]
A wild elephant was electrocuted by an illegal power supply line to the Kayankerni Sri Lanka army camp, 36 kilometres north of Batticaloa, residents told TamilNet Sunday. Three elephants in a herd were electrocuted by the Kayankerni SLA pirate power line last year, they said.


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Talk only to LTTE -Anandasangaree tells Sri Lanka President

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 14:57 GMT]
Mr. V. Anandasangaree, the President of the Tamil United Liberation Front met President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday evening and impressed upon her that the Sri Lankan government should talk only to the Liberation Tigers and not simultaneously with any other Tamil group, according to a press note issued by the controversial Jaffna MP Saturday. “My view that ‘what is acceptable to the LTTE will be acceptable to the Tamils also’ seems to have impressed the President who had seen the reasonableness in my suggestions”, Mr. Anandasangaree said.
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Colombo political crisis discussed in Jaffna Seminar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 13:37 GMT]
A two-day seminar on "The current political crisis and the peace process" organized by the Centre for Women and Development (CWD) began Saturday morning in Jaffna Navalar Cultural Hall where topics related to political crisis in Colombo, LTTE's Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals, problems in the current Sri Lanka constitution and other matters related to the Peace Process were discussed, civil sources said.
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Peace gives no light to Vakarai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 00:32 GMT]
Vakarai is a large backwater on Sri Lanka’s east coast. It is an area with large fertile fields, lagoons and virgin forests in the northern part of the Batticaloa district. Vakarai was subjected to more than fifteen years of a brutal counter insurgency campaign by the Sri Lanka army. It has seen hardly any development even after the war stopped two years ago. Electricity is still a luxury here. “I have never seen electricity used in Vakarai since I was born,” N.Loganathan, a resident of Panichchankerni, told TamilNet.


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Attacks on Sri Lanka churches said well planned

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 18:08 GMT]
National Christian Council, the umbrella organization of protestant and Catholic churches in Sri Lanka, Friday said it is "gravely concerned over the continuous stirring up of resentment against Christians and increasing incidence of unchecked violence directed at Christian places of worship." "It is obvious from the pattern of these attacks that they are well planned and coordinated and are meant to intimidate Christians," the NCC said. The council deplored that Sri Lanka Police have not taken steps to curb the attacks on churches and Christians.
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Maj.Gen.Furuhovde assumes duties as Head of SLMM

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 12:29 GMT]
Major General Trond Furuhovde, Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), will arrive in Colombo Saturday 31st January 2004. He will assume command of SLMM from Sunday 1st February 2004, a press release issued by the SLMM Head Quarters in Colombo, Friday said.
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Russia, Sri Lanka sign military co-operation treaty

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 11:23 GMT]
Russia and Sri Lanka signed a military technical co-operation treaty in Colombo Friday, Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence said Friday. The agreement will entail exchange of military expertise, supply of military hardware required by the Sri Lankan military and training, according to a MoD statement in Colombo Friday.
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Religious bigotry used for political mobilization - Prof.Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2004, 00:15 GMT]
Describing the recent spate of attacks on Catholic churches as "anti-minority terrorism," Professor Jayadeva Uyangoda, Head of the Department of Political Science at Colombo University, in a column that appeared in Friday edition of Daily Mirror, said that "Sinhalese nationalist fringe have seized religious bigotry for [political] mobilization through violence." He accused the PA and UNF for "not taking adequate political action to counter politics of militant Sinhalese nationalism."
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Kumaratunge's message read out at UPFA rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 16:07 GMT]
"The formation of United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA ) is a great victory for democracy in Sri Lanka," said Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in her message to the maiden rally of the UPFA held Thursday evening in Colombo. Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which is a constituent of the UPFA, read out president's message at the rally, sources said.
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JVP for elections -Amarasingha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 14:29 GMT]
Leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr. Somawansa Amarasingha, said Thursday his party is for holding general election in Sri Lanka soon, addressing a massive public meeting of the new alliance between the JVP and President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Colombo.
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Jaffna to launch pro-peace signature campaign on 4th February

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 12:26 GMT]
A signature campaign to collect signatures for a memorandum to be sent to the international community with six demands related to the Tamil national question would be launched on February 4 in the Jaffna peninsula, according to a decision taken at the conference held Wednesday afternoon at the Jaffna Navalar Cultural Hall, sources said.


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India should not assist expansion of Palaly Airbase- Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2004, 16:39 GMT]
"India should desist from providing financial assistance to expand the runways of Palay airbase as it will help the Sri Lanka Government to annex additional fertile lands and residences of Jaffna people into the High Security Zone (HSZ)," said Minister of Hindu Affairs, Mr.Maheswaran, popular Tamil daily Uthayan reported in its Wednesday edition.


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