Buddhist monks mind their language

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2004, 19:18 GMT]
A leading Sri Lankan Buddhist monk, Ven.Ellawala Methananda, slammed Norway Saturday for funding a program to teach English to Buddhist clergy.
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"Harsini's demise irreparable loss to women liberation"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2004, 15:49 GMT]
North East Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs Saturday said that the untimely death of Trincomalee leading women rights activist Miss Harsini Antonysamy was "an irreparable loss to women liberation movement in the NorthEast province."


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Railway workers' worsening salary woes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2004, 14:03 GMT]
More than 7000 railway workers who supervise railway crossings along local roads and highways have not received only minimal salary raises for the past fifteen years, Railway Workers Union officials said. In addition, the promise of making the workers permanent employees of Railway Department also has not materialized, the union officials added.
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Trinco women rights activist passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 17:38 GMT]
Miss Harsini Antonysamy (26), a leading women rights activist in Trincomalee, died of cancer in a Colombo hospital Friday. She has been the Trincomalee district organizer of the Theatre Action Group of the Jaffna University, sources said.


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Defective CFA undermines Peace Process - Prof. Peiris

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 15:25 GMT]
The Sri Lanka government media spokesperson, Minister Professor G.L.Peiris, said Friday that Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe has decided to withdraw from the current peace process as the ceasefire agreement (CFA) has become defective with Ms.Kumaratunge's take over of the defense ministry, political sources in Colombo said.
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Sri Lanka cricket board chairman's alleged accomplice shot in courts

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 12:07 GMT]
A key suspect in the case against Sri Lanka's cricket board chairman in which he is accused of fraud and criminal links with the underworld was shot dead in Colombo magistrate's court Friday.
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Ilamparithy meets Norway Foreign Ministry Officials in Oslo

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 11:53 GMT]
Liberation Tigers' Head of Jaffna District Political Wing, Mr.Illamparithy, who is currently on a tour of European countries met with Norwegian Foreign Ministry officials at the Oslo Foreign Ministry Building Tuesday, 6 January at 11 am, sources in Oslo said. Norway's special peace envoy, Eric Solheim, Advisor to Norway Foreign Ministry, Lisa Golden, and Official of Foreign Ministry, Erik Giercshy were involved in the discussions, sources added.
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Lankan embassy keen to witness 'retail US politics'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 18:05 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Embassy in US has expressed its interest in joining a diplomatic delegation to witness the New Hampshire presidential primary described as a "preeminent showcase of grass-roots politics and the biggest celebration of American democracy," reported Wednesday edition of Washington Post.
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Norwegian Ambassador visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 11:27 GMT]
Norwegian ambassador in Sri Lanka Mr. Hans Brattskar said in Trincomalee Wednesday that clarity should prevail in the current political crisis to restart the stalled peace process between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
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Sri Lanka’s peace bid takes another nosedive

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 09:58 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s stalled efforts to end two decades of war with the Liberation Tigers took another nosedive Wednesday when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he wanted to pull out of the ceasefire agreement he signed in February 2002. His stand has thrown President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the horns of a perilous dilemma. Picking up the gauntlet Mr. Wickremesinghe has thrown is fraught with grave risks for her. She has to either re-negotiate a new ceasefire agreement with the Tigers herself or hand back the three ministries she took over from Prime Minister in November last year.
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Sports ministry drops Sinhala only policy due to protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 January 2004, 16:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Sports Ministry has decided to award certificates in English language to winners of national level sports competitions organized by the ministry from this year onwards. This change will be strictly adhered to in the 30th National Sports Festival scheduled to be held later this year, ministry sources, said.
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Pullumalai bunker is closed - SLMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 20:19 GMT]
Members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said that the bunker in Pullumalai, which the Sri Lanka Army alleged was a violation of the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) by the Liberation Tigers, is in a closed state, security sources said.
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Tamils should secede if Colombo impasse persists - ACTC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 16:02 GMT]
'The Tamil people will have to exercise their right to self determination and secede if the political impasse in Colombo were to continue' the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the oldest Tamil party in Sri Lanka, declared at its annual convention in Jaffna town Sunday.
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SLMC discusses its version of Interim Administration proposals

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 11:51 GMT]
Key officials of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) met Saturday night at SLMC Head Quarters in Colombo to discuss SLMC's version of proposals for Interim Administrative Structure for NorthEast and to obtain formal acceptance by SLMC' Special Political Division, sources said.
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Colombo hasn't spent a cent on Jaffna - GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 06:29 GMT]
TamilNet publishes the relevant parts of the speech by Government Agent of Jaffna at a meeting in Chavakachcheri on 27 December 2003 where he asserted that the Sri Lankan government “did not spend a red cent” on rehabilitation in the northern peninsula in the last two years. TamilNet is publishing the audio file of the GA’s speech on account of the seriousness of the allegations he had to make against TamilNet on ‘advice of Sri Lanka’s Minister for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees’. The statement in question can be indubitably verified from the audio files we have published today.
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Kumar Ponnambalam to be remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 01:36 GMT]
The fourth death anniversary of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), who was gunned down in Wellawatte, Colombo, in 2000, is to be observed on January 5, Monday, in the NorthEast province, sources said. Wide participation of Tamil people across NorthEast is expected in the memorial event, the organizers of the event said.
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SLA to construct Buddhist Vihare on private property

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2004, 15:55 GMT]
Seventy eight year old father of five children, Mr Vethavanam Varathalingam of 3rd Mile Post, Mulliayadi has appealed to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to help him to get his five acre paddy land from Sri Lanka Army occupation, civil rights sources said. Mulliayadi is located along Thampalakamam-Kinniya road in Trincomalee.


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Gazette notification accommodates CTTU demands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 16:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education agreed to issue an amended gazette notification accommodating some of the demands made by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers’ Union regarding the recruitment of 1000 GCE (Advanced Level) qualified Tamil medium teachers to northeast Tamil medium schools in the eight districts of the province, CTTU general secretary Mr.T.Mahasivam said Thursday.


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"Hold Tamil medium teacher recruitment exam in NE" - CTTU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 19:18 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have protested to the United National Front (UNF) government that the advertisement published by the Ministry of Human Development Resources, Education and Cultural Affairs calling for applications for the appointment of one thousand G.C.E. (Advanced Level) qualified teachers to Tamil medium schools in northeast province is "faulty and imperfect," according to a memoranda submitted to Ministry of Education, sources said.
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2003: The year in review

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The widespread optimism on peace that greeted the dawn of 2003 has evaporated and the power struggle between Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President that threatens the peace process now occupies the center stage of politics in Colombo. High Security Zones (HSZ) in Jaffna continue to deny displaced Tamils their fundamental rights. Colombo's unwillingness and inability to disburse funds stalls development and rehabilitation in NorthEast, as international aid remains blocked, awaiting concrete signs of progress in peace.
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