India urged to adopt positive stance towards Sri Lankan Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 17:40 GMT]
The International Students' Association of Thamileelam (ISAT) in a press release issued Monday appealed to the Indian government to adopt a positive stance that would help the Tamils of the country to arrive at a fair and just political solution meeting their legitimate aspirations.
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Sangaree objects to TULF Central Committee Meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 11:50 GMT]
The Central Committee meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) scheduled to be held in Amparai on the 14 December is against the Party's constitution, said Anandasangaree the 'past' president of TULF who was the subject of a no-confidence motion that passed successfully on 30 November in a TULF meeting held in Colombo, media reports said. Anandasangaree, however, has rejected the validity of the voting procedure that dislodged him from his post.


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SLA lays new minefield near Jaffna village

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2003, 14:29 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army is planting landmines in the vicinity of Manalkaadu, a village on the southeastern coast of Jaffna, residents told TamilNet Sunday. Three cattle from the village were killed in newly laid minefield on Saturday and another was blown up Sunday morning, according to them.
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Lt.Col.Jeevan's second anniversary commemorated

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2003, 13:05 GMT]
The second anniversary of the death of Lt.Col.Jeevan and seven Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters who were killed during a battle with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) near Batticaloa-Colombo road in Vakneri on 6 December 2001 was celebrated in three locations in LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district Saturday.
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Asylum seeker says EPDP recruiting in India

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2003, 07:22 GMT]
The EPDP cadre who sought asylum from the Liberation Tigers in Kilinochchi, Mr. Iyampillai Yogarajah, 33, told mediapersons in Kilinochchi Saturday that the paramilitary group recruited him from a refugee camp in India eight months ago. He said the EPDP is recruiting many Tamil youth like him from refugee camps in India promising good pay and perks. The paramilitary group works closely with the Sri Lankan armed forces in psychological operations, intelligence and counter insurgency.
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SLA soldier surrenders to LTTE in Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 16:33 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier has surrendered to the LTTE at their checkpoint at Muhamalai in the North Thursday, LTTE peace secretariat sources said, adding that the soldier has been handed over to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi.
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Japan reiterates its continued support to the peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 13:20 GMT]
In a statement released on Thursday, Japan's minister for foreign affairs, Ms. Yoriko Kawaguchi, said her government welcomed the continued commitment of the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to the ceasefire, and expressed hope that the question of who on the part of the Government of Sri Lanka is responsible for the peace process would be resolved through talks between Sri Lanka's President and the Prime Minister.
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'More aid if Colombo bans landmines’ - UN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 19:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka would get more funds for clearing mines in the northeast if it accedes to the Ottawa Convention banning the use of landmines said Mr. Ted Chaiban, the head of the UNICEF in Sri Lanka, in a brief presentation on behalf of the UN at the launch of ‘Mine Action Media Campaign’ at the Prime Minister’s office in Colombo Thursday. Sri Lanka is one of the 44 countries that have not signed the Ottawa Convention.
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British defense team visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 18:08 GMT]
The Consortium of Jaffna District Non-Governmental Organizations Thursday told the visiting British Defense Ministry officials' team that the UK government should exert pressure to end the current political instability in the south of Sri Lanka to take forward the stalled peace process so that a final settlement to the national conflict could be reached, civil sources said.
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Buddhist monks protest against LTTE’s proposals

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 17:36 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks from the National Bhikku Front held a demonstration and protest march against the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals of the Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eleam (LTTE) Thursday afternoon in Colombo, sources said.
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Sinhala nationalists dared to go beyond Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 03:40 GMT]
“I dare Wimal Weerawanse and Champika Ranawaka to go beyond Vavuniya. They can’t. But I can take them now or even during war because we have trust in the Tamil people,” said Mr. Dharmasiri Bandaranayaka, a well known and respected Sinhala film director, addressing a meeting organised by leftist political parties, trade unions and civil society groups at the New Town Hall in Colombo Wednesday. The Liberation Tigers control most of the northern province beyond Vavuniya.
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‘Flagrant discrimination’ in allocation of Health funds alleged

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2003, 23:01 GMT]
The allocation of funds for a program on emergency Obstetrics and Child Health in the war-ravaged areas of the North East, jointly sponsored by the UNICEF and the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA), flagrantly discriminates against Tamil provinces, several health officials in the North East told TamilNet’s Vanni correspondent Tuesday.
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Vavuniya Courts hears case of missing youth

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 December 2003, 11:33 GMT]
Ariyathas Puvaneswary, mother of Ariyathas Vijayakumar, who went missing after 15 August 2000 when he was arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from the Vavuniya 211 Brigade, gave evidence at the Vavuniya courts when the case was taken up for hearing under District Judge M.Ilancheliyan, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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SLA hands back part of Jaffna suburb

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 12:22 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Monday handed back part of a densely populated coastal suburb of Jaffna it had been occupying since 1996. “We are vacating this area on the instructions of Maj. Gen. Sarath Fonseka”, Sri Lankan military sources in the northern town said. More than four hundred homes that were inside the garrisoned part of Navaanthurai are all damaged, according to residents.
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Colombo talks produce no breakthrough

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2003, 11:50 GMT]
Meeting of a four-member committee appointed by Sri Lanka's prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe and Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge to work out a cohabitation arrangement between them ended Monday without a breakthrough, media sources in Colombo said.


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Parents of Jaffna missing plan another protest

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 13:20 GMT]
“The Sri Lankan government has duped us for long by giving false promises and not investigating the fate of our missing children. We intend to stage a sit in protest in front of the National Human Rights Commission offices in Jaffna and Colombo on 10 December”, said the President of the Missing Persons Guardian Association of Jaffna, Mr. E. Selvarajah, addressing a press meet in the northern town Sunday.


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TULF committee discusses No-confidence motion on Sangaree

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 11:20 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a major constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) began its crucial session Sunday morning around 10.30 a.m. at the office of the TULF at Colpetty in Colombo with the Mr.V.Ananadasangaree in the chair. Around thirty-six members of the committee attended the meeting, party sources said.


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"Minorities have right to administer their areas" - Vasudeva

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 00:03 GMT]
"Tamils and Muslims in the northeast have a right to set up their administration in their traditional areas under the devolution of power. No one can deny this right," said veteran trade unionist and the national organizer of the Democratic Left Front(DLF), Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, at the second annual general meeting of the DLF held Saturday evening at the auditorium of the Colombo library, media sources said.


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"Prepare to face election instead of losing identity"- Peiris

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 23:21 GMT]
"The United National Front government is willing to meet a snap general election instead of losing its identity in the proposed national reconciliation government," said Sri Lanka's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, addressing a UNF party meeting held Saturday evening at Borella in Colombo, media sources said.
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'Sangaree issue' to be decided Sunday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 21:05 GMT]
Thirty-six member central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a major constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be meeting Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Colombo headquarters of the TULF to discuss the prevailing political situation and to decide on its leadership issue, party sources said.
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