Sri Lanka's President faces Hobson's choice - Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 13:14 GMT]
In a scathing editorial criticising Sri Lanka's President for endangering the peace process by her "precipitate and stupid" actions of proroguing the parliament and sacking the Defense, Interior and Communication Ministers, the Sunday Leader, a popular weekly published in Colombo said, "Ms. Kumaratunge now faces Hobson's choice: "She cannot preserve the status quo and govern; neither can she call an election and hope to come close to victory.""


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PM holds talks with Malwatte Mahanayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2003, 19:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasignhe Saturday afternoon called on the Mahanayake of Malwatte Chapter Most Venerable Rambukwelle Vipassi Thera in Kandy, capital of the central province and discussed the current political crisis. Senior minister Mr. G.L.Peiris and the chairman of the United National Party Mr.Malik Samarawickrema accompanied Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to Kandy, government party sources said.
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Parliament to be reconvened as scheduled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2003, 12:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Parliament will be reconvened as scheduled on 19 November, the Secretary General of Parliament informed MPs Saturday. The Secretary General's letter ended speculations in Colombo that President Kumaratunga might delay the reconvening of the Parliament.
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TNA urges SL President to restore status quo ante

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 20:27 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance in a statement Friday urged Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, to take appropriate steps to ensure that the situation of a lack of clarity and uncertainty now prevailing in the country following the take over of three ministries is ended by restoring the status quo ante.
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Don't sacrifice peace for political gain - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 10:18 GMT]
"The ongoing power struggle between the President and Government has reached a stage where it is clearly endangering the peace process", warned the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release today. NPC urged the Norwegian facilitators to reconsider their decision and appealed to the President and Government to create the conditions for their return. 
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IFJ calls for maintenance of freedom of press

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) has appealed to the President and Prime Minister of Sri Lanka to maintain freedom of the press and respect for the independence of journalists, particularly in the state-owned media, during the current political uncertainty in the island. The IFJ also appealed for the establishment of an independent media commission to oversee the state-owned media institutions, to ensure that the Government withdraws from the editorial process in Sri Lanka's state-owned media.


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UNF stresses the urgency to reconvene parliament

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 10:18 GMT]
"The burning problem of United National Front Government for the moment is the need to reconvene the parliament which has been prorogued by the President till November 19," the Cabinet spokesman and Constitutional Affairs Minister Mr. G.L.Peiris said Thursday at the weekly press briefing.
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Political stability necessary for talks - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 06:33 GMT]
"Mr. Pirapaharan sought guarantees from the Norwegians that the Sri Lankan government would continue its commitment to the cease fire and for the safety of the LTTE’s political activists in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka army," Mr. Thamilchelvan said, after the meeting between the Norwegian delegation and the leaders of the Liberation Tigers concluded in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
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Pirapaharan, Norwegians discuss peace, Colombo crisis

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 05:36 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special envoy Eric Solheim, Norway’s Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar met the Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, for discussions about the peace process and the current political crisis in Colombo in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
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Sri Lanka’s President meets Norwegian envoys

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:54 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr.Hans Brattskar, and an officer of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangeland, met with Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and discussed the resumption of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the Janadipathi Mandiraya (President’s Residence) in Colombo Wednesday, sources said.
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‘Can’t achieve anything with the Constitution’ – Victor Ivan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 14:03 GMT]
“The situation is very critical and not very easy to resolve. This crisis will affect the peace process in a big way. Our constitution is the problem. It is wrong. We can’t achieve anything with it. It has to be reformed while a door is kept fully open for a solution to the ethnic conflict. The Prime Minister is a very smart leader but he is greedy for this constitution. He wants to keep it”, said Mr. Victor Ivan, editor of the influential Sinhala political weekly, Ravaya, in an interview with TamilNet Wednesday about the constitutional crisis in Colombo.
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PM, President talks inconclusive

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 09:59 GMT]
The meeting between the President Kumaratunga and the Prime Minister Wickremesinghe ended inconclusively after discussing issues relating to the peace process and prospects for a government of national reconciliation, sources in Colombo said.
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"SL President's lack of sincerity will hamper peace efforts" -TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 12:34 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Tuesday told the Norwegian peace envoys that defense arrangements of the country should be left in the hands of one party that is dedicated to take forward the current peace process with sincerity. Sri Lanka's President's past actions of not responding to LTTE's unilateral ceasefire in December 2000 and her attempts to sideline Norway's peace envoy Eric Soleheim reflect her lack of sincerity and leaving the Peace Process in her command will damage peace efforts, TNA delegation added.
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Most landmine accidents in Jaffna – UN group

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:49 GMT]
The United Nations Inter-Agency Working Group on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) in Colombo said Tuesday that most of the accidents caused by mines and unexploded ordnance (UXO) occurred in Jaffna this year. UNDP supported de-mining began in Jaffna seven years ago. Today there are three international de-mining groups active in the peninsula, including one from the US army. The UNDP continues support. A year ago, the region controlled by the Liberation Tigers in the north had much larger and extensive concentrations of mines, minefields and UXOs than Jaffna.
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Sri Lanka's PM invites TNA for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 06:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has invited the Tamil National Alliance for talks on Wednesday evening to discuss the present constitutional crisis and the future of the peace process. Earlier on the day Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is scheduled to meet the President at the latter's invitation at the Presidential Secretariat, political sources said.
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More constitutional snags hit Sri Lanka’s crisis

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 04:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s constitutional crisis deepened further on Tuesday as MPs of the ruling United National Front (UNF) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) wrote to the Speaker of Parliament asking him to convene the national legislature before 19 November, the date on which President Kumaratunga’s prorogation of Parliament is due to expire. The UNF, TNA letter invokes Articles 4(c) and 42 of Sri Lanka’s constitution as the legal basis for reconvening Parliament during the prorogation. President Kumaratunga’s People’s Alliance (PA) and the JVP slammed the move as illegal.
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Helgesen, Solheim arrive in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 03:45 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, and special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, arrived in Colombo Monday night in an attempt to revive the stalled peace talks between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and on Tuesday morning conferred with the members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources said Tuesday.
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North-South journalists meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 03:28 GMT]
The North-South Journalists Association (NSJA) of Sri Lanka has been revived after about two years. A function to mark this event was held last Saturday at the Colombo Renuka Hotel under the patronage of the National Peace Council (NPC), sources said.
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Eight-day Tamil music festival begins in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 02:57 GMT]
An eight-day Tamil music festival ' Rama Nama Ganamirtham,' organized by the Colombo Kamban Kazhaham began Monday evening in Colombo at Wellawatte Ramakrishna Mission Hall. The Supreme Court Justice, Mr. C.V.Vigneswaran, inaugurated the festival.
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Jaffna’s leading educationist felicitated in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 16:35 GMT]
A leading educationist from the Jaffna peninsula, Mr.K.Arunasalam, was felicitated on his seventy fifth birthday at an event held at the Wellawatte Sri Ramakrishna Mission Hall in Colombo Sunday evening. Mr.Arunasalam was the emeritus Principal of Vaddukoddai Hindu College and Chullipuram Victoria College in the Jaffna district and Paddiruppu Maha Vidiyalayam in the eastern province for several years, sources said.
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