Jaffna students protest against SLA intervention on Annai Poopathy event

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 March 2006, 09:23 GMT]
Educational activities in Jaffna peninsula came to stansdstill Monday in a boycott called by Student oragnisations in protest against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intervention inside the Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) and the attack on the students of the ATI last Friday. Around fifteen students were wounded when SLA troopers who entered the ATI premises in Buffel APC vehicle and attacked the students smashing the garlanded picture frame of Annai Poopathy and forcefully removing the Tamileelam flag on Friday. Students organisations in Jaffna has called for protests following the SLA intervention.
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Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Village construction begins in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 21:36 GMT]
The construction work on the 246 permanent houses for tsunami affected Muslim and Tamil families in Iqbal Nagar on Trincomalee-Nilaveli road under the Japan-Sri Lanka Friendship Village Project funded by the people and Government of Japan has begun with the ceremonial foundation-laying event held Saturday morning.
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SLA troopers' desecration of Hindu Temples condemned

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 19:21 GMT]
The Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Front (EPRLF-Suresh wing) of Mannar district condemned willful descretion of Hindu Temples by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who enter inside temple buildings and at times inside the inner sanctum with their boots on, sources in Mannar said. Mr.Ratnasigham Kumares, District Secretary of the Mannar EPRLF, urged the Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Mannar to advice the SLA to obey Hindu customs when entering Temples and to withdraw soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army from the Mannar hospital premises, sources said.
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Capturing Trinco UC, key to scuttle de-merger rhetoric- TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 18:47 GMT]
"Ilankai Tamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) must capture the administration of the Trincomalee Urban Council in the local poll to scuttle the campaign by chauvinist elements for a de-merger of the NorthEast province. Tamil speaking people in Trincomalee district must unequivocally demonstrate that they will not allow any moves of de-merger to materialize," said Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district ITAK parliamentarian addressing an election meeting Sunday evening at Anpuvallipuram, a suburb that comes within the Trincomalee urban council boundary, sources in Trincomalee said.
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LTTE, TNA discuss Vavuniya violence with SLMM

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 March 2006, 13:01 GMT]
Head of Vavuniya LTTE Political Wing, Mr Gnanam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, and several Vavuniya civil society representatives held discussions with members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on escalating violence in Vavuniya targetted against businesspersons, at the LTTE political office in Puliyankulam at 10.30 a.m. Saturday, sources from Vavuniya said.
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Vavuniya Judge orders SLA Officers to appear in Court

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 18:11 GMT]
Following complaints registered with the Vavuniya District Judge M. Ilancheliyan by residents of Sasthrikoolankulam of alleged Sri Lanka Army (SLA) involvement in the killing of a merchant on Friday, the Judge ordered the Commanding Officers of Kalmadu, Pampaimadu and Thandikulam army camps to appear in courts on Monday, legal sources in Vavuniya said.
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New SLMM Head meets Elilan in Sampoor

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 17:39 GMT]
Swedish Brigadier, Ulf Henricsson, who is to assume duties on 1st April as the new head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), met with Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head for the first time Saturday evening, sources in Trincomalee said. The discussions centered on the current ceasefire agreement, Geneva peace talks and future activities related to peace process, sources said.
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Students hoist Tamileelam flag, continue Poopathy celebrations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:39 GMT]
Students at the Kokuvil Technical College located 3 km north of Jaffna town hoisted the Tamileelam flag as part of the Annai Poopathy memorial celebrations Saturday 10.30 a.m., student sources said. Students replaced the picture frame Annai Poopathi that was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who forcefully entered the compound and attacked the students Friday.
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Provocations and smear campaign cast peace doubts - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 12:36 GMT]
The vitriolic language increasingly being used by the Rajapakse administration against the LTTE and the concerted smear campaign it has launched against the Tigers casts doubts on Sri Lanka’s commitment to the peace process, the Tamil Guardian argues in its latest editorial. “Protagonists who wish to strike peace deals seek to deescalate tensions, build mutual trust and demonstrate goodwill so as to make securing an agreement more likely. But the Rajapakse administration is doing the exact reverse of that,” the expatriate fortnightly said.
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Norway Campus opens Skills Lab in Kallady

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 March 2006, 00:14 GMT]
"We have established the Training and Skills Laboratory, the first of its kind in Sri Lanka, to the Eastern University (EUSL) to effectively address the medical needs of the East of Sri Lanka," said Chief Guest Ms. Solveig Wiesener, Director, Centre for International Health (SHI) of Norway Tromsø University Medical Faculty, declaring open the laboratory in Kalladi Batticaloa, Friday at 9 a.m, sources said.
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CFA flawed, allows Tigers access to SLA areas for political work - Fonseka

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 20:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka, at a ceremony held at the Army Headquarters in Colombo Friday said that there are many flaws in the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). "The LTTE has exploited these flaws to enter the Sri Lanka government controlled areas to carryout political activities," charged the Sri Lankan commander.
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SLA provoking LTTE for another war, says Elilan

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 11:09 GMT]
"The attack by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army with the connivance of paramilitary cadres on our Forward Defense Line in Poonagar in Eachchilampathu division is aimed to create another war situation by provoking LTTE," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head in a complaint lodged with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee Friday.
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SLA soldiers attack students inside Jaffna Advanced Technological Institute

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 07:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army troopers Friday morning entered the grounds of Jaffna Advanced Technological Institute (ATI) and beat the students who were paying tribute to Annai Poopathy. Soldiers attacked the Student Union Leader of the ATI Mr. Suganthan and 15 fellow students including 8 female students. Sri Lankan soldiers, who entered into the grounds in a Buffel Armoured vehicle, removed the Thamileelam national flag, hoisted in the school grounds and smashed the photograph of Annai Poopathy, windows of the college building, and the motorbikes parked inside the college ground. Tension prevails in Jaffna where students were organising protests against the attack.
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LTTE Sentry Point in Trincomalee ambushed, one dead, two wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 March 2006, 06:03 GMT]
A Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre was killed and two injured in an attack on the LTTE Forward Defense Line sentry point located in Poonagar in Trincomalee district Thursday around 8 p.m., said LTTE sources in the east. The Tigers charged that the ambushmen had come from the Sri Lanka Army camp in Mahindapura.
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SLA lifts fishing ban in Vadamaradchy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 March 2006, 11:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna told the Vadamaradchy North Fisheries Society representatives Thursday that SLA is lifting the three month old fishing ban along Valvettiturai Aathikovilady, Thondamanaaru and Kerudavil area coasts from 9 a.m. Thursday at a meeting held at Thondamanaaru Rural Development Centre Thursday morning, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA troops threaten students at Annai Poopathy celebrations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 12:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops threatened students at the Jaffna Technical College where celebrations marking Annai Poopathi's anniversary are taking place. More than 300 SLA soldiers who arrived at the Technical College premises at 3 p.m. Wednesday demanded taking down of the Tamileelam National flag which the students hoisted in the morning as part of the celebrations, sources said. Tension prevailed for more than an hour while the students refused to comply with the SLA demands.
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Firefight in Vadamaradchy East SLA checkpoint

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 11:43 GMT]
Unknown gunmen fired at a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry point in Aarangkattai in Vadamaradchy east at noon Wednesday, sources in Point Pedro said. SLA troopers returned fire but the gunmen escaped from their positions inside the adjoining casuarina forest, sources added. The SLA 52-4 Brigade said that no SLA soldiers were injured in the attack.
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Tigers reject Colombo's "pre-conditions" for re-entry of political cadres

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 09:29 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a letter addressed to the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on Wednesday accused Colombo of imposing pre-conditions for the re-entry of their political cadres into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled areas in the NorthEast. Rejecting the concept of "new pre-condtions," the Tigers charged Colombo of violating the understanding reached in Geneva in re-establishing the status quo that existed prior to the LTTE decision to withdraw political cadres. The letter, released to media by the LTTE Peace Secretariat, urged the monitors to ensure the conditions for the re-entry of their political cadres in "strict accordance" with the CFA agreement.
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LTTE hands over arrested home guards to Thamileelam Police

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 01:31 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Tuesday afternoon said at a press briefing held in Sampoor that they have handed over to the Thamileelam Police the two home guards who they arrested on March 14 caught riding in a motorcycle inside the LTTE controlled area, The Thamileelam Court in accordance with the normal procedure could release these two home guards, Mr.Sithik Reseen (23) of Valaichchenai and Mr.Haniffa Anzar (30) of Thoppur, LTTE Trincomalee leaders said at the briefing.
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SLA cordon, search area surrounding LTTE political office

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 March 2006, 00:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) cordoned off and searched Tuesday morning area around LTTE Political Office at Potpathi Road, Kokuvil in Jaffna, scheduled to reopen Wednesday with the arrival of the LTTE poltical group headed by C. Ilamparithi, sources in Jaffna said. Having failed to get assurances from Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Jaffna guaranteeing their safety, the LTTE political section cancelled their plans to resume political work on Wednesday, sources added.


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