US says LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 11:06 GMT]
The United States yesterday re-designated the Liberation Tigers as a foreign terrorist organization, saying that the LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities, and noted that the designation can be revoked at any time the U.S. is satisfied that the organization no longer meets the statutory criteria for designation, the US embassy in Sri Lanka said in a press release Thursday.
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Postal employees threaten strike demanding salary hike

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 01:55 GMT]
The United Alliance Postal Employees' Unions (UAPEU) Thursday announced that a picketing campaign would be conducted in Colombo Friday to force the Sri Lanka government to consider three demands including a salary increase, said Alliance organizer Mr.V.Vivekandalingam. At the end of the picketing the date for strike action would be announced, he added. .


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SLFP to mobilize people support against UNF government

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 01:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) has decided to conduct agitation campaign against the policies of the United National Front (UNF) government in Colombo within the next two weeks, party sources said.


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“We will benefit from Ireland's experience” - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 October 2003, 08:56 GMT]
“We would be having discussions with Irish experts who were associated with the peace process in Ireland. The Irish have also struggled for their rights like us. Their experience and knowledge will help us better understand the intricacies of negotiating peace”, Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Liberation Tigers’ political division told TamilNet while waiting at the Kilinochchi town grounds to board the Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter to Colombo Thursday morning.
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PNM vows to thwart 'foreign attempt to divide' country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 17:43 GMT]
The leader of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), Venerable Elle Gunawanse Thera, addressing the public meeting held at the conclusion of the five-day anti-peace march Wednesday said that the majority Sinhalese people will not allow foreign elements now involved in the peace process to divide the country, sources said.
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JVP awaits invitation to resume talks with SLFP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) said Wednesday it has not received official invitation from the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), chief constituent of the main opposition Peoples Alliance regarding the resumption of failed talks to form a political alliance to oust the present United National Front government from power, political sources said.
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Anti-peace march reaches final stage

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 15:34 GMT]
The final leg of the five day protest march organized by the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an umbrella group of Sinhala nationalist parties, against what it called the "division of the country" and the proposed establishment of an interim administration in the northeast province, is to start Wednesday morning from Kudawatte towards Lipton's Park in Colombo, organizers said.
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Building up the case for war

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 September 2003, 02:11 GMT]
There is a steadily growing body of opinion among the Singhalese that Colombo’s dealings with the Liberation Tigers amount to nothing but a misguided policy of appeasement and plain treachery. The case for going to war with the Tigers again is being argued in different guises – its rhetorical veils are getting thinner as the ranks of those who oppose the peace process swell with each passing week.
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JVP, SLFP foot march begins from Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 13:13 GMT]
Leaders of sinhala nationalist marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), Buddhist Monks and thousands of party activists, supporters joined together under the Patriotic National Movement banner today morning and started a five- day, 116 kilometers foot march from Kandy to Colombo as a protest against to the establishment of separate an interim administrative structure for the northeast province and United National Front (UNF) government.


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Sri Lankan health workers' strike enters tenth day

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 20:28 GMT]
The Health Sector Trade Union Alliance (HSTUA)'s strike entered tenth day Friday as its spokesman, Ravi Kumudesh, announced that the alliance has totally rejected health ministry stand on the question of recruiting new casual and temporary workers to the health service, sources said.
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Schools complicate Valaiyiravu SLAF airport expansion plans

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 02:04 GMT]
High level officers from Colombo head quarters of Sri Lanka Airforce (SLAF) visited Valaiyiravu military airport in Batticaloa district yesterday to investigate the feasibility of expanding the airport while the two schools, Puthur Vigneswara Vidiyalayam and Valaiyiravu Methodist Vidiyalayam, remain located in close proximity to the perimeter of the airport, security sources said.
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Jaffna agrarian services said neglected by Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 September 2003, 08:43 GMT]
A farmer whose fields lie inside the Sri Lanka army’s high security zones in Jaffna loses up to 500,000 rupees (5250 USD) annually in terms of income and land depreciation, according to Mr. Balasubramaniam Ponnaiah, an agrarian services official in the northern peninsula. He said that Colombo didn’t allocate any funds at all for agricultural development in Jaffna since 1995. The Sri Lankan military has garrisoned about 27 percent of Jaffna’s arable lands.
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SLA fails to release Thenmaradchchi fields for cultivation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 11:32 GMT]
Displaced farmers of Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district complained Tuesday that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has not released paddy fields yet as promised although the farmers have made necessary arrangements to plough and sow their fields, civil group sources said.


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SLA disallows resettlement close to HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 10:53 GMT]
The Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission (HRC) of Sri Lanka informed its headquarters in Colombo that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities are not in a position to allow internally displaced families to resettle in their own lands which are close to the High Security Zones (HSZ) in the Valigamam north of the Jaffna district, authoritative sources said.


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UNICEF launches programme on HIV/AIDS for NE

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 September 2003, 07:08 GMT]
The UNICEF organized five-day training of trainers programme for a group of trainees on Life Skills Based Education (LSBE) on HIV/AIDS and substance abuse prevention among young people affected by the conflict in the northeast province concluded last week in Trincomalee. The trained resource personnel would begin their training programme in their respective areas in the province in the coming weeks to take forward the LSBE on HIV/AIDS at the grass root level organizations, UNICEF sources said.


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Amity to acrimony

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 14:34 GMT]
In the wake of an unsuccessful bid to forge an alliance to topple the ruling United National Front (UNF) government, Sri Lanka’s two largest opposition parties are now at each other’s throats, weekend press reports said. Relations between the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), the largest constituent of the main opposition People’s Alliance (PA) and the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP), the third force in Sinhala politics, have descended into acrimony barely days after alliance talks collapsed.
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Jaffna fishermen to boycott minister's Colombo conference

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 20:58 GMT]
Jaffna district fisheries societies Friday decided to boycott the conference summoned by the Sri Lankan Fisheries Minister, Mr.Mahinda Wijesekara, next week in Colombo. The conference has been summoned to discuss and find ways and means to solve the problems confronting the fishermen of the Jaffna district, fisheries sources said.
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Canadian High Commissioner meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 17:58 GMT]
The Canadian Highcommissioner in Sri Lanka, Ms. Valerie Raymond, met with the Political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, at the LTTE’s Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi Friday, and encouraged the LTTE “to move forward steadfastly [in finding a negotiated political settlement to the ethnic conflict] in spite of any obstacles that are usually expected in such protracted conflict resolutions,” sources said.
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SLA bars cafetaria in HSZ Cancer hospital

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 14:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission for continued operation of the cafetaria run by the Tellipalai Multi-purpose co-operative society (MPCS) in Tellipalai Cancer Hospital located in the High Security Zone (HSZ), said S.Sivamaharajah, the president of the MPCS, Jaffna daily Uthayan reported.


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Veteran sportsman Anandarajah dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 00:35 GMT]
Mr.J.S.N.Anandarajah, senior co-ordinator for the promotion of football under the Youth Development Programme in the North East province, passed away Monday night at a private nursing home in Colombo after a brief illness. His funeral was held Thursday at Kanatte cemetery in Colombo, attended by a large crowd, sources said.
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