Sarvodhaya holds Peace meditation campaign in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 February 2006, 16:55 GMT]
Sarvodhaya Movement of Sri Lanka held a peace meditation campaign in the Trincomalee esplanade on the third day of the four-day workshop Saturday evening held for about six hundred youths from all the twenty administrative districts of Sri Lanka, civil society sources said. Dr.A.T.Ariyaratne, leader of the Sarvodhaya Movement said his organizationis planning to hold a mass prayer with peace meditation campaign in Anuradhapura soon.
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UPFA to contest three Jaffna local councils

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:26 GMT]
Ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is contesting three local councils in Jaffna district, Chavakachcheri, Point Pedro and Valvettithurai urban councils, and has submitted nomination papers for these councils, election officials in Jaffna said. For the Jaffna Municipal Council only three political parties Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK), Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) and PLOTE-EPRLF (Varathar wing) have submitted nominations.
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Mannar civilian detained in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:23 GMT]
The Mannar Citizens Committee (MCC) has appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to take steps to obtain the release of a Tamil civilian Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan of Pesalai who is being detained at the Terrorist Investigative Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police, sources said. The Police following a grenade attack at the army post located near Mannar hospital premises on January 16 took him into custody. An SLA soldier was killed in this incident.
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Verugal PS Chairman, Deputy to be appointed within 7 days

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:19 GMT]
Mr.M.M.S.K.Bandara Mapa, Trincomalee District Assistant Commissioner of Elections has written a letter to the General Secretary of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK) to nominate two candidates for the post of Chairman and Vice Chairman of the Verugal Pradesiya Sabah in the Trincomalee district within seven day's period, on or before February 23, sources said Friday. ITAK was elected unopposed to the Verugal PS when the final date of nomination closed on Thursday, election department sources said.
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NGOs in Kilinochchi demand release of TRO staffers

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 11:23 GMT]
The Kilinochchi Federation of NGOs staged a peace protest march Friday 17th in Kilinochchi at 10 am, demanding the release of the seven employees of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO), abducted at gun point and held captive for more than 20 days in the Wellikanda region by paramilitaries. The marchers condemned the abductors and demanded that the TRO staffers be released immediately.
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LTTE delegation leaves Kilinochchi for Geneva

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 11:21 GMT]
Liberation Tigers delegation left Kilinochchi Friday morning to participate in negotiations with Government of Sri Lanka(GOSL) facilitated by the Norwegian Government in Geneva, Switzerland scheduled to be held February 22-23. Head of LTTE Political Wing, Mr Thamilchelvan, told the media before leaving Kilinochchi that the talks will discuss ways to implement February 2002 Truce agreement between the parties who are meeting for direct talk after more than three years. The delegation departed Kilinochchi grounds in a Sri Lanka Air Force( SLAF) helicopter around 9:00 am Friday.
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The Importance of ‘Rearbase’: Taraki, 1989

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 02:05 GMT]
In the 29 October 1989 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popular journalist and Senior editor at TamilNet, writes on the waning importance of a rear base in Tamil Nadu after the end of Eelam war I in 1987. "That a multipurpose comfortable rearbase would in the long term erode the conviction to fight and play into the hands of India was an opinion expressed in 1983. Finally the rearbase started becoming a factor that threatened to undermine the control various leaders had over their fighting cadres," Sivaram wrote.
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Local Government polls on 30 March

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 18:21 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Elections Commissioner announced Thursday evening that elections to all local government bodies in the island will be held on 30 March.
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Three suspects arrested for transporting explosives to Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 February 2006, 16:36 GMT]
Mannar Police Thursday arrested three persons, two Muslims and a Sinhalese, in two separate incidents when they were allegedly transporting dynamite sticks from outstations to Mannar Island. The Police recovered 125 dynamite sticks from one incident and about 100 in the other, police sources said.
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Remembrance day for slain students held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 16:30 GMT]
Forty-fifth day remembrance of five Tamil students shot dead by State armed forces in execution style close to the Trincomalee beach on January 2nd this year was held at the same location Wednesday morning attended by large number of students, parents, teachers and members of public. The Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum and Students' Association organized the event, sources in Trincomalee said.
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Tigers respond to Rajapakse's statement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 February 2006, 09:47 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Wednesday, responded to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse's recent interview where he rejected the Tamil call for self-rule. "Homeland, nationhood and self-rule are the three basic and cardinal principles," that have been guiding the LTTE in its struggle to find a peacefully negotiated political arrangement, a statement from the LTTE reiterated. If Colombo adopts a political stand ruling out the Tamil homeland concept and insists on a resolution to conflict within the "Sinhala" constitution, the LTTE would be left with "no alternative other than to endeavour hard to respond effectively to the Tamil call for self rule," the statement said.
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HSZ villagers face displacement due to SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 11:07 GMT]
Residents of villages located close to the Point Pedro harbor High Security Zone (HSZ) face imminent displacement due to increasing harassment by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers of the 52-4 Brigade located in Point Pedro, said civil society organizations in complaints registered with the Human Rights Commission and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Jaffna Monday, sources in Jaffna said.
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Political parties prepare strategy for local council elections

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 17:43 GMT]
All main political parties are to submit nominations to contest the forthcoming elections to three hundred and thirty local authorities in the island from Tuesday. The final day to submit nomination lists has been fixed for Thursday February 16. Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which worked for the victory of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse at the last year presidential poll is to contest the local council election alone without forming an alliance with the ruling party, political sources said.
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Batticaloa Buddhist priest on fast to death campaign

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 February 2006, 12:52 GMT]
Ven. Ampitiya Sumanarathna Thero, the chief priest of the Batticaloa Sri Mangalaramaya Buddhist Vihara, has begun a fast unto death campaign Monday at 9.30 am, protesting against lack of interest by authorities in resolving hardships faced by Batticaloa residents and for not providing adequate security to his temple, sources in Batticaloa said.


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Tamil educators honored in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 February 2006, 16:33 GMT]
Mr.E.J.Satkunarajah, former Secretary to the North East Provincial Education Ministry and who rendered valuable service for the development of the science education in the province and Mr.S.Kathirgamathamby, retired Principal of Chenaiyoor Central College in Muttur east who contributed his teaching career for the education development of rural students were honored at an event held Sunday evening at Trincomalee Vikneswara Maha Vidiyalayam. Trincomalee District Student Examination Centre organized the event, sources said.
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Kumarapuram massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 17:06 GMT]
People of Kumarapuram, a village in Killiveddy area, Saturday observed the 10th death anniversary of twenty four Tamil civilians, including children massacred by a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army ( SLA ) on 11th February 1996. Thirty Tamil villagers were seriously injured in the incident. Kumarapuram, which lies about 32 km south of Trincomalee town by sea, comes under the administrative limit of the Muttur Divisional Secretariat.
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Minister assures phased troop reduction near NorthEast schools

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 February 2006, 13:54 GMT]
Mr. Susil Premajayanth, Minister of Education, at a meeting with a Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) delegation held Thursday evening at his ministry office in Colombo, assured the CTTU officials that he would take action to reduce the presence of State armed forces and sentry points from the vicinity of schools in the North East in stages. He said that Sri Lanka government has to implement any changes regarding SLA troops without provoking the extreme elements in the South, CTTU officials attending the meeting said.
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Ashraff wants Muslims to pray for Geneva talks success

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 18:33 GMT]
Ms Ferial Ashraff, leader of the National Unity Alliance and the Minister for Housing Friday appealed to Muslim to pray for the success of peace talks scheduled to be held in Geneva on February 22 and 23. She declared open of an office of the NUA Friday in Amparai. She is also the Amparai district parliamentarian, sources said.
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Five parties to contest in Jaffna Local Council elections

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 11:26 GMT]
Five political parties have expressed interest to contest in local elections in Jaffna district, Jaffna election officials said. Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), and Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi (ITAK- Federal party), are expected to contest in all regions in Jaffna district whereas All Ceylon Muslim Congress and Muslim Congress will compete only in Jaffna Municipal Council, sources said.
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Muslim farmer shot, injured in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2006, 06:43 GMT]
Mr.W.L.Najeebdeen aged 44 of First Division in Akkaraipattu in the Amparai district was shot and injured Friday morning around 8.00 a.m. by unidentified person when he was going to see harvesting in his paddy field which is located in Aanaivilunthan in Alankulam area. He was immediately admitted to the Amparai general hospital, police sources said.
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