Wage controversy cripples Sri Lanka hospitals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 11:19 GMT]
All Sri Lanka government hospitals virtually dead for the last nine days in the island due to the strike by medical officers has been limping back to normalcy Saturday as the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) temporarily called off their trade union action Friday evening, health authorities said.


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Top US official to visit Sri Lanka next week

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 11:15 GMT]
Mr. Torkel L. Patterson, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for South Asian Affairs in the United States Government will visit Sri Lanka as a part of his familiarization tour of the region, said US embassy sources.


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Empower TNA to decide next government, Sampanthan tells voters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:36 GMT]
"Tamils are in the verge of achieving their legitimate rights after several years of freedom struggle through the military might of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Hence it is the duty of Tamils to strengthen the hands of LTTE by sending at least twenty-one Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians thus making the TNA as a force to decide the future government," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA leader and the TNA lead candidate for Trincomalee district when addressing a series of election meetings in the LTTE held area villages in Muttur east and Eachilampathu division Sunday evening.


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Karuna Group eyes cabinet portfolio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:28 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance candidates in Batticaloa who might be elected in the April polls to Sri Lanka’s Parliament should be ready to work with the government that comes to power in Colombo, according to instructions issued Monday by the Karuna Group to Tamil politicians in the troubled eastern district, sources said. One of the TNA MPs elected from Batticaloa would be given a cabinet portfolio, according to Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a TNA candidate who is a confidante of Mr. V. Muraleetharan, the leader of the Karuna Group.
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Karikalan addresses Jaffna university meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 12:54 GMT]
“Karuna could not have acted traitorously without external backing. He has been bought over by an external power that is intent on destroying our liberation struggle and our leadership. People in the Batticaloa Amparai district know this now. He was instigated by the external power to betray his own people”, said Mr. Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers from the east, addressing a packed meeting at the University of Jaffna Monday. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa Amparai district also spoke at the meeting.
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Kumaratunge outlines UPFA policy to business leaders

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge expressed confidence that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would enter into democratic political process under the future United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government when she met leaders of business communities including members of legal and medical profession at the Presidential House Friday evening, sources said.


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Sri Lanka election violence on the increase

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:49 GMT]
The Police Election Secretariat said Saturday that it receives daily at least ten complaints related to election violence from political parties. From February 17, the first day political parties started submitting their nomination list at the district election offices, until this Friday the Election Secretariat has received 373 complaints, Police sources said.


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Karuna embezzled funds, feared disciplinary action before split - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:05 GMT]
Mr.Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from the East who was close to the renegade former Eastern commander of the LTTE, Mr. Karuna, in an interview with the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (ATBC) Friday disclosed for the first time that the Batticaloa crisis was precipitated when LTTE leadership summoned Karuna to Vanni after discovering financial irregularities and receiving allegations of questionable conduct. Fearing disciplinary action Karuna defied Vanni command and took unilateral action to split, Karikalan said.
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Norway will not interfere in LTTE's internal matters

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2004, 08:23 GMT]
Norway will not interfere in the internal matters of the Liberation Tigers said Mr. Erik Soheim speaking to the press at the conclusion of his meeting with Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan Thursday in Kilinochchi. “We did not involve ourselves in the discussion between the President and the Prime Minister and exactly in the same manner we will not take any part in the discussion between the LTTE leadership and Mr. Karuna. The first is an internal matter for the south and the second is an internal matter for the northeast”, Mr. Solheim said.
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EPDP supports Kumaratunga, Marxist alliance

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2004, 15:07 GMT]
EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lanka army, said Wednesday in Jaffna that it supports the alliance between President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna. Addressing press conference in its heavily fortified camp in Jaffna town, the leader of the group, Mr. Douglas Devananda, defended the JVP, saying that it was not a Sinhala chauvinist party.
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Col.Pathuman dismisses Karuna's speculation

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 March 2004, 15:49 GMT]
In an interview with the Associated Press (AP), Col.Pathuman, Liberation Tiger's Trincomalee commander, dismissed speculation by renegade former LTTE commander from Batticaloa-Ampara Karuna that the LTTE leadership is holding Pathuman under house arrest in Vanni.
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Batticaloa Bishop and his team meet LTTE Leaders

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 March 2004, 15:35 GMT]
Bishop Rt. Rev. Kingsley Swampillai and his team from Batticaloa consisting of the eastern university representatives, NGOs and members of the business community, met with LTTE Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Batticaloa-Amparai Special Commander Ramesh, Commander Ram, Mr. Karikalan and the Political Head of Batticaloa-Amparai Mr. Kausalyan today 8th March 2004 in Kilinochchi, sources in Vanni said.
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Karuna feared expulsion, avoided direct contact - Ramesh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 21:04 GMT]
In an interview from Vanni to the UK-based International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) Radio, Col.Ramesh, the new Special Commander of the Liberation Tigers for Batticaloa-Ampara, said that Karuna took the unilateral decision to split on his own ignoring the advices of several senior commanders and administrateive heads.
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Karuna’s accusations are cover up for guilt and betrayal - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 19:58 GMT]
In a wide ranging interview from Vanni to the London, UK-based International Broadcasting Corporation (IBC) Radio, Mr. Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers and former head of the political division in Batticaloa-Ampara, said that Karuna, the renegade former LTTE commander from Batticaloa-Ampara, was spreading false stories to the international media to justify his betrayal and to prevent the international Tamil community from calling Mr. Karuna a “traitor.”
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Karikalan condemns Karuna as Pol Pot

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2004, 06:45 GMT]
"Karuna will be seen as a Pol Pot if he continues to act irresponsibly towards our people", said Mr. Sivagnanam Karikalan, one of the senior leaders in the East to arrive in Kilinochchi Sunday morning for discussions with his leadership about the situation in Batticaloa. Mr. Karikalan is a close confidante of Mr. Karuna, the eastern LTTE leader who was sacked from the Liberation Tigers Saturday on charges of treason.
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Monks' Sinhala Buddhist call will derail Kumaratunge - NSSP Leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2004, 04:23 GMT]
Dr. Vickremabahu Karunarathne, the leader of the leftist Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), when asked if United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) has any chance of getting absolute majority in the 2 April elections said that "with Buddhist Monks contesting separately, openly proposing 'Sinhala Buddhist' dictatorship, it is very unlikely that United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) could become first in any of the districts."


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Code of conduct for parties, public officials issued

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 March 2004, 13:39 GMT]
A National Advisory Council appointed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga released a code of conduct for political parties, voters and public officials to be adhered during the elections and during the post poll period. The Council under the Chairmanship of Ven Dr. Bellanwila Wimalaratna Nayaka thero released the code of conduct at a meeting at the Ministry of Interior on Wednesday.
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Sri Lanka President bans beer ads

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2004, 18:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday banned all beer ads in state media which are under her control, according to a press note from her office Tuesday evening. The ban was imposed after several representations had been made to her by religious organisations regarding the deleterious effects of the beer ads, particularly on TV during international cricket matches played in Sri Lanka.
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Sri Lanka President’s Marxist ally slams devolution again

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 March 2004, 17:44 GMT]
The leader of President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main political ally, Mr. Somawansa Amarasinghe categorically rejected the concept and practice of devolution in an interview published in the latest issue of ‘Business Today’, a monthly magazine from Colombo. “ On the national question, people are talking about devolution, division or sharing of power or other formulae. But everyone has become prisoners of devolution....What we say is please stop talking about devolution,” states Mr. Amerasinghe in the interview.
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Southern political forces fear TNA's strength - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 February 2004, 20:30 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the lead candidate of the party in the Trincomalee electoral district, Mr.R.Sampanthan, said that southern political forces are jittery that the TNA would be returned with about twenty seats to the new parliament in the April polls as a kingmaker, addressing TNA activists Sunday morning at the Hindu Cultural Hall in the eastern port town.
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