2000 appear for police recruitment interviews in the east

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 18:39 GMT]
More than 2000 persons appeared for the two-day interview held by the Police Department Saturday and Sunday at Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai, Kalmunai, Akkaraipattu, Muttur and Pottuvil police stations to recruit 550 new personnel for serving in the eastern province, said the eastern region Deputy Inspector General of Sri Lanka Police, Mr. Neville Wijesinghe. He said that the highest number of the youths attending the interview were from the Sinhalese community, and Muslim youths the second highest.
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JVP anti-peace Foot March from Galle to Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 17:52 GMT]
The four-day "Foot March " (Pada Yatra) by the Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) will commence Monday from Galle, deep south of the country, Monday in protest to the present peace initiative of the United National Front (UNF) government. The protest march is organized to highlight the danger to the territorial integrety of Sri Lanka, and to safeguard the country from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the foreign imperialists, JVP sources said.


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'Public has lost confidence in Sri Lankan police’ -AHRC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 16:40 GMT]
The people of Sri Lanka do not have much trust in the Sri Lankan police, said Mr. Basil Fernando, the Asian Human Rights Commission’s Executive Director, at a press briefing Saturday in Colombo, adding that police officials in charge should be held responsible for the human rights violations taking place in police stations.
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Southern fishermen demonstrate against poaching

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 18:41 GMT]
Hundreds of fishermen held a demonstration in front of the Fort railway station in Colombo Friday, condemning the Fisheries Ministry of Sri Lanka for not taking prompt action to stop poaching by foreign trawlers in the territorial waters of Sri Lanka. Fishermen from Matara, Galle and other parts of the south participated in the demonstration, Colombo sources said.
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Norwegian ambassador meets civil leaders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 11:51 GMT]
Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Mr Hans Brattskar paid his first official visit to Jaffna district Friday and held discussions with the Government Agent, members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and representatives of non-governmental organizations in the peninsula, district secretariat sources said.


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SLMM head to hold talks with LTTE's Trinco leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:56 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd.)Triggve Tellefsen, is scheduled to hold talks with the Trincomalee district area commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Colonel Pathuman, and the Trincomalee district political head, Mr.S.Tilak, on Monday morning around 11 a.m., SLMM sources said.
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Maintaining ethnic ratio in Police recruitment imperative - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
At a conference held Thursday morning between the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan at the parliamentary complex, it was decided to summon all Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians for a conference on Tuesday or Wednesday next week before finalizing the list of new recruits for the police force in the eastern province, political sources in Colombo said.
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JVP to launch protest campaign against ‘betrayal’ of country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 20:39 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wednesday said it would launch a protest "war" in the country from Monday onward against what it called a "betrayal of the nation in the name of peace process" by the United National Front government, media sources in Colombo said.
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SL Police to recruit 500 in the East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 15:00 GMT]
Five hundred constables and fifty reserve sub-inspectors are to be recruited to serve in several police divisions in the eastern province, Sri Lanka’s Police Headquarters in Colombo said in a press release Wednesday. The decision by the Defence Ministry to recruit more police personnel for the East was made following a conference held by the Ministry Tuesday in Colombo to review the security situation in the eastern province, sources said.
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LTTE delegation leaves Colombo for Paris talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 05:50 GMT]
A high powered delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by its political head Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, left Colombo by Sri Lankan Air Lines Wednesday early morning around 2 a.m. to Paris in France, sources at the Colombo airport said.
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LTTE delegation to Paris talks arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 14:16 GMT]
A Ten member delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by its political head Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, arrived in Colombo Thursday afternoon by two special helicopters of the Sri Lanka Air Force from Kilinochchi. The delegation is on its way to participate in "internal talks" in Paris, France, aimed at preparing a response to the Sri Lankan government's interim administration proposals, political sources in Colombo said.
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General shutdown paralyzes Kalmunai, Sammanthurai

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The towns of Kalmunai and Sammanthurai in the Amparai district were completely paralyzed Monday when residents and businessmen observed a general shut down (hartal) protesting against the killing of two Muslim civilians at Sammanthurai Sunday night, police said.
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Two Muslims shot dead in Sammanthurai

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 05:44 GMT]
Forty-year-old father of four children Mr.A.Ibralebbai and a twenty one old father of two children Mr.K.L.Ismail were shot dead Sunday night by unidentified gunmen at Nelluchchenaivettai in Sammanthurai police division in Amparai district, police sources said. Their bodies were recovered Monday morning at the site, according to police sources.


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Hakeem to meet Sri Lankan PM on Muslims' security

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 01:03 GMT]
Mr.Rauff Hakeem, leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and Minister in Sri Lanka’s United National Front government, said Sunday that he would meet the Sri Lankan Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, Monday, on the question of providing maximum security to Muslims in the eastern province especially in Muttur area.
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Tamil medium teachers still receive Sinhala only letters

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 20:53 GMT]
Tamil medium teachers and principals in Sri Lanka, especially in the northeast province where Tamil is the main medium in schools, are still undergoing untold hardships in transacting official business with the relevant departments as the central ministry of education and other related departments still correspond with them only in the Sinhalese language, the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU)'s General Secretary, Mr.T.Mahasivam, said.
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Thailand promises demining assistance to northeast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 18:41 GMT]
The Thailand ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr.Jerm Tivyanond, Saturday told the officials of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that his country is willing to assist in the de-mining programme in the northeast province, sources said.


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IGP orders action against Jaffna fishermen for detaining Indian poachers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 August 2003, 17:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police Mr.T.E.Anandarajah has issued a directive to police officials in the Jaffna district to take action against northern fishermen who failed to hand over captured Indian poachers to the police, Jaffna police said Sunday.
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'Stop alienation of State land in Trincomalee district' - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 15:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance’s parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Saturday made an urgent appeal to the United National Front government to stop the alienation of State land in Trincomalee district as it would cause serious harmful impact on the peace process, saying that such alienation of land was one of the main causes that led to the commencement of war and therefore it would be “tantamount to an abuse of the current ceasefire.”
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‘Indian Minister’s visit to SL historic’ - Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 18:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s cabinet spokesman, Mr. G.L.Peiris, said Thursday that the proposed visit of the Indian Foreign Minister, Mr.Yaswant Sinha, to Colombo next week would be 'historic.' Replying to a question at the weekly press briefing, Mr.Peiris, who is also the government’s Chief negotiator in the peace talks, said that there would not be any problem in obtaining Indian assistance to the present peace process, media sources said.
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'Eastern Tamils losing confidence in SLMM'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 14:09 GMT]
Representatives of the Batticaloa District Non-Governmental Organizations' Consortium Thursday told the Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, that Tamils were losing confidence in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as it had failed to take into account the mounting problems of the displaced Tamil people in the eastern province, NGO sources said.
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