Retrieving Kannapuram from the jungle’s grip

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2003, 17:43 GMT]
Kannapuram was one of the most prosperous and rich agricultural villages on Sri Lanka’s east coast before it was ransacked and destroyed by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) thirteen years ago. Hundreds of refugees who are returning today to reclaim their homes and paddy fields from the stubborn clutches of the island’s tropical forests face an uncertain future - a military camp is firmly entrenched in the midst of the village and no funds have been granted so far by Colombo to help them resettle.
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PA demands parliament, cabinet review of IA proposal

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 July 2003, 17:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka's main opposition Peoples Alliance (PA) Friday demanded that the United National Front (UNF) government should present to the parliament and cabinet, UNF's proposals on the Interim Administrative (IA) structure for the northeast, before the proposal is submitted to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), political sources in Colombo said.


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SLA, Police step up patrols, checking in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2003, 13:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka army and Police intensified checking pedestrians and motorists at key points and junctions in Batticaloa town, heightening apprehensions among residents that the war era atmosphere was returning to the eastern town. Combined army and Police units patrolled the town Thursday.


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Nambiar recommendation unacceptable – ANC expert

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2003, 00:39 GMT]
“The recommendation made by the Indian army expert General Nambiar that all the long range weapons of the Liberation Tigers should be placed under the supervision of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission cannot be accepted until permanent peace is achieved,” said retired South African army officer and a member of the African National Congress (ANC) Dr. Rocky Williams at a discussion held at Pandatherippu Meditation Center Wednesday.
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Colombo-Vavuniya express train service suspended

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2003, 05:17 GMT]
Intercity express train service between Vavuniya and Colombo is to be suspended from July 14 said Commissioner of Sri Lanka Department of Railways in a notice sent to the Railway station officials in Vavuniya, according to transportation sources.
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Norwegian envoy Westborg meets Thamilselvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2003, 18:59 GMT]
Former Norwegian ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr.Jon Westborg, who is currently a special advisor to the Norwegian government on the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tuesday held wide ranging discussions with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, at the Kilinochchi political secretariat of the LTTE, Vanni sources said.
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Jaffna’s GCE exam qualifying rate said among lowest in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 July 2003, 12:18 GMT]
“The percentage of students who pass the General Certificate of Education (GCE) exams in the northeast is lower than in the other parts of the country. Among the 30 Educational Districts in Sri Lanka, the percentage was lowest in Jaffna until recently. However, the district has now managed to move up to the 28th-27th place ”, said Mr. S. Mahalingam, Provincial Director of Education addressing the annual prize giving function of the Vincent Girl’s High School in Batticaloa Tuesday. Students in Sri Lanka have to qualify the GCE Ordinary and Advanced Level exams to enter universities.
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Ex-Jaffna GA charged in RRAN fund fraud

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2003, 18:51 GMT]
The Criminal Investigation Department of Police Monday filed a case in the Jaffna Magistrate's Court, charging that a former Government Agent, Mr.K.Shanmuganathan, defrauded about forty million rupees allocated by the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Authority for North (RRAN), legal sources said.
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Sinhala Buddhist monks want monitors out

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2003, 17:57 GMT]
Hundreds Buddhist monks protested in downtown Colombo Monday, demanding that Scandinavian peace monitors in Sri Lanka should leave the island immediately. The monks accused the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of operating in cahoots with the Liberation Tigers against interests of the Sinhala people.
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Trinco LTTE, SLA commanders to meet

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2003, 16:10 GMT]
A top level discussion is to take place between the commanders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Sri Lanka Army in the Trincomalee district on Wednesday evening at the no-man zone in Kattaiparichchan in Muttur, in the presence of the Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (retd.) Triggve Teleffsen, to thrash out the disputes that have arisen between them, SLMM sources said
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U.S Embassy drops plans to open Jaffna Political office

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2003, 11:12 GMT]
Plans to open a political office in Temple Road, Jaffna by the United States Embassy in Sri Lanka have been shelved, according to press reports in Jaffna.
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Anandasangaree's attempt to pass confidence motion stopped

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2003, 18:51 GMT]
The central committee meeting of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sunday night around nine p.m.concluded after about seven-hour marathon session thwarting the attempt to pass a confidence motion on the leadership of Mr. V.Anandasangaree. However, Mr.Anandasangaree is reported to have told the committee members that the confidence motion would be brought again at the next central committee meeting, TULF sources said.


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Thiruketheeswaram temple consecrated after 27 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2003, 12:10 GMT]
After twenty-seven years the consecration (Maha Kumbabishekam) ceremony of the historic Thiruketheeswaram Temple in Mannar district was held Sunday morning amid hundreds of thousands of devotees from all over the country especially from the northeast chanting prayers," temple authorities said.
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Trinco wins provincial sports championship

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 18:08 GMT]
Trincomalee district Friday emerged as overall champions of the northeast province in the Eighth Schools Athletic Meet for the year 2003 for the third consecutive year with 248 points. The Jaffna district came second with 234 points and Amparai district third with 141 points, Assistant Director of Education (Sports) in the NE Provincial Department of Education Mr.T.Arunagirirajah said Friday.
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SLA expands Navalady camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2003, 11:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are taking steps to expand and fortify its camp in Navalady junction near Valaichenai, security sources in Batticaloa said. Efforts by the SLA to make the Kallady camp permanent and the imposition of other arbitrary security measures such as stopping Batticaloa bound night trains at Welikande for more than two hours are causing fear and anxiety among Batticaloa residents, according civil society sources.


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SLA delays Batticaloa bound train for two hours

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 July 2003, 11:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are refusing to allow Colombo-Batticaloa train to travel past Welikanda before 5.45am in the morning holding the train at the station for two hours citing security concerns, security sources in Batticaloa said.


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Move to make SLA camp permanent sparks protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 11:25 GMT]
“The effort to establish the Sri Lanka army’s Kallady camp on a permanent basis goes against the grain of the Cease Fire Agreement”, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance MP, told TamilNet, Wednesday, referring to recent moves by the military to acquire property and land in a suburb on the southern outskirts of the Batticaloa town.
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HRC requests SLA to submit report on HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 18:20 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has asked the Sri Lanka Army to furnish a report regarding complaints made by several internally displaced people of the Jaffna district that they are unable to resettle in their homes and do cultivation in their agricultural lands as they have been occupied by the SLA in the name of high security zones (HSZ), sources in Colombo said.
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Bindunuwewa massacre accused receive death sentences

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 14:51 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Police officers and three Sinhala civilians, accused of involvement in the gruesome massacre of 27 inmates of rehabilitation camp for young Tamil persons on October 2000, were sentenced to death Tuesday by a three member bench Trial at Bar, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Japanese Ambassador meets Thamilselvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2003, 14:02 GMT]
Tamil people have complained that the declarations made at the Sri Lankan donors’ Conference held in Tokyo did not provide any solutions to the immediate humanitarian needs of the Tamil people, Mr. S.P. Thamilselvan, the leader of the LTTE’s political division, told the Japanese Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Seiichiro Otsuka, when the Ambassador visited the Vanni on Monday, sources said
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