No threat of resumption of war - Minister Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The ceasefire agreement signed last year by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is still in force and there is no threat of resumption of war following the pull out by the LTTE from peace talks, said Minister G.L. Peiris, addressing the weekly cabinet press briefing Thursday.
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Urban development sham in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 13:11 GMT]
Batticaloa is a picturesque place. The town’s population has more than doubled in the last decade, largely owing to families moving in from the war-ravaged hinterland of the district. This is forcing a creeping crisis on the town’s urban development. Yet Colombo spares no money to address Batticaloa’s problem although the town has been under the purview of the Sri Lankan government’s Urban Development Authority (UDA) for more than 18 years.
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Speedy relief essential for success of talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 11:26 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday requested the United National Front (UNF) government to formulate and implement a new approach that could provide speedy relief to the grievances of several thousands displaced Tamils without further delay fulfilling the justifiable expectations of Tamils since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, sources said.


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Tigers call off rehabilitation talks pending ‘tangible action on the ground’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 00:00 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Wednesday postponed the meeting of the Sub-committee on Immediate Humanitarian Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) scheduled for this week, to “await action and implementation on urgent matters … of resettlement and rehabilitation of Internally Displaced People and of refugees.” In a letter to Mr. Bernard Goonetilleke, the head of the Government of Sri Lanka delegation on the SIHRN, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, head of the LTTE’s Political Wing and head of the LTTE delegation on the SIHRN, called for ‘tangible action on the ground’ before the Sub-committee meetings resumed.
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EPS fall: reassessing LTTE's manoeuvre warfare prowess

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 21:26 GMT]
Three years ago, on April 22nd, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) hoisted their flag in the heart of what was once one of the most fortified military garrisons in South Asia. The fall of Elephant Pass, described as "impregnable" by a US army officer who visited the garrison months earlier, established the Tigers as the only non-state military force in the world today capable of complex manoeuvre war fighting.
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Buddhist prelate appeals to LTTE to re-enter peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The Mahanayake Thera of Asgiriya Chapter, Most Venerable Udugama Buddharakita Thera, Wednesday appealed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam not to pull out from the ongoing peace talks with the United National Front government, political sources in Colombo said.
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Netherlands aids NE resettlement, educational development

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 April 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Ambassador for Netherlands in Sri Lanka, Ms. Susan Blankhart, Tuesday inaugurated the scheme for granting livelihood assistance for resettled families in the eight districts of the North-East province and the donation of school furniture to improve education in the province at a function held at the Trincomalee Town Hall, sources said.
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JVP demands debate on SLMM, Muttur violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 19:04 GMT]
The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) demanded in a letter to the Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament that a special meeting of the parliament to discuss the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s 'Initial discussion paper' of April 03 to the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) on recognizing Sea Tigers as a de facto naval unit, and the recent incidents of violence in Muttur, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the parliamentary group leader of the JVP and its propaganda secretary, said at a press conference held Tuesday at the Nippon hotel in downtown Colombo.
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Persisting pass control spoils Jaffna fisheries growth

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 14:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka army sentries on Jaffna’s Vadamaradchi coast are still insisting that fishermen in the region should possess the special identification passes it has issued them despite agreeing last February to accept identity cards issued by the Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (MFAR) in Colombo, a spokesman for the region’s federation of fishermen’s societies told TamilNet Monday.
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Peacetime maternity deaths rise in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 April 2003, 19:30 GMT]
The medical facilities available in Kilinochchi during the current period of peace is worse than what was available during the war, medical officials in Kilinochchi said, quoting statistics from government officials that show that seven women died during their maternity care at hospitals in Kilinochchi in the last year.
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EPDP cadre shot dead in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 April 2003, 08:49 GMT]
An unidentified gunman shot dead a prominent member of the EPDP in Akkaraipattu, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Friday around 11.45 a.m. Sri Lankan Police sources in the southeastern coastal town said. The EPDP cadre, Mr. Marimuthtu Rajalingam, 42, was the chairman of the Aalaiyadivembu Pradheshiya Sabha.
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Curfew imposed in Muttur town, suburbs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 17:11 GMT]
Dusk to dawn curfew has been imposed in Muttur town and its suburbs following sporadic clashes between sections of Muslims and Tamils Thursday evening. Several incidences of violence have been reported from Palathoppur and Thoppur, police sources said
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Undeterred by controls, Pt. Pedro celebrates tradition

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 13:40 GMT]
Pt. Pedro is the oldest harbour town on the Jaffna peninsula’s sea coast. The Portuguese called the town Puntas das Padras (rocky point) on account of the reefs that line its coast. Tamils, however, still refer to it by its old name Paruththithurai (cotton port in Tamil). This week the townspeople celebrated the annual chariot and water cutting festivals of one of their old temples that have lain long and neglected inside the SLA’s high security zone in Pt. Pedro.
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Batticaloa-Valaichenai train service suspended

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 11:20 GMT]
Following three separate derailments within one week of resuming operation in the Batticaloa-Valaichenai stretch of the Colombo-Batticalo service, the train service to Batticaloa has been temporarily suspended, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Ambulances converted for private use, MP complains

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 11:00 GMT]
Three of the eight ambulances given by the World Health Organization (WHO), have been converted to pleasure vehicles with their medical equipment removed and additional seats fitted, and are being used for private purposes by high level health officers of the Northeast Health Ministry, complained Vavuniya district parliamentarian, Sivasakthi Anandan, in a letter sent to Sri Lanka Government's Minister of health, P.Dayaratne, sources in Vavuniya said.


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TNA appeals to strengthen Tamil-Muslim unity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 April 2003, 10:26 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Trincomalee district parliamentarians Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham Wednesday appealed to Tamils of Muttur area, south of Trincomalee, to work hard to safeguard and strengthen the support of Muslims in their areas.


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SLA soldier commits suicide in Eluthumadduval

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 15:37 GMT]
A corpse without skull, found at an army sentry point in Eluthumadduval in the Thenmaradchchi area of the Jaffna district, was identified as that of a soldier of the 554 Brigade of the Sri Lanka Army by his fellow soldiers at the inquest held by the Chavakachcheri Magistrate Tuesday, legal sources said.
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Preliminary aid conference held in Washington D.C

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 April 2003, 11:05 GMT]
A preliminary conference to the forth coming international aid conference in Japan was held in Washington D.C on 14 Monday at Loy Auditorium. The seminar, hosted by the State Department, was attended by representatives from 26 countries and 16 international organizations. Japan's special envoy to Sri Lanka Yashushi Akashi, Norway's Deputy Secretary of State, Vidar Helgessen and India's ambassador to U.S, Lalith Mansingh, were also present.
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Batticaloa-Colombo train derails near Eravur

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 April 2003, 01:50 GMT]
No passengers were injured when three carriages of the Colombo bound night train that departed Batticaloa railway station Saturday night derailed near Eravur, said Batticaloa station chief A. Sivanesarajah. This was the same train that made the maiden journey from Colombo to Batticaloa carrying the Minister of Transportation, Minister Upali Piyasoma, and reached Batticaloa station Saturday 2.45pm.
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Trains to Batticaloa back on track

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2003, 13:20 GMT]
Minister of Transportation of Government of Sri Lanka, Minister Upali Piyasoma ceremonially inaugurated the Polannaruwa to Batticaloa train service Saturday morning easing transportation to and from Batticaloa town, sources in Batticaloa said. Recent completion to repairs of the final stretch of the track from Valaichenai to Batticaloa paved the way for the opening of the Polannaruwa to Batticaloa service.


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