Vahaneri villagers, children lack basic facilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 January 2003, 03:51 GMT]
In a ceremony held Tuesday, Shoah Foundation donated chairs and desks for one hundred students of Vahaneri Kokulum Vidyalam in Kalkudah education district, Batticaloa, who for the past several years had to learn their lessons in school seated on the ground, education officials in Batticaloa said. The gift also included a teacher's chair and a desk, and other school supplies.
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SIHRN discusses resettlement, rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 January 2003, 16:18 GMT]
In the meeting of the Sub Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) held Wednesday at Killinochchi, a decision was taken to appoint a twenty-one member committee to take steps regarding the resettlement of displaced in Jaffna peninsula, sources said.
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Sinhala opposition to Sri Lanka peace effort mounts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 January 2003, 15:32 GMT]
Opposition to Sri Lanka’s peace process gathered further momentum as a new Sinhala nationalist organisation comprising powerful opposition politicians and Buddhist monks wowed Wednesday to agitate for separating the northeast into two provinces. Agitation by Sinhala nationalists to de-merge the northeast would be another spanner in the works for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s effort to negotiate peace with the Liberation Tigers to end two decades of armed conflict that has ravaged the island.


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Committee to activate Trincomalee university campus

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 January 2003, 15:31 GMT]
The Prime Minister has appointed a high level committee to activate the functions of the Trincomalee campus of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka following request made by the Trincomalee district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan. Mr. Sampanthan requested the PM to take immediate steps to develop the Trincomalee campus providing all facilities as it has been ignored by the authorities, sources said.
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Akashi in Sri Lanka to promote peace building

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 January 2003, 11:52 GMT]
Mr. Yasuka Akashi, the Representative of the Government of Japan, is in Sri Lanka from the 15th to 19th to continue his mission of peace building, rehabilitation and reconstruction in Sri Lanka, a press release from the Embassy of Japan said. Mr. Akashi will visit Kilinochi, Matara and Hambantota during his visit and will attend the meeting of Sub-Committee on Immediate Humanitarian and Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN)
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Apathy spells bleak future for Jaffna coconut

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 20:25 GMT]
More than hundred and fifty thousand coconut trees were destroyed in Jaffna due to military operations, officials of the state run Coconut Development Board (CDB) said Tuesday. However, only about 15 thousand saplings have been replanted so far, one year after the ceasefire agreement between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers, the officials said.
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CJ to lay foundation stone for first court complex in NE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 19:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Chief Justice, Mr.Sarath N.Silva, is to lay the foundation stone for a four-storied court complex in Trincomalee, Wednesday, legal sources said.
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Sri Lanka Buddhist monks oppose peace deal

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 January 2003, 18:45 GMT]
Hundreds of Buddhist monks Tuesday vowed to remove Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government if it did not listen to their exhortations against a peace deal with the Liberation Tigers. More than two thousand protestors, led by the ‘Federation of Bikkhus to Rescue the Motherland’, a large umbrella organisation of Buddhist monks, gathered at the Nugegoda Junction, a busy intersection in one of Colombo’s crowded suburbs, Tuesday afternoon to condemn Colombo’s peace negotiations with the LTTE.


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SLA occupies 3500 civilian homes outside HSZ -Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 January 2003, 16:45 GMT]
Three thousand and five hundred houses outside the high security zone (HSZ) in the Jaffna district are still occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) preventing thousands of displaced people to return to their homes, said the Government Agent in his report to Colombo authorities, district secretariat sources said.
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Regional events planned for 2nd Hindu Conference

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 January 2003, 03:07 GMT]
In a meeting held at the Management Centre of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education, Trincomalee, Saturday it was decided and plans discussed to have regional events in the northeast simultaneously when the second World Hindu Conference-2003 is held in Colombo from May 2nd to 5th under the auspices of the Ministry of Hindu Cultural Affairs, sources in Trincomalee said.
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District Court dismisses action by Athaullah faction

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 January 2003, 21:21 GMT]
The legal action instituted by the Athaullah faction of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) to prevent Minister Rauff Hakim from holding his faction's eighteenth delegate conference on Sunday was dismissed by the Colombo District Court Friday.
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Sri Lanka judiciary's failure led Tamils to take arms - Ranil

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 January 2003, 17:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe said Friday that the failure of the country's judiciary to fulfill its duties and responsibilities to safeguard the right of various ethnic groups has led the Tamils to launch an armed struggle for a separate state.
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PTA to stay - Defence Minister

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 January 2003, 15:35 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Defence Minister, Mr. Tilak Marapone, said in parliament Friday that a decision on abolishing the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary provisions) Act would be made only after considering all future repercussions of such a removal. The present situation is "not conducive to doing away with the PTA," said Mr. Marapone.


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Sri Lanka chief negotiator’s stand absurd- PA

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 January 2003, 10:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition party Friday said the stand taken by Colombo’s chief negotiator Prof. G. L Peiris on the question of high security zones in Jaffna was “absurd” and claimed that it is not endorsed by the Sri Lankan armed forces.
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UNICEF program for children in NE inaugurated

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 January 2003, 18:13 GMT]
The UNICEF on Thursday marked the start of a program specially formulated for the children of the war-torn North-East province, the ‘Every Child in School Programme,’ with an inaugural speech by the Sri Lankan government’s minister for human resources development, education and cultural affairs, Mr. Karunasena Kodithuwakku, at the St. Mary’s college in Trincomalee.
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Towards building a next generation voice/data network for NorthEast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 January 2003, 02:18 GMT]
Building a state of the art Telecommunication infrastructure for North East is vital for development, industrial growth, advancement in education, general economic progress and to maintain a competitive edge in a global business environment. With the emergence of a new political configuration, NorthEast administration is rightly positioned to consider building a well designed communication network to connect the NorthEast with the rest of the globe. This article provides technical possibilites and key strategies to consider when designing such network.
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Massive JVP rally condemns peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 January 2003, 16:10 GMT]
In a massive show of strength against the peace talks between the Sri Lanka’s United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers, the leftist Sinhala party, Janata Vimukthi Peramuna, gathered more than 25 thousand party members and supporters for a march and rally at one of Colombo’s busiest intersections Wednesday. Speakers at the rally denounced the peace talks to settle the island’s ethnic conflict as a western imperialist conspiracy to divide country.
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‘Every child in school programme’ to be inaugurated in NE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 January 2003, 13:22 GMT]
‘Every child in school programme’ sponsored by the UNICEF in the northeast province will be inaugurated in Trincomalee Thursday, 9 January, morning by the Minister of Human Resource Development, Education and Cultural Affairs Dr.Karunasena Kodituwakku.
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Peace talks are going well, say Chief Negotiators

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 January 2003, 18:19 GMT]
(News Feature) The Sri Lankan government conceded this week that the resettlement of Tamil refugees and internally displaced people in areas occupied by its military forces could not be made conditional on the disarming of the Liberation Tigers, as demanded by the Army. Following two days of discussion, hailed by both sides as “constructive,” the government also said it would begin to reallocate its troops based amongst civilians in the Jaffna peninsula.
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Parliament debates labour bills amidst opposition protests

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 January 2003, 16:32 GMT]
The parliament began Tuesday debating the four controversial labour bills amidst several protest meetings held in Colombo and several other places in the south organized by trade unions affiliated to opposition parties and independent trade unions. The main protest campaign held Tuesday in front of the People’s Bank Headquarters in Colombo.
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