SL President dismisses 39 non-cabinet, deputy ministers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 14:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge Wednesday removed 27 non-cabinet ministers and 12 deputy ministers from the United National Front government. She exercised power vested with her under Article 47 of the constitution in issuing the dismissal order, presidential secretariat sources said.
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Sri Lanka President proposes truce committee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 13:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka President Chandrika Kumaratunga proposed a committee to discuss matters relating to the implementation of the ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers. The President made the proposal during a meeting with the head of the Sri Lanka truce monitoring mission, Maj. Gen. Tronde Furuhovde Wednesday in Colombo.
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Former colleague slams Sri Lanka's President

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 11:46 GMT]
Mr. S. B Dissanayaka, MP, a controversial Minister in Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's cabinet, called Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga an utter liar and fraud, addressing a press conference in Colombo Wednesday.
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SLA gives back houses in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2004, 00:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army vacated seventy nine houses in two suburbs on the outskirts of Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna this weekend. The military pulled back its forward defense line (FDL) 400 meters to free the houses it has been occupying since 2000. Meanwhile in a move to woo Internally Displaced Persons’ (IDPs) votes in Jaffna for the general elections on 2 April, the EPDP, a paramilitary group operating with the Sri Lankan armed forces in the northeast, Monday claimed responsibility for securing the release of the garrisoned homes in Chavakachcheri’s environs.
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Dissolution of Sri Lanka Parliament unethical - G.L

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 February 2004, 07:10 GMT]
"The dissolution of Parliament is unethical", said Prof. G.L Pieris, spokesman for Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe's care taker government addressing a press conference in Colombo Monday.
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General elections would create more confusion - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2004, 04:27 GMT]
Commenting on the dissolution of parliament and the scheduled general elections in April, the parliamentary leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Mr. R. Sampanthan, said Sunday that the general elections would lead to more confusion in the country as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which clamored for the elections "to salvage the country from the current political uncertainty," have no clear-cut policies to solve the Tamil national question.
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Kadirgamar, Jayaratne appointed ministers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2004, 00:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, who Saturday dissolved parliament through an Extraordinary Gazette notification, has appointed two senior parliamentarians of her People's Alliance, Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar and Mr.D.M.Jayaratne, as ministers with immediate effect, the Presidential Secretariat said in a press release Sunday.
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Sri Lanka PM cancells visit to Thailand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2004, 18:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe, cancelled his scheduled visit to Thailand on Monday after President Chandrika Kumaratunga dissolved Parliament Saturday midnight.
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Marxists, Kumaratunga alliance registered as new party

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2004, 16:58 GMT]
The alliance between President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna was registered as a political party with the Commissioner of Elections Friday. Mr. Nandana Gunathilleka, MP of the JVP has been named President and Mr. Susil Premajayantha, MP, of the SLFP has been nominated the secretary of the new party. A spokesman for the JVP-SLFP alliance said the Commissioner of Elections has approved ‘Butterfly’ as the new party’s symbol.
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Sri Lanka President, PM at Colombo Independence Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2004, 10:45 GMT]
President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe took part in Sri Lanka's Independence Day celebrations in Colombo Wednesday. President Kumaratunga as head of state and the supreme commander of Sri Lanka's armed forces hoisted the lion flag and addressed the nation.
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PA-UNF committee meets again

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2004, 02:56 GMT]
Amid speculation in political circles that there would be a permanent breakdown of talks between President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in arriving at a consensus to end the current political crisis, the committee discussing ways to bring an amicable settlement between the executive and the legislative branches met again Tuesday, political sources said.


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"No back-door link with LTTE"- Harim Peiris

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:13 GMT]
"The President is not trying to establish a back-door link with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam," said Sri Lanka President's spokesperson Mr.Harim Peiris commenting on a report that Defense Ministry Secretary Mr. Cyril Herath has written a letter to LTTE Peace Secretariat head Mr.Pulithevan, media sources said.


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Four political parties to join UPFA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 12:43 GMT]
Four more political parties, Mahajana Eksath Peramuna (MEP), National Unity Alliance (NUA), Sri Lanka Mahajana Party (SLMP) and Deshiya Jathika Vimukthi Peramuna (DJVP) have expressed willingness to join the recently formed political party United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA). UPFA was formed by the Sri Lanka Freedom party and Sinhala nationalist-Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) with the objective of defeating the ruling United national Front government at the next general elections, political sources said.
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Talk only to LTTE -Anandasangaree tells Sri Lanka President

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 14:57 GMT]
Mr. V. Anandasangaree, the President of the Tamil United Liberation Front met President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday evening and impressed upon her that the Sri Lankan government should talk only to the Liberation Tigers and not simultaneously with any other Tamil group, according to a press note issued by the controversial Jaffna MP Saturday. “My view that ‘what is acceptable to the LTTE will be acceptable to the Tamils also’ seems to have impressed the President who had seen the reasonableness in my suggestions”, Mr. Anandasangaree said.
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Kumaratunge's message read out at UPFA rally

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 16:07 GMT]
"The formation of United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA ) is a great victory for democracy in Sri Lanka," said Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge in her message to the maiden rally of the UPFA held Thursday evening in Colombo. Mr.Maithiripala Sirisena, general secretary of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party, which is a constituent of the UPFA, read out president's message at the rally, sources said.
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JVP for elections -Amarasingha

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 14:29 GMT]
Leader of the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Mr. Somawansa Amarasingha, said Thursday his party is for holding general election in Sri Lanka soon, addressing a massive public meeting of the new alliance between the JVP and President Kumaratunga's Sri Lanka Freedom Party in Colombo.
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LTTE expresses 'serious concern' over Indo-Lanka defence pact

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2004, 14:31 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has expressed serious concern over the envisaged Indo-Sri Lankan Defence Agreement (DCA) arguing that it could have far-reaching negative consequences for the current peace process, sources told TamilNet Monday.
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"Foreign nations understand LTTE’s central role to Sri Lanka's progress" –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2004, 00:47 GMT]
“Currently, diplomats of foreign countries, ambassadors and representatives of donor nations who visit Sri Lanka and meet those in power in Colombo, are also visiting the Vanni to meet with the Liberation Tigers. This shows a clear understanding by the international community that without the participation of the LTTE, no progress can be made in the country,” said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, the Tamil National Alliance MP from the Batticaloa district, speaking at the opening of the maternity home in Mandur Saturday.
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Anura Bandaranaike denies secrecy in SLFP-JVP pact

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 12:15 GMT]
Peoples Alliance parliamentarian Mr.Anura Bandaranaike in a statement issued Friday denied any secrecy in the agreement signed by the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Sinhala Nationalist Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) in forming the United Peoples Freedom Alliance ( UPFA ).


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Moragoda to Delhi for more talks on defence pact

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 09:57 GMT]
Mr.Milinda Morogoda, a senior minister in the United National Front (UNF) government, is due to leave for India Friday to hold further talks with Indian Foreign Minister Mr.Yaswanth Sinha and Defense Minister Mr.Geroge Fernandez on the proposed defense agreement between the two governments.
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