'LTTE, IRA have political goals' - British Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 January 2003, 15:39 GMT]
British Foreign Office Minister Mike O'Brien said Wednesday that the global war against terrorism may be long drawn out because the Al Qaeda has an agenda with which there cannot be negotiations, unlike the LTTE and the IRA who have political goals. He was speaking on 'New Threats to International Security' at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo Wednesday.
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Irrigation tanks overflow, A9 repaired

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 December 2002, 15:53 GMT]
Transport on the A-9 highway was interrupted Wednesday morning as heavy rainfall worsened the conditions of the already damaged highway between Umaiyalpuram and the Chemical factory in Paranthan. The Tamil Eelam Administrative Service, The Tamil Eelam Police Service and the Tamil Eelam Traffic Police jointly repaired the road and transport was restored to normal by Wednesday night, the Voice of Tigers radio said in its news broadcast.
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People's predicament first says LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 September 2002, 22:19 GMT]
(Feature) The first round of formal peace talks between the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) began Monday in the Sattahip Thai Naval base on a positive note though the head of Colombo’s negotiating team laid down in his opening speech non-negotiable elements which, according to him, should be constant in “determining the parameters of the negotiations." The Liberation Tigers, however, desisted from any reference to ‘irreducible principles.’
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Sihala Urumaya urges President to nullify MoU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 February 2002, 20:18 GMT]
The Sihala Urumaya (SU), the hard-line Sinhala nationalist party, declared Tuesday that it would launch a campaign among the Sinhalese to urge President Chandrika Kumaratunga to use her executive powers to invalidate the cease-fire agreement between the United National Front government and the LTTE. Mr. Tilak Karunaratne, leader of the Sihala Urumaya (SU), addressing a press conference in Colombo Tuesday said that his party has decided to file a case on Thursday in the Court of Appeal seeking the nullification of the MoU and the cease-fire agreement as these, according to him have contravened the Constitution of Sri Lanka.
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CTTU urges govt. to improve education in NEP

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 January 2002, 15:28 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) has sent a memorandum to United National Front government urging it to uplift educational standard of the northeast province. "The government should take prompt steps to remove all sentries and camps of State armed forces from schools in the northeast province," said Mr.T.Mahasivam, General Secretary of the CTTU in the memorandum sent to the Minister of Rehabilitations, Reconstruction and Refugees.
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Furore over chemical warheads continues

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 August 2001, 18:30 GMT]
(News Feature) The furore over the Sri Lanka Army's purchase of a thousand units of the RPO-A Shmel infantry flamethrower continued this week as the Sunday Leader published further details of a corruption scandal in which the paper claims Army commander Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle is involved. Last week the SLA initially defended its purchase of the chemical warheads which are said to be internationally banned but then reversed its position, asserting that the Shmel was in fact not a chemical weapon and hence was not banned.
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Controversial weapon meant for genocide alleges MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 August 2001, 14:26 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan government is going to deploy chemical weapons against the Tamils in the island's north and east. The aim is to annihilate them totally. The use of this dangerous chemical weapon against the Tamil people should be strongly condemned," said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil United Liberation Front MP for Batticaloa, addressing legislators who gathered Friday in the Sri Lankan Parliament and decided to press ahead with the no confidence motion against President Kumaratunga's government.
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LTTE condemns Sri Lankas purchase of chemical weapons

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 August 2001, 09:17 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a statement issued from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka today, warned the Kumaratunga government of disastrous consequences if it inducted the recently acquired weapons with chemical warheads into the north-eastern theatre of war.
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Sri Lanka acquires ‘banned’ weapons

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 August 2001, 16:19 GMT]
(NEWS FEATURE) The Sri Lanka Army has acquired an infantry weapon with a chemical warhead whose use has been shunned internationally except by Russia due to the risk to civilians, press reports said this weekend. In an expose, the Sunday Leader said that the SLA had spent several million dollars to acquire 1000 units of the shoulder-fired RPO-A Shmel Rocket Launcher, but that amidst bribes sought by the SLA commander, Lt. General Lionel Ballagalle, the weapons delivered were of old stock and may have exceeded their shelf life. The US Defence Intelligence Agency says the weapon’s chemical warhead is toxic and hence dangerous even if it fails to detonate.
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Vanni ban leaves little to take

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 February 2001, 18:37 GMT]
A note at the bottom of a circular by Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence listing the things that are not allowed to the Vanni sent to government officials in Vavuniya, reveals the extensive and arbitrary manner in which Colombo's economic embargo is imposed on the northern region.
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Shortage of medical supplies in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 April 2000, 06:33 GMT]
Hospitals in Vanni have not received their first quarter allocation of Medicines, X'ray films and laboratory chemicals which is seriously affecting treatment of patients, hospital sources said.
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CTTU to strike

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2000, 15:56 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) has decided to stage a one day token strike in support of its several demands. These demands include the withdrawal of the proposed travel pass system in Batticaloa and Ampara districts and the existing pass system for Vanni region and the withdrawal of Tamil medium text books which contain distortion of facts, grammatical and spelling mistakes.
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Elephant Pass southern defence lines collapse -LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 1999, 11:39 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have begun a concerted artillery attack today on the Sri Lanka Army's (SLA) central base camp at the Elephant Pass after overrunning two more military bases in the area between Paranthan and Elephant Pass, the LTTE said in statement today.
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SLA denies withdrawals

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 1999, 12:42 GMT]
A spokesman for the Sri Lankan military, Brigadier Sunil Tennekoon said at a press conference today that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has "rearranged" its defences at Vettilakerni only. He also said the attacks on both the People's Alliance and United National Party (UNP) rallies were caused by suicide bombers.
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Tigers advance on complex - radio

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 December 1999, 09:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers advancing on the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base at Elephant Pass are 3 km. from the centre of the complex, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio today. Hundreds of SLA soldiers have been killed as two bases in Paranthan were overrun, the radio said.
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Teacher's Union prepares for strike action

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 July 1999, 20:35 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teacher's Union has asked the student community of the North-east to stay at home on July 19 when teachers, principals and non-academic staff boycott schools by sending sick notes in support of the nine demands put forward by the CTTU to the Ministry of Education and Higher Education.
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Three held on chemicals charge

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 July 1999, 20:14 GMT]
The Special Task Force (STF) arrested three civilians today, on the charge of possessing some chemicals which could be used for manufacturing explosives. Two of the detainees were Tamils of Periya Porathivu and the third person was a Muslim from Kattankudy in the Batticaloa district, residents said.
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Failure to honour talk commitments prompts CTTU action

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 July 1999, 19:50 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) has now renewed its call for trade union action, claiming that the Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education has failed to honour his assurances given during the talks he had with the deputation of the CTTU on June 30.
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Appeal to ease education embargo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 July 1999, 16:49 GMT]
The Minister of Education and Higher Education Mr.Richard Pathirana is to request the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to lift its ban on transporting teaching materials to schools in Vanni region, which is not under the control of the SLA, once the Governor of the North East Province sends his approval with a list of items which may be sent.
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Stadium graves hearing postponed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 June 1999, 06:33 GMT]
The Additional Magistrate of Jaffna Mr. Ekanathan postponed the hearing of the exhumation of Duraiappa stadium grave in the Jaffna town yesterday.
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