Jaffna IDPs oppose move to reduce relief

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 17:11 GMT]
Internally displaced people (IDPs) living on relief assistance provided by the Sri Lankan government are planning to launch a protest campaign if the authorities failed to suspend their decision to cut down the number of recipients by half, warned Valikaamam Fisheries Societies Federation in the northern Jaffna peninsula in a memorandum handed over to Point Pedro Divisional Secretary, Friday.
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SLA involvement in Pullumalai attack aimed at provocating LTTE - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 11:58 GMT]
Noting that the "evidence of MAG personnel, proximity of the Tampaddi SLA camp vis-à-vis the LTTE point and the fact that the attackers alighted from the MAG vehicle and carried the dead into the SLA camp are clear indicators of SLA complicity in the attack", the LTTE Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, accused Friday that the "SLA is engaged in ceasefire violations with a view to provocate the LTTE and thereby leading to disruption of the entire peace process" in a letter to the SLMM Head.
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Inquiry into HC applications begins

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 20:02 GMT]
Chavakachcheri Magistrate Mr.P.Subramaniam commenced recording the evidence of petitioners in three Habeas Corpus applications, which came up for inquiry Thursday. The petitioners have sought the court to order the first respondent who is an army official and other respondents to produce the youths who were reported disappeared after their arrest during the period 1996-1997, legal sources said.
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SLA soldiers arrest Vanni youths at Muhamalai checkpoint

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 18:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Thursday arrested two Tamil youths entering Jaffna district from Vanni through Muhamalai SLA checkpoint, sources said.
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Major General Sunil Tennekoon meets Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 15:31 GMT]
Major General Sunil Tennekoon, Jaffna area commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) met with the Jaffna Bishop Most Rev. Thomas Soundaranayagam at the Bishop's House Wednesday evening around 4.30 p.m. and discussed in detail on allowing prayers in churches which are located in the high security zones in the Jaffna district, sources said.
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25% of NE Provincial Council vacancies not filled

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 10:43 GMT]
More than one-fourth, about 18,666 vacancies are not filled in the the North East Provincial Council (NEPC), which administers eight districts of the province, Jaffna Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara. Out of 60,034 officially approved positions in 2000 only 41,368 have been filled, sources said.


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Sri Lanka army behind attack on border post- LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 04:50 GMT]
An attack by a group of heavily armed men suspected to be Sri Lanka army commandos on the Liberation Tigers' border post in Pullumalai, 65 kilometres from Batticaloa, Tuesday night around 10.15 p.m. was repulsed, a senior LTTE official in Batticaloa said. "Two men in the group were killed in our counter fire according to mine clearing workers in the area who were forced by the attackers to carry their wounded across the border last night", he said after visiting the scene of attack Wedenesday morning.
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LTTE, SLA meeting in Batticaloa postponed indefinitely

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 09:47 GMT]
The meeting between Liberation Tigers and Sri Lankan armed forces in Battiicaloa will not take place as scheduled today, a spokesperson for the Nordic truce monitors said. The meeting was first fixed for 3 September following a meeting between Col. Ramesh, special commander of LTTE forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai District and Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furuhovde, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission last week. It was postponed for Tuesday after Col. Ramesh and other senior LTTE officials had to leave for the Vanni.
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Tamil Students Federation HQ opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 2004, 14:46 GMT]
The headquarters of the Tamil Students Federation (TSF) was opened in Jaffna Monday morning. The headquarters is located along Kovil Road in Nallur."The headquarters will bring to the notice of the international community the violations of fundamental and human rights of Tamil students in the northeast," said Mr. P.Nilakshan, President of the TSF presiding over the event.
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Mechanization improves salt production at Elephant Pass

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 2004, 01:01 GMT]
Mechanized iodization and the new building housing machinery constructed at a cost of more than Rs.6m from funds provided by UNICEF have improved production of table salt from Elephant Pass and Kurunchativu salterns. More than 16 metric tons of salt, or about 20% of the output of 1990s were produced in the last twelve months from the 12 acres of salt pans brought back to production after the war, officials at facility said.
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Batticaloa shuts down for Black September massacres

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 09:48 GMT]
A general shut down (Hartal) was observed in Batticaloa Sunday to mark the massacre of hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women, infants and children, by Sri Lanka army and paramilitaries working with it on 5 September, 1990. Roads were mostly deserted and shops closed in response to a call by leading civil society groups and MPs of the Tamil National Alliance to observe 5 September as a Black Day.
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Sri Lanka President says will discuss peace with all

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 16:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Saturday that she would invite all parties and organisations concerned in the peace process for discussions on how to take forward negotiations with the Liberation Tigers in two weeks. She was addressing a rally in Galle, a large provincial town on the island’s southern coast, to mark the 53rd anniversary of her Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which was founded by her father, Mr. Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike. Speaking in Singhalese, President Kumaratunga vowed to do her best to bring the Liberation Tigers back to the negotiating table.
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Swedish assistance to reopen school in Thenmaradchchi HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 16:06 GMT]
Swedish Government has come forward to provide necessary funds to renovate and reopen the abandoned Eluthumadduval Government Tamil Mixed School building which is located in the high security zone close to the forward defense line of the Sri Lanka Army in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district, education sources said.


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Tamils must safeguard against cultural degeneration- Don

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 15:43 GMT]
Mr.V.Kumaravel, a leading academician and a senior lecturer in the External Studies Unit of the Jaffna College addressing a seminar on "A review of contemporary politics" held Saturday in Sandilipay alleged that hidden hands are behind the increase of cultural degeneration in Jaffna district after the capture of the peninsula by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).


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Pay rent or vacate, house owners tell SLA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 13:00 GMT]
Attempts made by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) through its Jaffna regional office have failed to obtain support of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to pay rent to the owners of the civilian houses now occupied by SLA outside the high security zones (HSZs) in Jaffna district. The owners have now issued ultimatum to launch a campaign demanding the return of their houses in failing to pay rent, sources said.
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Jaffna MPs allocate funds for dependents of missing persons

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 11:42 GMT]
Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians have allocated funds under the Decentralized Budget for the welfare of the dependents who have lost their breadwinners following the disappearance of persons after the arrest by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the period 1996-1997, sources said.


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Trinco Inner Wheel Club honours students excelled in A/L exam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 19:17 GMT]
The Inner Wheel Club of Trincomalee at its second anniversary held at the Trincomalee Rotary House honoured fifteen students from Trincomalee town schools who have passed the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination with three A's.
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Bill criticized as disenfranchising many Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 14:28 GMT]
''The passage of 'Elections Special Provisions' Bill in Sri Lanka's parliament compelling citizens of Sri Lanka to produce National Identity Cards (NIC) to exercise his or her vote would tantamount to disenfranchising a large number of Tamil people, and would cause them irreparable political harm,'' said Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a letter faxed to Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse through the Secretary General of the Parliament Thursday.
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Training for unemployed graduates begins in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 13:16 GMT]
A three month training program for hundred and sixty eight unemployed graduates in the Vavuniya district was inaugurated Thursday. The program is part of a controversial scheme by President Chandrika Kumaratunga's government to provide state jobs for more forty one thousand unemployed graduates. The scheme was introduced after mass protests and hunger strikes backed by the Marxist Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, President Kumaratunga's mail coalition ally. Critics say it will cause a huge strain on the cash strapped Sri Lankan treasury.
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New SLA commander visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 12:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's army commander, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda began a two day visit to Jaffna Thursday. He vistited Sri Lankan armed forces positions in Kankesanthurai, Palaly and in some parts of the islands off Jaffna, Sri Lankan military sources in the northern peninsula said. The SLA commander was also scheduled to visit the main entry point to the LTTE held areas in Jaffna and Vanni at Muhamalai after it closed to public traffic in the evening. This is Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda's first visit to Jaffna after he assumed duties as SLA commander.
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