Hidden hand behind murder of disabled cadres- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 14:11 GMT]
“The murder of our disabled cadres is clearly the work of criminal elements that are working with the Sri Lanka army. I have requested the SLMM to arrange an early meeting with the SLA to discuss this matter. I hope this would be the last incident of this sort. No one could have gone in a van with arms at midnight in the direction of Vavunathivu without the SLA’s knowledge. There are no jungles in these parts to hide a van and armed men”, said Mr. Kousalyan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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Seven Tigers killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 08:44 GMT]
Seven Liberation Tigers were killed by an unidentified armed group in Batticaloa Sunday night around 11.30 p.m. Four of the murdered LTTE cadres were invalids, sources said. They were killed at Ponnaankaanichenai, about 1.5 kilometres from the Sri Lanka army's point northwest of Batticaloa town. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE's political division in Batticaloa told truce monitors from the eastern town that the group that killed the seven Tiger cadres had come from the direction of the Sri Lanka army camp in Vavunathivu.
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JHU parliamentarian complains of intimidation by unidentified group

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 April 2004, 10:22 GMT]
Venerable Omalpe Sobitha Thera, Deputy Leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) parliamentary group Saturday lodged a complaint with the Embilipitya Police, down south of the country that a group unidentified persons covering their faces came to his Bodhirajarama Dharmajaye Vihare, tied black flags in the temple premises and intimidated the inmates, police said.
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NEP Basic Sector Education cell opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 14:54 GMT]
A cell has been opened in the North East Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs to co-ordinate the activities of the Basic Education Sector Programme (BESP), which is a joint venture of both the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education and the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ). NEPC Chief Secretary Mr.S.Rangarajah, who declared open the cell, said the cell should become a Provincial Institute of Education (PIE) in the future, education sources said.
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Youth attacked in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2004, 10:36 GMT]
Rajendrakumar (26), a resident of Marambaikulam in Vavuniya district, was severely beaten by unknown assailants at his home yesterday, sources in Vavuniya said. He has been admitted to the Anuradhapura hospital and is receiving treatment for his injuries, hospital sources said.
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Two JHU Bhikku parliamentarians said missing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 20:16 GMT]
The mystery over two missing Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) parliamentarians took a dramatic turn Wednesday when the leadership of the JHU threatened the ruling United Peoples' Freedom Alliance that it would not support the UPFA government even if it brought progressive pieces of legislation in the new parliament, political sources said.
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SLA bars Muslim IDP families from resettling in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 18:17 GMT]
Five internally displaced Muslim families with about twenty-five members who returned to Jaffna from Puttalam recently for resettlement have been staying in the damaged Jumma Mosque in the Chavakachcheri town in Thenmaradchchi division as the Sri Lanka Army has refused permission to them to occupy their houses. Their houses are located in the high security zones of the army, civil sources said.
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Countdown begins for election of Sri Lanka’s Speaker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 18:19 GMT]
The first meeting of the Sri Lanka’s thirteenth parliament is to be held on Thursday morning with the election of a new Speaker as the first item in the agenda The two major political parties, the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and the United National Party (UNP), are actively engaged in garnering the support of small parties to prove their majority in the election of new Speaker, parliamentary sources said.
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Constituent Assembly illegal - Don

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 01:20 GMT]
"There is no legal basis for establishing a constituent assembly. In fact, Article 76(1) of the Constitution states that parliament shall not abdicate or alienate its legislative power, and shall not set up any authority with any legislative power. It is, therefore, expressly prohibited to set up a constituent assembly for the purpose of making law," said Professor emeritus Nihal Jayawickrama in an interview with Sunday Leader, a popular Colombo weekly.
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SLMM head meets Trinco SLN, SLA Commanders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 13:01 GMT]
Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde Saturday paid a visit to Trincomalee to assess the ground situation in the east port district following recent military operation by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ousting its renegade commander from the eastern region, sources said. He met with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) commanders during his visit, according to security sources.


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Pannalai resettled complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 09:55 GMT]
Eight Internally Displaced (IDP) families now resettled in no man zones located beyond 600 meter of the High Security Zones (HSZs) in Pannalai, Valigamam north in the Jaffna district Sunday complained that the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning checkpoints and camps in the area have started harassing them with an intention of ousting them from their dwellings, civil society sources in Jaffna said.


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Ban deprives fishermen of livelihood in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 18:31 GMT]
The continuous ban by the Sri Lanka Army on fishing using mechanized boats from the Kilali Sea in Thenmaradchi area in the Jaffna district to the Jaffna lagoon near Colombagam area, which comes under the Jaffna municipal limit, has left more than five hundred fisher families in abject poverty, fisheries society sources complained Friday.
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Karuna and associates escorted by SLA - Thamil Alai

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 15:29 GMT]
The fleeing renegade Eastern commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (alias Karuna) and his associates were seen running into the Mavadivembu camp of the Sri Lanka Army, and from there were escorted in the direction of Polanaruwa, the Thamil Alai newspaper published from the East said Friday, quoting eyewitnesses among the public.
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SLA denies giving protection to fleeing renegade

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 14:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday denied reports in the Colombo-based media that SLA forces provided escort to the renegade commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan known as Karuna to a destination in Colombo when he fled from his hideouts in the eastern province following a military operation by the Liberation Tigers against him, sources said.
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LTTE, SLA agree to restore relations in Batticaloa-Amparai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 12:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army held discussions Wednesday afternoon on restoring relations in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts in Vavunathivu, 5 kilometres northwest of the Batticaloa town. Col. Thambirajah Ramesh, the Special Commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai District, led the LTTE delegation. Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Maj. Gen. (ret) Tronde Furuhovde chaired the meeting. Asked whether the issue of renegade LTTE commander Karuna’s whereabouts was raised at the meeting, Col. Ramesh and Maj. Gen. (ret) Furuhovde replied in the negative.
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Karthigaipoo declared as National flower of Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 01:10 GMT]
"Karthigaipoo" or Gloriosa Lily (Botanical name - Liliaceae Glory lily or Gloriosa superba), which has the spectrum of colors contained in the Tamil Eelam national flag and which in November, the month of Heroes day celebrations, ubiquitously spreads, sprouts new shoots and blooms throughout the NorthEast, has been proclaimed the official national flower of Eelam Tamils. Reliable sources from Vanni said that the Karthigaipoo was designated as Tamil Eelam National flower by the LTTE administration during the Great Heros rememberence week in November 2003.
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SLA manufactured 'BUFFEL' to be used in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2004, 09:40 GMT]
Five armored personnel vehicles (APV) manufactured locally by the Sri Lanka Army's Regiment of Electrical and Mechanical Engineers Unit in Sri Lanka are to be handed over to the Special Task Force (STF) fleet of the Sri Lanka Police Thursday. These APVs known as Buffel are to be utilized in the northeast province for the use of government troops, the State controlled English daily the Daily News reported in its Tuesday issue.


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Operation to expel Karuna from Tamil homeland begun- LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 16:46 GMT]
The political section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a press release said that the LTTE has started co-ordinated operations to expel renegade LTTE commander ‘Karuna,' Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan, from the Tamil Homeland, Daya Master, media coordinator for LTTE, said from Vanni.
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Jaffna posters urge boycott of SLA sponsored sports programs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 11:43 GMT]
Posters appeared in public places in the Jaffna district Saturday appealing to members of the public not to participate in any sports festivals and programmes conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to mark the Tamil Sinhala new year celebrations. These anonymous posters are seen pasted in public places in important junctions in the peninsula, residents said.


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LTTE’s ‘Jeyanthan Brigade’ units lead Vakarai offensive

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2004, 19:46 GMT]
Special units of the Jeyanthan Brigade, the most feared infantry formation of the Liberation Tigers, led the multi pronged offensive towards Vakarai Friday, according to LTTE sources in the east. Two counter attacks on the forward defence localities which the Tigers have consolidated at Kandalady, 64 kilometres north of Batticaloa, led by ‘Jim Kelly Thaaththa’ and ‘Robert’, deputies of renegade LTTE commander ‘Karuna’ (Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan), were beaten back Friday evening, according to the sources.
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