A few families allowed to resettle in Thenmaradchi HSZ

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2004, 14:39 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has allowed resettlement of a few internally displaced families in the high security zones in Thenmaradchchi south division in Jaffna district on a staggered basis. The first batch of IDPs would be allowed to resettle in areas close to Thoppu Pillaiyair Kovil in Maravanpulo village on the Tamil-Sinhala New Year Day, civil sources said.
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SLA agrees to relax restrictions on fishing in northern seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 16:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has allowed fishermen of the Vadamarachchi division in the Jaffna district to use fishing boats with 40 horse power (hp) outboard engines for fishing in the northern seas. A decision to this effect was made at a conference held Saturday at the Point Pedro Sri Lanka army camp attended by officials of the SLA and fisheries societies, fisheries sources said.
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Pongu Thamil calls on UN to recognize Tamil aspirations

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 15:27 GMT]
At the Pongu Thamil event held Monday in front of the United Nations' Offices in Geneva, Switzerland, the participants from the Tamil Diaspora pointed out the Tamil aspirations endorsed by the Tamil people in the General Elections on April 2 by an overwhelming majority, and called on the U.N. and the international community to recognize the aspirations in finding a lastintg solution to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka.
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EPDP cadres threaten LTTE political activists in Naranthanai

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 13:44 GMT]
The Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Sunday received a complaint that the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) activists at gunpoint had intimidated the political head of the Liberation Tigers in the Islands, Mr.C.Arunthavam, and his associates, sources said.
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Massive Pongu Thamil Convergence of European Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 12:39 GMT]
The Pongu Thamil event started at 14:40 European time on Monday at the Central Railway station in Geneva, Switzerland, with a speech by Mr. V. Rudrakumaran, the legal advisor of the Liberation Tigers, and the number of participants exceeded the organizers' expectations, sources said.
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Kilinochchi, Vadamaradchi east voters throng Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 13:56 GMT]
Elections officials in Jaffna said Friday that thousands of voters from Kilinochchi walked a kilometre in scorching sun across the line of control between the areas controlled by the LTTE and the Sri Lanka army in the southern part of peninsula to cast their ballot. Polling was higher than sixty percent in the clustered booths in Sri Lanka army’s clearing zone for commercial vehicles, according to them. People voted with unprecedented enthusiasm in the Sri Lanka military controlled parts of Jaffna.
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Omanthai SLA checkpoint gets electricity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 06:02 GMT]
Transport arrangements for the more than 100,000 voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas in the Vanni and Jaffna districts for the elections to be held on Friday are being completed, with a resting place in Puliyankualm and voting booths close to Omanthai and Muhamalai check points of the Sri Lanka Army, officials from the Elections Department said. As part of these arrangements, electricity supply was ceremonially inaugurated to the Omanthai checkpoint complex of the SLA on Wednesday.
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"Thanthai” Chelva remembered on 106th birthday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 04:15 GMT]
The 106th birthday of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, falls on Wednesday. Tamils in the country, who still fondly remember Mr. Chelvanayakam as “Thanthai (father) Chelva,” will celebrate the late leader's birthday Wednesday at a time when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is contesting the forthcoming general elections on the ITAK ticket, with its HOUSE symbol revived after 37 years, political sources said.
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“Depriving franchise would pose serious problems”- Cushnahan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 15:10 GMT]
“The Elections Commissioner has agreed that voters in LTTE held areas in the northeast would be given an opportunity to exercise their franchise. However, preventing them from voting on the polling day would pose serious problems,” said the European Union Election Observation Commission (EU EOM) Chief Observer, Mr.John Cushnahan, addressing a press briefing in the Batticaloa district secretariat Tuesday.
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EU Chief Observer Cushnahan visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2004, 18:54 GMT]
European Union Election Observer Mission (EU EOM) Chief Observer Mr.John Cushnahan accompanied by EU Sri Lankan delegation head Mr.Wouter Wilton arrived in Jaffna Sunday morning and held discussions regarding the forthcoming general election with top officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) based in the peninsula
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GA briefs officials on Vanni voting arrangements

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2004, 05:43 GMT]
Essential facilities, including transport, have been arranged for the voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas of Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaithivu to vote in clustered polling stations in the areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Army, and the Omanthai check point will stay open starting at 4:00 am on election day, April 2, until all the voters can return to their homes in the LTTE-controlled areas, said the Returning Officer and Government Agent for Vavuniya, Mr. K. Ganesh, at a special meeting Saturday.
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Sampanthan concludes Jaffna election campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2004, 00:46 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan appealed to Jaffna district Tamil voters to return TNA candidates in all nine Jaffna parliamentary seats in the forthcoming general election while addressed several election meetings in the Jaffna district Tuesday. He left Jaffna by road Wednesday morning to Pulmoddai, a Muslim village in the Trincomalee district for election campaign, sources said


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Permit Tamil people to exercise their franchise - Australian MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 2004, 12:14 GMT]
"Unfortunately, due to a conflict between the President, who holds executive power, and the Prime Minister, the President dismissed parliament in February of this year and Sri Lanka will face general elections on 2 April 2004. It is vital that these elections are free and fair. It is particularly important that the Tamil people of the north-east, who have been deprived of their franchise during the last two decades, are permitted to cast their votes at the forthcoming elections," said John Murphy, Australian MP in a speech in the Australian Parliament Tuesday.
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Batticaloa to have clustered polling stations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 2004, 00:45 GMT]
The Elections Department of Sri Lanka has allocated two million rupees for providing transport facilities to the voters in areas of Batticaloa district not under Sri Lanka Army’s control, the Deputy Elections Commissioner, Mr. S. Krishnananthalingam, said Tuesday.
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Women, key to nation building - Ms.Sithamparanathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2004, 00:26 GMT]
"I feel our freedom is near our door-step. Tamil men and women have a duty to welcome this freedom and fully engage themselves in nation building activities. Particularly our women have a significant role to play in building our nation," said Pathmini Sithamparanathan, first woman candidate standing for elections in Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket in Jaffna, talking to the Canadian Tamil Radio, Monday.
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Court orders inquiry into thirteen missing youths

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Jaffna High Court Mr.K.P.S.Varatharajah Monday instructed the Chavakachcheri Magistrate to conduct inquiries into the thirteen Habeas Corpus applications filed by relatives of thirteen Tamil youths who were reported missing after the arrest by the Sri Lanka Army during 1996 in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district and to submit reports, legal sources said.


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"Historic obligation to show force of Unity" - Raviraj

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 00:12 GMT]
"Several public civil society organizations have joined us in carrying out door-to-door campaigns. We are telling Jaffna voters that a historical burden is placed on the Tamil society to demonstrate a force of unity in the forthcoming elections," said Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj, former Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, speaking to the Canadian Tamil Radio (CTR) Saturday.
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Vanni voters to stay overnight in Puliyankulam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2004, 13:29 GMT]
"Voters from Liberation Tigers controlled area in Vanni will not undergo regular checking at Omanthai Sri Lanka Army checkpoint, and voters from remote areas will be given the option to stay overnight at Puliyankulam with free transportation, lodging facilities," said Vavuniya Government Agent (GA) and Returning Officer K.Ganesh after a meeting Sunday with Vanni district Deputy Inspector General of Police, sources in Vavuniya said.
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STF searches Kovil kulam area for weapon cache

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2004, 11:12 GMT]
In Kovil Kulam, Vavuniya district, Sunday around 12 noon, Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) soldiers, dug several areas using heavy machinery near the tomb stone of Uma Maheswaran, leader of Peoples Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), in search of weapon cache alleged to have been buried there, security sources said.
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IDPs under pressure to vacate Point-Pedro refugee camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2004, 01:41 GMT]
Internally Displaced families (IDPs) from Nagar Kovil area in Vadamaradchy East, temporarily living in a refugee camp located in Thumpalai, Point Pedro, near the Lourdes Virgin Mary Church, are said to be pressured to vacate the premises by people claiming to be Church Administrators, local media reports said.
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