TNA MP says Muttur bridge on the verge of collapse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 06:16 GMT]
The Kattaiparichchan bridge, which divides the Liberation Tigers-held villages in Muttur east from the rest of Muttur town controlled by the Sri Lanka Army, is on the verge of collapse, said Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from Trincomalee, Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham, and brought the matter to the notice of the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee Monday, sources said.
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2003: The year in review

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The widespread optimism on peace that greeted the dawn of 2003 has evaporated and the power struggle between Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President that threatens the peace process now occupies the center stage of politics in Colombo. High Security Zones (HSZ) in Jaffna continue to deny displaced Tamils their fundamental rights. Colombo's unwillingness and inability to disburse funds stalls development and rehabilitation in NorthEast, as international aid remains blocked, awaiting concrete signs of progress in peace.
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Tigers, SLA open for new year's eve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 14:02 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army will keep the entry points to Jaffna and the Vanni open until 9.30 p.m. on New Year eve as a gesture of goodwill, officials on either side of the line of control in northern Sri Lanka said Wednesday. The International committee of the Red Cross left its position on either side of the no man's land at the Muhamalai entrypoint in Jaffna at the usual closing hour.
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Teacher shortage imperils NorthEast education - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 19:21 GMT]
"The quality of education in Tamil medium schools in the North East province is very adversely affected from the level of primary education through the level of secondary education as a result of the severe shortage of Tamil medium teachers," and dismal student performance at the GCE (advanced level) examination is a direct result of this shortage, said the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance Mr.R.Sampanthan in a six page letter sent to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Monday.


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SLA hands over houses to civilians in Thenmaradchchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 18:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Tuesday handed over six houses to civilians, which are located along the Varani-Vembirai road, close to the Vembirai junction in Manthuvil west in the Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district, civil sources said. SLA soldiers have been occupying these houses since 2000 when the SLA launched a military operation in Thenmaradchchi division.
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Postmortem of xenophobia

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 18:10 GMT]
The preliminary report by the Sri Lanka Police on the rioting at the funeral of the Buddhist monk, Ven. Gangodawila Soma, was handed over to the Inspector General of Police this weekend. Five persons were severely assaulted by angry Sinhala Buddhist mourners at the funeral. Four of these were attacked because they looked like Tamils. But all of them were later confirmed to be Sinhala Buddhists, Police sources said. The crowd assaulted the fifth after it identified him as a Christian.
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Electricity Grid to extend to Mullaitivu, Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 14:12 GMT]
Kilinochchi district Electric Engineer Selvarajah Prabhakaran said that under a 2-year plan funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) the national electricity grid is to be extended to a new sub-station in Kilinochchi through a 132KV line. As precursor to this 2MV generators are to be installed in Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to provide electricity to key towns in the two districts, he added.
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Parents of Jaffna Missing to Protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2003, 16:13 GMT]
Fifty four mothers and fathers who are Members of Jaffna Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) and Jaffna Mothers Front (JMF) will picket in front of the Justice Ministry and Offices of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Colombo on Monday and Tuesday, said Subbu Satkunam, president MPGA.
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SLA truck collision injures two Jaffna youths

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2003, 13:13 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) truck hit and seriously injured two youths, Paul Raj (18) and Sanjeevan (22) in Kantharmadam, Jaffna, Wednesday night, Voice of Tigers (VoT), reported in its morning broadcast Thursday.
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Four fishermen missing in Jaffna lagoon

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 December 2003, 12:51 GMT]
Four fishermen of Gurunagar of Jaffna town, Gratien Jemmar (35), S.Ravi (45), Benedict Ranjit (35) and L.Uthayakumar (37), are reported to be missing since December 22 while fishing in Iranaitivu sea area in Jaffna lagoon, Jaffna Fishermen Union officials said.
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Table Tennis tournaments begin in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2003, 16:17 GMT]
Four-day North-East and All Island Table Tennis tournaments for the year 2003, based on the theme " Peace through Sports," began in Trincomalee Sunday at the Hindu Cultural hall under the aegis of the Asian German Sports Exchange Programme in collaboration with the Table Tennis Association of Sri Lanka, Sri Lanka Schools Table Tennis Association, Trincomalee District Table Tennis Association, Eastern Province Table Tennis Association and the Sri Lanka Police Department in Trincomalee.
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Parents of missing Jaffna youth to meet Sri Lanka’s President

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 14:13 GMT]
The parents and relatives of the young men and women who went missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1996-97 have been invited by President Chandrika Kumaratunga for a meeting with her on 31 December, a spokesperson for the Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) said Wednesday. Members of the MPGA and the Jaffna Mother’s Front will travel to Colombo in a bus provided by Sri Lanka’s Minister for Hindu Affairs, Mr. T. Maheswaran.
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SLA closes Muhamalai point at usual time

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 14:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka army closed the only entry point to Jaffna on the A9 highway at the usual hour on Wednesday evening despite the announcement by the Liberation Tigers that they would have their side of the border open until 9.30 p.m. for the convenience of people travelling to the peninsula on Christmas Eve and Christmas. A Sri Lanka army officer at the SLA’s Muhamalai entry point told TamilNet’s Jaffna correspondent Wednesday evening that there were no orders from his high command to reciprocate the LTTE’s gesture for Christmas and New Year.
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Education Conference urges speedy resolution of political crisis

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 13:20 GMT]
9 million member Asia Pacific Region branch of Education International (EI), in a resolution adopted at the Fourth Asia Pacific Regional Conference held in Kaohsiung, Taiwan from 10th to 12 th December, urged the Sri Lankan President and Prime Minister to bring the current political impasse to an end without further delay and to invite the Norwegian facilitators to carry forward the peace process and to restore normalcy in the northeast province by handing over schools located in the high security zones in the Jaffna district, attendees to the conference said.
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HSZs not a matter for GA - Maj. Gen. Chandrapala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 08:10 GMT]
Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the new Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, told TamilNet Wednesday that the question of Sri Lanka army high security zones in Jaffna is not a matter for the district’s Government Agent but it is one that’s under his purview. He was speaking to the local press after a meeting between civilian officials and the military at the Jaffna District Secretariat Wednesday morning.
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Paper seller had no grenade say Jaffna Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 17:06 GMT]
The paper seller who was shot at by a Sri Lankan army soldier in Jaffna town on 9 December pointed out his assailant at an identification parade in the Jaffna district court Tuesday. The Officer in Charge (OIC) of Sri Lanka Police station in northern town states in his First Information Report (FIR) submitted to the court that he found neither evidence of a hand grenade nor any trace of an explosion at the scene of the shooting. The SLA alleged that the paper seller had tried to lob a grenade at the soldier.
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LTTE says Pullumalai bunker in area under its control

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 16:08 GMT]
The bunker of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Pullumalai in the Batticaloa district, about which the Sri Lanka Army has complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, lies within the LTTE-controlled area, the LTTE has told the SLMM, according to a spokesman at the SLMM’s Batticaloa office.
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SLA’s new Jaffna commander meets NGOs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 14:17 GMT]
"I want the people of Jaffna to live without the interference of the military in their day-to-day lives. I want good relations with them," said Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the new Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, during a discussion with the Council of Non-Governmental Organisations in the northern peninsula, according to NGO Council officials who took part in the meeting Tuesday.
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Student peace education workshop held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 12:24 GMT]
Two-day residential workshop on peace education organized by the Trincomalee zonal education of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education, for Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim students was held in Trincomalee Sri Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam on Saturday and Sunday, civil society sources said.
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Indian coast guard escorts boats to Jaffna seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2003, 16:37 GMT]
The Indian coast guard escorted ten fishing boats from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary in the Palk Strait Monday. The Indian fishing boats were received by the Sri Lanka Navy and were guided to the island of Delft (Nedunthivu) off Jaffna Monday evening.
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