Stateless Tamils’ long struggle bears fruit

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 16:59 GMT]
A bill to grant citizenship to 168,141 stateless Tamils in Sri Lanka descended from people who settled in the hill districts of the island in the 19th century was passed Tuesday without opposition in Sri Lanka’s Parliament. Speaking on the bill, Mr. Arumugan Thondman MP, leader of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress, the largest Tamil political party in the hill districts, said: “These people have contributed so much to this country but were denied all their rights and had to struggle for 55 years to achieve the rights they had prior to 1948. This is symbolic of the ethnic divide in this country.”
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Trinco TRO honors Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim pre-school teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 02:00 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee made history Monday honoring sixty pre-school teachers of all communities -Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim- under one roof at an event held in connection with the World Teachers' Day at Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel.
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SLA’s flip-flop puts NECORD project in jeopardy

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The northern command of the Sri Lanka Army Monday officially informed the Jaffna Government Agent that it would allow the deepening of only those fisheries landing points in the peninsula that are located outside the high security zones, thus denying permission for work on the project on the Vadamaradchi north coast, district secretariat sources said.
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LTTE, SLA meet in Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 11:31 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and military officers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) met at the Vavunathivu district secretariat building at 10am Monday morning for two hours, security sources in Batticaloa said. Batticalo district head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Antii Juntunen presided the meeting.
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SLA arrests two Pt. Pedro MPCS workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 08:44 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army arrested two persons working at the Multi Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) in Pt. Pedro, Jaffna Monday morning for having in their possession two copies of the tenth anniversary volume of the Charles Anthony Brigade, the first conventional military formation of the Liberation Tigers. The Pt. Pedro MPCS is located inside part of the town centre garrisoned by the SLA’s 52-4 Brigade.
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‘SLA, Police should vacate Batticaloa MC offices’

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 04:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army should remove its 23-3 brigade headquarters operating at the Batticaloa Municipal Council (MC) buildings and government employees’ quarters, and return the buildings to their rightful owners, the Tax Payers Association of Batticaloa (TPAB) has demanded in a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, sources in Batticaloa said.
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SLA stops Valalai temple repair

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 03:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Sunday stopped repairs to the Kaali Temple in Valalai, a village in the Valigamam division of Jaffna, residents said. Last week the SLA ordered several families in this resettled village to dismantle their homes that they had rebuilt as permanent structures. The Sri Lankan military, however, insists the village is part of its security environs, although it lies outside the bounds of its Palaly-Kakesanthurai base, which encompasses most of the Valigamam North Division.
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NE observes death anniversary of LTTE leaders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 18:55 GMT]
The sixteenth death anniversary of twelve LTTE cadres, including senior commanders Lt. Col. Pulendran and Lt. Col. Kumarappa, was held at Theeruvil in Valvettithurai in Jaffna district Sunday with the opening of the renovated memorial tomb, which was destroyed by the Sri Lanka Army when it captured the peninsula in 1996, sources said.
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Arrest over leaflet stops work in harbour

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 16:32 GMT]
Ship unloading at the Pt. Pedro Jetty in Jaffna stopped when workers walked out of the harbour in protest over the detention of two of their colleagues by the Sri Lanka army Sunday morning. Sri Lankan military in Pt. Pedro said the two had brought into the harbour leaflets to mark the sixteenth death anniversary of twelve Liberation Tigers, including two senior commanders, who committed suicide in SLA custody in Palaly, refusing to be flown to Colombo for interrogation and detention in October 1987.
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SLA expands camps in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 15:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is expanding and strengthening its camps in Kumpurumoolai and Navalady in Valaichenai in the Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. Kumpurumoolai is located 30 km north of Batticaloa town, and the Navalady junction 36 km north, on the Batticaloa-Colombo road.
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LTTE, SLA to meet in Vavunathivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 October 2003, 13:04 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) delegation led by 23-3 Brigade Commander Col.L.Ameratunge will meet with a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) delegation led by Senior Commander T.Ramesh at the Vavunathivu district Secretariat building Monday, security sources in Batticaloa said.
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Railway strike continues to cripple train services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The United Alliance of Railway Trade Unions (UARTU) said Saturday that it would continue its strike, which was originally launched for forty-eight hours with out a break till their demands are met. Meanwhile entire train services in the island have ground to a halt since Tuesday midnight.


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Army, Police clash with residents in Jaffna suburbs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 08:22 GMT]
Widespread clashes erupted between Sri Lanka army and large crowds of angry residents in the Jaffna town suburbs of Gurunagar and Paashaiyoor Saturday morning. Three civilians were injured in the clashes that rapidly spread to all the neighbourhoods of these densely populated coastal suburbs, Police said. Four people and a Policeman were wounded when Police tried to break up a protest at Kondavil junction in the northern environs of the Jaffna town.
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SLA intensifies checking in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 October 2003, 02:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up checking pedestrians and vehicles at several key roads and junctions in Batticaloa district inconveniencing civilians and causing delays to vehicular traffic, sources in Batticaloa said.


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Two youths die in SLA truck collision

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 17:17 GMT]
Mahalingam Lingaruban,21, of Urumpirai and V.Rasakumar,30, of Point Pedro were killed instantly Friday evening around 5 p.m. when a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) truck collided with their motorbike at the Gurunagar water tank junction in Jaffna town, police said.
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Compensation demanded for SLA's use of estate produce

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 16:31 GMT]
Owners of coconut estates in High Security Zones (HSZ) in Thenmaradchi Jaffna, through the Northern Province Coconut Estate Owners Association (NPCEOA), requested the Government of Sri Lanka to pay compensation for the loss of trees used to construct SLA bunkers and for the revenue lost due to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers' use of estate produce, sources said.


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SLA bars devotees from temple in Thenmaradchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 15:36 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has refused permission for devotees to hold the Navarathiri festival in Ketpali Tharavai Nachchimar Temple, which is located outside the high security zone of Kilali naval detachment in the Thenmaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district, temple sources said.
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TNA briefs Australian parliamentarians on peace process

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 13:25 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday told the visiting Australian parliamentary delegation that the establishment of an interim administration with adequate powers has become a sine qua non for rebuilding the war ravaged northeast province and to ensure the survival of the present peace environment, sources said. "There is no immediate opportunity to find a permanent political solution to the ethnic conflict under the current constitutional set up," the TNA's parliamentarians told the Australian delegation.
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US says LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 11:06 GMT]
The United States yesterday re-designated the Liberation Tigers as a foreign terrorist organization, saying that the LTTE continues to engage in terrorist activities, and noted that the designation can be revoked at any time the U.S. is satisfied that the organization no longer meets the statutory criteria for designation, the US embassy in Sri Lanka said in a press release Thursday.
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More skeletons found in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 October 2003, 00:04 GMT]
Human skeletons were found Monday under the debris of the Kilinochchi provincial health services building during its reconstruction, sources said.
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