Sathurukondan massacre to be remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 13:52 GMT]
The People of Sathurukondan village in the Batticaloa district will hold the thirteenth year Remembrance Day of 184 Tamil civilians massacred by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at the village, on 9th September 1990, civil sources said.
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Staff struggles as students labor to learn

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The sight of frolicking school children in clean white, blue uniforms playing inside the fences of Kilinochchi Maha Vidyalayam along the A9 highway provides a sense of normality to a visitor travelling near Kilinochchi town. However, this blurred picture fails to reveal the background of many children who have lost years of schooling due to war, now struggling to fit-in, and more ominously, does not expose the deficient education the school provides due to lack of facilities and shortage of teachers.
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SLA blocks resettlement in Meeravodai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 13:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission to 352 displaced Tamil families to resettle in their former homes and land in Meeravodai in Valaichenai Pradeshya Sabai in Batticaloa district, said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).


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Madhu road to be opened for public

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 14:02 GMT]
After a high level meeting with the Mannar district Government Agent (GA) V.Visvalingam and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday at the SLA camp located at Madhu road junction it was announced that the Madhu road leading to the famous Madhu shrine from Vavuniya-Mannar highway will be opened for public use, security sources said.


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'Need advisors to promote peace, not war' - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 12:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe appealed to his ministerial colleagues during last week's cabinet meeting that he needed persons who could advise him on how to achieve permanent peace and not to launch war again, according to Colombo media sources.
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Restoration work begins at Kanniya Nadesar temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 02:34 GMT]
Restoration work of the Kanniya-Sivayogapuram Nadesar Temple, destroyed by the Sri Lanka security forces and Sinhala mobs 20 years ago during the 1983 July pogrom, commenced Friday. The only temple for Lord Nadesar in the island is located along the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura road, about 5 km northwest of the Trincomalee town, sources said.
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SLA reneges on agreement, orders house demolition

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 20:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday ordered an internally displaced person (IDP), who had constructed a new house in the Ponnalai area of Jaffna district, to demolish his house, saying it is located inside the high security zone, even though permission to construct the house had been granted under a resettlement program, security sources said.
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Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The people of Batticaloa district Friday observed the Black September Day, remembering the Tamil civilians, men, women, and children killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Muslim guards thirteen years ago on September 9 when 158 Tamil civilians who sought refuge in the East University Refugee camp and 184 Tamil villagers from Sathurukondan village disappeared after their arrest by the SLA soldiers, sources in Batticaloa said.


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Elephant Pass: From battlefield to salt capital

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 01:19 GMT]
Before 1990, Elephant Pass and Kurunchativu located 10km apart had the largest salterns in the northeast with a combined area of 100 acres, and produced more than 85,000 metric tons of salt a year. This output met all the salt needs of SriLanka and left enough surplus for export. These salterns, destroyed during the war, are being reconstructed and rehabilitated, and are currently producing close to 15% of the total capacity.
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SLA to bar soldiers' night prowl

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 20:31 GMT]
In the wake of protests against an attempted rape of a housewife by a Sri Lanka Army soldier in the Manalkadu village in the Vadamaradchi east division, the Sri Lanka Army Thursday gave an assurance that its soldiers would not be allowed to move out of camps in the village after 7 p.m. to avoid soldiers' misbehavior with women, civil sources said.
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SLA constructs new road through Thenmaradchi lagoon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 15:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is now engaged in constructing a new 3 km long road from Kachchai harbor in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district through the nearby lagoon to connect the Chalambamthivu and Aruhuveli areas in the south. A large number of army personnel have been deployed to construct a bridge with Palmyra logs and iron bars to connect the lagoon with the land, civil sources in the peninsula said.
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SLMM raises LTTE flag issue at Tamil women's event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 14:28 GMT]
When the Tamil Eelam National flag was about to be raised at an event organized by Tamil women’s organizations in the Northeast at the Vavuniya Town Hall Thursday, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission objected to it, saying that such flag-raising in the Sri Lanka Army controlled area violated the ceasefire agreement. However, following an argument between the LTTE’s women wing political leaders at the event and the SLMM’s foreign monitors, the flag was raised and the event went on peacefully, sources in Vavuniya said.
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LTTE delegation returns home

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 11:01 GMT]
The delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by its political wing leader, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, and comprising Batticaloa-Amparai district special commander Col Karuna and Director of the LTTE Peace Secretariat Mr.Puleedevan returned to Colombo Thursday early morning after about two weeks' stay abroad, where the delegation held extensive discussion with their constitutional and legal experts in the French capital, Paris, sources said.
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LTTE activist complains of harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 14:37 GMT]
Mr.Nadaraja Premachandran alias Jegan, a political activist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Wednesday lodged a complaint at the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka that the Sri Lanka Army at Muhamalai checkpoint had humiliated him when he was on his way to Kilinochchi, human rights officials in Jaffna said.
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Varani SLA enjoys economic benefits from coconut estates

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 11:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers operating from camp located in Idaikurichchi and central Varani area in Thenmaradchy district have disallowed owners of nearby coconut estates to collect coconut and other produce from their estates, according to local residents.


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Eravur police investigates Batticaloa youth's death

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 10:53 GMT]
Tharmaratnam Vanarajah (25) who was arrested on suspicion of attempted murder in Chenkalady, Batticaloa in November 2002 and kept in Batticaloa prison, died at the Batticaloa Teaching Hospital when he was taken there after suddenly falling ill, prison authorities said.


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Trinco Tamil scholar's birthday remembered

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 02:01 GMT]
140th birthday of Trincomalee Tamil scholar late Mr.T.T.Kanagasundarampillai was celebrated with the release of a book about his literary works Sunday evening at an event held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College which was organized by the Trincomalee Muththamil Valarkalai Mantram and Trincomalee District Young Men Hindu Association.


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SLMM, SLA escort LTTE women cadres from Batticaloa to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 September 2003, 12:23 GMT]
One hundred fifty women cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) led by the Special Commander of the LTTE Batticaloa-Amparai district Ms Nilavini left Batticaloa Monday morning to Vanni region in two buses escorted by members of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), security sources in Batticaloa said.


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GA urged to relocate displaced fisher families

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 August 2003, 19:33 GMT]
Palaly Fisheries Society Sunday asked the Jaffna District Government Agent (GA) to take immediate steps to relocate the displaced fisher families from the Palaly high security zone in the coastal areas between Thondamanaru and Valalai who now live in private lands of others in several other villages. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has barred them from resettling in their own lands and houses, fisheries officials said.


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CTTU to strike against SLA occupation of schools

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 August 2003, 19:25 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Sunday gave one-month notice to the Human Resources Development, Education and Cultural Affairs Ministry to fulfill its demands that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) withdraw from its camps in all Tamil medium schools in the northeast province and that Tamil teachers are not racially discriminated when appointments are granted to Principal Grade service, sources said.


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