Atchuvely residents demand opening of Sannithi Temple Road

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 August 2003, 11:17 GMT]
Residents of Atchuvely town in Jaffna has asked the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials through the Asistant Government Agent of the district to open the Thondamanaru-Selvachannithi road for public use, civil sources from Jaffna said. SLA has closed this road segment from Idaikkadu to Thondamanaru for the past several years as this segment lies within the SLA's demarcated High Security Zone (HSZ).
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Paris meeting 'Positive and Innovative'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 19:54 GMT]
Delegates to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Constitutional Affairs Committee meeting in Paris to prepare a response to the Government of Sri Lanka's (GoSL's) proposal for an Interim Administration to the Northeast described the meeting as "positive and innovative," in a press release issued at the conclusion of the discussions that lasted from 23rd to 26th of August in Paris.


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University non-academic staff strike called off

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 17:49 GMT]
The non-academic staff of universities in the country Saturday evening decided to call off their three weeks' old strike from Monday as the talks held Saturday between the two ministers, the chairman of the university Grants Commission and representatives of trade union federation concluded with agreements reached on many of the 21 demands put forward by the non-academinc staff, Inter University Trade Union Federation sources said.
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SLA stops resettlement in Swamimalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 16:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday stopped a group of internally displaced persons making arrangements to resettle in their abandoned Tamil village Kachchakodi Swamimalai in the Pattipalai division in Batticaloa district, civil group sources said. The Kachchakodi Swamimalai village is located on the border of Batticaloa and Amparai districts in the eastern province about 25 km off southwest of Batticaloa town.
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Thamilselvan, Karuna visit Paris memorial of slain activists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 13:53 GMT]
Head of the political secion of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P. Thamilselvan and LTTE Senior Commander Karuna, at the conclusion of LTTE Paris-talks Thursday visited the Paris memorials of activists Kandiah Perinpanathan and Kandiah Gajendran who were gun down in La Chappelle, Paris by unknown gunmen on the 26th October 1996, sources said.
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SLA seeks fishermen’s co-operation to conduct checks

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 20:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday asked the fishermen of Vadamaradchi to co-operate with them to conduct checks on fishing crafts before and after the fishermen enter the sea, and these checks will be conducted by army sentry points which are located along the shore, fisheries sources said.
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Jaffna IDPs to seek Supreme Court assistance

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 17:49 GMT]
Internally displaced families from Manthuvil village in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district have taken preliminary steps to file suit in the Supreme Court seeking permission to resettle in the their houses and lands which have been occupied by the Sri Lanka Army outside the high security zones, legal sources said Friday.


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The garrisoned rice bowl

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 13:22 GMT]
Thenmaradchi was Jaffna's rice bowl until three years ago. Today most of the region's fertile rice fields are enclosed by the Sri Lanka army's concertina and mine laden defence perimeter. Thenmaradchi’s main farming villages lie derelict inside this vast garrisoned area hemmed in by the A9 and the Jaffna lagoon. Local farmers have been waging, collectively and individually, what increasingly appears to be a hopeless struggle to gain access to their homes and fields since the Liberation Tigers and Colombo signed a ceasefire agreement in February last year.
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‘SLA has no authority to prevent students from attending Pongu Thamil’ - Ezhilan

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 13:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has no authority to prevent students from attending the Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya when 24 schools have been declared as falling into the High Security Zone in Vavuniya by the SLA and the students of these schools are denied their education, said Ms. S.Ezhilan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Vavuniya on Friday.


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SLA bans NGOs from using Kinnaiyady lagoon access path

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 01:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed ban on travel by officers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Batticaloa district through Kinnaiyady lagoon, security sources in the Eastern province said. Kinnaiyady is located 32 km off northwest of Batticaloa town.


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Teleffsen meets with SLA, ex-militants in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 August 2003, 11:51 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General Triggve Teleffsen travelled to Batticaloa Thursday morning and held discussions with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials and political leaders of ex-militant groups, (SLMM) sources said. The SLMM head is scheduled to meet Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Commander Ramesh this afternoon.
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Vadamaradchy woman foils rape attempt by SLA soldier

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 17:43 GMT]
Three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were questioned by their superiors Wednesday on a complaint that one soldier had molested a tamil woman who is a mother of two Tuesday night when she was alone while her husband was away. This incident took place Tuesday night at Inbaruty, a fishing hamlet in Vadamarachchi north in Jaffna district, police said.
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SLA restricts civilian visit to Point Pedro schools in HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 15:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Wednesday said civilians would be allowed to visit Hartley College and Methodist Girls High School in the high security zone of Point Pedro town in Jaffna district only on Wednesdays and they will need prior permission obtained from the security forces, civil sources said.
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SLA says students cannot attend Pongu Thamil in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 14:21 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has ordered that the students in Vavuniya schools should not be allowed to attend the Pongu Thamil (‘Tamil Upsurge’) event to be held on September 15 in the district as the SLA sees the event as a political event organized by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, sources in Vavuniya said.
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SLMM head to visit Batticaloa Thursday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 17:19 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (retd) Major General Triggve Teleffsen is scheduled to visit Batticaloa Thursday to hold discussion with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) military and political leaders, SLMM sources said.
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Bhikku Front holds national convention in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 16:40 GMT]
The second national convention of the the National Bhikku Front (NBF) was held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo today. The NBF is opposed to the establishment of an Interim Adminstration (IA) for the northeast province and had threatened to campaign in Colombo and 50 other cities in the South through the nearly 1500 Buddhist Vihares in the island.
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Nallur CAR festival draws thousands of devotees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 10:54 GMT]
The CAR ("Ther") festival of the historic Nallur Kandasamy Temple in Jaffna town was held Tuesday morning with thousands of devotees from all over the island and from abroad participating, sources attending the festival said.
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SLMM head meets LTTE, SLA officials in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 19:10 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd.) Triggve Tellefsen, Monday held discussions with leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in the Trincomalee district, military commander Colonel Pathuman and district political head Mr.Thilak, at Sampur in the LTTE held Muttur east, south of Trincomalee town, SLMM sources said.
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Lt. Col. Thileepan memorial re-opened in Nallur

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 17:53 GMT]
The reconstructed memorial of the late senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Lt.Col. Thileepan, was declared open Monday evening in Nallur, Jaffna town. The memorial was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army troops in 1996 when the SLA captured the peninsula.
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Farmers await SLA's permission to clear mines

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 12:02 GMT]
The Jaffna Government Mr.S.Pathmanathan Saturday requested the Sri Lanka Army's (SLA's) Jaffna area commander located at Palaly main base to grant permission to remove landmines and other unexploded ordnance from the paddy fields released from the Thenmaradchchi High Security Zone (HSZ) for rain fed cultivation this year, district secretariat sources said.
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