HRC helps owner reclaim boat from SLA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2003, 11:23 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Monday handed over a fishing boat to its legal owner Ms. Jeyanes Rosemalar in the presence of the Jaffna co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) following the intervention by the HRC on behalf of the complainant, sources said.


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Valvettiturai fishermen complain of harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 May 2003, 02:58 GMT]
Jaffna fisheries federation (JFF) officials Monday accused the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for concocting stories of recovering fishing boats with explosives in the Valvettithurai seacoast with the intention of harassing Tamil fishermen. Valvettiturai Fisheries Society officials further accused the SLA for launching a mischievous campaign to prevent fishermen from going to sea for their livelihood, security sources said.


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DLB controversy sparks constitutional crisis in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2003, 10:52 GMT]
The constitutional crisis between the legislature and the executive branches of the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) regarding the take over of the administration of the Development Lottery Board (DLB) took a new turn Monday when Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge issued a directive to the GoSL Printer Mr. Neville Nanayakkara to print the extra ordinary gazette notification sent by her on Thursday, political sources in Colombo said.


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News in brief

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 May 2003, 10:44 GMT]
Officials complain of school books replete with Spelling, Grammar, factual errors, more than 8,000 Sri Lanka Army soldiers desert their posts and Jaffna TRO contemplates filing rights case against Sri Lanka Government and security forces.


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TNA, LTTE leadership to meet Tuesday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2003, 14:40 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has invited the parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) for a meeting at the LTTE's political head quarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday 10am, political sources in Vanni said.
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Balasingham ill, leaves for London - VoT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 May 2003, 14:16 GMT]
Political advisor and leader of the peace delegation for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Anton Balasingham, suddenly fell ill in Kilinochchi and is on his way to London, Voice of Tigers (VoT) reported in its evening broadcast, Sunday.
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Forcible occupation of land no basis for harmony - BBC Sinhala service head

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2003, 00:02 GMT]
Speaking at the South Asia Discussion Group of the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London Wednesday, Mr. Priyath Liyanage, head of Sandesiya, the BBC’s Sinhala service, said the “effort to avoid the involvement of the Tamil Tigers” in rehabilitation and development in the north raises the question of the other ulterior agendas by Colombo.
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AI slams US State Department rights report on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2003, 19:04 GMT]
The Amnesty International Thursday criticised the US state department for putting out a biased human rights report on Sri Lanka for 2002. Mr. Jim McDonald, Sri Lanka Country Specialist, Amnesty International, U.S.A said Thursday that the US state department’s human rights report on Sri Lanka for 2002 made serious omissions relating to human rights violations committed by Sri Lankan armed forces.
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Bodies wash ashore in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 May 2003, 10:02 GMT]
Two bodies, suspected to be those of Indian fishermen or returning Tamil refugees, washed ashore in Mannar this week, district court sources in the northwestern island town said Thursday. A Sri Lanka army sentry near the Thallaady military base in Mannar detected one on 6 May and a civilian found the other in Talaimannar Wednesday.
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SLA camp relocation in NE premature-Chandrika

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 17:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge through her media spokesman Wednesday said she is opposed to the relocation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps from the present sites without reaching agreements with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on core issues, sources in Colombo said.
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SLA will relocate 152 military units in NE - Marapone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 16:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka's defence minister Mr.Tilak Marapone Wednesday said his government has decided to relocate about one hundred fifty two Sri Lanka Army (SLA) units in the northeast province and the relocation would take place in a manner that will not endanger the national security of the country, sources said.


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Rehabilitate Northeast before 'Regaining' Sri Lanka - NGOs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 May 2003, 00:05 GMT]
The Chairman of the Consortium of Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Trincomalee, Mr.T.Thavasilingam, speaking at a discussion held Tuesday in Trincomalee attended by representatives of provincial trade unions, said that there was an urgent need for rehabilitating all infrastructure destroyed in the twenty-year-old war in the northeast province simultaneously with the resettlement of internally displaced persons.
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Akashi visits Muttur, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2003, 10:48 GMT]
Japan’s special envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Yashushi Akashi held discussions with Tamils and Muslims in Muttur and with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the Peace Committee in Batticaloa Tuesday. The discussions were largely focussed on recent developments in the east affecting the peace process, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) officials in Batticaloa said. SLMC leader, Mr. Rauff Hakeem, accompanied Mr. Akashi.
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Paramilitary operative wounded in grenade blast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2003, 09:16 GMT]
An operative of the paramilitary, Razeek Group, was wounded in a grenade attack Monday night in Batticaloa town, Police said. The wounded operative is employed as a soldier of the Sri Lanka army’s National Guard (SLNG). Unidentified persons who lobbed the grenade at the soldier had got away, Police said. The Razeek Group worked with the SLA in operations against the Liberation Tigers in the eastern district.
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Civilians picket garrison work outside Jaffna Fort

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2003, 10:29 GMT]
Hundreds of civilians Monday morning picketed the entrance of Jaffna Fort preventing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Police from clearing the area outside the Jaffna fort in preparation for relocating the Jaffna garrison of the SLA. The Jaffna District Peoples Organizations and Jaffna University Students Union organized the picketing campaign, sources said.


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TNA parliamentarians address Muslims in Pulmoddai

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2003, 02:25 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan addressing a meeting at Pulmoddai, a traditional Muslim village about 70km north of Trincomalee district, Saturday said that a lasting political solution could be found for the northeast problem only by ensuring equal rights and privileges to Muslims living in the province.
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GA demands action to improve Kilinochchi postal service

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2003, 15:20 GMT]
Mail is not delivered to a third of the families in the Kilinochchi district, even a half-mile beyond the Kilinochchi town, and immediate action is needed to restore mail delivery, the district’s government agent (GA), Mr. T. Rasanayakam, told Sri Lanka’s Minister for Mass Communication, Mr. Imtiaz Bakeer Markar, at a meeting held at the Vavuniya secretariat, sources said.
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Displaced villagers struggle to revive Thennamaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 May 2003, 11:58 GMT]
A group of displaced Thennamaravadi villagers trekked through jungles Saturday morning to visit their abandoned traditional Tamil village about seventy two km north of Trincomalee district and reported that the entire village had been destroyed and remnants of all civilian homes, school buildings and Pilliayar temple are overgrown with shrub jungles, sources said.


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Ex-EPDP Chairman shot dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 17:44 GMT]
Former chairman of the Karaveddy south/west Pradeshiya Sabha (PS) Mr.Tharmarajah Jeyarajah was shot dead Saturday around 6 p.m. at Thumpalai Maniayakaran junction near Point Pedro by unidentified gunmen who came in a motorbike, police sources said.
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Few in Jaffna get resettlement aid

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 May 2003, 04:58 GMT]
Forty thousand families in the Jaffna have applied to the Government Agent for assistance to resettle in their homes in the war ravaged northern peninsula, a senior official said. “Although eight percent of the Jaffna district population is in dire need of material and financial support to rebuild their homes destroyed or damaged in the war, we got funds to make part payments to only to 4112 families after January this year," he said.
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