Trinco former UC Chairman Suriyamoorthy dies

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2005, 04:47 GMT]
Mr.Periyapodi Suriyamoorthy, former Chairman of the Trincomalee Urban Council Wednesday early morning around 5.30 a.m. succumbed to gunshot injuries in the Colombo national hospital exactly after a week he was shot at on May 18 Wednesday night by unidentified gunmen in his Trincomalee residence, family sources said.
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"Horrendous consequences if peace process collapses"- TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 10:39 GMT]
"The forces who opposed negotiations with the LTTE are forces committed tocontinuing the present structure of governance in this country, who want a unitary structure of government to continue, who want majority hegemony to continue. If these forces succeed, the peace process must inevitably collapse with all its horrendous consequences," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a recent one-day debate on the current state of the peace process, parliamentary sources said.
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Sri Lanka's President invites JVP, CWC for talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 12:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga has invited two members of her ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) - the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) and Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) - for talks at her official residence Thursday, the Daily Mirror newspaper reported. The meeting comes as the JVP seemed to back away from its confrontationist course with President Kumaratunga on thedonor-backed notion of sharing aid with the LTTE and amid speculation the matter had created a rift within the Marxist-cum-ultranationalist party.
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CPJ alarmed at death threats to Sri Lanka journalists

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 18:03 GMT]
"We are alarmed by the rising threats against our colleagues, and call on authorities to find those responsible for these crimes. All sides of this conflict must respect the rights of journalists and help safeguard the free flow of information in Sri Lanka," Executive Director of Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Ann Cooper said in a news alert issued at CPJ's website Thursday.
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Sinhala Nation, refusing to share national wealth- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2005, 11:46 GMT]
Liberation Tigers' demand for an independent administrative arrangement and funds to rehabilitate and rebuild the infrastructure of the Tamil homeland is rooted on the fact that for the past 56 years the Sinhala Nation has resolutely exercised its monopoly power on island's national wealth and refused to accept Tamil's right to a fair share of the wealth, argues late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, in a column which appeared in Virakesari of 21 November 2004. This feature provides an English translation.
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Tamil scepticism mounts as aid deal drifts

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 18:20 GMT]
As the proposed joint mechanism for aid distribution urged by international donors between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers remains mired in Sinhala political manoeuvring, deep scepticism has replaced early optimism amongst the Tamils. More ominously, a belief is rapidly taking root that Colombo is playing for time and keeping the Northeast in the economic and social doldrums whilst developing the Sri Lankan military for a new war.
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Joint mechanism mired in Sinhala politics

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2005, 15:51 GMT]
The joint mechanism between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers called for by international aid donors has become the centre of political manoeuvres by the main Sinhala parties, in whose zero-sum calculations, international aid has a critical role to play.
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Journalists dismayed over Sivaram debate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 May 2005, 18:24 GMT]
The lack of a quorum in Sri Lanka’s Parliament and the subsequent lacklustre debate when the abduction and brutal murder of Tamil political columnist and military analyst, Dharmeratnam Sivaram, was taken up Friday dismayed journalists who three days earlier had taken to the streets in a major protest over the brazen killing in Colombo.
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"Thanthai" Chelva death anniversary observed in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 April 2005, 13:24 GMT]
Twenty eighth-death anniversary of late Mr.S.J.V. Chelvanayakam (1898-1977), prominent leader of the Tamil people for more than three decades of his life and fondly called as "Thanthai (Father)" was observed in Trincomalee, Jaffna and several parts of the northeast province Tuesday, sources said.
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Book on ethnic conflict released in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 April 2005, 11:53 GMT]
A Tamil book written by well-known political analyst, Mr. C.A.Jothilingam, titled "Ethnic Conflict and Proposals for Political Solution" was released and introduced to the Trincomalee audience at an event held Friday evening in Trincomalee Town Hall. Mr.K.Sivapalan, Human Rights activist, presided the event.


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Workshop on tsunami reconstruction begins in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 April 2005, 10:34 GMT]
Three-day workshop for workers of Social Mobilization Unit (SMU) of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) began in Trincomalee Friday morning on the topic "Implementation of 3rd Phase of Tsunami Relief Programme." Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese from districts of Amparai, Batticaloa and Trincomalee are participating in the workshop. Similar workshops were held earlier in Jaffna, Killinochchi and Vavuniya for SMU staff working in those districts, sources said.
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Kumaratunga off to London for New Year holidays

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 April 2005, 10:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga left for London on Saturday night to spend the forthcoming New Year holidays with her children, Yashoda and Vimukthi. According to reports, Ms Kumaratunge before undertaking her private trip to UK has appointed her close confidante, Ratnasiri Wickremenayake, as the Minister of Defence and Dinesh Gunawardene as the Minister of Education until she returns back to Sri Lanka.
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NESOHR delegation meets UN Rapporteur on education

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 April 2005, 10:25 GMT]
A delegation of the North East Secretariat On Human Rights (NESOHR) led by its Vice President Mr. K. Sivapalan (Attorney-at-Law), met with Mr. Vermor Munoz Villalobos, the Special Rapporteur on Rights to Education of the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) on Wednesday in Geneva. Mr. T. Mahasivam, member of the NESOHR also participated. The NESOHR delegation submitted a detailed report about the discrimination shown to Tamils and Muslims students in Sri Lanka in the sphere of education.
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Kantalai hospital should be developed on par with Trinco - Health Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 March 2005, 17:19 GMT]
Mr.Nimal Sripala de Silva, Health Minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government said Saturday that the Kantalai base hospital should be developed on par with the Trincomalee general hospital. "Please do not forget about the development of Kantalai hospital," said the Minister when addressing a conference in the Trincomalee general hospital especially summoned to discuss about the development of the century old Trincomalee general hospital built under the British rule.
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Shut down call by Sinhala association fizzles in Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 March 2005, 18:18 GMT]
The call made by the North East Sinhala Association (NESA) for a shut down of business establishments in Trincomalee town in support of a Buddhist priest and his five disciples who is performing a satyagraha campaign since March 12 Thursday fizzled out as majority of Sinhalese in the town did not respond favourably. Venerable Mahamaduluwewe Nandaretna, Viharathipathi of Mahadiulwewa Sri Pabatharama Vihare began his satyagraha with his disciples demanding that the government should expedite providing relief to tsunami victims, five hundred thousand cash for all people who lost their houses in the natural disaster, sources said.
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JVP will never quit UPFA government, Kadirgamar assures to BBC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 March 2005, 13:19 GMT]
Throwing his weight fully behind the radical Sinhala nationalistic Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major coalition in the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance government, Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, in a live television interview with the BBC on Tuesday said that the JVP is for the negotiated political settlement with the LTTE and assured that it would never quit the ruling coalition in this regard.
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Tamils risk turning violence inwards- Prof Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 March 2005, 11:20 GMT]
Although the three years of relative peace after the signing of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) between the United National Party (UNP) and the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) has demonstrated that violence and war is not necessary to mediate relations between warring parties, the same period has "also proved that Tamil society ran the risk of turning violence inwards, against itself," writes Prof Uyangoda in an article appearing in the Saturday edition of Daily Mirror.
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Lord Konesar procession concludes in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 March 2005, 10:00 GMT]
Three-day procession of Lord Konesar, chief deity of historic Trincomalee Koneswaram Temple with his consort Mathumai Ambal concluded Saturday early morning. The procession commenced Wednesday evening from Koneswaram Temple following Maha Sivarathiri Day celebrations, sources said
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CFA cannot survive in 'No war No Talks' climate- Elilan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 March 2005, 04:27 GMT]
"It is meaningless to observe a ceasefire in the current situation where there is no peace and no peace talks. The deteriorating security climate in the east, and the chaotic political situation plagued by disunity within the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in the South that shows no signs of improving, can only hasten Tamils march towards the final solution," said Mr.S.Elilan in his address at the International Women's Day celebrations held Tuesday evening at Trincomalee Cultural hall, sources said.
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GoSL, LTTE must grasp opportunities for reconciliation- Prof Oberst

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2005, 23:08 GMT]
While stressing the importance of "the Norwegian effort to create a joint government-LTTE mechanism to be successful" for Sri Lanka to recover from the tsunami disaster, and expressing hope that "UN special ambassador and former U.S. president Bill Clinton will be able to bring the two sides together to work towards rebuilding of the devastated areas," Professor Oberst pointed out that "[The] sad reality of the Sri Lankan conflict has been the remarkable ability of both sides to allow opportunities for peace and reconciliation to slip away from their grasp," when he talked to TamilNet this week commenting on post-tsunami development in Sri Lanka.
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