Don't exploit LTTE ban for narrow gains -Ranil

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 January 2002, 14:28 GMT]
"We have no right to play around with this last chance we have to achieve peace in Sri Lanka. We also have no right to indulge in narrow political aims making use of the ban on the LTTE. Like with the war the economy has deteriorated by serious proportions. For the first time in three decades the country's economy is set to show a zero or even a negative growth. It may even be as much as seven points below zero. The country is near bankruptcy," said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe, Tuesday in his first policy statement to the Parliament since coming to power.
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"Lift ban on LTTE, postpone local elections" -TULF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 21:30 GMT]
The Tamil United National Front (TULF), main component of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday appealed to the Government to lift the ban imposed on the Liberation Tigers in Sri Lanka before the commencement of peace talks and not to hold elections to local authorities in the northeast province. " At the last general election the Tamil people have overwhelmingly endorsed the lifting of the ban on the LTTE in Sri Lanka prior to the commencement of peace talks. Furthermore the TULF urges the Government to postpone the holding of the local poll in northeast as the conduct of the election in the current situation could have the effect of retarding negotiations between the Government and the LTTE", said a press release issued by the TULF Secretary General of the TULF Mr. R.Sampanthan Sunday.
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LTTE extends unilateral ceasefire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 13:04 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official statement issued Sunday from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, extended its unilaterally declared cessation of hostilities for another one month, from midnight 24 January to midnight 24 February 2002.
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Kumaratunga claims authority “on all actions regarding war and peace”

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 January 2002, 00:30 GMT]
(News Feature) Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga this weekend warned that key decisions related to efforts to end the island’s protracted ethnic conflict would ultimately rest in her hands and not with the Parliamentary government. In an interview published in the Daily Mirror newspaper Saturday, she also questioned the competence of the newly elected United National Front (UNF) government to handle the ethnic question, while at the same time paradoxically saying that her Peoples’ Alliance (PA) - which was crushed at the last elections by the UNF - would support its efforts to find a peaceful solution.
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Batticaloa NGOs want PTA repealed

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 January 2002, 14:53 GMT]
Members of the consortium of NGO’s of Batticaloa demonstrated in the eastern town Friday morning urging the government to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism Act (RTA), release Tamil political prisoners and remove restrictions on fishing and street blocks in the district set up by the Sri Lankan security forces. Addressing the demonstrators, the president of the consortium, Mr. A. Selvedran, said that the United National Front government should create conditions of normalcy in the district and that the army and Police should vacate the schools, temples and libraries which they occupy in Batticaloa.
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Trinco fishing ban drives thousands to destitution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 January 2002, 11:16 GMT]
(News Feature) More than five thousand fishermen of Kinniya, China Bay and Mutur in the Trincomalee district have been deprived of their livelihood due to the ban imposed currently by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on fishing in the Koddiyar Bay and in the waters off the eastern port town, fisheries officials said Thursday. Fishing is banned by the SLN in the waters off the coast from Mutur to Kinniya China Bay and the Trincomalee town. Inland fishing in the district is prohibited after dusk.
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Norway discusses permanent ceasefire with LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 January 2002, 22:16 GMT]
Efforts to hammer out a permanent stable ceasefire between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka government continued Tuesday as a Norwegian delegation returned to London to meet the LTTE's chief negotiator and political advisor, Anton Balasingham, following discussions with the government in Colombo, sources close to the LTTE said.
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Tamils, SLA mull truce implications

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 December 2001, 13:03 GMT]
A "real" ceasefire will not come into effect until the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers negotiate and agree on "concrete modalities" of how it would be observed, military sources in Colombo said Saturday. The Sri Lankan security forces will desist from launching offensives and search operations during the cessation of hostilities declared Friday by the United National Front government, the sources added. A Sri Lanka army officer in the east said that the Tigers cannot enter areas controlled by the military with their personal weapons. "During the cessation of hostilities, we will fire only if we are provoked and we will take defensive action", the officer said.
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TNA urges Prime Minister to respect Tamils' verdict

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 20:17 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Friday appealed to the Prime Minister to respect the verdict of the Tamil voters in the Northeast province at the last parliamentary election. A TNA delegation Friday evening told the Prime Minister that "the Tamil voters in the Northeast have very substantially endorsed the policy enunciated in the election manifesto of the TNA, despite the numerous hardships, restrictions and denial imposed upon them even in respect of the exercise of their franchise. The TNA looks forward to the early commencement of the visible implementation of the policy envisaged in its manifesto".
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Colombo announces month long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 December 2001, 12:38 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government Friday responded to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers by announcing a ceasefire from midnight 24 December to 24 January. The month long ceasefire declared by the LTTE also comes into effect from the midnight of 24 December. The United National Front government sources said that the ceasefire announcement was initially expected to be made Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s return from Delhi.
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PTA regulations not conducive for talks - Selvam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 December 2001, 14:14 GMT]
“The United National Front government should take steps remove the Prevention of Terrorism Act and to release Tamil political prisoners if it wants to positively and constructively respond to the ceasefire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers and restore normalcy in the north and east”, Selvam Adaikalanathan MP in a statement Thursday welcoming the LTTE’s truce announcement. “We see the PTA as a serious obstacle to the peace process because the armed forces would remain empowered under its provisions to arrest and detain members of the LTTE even during the period of mutual truce”, he told Tamilnet. The Liberation Tigers were banned under the PTA after the Emergency lapsed in October when the People’s Alliance lost its majority in Parliament.
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LTTE declares month-long ceasefire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 December 2001, 10:40 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official statement issued Wednesday from its headquarters in Vanni, northern Sri Lanka, announced the declaration of a month long “unilateral cessation of hostilities” as a goodwill measure during the festive season “to facilitate and promote initiatives towards a peace process.” The LTTE’s observation of cease-fire begins at midnight on Christmas Eve, 24 December 2001, the organisation said in a press release. The LTTE said if the Sri Lankan government "reciprocates positively to our goodwill gesture and ceases armed hostilities against our forces and takes immediate steps to remove the economic embargo and other restrictions," it will favourably consider extending the period of cease-fire.
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Sampanthan tells new PM to fulfil TNA demands

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 December 2001, 22:04 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday told the new Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe that it would stick to its demands defined in its election manifesto in evolving a just and durable solution to the Tamil national question.
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"Tamil parties' alliance formed to support liberation struggle"-TULF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 October 2001, 18:45 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front said Sunday that the Tamil parties' alliance has been formed to muster support of the Tamil people and their political forces for the freedom-struggle of the Liberation Tigers in and out parliament and not aimed at elections."The time has now come for all the Tamil political forces in the northeast to unite under one banner to give full support for the militants who are involved in the freedom struggle," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the chief candidate of the Tamil parties' alliance for the Trincomalee district addressing alliance activists Sunday morning at his residence.
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Tamil parties sign MOU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 October 2001, 17:42 GMT]
Leaders of the Tamil parties' alliance Saturday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to contest the forthcoming general election under one symbol. Mr.R.Sampanthan on behalf of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr.N.Kumarakuruparan on behalf of All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Mr.N.Sri Kantha on behalf of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and Mr.Suresh Premachandran of behalf of Eelam Peoples' Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF-Suresh wing) have signed the MOU.
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ACTC disrupts Tamil unity moves again

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 October 2001, 19:40 GMT]
Hectic negotiations to cement a common Tamil front ran aground again Sunday night when Mr. Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, the leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) refused to contest the general elections on 5 December under a common symbol in Jaffna. The ACTC leader told a private radio station earlier in the day that his party had decided to contest as a constituent of a Tamil national alliance. However, when the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation and the Tamil United Liberation Front met the ACTC Sunday night to finalise details of the Tamil alliance, Mr. Vinayagamoorthy insisted that his party cannot contest under a common symbol in Jaffna. "That's where the need is greatest for us to stand united as one nationalist force in order to defeat the anti-Tamil forces which are spreading their tentacles in the peninsula," said Selvam Adaikalanathan, the leader of the TELO.
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"Will oppose any govt. if no solution to Tamil problem" -Selvam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 October 2001, 21:04 GMT]
"This government has been waging a relentless war on my people without solving their problem. We have therefore been trying to bring this government down. Today the time is ripe for it. We would take the same stand against any government in Sri Lanka that tries to wage war on our people", said 'Selvam' Adaikalanathan, MP, the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, commenting on the current political crisis in the island, Wednesday evening.
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Tamil MPs walk out in protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 September 2001, 08:53 GMT]
The MPs of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) and the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) walked out in protest when the bill on the 17th amendment to Sri Lanka's constitution was presented by the Prime Minister in the Parliament Monday morning. Tamil parties are protesting that the government is rushing the 17th amendment according to the dictates of the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna by ditching the effort to find a solution to the ethnic problem. "For more than fifty years you did not take any interest in solving the Tamil question. If you continue to ignore our problem in this manner, a united Sri Lanka would soon be a thing of the past," said Selvam A. Adaikalanathan, MP for Vanni, addressing the house before walking out with other Tamil MPs.
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TULF says ceasefire offer a "ploy"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 August 2001, 14:26 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front Thursday said that the Sri Lankan Government's offer of a truce with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is a ploy to deceive the Tamil people. Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham, TULF parliamentarian Thursday said the ceasefire offer made by the Sri Lankan Government soon after the breakdown of the talks between two main parties is an attempt to hoodwink Tamil political parties and the Tamil people.
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LTTE rejects government offer as 'calculated ploy'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 August 2001, 09:06 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday rejected the Sri Lankan government's offer of a "mutually agreed ceasefire" as "a calculated political duplicity to divert the attention of the people and the world from the deepening crisis in Colombo." Mr. Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and political advisor of the LTTE told TamilNet Thursday that "the LTTE is not prepared to enter into negotiation with a corrupt, inefficient, unstable government which does not have a majority in Parliament."
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