CTTU protests delay in Tamil text book distribution

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2005, 13:29 GMT]
Twenty thousand member strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) has brought to the notice of Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge that Education department officials are discriminating the Tamil medium students in distribution of free text books thereby violating the principle of equal opportunity in education, civil sources said. Ms Kumaratunge also holds the portfolio of Ministry of Education.


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JVP sets up illegal Sinhala settlements, Trincomalee tense

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2005, 11:48 GMT]
Tension is mounting in the eastern port city of Trincomalee Thursday as members of radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major constituent of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, attempt to construct small houses to settle Sinhalese people in State land in a portion of the esplanade of the urban council in the heart of Trincomalee town, civil sources said. Tension escalated Thursday afternoon as groups of Tamil youth blocked traffic by placing blockades on roads protesting the encroachment.
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Tsunami hit Southern Muslims allege discrimination in relief

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 February 2005, 18:11 GMT]
Officials of the Hambantota Dharma Kabir Mosque administration told a group of Jaffna journalists last weekend that more Muslim civilians had died in tsunami and the figures disclosed by the Sri Lanka government authorities are not reflecting the actual deaths of Muslims in the Hambantota district. A twenty-member team of Jaffna journalists visited Hambantota as a goodwill gesture to see the sufferings of the tsunami affected Muslim people in the south, sources said.
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No Tamil Unit in Central Education Ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 February 2005, 03:59 GMT]
Tamil and Muslim educationists have expressed serious concern that despite assurances given by Education Ministry Secretary, Dr.Tara de Mel, a separate Tamil Administration Unit has not been established in the Central Ministry of Education. Development of Tamil medium education has been severely hampered by the absence of this unit, the educationists complained.
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Institutional Decay perpetuated ethnic conflict- Don

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 February 2005, 13:36 GMT]
Noting that from 1950s Sri Lanka's politicians resorted to ethnic outbidding to attain power and in doing so systematically marginalised the country's minority Tamils, Dr Neil Devotta from Hartwick College New York, in an article published in Nations and Nationalism, argues that "institutional decay. which was produced by the dialectic between majority rule and ethnic outbidding, was what led to Tamil mobilisation and an ethnic conflict that has killed nearly 70.000 people over the past twenty years."
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Radical decentralization of relief work needed, TNA tells Dutch FM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 February 2005, 12:49 GMT]
A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) told the Foreign Minister of the Netherlands, Mr. Bernard Bot, when they met him Thursday that Colombo's attempt to centralize the rehabilitation work has not worked as experience from the last six six weeks clearly show that hardly any progress has been made in the restoration of the lives of the affected people. "The continuance of the present method of functioning could only result in further deterioration, and that it was imperative that the government urgently set up the required mechanism in the Northeast." the TNA delegation further told the visiting Netherland FM.


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TRO supplies relief to Trinco railway employees

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 January 2005, 19:30 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Sunday afternoon distributed relief materials to the families of about fifty eight-government railway workers comprising all three communities who are working in the Trincomalee railway station. TRO came to the rescue of these families on representation made to it that the government authority concerned in Trincomalee had refused to provide them with relief since Tsunami hit their quarters on December 26, trade union sources said.
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Rebuilding Trinco fishing industry discussed

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 January 2005, 03:09 GMT]
"International community has understood the need for an administrative authority to channel foreign aid to the Tsunami devastated northeast province. Foreign funds are likely to be available for the reconstruction of northeast through an authority or for the implementation of identified specific projects. Hence we can expect an equitable proportion of foreign aid to Tsunami destroyed northeast province," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district parliamentarian and the parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) addressing a conference on rebuilding Tsunami destroyed fishing industry in Trincomalee district, sources said.
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"Loss of children has shaken us"- Thamilini

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 January 2005, 06:45 GMT]
"When we lose cadres in battles we strengthen our will to hit back at the enemy. The Tsunami losses are different, especially the loss of children has shaken us deeply. I have seen mothers carrying dead babies in their hands who refuse to accept that they are dead. They continued to kiss and caress them as if they were alive. This has been a difficult time for us," said Ms. Thamilini, the head of the LTTE’s women political wing talking to TamilNet correspondent in Amparai after the Tsunami disaster.
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Seruvila Tamil villages overlooked in relief distribution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 January 2005, 16:05 GMT]
About 450 families numbering around 1000 persons in Upooral and Cheenanveli, two remote Tamil coastal villages in the Sinhala dominated Seruvila division in the Trincomalee district are not provided with dry rations and other relief by the Sri Lanka government and the World Food Programme since Tsunami hit the areas. These two villages are in the LTTE controlled areas, NGO sources said.


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Centralization, control by armed forces, and equitable aid are incompatible, TNA tells ADB president

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 January 2005, 06:58 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation met the president of Asia Development Bank (ADB), Mr. Tadao Chino, on Sunday and highlighted the context and the developments in the country that are detrimental to the equitable distribution of tsunami relief. The TNA, which has 22 of the 31 parliamentary seats from the northeast, told the president of ADB that the present activities of the government did not represent the democratic will of the people of the northeast and urged the ADB president to ensure that international aid was equitably distributed.
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Macroeconomic approach should govern reconstruction - Don

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 January 2005, 00:53 GMT]
Professor V. Nithyanantham of the Dept. of Economics, Jaffna University, talking to TamilNet on the socio-economic setting in NorthEast and problems facing the residents in the post Tsunami period, said that planners should adopt a macro-economic approach to reconstruction taking into account relevant humanitarian and social factors.
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Military intimidation of relief workers escalate in Amparai, Batticaloa - TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 January 2005, 08:26 GMT]
The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in an urgent press statement issued on Wednesday morning said that the intimidation of relief workers by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) has been escalating in several welfare centres in Batticaloa and Amparai. "The positive relief efforts coordinated by the TRO after the recent devastation are being severely disrupted due to recent STF intervention in the East" said the press release. The organisation said it is in the process of documenting incident reports as they continue to arise.
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Vasudeva criticises army take over of Tsunami welfare centres

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 January 2005, 19:44 GMT]
"Take over of the management of welfare centres sheltering Tsunami victims by the State armed forces is a blatant violation of fundamental rights of refugees," Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, General Secretary of the Nava Samaja Party and a former parliamentarian told TamilNet correspondent in Jaffna Saturday.
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World Bank chief says tsunami assistance could go upto USD one billion

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 January 2005, 19:15 GMT]
Reserving over USD 100 million to Sri Lanka from the existing projects for immediate recovery work and to rebuild the devastated homes and spectrum of livelihood, visiting World Bank chief D. Wolfensohn hinted in Colombo Saturday that the post tsunami relief assistance of the Bank to rebuild the devastated region could well go upto the mammoth USD one billion mark. He said in addition to the already released USD 10 million to Sri Lanka, an emergency credit of not less than USD 75 million, of which 40 percent would be a grant, would be made available to enable the government to begin recovery work.
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Security Forces continue to obstruct NorthEast relief effort- TRO

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 January 2005, 20:42 GMT]
"The Government of Sri Lanka has permitted Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) to engage in rehabilitation and reconstruction work in LTTE controlled as well as military controlled areas of the northeast. But the Special Task Force (STF) is acting as an obstacle to our mission. In Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Thirukovil, the STF personnel grabbed relief supplies from us and diverted them to other refugee camps of their choice," said Mr. K P Reggie, Executive Director of TRO, at the press conference in Colombo on Wednesday evening.
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Rebuilding bridges, roads key to swift recovery- Gajendran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 January 2005, 05:15 GMT]
Speaking to TamilNet after visiting Batticaloa and Ampara Districts, Tamil National Alliance, Jaffna District MP Mr.Selvarajah Gajendran said: "LTTE has the capability to build bridges and lay roads. I request the international community to provide them with equipment and materials through NGOs so that recovery can be swift."
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Urgent need for heavy machinery in Jaffna- Ilamparithy

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2005, 11:24 GMT]
Jaffna District Leader of LTTE Political Wing, S Ilamparithy, talking to TamilNet correspondent in Jaffna said that assistance from Sri Lanka Government in supplying heavy machinery required for removal of debris and to reconstruct badly damaged rural and coastal roads have not reached areas of devastation in Jaffna. This has impeded relief supplies reaching many coastal communities and has stalled speedy recovery from the tsunami disaster, he added.
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LTTE stepping up relief ops in Batticaloa-Amparai - Col. Bhanu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 07:36 GMT]
“Our leader has instructed me to involve all our fighters, medical corps, vehicles, engineering units and other resources in relief and rescue operations in the Batticaloa- Amparai district. He has sent a large number of troops from the north with supplies for this work. The Malathy Infantry Regiment has also arrived along with head of our women’s wing, Ms. Thamilini, and deputy head of political division for Jaffna, Mr. Semmanan, to help Tsunami affected people in this region and alleviate their suffering”, said Col. Bhanu, a senior military officer of the Liberation Tigers who is the overall commander for Batticaloa-Amparai District, in an exclusive interview to TamilNet.
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Sri Lanka mourns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2005, 08:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka observed Friday as a national mourning day to express shock and grief to the deaths due to Sunday's Tsunami that hit the coastal areas in the northeast and the south killing about 30, 000 and rendering around one million homeless. Sri Lanka's National Flag was flown half-mast on government buildings and Thamileelam National Flag was flown half-mast on all political secretariat offices of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the North East, sources said.
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