LTTE rescues Tamil children exploited by Kuchchaveli fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 17:15 GMT]
Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) recently handed over six Tamil boys who are below 18 years of age to the representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to be handed over to their Batticaloa homes of their parents. LTTE cadres rescued these boys when they fled from fish wadiyas run by Sinhalese businessmen in Kalliravu in Kuchchaveli division in Trincomalee district due to harassment, sources said.


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Workshop on "Sexual Abuse" held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 11:35 GMT]
Mr. Chandra Fernando, Deputy Inspector General of Police Saturday addressing a two-day workshop on "Legal process regarding sexual abuse," organized by the Centre for Law and Society in Jaffna Navalar Cultural Hall said members of police force deployed in the northeast should discharge their duties above racial and other differences and stressed cultural sensitivity to be displayed in handling complaints of sexual abuse.


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Picketers call for release of homeguards

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2004, 01:20 GMT]
A picketing campaign held by a small group of Sinhalese persons in the main conference hall of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee town Thursday from about 11 a.m. demanding the release of two Sinhala home guards arrested with grenades and weapons by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in their controlled areas in Trincomalee district recently, was called off around 8 p.m. when the Police warned them that they would use force, sources said.
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Trinco Inner Wheel Club honours students excelled in A/L exam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 19:17 GMT]
The Inner Wheel Club of Trincomalee at its second anniversary held at the Trincomalee Rotary House honoured fifteen students from Trincomalee town schools who have passed the G.C.E. Advanced Level Examination with three A's.
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Few Tamils to receive graduate training

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 16:56 GMT]
Of the first batch of 17,018 unemployed graduates who are to begin their three-month training programme Thursday at 215 centres in 23 districts excluding Killinochchi and Mullaitivu districts only 2,140 (11.4%) are Tamil medium graduates and the rest 14,883 are Sinhalese. These graduates will be given employment after the training programme, education sources said.
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JVP backed anti-NE merger campaign begins in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 16:55 GMT]
A new campaign ''Awakening East'' organized by a Sinhala nationalist group and backed by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, demanding the de-merger of the northeast province was held Wednesday in Kalmunai Town Hall in Amparai district in the eastern province. The meeting was attended by mainly Sinhalese and by a few muslims, media sources said.
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AI lauds UN Human Rights Committee ruling on missing Tamil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 14:27 GMT]
Amnesty International welcomed the recent ruling by the UN Human Rights Committee in the first case from Sri Lanka submitted under the First Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) concerning the “disappearance” of Thevarajah Sarma in favour of the relatives of the victim. The UN Human Rights Committee has ruled that the Government of Sri Lanka is responsible for the “disappearance” and is under an obligation to provide Thevarajah Sarma’s family with an effective remedy.
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TNA's Southern campaign critical to peace- paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 09:29 GMT]
"The failure of the Tamil leadership during the last half a century to join forces with the progressive forces in the South has been one of the reasons why earlier attempts at a solution were not successful," said an editorial in Thinakkural, welcoming the formation of awareness and advocacy committees by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to conduct a campaign in the South of Sri Lanka on the importance of ISGA, and the aspirations of Tamils.
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Record crowds attend Madhu Church festival

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 15:32 GMT]
The annual festival of Madhu Church concluded Sunday with three Bishops - Thomas Soundaranayagam (Jaffna), Malcolm Ranjit (Ratnapura) and Rayappu Joseph (Mannar) - jointly holding Holy Mass. About three hundred thousand devotees from all parts of the island participated in the final day of the festival of the Madhu Church, which is also called Jungle Shrine, revered by Tamils and Sinhalese, sources said.
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Civil Society Forum supports federal constitution in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 21:06 GMT]
"An Interim Administrative structure should be established in the NorthEast Province on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Thereafter a new constitution based on the fully-fledged federal concept should be formulated. The country would be divided into two in failing to do so," said Civil Socieity Forum Chairman, Dr.Kumar Rupasinghe, addressing a press conference Wednesday at Hotel Nippon in Colombo.
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"LTTE will emerge victorious if SL Government launches war"- Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 16:59 GMT]
"We are certain of victory if the Sri Lanka Government launches a war to occupy our traditional homeland," said Mr.C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing "Confluence (Sangamam)" event of the Jaffna District Tamil Resurgence Forum (JDTRF) held in Nelliyady, a residential town 25km northwest of Jaffna, Saturday.
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White elephant spotted in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 July 2004, 11:31 GMT]
A rare albino elephant has been spotted roaming Sri Lanka's Ruhunu National Park, the first recorded sighting in the country, the website nature.com reported.
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Tamil police officers transferred from Mannar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 July 2004, 17:12 GMT]
Vanni District Tamil National Parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan Tuesday brought to the notice of the Sri Lanka's Inspector General of Police the injustice in transferring four Tamil police officers out of eight without any replacement, sources in Mannar said.


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Not a principled apology- Elilan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 July 2004, 01:33 GMT]
"We regard Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge's public apology for the 1983 pogrom against the Tamils as a deceptive attempt, driven by political expediency rather than principles, to placate the Tamils," said Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) speaking as the chief guest at a public meeting in Trincomalee Sunday evening held at the Welikada Martyrs Memorial Hall in Trincomalee to remember the 21st anniversary of Black July.
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Dissidents within Karuna group killed associates –LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 July 2004, 15:01 GMT]
In a media release Sunday, the Liberation Tigers said that dissidents within the renegade Karuna group killed seven associates of Mr. Vinyagamoorthy Muraleetharan (“Karuna”) because of differences within the group. The dissidents then escaped and surrendered to the Tigers in the Amparai district on Sunday morning, the release said.
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Terror Stalks journalists in the East - RSF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 July 2004, 17:48 GMT]
The French media watchdog Reporters Sans Frontiers (RSF) said Tuesday in special report on threats faced by journalists in Sri Lanka's eastcoast: "The impunity which prevails in cases involving the murder and assault of journalists is seriously jeopardizing press freedom and the peace process in Sri Lanka."
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"View ISGA as the prelude to reunion"- Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 July 2004, 01:58 GMT]
"Many UPFA critics have argued that the LTTE's ISGA proposals are a stepping-stone to secession. But, a government that is serious about negotiated peace in Sri Lanka should also be able to see a negotiated ISGA as the prelude to reunion after years of a secessionist war," said Professor Jeyadeva Uyangoda in a political analysis column that appeared in Friday's Daily Mirror, a daily broadsheet published in Colombo.
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Students grieve over death of school children in the South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 June 2004, 03:08 GMT]
The Trincomalee district branch of the Thamileelam Students Forum Friday issued a statement expressing grief over the tragic deaths of two Sinhalese students who were killed by a passenger bus Wednesday morning in Polgahawela while they were on their way to school, sources said.
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World Refugee Day held in Trincomalee welfare centre

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 June 2004, 00:46 GMT]
The World Refugee Day (WRD) was celebrated in Trincomalee Sunday morning in the welfare centre at Allesgarden, about three km off north of east port town where about 1665 persons of 437 displaced families live since 1993. Trincomalee district head of the UNHCR Ms Brita Helleland made the introductory speech at the event. This year theme of the WRD is "A place to call home: rebuilding lives in safety and dignity," UNHCR sources said.


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Southern intellectuals, artists participate in book release

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 June 2004, 12:54 GMT]
"A letter from Vanni (Vanniye sita liyuma)" and "Voice from the heart of the Silent (Handak Nathiyunge Hathawatha Sakshiye Handa)," two books describing the political and social liberation feelings of the tamil community were launched ceremonially today in Vavuniya with T.Gnanavel, Vavuniya district political head of the LTTE presiding the function at Muthiah Hall, sources in the Northern town said.
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