Parties should look for common ground - Schaffer

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2003, 11:31 GMT]
Teresita Schaffer, former Ambassador of the United States to Sri Lanka and currently Director for South Asia, Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington DC, told TamilNet Wednesday that it was "important for the government [of Sri Lanka] and the LTTE to start looking for common ground" and that she hoped "the current political crisis in Sri Lanka does not disrupt this vital task."


Full story >>

Sri Lanka crisis draws global media attention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 November 2003, 00:10 GMT]
Tuesday’s sacking of key ministers of defense, interior and information by Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and her prorogation of parliament and subsequent declaration of emergency have elicited concerns from several Western governments and prompted global coverage in leading newspapers.
Full story >>

Sinhalese workers arrested in Kilinochchi with T-56 rifle

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 17:51 GMT]
The Thamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS) Thursday arrested two Sinhalese workers of a construction firm engaged in road development on the A-9 highway in Paranthan, with a T 56 rifle concealed in a polythene bag, the Voice of Tigers (VoT) reported Friday in its news broadcast.
Full story >>

SU demonstrates against Sinhala-Tamil cultural meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 13:03 GMT]
Leaders of the extreme Sinhala nationalist party in Sri Lanka, the Sihala Urumaya (SU), members of the Marxist and Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), hundreds of the parties' supporters, including Buddhist monks, held a demonstration in Colombo against the Sinhala-Tamil cultural event being held at the Colombo Town Hall Thursday, sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

LTTE restores Heroes cemeteries for November ceremony

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 12:37 GMT]
Heroes cemeteries in Tharavai in Batticaloa district and Vakarai Kandaladi are being renovated in preparation for the Heroes day ('Maaveerar Naal') celebrations to take place on the 27th November. Work on the heroes day memorials in other parts of Vanni, Jaffna and Trincomalee are also in progress, according to sources.
Full story >>

Police block anti-peace demonstrators reaching Trinco SLMM office

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 14:37 GMT]
The Eastern Peoples' Front, which is locally considered as a front organization of the Sinhala nationalist and Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, Wednesday held a hartal (general shutdown) and demonstration in Trincomalee town against the presence of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the establishment of an Interim Administration for the northeast province, sources said.
Full story >>

Education on Tamil history stressed by Eastern academic

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 October 2003, 16:40 GMT]
Tamil students are forced to learn the history of the Sinhalese, but the history of the Tamils is not part of the subjects taught to them under the current education plan in Sri Lanka, said Ms. Ruby Valentina Francis, a researcher and lecturer at the Eastern University, speaking at the release of a new book titled "Vanniar of Tamil Nadu and Vanniar of Eelam," authored by poet Vellavur Gopal, held Sunday at the Mahajana College hall in Batticaloa, sources in Batticaloa said.
Full story >>

Trinco TRO honors Tamil, Sinhala, Muslim pre-school teachers

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 October 2003, 02:00 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee made history Monday honoring sixty pre-school teachers of all communities -Sinhalese, Tamil and Muslim- under one roof at an event held in connection with the World Teachers' Day at Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel.
Full story >>

Teachers protest 'Sinhalization' of Tamil schools

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 October 2003, 15:11 GMT]
The Twenty thousand-member strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Monday warned that it would launch a massive agitation campaign in collaboration with Tamil political parties if the Western Provincial Council failed to stop posting Sinhalese teachers to Tamil medium schools. The People's Allaince (PA) controls the Western Provincial Council administration.
Full story >>

PNM vows to thwart 'foreign attempt to divide' country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 October 2003, 17:43 GMT]
The leader of the Patriotic National Movement (PNM), Venerable Elle Gunawanse Thera, addressing the public meeting held at the conclusion of the five-day anti-peace march Wednesday said that the majority Sinhalese people will not allow foreign elements now involved in the peace process to divide the country, sources said.
Full story >>

'Tamils disappointed by lack of normalcy' - ACTC leader

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 September 2003, 01:02 GMT]
”The people of Jaffna are a disappointed lot today even after the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding by the United National Front Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," said the Jaffna district parliamentarian and President of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), Mr.A.Vinayagamoorthy, at a seminar held in Trincomalee Sunday evening on the current political situation in the Northeast.


Full story >>

Failure to devolve power will lead to war, secession - Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 September 2003, 15:08 GMT]
"In a multi-ethnic society devolution of powers is an essential pre-requisite to strengthen local administrations. Secession is inevitable if ruling polities fail to recognize this fact. Sri Lanka has to urgently address this issue if its people are to live in peace and to prevent war breaking out," said Mr. S.B.Dissanayake, Samudri and Agriculure and Livestock Minister in the United National Front (UNF) Government when speaking at the Agricultural Conference held at the Devanayagam Co-opertive theater in Batticaloa, Saturday morning.


Full story >>

'GOSL should listen to IDP’s demands' - Ezhilan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 September 2003, 15:11 GMT]
"Those who say that the Ceasefire has brought peace and all problems are solved should go to the refugee camps and see the refugees who cannot return to their homes because of the Sri Lanka Army’s occupation of their lands. Only then they will understand the plight of the internally displaced people (IDP) and the fairness of their demands," said Mr. S. Ezhilan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Vavuniya, speaking at the Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya town Wednesday, sources said.
Full story >>

‘Claims of 13 camps after MoU totally unfounded’ -LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 19:29 GMT]
The Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col. Pathuman, and the district political head, Mr.Thilak, Friday jointly made an appeal to the Sinhalese and Tamil journalists in the Trincomalee district to inform the international community and people of the country that there was not an iota of truth in the allegation spread by anti-peace elements that the LTTE had constructed thirteen new camps in the government controlled areas in the district since the signing of the ceasefire agreement.
Full story >>

Bhikku Front protests against IA for Northeast

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s National Bhikku Front (NBF), an organization of Sinhalese Buddhist monks, Wednesday held a Satyagraha (non-violent demonstration) campaign in thirty major towns, protesting against the establishment of an interim administrative structure for the northeast province, which the NBF said would pave way for the division of the country, sources said.
Full story >>

Akashi holds talks with Thamilselvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 12:05 GMT]
The Japanese special peace envoy Mr.Yasushi Akashi Sunday morning arrived at Killinochchi grounds by a special helicopter of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) accompanied by HE.Mr. Soiiehiro Otsuka, Japanese ambassador in Colombo, and met the Head of the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) S.P. Thamilselvan at the LTTE's Peace Secretariat building, Vanni sources said.
Full story >>

Sinhalese fishermen enter northern sea for fishing

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 September 2003, 11:14 GMT]
Vadamaradchchi fisheries society sources in Jaffna district Saturday complained to the civil authorities concerned that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) is providing security to Sinhalese fishermen from the South who are engaged in fishing in the northern sea close to Vadamarachchi coast.
Full story >>

Plans for Pongu Thamil in Vavuniya moving ahead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 September 2003, 00:04 GMT]
The organizers of the The Pongu Thamil (Tamil upsurge) event in Vavuniya are moving ahead with plans to hold the event on September 24, and have earned widespread support from the Tamil and Muslim people of the area, including strong support from the merchants in Vavuniya and the Vanni district Tamil National Allaince parliamentarians, sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The people of Batticaloa district Friday observed the Black September Day, remembering the Tamil civilians, men, women, and children killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Muslim guards thirteen years ago on September 9 when 158 Tamil civilians who sought refuge in the East University Refugee camp and 184 Tamil villagers from Sathurukondan village disappeared after their arrest by the SLA soldiers, sources in Batticaloa said.


Full story >>

Hakeem’s help sought to block giving Sinhala name to Trinco village

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 September 2003, 20:08 GMT]
The Trincomalee district branch of the Sri Lanka Muslim Teachers' Congress (SLMTC) Tuesday urged the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leader and Minister in the United National Front government, Mr.Rauff Hakeem, to take immediate steps to stop re- naming a traditional Muslim village in the Kinniya division, Vaanaru, with a Sinhalese name, Bandulupura, sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>