TULF urges President to start talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 August 2001, 07:00 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Wednesday urged Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunge to pursue the Norwegian peace initiative and commence negotiations with the Liberation Tigers before framing a new constitution. A press statement issued by the TULF, after meeting the President on Wednesday, said that the party had urged the President to "reconvene Parliament and also not to proceed with the referendum."
Full story >>

TULF branches call on Tamils to oppose referendum

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 August 2001, 16:01 GMT]
The Batticaloa District Branch of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Friday decided to request the Tamil people to vote against the August 21 referendum "to register their protest to the People's Government as it has failed to solve the ethnic problem during its seven year rule". A resolution to this effect was unanimously adopted at the committee meeting of the TULF district branch Friday with Batticaloa parliamentarian Mr.Joseph Pararajasingham in the chair.
Full story >>

Rape protest shuts down North and East

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 July 2001, 09:47 GMT]
Shops, schools, offices, courts and banks were closed and streets were mostly deserted in Sri Lanka's northern province, in the Tamil, Muslim majority areas of the eastern province and in the Tamil towns of the central province Friday in response to a call for a general shut down by the alliance of eleven Tamil parties and by Tamil trade unions to protest against the rape of Tamil women by Sri Lankan security forces. The Tamil parties held a protest demonstration in downtown Colombo Friday.
Full story >>

Ex-SLA commander pays missing youthís parent

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 April 2001, 15:53 GMT]
Lt. Gen. Cecil Waidyaratne, a former commander of the Sri Lanka army Thursday paid 100,000 rupees as directed by Sri Lankaís court of Appeal to the father of a Tamil youth who went missing after he was arrested by the army in the Ampara district in June 1990. The decision of the court of appeal in the Habeas Corpus application on Kandaiah Yoganayagam, 31, is the first instance in which the Sri Lanka armyís high command has been held responsible by the Court of Appeal for the disappearance of a Tamil youth in the Ampara district. Human rights activists and Peace Committees in the district say that more than six thousand Tamil civilians were massacred or reported missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army and the Special Task Force commandos of the Sri Lanka Police in the Tamil villages and hinterland of Ampara between 1990 and 1993.
Full story >>

Jaffna Municipal intrigues spill out

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 April 2001, 16:53 GMT]
A simmering dispute over the dismissal of 36 employees of the Jaffna Municipal Council’s (JMC) Health Department was turned into a political contest and intrigue between the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) and the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Monday in Jaffna town. More than three hundred employees of the JMC went in a procession Monday morning to the Nallur Kandasamy temple in support of the council’s administration. Another group of employees, mostly from the JMC’s health department, marched through the town against the council’s administration. They handed over copies of a memorandum listing their grievances and demands to the Jaffna district judge and the government agent. Later they sat in front of the JMC in a protest fast. The protestors are not demanding their reinstatement but want the TULF administration of the JMC dissolved.
Full story >>

Jaffna Mayor condemns US ambassador's speech

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 March 2001, 17:46 GMT]
Jaffna Mayor Mr.N Raviraj, Thursday said at the monthly meeting of the Municipal Council that he strongly condemns the comments of the US ambassador Ashley Wills on the rights of the Tamils in his speech at the Jaffna public library on 7 March. The Mayor said that the people of Jaffna were very much angered by the US ambassador's attitude.
Full story >>

Tamil parties join hill country protest

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 March 2001, 14:38 GMT]
"Many want the Tamils to be slaves in this country. The Tamils of the north and east have problems and the hill country workers have their problems. We should give a fitting answer to the injustices committed against the estate workers by throwing out those who are trying to oppress us", said Selvam Adaikalanathan MP, the leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation, addressing the Ceylon Worker's Congress' Satyagraha (fast) campaign in Hatton Saturday. The Satyagraha for a 4.5 Dollar raise in monthly wages has been on for 20 days with no solution in sight. It has snowballed into an unprecedented protest movement in Sri Lanka's tea producing hill country, cutting across party and trade union differences. The Ceylon Chamber of Commerce, meanwhile, said that the plantations have lost 400 million rupees so far because of the protest movement.
Full story >>

Indian HC visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 March 2001, 18:43 GMT]
The Indian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka, Mr. Gopalakrishna Ghandi, visited war ravaged Chavakachcheri sector of Jaffna Sunday. Earlier in the morning the high commissioner had discussions with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) MPs for Jaffna Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and Mr. E.R Sivamaharajah and Jaffna Mayor N.Raviraj about the situation in the north. The TULF told Mr. Gandhi that his government should take constructive steps to resolve the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

Mayor condemns pornography distribution in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 March 2001, 12:00 GMT]
The Jaffna Municipal Mayor claims that some powerful elements, with vested interests, are trying to pollute the minds of younger generation in the peninsula by flooding the area with obscene literature and films. Mr.N.Raviraj made this warning when S.Mangalanesan, a Councillor, brought to the notice of the council meeting held Tuesday that some security personnel were seen distributing handbills and films of an obscene nature to youths.
Full story >>

Bribe demands worsen villagers' woes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 February 2001, 01:24 GMT]
Jaffna Municipal Council Mayor Mr.N.Raviraj alleged Tuesday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are demanding bribes from civilians who are seeking permission from the SLA to go back to their war ravaged towns in Thenmaradchchi in Jaffna peninsula to collect personal belongings.
Full story >>

Chavakachcheri not suitable for resettling -Mayor

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 January 2001, 17:15 GMT]
The conditions in Chavakachcheri are not suitable for resettling people although the government and some parties are attempting to do so, said Jaffna Mayor N.Raviraj, returning from a tour arranged by the Sri Lanka army Wednesday. The SLA's 51-2 brigade commander accompanied the mayor, Mr.V.Anandasangaree, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) MP for Jaffna and Mr. S.Aravinthan, member of the Jaffna Municipal Council (TULF).
Full story >>

Urge President too, suggests British HC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 January 2001, 22:11 GMT]
Britain welcomes the unilateral cease-fire by the Liberation Tigers as a positive move in the right direction towards finding a negotiated political solution to Sri Lanka's ethnic problem, the British High Commissioner in Sri Lanka, Ms Linda Duffield, told a delegation of Tamil political parties that met her Wednesday in Colombo. The Tamil parties urged the British HC to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to positively respond to the cease-fire unilaterally declared by the Liberation Tigers as a goodwill measure last month.
Full story >>

"Stop war, start talks" - TULF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2001, 21:49 GMT]
The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Tuesday demanded the Sri Lankan Government immediately stop the war and commence negotiations with the Liberation Tigers so as to find a political solution to the island's protracted ethnic conflict. Mr. V. Anandasangari, Vice President of the TULF was speaking at the swearing in of Nadarajah Raviraj as the new Mayor of Jaffna Municipal Council.
Full story >>

Tamil parties seek Dutch pressure

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 January 2001, 21:48 GMT]
A deputation comprising representatives of several Tamil political parties met the Ambassador of the Netherlands in Colombo Tuesday morning and appealed to him to use his good offices to exert pressure on the Sri Lanka government to reciprocate the unilateral cease-fire offered by the LTTE, Tamil party sources said.
Full story >>

Tamil parties urge US pressure

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 January 2001, 12:59 GMT]
The United States should exert pressure on the Sri Lankan Government to respond positively to the month-long unilateral cease-fire declared by the Liberation Tigers on 24 December, so as to create a climate conducive for negotiations, representatives of several Tamil parties appealed to the US Ambassador in Colombo during a meeting Friday.
Full story >>

TELO, EPRLF reject PA-UNP proposals totally

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 July 2000, 14:03 GMT]
Mr.Suresh Premachandran, the leader of the Eelam People's Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), and Mr.Sri Kantha, leader of the Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO) told Peter Westmacott, Deputy Secretary, British Foreign Office that they totally reject the constitutional reform proposals to solve the ethnic conflict agreed upon by the Sri Lankan government and the United National Party when they met the British official Friday afternoon along with representatives of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), the Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC).
Full story >>

Detained student admitted to hospital

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 June 2000, 21:03 GMT]
A GCE A/L student from Muttur has been detained at the Trincomalee Police Headquarters since last month. While being interrogated by the Police during this period he has been admitted twice to Trincomalee base hospital for medical treatment for injuries inflicted on him, relatives said.
Full story >>

Indian FM meets minority parties

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 June 2000, 12:00 GMT]
The Indian Foreign Minister Mr.Jaswant Singh held separate meetings with the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a group comprising representatives of three hill country Tamil parties and five ex-Tamil militant groups at India House, the official residence of the Indian High Commissioner in Colombo Monday Afternoon. The brief discussions mainly centered around India's role as a mediator, devolution, the plight of civilians in the war zone and the need for a ceasefire. Mr. Singh reaffirmed India's stand on the unity, territorial integrity and sovereignty of Sri Lanka to the Tamil and Muslim delegations during his discussions with the minority parties this afternoon.
Full story >>

Amnesty concerned for Tamil politicians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 August 1999, 23:14 GMT]
Amnesty International, the London based human rights group said today it is concerned for the lives of several politicians belonging to Tamil political parties represented in Sri Lanka's parliament who are said to have received threats from the Liberation Tigers.
Full story >>

Quarterly meetings keep Jaffna council alive

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 1999, 20:35 GMT]
The Jaffna Municipal council was convened today by the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF). The meeting was held at the office of the EPRLF on Hospital street in the high security zone of Jaffna town following PLOTE's refusal to attend the event at the TULF's office for security reasons.
Full story >>