Hidden hand behind murder of disabled cadres- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 14:11 GMT]
“The murder of our disabled cadres is clearly the work of criminal elements that are working with the Sri Lanka army. I have requested the SLMM to arrange an early meeting with the SLA to discuss this matter. I hope this would be the last incident of this sort. No one could have gone in a van with arms at midnight in the direction of Vavunathivu without the SLA’s knowledge. There are no jungles in these parts to hide a van and armed men”, said Mr. Kousalyan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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Seven Tigers killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 08:44 GMT]
Seven Liberation Tigers were killed by an unidentified armed group in Batticaloa Sunday night around 11.30 p.m. Four of the murdered LTTE cadres were invalids, sources said. They were killed at Ponnaankaanichenai, about 1.5 kilometres from the Sri Lanka army's point northwest of Batticaloa town. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE's political division in Batticaloa told truce monitors from the eastern town that the group that killed the seven Tiger cadres had come from the direction of the Sri Lanka army camp in Vavunathivu.
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LTTE hands over 6 cadres to parents in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya on Wednesday handed over six youths, who had joined the LTTE a few months back on their own, to their parents, sources said.
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Youth attacked in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2004, 10:36 GMT]
Rajendrakumar (26), a resident of Marambaikulam in Vavuniya district, was severely beaten by unknown assailants at his home yesterday, sources in Vavuniya said. He has been admitted to the Anuradhapura hospital and is receiving treatment for his injuries, hospital sources said.
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New surgical unit commissioned in Trinco general hospital

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 09:57 GMT]
A modern surgical unit installed with central air-conditioning plant constructed at a cost 7.7 million rupees in the Trincomalee General Hospital was commissioned Tuesday by the NEPC Health Ministry Mr.R.M.S.Ratnayake. This was the first time in the northeast province a hospital that comes under the provincial ministry of health was provided with such facility, provincial health officials said.


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TNA MPs, Pirapaharan discuss peace talks, ISGA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 10:33 GMT]
“The Tamil people voted for you on the basis of the principles of Tamil nationalism. You should understand their feelings and work to realise their aspirations. Love for one’s country comes from one’s love for home, family, village and region. In this sense I encouraged love for one’s region, as it is necessary to strengthen a liberation struggle. But it is dangerous when the affection for one's region is exploited for selfish motives”, said Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, speaking to 22 MPs of the Tamil National Alliance at the LTTE’s political division headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday.
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NECORD strengthens northeast rural banking system

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 02:24 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) funded North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) Project Director Mr.T.Lankaneson Monday signed agreements with the Presidents of nine district multi purpose co-operative societies to strengthen the co-operative rural banking system in the NorthEast. NECORD officials hope to revive the rural economy of the war torn province, sources said.


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NECORD to revive rural bank system in northeast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2004, 00:01 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank (ADB)-funded North East Community Organization for Restoration and Development (NECORD) has formulated a scheme at a cost 10.4 million rupees in collaboration with North East Provincial Department of Co-operatives to strengthen the co-operative rural banks in the war-torn province, thus reviving the rural economy devastated in the two-decade-old war, sources said.
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SL Police attack IDPs at Vavuniya Welfare Center

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 16:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s police and home guards on Tuesday intervened in a private family quarrel and attacked a father and son with knives and an axe at the Sithamaparapuram Welfare center for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Vavuniya, and the victims were admitted at the Vavuniya hospital, sources in Vavuniya said.
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LTTE, SLA agree to restore relations in Batticaloa-Amparai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 12:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army held discussions Wednesday afternoon on restoring relations in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts in Vavunathivu, 5 kilometres northwest of the Batticaloa town. Col. Thambirajah Ramesh, the Special Commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai District, led the LTTE delegation. Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Maj. Gen. (ret) Tronde Furuhovde chaired the meeting. Asked whether the issue of renegade LTTE commander Karuna’s whereabouts was raised at the meeting, Col. Ramesh and Maj. Gen. (ret) Furuhovde replied in the negative.
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Tamil New Year Day to be held in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 April 2004, 17:13 GMT]
A provincial level Tamil New Year Day celebration organized by the North East Provincial Education and Cultural Ministry in collaboration with the Vavuniya Suththananda Hindu Young Men Association, called in Tamil as " SITHIRAPAVAI," is to be held in Vavuniya on April 16th, sources said. The Tamil-Sinhala New Year Day dawns on Tuesday (April 13th).
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BASL honours senior human rights lawyers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2004, 14:38 GMT]
The Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) has honoured seven senior lawyers, Mr.K.Sivapalan of Trincomalee, Ms. Shantha Abimannasingham of Jaffna, Ms C.M.Balalle of Maho, Mr.M.Sittampalam of Vavuniya, and Mr.A.L.M. Hashim of Kegalle, Mr. Ashoka Mahadiulweve of Anuradhapura and Mr. Marshal Perera of Badulla, with the honorary title " Senior Legal Aid Counsel."
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TNA MPs from Vanni pay homage to LTTE martyrs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 21:01 GMT]
The newly elected Tamil National Alliance MPs from the Vanni district Monday visited the martyr’s cemetery of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Eachankulam in Vavuniya and paid their respects to the LTTE cadres who died fighting for the Tamil people, vowing "to work hard for the ideals for which the martyrs have sacrificed their lives," sources in Vavuniya said.
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Batticaloa polling, high in Muslim areas, low in Tamil areas

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 08:34 GMT]
Brisk polling is reported in Muslim areas such as Kattankudy, Oddamavadi and Eravur in Batticaloa district and low polling in Tamil areas till one p.m. Friday, Batticaloa District Returning Officer Mr.S.Punnyamoorthy said
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Thousands from Vanni vote in Omanthai, Uyilankulam, Madhu

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 07:50 GMT]
Thousands of enthusiastic voters from the Mullaithivu district and the northern parts of the Vavuniya district which are controlled by the Liberation Tigers swarmed to polling stations in Omanthai Friday morning to cast their ballots. More than thirty percent of the fifty two thousand voters in Mullaithivu had cast their votes by 10 a.m. according to the chief returning officer for the district, Ms. Imelda Sukumar. Omanthai, a dilapidated town surrounded by Sri Lankan military garrisons is eighteen kilometres north of Vavuniya town.
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Pre-school Committees to be elected in the North-East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 23:15 GMT]
Elections of 13-member executive committees of the Pre-school Education Development Centre (PSEDC) are being held throughout North-East, and Committee members will be elected from General Councils comprising parents, administrators, teachers and government officers from Education and Health Departments, Pradeshiya Sabahs (regional councils) and Non-Governmental Organisations, the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said in a statement Thursday.
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Voters in LTTE-held Vanni arrive in Puliyankulam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 17:33 GMT]
Twenty thousand voters in remote areas in the Mullaithivu district have been brought to the Liberation Tigers’ checkpoint in Puliyankulam until Thursday evening for voting in the general elections on Friday at the clustered polling stations in Omanthai, about 10 k.m. south of Puliyankulam, said Mr. S. Elilan, the political head of the LTTE in Vavuniya.
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Omanthai SLA checkpoint gets electricity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 06:02 GMT]
Transport arrangements for the more than 100,000 voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas in the Vanni and Jaffna districts for the elections to be held on Friday are being completed, with a resting place in Puliyankualm and voting booths close to Omanthai and Muhamalai check points of the Sri Lanka Army, officials from the Elections Department said. As part of these arrangements, electricity supply was ceremonially inaugurated to the Omanthai checkpoint complex of the SLA on Wednesday.
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Businesses close as Jaffna Tamils leave Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 11:01 GMT]
Businesses belonging to Tamils from Jaffna remain closed in Batticaloa, Chenkalady, Kaluwanchikudi, Pandiriuppu and Kalmunai areas as the owners left the area on the orders of renegade commander Karuna said sources in Batticaloa.
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"Thanthai” Chelva remembered on 106th birthday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 04:15 GMT]
The 106th birthday of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, falls on Wednesday. Tamils in the country, who still fondly remember Mr. Chelvanayakam as “Thanthai (father) Chelva,” will celebrate the late leader's birthday Wednesday at a time when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is contesting the forthcoming general elections on the ITAK ticket, with its HOUSE symbol revived after 37 years, political sources said.
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