Vavuniya private bus owners call off strike

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2004, 18:37 GMT]
Vavuniya private bus owners and drivers called off their strike 10 am Friday after discussions with Vavuniya police organized by the Government Agent, Vavuniya, transportation sources said. The strike was called on Wednesday to protest against the danger to bus drivers and passengers in Maravila, Puttalam, where the local residents were alleged to be attacking the buses following an accident in which a Christian Priest was killed and several others injured earlier in the week.
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"Harsini's demise irreparable loss to women liberation"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 January 2004, 15:49 GMT]
North East Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs Saturday said that the untimely death of Trincomalee leading women rights activist Miss Harsini Antonysamy was "an irreparable loss to women liberation movement in the NorthEast province."


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Trinco women rights activist passes away

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 17:38 GMT]
Miss Harsini Antonysamy (26), a leading women rights activist in Trincomalee, died of cancer in a Colombo hospital Friday. She has been the Trincomalee district organizer of the Theatre Action Group of the Jaffna University, sources said.


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Catastrophic fire averted in Vavuniya town

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 January 2004, 03:14 GMT]
A potentially catastrophic fire at the petrol station located at the intersection of Jaffna-Kandy road and Mannar road in Vavuniya town, Thursday night, was prevented by the timely action of alert Police officers, sources said.
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Tigers launch drive to stop drug abuse in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2004, 13:45 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers have launched a concerted campaign against drug abuse and AIDS in the Mannar District, Mr. S. Thangan, deputy leader of the political division of the Liberation Tigers, said Thursday. “Drug abuse has been on the increase in this district in recent times. It will ruin the moral fabric of our society. The problem is acute here because Mannar has become a key transit point for drug smuggling between India and Sri Lanka”, Mr. Thangan told TamilNet. He is currently in Mannar to expedite the campaign.
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Mystery killings in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 18:24 GMT]
Two youth were shot dead by unidentified gunmen in two separate incidents in Vavuniya Sunday.
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Two youths shot dead in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 14:03 GMT]
Justin Fernando, 24, and Theivendran Thushyanthan, 18, of Nellukulam in Vavuniya were shot dead and their partially burnt bodies recovered from Pampaimadu area 31 December Wednesday morning, security sources in Vavuniya said. The youths have been missing from Monday after they went to Pampaimadu to collect sand in their two-wheeler, sources said.


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Curbing rising lawlessness, focus of Vavuniya meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 December 2003, 12:45 GMT]
Vavuniya district Judge M.Illancheliyan, President of Vavuniya Bar Association, M.Sittampalam, Assistant Superintendent of Police for Vavuniya Ranjith Kasturiyarachi and other Police officials met Monday afternoon at the Vavuniya Court House to discuss urgent stratgies to arrest the rising lawlessness in Vavuniya district, said civil sources in Vavuniya. The meeting was organized by the Government Agent (GA) K.Ganesh.


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LTTE to close commercial vehicles section on 30, 31 December

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 18:23 GMT]
The heavy commercial vehicles section of the Liberation Tigers’ customs at the Puliyankulam entry point, 20 kilometres north of Vavuniya, would be closed on the 30 and 31 December, Mr. Daya Master, the LTTE’s media co-ordinator, told TamilNet Monday. He said that the Finance Division of the Liberation Tigers had decided to close the heavy commercial vehicles section of its customs department due to year-end work.


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World Bank funds pharmacist-training programme in NE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2003, 20:00 GMT]
North East Provincial Ministry of Health launched a project called "External Pharmacist Training Programme (EPTP) 2003-2004" to train eligible persons from the NorthEast to qualify as pharmacists to prevent unqualified persons in running the private pharmacies. The project is being implemented under the North East Emergency Rehabilitation Programme (NEERP), funded by the World Bank.


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Parents of Jaffna Missing to Protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2003, 16:13 GMT]
Fifty four mothers and fathers who are Members of Jaffna Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) and Jaffna Mothers Front (JMF) will picket in front of the Justice Ministry and Offices of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in Colombo on Monday and Tuesday, said Subbu Satkunam, president MPGA.
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MGR remembered in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2003, 04:57 GMT]
The 16th death anniversary of the former Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr.M.G.Ramachandran, was commemorated in Vavuniya Wednesday at the Veerasingham Hall at the Multi-Purpose Cooperative Union (MPCU) building. The LTTE’s political head in Vavuniya, Mr. S. Ezhilan, and the Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr. N. Sivasakthi Anandan and several other prominent personalities in Vavuniya participated, sources said.
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Vavuniya youth wins cash award for bravery

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2003, 19:28 GMT]
Richard David Remsy Teroni, a youth from Sivapuram in Vavuniya district was awarded Rs.15,000 for fighting off three burglers who attempted to rob his family home on 6 November and recovering a T-56 rifle from the burglars that was earlier stolen from a Police Division in Mannar road. Vavuniya district Judge gave the cash rewards during the annual Police ceremony held in Vavuniya Urban Council Pavilian Monday.


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Sri Lanka's new IGP sworn in

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2003, 10:25 GMT]
Mr. Indra de Silva was sworn in as Sri Lanka's new Inspector General of Police (IGP) at an official function held at the Police headquarters, Monday. He will function as the IGP till his retirement in February next year, police sources said.
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Stolen statue from Jaffna temple recovered

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 12:34 GMT]
Vavuniya Police Tuesday recovered the statue of Hindu God Ganesh stolen from Kokkuvil Jaffna Pillaiyar Temple when two Kokuvil residents, Balasingham Sivalingam (30) and Sinnarajah Mayooran (29) attempted to smuggle the statue through Omanthai checkpoint, Vavuniya Deputy Police Inspector, P. Pathamanathan said.
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Missing youth last seen arrested by SLA - Witnesses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 December 2003, 05:41 GMT]
Two witnesses told the Vavuniya district court Judge, Mr. M.Ilancheliyan, during court proceedings yesterday that they saw Anthonythas Ariyathas, a youth from Mullaithivu, being arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at the Mullaithivu beach before his disappearance in 25 August 1985, legal sources in Vavuniya said.


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ADB funds new project for North-East rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 December 2003, 18:18 GMT]
A new four-year development project called Conflict Affected Area Rehabilitation Project (CAARP), funded by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), is to be launched in the North and East with effect from January 1st 2004. The objective of the project is to support rehabilitatation of essential infrastructure and restoration of community livelihoods in the most severely conflict-affected areas of the North and East, predominantly in the districts of Jaffna, Mannar, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, CAARP sources said.
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Vavuniya Tamils decry Indian objections to ISGA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2003, 06:27 GMT]
Criticizing the comments made by the former Indian foreign secretary, Mr. M.K. Rasgotra, at a conference in Colombo on December 4, saying that India could not accept the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by the Liberation Tigers, the Federation of Vavuniya Cattle breeders unions said in a statement Friday that the Tamil people would totally reject the opinion of Mr. Rasgotra.
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SLA trooper sentenced to death

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 07:29 GMT]
Vavuniya High Court Judge J.Visvanathan Friday sentenced to death Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier, Dinapalage Jayantha Dinapala, for murdering two brothers, Kanagasabai Kanagalingam, Kanagasabai Kanagendran, and their cousin Thamotharampillai Pulendirarajah, in the village of Chambaikulam in Vavuniya on 03 March 1996, legal sources said.
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LTTE Education Council spotlights NE shortcomings

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 00:01 GMT]
" We earnestly request the international agencies and other authorities to take effective measures to remove the Sri Lanka Army from the areas in the northeast province where schools are located in the high security zones and from the vicinity of schools, so that they can function in a favorable and peaceful atmosphere," the LTTE's Education Council of Thamileelam said in a paper presented at the workshop held in Trincomalee Thursday.
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