Dengue fever spreads in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 January 2004, 00:07 GMT]
Dengue fever is spreading throughout the Batticaloa district, with about 10 people in the district dead from the disease within the last two months, and in the first five days of the new year, already 5 people have developed the fever, the director of the Batticaloa teaching hospital, Dr. S. Thevarajan, told TamilNet.
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Sri Lanka’s peace bid takes another nosedive

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 January 2004, 09:58 GMT]
The Sri Lanka’s stalled efforts to end two decades of war with the Liberation Tigers took another nosedive Wednesday when Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said he wanted to pull out of the ceasefire agreement he signed in February 2002. His stand has thrown President Chandrika Kumaratunga on the horns of a perilous dilemma. Picking up the gauntlet Mr. Wickremesinghe has thrown is fraught with grave risks for her. She has to either re-negotiate a new ceasefire agreement with the Tigers herself or hand back the three ministries she took over from Prime Minister in November last year.
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Colombo hasn't spent a cent on Jaffna - GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 06:29 GMT]
TamilNet publishes the relevant parts of the speech by Government Agent of Jaffna at a meeting in Chavakachcheri on 27 December 2003 where he asserted that the Sri Lankan government “did not spend a red cent” on rehabilitation in the northern peninsula in the last two years. TamilNet is publishing the audio file of the GA’s speech on account of the seriousness of the allegations he had to make against TamilNet on ‘advice of Sri Lanka’s Minister for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees’. The statement in question can be indubitably verified from the audio files we have published today.
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Jaffna Hindu priests urge Vajpayee to change stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2004, 15:46 GMT]
Hindu priests in Jaffna have appealed to India’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that his government should change its stand on the Tamils in the northeast and should fully contribute to the process of achieving their rights, a spokesman for their body told TamilNet Saturday. He said the Jaffna based International Hindu Priests’ Forum sent a letter Friday to Mr. Vajpayee, expressing distress that Delhi is siding with Sinhala leaders while following an adverse policy towards the aspirations of the Tamils.
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Jaffna village asks SLA to open access road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 12:02 GMT]
Men, women and children from Koilamanai, a farming village near Kodikamam in Jaffna, sat in protest at the entrance of the Thenmaradchi Divisional Secretary’s (DS) office in Chavakachcheri Thursday demanding that the Sri Lanka army should vacate a camp blocking the only access road to their area. Koilamanai residents say that since the SLA completely blocked off the road in 2000, they have been using a footpath through private properties. This footpath has to be closed soon because owners of the properties are now resettling there, they say.
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Jaffna GA denies TamilNet report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 11:01 GMT]
In a letter sent to Sri Lanka’s Minister of Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and forwarded to TamilNet "on advise of the Hon. Minister Prof. Jayalath Jeyawardena, MP," the GA, Mr. S. Pathmanathan categorically denied stating that the government of Sri Lanka “had not spent a red cent for rehabilitation and development in Jaffna for the last two years” at a meeting in Chavakachcheri on 27 December. The TamilNet correspondent who covered the meeting and took photographs of the event said he stands by his story.
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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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Postmortem of xenophobia

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 18:10 GMT]
The preliminary report by the Sri Lanka Police on the rioting at the funeral of the Buddhist monk, Ven. Gangodawila Soma, was handed over to the Inspector General of Police this weekend. Five persons were severely assaulted by angry Sinhala Buddhist mourners at the funeral. Four of these were attacked because they looked like Tamils. But all of them were later confirmed to be Sinhala Buddhists, Police sources said. The crowd assaulted the fifth after it identified him as a Christian.
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Jaffna missing persons's parents protest in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 December 2003, 10:23 GMT]
Parents, wives and children of persons who went missing after being arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1996-97 demonstrated in front of Sri Lanka's Ministry of Justice Monday. In a memorandum to the Minister of Justice they allege that the disappearances were part of a “well planned plot” by the Sri Lanka army “in conjunction” with a Tamil paramilitary group. Mr.S. Satkunam, the secretary of the Missing Persons Guardian Association, was questioned by Sri Lanka Police who wanted the demonstrators to disperse.
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Jaffna fishermen want 19th century lighthouse rebuilt

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 December 2003, 14:22 GMT]
“We need two lighthouses on this coast to help the deep-sea fisheries industry that’s trying to find its feet now - after dwindling to nought during 20 years of Sri Lanka army and navy imposed bans, restrictions and neglect”, spokesman for the Vadamaradchi East Federation of Fishermen’s Co-operative Societies told TamilNet Sunday. The only lighthouse on this long fisheries coast in Jaffna was destroyed when the Sri Lanka army bombed it in 1996, according to local fishermen. The British built the Vettilaikerni lighthouse in 1870.
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Rejection of ISGA reflects sad pattern of Sri Lankan conflict - Prof.Oberst

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2003, 15:07 GMT]
In a 'written extended version' of a talk presented at the International Center for Ethnic Studies (ICES), Colombo, a full text of which was sent to TamilNet, Prof.Oberst of Nebraska Wesleyan University says that rejection of LTTE's Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposal by a number of political parties reflects "a sad pattern of Sri Lankan conflict." He adds that several issues raised in ISGA are "relatively easy to resolve," and other serious issues need to be resolved during negotiations between the two sides.
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LTTE’s starts intensive AIDS awareness drive in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 December 2003, 08:06 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers began an intensive AIDS awareness campaign in Jaffna this week. Hundreds of local volunteers and members of the political division of the Liberation Tigers are going to every village and town in Jaffna daily to create awareness among the people about the dangers of AIDS. “We cannot let AIDS spread in Jaffna. It is a threat to our society. So we decided to nip it in the bud. We urge everyone’s cooperation to make people aware of the real nature of problem”, Mr. Daya Master, the LTTE media co-ordinator told TamilNet Saturday.
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LTTE, CEB jointly act against illegal electricity usage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 December 2003, 20:21 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are jointly working with the Ceylon Electricity Board to detect illegal electricity usage in LTTE-controlled areas of Batticaloa district. In recent months, the LTTE has caught and issued warnings to those who use wires to tap electric power lines illegally in Karadiyanaru and confiscated the wires, sources said.
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Hospital struggles without adequate medical supplies

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 19:51 GMT]
Senior Physician at the Kaluvanchikudi Hospital in Batticaloa district, Dr.S.Vaseekaran, told TamilNet that although there has been steady increase in the number of patients, lack of medical supplies in the hospital has seriously hampered providing proper medical care to the patients.
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Parents of missing Jaffna youth to meet Sri Lanka’s President

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 14:13 GMT]
The parents and relatives of the young men and women who went missing after they were arrested by the Sri Lanka army in Jaffna in 1996-97 have been invited by President Chandrika Kumaratunga for a meeting with her on 31 December, a spokesperson for the Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) said Wednesday. Members of the MPGA and the Jaffna Mother’s Front will travel to Colombo in a bus provided by Sri Lanka’s Minister for Hindu Affairs, Mr. T. Maheswaran.
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SLA closes Muhamalai point at usual time

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 14:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka army closed the only entry point to Jaffna on the A9 highway at the usual hour on Wednesday evening despite the announcement by the Liberation Tigers that they would have their side of the border open until 9.30 p.m. for the convenience of people travelling to the peninsula on Christmas Eve and Christmas. A Sri Lanka army officer at the SLA’s Muhamalai entry point told TamilNet’s Jaffna correspondent Wednesday evening that there were no orders from his high command to reciprocate the LTTE’s gesture for Christmas and New Year.
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HSZs not a matter for GA - Maj. Gen. Chandrapala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 08:10 GMT]
Maj. Gen. Susil Chandrapala, the new Sri Lankan security forces commander for Jaffna, told TamilNet Wednesday that the question of Sri Lanka army high security zones in Jaffna is not a matter for the district’s Government Agent but it is one that’s under his purview. He was speaking to the local press after a meeting between civilian officials and the military at the Jaffna District Secretariat Wednesday morning.
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Colombo-Batticaloa train service restarted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 December 2003, 00:00 GMT]
The train service between Colombo and Batticaloa has been restarted and the first train from Colombo reached Batticaloa Tuesday morning. The train started its return journey in the evening on the same day, sources said.
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Tigers to open more hours for X’mas , New year

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 10:51 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will keep their entry points to the Vanni open until 9.30 p.m. for Christmas and New Year for the convenience of the people during the festive season, Mr. Daya Master, the LTTE spokesman told TamilNet Tuesday. The entry points are normally open from 7 a.m. to 5.30 p.m. The LTTE’s entry points at Muhamalai, Puliyankulam and in Mannar would be open to the public until 9.30 p.m. on 24 and 25 of and 31 December and on 1 January 2004.


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Indian coast guard escorts boats to Jaffna seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 December 2003, 16:37 GMT]
The Indian coast guard escorted ten fishing boats from Tamil Nadu to Sri Lanka’s maritime boundary in the Palk Strait Monday. The Indian fishing boats were received by the Sri Lanka Navy and were guided to the island of Delft (Nedunthivu) off Jaffna Monday evening.
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