The garrisoned rice bowl

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 13:22 GMT]
Thenmaradchi was Jaffna's rice bowl until three years ago. Today most of the region's fertile rice fields are enclosed by the Sri Lanka army's concertina and mine laden defence perimeter. Thenmaradchi’s main farming villages lie derelict inside this vast garrisoned area hemmed in by the A9 and the Jaffna lagoon. Local farmers have been waging, collectively and individually, what increasingly appears to be a hopeless struggle to gain access to their homes and fields since the Liberation Tigers and Colombo signed a ceasefire agreement in February last year.
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Lt. Col. Thileepan memorial re-opened in Nallur

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 17:53 GMT]
The reconstructed memorial of the late senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Lt.Col. Thileepan, was declared open Monday evening in Nallur, Jaffna town. The memorial was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army troops in 1996 when the SLA captured the peninsula.
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War shattered town seeks freedom to bury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 16:39 GMT]
Three years ago the people of Chavakachcheri saw their town being bombed and shelled into gnarled ruins and dusty rubble heaps. The guns have fallen silent and the fortunate few are keenly rebuilding. But the resettling residents of Chavakachcheri are also eager to enjoy their freedoms long circumscribed by the war – including the right to bury their dead in the town’s cemetery.
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Sencholai hosts CD release by expatriate Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 10:35 GMT]
Archana, a 9 year old Tamil girl born in Norway, released her 12-song Tamil Compact Disc, at a ceremony attended by senior members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organized by the Sencholai Children's Home located in Puthukudiyiruppu in Vanni earlier this month.
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New Sinhala families settled in Nelukkulam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Even as thousands of internally displaced Tamil people are languishing in refugee camps, prevented by the Sri Lanka Army from resettling in their own homes, Sri Lankan government officials with the support of the SLA are actively engaged in recruiting new Sinhala families from the South to settle in lands abandoned by earlier Sinhala occupants in the traditional Tamil village of Nelukkulam in the Manalaru region in the Mullaitivu district, sources said.
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Non-academic University staff in Sri Lanka to strike indefinitely

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 August 2003, 15:44 GMT]
The All-University Non-Academic Staff Unions' Federation (AUNASUF) and six non-teaching staff unions in Sri Lanka will go on a strike indefinitely starting Tuesday, August 12, putting forward a 21-point demand, including the call for a salary review and raise and the payment of a monthly cost of living allowance, sources said.
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‘Tamil question is not a minority issue' – Prof. Uyangoda

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2003, 19:09 GMT]
“The challenge for the future is to reform the Sri Lankan state without generating violence in Sinhala society. And that is a tremendous challenge for any ruling elite in Colombo,” said Prof. Jayadeva Uyangoda, the well regarded political commentator in the Sinhala and English media in Sri Lanka, in a wide ranging interview with TamilNet this week. He emphasised the need for developing means for greater dialogue and engagement between the Tamils and Singhalese to resolve the conflict.
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LTTE denies SLBC report on Kurankupanchan camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2003, 18:25 GMT]
Refuting a news report carried by the State run Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) on its Tuesday night news broadcast, which said that the head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, had arrived at Sampur in the LTTE held Muttur east and was holding discussions with his cadres about dismantling the Kurankupanchan camp, the Trincomalee district political office of the LTTE told TamilNet that its Kurankupanchan camp is still located at the same place without any change, and the report was completely false.
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'SLA's HSZ in Nagarkovil prevents resettlement'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2003, 02:03 GMT]
The Hindu Cultural Affairs Minister in the United National Front government of Sri Lanka, Mr. T. Maheswaran, and the Jaffna government agent (GA), Mr. S. Pathmanathan, Monday morning visited the Nagarkovil area in the Jaffna district to inspect the conditions for resettlement in the area, and said that the conditions there are not yet conducive to resettling people, sources in Jaffna said.
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LTTE’s political office in Vavuniya attacked

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2003, 18:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ political officer for Vavuniya Town was wounded when a grenade was lobbed at the LTTE’s political office in the northern border town Monday night around 11.30 p.m. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, the Sri Lanka army and Police rushed to the spot upon being informed of the grenade attack on the LTTE’s political office in the town.
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Thamilchelvan says doors to peace wide open

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2003, 06:42 GMT]
“The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are keenly studying the proposal for an interim administrative structure sent by the Sri Lankan government although it fails to meet the expectations of the Tamil people”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan addressing more than five thousand troops of the LTTE’s southern front forces on the grounds of ‘Meenaham’, a sprawling military base complex in Tharavai, about 40 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa, late Sunday night.
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US demining team to collaborate with SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 July 2003, 19:39 GMT]
The US de-mining team RONCO is to recommence its de-mining work in the Jaffna district with effect from August 15 in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Army, team leader Mr.Don Smith told TamilNet Monday.
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Retrieving Kannapuram from the jungle’s grip

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2003, 17:43 GMT]
Kannapuram was one of the most prosperous and rich agricultural villages on Sri Lanka’s east coast before it was ransacked and destroyed by the Sri Lanka army (SLA) thirteen years ago. Hundreds of refugees who are returning today to reclaim their homes and paddy fields from the stubborn clutches of the island’s tropical forests face an uncertain future - a military camp is firmly entrenched in the midst of the village and no funds have been granted so far by Colombo to help them resettle.
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Ariyalai skeleton find may lead to more human graves - Judge

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 July 2003, 11:45 GMT]
Jaffna High Court Judge, R.T.Wignarajah, Friday visited the site in Ariyalai Nedunkulam junction, west of Jaffna-Kandy road, where human remains were found recently, and said that there is visible evidence of the existence of three more human graves in the same area, local reports from Jaffna said.
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Move to make SLA camp permanent sparks protest

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 11:25 GMT]
“The effort to establish the Sri Lanka army’s Kallady camp on a permanent basis goes against the grain of the Cease Fire Agreement”, Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, Tamil National Alliance MP, told TamilNet, Wednesday, referring to recent moves by the military to acquire property and land in a suburb on the southern outskirts of the Batticaloa town.
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Bindunuwewa massacre accused receive death sentences

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 14:51 GMT]
Two Sri Lankan Police officers and three Sinhala civilians, accused of involvement in the gruesome massacre of 27 inmates of rehabilitation camp for young Tamil persons on October 2000, were sentenced to death Tuesday by a three member bench Trial at Bar, legal sources in Colombo said.
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Record crowds throng Jaffna Pongu Thamil rally

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 June 2003, 12:33 GMT]
Around hundred and fifty thousand people crammed the Jaffna Medical College grounds and its environs for the Pongu Thamil rally Friday said the organisors of the event. Pongu Thamil calls for the immediate return of thousands of homes and lands occupied by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the northern peninsula. The Pongu Thamil flame was lit by the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University Prof. S. Mohanadas. Buddhist nuns, monks and two officials from the Sri Lankan Prime Minister’s office were among the special guests.
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LTTE complains of SLA ceasefire violation in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) made a complaint to the head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has violated the ceasefire agreement by attempting to enter Kurankupanchchan area, which is in under LTTE's control, LTTE Trincomalee district political head Mr.S.Tilak told Tamilnet Thursday.


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Jaffna’s crippled fisheries industry strapped for cash

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 June 2003, 02:18 GMT]
Two decades ago the Jaffna district was Sri Lanka’s main fisheries producer, accounting for 37 percent of the island’s total catch. Today Jaffna’s ‘fisheries belt’ lies inside the Sri Lanka army’s largest high security zone in the northeast, its once prosperous coastal villages virtually razed to the ground.
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Peace talks to resume soon - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2003, 04:27 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) this week sent a positive signal to the Sri Lankan government that the peace negotiations, stalled for the past few months, would resume soon once the Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s administration submits concrete proposals for an interim administration.


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