Tamil leader Kumar Ponnambalam remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 March 2003, 18:07 GMT]
Tamils should join hands irrespective of party politics to defeat the forces that are now rallying round in the south against the peace process, said a political activist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Mr.Vennilavan addressing the third death anniversary of late All Ceylon Tamil Congress leader Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam at Nelliyady Rajaledchumi Theatre Sunday.
Full story >>

Jaffna remembers late Tamil leader G.G.Ponnambalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 February 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The twenty sixth-death anniversary of the late Tamil leader Mr.G.G.Ponnamabalam, the founder president of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) and a popular leader of Tamils in the 50s was observed in Jaffna today, according to sources in Jaffna.
Full story >>

'Independence celebrations not for Tamils' -JSU

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 February 2003, 23:04 GMT]
In a statement issued Monday on the eve of the country's fifty-fifth independence day, the Jaffna Students' Union (JSU) questioned the reluctance of the United National Front government in removing high security zones and rehabilitating the displaced people at a time when there is a peaceful environment in the country, and said that the Tamil people have been denied the benefits of independence the country gained 55 years ago.
Full story >>

Jaffna committee on resettlement to commence work

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 January 2003, 18:48 GMT]
The twenty one-member Jaffna district committee appointed to look into the question of resettling displaced in areas outside high security zones is to commence its work Thursday. This decision was taken at a conference held at the Jaffna district secretariat Wednesday, sources said.
Full story >>

Political solution in Sri Lanka said constitutionally impossible

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 January 2003, 23:09 GMT]
“The nationhood of Tamils and their right to self-determination are non-negotiable. Any political solution that might emerge out of the ongoing peace process cannot go below these. The territory of Northeast is part of the identity of the Tamils of this country. We don't need historical proof for this. We don't need anyone's recognition or consent to exercise our right of self-determination. It is the birthright of each and every nation,” said Mr.V.T.Thamilmaran, senior lecturer in law in the University of Colombo, delivering the third Kumar Ponnambalam Memorial Speech in Jaffna Sunday.
Full story >>

CTTU leads Rights Conference in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 December 2002, 17:51 GMT]
"Human rights abuses in Sri Lanka abound because people refuse to accept other people's views. If every community develops the mindset to listen and understand views of others, there would be no war and destruction," said Mr. K. Velayutham, the Badulla district member of parliament (MP), speaking at a conference on "Human Rights and Democracy" in Batticaloa today.
Full story >>

Assessing progress of Chemmani investigations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 November 2002, 18:42 GMT]
Amnesty International said in 1997 that as many as 600 people who "disappeared" in the Jaffna peninsula after the Sri Lankan Army moved into the area in 1996, "died under torture or been deliberately killed." A soldier involved in the crimes alleged that Chemmani was where bodies of those disappeared were clandestinely buried. However, the Chemmani mass grave investigation has become a victim of the judicial limbo common in Sri Lanka when powerful interests are implicated. Ethnic politics and the fallout of an active war have also contributed to the lack of forward movement in the case.
Full story >>

SLN, SLA reject requests to fish, resettle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 October 2002, 17:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army and Navy Tuesday refused to open the main road along the peninsula’s southeastern coast, refused to allow free access to the lagoon within the limits of the Jaffna town and rejected a request by an MP to relocate defence positions at the Tellipalai Junction to facilitate refugee resettlement.
Full story >>

People's predicament first says LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 September 2002, 22:19 GMT]
(Feature) The first round of formal peace talks between the Liberation Tigers of Thamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) began Monday in the Sattahip Thai Naval base on a positive note though the head of Colombo’s negotiating team laid down in his opening speech non-negotiable elements which, according to him, should be constant in “determining the parameters of the negotiations." The Liberation Tigers, however, desisted from any reference to ‘irreducible principles.’
Full story >>

Meetings as troop relocation deadline is missed

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 August 2002, 00:32 GMT]
(News Feature) As the last of the stipulated deadlines for the Sri Lanka military to withdraw from civilian properties passed Thursday without the related terms of the government’s ceasefire agreement with the Liberation Tigers being implemented, international monitors met with senior LTTE officers to discuss the truce while Tamil parliamentarians protested to the Prime Minister.
Full story >>

Ex-EPDP cadre makes confession on journalist's murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 July 2002, 19:56 GMT]
The confession of an ex-member of the paramilitary group EPDP to the Jaffna Magistrate, Thursday, may throw fresh light on the investigation into the murder of journalist, Mylvaganam Nimalarajan, legal sources in the north said.
Full story >>

"LTTE-TNA decide to work united"-Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 April 2002, 18:47 GMT]
"The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have accepted the need to work unitedly,"said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the TNA parliamentary group Saturday evening in a statement on his return to Colombo from Vanni. Mr.Sampanthan told Tamilnet that the three and a half hour meeting with the LTTE leader was a historic event.
Full story >>

UNF budget unfair by war ravaged NE - Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 March 2002, 07:44 GMT]
"The United National Front (UNF) government's first budget has failed to treat the war ravaged northeast as a special zone for the development. The budget treats the northeast or rather, equates the northeast with the rest of island. Is this possible? Is this fair? How can a war zone for over twenty years be equated to other parts of the island?, asked Mr. Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna speaking on the United National Front government's first budget which was passed in Parliament Wednesday.
Full story >>

Fifty thousand at Trinco 'Pongu Tamil'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 March 2002, 16:57 GMT]
(News Feature) More than fifty thousand people thronged the eastern port town of Trincomalee to attend the 'Pongu Tamil' (Tamil upsurge) rally held Tuesday, urging the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and to recognise the Tamil people's right to self-determination.
Full story >>

"UNF to take constructive decision on LTTE ban" -PM

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2002, 21:03 GMT]
A parliamentary delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday held a wide ranging discussion with the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe on several issues, including the lifting of ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the postponement of the local government elections in the Northeast province scheduled to take place on March 25. A spokesman of the TNA delegation told TamilNet that the Prime Minister had assured that the government would take a constructive decision in regard to the lifting the ban on the LTTE at the appropriate time.
Full story >>

CID to expedite Nimalarajan, Kumar murder investigations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 February 2002, 18:44 GMT]
The Attorney General (AG) has directed the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of the Sri Lanka Police to expedite the investigations into the murders of Mr.Maylvaganam Nimalarajan, a Jaffna based Tamil journalist and Mr.Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, legal sources said. The Attorney General would shortly review the progress of the investigations so far conducted by the CID in this regard, the sources said.
Full story >>

TNA said standing on Thimpu foundation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 January 2002, 20:53 GMT]
“The Thimpu principles were upheld by Kumar Ponnambalam. His stand was called preposterous by some (Tamil politicians) at the time. But the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) now stands on the firm foundation of the Thimpu principles. His struggle was not in vain”, said Mr. Nallaiah Kumarakurparan, the general secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, a constituent of the Tamil National Alliance, addressing a meeting in Trincomalee town Sunday to mark the second death anniversary of Mr. Ponnambalam who was assassinated in Colombo in January 2000. An independent English language paper reproduced a Police report last week alleging that Mr. Ponnambalam was killed on the orders of the former Deputy Defence Minister, Gen. Anuruddha Ratwatte’s son.
Full story >>

Sampanthan, Selvam, Mavai among TNA elected

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 December 2001, 16:41 GMT]
Mr. R. Sampanthan the chief candidate of the Tamil National Alliance for Trincomalee scored the highest preference votes among the alliance candidates who contested the general election for Sri Lanka’s 12th Parliament. He got 40110 votes out of the 56,119 the TNA garnered in Trincomalee, elections officials said.
Full story >>

Presidential guard organised Ponnambalam murder - paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 November 2001, 23:21 GMT]
A former member of Sri Lanka's Presidential Security Division found shot dead earlier this month was involved in orchestrating the assassination of former Tamil politician, Kumar Ponnambalam, the Sunday Leader newspaper reported this week. The paper also named the assassin, said to be a former Police constable.
Full story >>

Sihala Urumaya, JVP, UNP enter fray in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 October 2001, 07:50 GMT]
The Sinhala Nationalist party, Sihala Urumaya, and the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and the People’s Liberation Front of Thamil Eelam (PLOTE) and the Tamil national alliance filed nominations for the general elections on 5 December at the Jaffna District Secretariat (Kachcheri) Saturday. The chief candidate for EPDP in the northern district is Mr. Nithiyanandan ‘Douglas’ Devananda and for the Tamil alliance, Mr. V. Anandasangaree. The EPRLF (Varathar faction), JVP, UNP and two minor left groups, the New Left Front and the Democratic Left Front, have also filed nominations to contest the general elections in Jaffna on 5 December.
Full story >>