"Home guards' release, goodwill gesture to SLMM"- Elilan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2004, 18:12 GMT]
"We released the two Sinhala home guards, Sarath Bandara and Chandana Piyasiri, as a goodwill gesture to the efforts taken by the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) for the release of ten cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE. The Thamileelam courts in Sampoor in Muttur east Saturday around five p.m. released the two home guards on cash and surety bail, legal sources said.


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TNA to launch awareness campaign Saturday in Trinco

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2004, 00:24 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to launch its first district level political awareness campaign in Trincomalee Saturday with a political rally in the evening at the Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall located along the Inner harbour Road facing the Trincomalee harbour. Organizers, expecting heavy rain, changed the venue from Sivankoviladi, sources said.


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Computer training centres opened in Muttur east villages

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2004, 13:44 GMT]
Trincomalee IT Tech in collaboration with the London TR Tec opened two more computer training centres in Muttur east villages, Chenaiyoor and Sampoor, under a programme to provide free computer training to five thousand students in fifty schools in the northeast province. Six computer-training centres have now been opened in Trincomalee district under this project, sources said.


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CTTU, Education Secretary discuss Tamil Education Issues

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2004, 00:55 GMT]
A delegation of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Thursday led by its general secretary Mr.T.Mahasivam held discussions with Secretary of the Minister of Education in the United People Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Government, Dr Tara de Mel, Thursday at the latter's invitation regarding the problems confronting the development of Tamil medium education, sources said.
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Britain can assist in creating consensus- British MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 2004, 10:29 GMT]
"The ceasefire agreement should be maintained, and it is essential to establish peace. Britain will extend its support," said Graham Allen, leader of the 4-member British Commonwealth Parliamentary delegation that came on an official visit to Sri Lanka last Sunday, political sources in Colombo said. The delegation met with Speaker Loku Bandara at the Parliamentary complex Monday morning. Later the delegation met with Britain-Sri Lanka Friendship Association in the Committee Room, presided over by the President of the association, Mr.Ratnayake, MP.
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Police escort TNA MPs after meeting with Mahanayake Thero

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 10:26 GMT]
TNA MPs called on the Mahanayake Thero of the Malwatte Chapter Thibbottuwe Sri Siddharatha Sumangala Thero Monday 9am and drew his attention to the historial failure thus far to find an equitable solution to the Tamil national question, and impressed on him the necessity for an interim administration for the North East, sources said. At the end of the meeting, when the TNA MPs came out, Kandy police had to intervene when opposing buddhist monks and members of extremist Sinhala organizations attacked the TNA MPs, police sources said.


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Elilan condemns State media for publishing lies

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 01:39 GMT]
"If the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is unable to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militarily it should put forward a concrete political solution to end the conflict and not engage in spreading false stories on dissention within LTTE," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head when he addressed at the Tamil Women Resurgence Day event held in Trincomalee Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies Hall Sunday to mark the seventeenth death anniversary of first LTTE woman martyr 2nd Lieutenant Malathi.
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TNA, People's Peace Front to hold joint seminars

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 00:19 GMT]
The Tamil Natinal Alliance (TNA) and the People's Peace Front (PPF) have reached an agreement to conduct common seminars in Sinhala areas in the South to explain the legitimacy of the demands of the Tamil people and the need to take forward the peace negotiations, political sources in Colombo said.
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Eelam Flag flown despite protest by Trinco Police

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 18:13 GMT]
The Thamileelam national flag hoisted at the event held in Trincomalee to mark the Thamileelam Women Resurgence Day was brought down only after the conclusion of the celebration Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m. Trincomalee Police protested during the event that hoisting was in violation of the ceasefire agreement, sources said.


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Tamil literary festival begins in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 01:39 GMT]
First day of the Tamil Literary Festival-2004 organized by the Cultural section of the NorthEast Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs started at 8.30am at the Jaffna Hindu Ladies College Hall, Saturday, civil sources in Jaffna said. Provincial Director Mr.R.Visakalingam presided.
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TNA MPs to meet Buddhist prelates in Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 13:45 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary delegation is to meet Mahanayake Theras of Malwatte Chapter and Asgiriya Chapter on Monday to brief them on the current situation of the stalled peace process and to solicit their support for the establishment of the Interim Self Government Authority (ISGA) proposals of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, political sources said.
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TNA to inaugurate political awareness campaign in northeast

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 16:28 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to inaugurate district level political awareness campaign in the northeast province next week, said TNA parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan. The three-day campaign will be inaugurated in Trincomalee district on October 16 with a public rally in Trincomalee town, TNA sources said.
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Leading Buddhist monk MP resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 09:08 GMT]
Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala Thero, MP, the National Organiser of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, resigned his seat in Sri Lanka’s Parliament Friday. Informed sources close to the JHU said long simmering contradictions between the party’s lay leadership and monks who were elected to Parliament led to Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala’s resignation. Mr. Tilak Karunaratna, who led the party when it was known as Sihala Urumaya, left the JHU recently and joined the United National Party earlier this week.


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Life sentence on Tamil youth quashed, acquitted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 05:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal Thursday quashed the life sentence imposed on a Tamil youth Mr.Mylwaganam Wijeyaratnam who was charged under the Prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) and acquitted him from all charges indicted by the Attorney General.
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International Teachers Day celebration in Kalmunai draws thousands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 23:32 GMT]
International Teachers Day celebrations were held in Kalmunai, Wesley College grounds on Wednesday in a large scale involving Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities. About 2000 pre school teachers from Batticaloa and Ampara districts were taken in procession with pre school children's bands from Batticaloa district and Sinhala zones in Ampara district. The main banner leading the procession was carried by Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala Pre school teachers.
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Sri Lanka ID card symbol of Tamils’ humiliations – TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 12:57 GMT]
“The national identity card is a symbol of enslavement for the Tamils. It is a symbol of the humiliations to which they were subjected by the Sinhala state. What is the guarantee that the two main Sinhala parties won’t unite in the future to deny Tamils their voting right by making voter identity cards issued under this law invalid in the northeast? These parties get together only to disfranchise Tamils or to deny their legitimate rights”, said Mr. Selvarajah Gajendran, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, speaking on the election identity card bill in Sri Lanka’s Parliament Thursday.
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Jaffna SLA commander meets NGO representatives

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 13:36 GMT]
Major General Sunil Tennekoon, Jaffna Area Commander of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), said during discussions with representatives of the Consortium of Jaffna District Non-Governmental Organizations (CJDNGO) Wednesday that poor public relations skills of his soldiers serving in the peninsula are contributing to the difficulties in maintaining cordial relationship with members of public, civil sources said.


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Peace Council will exacerbate contradictions- paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 11:04 GMT]
"Sri Lanka President Ms Kumaratunge's tactic to show that the peace process is being continued, while avoiding talks with the LTTE will only exacerbate contradictions among the southern political parties and will not create consensus," said Thinakkural, a popular Tamil daily published in Colombo in its editorial today.
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SLA, LTTE meet again in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 04:59 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces met the Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Batticaloa to discuss the implementation of the cease fire agreement in the districts of Batticaloa and Amparai. The LTTE delegation was led by Mr. S. Marshall, head of the Tigers' headquarters branch for Batticaloa-Amparai. Sri Lankan armed forces delegation was led by Col. A. L Amaratunga, commander of 23-3 Brigade in Batticaloa. Continuing killings and the activities of paramilitaries in the eastern district were discussed at the meeting.
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Development needs of Kopay electorate spotlighted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2004, 02:33 GMT]
Mr.Suresh Premachchandran, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Monday held a conference in his office and discussed the problems affecting the development of Kopay electorate in Jaffna district. About seventy representatives of civil organizations from 31village level divisions (Grama Sevaka) in the electorate attended the discussion, sources said.
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