Student peace education workshop held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 December 2003, 12:24 GMT]
Two-day residential workshop on peace education organized by the Trincomalee zonal education of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education, for Tamil, Sinhala and Muslim students was held in Trincomalee Sri Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam on Saturday and Sunday, civil society sources said.
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Police suspects in Mannar torture, rape to be indicted

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2003, 15:57 GMT]
The Attorney General has decided to indict four of the six suspects in the Mannar torture and rape of two married Tamil women S.Sivamani and Vijikala by several police officials and soldiers in March 2001 while the women were being held by the Special Investigation Unit (SIU) of Mannar Police, legal sources said.


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"We understand the political aspirations of Muslims" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 December 2003, 13:58 GMT]
"It is not a problem for us to understand the political aspirations of the Muslim and to reach a solution guaranteeing their security and future interests. But this will not be possible when the Muslims are encompassed by Sri Lankan state power and seek to fulfil their aspirations having them centered within that power", said Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, Head of the Political Wing when the Muslim Press Association of the Eastern Sri Lanka met him at the LTTE political headquarters in Kilinochchi yesterday, 19th December 2003, the LTTE peace secreatariat website said.
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Trinco students receive Samurdhi Scholarships

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 December 2003, 00:07 GMT]
One hundred ten students who come from Samurdhi (poverty alleviation scheme) families in the Trincomalee district were awarded scholarships under the Samurdhi Social Development Trust Fund (SSDTF) at an event held Thursday at the Trincomalee Sinhala Madya Maha Vidiyalayam, education officials in Trincomalee said.
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TNA votes against Sri Lanka's defense budget

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 December 2003, 09:20 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance voted against the Sri Lankan government’s 2004 budget allocation for defense and interior when it came up for voting at the committee stage in Parliament Wednesday afternoon. Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, TNA MP for the Vanni, told TamilNet the alliance opposed the 80 billion-rupee allocation “to register a strong protest against the increase in defense spending in peace time and against President Kumaratunga for jeopardizing the peace process by her precipitate actions”.
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Tamils warned to prepare for snap election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2003, 16:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Sunday said Tamil people should rally round under one banner to increase their parliamentary strength if the current crisis between Sri Lanka's President and the Prime Minister precipitates a snap election. “The LTTE leadership has endorsed this stand,” said Mr.Sampanthan.


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Mannar rally protests violence against women

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2003, 05:14 GMT]
A rally organized by the Women’s Development Society (WDS), to protest the violence inflicted on women within families and in the larger society, was held in Mannar Tuesday, and more than 300 women participated, sources said.
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TNA, LTTE urge end to southern instability

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 15:37 GMT]
The political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, responding to a question at the press briefing he held Tuesday afternoon in Kilinochchi, said that if the current political crisis in the South were to continue indefinitely, it would seriously impact the peace process and the LTTE would carefully study its options, the Voice of Tigers radio said Tuesday.
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TNA parliamentarians meet LTTE political leadership

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 December 2003, 09:08 GMT]
Talks between Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians and the political leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) began Tuesday morning around 11 a.m. at the Killinochchi LTTE political secretariat, Vanni sources said.
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SLN occupies Thampalakamam grazing land

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 19:16 GMT]
The Trincomalee district Parliamentarian, Mr.Sampanthan, has made representations to Sri Lanka’s President, Prime Minister and Defence Ministry officials to take urgent action to release Attavaniakulam pastureland in Thampalakamam for cattle grazing. Cattle breeders in Thampalakamam say the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) High command has barred cattle grazing in the village, saying it comes under their High Security Zone (HSZ). Attavanaikulam is situated about 8 k.m. from Kalmuttian Kulam SLN camp.
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SL embarrassed by Kadirgamar's Commonwealth defeat

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 17:59 GMT]
Mr. Lakshman Kadirgamar, the former foreign minister of Sri Lanka who broke the Commonwealth tradition to challenge the incumbent Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Mr. Don McKinnon, was defeated in a ballot last week, with only 11 of the 52 nations voting for him, despite initial claims in the Sri Lankan and Indian Press that he would pose a spirited challenge.


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TNA rejects SU invitation for public debate

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 16:15 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Monday rejected the invitation extended by the Sinhala nationalist political party, Sihala Urumaya (SU), for a public debate on the "Vaddukoddai resolution" and "Thimpu principles," saying that they cannot enter into "any debate with any political or any other group which has not got a mandate from the Sinhala people," according to the TNA parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan.
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Displaced Kinniya Tamils want permanent solution

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 December 2003, 15:12 GMT]
Hundreds of displaced Tamil families from Kadaloor and Upparu in Kinniya division in Trincomalee district, who have been staying as refugees at the Eechantivu Vipulananda Tamil Vidiyalayam, Sunday complained to the Trincomalee district parliamentarians, Messrs R.Sampanthan and K.Thurairetnasingham, that they should find a permanent solution to their problems as they had been displaced due to threat and violence thrice since 1990.
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TNA parliamentarians meet Kinniya Muslim religious leaders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 December 2003, 17:32 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham Sunday held discussions with the leaders of the Kinniya Jamiathul Ulama Council (Muslim Theologians) at the office of the Kinniya Police station in an effort to restore normalcy in the division hit by several incidents of violence since November 26.
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"Kinniya Tamils live in fear without security" - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 December 2003, 18:16 GMT]
"Displaced Tamil people from the villages of Alankerni, Upparu and Eechantivu live in fear and without any security to their lives and properties," parliamentarians Mr.Adaikalanathan and Mr.Sivajilingam of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO), a constituent of the TNA told media persons Saturday in Trincomalee after visiting displaced Tamil families staying in Eechantivu Tamil School as refugees for more than three weeks following violence in Kinniya.
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White Pigeon assists Trincomalee disabled

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 17:53 GMT]
The Trincomalee White Pigeon Technical Institute of Prosthesis Friday morning distributed wheel chairs, tricycles and clutches to disabled persons in the area to mark the International Day for Disabled. The event was held at the White Pigeon Trincomalee office.
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SLA soldier surrenders to LTTE in Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 16:33 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier has surrendered to the LTTE at their checkpoint at Muhamalai in the North Thursday, LTTE peace secretariat sources said, adding that the soldier has been handed over to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) at the Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi.
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SL President-PM talks fail to reach consensus

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 16:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, and Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, held talks on the cohabitation crisis Friday, but did not reach any consensus. They agreed to meet again on December 10 and terminate their talks on or before December 15, ruling United National Front sources said.
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SLA permits work on Pt. Pedro landing points

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 December 2003, 13:56 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army gave permission on Friday to deepen fisheries landing points on the coast of three villages close to Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna. Soldiers from the SLA’s 52-4 Brigade worked with local fishermen Friday to clear the coral rock clogged micro breakwaters. “We do not have a war to fight now. Therefore would like to engage in development activities such as this”, Col. K. S Ratnayake, the commander of the brigade told TamilNet.
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TNA questions Kadirgamar's competence for Commonwealth post

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 December 2003, 15:02 GMT]
Commenting on the reported candidacy of Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Sri Lanka's former foreign minister and a confidante of President Chandrika Kumaratunga, for the post of Commonwealth Secretary General, the Tamil National Alliance in a statement Thursday highlighted several grave human rights abuses of his government and said, "... Kadirgamar’s misrepresentations in regard to [such] incidents, which constituted a flagrant violation of human rights, are a severe indictment on his capacity to be impartial and truthful."
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