Sri Lanka Buddhist monks’ party slams Marxists

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 16:22 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the party of ultra Sinhala nationalist Buddhist monks, Monday charged that the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s chief coalition partner, is planning to eliminate its leaders. Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, General Secretary of the JHU, told a press conference at the party’s headquarters in a plush Colombo suburb that leading monks of his party had received death threats again on Sunday night. Meanwhile thousands of posters lambasting the JHU monks appeared in Colombo during the weekend.
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Hidden hand behind murder of disabled cadres- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 14:11 GMT]
“The murder of our disabled cadres is clearly the work of criminal elements that are working with the Sri Lanka army. I have requested the SLMM to arrange an early meeting with the SLA to discuss this matter. I hope this would be the last incident of this sort. No one could have gone in a van with arms at midnight in the direction of Vavunathivu without the SLA’s knowledge. There are no jungles in these parts to hide a van and armed men”, said Mr. Kousalyan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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Muttur school dropouts re-admitted with UNICEF assistance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 19:02 GMT]
The first batch of thirty seven students identified by the Child Welfare Unit of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee district as school dropouts in Sinnakulam, Pallikudiruppu, Thangapuram, Santhanaveddai, Chenaiyoor, Santhosapuram and Kadatkaraichcenai in the Muttur east were re-enrolled for studies and were distributed with learning equipment and clothes for uniforms with the assistance of the UNICEF at an event held at Chenaiyoor Central College Friday to mark the World Education Awareness Day.
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NEP Basic Sector Education cell opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 14:54 GMT]
A cell has been opened in the North East Provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs to co-ordinate the activities of the Basic Education Sector Programme (BESP), which is a joint venture of both the Sri Lankan Ministry of Education and the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ). NEPC Chief Secretary Mr.S.Rangarajah, who declared open the cell, said the cell should become a Provincial Institute of Education (PIE) in the future, education sources said.
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Sri Lanka's President betrayed renegade commander - JHU

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 10:31 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) blasted the Sri Lanka Government for the pandemonium caused in Parliament on Friday, and asked Ms.Kumaratunge's government to take responsibility for its defeat. Although the JHU assured Ms.Kumaratunge of their votes, her betrayal of renegade Eastern Commander forced them to decide against supporting her, JHU said in a press conference held in Colombo today. JHU further said that its members would willingly sacrifice their lives to prevent the creation of Tamil Eelam.
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"No cross-over from UNP to UPFA" - Ranil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 15:39 GMT]
Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, former Prime Minister and the leader of the United National Party (UNP) Wednesday dismissed media reports that few parliamentarians of the main opposition United National Front (UNF) are to cross over to the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) as baseless and untrue.
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TNA MPs to attend parliament in traditional attire

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 13:32 GMT]
The 22 Tamil National Alliance members of parliament are planning to attend the first sitting of Sri Lanka’s parliament on Thursday in traditional Tamil attire, sources in the Vanni said.
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‘No force can destroy Tamil unity’ -Ramanan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 15:01 GMT]
“Our national leader has deep love for our people and land, and our people, likewise, are committed to Tamil unity and remain loyal to the national leader. The people of Batticaloa-Amparai have shown that no force can destroy Tamil unity now,” said a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Ramanan, speaking at the 16th year death anniversary of Annai (Mother) Poopathy, held Monday at the Navalady memorial for the late Tamil activist mother in Batticaloa town, sources said.
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TNA MPs, Pirapaharan discuss peace talks, ISGA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 10:33 GMT]
“The Tamil people voted for you on the basis of the principles of Tamil nationalism. You should understand their feelings and work to realise their aspirations. Love for one’s country comes from one’s love for home, family, village and region. In this sense I encouraged love for one’s region, as it is necessary to strengthen a liberation struggle. But it is dangerous when the affection for one's region is exploited for selfish motives”, said Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, speaking to 22 MPs of the Tamil National Alliance at the LTTE’s political division headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday.
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Annai Poopathi remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 21:12 GMT]
Annai Poopathi sacrificed her life for the emancipation of Tamil people in the northeast province, said the Tamil National Alliance national list parliamentarian, Mr.M.K.Eelaventhan, addressing the death anniversary celebration of Annai Poopathi held Monday at the Colonel Kittu mausoleum, located at Muththirai Santhi in Jaffna town.
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'Peace process has not helped the war-affected' - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 19:10 GMT]
Despite the two and a half years of ceasefire, the people affected by the war in the Tamil homeland have not been able to return to their normal lives, and the Liberation Tigers consider this a setback in the peace process, said Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the LTTE, speaking as a special guest at the North-East Economic Advisory Council’s conference in the Vanni Monday, sources said.
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Batticaloa-Amparai TNA MPs to meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 10:36 GMT]
Batticaloa-Amparai Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Members of Parliament (MPs) are travelling to Vanni today to meet with LTTE Head of the Political Section, S.P.Thamilchelvan, Tuesday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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NorthEast to observe Annai Poopathi anniversary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 11:01 GMT]
Arrangements have been made in several parts of NorthEast to celebrate the 16th death anniversary of Annai Poopathi on Monday (April 19). She died after fasting for 31 days from 19 March 1988 demanding that the Indian government should stop the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and initiate talks with the LTTE.
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Pannalai resettled complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 09:55 GMT]
Eight Internally Displaced (IDP) families now resettled in no man zones located beyond 600 meter of the High Security Zones (HSZs) in Pannalai, Valigamam north in the Jaffna district Sunday complained that the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning checkpoints and camps in the area have started harassing them with an intention of ousting them from their dwellings, civil society sources in Jaffna said.


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‘Karuna’s colleagues are returning’- Col. Ramesh

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 16:15 GMT]
“We will not punish or victimise or persecute anyone who has been associated with Karuna in his traitorous activities. Our leader has instructed us to take a strictly humanitarian approach in dealing with this issue. Karuna’s colleagues who fled the district four days ago are contacting us now. They are all coming back. We would soon restore the law and order system and the judiciary”, said Col. Thambirajah Ramesh, LTTE’s special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai district speaking to TamilNet at the ‘Meenaham’ military base Friday.
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SLA denies giving protection to fleeing renegade

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 14:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday denied reports in the Colombo-based media that SLA forces provided escort to the renegade commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan known as Karuna to a destination in Colombo when he fled from his hideouts in the eastern province following a military operation by the Liberation Tigers against him, sources said.
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Araiyampathy mourns native son Lt. Col. Neelan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 04:17 GMT]
The body of the deputy head of intelligence of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa district, Lt. Col. Neelan, who was killed by the fleeing renegade Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (‘Karuna’), was brought to his home village, Araiyampathy, Wednesday, and kept at the Ramakrishna Mission school hall where the public paid its respects in large numbers, sources said.
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All TNA parliamentarians to visit Kilinochchi Friday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 15:01 GMT]
All the twenty-two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians are expected to meet the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Friday in Kilinochchi, sources in the Vanni said Wednesday.
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Karthigaipoo declared as National flower of Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 01:10 GMT]
"Karthigaipoo" or Gloriosa Lily (Botanical name - Liliaceae Glory lily or Gloriosa superba), which has the spectrum of colors contained in the Tamil Eelam national flag and which in November, the month of Heroes day celebrations, ubiquitously spreads, sprouts new shoots and blooms throughout the NorthEast, has been proclaimed the official national flower of Eelam Tamils. Reliable sources from Vanni said that the Karthigaipoo was designated as Tamil Eelam National flower by the LTTE administration during the Great Heros rememberence week in November 2003.
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LTTE hands over 269 cadres to their parents in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2004, 14:53 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Tuesday that it has handed over 269 of its cadres, including 168 who are less than eighteen years old, to their parents when they rejoined the LTTE following the LTTE's recovery of the Batticaloa-Amparai areas from the breakaway faction led by Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), Vanni sources said.
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