SLN harasses civilians travelling to Jaffna islets

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 April 2004, 16:36 GMT]
Residents of islets in the Jaffna district Sunday made complaints to the authorities concerned that Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel manning entry check points at Allaipitty and Kayts Kannagai Amman jetty have started harassing civilians following the general election held last week, sources said.


Full story >>

UNICEF, Japan strengthen Jaffna health services

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 19:31 GMT]
UNICEF Jaffna Field Office head Ms.Judith Bruno and Jaffna District Assistant Director of Planning Mr.S. Sivapatham Saturday handed over 39 motorcycles to public health inspectors in the Jaffna district to facilitate community actions that promote a safe and healthy environment for women and children, sources in Jaffna said.T he donation of motorcycles was made possible under the grant of 250 million rupees provided by the Government of Japan.


Full story >>

Operation to expel Karuna from Tamil homeland begun- LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 16:46 GMT]
The political section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in a press release said that the LTTE has started co-ordinated operations to expel renegade LTTE commander ‘Karuna,' Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan, from the Tamil Homeland, Daya Master, media coordinator for LTTE, said from Vanni.
Full story >>

JVP boycotts UPFA cabinet swearing in ceremony

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 April 2004, 13:41 GMT]
The first cabinet of the United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government was sworn in Saturday evening in the President’s House with no live coverage by the State electronic media. The leaders and ministers designate of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), major constituent of the UPFA, boycotted the event due to differences of opinion over the allocation of subjects to ministries designated for them, informed political sources in Colombo said.


Full story >>

LTTE’s ‘Jeyanthan Brigade’ units lead Vakarai offensive

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 April 2004, 19:46 GMT]
Special units of the Jeyanthan Brigade, the most feared infantry formation of the Liberation Tigers, led the multi pronged offensive towards Vakarai Friday, according to LTTE sources in the east. Two counter attacks on the forward defence localities which the Tigers have consolidated at Kandalady, 64 kilometres north of Batticaloa, led by ‘Jim Kelly Thaaththa’ and ‘Robert’, deputies of renegade LTTE commander ‘Karuna’ (Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan), were beaten back Friday evening, according to the sources.
Full story >>

TNA MPs from Vanni pay homage to LTTE martyrs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 21:01 GMT]
The newly elected Tamil National Alliance MPs from the Vanni district Monday visited the martyr’s cemetery of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Eachankulam in Vavuniya and paid their respects to the LTTE cadres who died fighting for the Tamil people, vowing "to work hard for the ideals for which the martyrs have sacrificed their lives," sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

Thennamaravadi voters return back to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 02:16 GMT]
About five hundred displaced Tamil voters of Thennamaravadi village, seventy-three km off north of Trincomalee town Sunday returned to their temporary residence Ponnagar in the Mullaitivu district in the LTTE held Vanni region, after voting in the Friday poll, sources said. The villagers were denied their right to vote for the last two decades.
Full story >>

TNA becomes third largest party in Sri Lanka’s 13th parliament

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2004, 15:17 GMT]
The United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Sunday evening emerged as the single largest party in the Sri Lanka’s thirteenth 225-member parliament with 105 seats and United National Party (UNP) with 82 seats. The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which won four electoral districts, Jaffna, Vanni, Trincomalee and Batticaloa in the northeast province except Amparai became the third largest party in the new parliament with twenty two seats.
Full story >>

Vanni election results released

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 17:56 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance scored 90834 votes in the Vanni electoral district, according to results released by its chief returning officer, Mr. K. Ganesh, Saturday evening. The total number of valid votes polled in the district is 140377. The TNA got five of the six Parliamentary seats of Vanni. The United National Front got the sixth seat by polling 33540 votes.


Full story >>

TamilNet Batticaloa correspondent elected TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 14:21 GMT]
Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, TamilNet’s correspondent for Batticaloa has been elected as a Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament for the eastern district, election officials said Saturday. He received 44457 personal preference votes. The Tamil National Alliance won a landslide victory in Batticaloa and got four of the district’s five seats.
Full story >>

TNA to get five seats in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 12:52 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance is poised to capture five seats in Vanni electorate obtaining a majority of the 126,000 votes cast, according to unofficial reports reaching from the vote counting offices, TNA sources from Vanni said.
Full story >>

Jaffna reports high turnout, Erlalai booths close early

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 11:14 GMT]
Civil society sources in Jaffna said that there was high voter turnout in Chunnakam and Mallakam area. However, reports from Erlalai said that the booths at Erlalai Saiva Shanmarga Vidiyalayam were suddenly closed around 3.55pm and the gates were locked preventing further voting. Further details are not known.
Full story >>

Thousands from Vanni vote in Omanthai, Uyilankulam, Madhu

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 07:50 GMT]
Thousands of enthusiastic voters from the Mullaithivu district and the northern parts of the Vavuniya district which are controlled by the Liberation Tigers swarmed to polling stations in Omanthai Friday morning to cast their ballots. More than thirty percent of the fifty two thousand voters in Mullaithivu had cast their votes by 10 a.m. according to the chief returning officer for the district, Ms. Imelda Sukumar. Omanthai, a dilapidated town surrounded by Sri Lankan military garrisons is eighteen kilometres north of Vavuniya town.
Full story >>

Brisk polling reported in Trincomalee district

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 07:24 GMT]
Brisk polling is reported from the clustered polling stations, which are located in Kattaiparichchan, and Mahindapura for voters residing the LTTE controlled Muttur east villages and Eachilampathu division in the Trincomalee district. Trincomalee District Returning Officer Mr. Gamini Rodrigo Friday noon said about seventy five percent of the uncleared area voters have exercised their franchise, sources said.
Full story >>

TRO-assisted disabled students achieve academic success

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Eyesight-impaired students from Iniya Valvu Illam have shown themselves to be competitive with other students in their schools in the last GCE (OL) exam for which results were released recently. One such student, Mr. Alagu Chandrakumar, received the best results in Vallipunam Junior High School, receiving 3 As, 2 Bs and 4 Cs. Two other students from Iniya Valvu Illam received 1 A, 2 Bs, 5 Cs and 1 S; and 1A, 1 B, 5 Cs and 1 S respectively.
Full story >>

Voters in LTTE-held Vanni arrive in Puliyankulam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 17:33 GMT]
Twenty thousand voters in remote areas in the Mullaithivu district have been brought to the Liberation Tigers’ checkpoint in Puliyankulam until Thursday evening for voting in the general elections on Friday at the clustered polling stations in Omanthai, about 10 k.m. south of Puliyankulam, said Mr. S. Elilan, the political head of the LTTE in Vavuniya.
Full story >>

Elections Commissioner says ready for polls on Friday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 16:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Elections Commissioner, Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake, said Thursday that all arrangements have been made to hold the country’s thirteenth parliamentary election since it gained independence on Friday. Mr. Dissanayake will use the powers vested in him as Commissioner through the 17th Amendment to the constitution to ensure a free and fair general election, election department sources said.
Full story >>

Omanthai SLA checkpoint gets electricity

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 06:02 GMT]
Transport arrangements for the more than 100,000 voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas in the Vanni and Jaffna districts for the elections to be held on Friday are being completed, with a resting place in Puliyankualm and voting booths close to Omanthai and Muhamalai check points of the Sri Lanka Army, officials from the Elections Department said. As part of these arrangements, electricity supply was ceremonially inaugurated to the Omanthai checkpoint complex of the SLA on Wednesday.
Full story >>

Thennamaravadi residents to vote after 17 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 03:10 GMT]
Nearly six hundred displaced voters of Thennamaravadi, a traditional Tamil village on the northern border of the Trincomalee district located about 73 km from the east port town wiil be voting for the first time after they fled from the village in 1987 due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army, civil sources said.


Full story >>

GA briefs officials on Vanni voting arrangements

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2004, 05:43 GMT]
Essential facilities, including transport, have been arranged for the voters in the Liberation Tigers controlled areas of Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaithivu to vote in clustered polling stations in the areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Army, and the Omanthai check point will stay open starting at 4:00 am on election day, April 2, until all the voters can return to their homes in the LTTE-controlled areas, said the Returning Officer and Government Agent for Vavuniya, Mr. K. Ganesh, at a special meeting Saturday.
Full story >>