Minister Jayalath visits Jaffna, meets with GA, LTTE and UNHCR

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 August 2003, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Rehabilitation, Reconstruction and Resettlement Minister Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene Thursday arrived in Jaffna and held discussions with the Government Agent Mr.S.Pathmanathan at the Jaffna district secretariat, sources said. He later met with LTTE leaders in the LTTE Jaffna district Administrative Service office located at Anaipanthy in Jaffna town.


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'De-merger of NE a calamity to Sri Lanka' - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 August 2003, 09:01 GMT]
"The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) desires to place on record that the de-merger of the northeast province which has existed for the past fifteen years by the President would be a calamity to the whole Sri Lanka, and urges the President to desist from taking this perilous course," TNA said in a press statement issued Thursday in Colombo.
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PM, parliamentarians discuss police recruitment issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Several decisions to strengthen the goodwill and security of Tamil and Muslim communities in the eastern province were taken at a conference called by the Prime Minister (PM) Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Wednesday evening which was attended by parliamentarians of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) , Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and National Unity Alliance (NUA), a press release issued by the PM ‘s media unit said.


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Sri Lankan state hospitals paralyzed by strike

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 August 2003, 18:22 GMT]
A one-day token strike launched by about 50,000 members of the Health Services Trade Union Federation (HSTUF) Tuesday disrupted normal services in about 650 State hospitals in Sri Lanka. Health sector employees in all categories except medical officers and nurses struck work from Tuesday morning because, the trade union said, the Heath Ministry had failed to accede to their demand to remove salary anomalies.
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Lt. Col. Thileepan memorial re-opened in Nallur

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 17:53 GMT]
The reconstructed memorial of the late senior leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Lt.Col. Thileepan, was declared open Monday evening in Nallur, Jaffna town. The memorial was destroyed by Sri Lanka Army troops in 1996 when the SLA captured the peninsula.
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Tamil-Muslim peace committee formed in Ampara

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 03:51 GMT]
A Tamil-Muslim peace committee has commenced operating in the Ampara district, based in Kalumanai, on Sunday, with the goal of addressing problems and apprehensions between the two communities and preventing violence in the future, sources in Ampara said.
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36 Indian fishermen still held in Jaffna prison

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 12:09 GMT]
Of the thirty six Indian fishermen now being detained at the Jaffna prisons on the orders of the law courts, cases have been filed only against four in the Jaffna High Court. No cases have been filed against the other thirty-two Indian fishermen, legal sources said.


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Police recruitment begins in the east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 20:26 GMT]
Interviews began Saturday to select 550 new recruits for Sri Lanka’s police service in the eastern province at police stations in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai, Kalmunai, Akkaraipattu, Muttur and Pottuvil, eastern region Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Neville Wijesinghe, said Saturday.
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STF refuses to vacate camp encompassing private homes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 12:36 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers in Urani in Pottuvil, Amparai district, have refused to vacate the STF camp that encompasses several private residences and demanded that the owners should sell their property to the STF, security sources in the east said.


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Sencholai hosts CD release by expatriate Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 10:35 GMT]
Archana, a 9 year old Tamil girl born in Norway, released her 12-song Tamil Compact Disc, at a ceremony attended by senior members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organized by the Sencholai Children's Home located in Puthukudiyiruppu in Vanni earlier this month.
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Maintaining ethnic ratio in Police recruitment imperative - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
At a conference held Thursday morning between the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan at the parliamentary complex, it was decided to summon all Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians for a conference on Tuesday or Wednesday next week before finalizing the list of new recruits for the police force in the eastern province, political sources in Colombo said.
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'Don’t forget mother tongue and Tamil culture'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 00:00 GMT]
Mr.R.Thiagalingam, Secretary of the North East Provincial Education Ministry, addressing the gathering at the Miruthangam Arangetram of two brothers, Cholan and Sipi, held Monday evening at the Kalyana Mandapam of Trincomalee Muttukumaraswamy temple, made an appeal to several thousand Sri Lankan Tamils living abroad that they should not forget their mother tongue and Tamil cultural values.
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SL Lands Minister pays surprise visit to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 19:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Minister of Lands, Dr. Rajitha Senaretna, Saturday paid a surprise visit to Jaffna and inspected the development work of the Jaffna Duraiappah Stadium where the National Peace Sports Festival is scheduled to be held, district secretariat sources said.
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'Stop alienation of State land in Trincomalee district' - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 15:51 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance’s parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, Saturday made an urgent appeal to the United National Front government to stop the alienation of State land in Trincomalee district as it would cause serious harmful impact on the peace process, saying that such alienation of land was one of the main causes that led to the commencement of war and therefore it would be “tantamount to an abuse of the current ceasefire.”
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EPDP protests Batticaloa killing of its member

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:27 GMT]
The Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP)'s members Friday held a demonstration in Batticaloa town against the killing of their member Mr. Arasaretnam Ratheeskaran on Thursday afternoon. The protest campaign was called off Friday night around 9 p.m and the coffin with Ratheeskaran's body was removed from the premises of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's (SLMM's) Batticaloa office, police said.


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TNA, LTTE meet on IA proposals

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 17:05 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is conducting individual meetings with constituents of the Tamil National Alliance to inform them about the LTTE’s planned discussions with constitutional experts--and to seek the TNA’s suggestions--on the Sri Lankan government’s proposals for an Interim Administration for the North-East, sources said.
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Gunmen kill EPDP cadre in east

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 10:54 GMT]
A member of a Tamil paramilitary group was shot dead by unidentified persons in Batticaloa town Thursday. The gunmen who came on a bicycle got away, Police sources in the eastern town said.
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Puthuvai Ratnathurai’s poem collection released in Trinco

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 20:03 GMT]
The introductory event for the book ‘Ulaikalam,’ a collection of poems written by Poet Puthuvai Ratnathurai, head of the Arts and Cultural Department of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was held Sunday evening at the Trincomalee Town Hall.
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Journalist Sivagurunathan's funeral held in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 19:51 GMT]
The funeral of the veteran Tamil journalist, Mr. Ratnathurai Sivagurunathan, took place Sunday evening at the Hindu section of the Kanatte cemetery in Colombo, attended by a large gathering, sources said.
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Veteran Tamil newspaper Editor Sivagurunathan passes away

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 August 2003, 13:40 GMT]
Mr.R. Sivagurunathan, a veteran Tamil journalist who held the post of Chief Editor of the Tamil daily THINAKARAN for about thirty three years, passed away peacefully early morning Saturday after a brief illness in Colombo at the age of seventy-two, media sources said.
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