Election should focus on future coexistence and cooperation - NPC

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 08:37 GMT]
Noting that Sri Lanka is facing its third general election in less than four years and the country is plunged into an election when it is faced with acute financial difficulties, the National Peace Council (NPC), a Colombo based Sri Lankan peace group, in a media release issued in Colombo today said that it is "disturbed by the early emergence of negative campaigning by political parties that aim at fanning fears and apprehensions of the people regarding the breakdown of the ceasefire, the division of the country and the threat posed by one community to the other."
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Polling stations considered in no-man zones

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 00:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections, Mr.Dayananda Dissanayake, has summoned all District Returning Officers and District Assistant Commissioners of Elections for a top level conference on Saturday at his office in Colombo to finalize locating polling booths for voters in Liberation Tigers-held areas in the Northeast province and also other related matters, authoritative sources said.
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Kumarapuram massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 16:43 GMT]
The seventh death anniversary of twenty-four Tamil civilians, including fourteen children, who were massacred by a group of soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in Kumarapuram, in the Muttur division of the Trincomalee district, on February 11, 1996, was held Wednesday. In the 1996 massacre, another thirty Tamil civilians were seriously wounded, human rights sources said.
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TEPS calls on people to identify anti-social elements

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2004, 05:42 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS), the police division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on Tuesday called on the people of the Jaffna peninsula to identify anti-social elements and root them out, according to the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan.
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New SLMM head begins Northeast evaluation tour

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 February 2004, 17:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission head, Major General (retd.) Trond Furuhovde, began his tour of the Northeast province Monday, having assumed office for the second time on February 1st. He arrived in Trincomalee Monday. The aim of his visit is to evaluate the implementation and the functions of the SLMM, sources said.
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General elections would create more confusion - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2004, 04:27 GMT]
Commenting on the dissolution of parliament and the scheduled general elections in April, the parliamentary leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Mr. R. Sampanthan, said Sunday that the general elections would lead to more confusion in the country as the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), which clamored for the elections "to salvage the country from the current political uncertainty," have no clear-cut policies to solve the Tamil national question.
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Tamil national unity forum launched in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2004, 17:46 GMT]
“The greatest challenge before the Tamil people today is the coming together of Sinhala chauvinist forces bent on denying our rights. The alliance between JVP and President Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party has gathered all the Sinhala chauvinist forces in strength under one umbrella. There is only one way for the Tamils to face this challenge – we should unite now regardless of our regional differences”, said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanthan, Tamil National Alliance for the Vanni, addressing the first forum to unite all Tamil political parties and groups in Sri Lanka Thursday.
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Tires burn in Mannar, A9 blocked in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2004, 11:44 GMT]
Tires were burnt and black flags were flown in several parts of Mannar town Wednesday. Police said that some protestors had pulled down Sri Lanka’s lion flags that were hoisted by the army on the entrance to Mannar town Tuesday night to mark Independence Day. Meanwhile Vavuniya was deserted and buses from this northern border town to other parts of the island were cancelled. Protesters blocked the A9 highway to Jaffna north of Vavuniya town.
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LTTE medical corps' feats unparalleled - Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2004, 12:42 GMT]
"Committment of cadres of LTTE's medical corps and the ingenious medical evacuation strategies used, paved the way for some of our biggest military successes against the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)," said V.Balakumaran, a senior member of the LTTE speaking at an event commemorating the sixth anniversary of the death of nine members of the LTTE medical division, sources from Vanni said.
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Thampalakamam massacre victims remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 17:23 GMT]
The sixth death anniversary of the killing of eight Tamil civilians including two students by Sri Lankan police on 1st February, 1998, was observed Sunday at Potkerney and Puthukuddiruppu, suburbs of Thampalakamam village in Trincomalee district, sources said. Thampalakamam is located twenty four km off south west of Trincomalee town on Trincomalee-Colombo highway.


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World Vision funds Ferry Service, Model Farm

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Mr.Yu Hua Li, National Director of World Vision International, Friday, inaugurated two projects, a ferry costing Rs.3.5 million in Mandoor, and a new Model farm costing Rs.20m in Thampalavattai, civil sources in Batticaloa said. Both projects were funded by World Vision which is Christian Relief Organization.


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Sri Lanka military fails to dissuade Jaffna death fast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 17:45 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Saturday urged community leaders of people displaced from Maravanpulavu, Thanangkilappu and Koilakandy in Jaffna’s Thenmaradchi division not to begin a fast unto death on Sri Lanka’s Independence Day next week. A group of displaced persons led by Mr. Sellakkili Anandaranjan say it would fast to death from 4 February if the Sri Lanka army does not permit them to go back to their garrisoned villages.
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Peace gives no light to Vakarai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2004, 00:32 GMT]
Vakarai is a large backwater on Sri Lanka’s east coast. It is an area with large fertile fields, lagoons and virgin forests in the northern part of the Batticaloa district. Vakarai was subjected to more than fifteen years of a brutal counter insurgency campaign by the Sri Lanka army. It has seen hardly any development even after the war stopped two years ago. Electricity is still a luxury here. “I have never seen electricity used in Vakarai since I was born,” N.Loganathan, a resident of Panichchankerni, told TamilNet.


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Kokadichcholai massacre anniversary remembered

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2004, 02:21 GMT]
Seventeeth anniversary of the Kokkadichcholai massacre, where Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) killed 86 Tamil workers in a shrimp farm on 28 January 1987 was commemorated near the memorial in Mahiladithivu Wednesday, sources said.
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India should not assist expansion of Palaly Airbase- Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2004, 16:39 GMT]
"India should desist from providing financial assistance to expand the runways of Palay airbase as it will help the Sri Lanka Government to annex additional fertile lands and residences of Jaffna people into the High Security Zone (HSZ)," said Minister of Hindu Affairs, Mr.Maheswaran, popular Tamil daily Uthayan reported in its Wednesday edition.


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SLN soldier found dead with gunshot wounds

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2004, 19:02 GMT]
Prashanth Wijewardene from Bandarawela who was manning Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Ganjadeva Navy Brigade sentry in Karainagar, Jaffna, was found dead with gunshot wounds to his head around 5.45am Monday, local media reports in Jaffna said.
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Mother's Front demands candidacy in next election

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2004, 04:06 GMT]
Subbu Satkunam, Secretary of the Jaffna Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA), tabled a motion during a meeting of the representatives of MPGA and Jaffna Mothers Front (JMF), Sunday, demanding the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to include candidates from JMF as part of the alliance to compete in the next elections, local media in Jaffna reported.
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Rule of Law, values said basis of Tamil society

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2004, 10:02 GMT]
“Foreigners who visit the Vanni assume that two decades of war would have torn apart the fabric of our society. They expect a total break down of law and order; that crime and corruption would be rife as in societies ravaged by war in other parts of the world. They tell us they are surprised that, instead, they see a society where the Rule of Law prevails, where high social, moral and cultural values are still earnestly upheld. ”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, addressing the fourth convocation of the Tamil Eelam Law College in Kilinochchi in Sunday.
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"Foreign nations understand LTTE’s central role to Sri Lanka's progress" –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2004, 00:47 GMT]
“Currently, diplomats of foreign countries, ambassadors and representatives of donor nations who visit Sri Lanka and meet those in power in Colombo, are also visiting the Vanni to meet with the Liberation Tigers. This shows a clear understanding by the international community that without the participation of the LTTE, no progress can be made in the country,” said Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, the Tamil National Alliance MP from the Batticaloa district, speaking at the opening of the maternity home in Mandur Saturday.
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Linganagar Tamils complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2004, 18:41 GMT]
The People Welfare Society (PWF) of Linganagar Friday made a complaint to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers manning a check point in the area are harassing the residents of Linganagar, a crowded suburb of Trincomalee town, civil rights sources said.


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