Colombo's peace attempts, ploy to obtain aid funds- Prof Peiris

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2004, 01:36 GMT]
"Sri Lanka President's double-speak is evident from the fact she tells the TNA one thing, and the JVP quite another. Her duplicitous attempts at peace are ploys to obtain aid funds without commencing talks", said Professor G.L.Pieris, who was the Guest speaker at a discussion held in Bright inn Hotel Colombo, Sunday, organized by the Western Province People's Front (WPPF) presided over by its Leader and Parliamentarian, Mano Ganeshan.
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Tigers dismiss allegations over Valaichenai incident

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 November 2004, 13:12 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa Monday dimissed allegations that they were behind a grenade attack on the vehicle of Sri Lanka army's 23-2 Brigade commander in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa. In a statement issued to the press Monday evening, they condemned the attack and said the Sri Lankan government should investigate and bring the culprits to book as the incident had occured in an area under its control. Earlier in the day, Police and civil sources in Valaichenai said that the attack was aimed at two paramilitary cadres who were shopping in the town bazaar.
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NESOHR chair addresses US event

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2004, 19:15 GMT]
Rev Father Karunaratnam, Chairman of the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR), delivered the key note address at the the Annual General Meeting of Ilankai Tamil Sangam (ITS), USA held in New York Saturday. He urged expatriate Tamils in the US to become politically more active to raise the plight of Sri Lankan Tamils in the US political fora. He described the human rights situation in the NorthEast and the efforts of the NESOHR to address rights issues. Two books related to Tamil struggle were also released at the event.
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Who will espouse Tamil concerns to Delhi?: paper questions

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2004, 13:18 GMT]
Stating that, "Although India has unambiguously said that she will not become directly involved in Sri Lankan peace process, yet, the two main southern political camps as well as the Norwegian facilitators have never failed to brief Delhi on the status of the issue, and even Japanese Special Envoy Yasushi Akashi who was in Sri Lanka last week also flew direct to Delhi," the editorial in Tamil daily Thinakkural Sunday, urged the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians to take immediate steps to meet with India's leaders to convince them of the legitimacy of the Tamil cause.
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Indian poaching sparks road protests in Mannar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 November 2004, 07:46 GMT]
Traffic on the main artery of Mannar Island was blocked from early morning Sunday as hundreds of Tamil and Muslim fishermen piled their boats across the road to protest against large scale poaching by Indians in the waters off Pesalai and against the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) for taking no action to stop it. Hundreds of Indian fishing boats entered and fished in the sea off the Pesalai coast of the Mannar Island on Saturday night.
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Balasingham Vanni bound to attend Norwegian FM meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2004, 20:22 GMT]
Liberation Tigers’ Political Strategist and Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, and his wife Adele are scheduled to arrive in Colombo Tuesday morning and will travel to Kilinochchi in Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter the same day afternoon, sources close to the LTTE told TamilNet.
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Secession demand, Tamils right until aspirations constitutionalized- NSSP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 November 2004, 11:33 GMT]
"Tamils have the right to demand a separate State until their aspirations are adequately met, constitutionally entrenched and implemented. If this were done the demand would cease to be valid. It is well known that the Provincial Council system failed, as did all previous attempts at a solution to the Tamil national question since the l950s," said Nava Sama Samaja Party (NSSP), a pro-peace marxist party, in a media release issued Friday in Colombo.
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Collection of best Tamil poems of NE students released

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2004, 18:03 GMT]
A collection of 100 Tamil poems of young poets selected from the works of students studying in Tamil medium schools in the Northeast Province and named ‘Puthuthalir Nooru’ was released Friday at an event held in Trincomalee Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam by the Northeast provincial Ministry of Education, Cultural Affairs, Sports and Youth Affairs.
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Japan to provide $240m loan

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2004, 01:30 GMT]
Govenrment of Japan has agreed to provide a loan of nearly $240m on concessionary terms to Sri Lanka for small scale infrastructure upgrades, small industries promotion and to implement environmentally friendly projects, a news release from the the Embassey of Japan issued Thursday said. The interest rate of the 40year loan is a low 0.75%.
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IT Centers opened in Mullaitivu Schools

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2004, 11:14 GMT]
Two Information Technology centers were opened in Puthukudiyiruppu Maha Vidiyalayam and Mullaitivu Mahavidyalayam Monday as part of the second phase of a project undertaken by The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), Non-Governmental Non-Profit Sharing Organization registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, to provide computer learning facilities for 5000 students in 50 schools, sources from Mullaitivu said.
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Eachchilampathu families get self-income assistance from TRO

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2004, 10:30 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Wednesday handed over bulls and carts to five beneficiaries and financial assistance to two beneficiaries to run groceries in their areas under its Self Income Generation Incentive Project (SIGIP). Beneficiaries were selected from families who have lost their breadwinners in the war in the Eachchilampathu division, south of Trincomalee district, TRO sources said.
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TRO opens its fifth divisional office in Trinco district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 16:57 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Wednesday opened its fifth divisional office in Punnaiady, a remote village in Eachchilampathu Division in the Trincomalee district.
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Donors cannot super impose solution - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 10:45 GMT]
''The donor conferences held in Oslo on 25 November 2002 and in Tokyo on 10 June 2003 and the resolutions adopted at these meetings cannot bind our liberation organisation to a particular framework of a final political settlement,'' said Mr Anton Balasingham, the political advisor and chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a statement to TamilNet Wednesday.
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President meets opposition leader

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 15:13 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga Tuesday urged opposition leader, Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe to participate in the all party parley to find a solution to end the island's ethnic conflict. Mr. Wickremesinghe and President Kumaratunga met in Colombo for discussions on Tuesday. All the main opposition parties, including the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress are boycotting the NACPR, charging that it is a time buying ruse by President Kumaratunga.
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Vavuniya campaign to End Violence against Women

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 11:59 GMT]
Oxfam sponsored District Campaign to End All Violence Against Women was held in Vavuniya Town Hall Tuesday, sources said. An inaugural event was held at Trincomalee St.Joseph's College auditorium Tuesday 26 October.
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SLN claim of destroying LTTE camp, a fabrication- Elilan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 11:16 GMT]
"The SLN has fabricated the story of destroying a LTTE camp in Palampoddaru area along Trincomalee-Kandy road to justify its false claim that LTTE had constructed several new camps in Trincomalee," Mr. Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district Political Head tod TamilNet, reacting to media reports Monday that Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) had destroyed a Liberation Tigers camp.
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Spinner Muralitharan visits Pooneryn

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 November 2004, 08:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Cricket Board has decided to construct playgrounds in Killinochchi and Jaffna peninsula at an estimated cost of 5 million rupees to develop cricket in the north, according to Sri Lanka's cricket star Mr.Muttiah Muralitharan. "Sri Lanka Cricket Board has requested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for approval to implement the project," he said addressing a press conference Monday evening at the UNHCR office in Jaffna after a day tour in the peninsula. Mr. Muralitharan visited the LTTE held Pooneryn area after the press meet.
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NE Governor cancels visit to Jaffna after protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 13:20 GMT]
The North East Province Governor (retired) Major General Asoka Jayawardene Monday cancelled his official visit to Jaffna after civil groups in the peninsula warned that he would face public agitation as hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families are still languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres, district secretariat sources said Monday. The NE Governor was scheduled to visit Jaffna on Wednesday.
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Parochial politics delaying peace, LTTE tells Japanese

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 10:58 GMT]
"Parochial political concerns and lack of consensus in the south are delaying the peace process and humanitarian delivery to the war affected people of the northeast", Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, told Japanese Special Envoy Mr. Yasushi Akashi who met head of Liberation Tigers' political division in Kilinochchi Monday.
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Human Rights Commissioner meets Jaffna journalists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 2004, 22:34 GMT]
Mr.N.Selvakumaran, Commissioner of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), addressing a press briefing in Jaffna said HRCSL would not hesitate to take action against errand policemen and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers for violation of human rights if it receives complaints supported with evidence. He met with the Jaffna based journalists at the regional office of HRCSL Sunday.
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