Tigers walk out in protest against JVP

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 January 2005, 10:04 GMT]
Liberation Tigers Monday walked out of a meeting for setting up a committee for assisting Tsunami victims at the Thirukkovil Divisional Secretary’s (DS) office in protest against a JVP Parliamentarian who had come uninvited for the conference. “We welcome everyone who comes to help our people. But this JVP politician used Tsunami assistance as a pretext to sow political hatred and Sinhala chauvinism. We walked out, objecting to his cheap political tactics”, said Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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Tsunami ravaged community in northeast pleads with UN Secretary General

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 January 2005, 15:50 GMT]
Civil organizations and churches in the northeast have appealed to the UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to visit the tsunami hit regions in the LTTE controlled areas as he reached Colombo Friday 6.10 PM. Rt.Rev. Dr.Thomas Soundaranayagam, Bishop of Jaffna, Rt.Rev.Dr. J. Kingsley Swampillai, Bishop of Trincomalee-Batticaloa and Rt. Rev. Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar urged The Secretary General to visit Mullaithivu and meet LTTE leaders and discuss with them about the future rehabilitation of the Tsunami victims. Most of the appeals have highlighted the positive effects of his visit to LTTE controlled areas in promoting peace through negotiations.
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Rebuilding bridges, roads key to swift recovery- Gajendran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 January 2005, 05:15 GMT]
Speaking to TamilNet after visiting Batticaloa and Ampara Districts, Tamil National Alliance, Jaffna District MP Mr.Selvarajah Gajendran said: "LTTE has the capability to build bridges and lay roads. I request the international community to provide them with equipment and materials through NGOs so that recovery can be swift."
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NLF decries induction of foreign troops

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 January 2005, 18:17 GMT]
The New Left Front (NLF), a vocal leftist group, in statement signed by the group's leader Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarathne and issued in Colombo Monday, condemned the induction of foreign troops into Sri Lanka in the guise of helping the tsunami victims. In a strongly worded statement the New Left Front said 'it is totally unnecessary to commit troops' for relief work and accused the US of having its own agenda of gaining a foothold with designs to suppress the LTTE and control the Tamil liberation struggle on behalf of local capitalist rulers."
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SLA accused of burning refuge

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2005, 13:41 GMT]
A hut at a refuge sheltering 67 families displaced by the tsunami to Kudathanai, Vadamaradchi, Jaffna, was burnt and all the males assaulted in an attack that has been blamed on soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army. Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. M. K. Sivajilingam had accused local Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers of being responsible for the attack, which left at least three people hospitalized and forced all 67 families to seek new shelter.
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Large number killed by Tsunami said children

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 December 2004, 19:04 GMT]
A large number of children were killed by Tsunami waves in Sri Lankaís northeast, rescue workers and local journalists said. Thousands of children have been wounded in the floods and are still without access to first aid, they said. Lack of transport and roads destroyed by the monster waves are slowing rescue work in Mullaithivu, Mutur, Batticaloa and Amparai, according to aid workers.
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The price of peace for the Sinhala rural poor

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 December 2004, 19:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s recent massive defence budget allocation, whilst preparing the military for a renewed war against the Liberation Tigers, has another vital role in domestic politics: the economy of the Sinhala rural poor is three times more dependent on military remittances than official poverty alleviation schemes. Earlier this month, Sri Lanka’s ruling party and the main opposition party, in a rare show of unity, joined together to vote in favor of the country's defense allocations for 2005. Only the main Tamil party, the Tamil National Alliance, opposed the defence budget.
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Catholic church attacked by Sinhala nationalist mob

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2004, 12:19 GMT]
A Catholic church in Homagama, 22 kilometers southeast of Colombo, was attacked by a group of Sinhala nationalist mob in the early hours of Sunday morning. The church has been subjected for vioence for the third time this year and it is severely damaged in the latest attack on Sunday, church sources said. South Sri Lanka has witnessed increased viloence against christian denominations since the sudden demise of a leading Sinhala Buddhist nationalist monk last December.
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Sri Lanka army permits hinder Kalmadu resettlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
Refugee families that resettled in Kalmadu, 15 kilometres northwest of Vavuniya, said Thursday that rebuilding their lives is difficult because they have to obtain special permits from the Sri Lanka army for access to their fields. The village was destroyed in a Sri Lanka army operation in 1999. The villagers of Kalmadu lost all their belongings when they fled the war. They returned in late 2002, many months after Colombo signed a cease fire agreement (CFA) with the Liberation Tigers.
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Heavy rain belts Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 December 2004, 16:47 GMT]
Jaffna district experienced torrential rain for the last twenty-four hours ending Saturday at 6 p.m. flooding major roads that created major traffic delays on roads linking several towns, sources in Jaffna said. 87 mm of rain was recorded during this period, meteorological sources said.
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Fourteen injured as troops attack civilians, MP in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2004, 10:24 GMT]
Fourteen civilians were seriously injured when Sri Lanka army troops indiscriminately attacked hundreds of people in Mannar town Thursday. Tamil National Alliance MP for Mannar, Mr. Vino Noharathalingam and the parish priest for Thalvupaadu were also attacked in the rampage. Hundreds of SLA troops, firing in the air, ran amok in the town centre with iron bars and clubs, pulling down Heroes’ Day decorations and assaulting civilians. They attacked and damaged the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Mannar town.
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ISGA must be basis for talks- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2004, 00:31 GMT]
Speaking at a seminar on "Power Sharing for a lasting peace" held at the Social and Economic Development Center (SEDEC) in Colombo Saturday, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said, "Tamil people believe that an interim administration is an essential prerequisite to embarking on talks for a solution to the conflict...and they will not allow the LTTE to give up the right to secession before the parties reach agreements on the outstanding core issues."
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Baby girl dies in floodwater in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2004, 09:02 GMT]
Two-year-old baby girl M. Mary Kensia Monday about noon drowned in a pothole filled with floodwater in Pommaiveli, a suburb in Jaffna town. Her body was handed over to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital later in the afternoon, medical sources said.
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TECH opens district office in Mannar, donates Solar panels

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2004, 10:52 GMT]
The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), a Non-Governmental Non-Profit Sharing Organization registered with the Government of Sri Lanka, opened its Mannar district office in Aandankulam in Adampan district Wednesday, sources in Mannar said. During the event, four selected Mannar schools received photo-voltaic lighting systems obtained from funds donated by TECH branch in the US, organizers of the event said.
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Controversial NACPR to meet in November

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2004, 13:36 GMT]
National Advisory Committee for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR), a group formed by Sri Lanka's President and touted as a mechanism to introduce inclusivity in the peace process, is to meet on 1st November, a press release from the Sri Lanka President's office said. Opposition United National Front (UNF) opposed it calling NACPR a tactic to delay the peace process, and TNA earlier rejected an invitation to join the NACPR.
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Maruthankerni villagers lack medical facilities

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2004, 00:05 GMT]
About five thousand families undergo hardships without medical facilities in their village Maruthankerni in Vadaramadarachchi east division in Jaffna district as the opening of the rural dispensary constructed with the funds allocated by the North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) Project is being delayed due to the lethargy of provincial health ministry officials, civil sources complained.
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Nagarkovil students massacre remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 16:19 GMT]
The 9th death anniversary of 40 people, including 26 students, who were killed on 22nd September 1995 in an aerial attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on the Nagarkovil Maha Vidiyalayam was observed Wednesday afternoon at the Puloly Roman Catholic School in the Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district, education sources said.


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India to declare Tamil as classical language

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 September 2004, 02:45 GMT]
The Indian Union Cabinet, which met on Friday morning, decided to declare Tamil a "classical language," Press Trust of India (PTI) reported Friday. The declaration comes after years of lobbying by Tamil scholars including Prof. George Hart, Professor of Tamil, University of California, who wrote in April 2000, "To deny that Tamil is a classical language is to deny a vital and central part of the greatness and richness of Indian culture."
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Catholic youths hold peace rally in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 10:41 GMT]
"We are perturbed by the absence of any signs or efforts for strengthening peace. Instead we only see increasing violence in all parts of Sri Lanka. We have assembled here to pray for peace," said Rev.Rayappu Joseph, Bishop of Mannar, addressing the youth, at the conclusion of a youth conference in Vavuniya Saturday, sources said.
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Inquiry ordered into Vallai human skeleton discovery

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 00:22 GMT]
The Nelliady Police Monday commenced investigation into the discovery of a skeleton suspected to be of a young woman in the Vallaiveli area in Vadamaradchchi division on the orders of the Point Pedro Magistrate Mr.K. Ariyanayakam, legal sources said. The human skeleton was found Sunday morning in a shrub in a Catholic cemetery along Mandan Road, which branches off Point Pedro-Jaffna road, sources said.
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