'Lack of confidence can endanger cease fire' - Swiss FM

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 October 2004, 10:57 GMT]
"There is lack of confidence which could be an obstacle to return to peace talks. This lack of confidence could endanger the cease fire in Sri Lanka. The Liberation Tigers are ready to reconsider the basis for restarting talks. They told our officials their Interim Self Governing Authority proposal is not non-negotiable. This is the special message I conveyed to the Sri Lankan government", said Ms. Micheline Calmy-Rey, Switzerland's Foreign Minister, speaking to the press in Colombo Tuesday.
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Drugs causing Mannar woes, Hakeem told

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 18:36 GMT]
President of the Mannar Mohideen Jummah Mosque, Mr. M. A Cader, Monday accused Police of having a hand in exacerbating friction between religious communities in the region. He was addressing a meeting at the Mannar District Secretariat between Mr. Rauf Hakeem, leader of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Government Agent, officials, Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP and local community leaders. Mr. Hakeem visited Mannar Monday to find out and discuss problems faced by Muslims in the district.
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Police escort TNA MPs after meeting with Mahanayake Thero

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 10:26 GMT]
TNA MPs called on the Mahanayake Thero of the Malwatte Chapter Thibbottuwe Sri Siddharatha Sumangala Thero Monday 9am and drew his attention to the historial failure thus far to find an equitable solution to the Tamil national question, and impressed on him the necessity for an interim administration for the North East, sources said. At the end of the meeting, when the TNA MPs came out, Kandy police had to intervene when opposing buddhist monks and members of extremist Sinhala organizations attacked the TNA MPs, police sources said.


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Tigers kill two Karuna associates, wound six

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 08:09 GMT]
Two associates of renegade Liberation Tigers' commander, 'Karuna', were killed and six wounded when an LTTE special forces group attacked the house in which they were staying in a village near the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa district border in the early hours of Monday morning around 2 a.m. Police said. LTTE troopers left behind the 'Karuna Group' cadres who were killed and wounded in the pre-dawn attack in Nagastenne, an interior Sinhala village about 68 kilometres northwest of Batticaloa.
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Elilan condemns State media for publishing lies

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 October 2004, 01:39 GMT]
"If the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) is unable to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) militarily it should put forward a concrete political solution to end the conflict and not engage in spreading false stories on dissention within LTTE," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head when he addressed at the Tamil Women Resurgence Day event held in Trincomalee Sri Shanmuga Hindu Ladies Hall Sunday to mark the seventeenth death anniversary of first LTTE woman martyr 2nd Lieutenant Malathi.
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Eelam Flag flown despite protest by Trinco Police

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 18:13 GMT]
The Thamileelam national flag hoisted at the event held in Trincomalee to mark the Thamileelam Women Resurgence Day was brought down only after the conclusion of the celebration Sunday afternoon around 2 p.m. Trincomalee Police protested during the event that hoisting was in violation of the ceasefire agreement, sources said.


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Jaffna observes Malathi death anniversary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 18:09 GMT]
The 17th death anniversary of 2nd Lieutenant Malathi was observed throughout Jaffna district Sunday. The father of 2nd Lt. Malathi garlanded the memorial of her daughter constructed at the site in Kopay where she died in the battle with the Indian Army Sunday evening, sources said.
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Malathy Memorial opened in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 11:09 GMT]
Memorial Statue of 2nd Lt.Malathy was opened in Kilinochchi commemorating her seventeeth anniversary at 10 am Sunday in a ceremony presided by Deputy Director in charge of Heroes Cemetary, Thamilarasi, sources from Vanni said.
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SLA stops building materials getting into LTTE held villages

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 10:57 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has completely stopped the transportation of building materials such as cement, steel and timber through Muhamalai check point to the villages of Pallai, Iyakkahchi, Maruthankerni, Thalaiyadi, Vembadi, Mamunai and Kaddaikadu, which are located in the LTTE, controlled areas. The SLA's unilateral action has seriously disrupted all development and construction work undertaken by non-governmental organizations in the war-torn villages, civil sources said.


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U.S Congressman speaks on Sri Lanka violence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 02:06 GMT]
Republican Iowa Congressman James A. Leach, chairman of the Subcommittee on East Asia and the Pacific of the House International Relations Committee, expressed concern about the rising level of political violence in Sri Lanka and called for a resumption of the peace talks between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a statement before the U.S House of Representatives issued October 7 and distributed by the Bureau of International Information Programs, U.S. Department of State.
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Tamil literary festival begins in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2004, 01:39 GMT]
First day of the Tamil Literary Festival-2004 organized by the Cultural section of the NorthEast Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports and Youth Affairs started at 8.30am at the Jaffna Hindu Ladies College Hall, Saturday, civil sources in Jaffna said. Provincial Director Mr.R.Visakalingam presided.
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LTTE delegation bound for Holland

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 17:01 GMT]
Delegation of Liberation Tigers will be travelling to Holland Sunday for meetings with Dutch Government officials, sources close to the delegation told TamilNet. The LTTE delegation is currently on a tour of European countries and are completing a three-day stay in Vienna, Austria, following their arrival in Geneva Switzerland on 1st October.
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Tigers dismiss split reports as 'psy-ops gimmick'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 16:17 GMT]
Commander of the Sea Tigers, Col. Soosai, will be the special guest at the final day rally to mark the women's day of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Daya Master, media co-ordinator of the LTTE told TamilNet Saturday. He said Col. Soosai will deliver the keynote address at the public meeting. Meanwhile, Daya Master dismissed reports in Sinhala and English papers in Colombo that Col. Soosai, Col.Sornam and senior commander Ram had split from the LTTE. "It is just another pathetic psy ops gimmick of the Sri Lankan government", he said.
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STF kills assassin of LTTE activist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 07:47 GMT]
A political activist of the Liberation Tigers was shot dead by a gunman suspected to be a member of a paramilitary group in Akkaraipattu, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Saturday around 11.45 a.m., Police said. The gunman was later shot dead by a Special Task Force (STF) patrol that pursued and cornered him in a house. ''We opened fire when the gunman attempted lob a grenade at our commandos in bid to escape the round up'', said an STF officer in Akkaraipattu.
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Soccer battles mark Women's Uprising Day celebrations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 04:14 GMT]
District level competition in women soccer marked the second day of the Tamil Womens' Uprising Day celebrations and 17th year memorial of 2nd Lt Malathy at the Kilinochchi Uthayatharahai play grounds Friday, sources in Vanni said. Deputy Head of LTTE Women's Sea Tiger Wing, Ms Poorani, presided the event.
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Sinhala nationalist party faces further crises

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2004, 01:34 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a key Sinhala Buddhist nationalist group in Sri Lanka’s Parliament, said Friday that it had removed the party’s lay general secretary, Mr. Champika Ranawaka. The JHU was plunged in crisis following the resignation of its national organizer earlier in the day. Meanwhile, Mr. Ranawaka said that he was not going to accept the decision by the monks to remove him from the party. The JHU crisis has been further exacerbated by reports that it’s general secretary (clergy), Ven. Uduwe Dhammaloka Thero, is supporting the ruling party.


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Security forces assault Tamil youths in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 16:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers, police personnel and Sinhala home guards severely assaulted a group of Tamil youths Friday evening at Anpuvallipuram junction, in Trincomalee, injuring two of them. The injured youths have been admitted at the Trincomalee general hospital, sources said.
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Shadow war endangering CFA- paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 11:13 GMT]
"Attempts by the Sri Lankan armed forces to use renegade commander Karuna to destabilize the east, have resulted in the continuation of killings that started in Batticaloa and extended to Colombo. Military analysts have characterized this scenario as a shadow war between the LTTE and the Sri Lanka Army. This situation should be brought under control immediately to avoid breakdown of ceasfire," said Thinakkural in its editorial Thursday.
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Trinco refugees protest demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 10:40 GMT]
A group of Tamil refugees sheltered in UNHCR run Allesgarden camp located about three km north of Trincomalee town Friday morning around 7.30 a.m.held a sit in protest obstructing the traffic on the Trincomalee Nilaveli road stating that they are unable to return their villages of Kanniya and Kuchchaveli as their lands are still occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), civil sources in Trincomalee said.


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Leading Buddhist monk MP resigns

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 09:08 GMT]
Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala Thero, MP, the National Organiser of Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), a Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party, resigned his seat in Sri Lanka’s Parliament Friday. Informed sources close to the JHU said long simmering contradictions between the party’s lay leadership and monks who were elected to Parliament led to Ven. Kolannawe Sri Sumangala’s resignation. Mr. Tilak Karunaratna, who led the party when it was known as Sihala Urumaya, left the JHU recently and joined the United National Party earlier this week.


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