TNA awareness campaign in Trinco district put off

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 18:35 GMT]
Three-day awareness campaign of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) , which was scheduled to be held in the Trincomalee district on September 11,12 and 13, has been put off for a later date, TNA sources said Wednesday night.
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Sri Lanka army behind attack on border post- LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 04:50 GMT]
An attack by a group of heavily armed men suspected to be Sri Lanka army commandos on the Liberation Tigers' border post in Pullumalai, 65 kilometres from Batticaloa, Tuesday night around 10.15 p.m. was repulsed, a senior LTTE official in Batticaloa said. "Two men in the group were killed in our counter fire according to mine clearing workers in the area who were forced by the attackers to carry their wounded across the border last night", he said after visiting the scene of attack Wedenesday morning.
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LTTE arrests Sri Lanka Policeman in Pullumalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday arrested a Sri Lanka Policeman who had attempted to travel through an area held by them. He was taken into custody at the LTTE's border post at Pullumalai, northwest of Batticaloa near the Amparai district border. A Police officer in Batticaloa said the LTTE had released him to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Amparai later in the day.
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LTTE, SLA meeting in Batticaloa postponed indefinitely

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 09:47 GMT]
The meeting between Liberation Tigers and Sri Lankan armed forces in Battiicaloa will not take place as scheduled today, a spokesperson for the Nordic truce monitors said. The meeting was first fixed for 3 September following a meeting between Col. Ramesh, special commander of LTTE forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai District and Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furuhovde, head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission last week. It was postponed for Tuesday after Col. Ramesh and other senior LTTE officials had to leave for the Vanni.
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TNA urges President to commence talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 08:00 GMT]
“The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) would strongly urge the Government to commence talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without delay, on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority proposals of the LTTE. and thereby implement the position enunciated by the President on 10 June, when she met the TNA delegation”, said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader in a statement made in the parliament Tuesday morning.
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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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Tigers to repay public debt

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 2004, 12:33 GMT]
The Finance Division of the Liberation Tigers announced Monday it would start repaying another part of the war loan it raised from the people of Jaffna, Mannar, Mullaithivu and Vavuniya next week from 17 September. Tigers' Finance Division has been paying back its huge public debt in Jaffna in stages since Colombo signed a truce with Kilinochchi in February 2002. LTTE Finance Division issued certified bonds to individuals from whom it borrowed money for the 'Fund to Liberate the Soil'.
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Mechanization improves salt production at Elephant Pass

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 2004, 01:01 GMT]
Mechanized iodization and the new building housing machinery constructed at a cost of more than Rs.6m from funds provided by UNICEF have improved production of table salt from Elephant Pass and Kurunchativu salterns. More than 16 metric tons of salt, or about 20% of the output of 1990s were produced in the last twelve months from the 12 acres of salt pans brought back to production after the war, officials at facility said.
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"Civil society, key to advancing a Federal solution"- Rupesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 00:46 GMT]
"The people in North and East want to control and plan their own future and develop their part of the country. This is the primary impulse behind the ISGA. An interim administration should be seen as a win-win solution to both sides... ISGA proposal has been developed and is the result of 25 years of civil war. The LTTE has presented its proposals for the first time. This has to be respected and acknowledged," said Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe, Civil Socieity Forum Chairman, talking to TamilNet this week.
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LTTE rescues Tamil children exploited by Kuchchaveli fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 17:15 GMT]
Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) recently handed over six Tamil boys who are below 18 years of age to the representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to be handed over to their Batticaloa homes of their parents. LTTE cadres rescued these boys when they fled from fish wadiyas run by Sinhalese businessmen in Kalliravu in Kuchchaveli division in Trincomalee district due to harassment, sources said.


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Sri Lanka President says will discuss peace with all

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 16:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Saturday that she would invite all parties and organisations concerned in the peace process for discussions on how to take forward negotiations with the Liberation Tigers in two weeks. She was addressing a rally in Galle, a large provincial town on the island’s southern coast, to mark the 53rd anniversary of her Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), which was founded by her father, Mr. Solomon Ridgeway Dias Bandaranaike. Speaking in Singhalese, President Kumaratunga vowed to do her best to bring the Liberation Tigers back to the negotiating table.
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Pay rent or vacate, house owners tell SLA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 13:00 GMT]
Attempts made by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) through its Jaffna regional office have failed to obtain support of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to pay rent to the owners of the civilian houses now occupied by SLA outside the high security zones (HSZs) in Jaffna district. The owners have now issued ultimatum to launch a campaign demanding the return of their houses in failing to pay rent, sources said.
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Phased withdrawal from HSZ, Govt's moral responsibility- paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 12:22 GMT]
"Two and a half years have elapsed since the MoU was signed. The Sri Lanka Government is morally bound to show its concern over the question of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs). It should have been possible to withdraw from several areas especially from the areas where several schools and places of worship are trapped but with prevailing racist politics in Sri Lanka it is naive to expect the Sri Lanka Government of the Security Forces to do this," said Thinakural, a Tamil daily, in its Saturday editorial.
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Tigers resolve Gurunagar dispute

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2004, 16:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday resolved a violent dispute between fishermen from Gurunagar, a coastal suburb of Jaffna town, and from villages on the western coast of Kilinochchi. A fisherman from Gurunagar was injured and several assaulted last week over a long simmering dispute over the fishing grounds in the seas off Pallikudah, Naachchikudah and Valaipaadu. Gurunagar fishermen who were angered by the incidents attacked an LTTE office in their suburb on Tuesday.
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CWC will support Kumaratunga's government - Thondaman

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2004, 08:39 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC) said Friday it would support President Chandrika Kumaratunga's United People's Freedom Front (UPFA), ending months of uncertainty over the future of her minority government. Mr. Arumugan Thondaman, leader of the CWC, said that his party's eight MPs will support the UPFA on issues from the ranks of the opposition. He said CWC will support the UPFA government without any conditions, to help it take forward the peace process. UPFA has 106 members in the 225 seat Sri Lankan Parliament, 7 short of the simple majority to run a stable government.
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LTTE's Batti-Amparai commander leaves for Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2004, 08:04 GMT]
Col. Ramesh, special commander of Liberation Tigers' forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai District, left for Kilinochchi Friday morning from Kokkaddicholai, 154 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa town. He was accompanied by Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the LTTE's political division for the Batticaloa-Amparai District and LTTE commanders 'Ram' and 'Janarthan'. They boarded a Sri Lankan Air Force helicopter at the Kokkaddicholai general grounds, an LTTE spokesman in Batticaloa said. Col. Ramesh was earlier scheduled to meet Sri Lankan armed forces officers on Friday.
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Picketers call for release of homeguards

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 September 2004, 01:20 GMT]
A picketing campaign held by a small group of Sinhalese persons in the main conference hall of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee town Thursday from about 11 a.m. demanding the release of two Sinhala home guards arrested with grenades and weapons by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in their controlled areas in Trincomalee district recently, was called off around 8 p.m. when the Police warned them that they would use force, sources said.
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New SLA commander visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 12:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka's army commander, Lieutenant General Shantha Kottegoda began a two day visit to Jaffna Thursday. He vistited Sri Lankan armed forces positions in Kankesanthurai, Palaly and in some parts of the islands off Jaffna, Sri Lankan military sources in the northern peninsula said. The SLA commander was also scheduled to visit the main entry point to the LTTE held areas in Jaffna and Vanni at Muhamalai after it closed to public traffic in the evening. This is Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda's first visit to Jaffna after he assumed duties as SLA commander.
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French diplomats meet TNA foreign affairs committee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 09:36 GMT]
“We told France if indeed talks on the ISGA commence, there is a good chance that an agreement could be reached in this matter. We said that this is exactly what the Singhalese are afraid of, as it would mean that they would no longer have a monopoly on power, and their hegemony over the Tamil nation will cease for once and for all time. We also said that it is for this reason that we suspect that the Sri Lankan government t is trying to provoke the LTTE to another war by destabilizing the east and supporting Tamil armed groups," said Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam TNA MP Thursday.
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Youths are cornerstone of our struggle- Ilamparithy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2004, 00:32 GMT]
"Younger generation is the cornerstone of our struggle. We are fully aware of the efforts by our adversaries to spread social ills among our people. We accept that some level of distraction among the teen-agers is unavoidable. But this helps us in building strong social resistance against negative influences in the long term," said Ilamparithy, LTTE's head of political wing in Jaffna district.
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