Vakarai families receive sewing machines, PV systems

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 September 2005, 08:45 GMT]
Tamil expatriate groups in France and Germany donated nine sewing machines and four 40W Solar Home Systems (SHS) in late August costing US$4000 to Vakarai residents affected by tsunami through Trincomalee branch The Technical Consultancy House (TECH), an NGO operating in the NorthEast, TECH officials said.
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TRO-USA appeals for funds to help Katrina victims

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 September 2005, 12:37 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO-USA), head quartered in Cumberland, Maryland, posted an appeal in its website, soliciting funds to help the victims of hurricane Katrina which hit New Orleans, Louisiana displacing 220,000 people and killing several thousands. "TRO is very grateful of the tremendous help provided by American people during Tsunami and wishes to express its sympathy for the victims of Katrina and encourages all to help with Katrina relief efforts," the posting on the website said.
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Devotees throng Nallur Chariot festival

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 September 2005, 10:11 GMT]
Devotees from across Sri Lanka and visiting expatriate Tamils Friday filled the temple premises at the Annual Chariot festival of Kandaswamy (Lord Murugan) Temple located in Nallur Jaffna turning Jaffna into a spiritual town. Hundreds of devotees performed ‘Angapirathshanam’ behind the big chariot carrying the chief deity, and women devotees carried pots with burning camphor, to fulfil vows made during the year.
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Tens of thousands attend Tamil resurgence event in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 September 2005, 12:11 GMT]
Around one hundred thousand people from various parts of Vanni mainland took part in the Tamil national resurgence event held in Kilinochchi on Thursday. The event was held in support of the July 27 Vavuniya Convention and was organised by the Tamil Resurgence Task Force. The entire township was decorated with felicitation arches and yellow and red bi-colour flags with a festive appearance. "This event would inform the world that time is ripe for us to decide our own destiny," Mr. M. Sivabalan, president of the Task Force told TamilNet. The event ceremonially began at 4:00 p.m. in Kilinochchi common playground.
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Trinco students to protest against SLA presence around schools

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 August 2005, 16:04 GMT]
Trincomalee District Tamil Students Forum (TDTSF) has called Tamil speaking students for a token boycott of classes on Monday in protest to the presence of Sri Lanka Army troops in large number surrounding schools in the Trincomalee town thus violating the ceasefire agreement. Trincomalee has become a garrisoned city following the unlawful erection of Buddha statue, sources said.
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NE Human Rights Secretariat calls for withdrawal of ER and PTA

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 August 2005, 11:03 GMT]
North East Secretariat on Human Rights, in a press release issued on Monday called upon the international community to excercise pressure on Colombo to withdraw the Emergency Regulation (ER) which was recently reimposed in Sri Lanka. Also noting that the existing Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) itself is a serious human rights violation, the secretariat said that the two pieces of legislation in force together will lead to a repeat of the large scale human rights violations. Since July 1st, more than 3000 arrests have been reported in the South, according to the press release. It also noted that the increased military presence in Trincomalee is continuing in spite of protest by the Tamils.
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Emergency raises spectre of past disappearances - Adaikalanathan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2005, 23:36 GMT]
"The reimposition of Emergency Regulations has raised the spectre of past disappearances, indiscriminate arrests, torture under custody and the impunity enjoyed by the Sri Lanka security forces for human rights violations against the Tamil people," said Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Vanni district, when TamilNet asked for his reaction to the adoption by Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday of the motion to extend the State of Emergency.
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SLMM urged to stop SL Army intimidation in Trinco

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2005, 13:34 GMT]
Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) Saturday complained to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) to take immediate steps to stop the Sri Lanka Army from intimidating Tamil civilians in the east port town. The TDTPF in a compliant lodged with the Trincomalee head of the SLMM cited an instance that took place on Friday evening in the town where army soldiers covered their faces with black clothes riding in about 20 field motorbikes at high speed intimidating Tamil civilians by brandishing their weapons, sources said.
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Direct talks 'pointless' - JHU

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 August 2005, 07:18 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the ultra Sinhala nationalist, all Buddhist monks' party, in a strongly worded statement on Friday opposed the direct and high level talks being scheduled between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The LTTE should "lay down its arms" and "denounce" Tamils' right to secede, before holding any direct talks with the GoSL in future, the party said.
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TRO funded Arabic College halls opened in Kinniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 August 2005, 06:45 GMT]
Two new halls for the Kinniya-Munaichchenai Sumaiya Ladies Arabic College constructed with funds allocated by the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) were declared open Wednesday evening. Mr.T.A.Ishak, Principal of the College unveiled the name board of the new building, Mr.V.Kalaivarnan, Project Officer of the TRO in Trincomalee and Mr.K.Nallasivam, TRO head in Thampalakamam declared open the two halls, sources said.
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"War is not an option" - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 August 2005, 09:42 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday they are committed to ceasefire and would return to the Norwegian peace process if the February 2002 truce agreement was implemented in full. In an interview to Reuters, LTTE’s Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, said the Tigers are ready to defend the Tamils from attack. "War is not an option," he told Reuters. "But if war is thrust upon the Tamil people, we will have no option but to face it... So it's in the hands of the Sri Lanka government", he said.
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Youths on Fast-to-death campaign against Dam project

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2005, 11:02 GMT]
Six youths from the HillCountry Youth Front (HYF) has launched a fast unto death campaign at the Talawakelle bus stand in protest of the proposed Upper Kotmale hydro electricity project Thursday, sources from Talawakelle said.
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P-TOMS fate confirms Tamils' grave skepticism- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 August 2005, 02:57 GMT]
Mr. R. Sampanthan M.P. Leader Parliamentary Group TNA, speaking during the adjournment debate on the P-TOMS structure Thursday in the Sri Lanka Parliament said that JVP mounted a "high profile challenge levelled against the P-TOMS" because the "agreement was intended to substantially benefit the Tamil speaking people of the Northeast," and that the failure of P-TOMS has confirmed the "grave sense of skepticism amongst the Tamil people."


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Up-Country Tamils protest against Sri Lankan Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 August 2005, 13:43 GMT]
More than five-thousand protesters demonstrated Monday in front of Colombo Fort Railway station from 3:00 p.m till 4:30 p.m. against the Sri Lankan Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, Mr. Mervyn Silva, over his recent racial slurs directed at the Up-Country Tamils of Indian origin. Mr. Silva, while verbally abusing journalists who went to cover a court case where his son was involved, also insulted the Up-Country Tamils, according to journalists in Colombo.
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Rebuilding Kaddaiparichchan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 August 2005, 11:36 GMT]
The Social Development Centre (SDC) headquartered in Killinochchi, has drawn up plans to rebuild the war-destroyed Kaddaiparichchan village in the Muttur east in the Trincomalee district, officials said. SDC has sought the assistance of non-governmental organizations to rebuild the village currently in an abandoned state with uncleared mines, shrub jungles covering residential areas which once flourished with coconut trees and banana cultivation with villagers gainfully employed in animal husbandry and other cottage industries.
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Civil group complains of new SLA camps in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 August 2005, 11:08 GMT]
Mr. Arthur Tveiten, Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee district held discussions with the representatives of Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum (TDTPF) and Trincomalee heads of Sri Lanka government security forces regarding the allegation by the TDTPF that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has built new mini-camps and sentry points in the east port and its suburbs after the erection of Buddha statue near the bus stand, sources said.
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UN Sub-Commission urged to promote and protect Human Rights in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2005, 10:42 GMT]
There has been no proper investigation or punishment of culprits in the many cases of murders of human rights defenders and journalists in Sri Lanka, noted Ms. Deirdre McConnell in an oral intervention on the agenda item 3, "Administration of Justice, Rule of Law And Democracy," at the 57th session of UN Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human rights on Tuesday. "There has been no progress on the case of the assassination of Mr Kumar Ponnambalam on 5th January 2000, despite ample evidence regarding the alleged perpetrators of the crime," she said citing a number of instances that evidenced "pattern of bias" in the Sri Lankan judicial system.
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Upcountry parties call for Minister's resignation over racial slur

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 August 2005, 02:04 GMT]
In a press briefing held in Colombo Friday parliamentarians from Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) and United National Party (UNP) called for the resignation of Deputy Minister Mervyn Silva over his racial slurs directed at the Tamils of Indian Origin and urged businesses in Colombo to lend support to the peoples protest on Monday 8th August by closing their business establishments on that day, sources in Colombo said.
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Indian Tamils to protest against SL Minister's ethnic slur

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 August 2005, 04:12 GMT]
Tamils of Indian Origin from upcountry estates are to protest against the ethnic slurs directed at their community by Sri Lanka's Deputy Minister of Labour Relations and Foreign Employment, Mr. Mervyn Silva, during arraignment of the Minister's son Malaka Silva for his alleged confrontation with Police, sources in Nuwara Eliya said. The protest planned by the Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF) is to take place in front of the Fort Railway Station Colombo on 8th August.
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AFTA calls for support to Tamil rights

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2005, 13:16 GMT]
In a press release issued Thursday, Australian Federation of Tamils Association (AFTA) called on the International Community to recognize Tamils right to self-determination. AFTA said in the release that it fully endorses the proclamation made during the Tamil conference in Vavuniya on 27 July which called for recognition of “our basic right to a life of freedom with peace on the basis of our traditional homeland, our nationhood, self rule and struggle for sovereignty.”
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