NE schools to get 2915 graduate teachers, planning officers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 August 2005, 08:53 GMT]
Interviews to recruit 2188 graduates as teachers (1684 Tamil medium and 504 Sinhala medium) and 727 graduates (629 Tamil mediums and 98 Sinhala medium) as Planning and Financial Assistants for schools in the North East province are to begin on August 4 in the districts of Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Kalmunai and will be conducted till August 10, said Mr.R.Thiakalingam, Provincial Education Ministry Secretary.
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US's strategic interests in Sri Lanka- Taraki

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 July 2005, 18:45 GMT]
What are the US government’s strategic interests in Sri Lanka? If the US has specific strategic interests in the island, then what are the means and modes by which it was and is securing them? Dharmaretnam Sivaram, popular military analyst and senior editor at TamilNet was working on this feature when he was abducted and killed on 28 April 2005.
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Tamileelam TV to begin broadcasts to SouthEast Asia

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 July 2005, 04:12 GMT]
"The importance given to nurturing the electronic and printed media by the Tamil Eelam leader Pirapaharan is why we are now able to extend our Television services to countries in Asia," said K Veera of National Television of Tamileelam (NTT), speaking at an event held Friday 10 am at the Media Co-ordinating office in Kilinochchi to mark the inauguration of television broadcasts to southeast asian countries on 1st August, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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"Human Rights in Sri Lanka under-addressed" - Karen Parker

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 July 2005, 11:23 GMT]
Noting that the Sri Lankan military and paramilitary forces are carrying out "a kind of shadow war", Ms. Karen Parker, J.D., a San Francisco based attorney, addressing the 57th session of the UN Sub-Commission On Promotion and Protection of Human Rights on Wednesday said that the Tamil people, already having suffered nearly 20 years of war, are also suffering from the failure of the Sri Lanka to allow international post-Tsunami aid to reach the Tamils. Ms. Parker urged the Sub-Commission members to voice their concerns in their own statements, and to "seek out ways to communicate concerns to other UN bodies" for action.
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UN Sub-Commission urged to protect human rights in the NorthEast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 July 2005, 09:54 GMT]
Outlining the bias in the Sri Lankan judicial system against Tamils, the Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR), a France based Tamil rights group, in a letter handed over to Mr. Vladimir Kartashkin, the chairperson of the UN Sub-Commission On Promotiion and Protection of Human Rights, said: "Justice has been denied to Tamils systematically, over several decades, in all aspects of life. They have suffered systematic human rights violations of genocidal proportions, the perpetrators of which have not been brought to book." The UN Sub-Commission opened its fifty-seventh session on Monday.
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US should facilitate equitable, expeditious aid distribution- Gajendrakumar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 July 2005, 00:39 GMT]
Speaking at a Members' briefing organized by the Congressional Human Rights Caucus Wednesday at the Rayburn building of the Capitol Hill Washington D.C on "Sri-Lanka: Challenges and Efforts to Effectively Deliver Humanitarian Relief in the Wake of the Tsunami," Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Gajendrakumar urged the United States Government to "resolve any legal issues that prevent the US government from directly, equitably and expeditiously providing all forms of assistance to all parts of the Northeast," sources in Washington said.


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Tamil convention demands immediate withdrawal of SL military

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 July 2005, 14:45 GMT]
Proclaiming that an environment must be created to enable Tamils to decide their political destiny, the Tamil National Resurgence Convention held in Vavuniya, demanded that the occupying Sinhala forces must vacate the land and seas of the NorthEast with immediate effect. The proclamation concluded urging the International Community to recognise the "basic rights and life of freedom with peace on the basis of our traditional homeland, our nationhood and self rule and struggle for sovereignty."


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"Sri Lanka's Judiciary consistently denied justice to Tamils" - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2005, 15:21 GMT]
"We have seen how the Judiciary of Sri Lanka aided the oppression of Tamil people during the period of war, and we have recently witnessed how Colombo's Supreme Court crippled the Agreement on Joint Mechanism accepted by the President of Sri Lanka," LTTE's Political Head Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan said in his key note address delivered in Kilinochchi at the ceremony to mark the opening of the new building for Legislation Secretariat of the Judicial Administrative Unit of the Tamil Eelam on Tuesday. "The Sinhala Nation has failed to seize the opportunity during this three and a half year period of absence of war to resolve the Tamil national question," LTTE's Political Head said.
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Social mobilization workshop begins in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 July 2005, 02:18 GMT]
Opening event of a residential nine-day workshop for nearly 30 staff engaged in social mobilization in different districts of NorthEast was held in Kanagapuram in Kilinochchi Saturday at 3.30 pm, sources said. Director of the Socilal Mobilization section of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), Mr M Selvarajah, presided the event.
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Environmental Commission formed in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 July 2005, 11:25 GMT]
The inaugural event of the Thamileelam Commision for Environmental Governance (TCEG) was held at the Planning and Development Secretariat (PDS) located in Kilinochchi presided by Liberation Tiger's Head of Political Wing S P Thamilchelvan at 10 am Saturday, sources in Kilinochchi said. The main mission of the Commission is to ensure environmental protection in the NorthEast, PDS officials said.
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TNA seeks govt. stand on Trinco Buddha statue issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 06:06 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance ( TNA ) parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian made a statement in parliament Wednesday morning seeking the Government to reveal its stand on the Trincomalee Buddha statue issue following the withdrawal of the case filed by the Attorney General in the Trincomalee District Court for the removal of the statue.
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Colombo's political drama shatters hopes for peace- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 July 2005, 03:14 GMT]
"As Tamil people have repeatedly witnessed in their tortuous history of the past several decades, Colombo has shown its reluctance to provide remedies to Tamil people even after humanitarian disasters of colossal proportions. Sinhala leaders under severe international pressure, signed the deal after dragging for six long months, the Sinhala chauvinists then staged protests to derail the deal, and when all techniques were exhausted Sinhala nationalists engaged the willing apex court to use constitutional reasoning to scuttle the deal," said S P Thamilchelvan after a 4-hour long meeting with the TNA leaders in Kilinochchi Sunday.
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P-TOMS receives belated praise from Clinton

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 July 2005, 17:15 GMT]
Although Sri Lanka's aid deal, the Post Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS), is engulfed in crisis with extreme Sinhala nationlists and Muslim groups opposing the deal, Sri Lanka President's official website quoted former US President, Bill Clinton, as saying, "problems between Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have been now solved and they are working well together for tsunami recovery," and that the task forces established for post-tsunami rehabilitation must be kept for future disaster management.
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Navy rescues two Tamils from sandbank in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 14:07 GMT]
Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Tuesday ordered remand till July 22 for two persons-one Sri Lankan Tamil and another Indian citizen when they were produced by Talaimannar Police on a report that they had been rescued from a sandbank in Mannar sea by Sri Lanka Navy Monday evening around 5 p.m., legal sources said.
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Estate Tamils' security is tied to NorthEast's strength- Chandrasekaran

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 July 2005, 23:52 GMT]
"Recognition of the fundamental rights and the right of citizenship of Hill country Tamils is imperative for long term sustainable peace and stability in Sri Lanka," said Parliamentarian and Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Mr Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, when he talked with TamilNet Saturday in Washington D.C. On the future security of the people of Indian origin, Mr Chandrasekaran said, "As a minority community powerless to defend itself against discrimination and repression, the security is tied closely to the security framework to be established by the NorthEast Tamils under the political and military leadership of the Liberation Tigers."
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SL Parliament approves Terrorist Financing Suppression Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 July 2005, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday adopted the Draft Bill to give effect to the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing with a majority of sixty votes, 81 parliamentarians including ruling party, United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United national Party (UNP), National Unity Alliance (NUA), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the four dissidents of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) voted for the bill. 21 parliamentarians including 20 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs and one UNP MP Mr.T.Maheswaran voted against the bill. parliamentary sources said.
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State of Maryland declares Thirukkural Week

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 July 2005, 10:53 GMT]
A three day international conference on Thirukkural, a 2000 year old literary and ethical treatise of Tamils starts on 8 July Friday at Smith Auditorium, Howard Community College, Columbia Maryland in USA. Professor George Hart, a well known Tamil scholar who holds the position of The Tamil Chair at the University of California Berkeley, will be one of the keynote speakers, organizers said. State of Maryland has issued a proclamation declaring 8-10 July as a "Thirukkural Conference Week."
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Civilian killed in grenade attack on rice mill workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 July 2005, 07:20 GMT]
One civilian was killed and two were seriously wounded when unidentified gunmen lobbed a grenade into a rice mill in Pattiyadipitty, Akkariapattu Sunday night around 11.30 PM, Police said. Gunmen entered a room where six employees were sleeping and fired into the room after lobbing a grenade, sources said.
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Supreme Difference

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 July 2005, 15:24 GMT]
The Supreme Court, the most visible institution of the judicial branch, often plays a pivotal role in promoting trust in the government in a polarized society. Fundamental to the effective functioning of a supreme court is a secular constitution which protects minority rights, and a nation’s executive and legislative branches which practice good governance to enact laws benefiting the nation. Debates on new appointments to US Supreme Court and its recent controversial rulings render an opportunity to look at the functioning of the United States' “final arbiter of the law” to that of Sri Lanka’s.
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GTZ funds resettlement of ex-garrison town

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 July 2005, 04:47 GMT]
More than 110 displaced families from the village of Thattuvankotti near Elephantpass moved into their reconstructed houses, built with financial support of the German Government through the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ), at a ceremony organized by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Thursday 3.00 pm, sources in Vanni said.
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