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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Batticaloa shuts down for Black September massacres

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 09:48 GMT]
A general shut down (Hartal) was observed in Batticaloa Sunday to mark the massacre of hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women, infants and children, by Sri Lanka army and paramilitaries working with it on 5 September, 1990. Roads were mostly deserted and shops closed in response to a call by leading civil society groups and MPs of the Tamil National Alliance to observe 5 September as a Black Day.
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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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JVP backed anti-NE merger campaign begins in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2004, 16:55 GMT]
A new campaign ''Awakening East'' organized by a Sinhala nationalist group and backed by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, demanding the de-merger of the northeast province was held Wednesday in Kalmunai Town Hall in Amparai district in the eastern province. The meeting was attended by mainly Sinhalese and by a few muslims, media sources said.
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SLA, LTTE to meet again in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 August 2004, 13:34 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Batticaloa said Tuesday they will meet Sri Lankan armed forces again after a long gap on Friday 3 September. The decision was announced following a discussion between Col. Ramesh, special commander of LTTE forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai District and Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furuhovde, head of the Nordic monitoring mission in Sri Lanka, Tuesday in Kokkaddicholai, 15 kilometres southwest of Batticaloa.
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TNA parliamentarians to meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 August 2004, 18:01 GMT]
All twenty-two parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are scheduled to hold talks with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Monday morning at the headquarters of the LTTE, Vanni sources said.


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Technology Education key to Tamils' prosperity- Thilak

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 August 2004, 00:04 GMT]
"Skills development in information technology across the districts of NorthEast at international levels is key to economic upliftment of our people," said S.Thilak, currently the Director of Economic Development for NorthEast and formerly political head of Trincomalee, when TamilNet talked to him Saturday about his new assignment in the economic division.
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SLA support to paramilitaries endangers integrity of the CFA - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 August 2004, 09:03 GMT]
In a letter to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) regarding the recent killings of two LTTE members in Batticaloa, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan accused the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) of accommodating and encouraging the activities of armed groups and warned that it is a serious threat to normalcy and maintaining the integrity of the CFA.
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Agricultural exhibition to be held in Vattakachchi Model Farm

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 August 2004, 04:19 GMT]
Manufacturers and resellers of agricultural tools using latest technology, and agricultural, livestock producers will be showcasing their products in an exhibition at the Model Farm premises in Vattakachchi organized by the Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization (TEEDOR) during the first week of September, organizers in Vanni said this week.
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Muslim towns shut down to mourn slain Tiger

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 August 2004, 04:17 GMT]
Muslim towns and villages in the Amparai district observed a total shut down Monday in mourning for 'Bawa', the senior Liberation Tiger who was killed in an ambush north of Batticaloa last Friday. Traffic on the coastal main road of the district was completely blocked beyond Kalmunai for the shut down (Hartal). Large crowds of Muslims thronged to pay their last respects to 'Bawa' when his body lay at the LTTE's political office in Kalmunai and later at the Ramakrishna Mission in Akkaraipattu on Sunday.
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Two Tigers killed in ambush north of Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 11:13 GMT]
Mr. Bawa, a senior member of the Liberation Tigers from the Amparai District and an LTTE rehabilitation affairs official were killed in an ambush near a Sri Lanka army camp at Kayankerni, 36 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Friday around 2.15 p.m. Mr. Bawa was riding a motorbike with Mr. Yoga, an LTTE official in charge of rehabilitation work, when gunmen ambushed them triggering a claymore mine and opening fire at Pullaavi junction in Kayankerni, an area controlled by the Sri Lankan military. A female cadre travelling with them was seriously injured. She was earlier believed dead.
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Trincomalee gets separate High Court

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 16:18 GMT]
Mr.Anton Balasingham, currently Trincomalee District Judge, has been promoted as the first Judge of the newly established High Court of Trincomalee district. He is to preside over the inaugural sitting of the Trincomalee High Court Monday, legal sources said.
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LTTE ready to resume talks based on ISGA- Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 10:48 GMT]
Institutionalising the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals put forward by the Liberation Tigers must be viewed on a humanitarian perspective rather than making it a political bargain to satisfy extremist elements in the southern polity, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE’s political wing told Norwegian Deputy Ambassador at a meeting held in Kilinochchi, Saturday. "We are waiting for a positive response from the government to recommence negotiations on the basis of ISGA proposals," Mr. Thamilchelvan told the Norwegian diplomat, LTTE’s peace secretariat website reported.
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Killings continue in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 04:40 GMT]
A man, suspected to be linked to a paramilitary group, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen close to a Sri Lanka army camp in Valaichenai, 32 kilometres north of Batticaloa, Friday night around 8.30. Twenty eight persons, including a senior journalist and a university academic, have been killed in areas controlled by Sri Lankan armed forces in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts since renegade LTTE commander Karuna fled the region on 9 May this year following a lightening but ruthless assault by the LTTE.
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Farmers complain NE districts ignored in drought relief

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 August 2004, 17:02 GMT]
Drought-stricken farmers in the Trincomalee district have been ignored by the Central Government in providing relief and other facilities which have been offered to their counterparts in the districts of Kurunagala, Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Badulla, Moneragala, Matale and Polonnaruwa in the south of the country, said the Kappalthurai Farmers' Federation (KFF) in the Trincomalee district in a statement issued Friday.
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TNA, LTTE map strategy for grass roots campaign

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 August 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians in the Batticaloa-Amparai districts Thursday mapped out a strategy for grass roots campaign to educate people in the region about ''the political, economic, social and historical background and roots of the Tamil struggle'', an LTTE official in the east said.
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LTTE, STF meet after long gap

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 11:15 GMT]
The Special Task Force, the elite counter insurgency arm of the Sri Lankan armed forces, met the Liberation Tigers Wednesday in Akkaraipattu, 64 kilometres south of Batticaloa for discussions on observing the cease fire and resolving matters that have been cause for friction in the Amparai district. The LTTE delegation told the STF and Police that attacks on their cadres in Sri Lankan government held areas of the district should stop.
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Killings escalate in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 August 2004, 04:13 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen shot dead a person suspected to be linked to renegade LTTE commander 'Karuna' in the early hours of the morning Wednesday around 1.30 a.m. in Kiran, 27 kimoetres north of Batticaloa. He was riding a motorbike when the gunmen ambushed him at Kiran junction, Police said. Another person beleived to be an army informant linked to 'Karuna Group' was shot dead Tuesday night around 7.20 p.m. in Kaluwaanchikudy, 24 kilometres south of Batticaloa.
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Islamic militants stone pilgrims from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2004, 17:42 GMT]
Four pilgrims returning from Kataragama, a shrine venerated by Tamils and Singhalese, were injured when persons suspected to be Islamic militant youth stoned the buses in which they were traveling to Jaffna at Kalmunai, 40 kilometres south of Batticaloa, Tuesday. A general shut down was observed in the Muslim towns of Batticaloa and Amparai districts Tuesday to mark the killing of Muslims in Kattankudy 14 years ago.
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Muslim towns shut down to mark massacre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2004, 14:14 GMT]
Muslim towns in the Batticaloa Ampara shut down Tuesday to mark the killing of 103 Muslims in a Mosque in Kattankudy 14 years ago. MPs of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress wore black arm bands to Parliament Tuesday to mark the mass killing. The Liberation Tigers were accused of killing the Muslims in a Mosque in Kattankudy, 5 kilometres south of Batticaloa.
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