SL Government assistance to IDPs nil - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 20:15 GMT]
"I dare say that the [Sri Lankan] government has no right to rule our people as it has failed to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands internally displaced who have been languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres to return to their lands and resettle," said the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing a meeting in Kanniya village Monday morning.
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NECORD funded development projects launched in Kanniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 19:35 GMT]
Foundation stones were laid Monday morning for the construction of a pre-school and a multi purpose hall in the resettled Kanniya village, located on the Trincomalee- Anuradhapura road about 8 km north of Trincomalee town. The Asian Development Bank(ADB) funded North East Community Organization for Restoration Development (NECORD) under the Community Rehabilitation Development Project (CRDP) has allocated a sum of 6.8 million rupees for these development works, and the implementing agency is the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) of Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Hidden hand behind murder of disabled cadres- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 14:11 GMT]
“The murder of our disabled cadres is clearly the work of criminal elements that are working with the Sri Lanka army. I have requested the SLMM to arrange an early meeting with the SLA to discuss this matter. I hope this would be the last incident of this sort. No one could have gone in a van with arms at midnight in the direction of Vavunathivu without the SLA’s knowledge. There are no jungles in these parts to hide a van and armed men”, said Mr. Kousalyan, head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai district.
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Seven Tigers killed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 08:44 GMT]
Seven Liberation Tigers were killed by an unidentified armed group in Batticaloa Sunday night around 11.30 p.m. Four of the murdered LTTE cadres were invalids, sources said. They were killed at Ponnaankaanichenai, about 1.5 kilometres from the Sri Lanka army's point northwest of Batticaloa town. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE's political division in Batticaloa told truce monitors from the eastern town that the group that killed the seven Tiger cadres had come from the direction of the Sri Lanka army camp in Vavunathivu.
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LTTE releases Sinhalese worker arrested with T-56

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 03:40 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS) has released a Sinhalese contract worker arrested last year for carrying a concealed T-56 rifle in Paranthan to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), sources said.
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LTTE to await official word from Norway on peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 03:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will inform their stand on resuming the peace process if the Norwegian government officially informs the LTTE about the Sri Lankan government's stand, Mr. Daya Master, the media coordinator of the LTTE, told the Tamil media on Saturday. Meanwhile, sources quoting the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo say a high level delegation of the Norwegian government will visit Colombo in the first week of May to hold discussions with the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
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UPFA accuses JHU of joining hands with TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 16:52 GMT]
The leaders of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main constituents of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), jointly addressing a press conference Friday, said that the "true form" of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) has been revealed in parliament when its two parliamentarians voted in the Speaker's election with the main opposition United National Front, thereby "joining hands" with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), media sources said.
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Sri Lanka's President betrayed renegade commander - JHU

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 10:31 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) blasted the Sri Lanka Government for the pandemonium caused in Parliament on Friday, and asked Ms.Kumaratunge's government to take responsibility for its defeat. Although the JHU assured Ms.Kumaratunge of their votes, her betrayal of renegade Eastern Commander forced them to decide against supporting her, JHU said in a press conference held in Colombo today. JHU further said that its members would willingly sacrifice their lives to prevent the creation of Tamil Eelam.
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Kumaratunga requests Norway to resume facilitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 08:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga phoned Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik Thursday evening and requested Norway to resume its role as a third party facilitator in the peace process between the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said a press release issued by the Norwegian Prime Ministers Office in Oslo Friday. Norway, however, said it would resume its role as facilitator if the LTTE also made a similar request to Oslo. Norway said it was temporarily withdrawing from Sri Lanka's peace process in November last year.
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LTTE attends to problems of residents in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 April 2004, 00:49 GMT]
The Batticaloa district has returned to normal after the renegade Karuna group’s activities in the district were brought to an end, and the LTTE is asking the public to contact them over any problems the residents may have, sources said.
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LTTE hands over 6 cadres to parents in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 April 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya on Wednesday handed over six youths, who had joined the LTTE a few months back on their own, to their parents, sources said.
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LTTE criticizes UNICEF over recent statements

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2004, 16:57 GMT]
Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has expressed disappointment with the UNICEF in a letter on Monday to the resident representative of the organization in Sri Lanka, Mr. Ted Chaiban, over the UNICEF's ‘vocal’ criticism of the LTTE on the issue of child soldiers, arguing that the UNICEF, while being vocal on the issue, has failed in its obligations under an Action Plan agreed upon by both parties in addressing the community needs and to support the released underaged cadres.
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‘No force can destroy Tamil unity’ -Ramanan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 15:01 GMT]
“Our national leader has deep love for our people and land, and our people, likewise, are committed to Tamil unity and remain loyal to the national leader. The people of Batticaloa-Amparai have shown that no force can destroy Tamil unity now,” said a senior commander of the Liberation Tigers, Mr. Ramanan, speaking at the 16th year death anniversary of Annai (Mother) Poopathy, held Monday at the Navalady memorial for the late Tamil activist mother in Batticaloa town, sources said.
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TNA MPs, Pirapaharan discuss peace talks, ISGA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 10:33 GMT]
“The Tamil people voted for you on the basis of the principles of Tamil nationalism. You should understand their feelings and work to realise their aspirations. Love for one’s country comes from one’s love for home, family, village and region. In this sense I encouraged love for one’s region, as it is necessary to strengthen a liberation struggle. But it is dangerous when the affection for one's region is exploited for selfish motives”, said Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, speaking to 22 MPs of the Tamil National Alliance at the LTTE’s political division headquarters in Kilinochchi Tuesday.
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TNA MPs meet Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2004, 05:26 GMT]
Newly elected MPs of the Tamil National Alliance met the leader of the Liberation Tigers for discussions Tuesday in Kilinochchi. The TNA twenty two MPs will hold a press conference Tuesday afternoon to explain the policies and plans of the alliance, LTTE officials said.
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Tamil NGOs aid rehabilitation of homeland - LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 22:40 GMT]
Three organizations registered as legal Non-Governmental Organizations in Sri Lanka and in the North-East are contributing in a major way to the rehabilitation, reconstruction and humanitarian work in the Tamil homeland, the Liberation Tigers said in a statement Monday.
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Annai Poopathi remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 21:12 GMT]
Annai Poopathi sacrificed her life for the emancipation of Tamil people in the northeast province, said the Tamil National Alliance national list parliamentarian, Mr.M.K.Eelaventhan, addressing the death anniversary celebration of Annai Poopathi held Monday at the Colonel Kittu mausoleum, located at Muththirai Santhi in Jaffna town.
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'Peace process has not helped the war-affected' - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 19:10 GMT]
Despite the two and a half years of ceasefire, the people affected by the war in the Tamil homeland have not been able to return to their normal lives, and the Liberation Tigers consider this a setback in the peace process, said Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the LTTE, speaking as a special guest at the North-East Economic Advisory Council’s conference in the Vanni Monday, sources said.
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Media bias: dangerous fruits, flowers and foliage

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 14:07 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers’ adoption in November 2003 of the Gloriosa Lily as the national flower of Tamil Eelam, featured on TamilNet last week, prompted a spate of sensational news reports linking the flower with death and suicide. But, while the ‘Karthigaipoo’ joins a small group of poisonous flowers that have been adopted as national flowers, like France’s Fleur-de-Lis, some more innocuous flowers and plants have proven deadlier.
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Batticaloa-Amparai TNA MPs to meet Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 10:36 GMT]
Batticaloa-Amparai Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Members of Parliament (MPs) are travelling to Vanni today to meet with LTTE Head of the Political Section, S.P.Thamilchelvan, Tuesday, sources in Batticaloa said.
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