Constituent Assembly illegal - Don

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2004, 01:20 GMT]
"There is no legal basis for establishing a constituent assembly. In fact, Article 76(1) of the Constitution states that parliament shall not abdicate or alienate its legislative power, and shall not set up any authority with any legislative power. It is, therefore, expressly prohibited to set up a constituent assembly for the purpose of making law," said Professor emeritus Nihal Jayawickrama in an interview with Sunday Leader, a popular Colombo weekly.
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SLMM head meets Trinco SLN, SLA Commanders

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 13:01 GMT]
Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde Saturday paid a visit to Trincomalee to assess the ground situation in the east port district following recent military operation by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ousting its renegade commander from the eastern region, sources said. He met with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) commanders during his visit, according to security sources.


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NorthEast to observe Annai Poopathi anniversary

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 11:01 GMT]
Arrangements have been made in several parts of NorthEast to celebrate the 16th death anniversary of Annai Poopathi on Monday (April 19). She died after fasting for 31 days from 19 March 1988 demanding that the Indian government should stop the war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and initiate talks with the LTTE.
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Pannalai resettled complain of SLA harassment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 April 2004, 09:55 GMT]
Eight Internally Displaced (IDP) families now resettled in no man zones located beyond 600 meter of the High Security Zones (HSZs) in Pannalai, Valigamam north in the Jaffna district Sunday complained that the soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) manning checkpoints and camps in the area have started harassing them with an intention of ousting them from their dwellings, civil society sources in Jaffna said.


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40 underaged Trinco LTTE cadres released to UNICEF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2004, 14:17 GMT]
40 under-aged cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were released to UNICEF at the LTTE political office in Sampoor, Trincomalee today, UNICEF officials said. Special committee appointed by the LTTE to review an under-age list submitted to them by the UNICEF made the determination that the released 31 girls and 9 boys joined the LTTE using false documentation saying that they were 18 or older.
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Col.Bhanu, Col.Sornam meet with Batticaloa residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2004, 12:24 GMT]
Senior military Commanders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Col.Bhanu and Col.Sornam, who played leading roles in the ouster of renegade commander Karuna from Batticaloa, visited several areas in Batticaloa and met with local residents Friday, reports from Batticaloa said.
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‘Karuna’s colleagues are returning’- Col. Ramesh

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 16:15 GMT]
“We will not punish or victimise or persecute anyone who has been associated with Karuna in his traitorous activities. Our leader has instructed us to take a strictly humanitarian approach in dealing with this issue. Karuna’s colleagues who fled the district four days ago are contacting us now. They are all coming back. We would soon restore the law and order system and the judiciary”, said Col. Thambirajah Ramesh, LTTE’s special commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai district speaking to TamilNet at the ‘Meenaham’ military base Friday.
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TNA censures SL President over ministerial post to EPDP

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 14:55 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group Friday censured the action of Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, in appointing a person rejected by the Tamil people in the April 2nd poll in charge of a ministry important to Tamils, disregarding the overwhelming mandate obtained by the TNA for the establishment of the Interim Self Governing Authority in the Northeast, TNA sources said.
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'Don't re-recruit released underage LTTE cadres' -UNICEF

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2004, 13:19 GMT]
UNICEF Friday called on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to ensure that released underage cadres are not re-recruited. “The LTTE must commit itself to not re-recruiting any of the children that have left the organization in the wake of last week’s fighting,” the UNICEF said in a press release.
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"International community accepts LTTE as Tamils’ saviour”-Gajendran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 15:24 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from the Jaffna district, Mr.S.Gajendran, said Thursday that the international community has accepted that the Liberation Tigers’ military wing safeguards and protects the Tamil people. "Because of this," said the TNA MP, "the international community remained silent, watching the events that took place when the LTTE launched its military operation to retrieve the areas from its renegade commander ('Karuna')."
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SLA denies giving protection to fleeing renegade

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 14:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday denied reports in the Colombo-based media that SLA forces provided escort to the renegade commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan known as Karuna to a destination in Colombo when he fled from his hideouts in the eastern province following a military operation by the Liberation Tigers against him, sources said.
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LTTE, SLA agree to restore relations in Batticaloa-Amparai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 12:24 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army held discussions Wednesday afternoon on restoring relations in the Batticaloa and Amparai districts in Vavunathivu, 5 kilometres northwest of the Batticaloa town. Col. Thambirajah Ramesh, the Special Commander for the Batticaloa-Amparai District, led the LTTE delegation. Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Maj. Gen. (ret) Tronde Furuhovde chaired the meeting. Asked whether the issue of renegade LTTE commander Karuna’s whereabouts was raised at the meeting, Col. Ramesh and Maj. Gen. (ret) Furuhovde replied in the negative.
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Araiyampathy mourns native son Lt. Col. Neelan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2004, 04:17 GMT]
The body of the deputy head of intelligence of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa district, Lt. Col. Neelan, who was killed by the fleeing renegade Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (‘Karuna’), was brought to his home village, Araiyampathy, Wednesday, and kept at the Ramakrishna Mission school hall where the public paid its respects in large numbers, sources said.
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LTTE says no more underage cadres in Batti-Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 16:46 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers said Wednesday that they have released all underage (under 18) cadres in the Batticaloa-Amparai districts to their parents, including all those the UNICEF had reported in its list as under-aged recruits.
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Post election violence continues in Jaffna islets

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 16:15 GMT]
Violence is on the increase in the islets of Jaffna district after the general election held on April 2. Several people were injured in clashes that took place on the Tamil-Sinhala New Year Day (April 13) at Thambatti area in Kayts between members of public and the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic party (EPDP), police said
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All TNA parliamentarians to visit Kilinochchi Friday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 15:01 GMT]
All the twenty-two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians are expected to meet the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Friday in Kilinochchi, sources in the Vanni said Wednesday.
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Karuna's associate returns to LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 14:51 GMT]
Mr.Visu (Sinnathamby Gopalan), who was appointed as the political head of the Karuna group in Batticaloa and Amparai districts by the renegade commander Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan when he broke away from the Liberation Tigers, rejoined the LTTE Wednesday afternoon in Batticaloa town, sources said.
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LTTE mourns cadres killed by fleeing renegade

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 13:59 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Wednesday officially announced that their deputy head of the Batticaloa intelligence unit, Lt.Colonel Neelan (Sinnathamby), was shot dead by the "traitorous" Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna on April 12 before he fled his jungle hideouts in the Batticaloa district, sources said.


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Karthigaipoo declared as National flower of Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2004, 01:10 GMT]
"Karthigaipoo" or Gloriosa Lily (Botanical name - Liliaceae Glory lily or Gloriosa superba), which has the spectrum of colors contained in the Tamil Eelam national flag and which in November, the month of Heroes day celebrations, ubiquitously spreads, sprouts new shoots and blooms throughout the NorthEast, has been proclaimed the official national flower of Eelam Tamils. Reliable sources from Vanni said that the Karthigaipoo was designated as Tamil Eelam National flower by the LTTE administration during the Great Heros rememberence week in November 2003.
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Kausalyan explains retrieval with minimal bloodshed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 April 2004, 16:36 GMT]
The political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, Mr. Kausalyan, speaking to press persons in Vakarai Tuesday, said that the retrieval of the region from the renegade Karuna group was made according to the plans of the LTTE leader, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, and executed with care and humanitarian concern by commanders led by the Special Commander for the region, Mr. T. Ramesh.


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