JHU opposes SL President's proposed talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2004, 15:58 GMT]
The Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), which has emerged as the third force in Sri Lanka's southern politics by winning nine parliamentary seats in the last week's general election, Thursday said it would oppose any move to hold direct talks only with the LTTE to come to an agreement to find a political solution to the ethnic crisis.
Full story >>

All 20 TNA Parliamentarians issue joint statement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2004, 04:42 GMT]
"In view of the speculative reports in the media, all Members of Parliament elected from the North-Eastern region in the name of Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi emphatically state that we are unequivocally and irrevocably committed to the political aspirations of the Tamil people for over the past fifty years for self rule in a unified north-eastern region, which has been the acknowledged as the area of historical habitation of the Tamil speaking people," said 20 Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians in a joint statement issued Wednesday night after two days of discussions held in Colombo.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's President meets outgoing PM

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2004, 16:15 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, and former Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, held talks Wednesday that lasted for about two hours at the President's House. The talks centred on various subjects including the resumption of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers (LTTE), informed sources said.


Full story >>

TNA MPs from Vanni pay homage to LTTE martyrs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 21:01 GMT]
The newly elected Tamil National Alliance MPs from the Vanni district Monday visited the martyr’s cemetery of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Eachankulam in Vavuniya and paid their respects to the LTTE cadres who died fighting for the Tamil people, vowing "to work hard for the ideals for which the martyrs have sacrificed their lives," sources in Vavuniya said.
Full story >>

‘TNA should speak up for upcountry Tamils’ – UPF

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 19:49 GMT]
The leader of the Upcountry People’s Front (UPF), Mr. Periyannan Chandrasekaran, speaking to the Press after he met with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, on Tuesday, said that on behalf of the UPF, he would request the 22 Tamil National Alliance MPs to speak up about the problems of the Upcountry Tamil people, and that he would come to an understanding with the TNA in Sri Lanka's parliament without supporting any Southern parties, sources said.
Full story >>

Western province Tamil leader meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 19:09 GMT]
The leader of the Western Province People’s Front (WPPF), Mr. Mano Ganesan, who has been elected MP in the general elections held on April 2, met with the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at the latter’s secretariat in Kilinochchi at 5:00 pm on Tuesday and held discussions on wide ranging issues, including the Southern political situation in the aftermath of the elections and on taking forward the peace process, sources said.
Full story >>

All TNA MPs attend parliamentary group meeting

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2004, 15:36 GMT]
Dismissing reports carried by the Sri Lankan State-controlled electronic and print media that they had decided to function as a separate group, the 5 Tamil National Alliance MPs from the Batticaloa and Amparai districts participated at the first TNA parliamentary group meeting held Tuesday evening in Colombo along with the 15 TNA MPs elected from other districts of the Northeast, and Mr.Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, the senior TNA leader, was unanimously elected as the leader of the TNA parliamentary group at this meeting, TNA sources said.
Full story >>

SLA agrees to relax restrictions on fishing in northern seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 16:03 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has allowed fishermen of the Vadamarachchi division in the Jaffna district to use fishing boats with 40 horse power (hp) outboard engines for fishing in the northern seas. A decision to this effect was made at a conference held Saturday at the Point Pedro Sri Lanka army camp attended by officials of the SLA and fisheries societies, fisheries sources said.
Full story >>

Pongu Thamil calls on UN to recognize Tamil aspirations

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 15:27 GMT]
At the Pongu Thamil event held Monday in front of the United Nations' Offices in Geneva, Switzerland, the participants from the Tamil Diaspora pointed out the Tamil aspirations endorsed by the Tamil people in the General Elections on April 2 by an overwhelming majority, and called on the U.N. and the international community to recognize the aspirations in finding a lastintg solution to the Tamil question in Sri Lanka.
Full story >>

EPDP cadres threaten LTTE political activists in Naranthanai

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 13:44 GMT]
The Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Sunday received a complaint that the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) activists at gunpoint had intimidated the political head of the Liberation Tigers in the Islands, Mr.C.Arunthavam, and his associates, sources said.
Full story >>

Massive Pongu Thamil Convergence of European Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 12:39 GMT]
The Pongu Thamil event started at 14:40 European time on Monday at the Central Railway station in Geneva, Switzerland, with a speech by Mr. V. Rudrakumaran, the legal advisor of the Liberation Tigers, and the number of participants exceeded the organizers' expectations, sources said.
Full story >>

Geneva Pongu Thamil expects more than 10,000 participants

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 11:08 GMT]
In a press conference held at Hotel Warwich in Geneva at 11.15am today, the organizers of Pongu Thamil (Tamil uprising) said that they expect around 12000 participants in the rally set towards UN Buildings in Geneva from the Railway station of Geneva. Because of the tightened security due to the recent terror-attacks in Europe, the organizers expect delays for participants from various parts of Europe arriving at the venue, sources in Geneva said.
Full story >>

Wickremesinghe says minority government danger to peace process

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 10:57 GMT]
The outgoing Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told a news conference in Colombo that the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) appears to be trying to form a minority government and such a minority government will be a danger to the continuity of the peace process with the LTTE.


Full story >>

Thennamaravadi voters return back to Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 02:16 GMT]
About five hundred displaced Tamil voters of Thennamaravadi village, seventy-three km off north of Trincomalee town Sunday returned to their temporary residence Ponnagar in the Mullaitivu district in the LTTE held Vanni region, after voting in the Friday poll, sources said. The villagers were denied their right to vote for the last two decades.
Full story >>

Election results, major political victory for freedom struggle- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2004, 00:17 GMT]
The Tamil people have delivered a clear message that the "concept of the Tamil Homeland, Tamil Nationalism and the right for Tamil self rule should be accepted as the basic aspirations of the Tamil people and that the Tamil national problem should be politically resolved on that basis, failing which the Tamil people will fight to establish the Tamil sovereignty in their homeland on the principle of self determination," said the Political division of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official communique released in the peace secretariat website.
Full story >>

"TNA solidly stands behind ISGA"-Sampanthan tells UNF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 April 2004, 11:19 GMT]
"We have been closely watching the current political situation," Tamil National Alliance leader and the re-elected Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan told Mr.Bradman Weerakoon, Special Advisor to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in a telephonic conversation initiated by the latter Sunday morning, political sources said.
Full story >>

TamilNet Batticaloa correspondent elected TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2004, 14:21 GMT]
Mr. Senathirajah Jeyanandamoorthy, TamilNet’s correspondent for Batticaloa has been elected as a Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament for the eastern district, election officials said Saturday. He received 44457 personal preference votes. The Tamil National Alliance won a landslide victory in Batticaloa and got four of the district’s five seats.
Full story >>

80% vote in Trinco clustered booths

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 18:00 GMT]
About ninety percent voters in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled areas in the Trincomalee district exercised their votes in the general election that concluded Friday evening 4 p.m. "Across Trincomalee seventy two percent voters exercised their franchise," said the Trincomalee District Returning Officer Mr. Gamini Rodrigo said Friday evening.


Full story >>

Kilinochchi, Vadamaradchi east voters throng Muhamalai

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 13:56 GMT]
Elections officials in Jaffna said Friday that thousands of voters from Kilinochchi walked a kilometre in scorching sun across the line of control between the areas controlled by the LTTE and the Sri Lanka army in the southern part of peninsula to cast their ballot. Polling was higher than sixty percent in the clustered booths in Sri Lanka army’s clearing zone for commercial vehicles, according to them. People voted with unprecedented enthusiasm in the Sri Lanka military controlled parts of Jaffna.
Full story >>

High polling in clustered booths for Killinochchi voters

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 11:08 GMT]
High polling was recorded in the clustered polling stations located in the Muhamalai area for voters residing in the LTTE controlled Killinochchi district and villages in the Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district. Around noon, sixty percent of the voters have voted in the sixty two polling stations, 30 for Killinochchi district voters and 32 for Vadamaradchchi east division voters in the LTTE held areas, election department sources said.
Full story >>