Veteran Tamil scholar dies

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 November 2004, 11:19 GMT]
Mr.R.Vadivelu, a veteran Tamil and Hindu scholar in Trincomalee passed away at the age of 85 Friday afternoon around 1 p.m. at his residence located in Vidiyalayam Lane in the heart of east port town. Cremation is to take place in Trincomalee Hindu Cemetery Saturday evening, family sources said.


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Tamils concerned over India's moves- TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 November 2004, 04:28 GMT]
"Visits of Indian military and naval chiefs to Sri Lanka and Indo-Sri Lanka defence agreement expected to be signed next week in India by both governments during the visit of Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge have caused apprehension among Tamils that preparations are underway for another war in the island," said Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian in a press release issued Tuesday.


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Sri Lanka opposition boycotts Kumaratunga's peace parley

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 14:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga addressing the first meeting of the National Advisory Council for Peace and Reconciliation (NACPR) Monday said devolution of power to an extent should be found within the framework of the United Sri Lanka. "Solution to the northeast conflict should not be war,"said President Kumaratunga. Opposition parties, including the largest Tamil party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, boycotted the parley. Tamils charge that the NACPR is a time buying tactic by President Kumaratunga.
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NE Governor cancels visit to Jaffna after protest

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 13:20 GMT]
The North East Province Governor (retired) Major General Asoka Jayawardene Monday cancelled his official visit to Jaffna after civil groups in the peninsula warned that he would face public agitation as hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families are still languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres, district secretariat sources said Monday. The NE Governor was scheduled to visit Jaffna on Wednesday.
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Tamils must act to preserve cultural values- Semmanan

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 November 2004, 11:54 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in occupation in Jaffna district is engaged in attempts to destroy our freedom struggle by degrading our cultural values. We should all be alert to defeat this enemy and join hands to safeguard our cultural identity and values" said Mr.Semmanan, Deputy Political Head of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna district addressing the final event of the two-day Divisional Cultural Festival held Sunday at Karaveddy Predesiya Sabah hall, sources said.
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Akashi visits Trincomalee, meets community leaders

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2004, 11:53 GMT]
Mr.Yasushi Akashi, Japanese special peace envoy Saturday visited Trincomalee and held discussions with the delegations representing Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims in the Trincomalee district separately at the residence of Parish Priest of Trincomalee St Mary's Cathedral. "Trincomalee district has showed to the world that there is a possibility for co-existence and co-operation between the three communities in Sri Lanka," said Mr.Akashi after the discussion.
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Balasingham questions ‘Oslo Declaration’ in new book

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 October 2004, 09:31 GMT]
In a critical analysis of the Norwegian facilitated peace process in his new book ‘War and Peace,’ the LTTE’s theoretician, Mr. Anton Balasingham, calls into question the concept of the ‘Oslo Declaration.’ Mr. Balasingham points out that there was no specific proclamation titled the ‘Oslo Declaration’ on which many claims of the Tigers unconditional abandonment of the right to secession – i.e. external self-determination – are based.
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One killed, two injured in Colombo attack

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2004, 17:28 GMT]
A youth was shot dead and two were injured when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a group of Tamils suspected to be members of the paramilitary led by renegade Liberation Tigers commander 'Karuna' (Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan) in a predominantly Tamil suburb in Colombo Monday night around 8.30.
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Protect stone scriptures related to Tamil history- Don

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2004, 05:01 GMT]
"Majority of the centuries old stone scriptures that unearthed in the northeast province in Sri Lanka that defines Tamil History have been located in Trincomalee district. Most of the scriptures are connected with the history of Koneswaram Temple," said Professor C.Pathmanathan, Head of the Department of History in the University of Peradeniya. He conducted a research study tour in the east port district recently.
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Army occupation of houses must cease, MP tells SLA commander

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2004, 15:12 GMT]
Mr.Suresh Premachchandran, Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Saturday met with Major General Sunil Tennekoon, Jaffna area commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and discussed issues confronting the people of the district since the ceasefire came into operation. This was the first time Major general Sunil Tennekoon met a TNA parliamentarian at his military headquarters in Palaly military airbase, sources said.
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Vavuniya hosts all island netball tournament

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2004, 13:13 GMT]
Inauguration of the all ceylon women's netball championship in Vavuniya was delayed by more than an hour Saturday morning after some local groups objected to hoisting Sri Lanka's national flag and singing its national anthem at the two day sports event, Police said. Ms. Shiranthi Rajapaksha, wife of Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, was the chief guest at the inauguration of the tournament. The function, scheduled to start at 9.30 a.m. began late sans the Sri Lankan national flag and anthem.
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LTTE delegation meets German Foreign Ministry Officials

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2004, 03:45 GMT]
Liberation Tigers delegation led by Head of Political Wing, S. P. Thamilchelvan met with State Secretary, German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development, Mr. Erich Stather, and Minister of State, Federal Foreign Office Ms. Kerstin Muller in meetings Thursday and Friday in Berlin, LTTE sources in Germany said. The delegation flew from Stockholm, Sweden, in a special airacraft that took them to German capital Berlin, Thursday morning.
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Sinhala Buddhists want Norway out

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2004, 01:45 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the powerful Sinhala Buddhist nationalist party in Sri Lanka's Parliament, Thursday launched an islandwide campaign to get ten million signatures to persuade President Chandrika Kumaratunga to reject peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. The Sinhala nationalist campaign also exhorts Colombo to unequivocally reject the LTTE's proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the northeast.
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150 farmers honoured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2004, 17:07 GMT]
Northeast Provincial Department of Agriculture Thursday honoured 150 best farmers in the Trincomalee district at an event especially held at Divisional Agriculture Extension Office, which is located in Chelvanayakapuram settlement about three km off east port town. The event was organized by the Trincomalee District Department of Agriculture and sponsored by the Innovative Pesticide Marketing (PVT) Ltd. (IPMP).
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Pressing UPFA to start talks, our priority- UNP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2004, 10:51 GMT]
"We are not pressuring the Sri Lanka Government or its President that the ISGA must be granted to the North-East, nor do we impose our stand. Our party's stance is that the ISGA proposals should be used as the basis to start talks and that it is vital that talks start soon", stated Ranil Wickramasinghe at meeting of the UNP Parliamentary group last Tuesday held at the Parliamentary complex, political sources in Colombo said.
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Signature campaign demands higher plantation wages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 09:33 GMT]
Kandy based Human Development Organisation (HDO) launched a signature campaign targeting to obtain 100,000 signatures to pressure the the Sri Lanka Government and Private plantation companies to grant wage increase to the Plantation sector workers, civil sources said.
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Trinco LTTE commander meets TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 05:03 GMT]
Col. Sornam, the Commander of the Liberation Tigers in Trincomalee, Tuesday met Tamil National Alliance MPs who are on a fact finding and familiarisation visit in the eastern district. The seventeen TNA MPs and the senior LTTE commander discussed the severe poverty and underdevelopment faced by Tamils in the rural parts of Trincomalee and the need to further cement Tamil-Muslim unity. "Our top priority today is to rebuild our society, all but destroyed by the Sinhala state through systematic racial discrimination and genocide", Col. Sornam told the TNA MPs.
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ISGA critical to peace- Elilan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2004, 03:15 GMT]
"If the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) does not accept our committed stand to find a negotiated political resolution to the Tamil national question on the basis of our Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals then war will be inevitable. We are prepared to face that prospect," said Mr.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing a meeting held in Salli, a Tamil village north of Trincomalee as a part of the three day district level political awareness campaign of the Tamil national Alliance (TNA).
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Tamils, LTTE, MPs lose patience on peace process -Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 October 2004, 05:08 GMT]
"Tamils, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and we (parliamentarians) have started losing patience on the current peace efforts with the Norwegian facilitation because of the inability of the Government of Sri Lanka in coming to terms on the basis of resuming peace talks with the LTTE due to internal rift among its constituents," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader addressing a series of awareness meetings held in several villages north of Trincomalee district Sunday from morning till midnight.
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TNA urges Tamil people to strengthen LTTE hands

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 October 2004, 16:12 GMT]
Tamil National Parliamentarians (TNA) addressing first public rally held in Trincomalee Town Hall Saturday night as a part of the three day political awareness campaign in the district stressed that Tamils should strengthen the hands of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to establish the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) which is urgently needed to reconstruct the war torn northeast province and to rehabilitate the lives of several thousands internally displaced peoples now sheltered in camps and welfare centres.
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