Amparai woman candidate uses Bus as campaign vehicle

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 12:20 GMT]
Ms.Sabapathy Yogambikai who is standing for elections in Batticaloa-Amparai district in Tamil National Alliance (TNA) ticket is using public transport as her campaign vehicle to minize cost and to identify with the working layers of the district residents, media reports from Amparai said.
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"Historic obligation to show force of Unity" - Raviraj

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2004, 00:12 GMT]
"Several public civil society organizations have joined us in carrying out door-to-door campaigns. We are telling Jaffna voters that a historical burden is placed on the Tamil society to demonstrate a force of unity in the forthcoming elections," said Mr.Nadarajah Raviraj, former Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, speaking to the Canadian Tamil Radio (CTR) Saturday.
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LTTE hands over underage youths to UNICEF

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2004, 09:10 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Sunday morning handed over thirty-five youths who are under 18 years of age to the UNICEF at an event held at its political secretariat in Sampur in the LTTE held Muttur east in the Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Jaffna voters urged to elect woman candidate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 13:19 GMT]
"About sixty percent of our cadres who crushed the military operation "Ginihera" of the Sri Lanka Army in Muhamalai area were women. The credit for the Muhamalai victory goes to our women cadres," said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Jaffna district political head, Mr.C.Ilamparuthi, introducing Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan at an election meeting held Saturday in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall, sources said.
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Polling stations in SLA-controlled areas for voters in LTTE-held region

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2004, 05:38 GMT]
According to decisions made at special meetings at the Secretariats in Jaffna, Vavuniya, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, the polling stations for the voters in the Liberation Tigers-controlled areas are to be constructed in the Sri Lanka Army-controlled areas in clusters, sources said.
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Annai Poopathy anniversary celebrated in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 13:41 GMT]
Sixteenth year anniversary of Annai Poopathy memorial day was celebrated across the Northeast with special events being organized in Navalady, Batticaloa, sources said. Joseph Pararajasingham, Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front, and other Tamil National Alliance candidates participated in the Batticaloa event, according to sources. Voice of Tigers (VoT) in its evening broadcast reported that major celebrations took place in Udayarkattu, Moonkilattu heroes cemetary for Batticaloa-Amparai war heroes.
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Vavuniya teachers, education officials urged to vote for TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2004, 11:46 GMT]
"Our people should vote to reinforce Tamil Nationalism. We are supporting the elections this time to ensure that the voice of the Tamil National Alliance which is calling for the Tamils right to self-determination and setting up of Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) in the NorthEast, is heard clearly," said S.Elilan, LTTE political head of Vavuniya, addressing a meeting attended by Vavuniya North education officials, teachers and principals, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Will continue to espouse NorthEast unity - Pararajasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2004, 04:21 GMT]
"I will carryout my campaign only on the basis of the LTTE's cardinal principles - find a political solution to the Tamil national problem based on the acceptance of the fundamental proposals regarding Tamil homeland consisting of North and East, Tamil Nation, Tamils’ right to self-government. If I am forced to deviate from these principles then I will not hesitate to withdraw my candidacy from the forthcoming elections," said Joseph Pararajasingham speaking to Canadian Tamil Radio (CTR).
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Polling stations in SLA side of checkpoints

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2004, 03:18 GMT]
During a meeting with Government Agents (GAs) from Vanni electoral district and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commanders held in Vavuniya Wednesday evening it was agreed to locate polling stations in the SLA side of checkpoints at Omanthai, Madhu road and Uyilankulam, for residents of LTTE controlled areas in Vanni district to vote, sources said.


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Jaffna EPDP vehicle damaged in clash

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 18:03 GMT]
A vehicle belonging to the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) was badly damaged during a clash between a group of Jaffna university students and activists of the EPDP. The clash is alleged to have erupted when a group of EPDP activists assembled to create trouble in front of the residence of Ms Pathmini Sithamparanathan, a Tamil National Alliance candidate, Jaffna Police said Wednesday night.


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Eastern poet decries regionalism

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 16:20 GMT]
In a statement to Tamil media on the recent raising of regionalism in the East by renegade commander Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), Mr. Kasi Anandan, a well-known poet from the East, said that the more than 17,700 fighters from Tamil Eelam who sacrificed their lives in the liberation struggle did not do so for Jaffna or Batticaloa, but for Tamil Eelam. “I will never accept the division of Tamil Eelam as Jaffna and Batticaloa. The people of Tamil Eelam will live until their last breath for Tamil Eelam,” he said.


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TNA leaders address election rally in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 14:36 GMT]
General Secretary of the Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi (ITAK) Mr. Mavai Senathirajah addressing an election rally in Trincomalee Tuesday evening said, "Tamils have got a historic opportunity in their freedom struggle to show their unity. Tamils must support the joint effort of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to find a lasting political solution to the Tamil national question based on the interim self governing authority (ISGA) proposals."
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Ammunition, grenades discovered in Omanthai well

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 11:54 GMT]
A demining official, Bala, attached to the Swiss Demining Federation (FSD), involved in demining in Vavuniya and Mannar, said Wednesday that deminers have discovered a cache of ammunition and grenades from a irrigation well located in a field behind the Omanthai Maha Vidiyalayam, sources said.
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Karuna’s revolt is 'temporary aberration' - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 08:43 GMT]
The rebellion by the LTTE’s former Batticaloa-Amparai commander is “not a major politico-military crisis in the LTTE,” the movement’s theoretician and chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said this week in his first public comment on the estrangement between Mr. V. Muraleetharan (Karuna) and the LTTE leadership. In a wide-ranging interview with the London based Tamil Guardian newspaper, Mr. Balasingham said “Karuna’s dissent would not seriously undermine the peace process or the Tamil national struggle.”
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Karuna Group bans Tamil daily

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 March 2004, 07:10 GMT]
The Karuna Group, led by the renegade LTTE regional leader, Mr. V. Muraleetharan, stopped the distribution of a popular Tamil daily in the Batticaloa Amparai districts from Wednesday. Armed cadres from the Karuna Group had threatened manager of the Thinakkural paper's regional office in Batticaloa with death. The paper was not sold in Batticaloa Wednesday.
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Polling stations for voters in LTTE-held areas still in limbo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 18:46 GMT]
The arrangements for opening and staffing polling stations in the Sri Lanka Army-controlled areas in the Vavuniya, Mannar and Mullaithivu districts are complete, but no such arrangements have been made about opening voting booths for the voters in the Liberation Tigers-controlled areas, said the Returning Officer for the Vanni region, Mr. K. Ganesh
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Demining assistance, Japan's high priority - Embassy official

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 18:18 GMT]
"The government of Japan is closely observing the emergency humanitarian needs of the people in the northeast in Sri Lanka and is supporting the efforts of the Government of Sri Lanka in demining operations," said Mr.H.Onishi, First Secretary Japan Embassy in Colombo, Tuesday, while addressing at the inauguration ceremony of The Japan Center for Conflict Programme (JCCP) in Vavuniya.


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Empower TNA to decide next government, Sampanthan tells voters

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:36 GMT]
"Tamils are in the verge of achieving their legitimate rights after several years of freedom struggle through the military might of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. Hence it is the duty of Tamils to strengthen the hands of LTTE by sending at least twenty-one Tamil National Alliance parliamentarians thus making the TNA as a force to decide the future government," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA leader and the TNA lead candidate for Trincomalee district when addressing a series of election meetings in the LTTE held area villages in Muttur east and Eachilampathu division Sunday evening.


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Ensure franchise to Tamil voters, TNA tells Cushnahan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 11:21 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan has appealed to the European Parliament member Mr.John Walls Cushnahan to take immediate steps to ensure that voters in Liberation Tigers held areas in the northeast province to exercise their franchise freely and without any restriction in the polling stations located in no man zones in the forthcoming general election, sources said.
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Karuna Group eyes cabinet portfolio

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2004, 06:28 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance candidates in Batticaloa who might be elected in the April polls to Sri Lanka’s Parliament should be ready to work with the government that comes to power in Colombo, according to instructions issued Monday by the Karuna Group to Tamil politicians in the troubled eastern district, sources said. One of the TNA MPs elected from Batticaloa would be given a cabinet portfolio, according to Mr. Rajan Sathiyamoorthy, a TNA candidate who is a confidante of Mr. V. Muraleetharan, the leader of the Karuna Group.
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