Tension in Akkaraipattu after attack on shops

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2004, 04:43 GMT]
Tension prevailed in Akkaraipattu Thursday after several shops in the Tamil division of the southeastern town were smashed up in the early hours of Thursday morning. "Sri Lanka Police stood by doing nothing while some thugs attacked the shops. The attack is aimed at instigating a violence between Muslims and Tamils. We are determined to stop this by peaceful means. We appeal to Tamils and our Muslim brethren not to rise to the bait of those who want to fan communal violence and divide our people", said Mr. S. Kuyilinpan, head of the LTTE's political division for the Ampara District Thursday.
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Talks should raise Plantation Tamil issues- Chandrasekaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2004, 10:01 GMT]
''During negotiations on rights to self-determination of NorthEast Tamils, problems faced by the plantation sector Tamils too should be raised. Plantation Tamils will lose if it is claimed that there is no link between the NorthEast Tamils and the plantation Tamils and that any connection between the two sectors could trigger tensions in the hill country as asserted by a certain organisations,'' said Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, leader of Up Country People Front (UPF) speaking at the opening of the Badulla District centre of the UPF, Monday, sources said.
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Barathipuram on road to recovery

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2004, 13:55 GMT]
Barathipuram, a Tamil settlement founded in 1964, about 3 km. off Trincomalee town, with currently about 125 families, is slowly rising with new amenities obtained with financial assistance from Lions Club of Trincomalee.
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Northern Muslims support talks based on ISGA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2004, 11:41 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge should take immediate steps to commence peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the basis of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by the LTTE," said Moulavi. M.Subiyan, Secretary of the Association to Protect Rights of Northern Muslims, when TamilNet asked him to comment on the current peace stalemate. M.Subiyan is also the President of Killinochchi District Muslims' Secretariat.
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Record crowds throng Canada's Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2004, 17:31 GMT]
Canadian Tamil Radio (CTR) broadcasters estimated a record gathering of close to 75,000 people at the Pongu Thamil (Tamil uprising) event at Queens Park in Toronto Saturday afternoon. Addressing the Pongu Thamil gathering, Mr. Michael Prue, MPP for East York and Beaches said he has been a politician for 18 years, was born and raised in Toronto and that he has never seen a crowd like he saw today in the history of Queens Park lawn.
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Abrogate CFA if you want war, JVP told

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2004, 10:32 GMT]
"You embarked on a loose, infantile armed struggle and butchered thousands if youth, and you have now come here praising virtues of democracy. The Tigers are fighting for the rights of their people. If it is not for the CeaseFire Agreement (CFA) Sri Lanka would have been destroyed by now," said UNP MP for Puttalam District, Mr. Ekanayake, speaking in Parliament Friday on the adjournment motion presented by Trincomalee District JVP MP, Jayantha Wijesekera, parliamentary sources said. The motion condemned the abduction of two Homeguards by the LTTE and demanded their release.
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IOM assists refugees returning from India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 01:56 GMT]
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the financial support of AUSAID of the Australian Government commenced Monday in Trincomalee the distribution of livelihood development assistance to Tamil refugees returning from India, civil sources in Trincomalee said.
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Provincial Tamil Language Day festival held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 20:13 GMT]
Northeast Tamil Language Day competition at provincial level was held Sunday morning and the winners were awarded with certificates in the evening at the Provincial Tamil Language Day Festival the same day evening at Trincomalee St.Mary's College Theresian auditorium.
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Canadian Tamils to demonstrate support for peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2004, 21:11 GMT]
Canadian Tamils are organizing a "Pongu Thamil" (Tamil upsurge) awareness festival in Toronto on September 25, 2004, to demonstrate their support for the current peace process and to request the Canadian government to take an active role in the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tamil community activists in Canada said Sunday.
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Rising law, order needs necessitate expansion- Nadesan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2004, 01:21 GMT]
"Our people have full confidence in Thamileelam Police and want us to maintain law and order in as many areas of NorthEast as possible. They feel safe when the law enforcement authority is in the hands of our police officers. The objective of Thamileelam Police is not only to maintain law and order but also to work for the general welfare of the Tamil people," said Mr. P.Nadesan, Head of the Thamileelam Police Service, when TamilNet spoke to him Friday.
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Buddhist monks meet Jaffna LTTE political leaders

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 September 2004, 01:28 GMT]
A group of forty six Buddhist monks from the South of Sri Lanka Tuesday told the Jaffna political leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) that not all Buddhist priests are against the peace process and only a few leading prelates in the south are espousing racism.
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English Language College opened in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 September 2004, 12:03 GMT]
The opening ceremony of an English Language College run by Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) was held on the new College premises at Jeyanthynagar, Kilinochchi, Monday. Twenty five students who currently are working for TRO projects have completed the English courses. Twenty student teachers will commence training at the College on Monday 20 September and a new term of classes at Beginner, Elementary and Intermediate level will commence in October, according to TRO officials in Kilinochchi.
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"Weakening LTTE, main aim of SL Govt"- Balakumaran

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2004, 13:57 GMT]
"Absolutely nothing fundamental has changed on the ground. There can be absence of war, there can be prospects of peace talks, or involvement of the International community, or there can be press releases issued by Chandrika Kumaratunge. But, precious little has changed in the feelings or nationalistic thinking of our people. War has not ended yet," said K.V.Balakumaran, a Senior Leader of the Liberation Tigers, in an interview with the Sydney Tamil Radio Thamil Muzhakkam's "Mannin Mainthargal" program during his recent visit to European countries.
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Refugees abandoned on Kachchathivu arrive in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 September 2004, 09:37 GMT]
Twenty eight Sri Lankan Tamil refugees from South India who had been abandoned in the island Kachchaithivu were brought to Jaffna Saturday. Government officials at the Jaffna District Secretariat gave the refugees money to help them return to their villages in Mannar,Mullaithivu and other parts of the Vanni. The refugees related their harrowing experience to local experience to local journalists.
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Solheim to visit Sri Lanka next week

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2004, 09:37 GMT]
The Norwegian Special Envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, will on Monday 13 September arrive in Sri Lanka on a routine visit and have meetings with President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga, members of the Government of Sri Lanka, representatives for the opposition as well as with civil society. Mr. Solheim and the Norwegian ambassador Mr. Hans Brattskar will on Thursday 16 September have consultations in Kilinochchi with the LTTE Political Head Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan, according to a press release from the Royal Norwegian Embassy Friday.
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Peace key to assisting children affected by war- UNICEF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 11:23 GMT]
Under the Action Plan, the only signed human rights agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, "close to 7,000 children enrolled back to school and more than 43,000 children received catch-up-education classes in the first half of the 2004 alone. 241 school buildings damaged or destroyed in the war were repaired or reconstructed, and 580 child soldiers and their families received social work assessments," the UNICEF said in a press release issued in Colombo today.
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TNA urges President to commence talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 08:00 GMT]
“The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) would strongly urge the Government to commence talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without delay, on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority proposals of the LTTE. and thereby implement the position enunciated by the President on 10 June, when she met the TNA delegation”, said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader in a statement made in the parliament Tuesday morning.
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Batticaloa shuts down for Black September massacres

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 09:48 GMT]
A general shut down (Hartal) was observed in Batticaloa Sunday to mark the massacre of hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women, infants and children, by Sri Lanka army and paramilitaries working with it on 5 September, 1990. Roads were mostly deserted and shops closed in response to a call by leading civil society groups and MPs of the Tamil National Alliance to observe 5 September as a Black Day.
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"Civil society, key to advancing a Federal solution"- Rupesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 00:46 GMT]
"The people in North and East want to control and plan their own future and develop their part of the country. This is the primary impulse behind the ISGA. An interim administration should be seen as a win-win solution to both sides... ISGA proposal has been developed and is the result of 25 years of civil war. The LTTE has presented its proposals for the first time. This has to be respected and acknowledged," said Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe, Civil Socieity Forum Chairman, talking to TamilNet this week.
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Tamils must safeguard against cultural degeneration- Don

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 15:43 GMT]
Mr.V.Kumaravel, a leading academician and a senior lecturer in the External Studies Unit of the Jaffna College addressing a seminar on "A review of contemporary politics" held Saturday in Sandilipay alleged that hidden hands are behind the increase of cultural degeneration in Jaffna district after the capture of the peninsula by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).


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