TNA concludes election campaign in LTTE held Trinco villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 16:55 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) concluded its four-day first phase of campaign in the Liberation Tigers held Muttur east and Eachilampathu villages in Trincomalee district Monday. TNA candidates contesting the Trincomalee electoral district in the forthcoming general election led by their lead candidate and TULF Secretary General Mr.R.Sampanthan began their campaign Friday visiting several remote villages and addressed pocket meetings, sources said.


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"Denial of franchise will damage peace process"- TNA

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 14:46 GMT]
"Denial of franchise to Tamil voters residing in the Liberation Tigers held areas in the northeast province in the forthcoming general election will have serious impact on the current peace process," Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) told the Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim during a discussion with the latter at the Norwegian embassy Monday morning, sources said.
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Karikalan addresses Jaffna university meeting

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 12:54 GMT]
“Karuna could not have acted traitorously without external backing. He has been bought over by an external power that is intent on destroying our liberation struggle and our leadership. People in the Batticaloa Amparai district know this now. He was instigated by the external power to betray his own people”, said Mr. Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of the Liberation Tigers from the east, addressing a packed meeting at the University of Jaffna Monday. Mr. E. Kousalyan, the head of the LTTE’s political division for the Batticaloa Amparai district also spoke at the meeting.
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Dissent within Karuna loyalists?

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2004, 09:58 GMT]
The website run from Batticaloa under the direction of renegade commander, Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna), which was disabled for several hours after posting a message that apologized to the viewers for carrying messages against LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan, has now become operational. TamilNet is unable to confirm whether it was the work of outside cracker.
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Polling stations to be located in no-man zones in NE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 March 2004, 18:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections is to hold consultation with the chiefs of three State armed forces and the Police on Monday regarding his decision to locate polling stations in no man zones in the northeast province enabling the voters residing in the Liberation Tigers held areas to exercise their franchise without any difficulties in the forthcoming general which has been fixed for April 2nd, sources said.
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UPFA silent on peace process, CFA - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 March 2004, 11:38 GMT]
"Eventhough there is a voice in the south that is calling for the abrogation of the Ceasefire Agreement and to start war, we are determined to pursue the path of peace," said Sri Lanka's Prime Minister, Ranil Wickremesinghe speaking at an election meeting held in Vavuniya Urban Council grounds Saturday.


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TNA unveils new campaign strategy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 17:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance candidates from Jaffna will canvass support for their colleagues contesting the April polls in the east while TNA candidates from the east will campaign in the north for the victory of the alliance, Mr. Mavai Senathirajah, the general secretary of the Federal Party, said Saturday.
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Refugee women seek asylum in LTTE office

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 14:40 GMT]
Twelve women from refugee camps India sought asylum at the political office of the Liberation Tigers in Vavuniya Saturday. The women said they had forcibly been kept in safe houses in Colombo by men who had promised to get them jobs abroad. People chased away a gang that tried to abduct the women when they arrived in Vavuniya by train on Saturday morning. The women alleged the gang had sexually harassed and intimidated them.
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Election was thrust on people by Kumaratunge - Wickremesinghe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 02:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe addressing a election rally in Kurunagala Friday evening said that Ms.Kumaratunge thrust the general election on the people to cement her political future and to destroy Sri Lanka's welfare, sources said.


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Kumaratunge outlines UPFA policy to business leaders

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge expressed confidence that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) would enter into democratic political process under the future United Peoples' Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government when she met leaders of business communities including members of legal and medical profession at the Presidential House Friday evening, sources said.


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Karuna embezzled funds, feared disciplinary action before split - Karikalan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2004, 00:05 GMT]
Mr.Sivagnanam Karikalan, a senior leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from the East who was close to the renegade former Eastern commander of the LTTE, Mr. Karuna, in an interview with the Australian Tamil Broadcasting Corporation (ATBC) Friday disclosed for the first time that the Batticaloa crisis was precipitated when LTTE leadership summoned Karuna to Vanni after discovering financial irregularities and receiving allegations of questionable conduct. Fearing disciplinary action Karuna defied Vanni command and took unilateral action to split, Karikalan said.
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Solheim to meet Sampanthan Monday

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:38 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader and the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan will brief the Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim on Monday morning in Colombo on the ground situation of the northeast province, TNA sources said.


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Pocket meetings, seminars dominate TNA Trinco campaign

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:26 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidates led by the lead candidate Mr.R.Sampanthan began addressing election seminars and pocket meetings in the areas held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam since Friday, as TNA's campaign efforts swung into full gear, political sources in Trincomalee said.
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Negotiations with LTTE, Presidency to be abolished - UPFA manifesto

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:19 GMT]
"The ceasefire will continue. We are committed to take all measures required to prevent the nation from going back to war," said the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) in its forty four-page election manifesto released Thursday night at the Sri Lanka Foundation Institute, political sources in Colombo said.


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Election verdict should legitimize ISGA demand - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:12 GMT]
The verdict of the Tamils in the forthcoming general election should legitimize the demand of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) for the northeast province. All tamil speaking people must support the Tamil National Alliance to capture maximum number of parliamentary seats," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing an election meeting in Division No 10 in the Trincomalee town held Thursday evening.
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Vavuniya protests against Eastern campus disruptive elements

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 15:04 GMT]
Academic staff, students and non-academic staff of the Vavuniya campus of the Jaffna University Friday conducted a black band campaign opposing the elements responsible for the disruption academic session East University and the disunity of Tamils in the east, sources said.


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Batticaloa fast urges unity of Tamil military power

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 14:00 GMT]
A group of cadres working with Mr. Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan (Karuna) organised a token fast Friday urging the LTTE to let the renegade commander work under the leadership of Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan. A memorandum on the objective of the token fast, which was handed out in Tamil and English, urges the LTTE leadership to withdraw the charge that Mr. Muraleetharan is a traitor and emphasises that the armed forces of the Liberation Tigers should work in unity towards achieving the independent state of Thamil Eelam.


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"We solidly support leader Pirapaharan"- Thilak tells Solheim

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 08:19 GMT]
"We are solidly supporting the leadership of Mr.V.Pirapaharan. We are against dividing Tamils by north and east", Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday categorically told Norwegian special peace envoy Mr. Erik Solheim during a discussion held Friday morning at the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission office in Trincomalee town.
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Solheim meets Thilak in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 08:13 GMT]
Norwegian special envoy Mr. Erik Solheim told Mr.S.Thilak, Trincomalee district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at the discussion held Friday morning at the office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee that he met Colonel Pathuman, Trincomalee district commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at Killinochchi Thursday.
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LTTE ready to help facilitate voting - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2004, 00:10 GMT]
"We told the [Norwegian] delegation that we are agreeable to locating the voting booths in the no-man zone, inside our checkpoint area or in the checkpoint area of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and that we will provide our full support and required assistance to implement voting procedures, and supervise voting," said S.P.Thamilchelvan, leader of the LTTE's political wing, answering questions from the press following his meeting with the Norwegian delegation in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
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