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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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"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.
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TRO-assisted disabled students achieve academic success

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Eyesight-impaired students from Iniya Valvu Illam have shown themselves to be competitive with other students in their schools in the last GCE (OL) exam for which results were released recently. One such student, Mr. Alagu Chandrakumar, received the best results in Vallipunam Junior High School, receiving 3 As, 2 Bs and 4 Cs. Two other students from Iniya Valvu Illam received 1 A, 2 Bs, 5 Cs and 1 S; and 1A, 1 B, 5 Cs and 1 S respectively.
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Pre-school Committees to be elected in the North-East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 23:15 GMT]
Elections of 13-member executive committees of the Pre-school Education Development Centre (PSEDC) are being held throughout North-East, and Committee members will be elected from General Councils comprising parents, administrators, teachers and government officers from Education and Health Departments, Pradeshiya Sabahs (regional councils) and Non-Governmental Organisations, the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) said in a statement Thursday.
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NPC condemns election violence and expulsion of people in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 15:03 GMT]
In a press release Thursday, the National Peace Council has condemned the election-related violence, intimidations and assassinations in the North-East, and the “effort to expel people of Jaffna-origin living in Batticaloa,” saying that “factional rivalries should not be solved at the expense of the people.”
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UN agencies condemn forced displacement of Jaffna Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 12:55 GMT]
The Resident Representatives of UNDP, UNHCR, UNICEF and WFP in Sri Lanka Thursday “expressed their joint concern over recent reports of the displacement of northern Tamils from Batticaloa District, either as a result of fear of persecution, or as a result of threats”. In a statement issued Thursday they strongly condemned the forced displacement and the violation of the basic rights of northern Tamils in Batticaloa. The UN agencies urged the authorities to ensure protection and to maintain law and order.
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Batticaloa doctors protest against Karuna Group

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 April 2004, 12:21 GMT]
Doctors at the Batticaloa teaching hospital protested Thursday against the Karuna Group for forcing Jaffna Tamils to leave the troubled eastern district. Eleven doctors from Jaffna, including six consultants who were working in the Batticaloa teaching hospital, left the district in the early hours of Thursday with Police escort. Hundreds of Jaffna Tamils fled the eastern town after armed cadres of the Karuna Group threatened and ordered them to leave Batticaloa on Tuesday night.


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LTTE requests Jaffna Tamils not to leave Batticaloa, Amparai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 16:29 GMT]
The political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Wednesday issued a statement appealing to the people who have been living in the districts of Batticaloa and Amparai for generations not to leave their habitats succumbing to the threats and the pressure directly issued by the Karuna group or in the name of any other organizations.
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Businesses close as Jaffna Tamils leave Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 11:01 GMT]
Businesses belonging to Tamils from Jaffna remain closed in Batticaloa, Chenkalady, Kaluwanchikudi, Pandiriuppu and Kalmunai areas as the owners left the area on the orders of renegade commander Karuna said sources in Batticaloa.
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"Thanthai” Chelva remembered on 106th birthday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 March 2004, 04:15 GMT]
The 106th birthday of the late Tamil leader and the founder of the Federal Party (Ilankai Thamil Arasu Katchchi -ITAK), Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, falls on Wednesday. Tamils in the country, who still fondly remember Mr. Chelvanayakam as “Thanthai (father) Chelva,” will celebrate the late leader's birthday Wednesday at a time when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is contesting the forthcoming general elections on the ITAK ticket, with its HOUSE symbol revived after 37 years, political sources said.
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Karuna Group orders Jaffna Tamils to leave Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 17:23 GMT]
Tension and fear gripped Batticaloa town Tuesday evening as Karuna Group cadres ordered thousands of civilians and businessmen of Jaffna who are resident in Batticaloa to leave the eastern district immediately.
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Thennamaravadi residents to vote after 17 years

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 March 2004, 03:10 GMT]
Nearly six hundred displaced voters of Thennamaravadi, a traditional Tamil village on the northern border of the Trincomalee district located about 73 km from the east port town wiil be voting for the first time after they fled from the village in 1987 due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army, civil sources said.


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Sampanthan urges countries to remove ban on LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 17:05 GMT]
"The ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is still in force in some countries. The verdict of the Tamil people in the northeast province in the April 2nd poll should tell these countries that time has come for them to lift the ban on the LTTE as they have been fully backing the LTTE and its Interim Self-Governing Authority proposal," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and the lead candidate of the TNA in the Trincomalee district, ddressing a series of election meeting from morning till late in the night on Sunday.
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"April election to create new leaf in freedom struggle"-Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 16:57 GMT]
"Tamils in the northeast should rally around the Tamil National Alliance in the forthcoming April 2 general election to create a new leaf in the Tamil freedom struggle," said the Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.C. Ilamparithi, addressing a press conference held Monday evening at the office of the Jaffna district political secretariat located in Kokuvil.
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Shadow Internet edition of Tamil Alai launched

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 15:38 GMT]
A shadow edition of Tamil Alai, a newspaper controlled by the renegade Karuna group in Kokkadichcholai in Batticaloa, appeared on the internet on Monday with the name “Thamil Alai,” competing with the Karuna group’s internet edition and signaling growing disenchantment in the East with the renegade group, sources said.
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"Election will be a turning point in Tamil struggle"- LTTE official

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2004, 00:51 GMT]
Kumburupiddy area political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.M.Sivakumar, Sunday addressing an election seminar in support of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in the Trincomalee district said that the forthcoming general election would be a turning point in the Tamil freedom struggle.


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CTTU asks members to vote for TNA, anti-war party in South

[TamilNet, Sunday, 28 March 2004, 19:12 GMT]
The General Secretary of Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU), Mr.T.Mahasivam, Sunday addressing an election seminar held for CTTU Trincomalee zonal branch teachers Sunday told its members to cast one of their preferential votes to the lead candidate of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in every district in the northeast province in the forthcoming general election.


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