LTTE leader is our leader - ACTC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 12:14 GMT]
“The leader of the Liberation Tigers is our leader. The policy of the LTTE is our policy. Our party upholds the ideals of the Tigers. There is criticism that the Liberation Tigers are not permitting some armed Tamils groups to function in the northeast. I say that these groups should not engage in politics as long as they continue to work as mercenaries for the Sri Lankan armed forces”, said Mr. Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy, the leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), addressing a party meeting in Batticaloa Sunday.
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Row erupts at TULF meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 11:42 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Sunday evening voted on a no confidence motion on the President Mr.V.Anandasangaree. The meeting ended in uproar. Jaffna TULF organiser Mr. T. Kulasingham, Vavuniya TULF organiser and TNA parliamentarian Mr. N. Raviraj were assaulted.
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"Minorities have right to administer their areas" - Vasudeva

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2003, 00:03 GMT]
"Tamils and Muslims in the northeast have a right to set up their administration in their traditional areas under the devolution of power. No one can deny this right," said veteran trade unionist and the national organizer of the Democratic Left Front(DLF), Mr.Vasudeva Nanayakkara, at the second annual general meeting of the DLF held Saturday evening at the auditorium of the Colombo library, media sources said.


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'Sangaree issue' to be decided Sunday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2003, 21:05 GMT]
Thirty-six member central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), a major constituent of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will be meeting Sunday at 10 a.m. at the Colombo headquarters of the TULF to discuss the prevailing political situation and to decide on its leadership issue, party sources said.
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Pirapaharan's Heroes' day address

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2003, 12:22 GMT]
Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in his annual statement commemorating the Heroes’ Day rejected accusations made by President Chandrika Kumaratunga that his organisation was strengthening its military power and preparing for war, and pointed to the power struggle between Sri Lanka's President and Prime Minister as historical repetitive pattern of "political drama [which] has been continuing for the last fifty years aggravating the plight of the Tamil people.”
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HDU to start demining in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2003, 00:01 GMT]
The Humanitarian Demining Unit (HDU) has announced that it will start demining in the Batticaloa district on November 29, and the HDU has already begun initial preparations and surveys to concentrate on demining the Palaiyadivaddai village for mines and booby traps in the first stage, sources said.
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Foundation stone laid for Thileepan Health Centre in Pooneryn

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 15:36 GMT]
The foundation stone for the Thileepan Health Centre (Community Hospital & Maternity Home), was laid down by Dr. Kuna Iynkaran Wednesday at 10.30 a.m. The centre is already runnng in a temporary accommodation, sources said.
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Pirapaharan discusses Colombo crisis, CFA with Patten

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 07:09 GMT]
"Our leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan told Mr. Patten it is not at all in the hands of the Liberation Tigers to ensure that there is no return to violence and that it is completely up to the Sinhala polity to see there is no return to war. Mr. Pirapaharan very clearly explained to Mr. Patten that we remain committed to resolving the conflict peacefully," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, speaking to media following the meeting between the leader of the Liberation Tigers and the European Union’s Commissioner for External Relations Wednesday in Kilinochchi.


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Tamil diaspora celebrates Heroes' day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2003, 03:51 GMT]
Tamil expatriate community in countries of Europe and North America are celebrating heroes' day, with several prominent members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) addressing the Heroes' day events in these countries, a popular Tamil Television Newscast in London said Tuesday.


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Trincomalee district goes festive celebrating Heroes' Day

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2003, 01:58 GMT]
More than three hundred three wheelers participated in a parade held in Trincomalee town Sunday as scheduled. The organizers said the event was arranged to create awareness among Trincomalee residents of the importance of the Great Heroes' Day to the liberation struggle of Tamils.


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JUSU condemns SLA's behaviour in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 17:41 GMT]
The Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU), in a statement released Sunday evening, warned that grave repercussion would follow if the Sinhala dominated Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police continued their hostile activities against Tamil students and civilians in the Jaffna district with the assistance of their quislings.
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Students' Association condemns SLA intimidation in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 23 November 2003, 17:09 GMT]
The International Students' Association of Tamil Eelam (ISATE) Sunday condemned SLA's continued intimidation of students and said the chauvinist policy of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police has been the root cause for the growth of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and its demand for police, judicial powers for the proposed interim self governing authority for the northeast province.
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NE Provincial Council holds 'IFTAR'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 22 November 2003, 00:01 GMT]
“The healthy relationship between Tamils and Muslims has deteriorated for various reasons in recent times. This should not be allowed to continue. All of us should make a concerted effort to bring back the golden era where two communities lived as brothers and sisters for centuries. Iftar is held to strengthen the unity between two communities,” said Mr. Majeed, North East Provincial Assistant Director of Culture (Muslim section), while speaking at the ‘Iftar’ function held in Trincomalee Thursday.
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Speaker notified of an attempt to assault Maheswaran

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 16:35 GMT]
Opposition parliamentarians brought to the notice of the Speaker Mr.Joseph Michael Perera Friday afternoon that an alleged assault attempt had been made by some ruling party members on Hindu Religious Affairs Minister, Mr.S.Maheswaran, inside the House after he spoke against his government for neglecting several thousand internally displaced Tamils in the northeast province, parliamentary sources said.
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Minister lashes out at UNF govt. over IDP’s plight

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 14:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Hindu Religious Affairs Minister, Mr. T.Maheswaran, Friday lashed out against his own (United National Front) government that it has not taken any concrete steps to alleviate the suffering of several thousand internally displaced people (IDP) in the Jaffna district for the last two years." IDP are still languishing in the refugee camps and welfare centres with out any future since the signing of the ceasefire agreement," said Mr. Maheswaran participating in the budget debate when it resumed Friday morning, parliamentary sources said.
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SLA threatens Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 November 2003, 19:02 GMT]
The military intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka army at the Muhamalai entry point in Jaffna Wednesday stopped the journalist, Mr. Velupillai Thavachelvam, for more than an hour, threatening and accusing him of casting aspersions on the SLA in the northern peninsula deliberately. According to Mr. Thavachelvam, the soldiers who threatened him had said: “People like you had a free run under (Prime Minister) Ranil’s government. But now the President is in charge. So we can do anything to you”.
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Sri Lanka's President faces Hobson's choice - Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 13:14 GMT]
In a scathing editorial criticising Sri Lanka's President for endangering the peace process by her "precipitate and stupid" actions of proroguing the parliament and sacking the Defense, Interior and Communication Ministers, the Sunday Leader, a popular weekly published in Colombo said, "Ms. Kumaratunge now faces Hobson's choice: "She cannot preserve the status quo and govern; neither can she call an election and hope to come close to victory.""


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SLA, Police harass TRO officer

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army and Police in Batticaloa stopped the vehicle in which the executive director of the Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in the Batticaloa district, Mr. Kingsley Rajanayakam, was traveling on the Station road at about 7 p.m. Monday, and subjected him and his TRO vehicle to intrusive search and harassment, sources said.
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'Sangaree' issue to be decided at TULF working committee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 17:25 GMT]
A request has been made to the Secretary General of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), Mr.R.Sampanthan, to summon the central working committee of the party to take disciplinary action against the party president, Mr.V.Ananadasangaree, for making statements contrary to the Tamil National Alliance’s stated positions as outlined in its manifesto, sources said.
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"SL President's lack of sincerity will hamper peace efforts" -TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 12:34 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Tuesday told the Norwegian peace envoys that defense arrangements of the country should be left in the hands of one party that is dedicated to take forward the current peace process with sincerity. Sri Lanka's President's past actions of not responding to LTTE's unilateral ceasefire in December 2000 and her attempts to sideline Norway's peace envoy Eric Soleheim reflect her lack of sincerity and leaving the Peace Process in her command will damage peace efforts, TNA delegation added.
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