Thamilselvan, Karuna visit Paris memorial of slain activists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 13:53 GMT]
Head of the political secion of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P. Thamilselvan and LTTE Senior Commander Karuna, at the conclusion of LTTE Paris-talks Thursday visited the Paris memorials of activists Kandiah Perinpanathan and Kandiah Gajendran who were gun down in La Chappelle, Paris by unknown gunmen on the 26th October 1996, sources said.
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'De-merger of NE a calamity to Sri Lanka' - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 August 2003, 09:01 GMT]
"The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) desires to place on record that the de-merger of the northeast province which has existed for the past fifteen years by the President would be a calamity to the whole Sri Lanka, and urges the President to desist from taking this perilous course," TNA said in a press statement issued Thursday in Colombo.
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PM, parliamentarians discuss police recruitment issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Several decisions to strengthen the goodwill and security of Tamil and Muslim communities in the eastern province were taken at a conference called by the Prime Minister (PM) Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Wednesday evening which was attended by parliamentarians of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) , Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and National Unity Alliance (NUA), a press release issued by the PM ‘s media unit said.


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Two Muslim men arrested over Sainthamaruthu abduction

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 18:37 GMT]
Two Muslim arms traders have been arrested and remanded in connection with the disappearance of two other Muslim youths in the south-eastern district of Ampara on August 18. The Kalmunai Magistrate, Mr.M.P.Mohideen, remanded the two suspects, Mr. Mohamed Aliyar Fowzie, a Samurdhi officer, and Mr. Mohideen Bawa Hussein, a cattle trader, till September 8, when the police produced them in court Monday.
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General shutdown paralyzes Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 August 2003, 11:51 GMT]
A general shutdown (hartal) Monday completely disrupted normal life in the Trincomalee district, especially in the Trincomalee town. The general shut down was called by the Trincomalee Resurgence Tamil Community (TRTC) to show its opposition to the 'opportunist' elements that are "bent on derailing the peace process," organizers said.


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Nallur festival turns Jaffna into spiritual town

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 11:44 GMT]
"Expatriate Tamils are invading Jaffna in astonishing numbers to attend the annual temple festival at Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil. Tamils in other parts of Northeast and the South are also making use of the prevailing atmosphere of peace to make their annual pilgrimage to the Nallur festival," said a delighted street vendor who has seen a marked rise in his business.
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Police recruitment begins in the east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 20:26 GMT]
Interviews began Saturday to select 550 new recruits for Sri Lanka’s police service in the eastern province at police stations in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai, Kalmunai, Akkaraipattu, Muttur and Pottuvil, eastern region Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Neville Wijesinghe, said Saturday.
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Trinco to observe Hartal against anti-peace elements

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 15:44 GMT]
Trincomalee Resurgence Tamil Community (TRTC), a socially active Tamil organization, has called on the Tamil speaking people in the Trincomalee district to observe a one day general shut down (hartal) on Monday to show their opposition to anti-peace elements who are bent on derailing the present peace process, sources said.


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Sencholai hosts CD release by expatriate Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 10:35 GMT]
Archana, a 9 year old Tamil girl born in Norway, released her 12-song Tamil Compact Disc, at a ceremony attended by senior members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organized by the Sencholai Children's Home located in Puthukudiyiruppu in Vanni earlier this month.
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‘Education for everyone is our goal’- LTTE official

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:57 GMT]
“Sections of the Sinhala media in the south are spreading deliberate falsehoods about the struggle for our rights. The Singhalese can enjoy the fruits of peace only if our people are also able to live in peace. Tamils have been cheated by successive Sinhala regimes. But today they are politically alert. Our people are very patriotic. They are prepared to pay any price to win their rights,” said Mr. C. Ilamparithi, the head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, addressing a gathering in the northern peninsula Thursday.
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Maintaining ethnic ratio in Police recruitment imperative - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
At a conference held Thursday morning between the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan at the parliamentary complex, it was decided to summon all Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians for a conference on Tuesday or Wednesday next week before finalizing the list of new recruits for the police force in the eastern province, political sources in Colombo said.
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Villages in need of demining identified

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 03:00 GMT]
Mr. R. S. Jeyabalan, the national executive director of the demining group FSD (Swiss Demining Federation), said Wednesday that 59 villages in the Vavuniya and Mannar districts have been identified as infested with land mines and booby traps and in need of demining.
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LTTE delegation leaves Colombo for Paris talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 05:50 GMT]
A high powered delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, led by its political head Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, left Colombo by Sri Lankan Air Lines Wednesday early morning around 2 a.m. to Paris in France, sources at the Colombo airport said.
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'Don’t forget mother tongue and Tamil culture'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 00:00 GMT]
Mr.R.Thiagalingam, Secretary of the North East Provincial Education Ministry, addressing the gathering at the Miruthangam Arangetram of two brothers, Cholan and Sipi, held Monday evening at the Kalyana Mandapam of Trincomalee Muttukumaraswamy temple, made an appeal to several thousand Sri Lankan Tamils living abroad that they should not forget their mother tongue and Tamil cultural values.
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Hartal shuts down Amparai district

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 11:01 GMT]
Normal life in secretariat divisions of the Ampara district was disrupted Tuesday as people observed a general shut down (hartal) in protest to the killings of two Muslim persons on Sunday night at Sammanthurai, police said


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‘Hindu temples in Trincomalee tell Tamils' history’

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 22:00 GMT]
At a one-day seminar held by Sri Lanka’s Hindu Religious Affairs Ministry Sunday for Saiva religious teachers in the Trincomalee district, at the auditorium of Trincomalee Thiruvalluvar Nilayam, several speakers said that Hindu temples in the district are monuments of history of Tamils in the country.
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LTTE denies involvement in Sammanthurai killings

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 August 2003, 12:07 GMT]
Denying any involvement in the killing of two Muslim civilians in Sammanthurai police division in the Ampara district Sunday night, the deputy political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Ampara, Mr.Kuyilan, said, "Elements bent on derailing the peace process could have committed this dastardly act," according to media sources.
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New Sinhala families settled in Nelukkulam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 August 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Even as thousands of internally displaced Tamil people are languishing in refugee camps, prevented by the Sri Lanka Army from resettling in their own homes, Sri Lankan government officials with the support of the SLA are actively engaged in recruiting new Sinhala families from the South to settle in lands abandoned by earlier Sinhala occupants in the traditional Tamil village of Nelukkulam in the Manalaru region in the Mullaitivu district, sources said.
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'Eastern Tamils losing confidence in SLMM'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 August 2003, 14:09 GMT]
Representatives of the Batticaloa District Non-Governmental Organizations' Consortium Thursday told the Norwegian special peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim, that Tamils were losing confidence in the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission as it had failed to take into account the mounting problems of the displaced Tamil people in the eastern province, NGO sources said.
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Tamils in Ampara mourn victims of 1990 massacre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 August 2003, 14:47 GMT]
A general shutdown (hartal) was observed by Tamil communities in Ampara on Tuesday to mark the 13th anniversary of the massacre of hundreds of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Special Task Forces, Muslim youths and homeguards in Veeramunai, 38 km southwest of Batticaloa town, in 1990, sources in Ampara said.
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