Women demining group begins training

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 June 2003, 05:00 GMT]
A twenty seven member women group, as part of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization's (TRO's) humanitarian activities section, began training in demining opertions Monday 23 June, sources in Kilinochchi said.


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Two Jaffna journalists honoured

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2003, 17:54 GMT]
Two Jaffna based journalists Mr.V. Thavachelvam and Mr.M.K.Jeevagathas were honoured Sunday by the Kaddaiveli-Nelliyady Cultural Federation in Jaffna district in an event held at Nellai Thiru Murugan Hall where Jaffna district political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr. S.Ilamparithi was the chief guest, sources in Jaffna said.
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Farmers' co-operatives extend support to Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2003, 16:19 GMT]
The Jaffna District Agricultural and Consumer Co-operative Societies Union (ACCSU) Sunday expressed its fullest co-operation for the success of the Pongu Thamil celebrations scheduled to be held in Jaffna university premises on June 27, sources said.
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Negotiating Tamil sovereignty

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2003, 00:52 GMT]
“Tamils have only had very compelling political and moral reasons for not acceding their sovereignty to the Sri Lankan state since Britain gave independence to this island. Therefore no road map to peace in Sri Lanka should be allowed to compromise the Tamil people’s sovereign and inalienable right to decide their political status in the land of their forebears," said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP for Vanni, reacting Friday to suggestions that the Liberation Tigers should agree to a peace road map in return for workable interim administration for the northeast.
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Jaffna Islanders extend support to Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 June 2003, 10:49 GMT]
Island Peoples' Welfare Association ( IPWA) in Jaffna district Wednesday extended its wholehearted co-operation to the success of Pongu Thamil celebration, which is scheduled to be held on June 27 in Jaffna, sources said.


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Volunteers teachers made permanent assume duties in NE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2003, 18:46 GMT]
Ninety percent of the nine hundred and nine Tamil medium volunteers made permanent Thursday assumed duties in their respective Tamil medium schools in the northeast, provincial education ministry officials said.


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CWC to protest against Upper Kotmale Project

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 June 2003, 11:31 GMT]
Housing and Estate Infrastructure Minister and President of Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Arumugam Thondaman, said Wednesday that CWC is organizing a protest rally calling for the abandonment of the Upper Kotmale Hydro Power Project on the 23 June in Nuwareliya District, according to local reports.


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Land issues discussed in Tamil, Muslim subcommittee meet

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2003, 16:35 GMT]
A meeting of the subcommittee on Tamil-Muslim land issues in the Koralaipattu East (Valaichenai), Koralaipattu North (Vakarai), Koralaipattu South (Kiran), Koralaipattu West (Ottamavady) divisions of the Batticaloa district was held Tuesday morning at the Valaichenai divisional secretariat, sources said.
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LTTE registers protest with SLMM on SLN's sinking of vessel

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 15:38 GMT]
Thamilselvan, head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in a letter addressed to General Tryggve Tellefsen, head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, pointed out that Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) is playing a delaying game with the SLMM to allow the oil spills in the actual position in international waters where the vessel was sunk and requested the SLMM to "take immediate steps to ensure the safety of our cadres and inform us their whereabouts at the quickest time possible."
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Grenade explosion injures four in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 11:52 GMT]
Four people were injured when a grenade thrown by unknown assailants exploded near a butcher store in the Muslim market in Valaichenai, 32km north of Batticaloa town, at 10.15 am Sunday, according to Batticaloa police sources.


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LTTE insists on draft framework for interim administration to resume talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2003, 11:46 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in an official statement issued from its headquarters in Kilinochchi, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday reiterated its position that it would participate in the negotiating process only when the Sri Lankan government puts forward a clearly defined draft framework for an interim administrative structure for the Northeast.
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Jaffna co-op officials urge Sri Lanka's PM to establish IA

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 June 2003, 19:16 GMT]
The Jaffna District Agricultural and Consumers Co-operative Societies Union (ACCSU) said Monday that the long awaited permanent peace could be achieved only through establishing an Interim Administration (IA) for the Northeast province with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the helm, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tamil Language purity must be preserved - Ilankumaran

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 June 2003, 10:54 GMT]
V. Ilankumaran, head of Tamileelam Educational Organization, while addressing the audience during discussions in Kilinochchi on Tamil literature, Sunday, said that it is important to enforce discipline in the use of Tamil to prevent intrusion of foreign language words into speaking and written Tamil, and to preserve the purity of this ancient language.


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Jaffna Principals appeal to UNF government to establish IA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 June 2003, 17:35 GMT]
The Northern Principals' Association (JPA) Saturday requested the United National Front (UNF) government to establish an appropriate administrative structure in the northeast under the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to serve as a foundation for find lasting peace in the country. "This request should be accepted by the Colombo government and the peace loving groups without delay," said the Jaffna Principals' Association in a statement issued Saturday in Jaffna, sources said.


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Political confusion in Colombo said undermining peace

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 20:04 GMT]
"It would be absolutely imprudent on our part to predicate the future of the Tamil people on the unpredictable political climate we are witnessing in Colombo now. It is getting progressively unstable. A politically powerful section of the Sinhala Buddhist clergy asserts that President Kumaratunga wowed during a meeting with its leaders that she would divide the Northeast province. The political bankruptcy of the Sri Lankan state in solving the ethnic conflict never stood so well exposed," said Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, MP, a senior leader of the Tamil National Alliance, Thursday.
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Jaffna educationists urge Lanka's Prime Minister to act on IA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The Jaffna District Council for Advancement of Education of Tamils (JDCAET) Wednesday appealed to the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to take immediate steps to set up an interim administration for the northeast province with adequate powers to uplift the standard of living of the people of the soil and rebuild the war ravaged province, sources said.


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Heads of Mission from Europe meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 June 2003, 14:22 GMT]
Heads of Mission (HOMs) from The Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom, met with Mr S P Tamilselvan, Head of the Political Wing of the LTTE, to reaffirm, as bilateral donors, their strong support for the peace process.
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Police yet to investigate attack on home says Batticaloa journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 June 2003, 10:37 GMT]
“The Sri Lanka Police have not taken any action so far to investigate the grenade attack on my house in Valaichenai on Jan. 7 this year. I lodged a complaint at the Valaichenai Police station on the morning after the attack, in which an attempt was also made to set fire to my house”, said Mr. Senathirajah Jeyananthamoorthy, a leading Tamil journalist in the east giving evidence before a commission inquiring into attacks on media persons in the northeast Wednesday.
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Colombo urged to drop ‘double standard on interim mechanism’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 18:07 GMT]
“The cease fire agreement (CFA) between Colombo and the Liberation Tigers has no basis in the laws of Sri Lanka. It is an extra constitutional instrument on which the island’s peace has stood for more than 15 months. Therefore, why can’t the Sri Lankan government look beyond the constricting parameters of its constitution to formulate an interim mechanism for rebuilding and rehabilitating the war ravaged northeast? We are urging the Sinhala polity to drop its double standard on this matter for the sake of peace," Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham, a senior Tamil National Alliance MP, said Tuesday.
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Jaffna to hold peace sports festival in September

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 June 2003, 10:43 GMT]
At a conference held Monday at the Jaffna district secretariat it was agreed to hold the second North-South peace sports festival in Jaffna peninsula on September 4, 5 and 6, provincial sports ministry sources said.


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