‘LTTE not involved in Ampara violence’ - Alisahir Moulana

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 21:46 GMT]
Mr. Alisahir Moulana, a former United National Party parliamentarian from Batticaloa and currently an advisor to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Policy Planning and Implementation, said Sunday that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are not in any way involved in the incidents of violence in the Ampara district where two Muslim youths were killed and another two Muslims have disappeared, sources said.
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JVP anti-peace Foot March from Galle to Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 17:52 GMT]
The four-day "Foot March " (Pada Yatra) by the Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) will commence Monday from Galle, deep south of the country, Monday in protest to the present peace initiative of the United National Front (UNF) government. The protest march is organized to highlight the danger to the territorial integrety of Sri Lanka, and to safeguard the country from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the foreign imperialists, JVP sources said.


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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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Norwegian ambassador meets civil leaders in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 11:51 GMT]
Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Mr Hans Brattskar paid his first official visit to Jaffna district Friday and held discussions with the Government Agent, members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and representatives of non-governmental organizations in the peninsula, district secretariat sources said.


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SLA restricts video, camera equipment inside Weber stadium

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 23-3rd brigade commander Brigadier Rajitha De Silva has barred public and journalists from taking camera and video equipment inside Weber sports stadium in Batticaloa, security sources in the east said. The Brigadier said that the order was issued due to the security sensitive nature of the location which falls within the High Security Zone (HSZ).


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SLN arrests LTTE women cadres in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 10:18 GMT]
Soldiers of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested two women cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were engaged in political activities in Thiruperunthurai village in Batticaloa district yesterday, local reports said. After the intervention of LTTE’s Batticaloa political section head E. Senathirajah, the women cadres were released after 45 minutes of interrogation.


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LTTE, Sri Lanka Police meet in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 09:45 GMT]
Members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and officers of Sri Lanka Police met in Kalmunai at 5pm yesterday at the Deputy Police Commissioner’s office to review the tense situation prevailing in Kalmunai and to formulate solutions to de-escalate tensions in the area, security sources said.


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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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SLMM head to hold talks with LTTE's Trinco leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:56 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd.)Triggve Tellefsen, is scheduled to hold talks with the Trincomalee district area commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Colonel Pathuman, and the Trincomalee district political head, Mr.S.Tilak, on Monday morning around 11 a.m., SLMM sources said.
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Hartal in Muslim areas in Ampara

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 15:17 GMT]
A Muslim community vigilantes' group organized a general shut down (hartal) in Ampara Thursday to condemn the disappearance of two Muslim youths from Sainthamaruthu in the Ampara district, and to seek their release if anyone had abducted them, sources said.
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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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Thihilivattai fishermen obtain boats through TEEDOR's micro-loan scheme

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 21:02 GMT]
The Batticaloa-Amparai branch of Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization (TEEDOR), the development authority attached to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), provided 10 fishing boats and fishing nets to fishermen from Thihilivattai in Kalkudah under a micro-loan scheme during an event organized today at 10 am at the Thihilivattai Government Tamil Mixed school, sources said.
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JVP to launch protest campaign against ‘betrayal’ of country

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 20:39 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) Wednesday said it would launch a protest "war" in the country from Monday onward against what it called a "betrayal of the nation in the name of peace process" by the United National Front government, media sources in Colombo said.
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Police attempt to arrest LTTE activist by force thwarted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 18:14 GMT]
A group of Sri Lanka Police personnel from the Point Pedro Police attempted to remove a Sea Tiger (Naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) activist from his house forcibly in Vathiri in the Vadamarachchi division of Jaffna district Wednesday afternoon, and the attempt was thwarted by the LTTE’s political head in Vadamaradchi, civil sources said, adding that tension prevailed in the area.
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SL President threatens to de-merge northeast province

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, issued a warning through her media spokesman, Mr.Harim Peiris, Wednesday that she would not hesitate to de-merge the northeast province if the United National Front government failed to quell the violence and restore peace in the east, media sources said.
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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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Sri Lankan govt. decides to strengthen eastern security

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 18:23 GMT]
AT a conference held at the Sri Lankan Defense Ministry Tuesday, it was decided to strengthen the security in the eastern province by sending additional security forces to the “problem districts.” Mr.Tilak Marapone, the Sri Lankan Defense Minister, presided over the conference, which was attended by the chiefs of three armed forces and the Inspector General of Police, security sources said.
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SLA soldiers arrest LTTE activists at Muhamalai checkpoint

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 August 2003, 15:25 GMT]
Two political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.Kanthasamy Pugalmaran and Mr. Yogarajah Mayavan, were arrested by Sri Lanka Army soldiers at the Muhamalai checkpoint Tuesday afternoon around 2 p.m and later handed over to the Kodikamam police, police said.
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