HSZ issue draws Sri Lanka government team to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 December 2002, 13:37 GMT]
A high level team of Sri Lanka government officials led by Minister Mr.Milinda Morogoda Tuesday flew to Jaffna to hold crucial discussions regarding the dispute that has arisen between the hierarchy of the Sri Lanka Army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the question of resettling displaced families in villages of the high security zone (HSZ), sources said.


Full story >>

President meets JVP to discuss security

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 December 2002, 19:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge met with a group of JVP members led by Wimal Weerawansa, the party's propaganda secretary, and held a lengthy discussion at the presidential secretariat today, sources said.
Full story >>

Parliamentary debate on Oslo talks scheduled

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 December 2002, 17:20 GMT]
The parliamentarians of the ruling United National Front (UNF) government in a meeting held today agreed to a demand by the opposition leader Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse to hold a parliamentary debate on the peace talks held in Oslo between the LTTE and the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL), and the debate will be held on January 14 at 9 pm, UNF sources said.
Full story >>

Resettlement and normalisation ‘main issues’ for Thailand talks - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 December 2002, 12:26 GMT]
The resettlement of displaced Tamil people and the normalisation of conditions in their areas of residence will be the main issues to be taken up at the negotiations in Thailand next month between the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government, the LTTE’s chief negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said Sunday.
Full story >>

Public urged to safeguard Jaffna's antiques

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 16:33 GMT]
The Head of Tamil Department of the Jaffna University, Professor K.Shanmugathas, Saturday made an appeal to all citizens to take immediate measures to safeguard antiques found in Hindu temples and other public places from being smuggled out of Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

LTTE's help sought to trace Jaffna missing

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 16:24 GMT]
The Jaffna Missing Persons Guardian Association (MPGA) Saturday appealed to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) seeking its assistance to trace their loved ones disappeared during 1996 and 1997 after arrest by Sri Lanka's State armed forces, sources said.
Full story >>

LTTE lauds writers, artists contribution to struggle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 15:07 GMT]
Creative writers and artists played a vital role in successfully supporting the progress of Tamil freedom struggle, said Ms T.Karoonja, LTTE Trincomalee district student head addressing a oriental dance programme organized by Bramashetrya Spiritual Centre, held Thursday evening at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall. Kanniya is located eight km off Trincomalee town.


Full story >>

Pomp and Pageantry mark start of NE Tamil Festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 12:22 GMT]
The three-day North East Provincial Tamil Literary Festival commenced in Trincomalee Saturday with pomp and pageantry with a two km long cultural pageant depicting Tamil literary values progressed from the office of the provincial ministry of education to the venue of the festival Trincomalee St.Joseph's College through main street and Thirugnanasampanthar Street. A statue of Tamil Annai (Mother Tamil) lead the cultural pageant, sources said.
Full story >>

'Terrorist intentions will totally terminate resettlement' – Maj. Gen. Fonseka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 December 2002, 08:53 GMT]
The furore over the Sri Lanka Army's High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna orginated this week with a letter sent by its Jaffna commander to the Liberation Tigers, demanding the 'total disarmament' of the movement before Tamil civilians would be allowed back into occupied villages. In his hostile and belligerent letter, littered with grammatical and spelling errors, Maj. Gen. Fonseka addressed the Tigers as 'terrorists' and protested that easing the difficulties of the people of Jaffna would enhance the LTTE's image.
Full story >>

TRO compensates victims of hartal violence

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 December 2002, 17:58 GMT]
Trincomalee district secretariat of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) Friday distributed one hundred and seventy seven thousand rupees to the victims of the October 11 hartal violence. Each family of the dead was given ten thousand rupees and the wounded forty-nine persons were given three thousand rupees per head as compensation, sources said.
Full story >>

SLMM support for Army over HSZs is 'unacceptable' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 December 2002, 15:17 GMT]
The LTTE Friday rejected the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission's justification of the Sri Lanka Army's High Security Zones on the grounds of security as "unacceptable," saying "this adjudication simply reinforces the SLA's position on the illegal military occupation of public property." Responding to a letter sent Thursday by SLMM head, Maj. Gen. Tronde Furuhovde, the LTTE's Chief Negotiator, Mr. Anton Balasingham, said: "This purely militaristic argument to support your thesis on balance of forces, has completely ignored and trivialised the grave humanitarian issue of the displaced population."
Full story >>

LTTE's Television unit releases film in NE

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 December 2002, 14:22 GMT]
"Nitharsanam" television unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for the first time is to release a film called "Kadaloorakkatrukkal" (A wind along the coast) in all the eight districts of the northeast province simultaneously on December 31. "The film depicts the sufferings of people of the northeast coast and traces the history of Tamil freedom struggle," said Mr.Veera, a Nitharsanam official at an event held at Trincomalee New Silver Star Hotel Thursday evening.
Full story >>

LTTE rejects army's demand as 'unacceptable and unrealistic'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 December 2002, 11:30 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in an official statement released from its headquarters in Killinochchi, northern Sri Lanka today, accused the state's military hierarchy of imposing unacceptable and unrealistic conditions for the resettlement of the internally displaced Tamils in their own homes and villages in Jaffna presently under heavy military occupation.
Full story >>

Hakim to represent Muslims at peace talks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 December 2002, 19:07 GMT]
Minister and the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Mr.Rauff Hakim said Wednesday that he has been given permission by the party's supreme council and politburo to attend peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers (LTTE) as the sole representative of the Muslims.


Full story >>

“Intelligentsia must represent Muslims at peace talks”- Athaullah faction

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 December 2002, 13:06 GMT]
Athaullah faction of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) held its eighteenth annual convention Wednesday at Akkaraipattu where delegates unanimously adopted a resolution that expressed the need for sending a group of independent Muslim intelligentsia to represent Muslims in the peace talks between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said sources.
Full story >>

Trinco university campus faces uncertain future

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 December 2002, 01:49 GMT]
In a meeting held at Trincomalee Sri Koneswara Hindu College hall Monday evening, leading educationists, citizens and heads of schools in the Trincomalee district expressed serious concern over the lack of support by the University Grants Commission and the Administration of the Eastern University on developing Trincomalee campus of the East University of Sri Lanka to a quaity academic institution, sources said.
Full story >>

SLFP opposed to Federalism - General Secretary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 18:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Freedom Party will remain implacably opposed to the federal system in the North-East as agreed between the United National Front government and the LTTE, said Maithripala Sirisena, the SLFP general secretary and a member of parliament, speaking at a meeting of the party’s youth wing in Pollanaruwa, today.


Full story >>

Paramilitary group member shot in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 17:51 GMT]
M. Uthayakumar, 25, a member of the paramilitary Varathan group working closely with the Special Task Force, a paramilitary force of the Sri Lankan government, was shot today at 6:55 pm in Aaraiyampathy in the Batticaloa district, and is admitted at the Batticaloa hospital where he is undergoing emergency surgery and in critical condition, sources in Batticaloa said.


Full story >>

Expatriate co-ordination center opened in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 15:14 GMT]
"We acknowledge the enormous contribution of Tamil expatriates from across the world to the progress of our struggle. On our leader Pirapaharan's directive we are opening co-ordination centers for Tamil expatriate visitors to get any help they need to make their visit an enjoyable and rewarding experience," said Kausalyan, Head of Batticaloa-Ampara political section of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) opening the co-ordination center in Kalladi, Batticaloa, today.
Full story >>

Buddhist monks burn Norwegian flag

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2002, 00:22 GMT]
National Bhikkhu Front (Jathika Sanga Sammelanaya- JSS), a Sinhala nationalist organisation of monks with branches in all the Sinhala majority districts of the island and a close ally of the marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) held a demonstration opposite Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo demanding the expulsion of Oslo's envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jon Westborg, sources in Colombo said.


Full story >>