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Fifty thousand at Trinco 'Pongu Tamil'[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 March 2002, 16:57 GMT](News Feature) More than fifty thousand people thronged the eastern port town of Trincomalee to attend the 'Pongu Tamil' (Tamil upsurge) rally held Tuesday, urging the Sri Lankan government to lift the ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), and to recognise the Tamil people's right to self-determination. Full story >> "Hill country Tamils support NE peace efforts" -Thondaman[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 March 2002, 21:46 GMT]"The upcountry Tamils would extend their wholehearted support to the northeast Tamil to win their legitimate rights," declared Mr.Arumugam Thondaman, Minister of the Estate Infrastructure and Housing Development addressing the mammoth rally held Sunday at Nuwaraeliya. Earlier thousands of upcountry Tamils participated in a peace walk, which was organized to express support to the United National Front government's peace efforts and the cease-fire agreement signed by the Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, and the LTTE leader, Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan. Full story >> Tamil paramilitaries pose risk to truce – Karikalan[TamilNet, Friday, 15 March 2002, 16:11 GMT](News Feature) The deputy leader of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the head of its Batticaloa - Amparai section said this week that the movement was committed to the terms and conditions of the permanent ceasefire agreement and that the LTTE was engaging in the peace process from a position of strength. In an interview to TamilNet at the LTTE’s district political head office in Kokkaddicholai, Mr. Karikalan said that harassment of civilians by the Sri Lankan armed forces in the Batticaloa-Amparai district was continuing and Tamil paramilitaries working with the army had not been disarmed yet. Full story >> "State forces' cease-fire violation would harm govt." -PM[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 21:10 GMT]"Cease-fire violations by the State armed forces knowingly or not, would cause irreparable harm to the Sri Lankan government," the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe told soldiers and commanders of the Sri Lanka Army at Palali main base in the Jaffna peninsula Thursday. Mr.Wickremasinghe arrived Jaffna morning by a special Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter accompanied by Defense Minister Mr.Tilak Marapane and Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Minister Dr.Jayalath Jayawardene. Full story >> Cease-fire monitors visit Batticaloa[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 17:40 GMT]Two Scandinavian cease-fire monitors were on a familarisation visit to Batticaloa Thursday. Mr. Lars Tio Beck, a Swedish national who earlier worked with a Norwegian non-governmental organization FORUT in Batticaloa in the early 1990s and Quaker Peace Movement and Mr. Ola Kristian Hegge, a Norwegian are to serve on the local monitoring committee to be established in Batticaloa and Ampara respectively. Full story >> Pall over last obstacle on road to Jaffna[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 March 2002, 17:14 GMT]The defence lines of the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lanka army in Eluthumadduval are separated by less than 200 meters of the A9 highway. A high tarpaulin hides everything behind the SLA's defence position which straddles the road, the last obstacle on the northern peninsula's main land link to the rest of the island. "We have cleared all the mines on our side as you can see. We got ready to open the road to Jaffna soon after the cessation of hostilities was announced. Full story >> US envoy's concern for children said hypocrisy[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 March 2002, 20:12 GMT]"More than hundred and fifty innocent Tamil children under five are being held in Sri Lankan prisons under the Prevention of Terrorism Act. Scores of little children were massacred when the Sri Lanka Air Force bombed the Nagar Kovil School in Jaffna. Thousands of Tamil children whose parents were murdered in cold blood by the SLA are destitute orphans in the northeast today. The US ambassador's humanitarian concern was blind to the plight of these Tamil children until this week. Full story >> LTTE denies accusations of truce violations[TamilNet, Monday, 11 March 2002, 11:54 GMT]The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Monday denied categorically the accusations levelled against the organisation that it is involved in activities that could jeopardise the permanent truce reached between the Sri Lankan government and itself and which came into effect on February 22. Full story >> Restriction on Colombo Tamils lifted[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2002, 17:41 GMT]The United National Front (UNF) government Friday decided to suspend immediately the practice of providing information about Tamil civilians residing in Colombo and its suburbs to the Police. Till Friday permanent residents and owners of boarding houses and lodges in Colombo had to furnish information about Tamil civilians who come from outstations, especially from the Northeast province and stay with them, to the police. Full story >> "UNF to take constructive decision on LTTE ban" -PM[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 March 2002, 21:03 GMT]A parliamentary delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Thursday held a wide ranging discussion with the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe on several issues, including the lifting of ban on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the postponement of the local government elections in the Northeast province scheduled to take place on March 25. A spokesman of the TNA delegation told TamilNet that the Prime Minister had assured that the government would take a constructive decision in regard to the lifting the ban on the LTTE at the appropriate time. Full story >> HC rejects confession, acquits PTA accused[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2002, 22:14 GMT]"The court has come to a conclusion that the confession purported to have been made by the accused was obtained by the Police on the promise that he could be released once he signed the confession recorded in the Sinhala language. Hence the Court holds that the confession of the accused was not a voluntary one and rejects it," said the Eastern High Court Judge Mr.J.Visvanathan Wednesday when acquitting the accused in a case indicted under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Full story >> LTTE leader compliments Norway for historic peace agreement[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 March 2002, 15:10 GMT]Mr Vellupillai Pirapaharan, leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Wednesday hailed the truce agreement between the Sri Lanka government and the Tamil Tigers as a historical achievement that laid a strong foundation for the peace process and negotiated political settlement. The LTTE leader praised the Norwegian facilitators for their sincere and untiring effort to bring peace in the island when he met the head of the Norwegian monitoring mission, the retired Norwegian army general Trond Furuhovede in Killinochci, northern Sri Lanka Wednesday evening. Full story >> Parliamentary debate on truce concludes[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2002, 20:22 GMT]The two-day Parliamentary debate on permanent ceasefire agreement between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers concluded Tuesday evening with a winding up speech by the Constitutional Affairs Minister Professor G. L. Peiris. "The cease-fire agreement signed by the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is the best to end the war in the country," he insisted. Full story >> Appeal Court to inquire JVP's petition[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 March 2002, 17:43 GMT]The Court of Appeal Tuesday decided to take up the petition filed by the Marxist Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) against the cease-fire agreement signed by the Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and the Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr.Velupillai Pirapaharan for inquiry on Friday 14th March 2002. Full story >> Parliament debates permanent truce[TamilNet, Monday, 04 March 2002, 12:23 GMT]The two-day debate on the permanent cease-fire agreement signed by the United National Front government (UNF) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on February 22 began Monday morning in Parliament. "The agreement signed last month by me and the LTTE leader Mr.V.Pirapaharan was a cease-fire agreement and not the final step in arriving at a political solution to the ethnic crisis. However, the agreement is a vehicle for moving forward and addressing the needs of the LTTE and the problems put forward by the Tamil people,", said the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in a special speech made during the debate. Full story >> Monitoring Mission Chief arrives Colombo[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 March 2002, 12:06 GMT]The Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Retired Norwegian Army General Trond Furuhovde arrived in Colombo Saturday morning, accompanied by four other Norwegian monitors. Monitors from Finland and Sweden are also expected to arrive shortly, government sources said. The sixteen-member Monitoring Mission comprising officials from Nordic countries was set up according to the permanent cease-fire agreement signed between the Sri Lanka government and the Liberation Tigers last month. Full story >> LTTE accuses Kumaratunga of conspiring to sabotage ceasefire[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 March 2002, 08:34 GMT]The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Saturday accused President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her adviser Mr Laksman Kadirgamar of conspiring to sabotage the historic truce agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE brokered by Norwegian facilitators and hailed by all major international governments including India, the Commonwealth and the European Union. When contacted by TamilNet over the President's comments Friday, Mr Anton Balasingham, the chief negotiator and the political strategist of the LTTE, categorised Kumaratunga's response to the truce agreement as "irresponsible, injurious and ill-advised." Full story >> Kumaratunga flays truce agreement[TamilNet, Friday, 01 March 2002, 17:02 GMT](News Feature) Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga Friday condemned the Norwegian-facilitated permanent ceasefire agreement between the government and the Liberation Tigers. In a letter to Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, her first formal comment on the landmark truce hailed by the international community, Kumaratunga said the agreement jeopardised Sri Lanka’s sovereignty and national security. Kumaratunga’s letter, which was reportedly drafted by Lakshman Kadirgamar, the former Foreign Minister and a close confidante of hers, again denounced the Premier’s signing of the pact as “improper and unconstitutional,” blamed Wickremesinghe for the friction between Parliament and her office and, with acidic sarcasm, also criticised what she felt were undue powers the agreement accorded Norway. Full story >> Thousands swarm Vavuniya for self-determination rally[TamilNet, Friday, 01 March 2002, 16:50 GMT]
Full story >> SLA recruits, restructures for greater efficiency[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 February 2002, 12:14 GMT](News feature) The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is at the cross roads today, warily eyeing the prospect of a long peace and the schemes of the modern technocrats of the new government who might be inclined, as the negotiations progress, to prune its lavish budget and compact it to its 'natural size'. But the United National Front has sought to allay the SLA's apprehensions by promising to help it achieve greater efficiency. Full story >>
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