SLA hands back Amban hospital, library

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 November 2003, 18:33 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army Friday handed back to civil authorities a hospital and public library it had been occupying for more than three years in Amban, a village on Jaffna’s southeastern coast.
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EU external relations commissioner to meet LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 20 November 2003, 17:01 GMT]
The Commissioner of External Relations of the European Commission, Mr. Chris Patten, will visit Sri Lanka next week and meet the Liberation Tigers, President Chandrika Kumaratunga and Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, according to a press release issued by the Delegation of the European Commission to Sri Lanka Thursday.
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SLA threatens Jaffna journalist

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 November 2003, 19:02 GMT]
The military intelligence unit of the Sri Lanka army at the Muhamalai entry point in Jaffna Wednesday stopped the journalist, Mr. Velupillai Thavachelvam, for more than an hour, threatening and accusing him of casting aspersions on the SLA in the northern peninsula deliberately. According to Mr. Thavachelvam, the soldiers who threatened him had said: “People like you had a free run under (Prime Minister) Ranil’s government. But now the President is in charge. So we can do anything to you”.
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Political stability necessary for talks - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 06:33 GMT]
"Mr. Pirapaharan sought guarantees from the Norwegians that the Sri Lankan government would continue its commitment to the cease fire and for the safety of the LTTE’s political activists in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka army," Mr. Thamilchelvan said, after the meeting between the Norwegian delegation and the leaders of the Liberation Tigers concluded in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
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Pirapaharan, Norwegians discuss peace, Colombo crisis

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 05:36 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special envoy Eric Solheim, Norway’s Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar met the Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, for discussions about the peace process and the current political crisis in Colombo in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
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"SL President's lack of sincerity will hamper peace efforts" -TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 November 2003, 12:34 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Tuesday told the Norwegian peace envoys that defense arrangements of the country should be left in the hands of one party that is dedicated to take forward the current peace process with sincerity. Sri Lanka's President's past actions of not responding to LTTE's unilateral ceasefire in December 2000 and her attempts to sideline Norway's peace envoy Eric Soleheim reflect her lack of sincerity and leaving the Peace Process in her command will damage peace efforts, TNA delegation added.
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UNF prepared to face snap elections - Peiris

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 November 2003, 09:37 GMT]
The UNF spokesman and Minister of Constitutional Affairs Mr. G.L.Peiris said Monday that the Prime Minister Mr. Wickremsinghe and his government are prepared to face a snap election, media sources said. It is logical to assume that we have to resolve the "threshold issue" before anything else, Mr. Peiris is reported to have told the media. The Prime Minister's office denied earlier reports on the talks being postponed. The decision is to be taken after the LTTE's views are received through the Norwegian Foreign Deputy Mr.Helgesen, who is scheduled to visit Sri Lanka today.
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Book on "Ceasefire 2001-Lessons for the present” released

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 November 2003, 17:17 GMT]
"The time has come for all the lovers of peace to engage in a serious dialogue by contributing their share in solving this vexed [ethnic] problem by studying the [LTTE's] proposal and arriving at a consensus to implement it,” said Professor S.K.Sitrampalam, Professor of History and Dean for Graduate Studies at the University of Jaffna, addressing the introductory event of the book “ Ceasefire 2001-Lessons for the present” held at the Colombo Sri Lanka Foundation Institute Friday evening, sources said.
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"No solution other than the devolution of power is possible" - Batty Weerakoon

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 November 2003, 00:01 GMT]
"LSSP shares the realist approach that given the nature of constitutional amendment no solution other than the devolution of power is possible. As to how comprehensive it can be is subject to negotiation," said Batty Weerakoon, General Secretary of the Lanka Sama Samaja Party (LSSP), in a wide ranging interview with TamilNet when TamilNet caught up with him on his private visit to the United States before the LTTE submitted its proposals for the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) for the NorthEast.
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Tigers release proposal for Interim Self Governing Authority

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 November 2003, 06:25 GMT]
The Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposed by the Liberation Tigers will have plenary power for the governance of the northeast, including powers in relation to resettlement , rehabilitation, reconstruction and development, raising revenue, law and order, and over land, according to the LTTE document released on Saturday. The ISGA will continue until a final settlement to Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict is reached and implemented, according to the document.
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LTTE submits IA proposals to Norwegian Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 October 2003, 07:37 GMT]
Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Head of the Political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Friday submitted the Interim Administration (IA) proposals to the Norwegian Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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SL Govt. to issue statement on LTTE's proposals on IA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 October 2003, 16:06 GMT]
The United National Front government of Sri Lanka will issue a special statement on Saturday on the interim administrative structure proposal of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which is scheduled to be submitted to the government through the Norwegian ambassador in Colombo Friday evening, Cabinet spokesman and UNF's Constitutional Affairs Minister, Professor G.L.Peiris, said at the weekly press briefing held Thursday at the government information department, media sources said.
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Must for us to talk to Muslims - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 October 2003, 12:22 GMT]
“It is a must that we talk to the Muslim ‘side’ after we give the Sri Lankan government our proposal on the Interim Administration (IA) for the Northeast. I can say that Muslims will have their rightful place in it. The aspirations of all the communities in the northeast find expression in our proposals”, said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the LTTE’s political division, emerging from a meeting Tuesday with a delegation of the Ceylon Workers’ Congress in Kilinochchi.
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LTTE urged to bring upcountry parties together

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 October 2003, 12:26 GMT]
“The Liberation Tigers should help bring together the Up Country People’s front (UPF) and the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC). All the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka should be united”, said Mr. P. Chandrasekeran MP, Minister for Social Development, speaking to the press after meeting Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, the head of the Tigers’ political division, for a briefing and discussion on the LTTE’s Interim Administration proposal Sunday.
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LTTE to meet hill country leaders on IA proposals

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 October 2003, 18:15 GMT]
The Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, is to continue his dialogue on the northeast interim administration proposals with the hill country Tamil leaders this Sunday. Last week he held discussions with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leaders, sources said.


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SLA stand scuttles Munai peace meet

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 19:01 GMT]
A meeting convened by the National Human Rights Commission in Jaffna to amicably resolve the row between Sri Lanka army (SLA) and fishermen in Munai in Pt. Pedro ended inconclusively after the SLA insisted that it had nothing to do with the damages suffered by villagers during Wednesday’s incidents.
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LTTE leader honors Karate Grand Master

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 October 2003, 14:46 GMT]
The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. V. Pirapaharan, Thursday conferred national honor on the father of Karate in Tamil Eelam, Grand Master Shihan Bonnie Roberts,74, who holds eight black belts and contributed yeoman service to the growth of the art of Karate, sources in the Vanni said.
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Thamilchelvan meets TNA over IA proposals

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 16:04 GMT]
Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, met with parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) on Wednesday at the Kilinochchi peace secretariat, LTTE peace secretariat sources said.
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SLA assaults Jaffna fishermen, 20 injured

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 October 2003, 14:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka army soldiers assaulted and injured twenty civilians, eight seriously, including two students, in Munai, a coastal village on the outskirts of Pt. Pedro town in Jaffna Wednesday afternoon. Troops were poured into the area following tension between army sentries on the beach and crowds of fisher folk over SLA sentries assaulting a young fishermen who sought permission to return home before the time stipulated by the SLA for beaching boats in Munai.
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Maj. Gen. Fonseka reproves Jaffna media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 October 2003, 11:36 GMT]
Commander of Sri Lankan armed forces in Jaffna, Maj. Gen. Sarath Foneseka told a group of northern journalists Tuesday that newspapers in the peninsula publish “half information’ and distorted reports intended to make people angry at the military. Speaking to representatives of the North Ceylon Journalists’ Association about recent attacks on media persons in Jaffna by Sri Lankan armed forces soldiers, he said: “We are not hundred percent happy about the way media people in Jaffna are carrying out their jobs”.
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