Compensation delay for Kanjirankuda victims decried

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2003, 17:44 GMT]
Relatives of the 7 Tamil civilians shot dead by the commandos of the Special Task Force, an elite wing of the Sri Lankan armed forces, during a public protest in Kanjirankudah, 84 kilometres south of Batticaloa, on 9 October 2002 have not received any compensation, said Batticaloa district parliamentarian Chandra Nehru.
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PM's advisor in Jaffna to see ground situation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 April 2003, 12:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Prime Minister's senior advisor Mr.Bradman Weerakone at the end of his two-day visit to Jaffna Sunday said at a conference held at Jaffna District Secretariat that the reply to be sent shortly to the LTTE political advisor Mr Anton Balasingham would contain assurances that will help the resumption of the peace talks. Meanwhile Mr.Weerakone Saturday instructed the Government Agent to hand back the municipal lands to the Jaffna municipal council, sources said
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LTTE responds to US Ambassador

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2003, 16:25 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Friday denied they had walked away from negotiations with the Sri Lankan government and said they were temporarily suspending talks “to provide time and space for the government to implement crucial decisions.” Responding to comments by the United States Ambassador, Mr. Ashley Wills, the LTTE’s Chief Negotiator and Political Advisor, Mr. Anton Balasingham told TamilNet Friday “As the representatives of our people we reserve the right to express our displeasure if decisions at the talks are not implemented and bi-lateral agreements are not fulfilled.”


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JVP demonstrators condemn Muttur violence

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 April 2003, 15:02 GMT]
The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a Sinhala nationalist opposition party in Sri Lanka that espouses radical Marxism, held a demonstration Friday afternoon at Lipton Square, in downtown Colombo, condemning the violence in Muttur in the East against Muslims and demanding that Norwegian monitors should be ‘thrown out’ of the country to safeguard the territorial integrity and sovereignty of the island, sources said.
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No threat of resumption of war - Minister Peiris

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The ceasefire agreement signed last year by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is still in force and there is no threat of resumption of war following the pull out by the LTTE from peace talks, said Minister G.L. Peiris, addressing the weekly cabinet press briefing Thursday.
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Speedy relief essential for success of talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 11:26 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Wednesday requested the United National Front (UNF) government to formulate and implement a new approach that could provide speedy relief to the grievances of several thousands displaced Tamils without further delay fulfilling the justifiable expectations of Tamils since the signing of the ceasefire agreement, sources said.


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Tigers call off rehabilitation talks pending ‘tangible action on the ground’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 April 2003, 00:00 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Wednesday postponed the meeting of the Sub-committee on Immediate Humanitarian Rehabilitation Needs (SIHRN) scheduled for this week, to “await action and implementation on urgent matters … of resettlement and rehabilitation of Internally Displaced People and of refugees.” In a letter to Mr. Bernard Goonetilleke, the head of the Government of Sri Lanka delegation on the SIHRN, Mr. S. P. Tamilselvan, head of the LTTE’s Political Wing and head of the LTTE delegation on the SIHRN, called for ‘tangible action on the ground’ before the Sub-committee meetings resumed.
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JVP demands debate on SLMM, Muttur violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 19:04 GMT]
The Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) demanded in a letter to the Speaker of the Sri Lankan parliament that a special meeting of the parliament to discuss the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission’s 'Initial discussion paper' of April 03 to the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) on recognizing Sea Tigers as a de facto naval unit, and the recent incidents of violence in Muttur, Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, the parliamentary group leader of the JVP and its propaganda secretary, said at a press conference held Tuesday at the Nippon hotel in downtown Colombo.
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PM allocates fifty million rupees for Muttur rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 April 2003, 10:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe has instructed the Treasury to allocate fifty million rupees as first installment for the rehabilitation of the thousands of displaced people in Muttur division, south of Trincomalee district. This was revealed at a conference held Monday evening at the Trincomalee district secretariat presided by Minister and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) leader Mr.Rauff Hakim, sources said.


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LTTE suspends negotiations with Sri Lanka pending implementation of agreements reached

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 April 2003, 12:51 GMT]
Expressing deep displeasure over certain critical issues relating to the ongoing peace process, the LTTE leadership Monday informed the Sri Lankan government that it has decided to suspend its participation in the negotiations for the time being.
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LTTE to boycott Japan aid conference

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 April 2003, 09:58 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) said Saturday it would review its decision to participate in the international conference in Tokyo in June in protest at its exclusion from the preliminary conference to be held in Washington on Monday. "The authentic representatives of the Tamil people should have been invited to this major international conference to articulate the interests and aspirations of our people," the LTTE said in a statement issued in the Vanni Saturday.
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Permanency to Tamil volunteer teachers with AG's approval

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 April 2003, 17:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe Thursday directed the Minister of Human Resources Development, Education and Cultural Affairs, Dr.Karunasena Kodituwakku, to obtain the approval of the Attorney General before granting permanent appointment to one thousand Tamil medium volunteer teachers serving in the Northeast province, Tamil National Alliance sources said.
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UPF holds peace campaign in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 April 2003, 15:29 GMT]
The Upcountry People's Front (UPF), a constituent party of the ruling United National Front (UNF) Saturday morning picketed in front of the Fort railway station, in the heart of Colombo, supporting the present peace process and condemning the activities of anti-peace elements.
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Sri Lanka peace talks a travelling circus says President

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 April 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Chandrika Kumaratunga said Tuesday that the peace talks between Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government and the Liberation Tigers are like a travelling circus (Thaninthana natana circus kandayama). She was addressing a function at the President’s House Tuesday evening to honour and assist disabled soldiers and the families of the war dead and missing of the Sri Lankan armed forces.


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Tamil MPs object to new Jaffna garrison

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 April 2003, 10:31 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) raised strong objections to the construction of a new Sri Lanka Army (SLA) garrison on Jaffna Municipal Council grounds when it met Prime Minister Ranil Wicremesinghe at his office in Parliament Tuesday morning. The 12 TNA MPs who met the Prime Minister told him that the military has begun work on permanent structures for the garrison.


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Conference demonstrates Women's strength behind freedom struggle - Karuna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 March 2003, 05:11 GMT]
"National conference on Tamil Eelam Women's development is an appropriate event to awaken Tamil women at this juncture when there is a climate of peace with the cessation of hostilities. The event demonstrates to the International Community the forces behind our military struggle," said Colonel Karuna, Senior commander of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, speaking as a chief guest third day of the conference organized with the support of the Organization for the upliftment of women in Batticaloa.
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PA-JVP said closer to formula for capturing power

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 16:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s main opposition parties said Friday they were closer to striking a deal on forming an alliance to bring down Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s government. The People’s Alliance and the Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) had discussions on formulating the crucial clauses of a memorandum of understanding to cement the alliance at the President’s House in Colombo Friday.
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New camps will damage peace process - JDCHA

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 March 2003, 02:38 GMT]
The Jaffna District Consortium of Human Agencies (JDCHA) Thursday sought intervention of Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to stop moves by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to establish new army camps in Jaffna Municipal grounds, said sources in Jaffna.
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CAET appeals to PM in support of volunteer teachers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 March 2003, 01:34 GMT]
The Council for Advancement of Education of Tamils (CAET) which has its headquarters at Paravipanchan in Killinochchi Thursday appealed to the Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe to take meaningful action to give permanent appointment to the volunteer teachers who are carrying out a protest supported by teachers from many districts of Northeast. .
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Workers in Colombo walk out against privatisation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 March 2003, 19:23 GMT]
Hundreds of workers in state run banks and major public enterprises walked out of their offices in Colombo Wednesday to protest against plans by Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Front government to privatise their institutions. The protesting workers also demanded better wages.


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