Muslim, Tamil farmers attacked in Vattamadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 October 2003, 02:59 GMT]
Three muslim farmers and two Tamil tractor drivers were attacked Sunday morning by a group of men tending cattle in Vattamadu, Thirukkovil Pradeshya Sabha, in Ampara district, security sources said. The identity of the attackers has not yet been released, according to sources.
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Hazing, clashes in Jaffna Campus injure freshmen

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 00:11 GMT]
Clashes which erupted between freshmen and Junior year students of the Jaffna University over a ragging incident Monday continued for the fourth day Thursday. Arts faculty freshman, Mr.P.Thanaraj of Kalmadu in Vavuniya, was injured in Thursday’s clash inside the premises of Jaffna Campus, police sources said.


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Mines prevent resettlement in 39 Mannar villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 17:23 GMT]
The Mannar district secretariat Wednesday said the internally displaced families in thirty nine villages in the district could not be resettled as the villages have still not been declared mine-free areas, sources in Mannar said.
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Sports competitions mark women’s upsurge day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 08:26 GMT]
Sports competitions are being held in the Vanni among women’s brigades of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to mark the remembrance of 2nd Lieutenant Malathy, the first woman LTTE fighter to die, and the women’s upsurge day, sources in the Vanni 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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Vanni TNA MP attacked, escapes unhurt

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2003, 16:54 GMT]
The Vanni district Member of Parliament from the Tamil National Alliance, Mr. T. Sivashakthi Anandan, was assaulted at his home village of Semamadu in the Vavuniya district Thursday morning, during a meeting on Rehabilitation and Reconstruction, by a youth who had a private dispute with the MP, sources in a Vavuniya said.
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Vavuniya Judge gets jurisdiction over Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 July 2003, 03:47 GMT]
The Judicial Services Commission of Sri Lanka has appointed the Vavuniya District judge, Mr. M. Ilanceliyan, to function as the District judge and Magistrate for the Mullaitivu district since June 1, sources said.
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Postal services in Mullaitivu to improve

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 July 2003, 03:33 GMT]
Even in the midst of severe shortages of essential goods and a lack of public transport, the Postal service in Mullaitivu has managed to provide at least 50% of the services it would have provided in normal times, with the support of the Government Agent and the Postal Services workers, the Postal Superintendent for Mullaitivu, Mr. Veerasingham Kumaraguru, said.
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Resettlement in Talaimannar Pier areas to begin

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 July 2003, 08:26 GMT]
Sittampalam Jeyapalan, a senior officer attached to the international NGO from Switzerland, FSD, said that 1394 land mines, 9 claymore mines and 8 unexploded shells have been removed from the Talaimannar West and East areas in the last one hundred days. Administrative officials in Talaimannar said that the clearing of mines has allowed displaced residents from Talaimannar pier area to prepare for resettlement.


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Committee to address illegal cultivation by muslim farmers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2003, 02:06 GMT]
Following complaints by cattle owners that muslim farmers are cultivating land that was set aside for cattle grazing in Vattamadu, Thirukovil pradeshya sabha region, Amparai district, the members of Muslim-Tamil subcommittee which was formed to resolve land issues, surveyed the disputed site Tuesday morning, said sources in Amparai.
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Funds insufficient to repair Vanni irrigation tanks - Engineer

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 June 2003, 11:16 GMT]
Muttaiyankattu Irrigation Engineer, S. Shanmugarajah, said that funds allocated for repair of several irrigation tanks in Vanni are insufficient and urgent assistance is required to rehabilitate the tanks for safe operation, local reports said.
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World Bank team conducts field survey in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 June 2003, 04:49 GMT]
Two World bank teams now in Sri Lanka Wednesday inspected four focal villages, two in Jaffna district and two in Vavuniya district in its four day field survey to assess the agricultural development works and restoration of minor irrigations tanks now being carried out by the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), NEIAP sources said.
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World Bank teams begin field survey tour in NE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 June 2003, 00:50 GMT]
Two teams of World Bank officials began their four day field survey tour in the districts of Northeast province Monday to assess agricultural development and restoration works on minor irrigation tanks now being carried out by the World Bank funded North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), government officials in Trincomalee said.
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World Bank teams to assess NEIAP projects in northeast

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 May 2003, 17:23 GMT]
Two teams from the World Bank are to conduct field survey tour between 2 June and 6 June in the northeast districts to assess agricultural development and restoration works now being carried out by the North East Irrigated Agricultural Project (NEIAP), NEIAP sources said.


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Indian Oil Corp begins operations in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 May 2003, 13:37 GMT]
Indian petroleum minister Mr. Ram Naik, who arrived on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka, inaugurated the Indian Oil Corporation's operations in the island’s petrol and diesel retail market Wednesday. Mr. Naik launched Lanka IOC (Pvt) Ltd, a wholly-owned subsidiary of IOC, with the inauguration of a petrol station in Colombo Wednesday as part of a chain of 250 retail outlets the state oil firm is taking over in the island nation. He will visit Trincomalee on Thursday, Sri Lankan government officials said.


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Defying C.I dogma, massacre village rises from ashes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 May 2003, 13:30 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army massacred seventeen villagers, including six children, and burnt and razed to the ground Thoni Thaattamadu, an impoverished Tamil hamlet on the east coast’s remote interior 16 years ago on May 27, 1987. The massacre was an integral part of a counter insurgency (C.I) campaign by Sri Lankan armed forces. The village remained a no go zone since then, until the Liberation Tigers signed a ceasefire agreement with Colombo in February last year.
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1987 killings still haunt Vakarai residents

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 May 2003, 02:21 GMT]
Nearly sixteen years ago residents of Thonithandamadu village in Vakarai region in Batticaloa district were witness to gruesome killings when soldiers of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shot, hacked to death and burnt the bodies of ten Tamil civilians. The memory still haunts the relatives of the victims and the residents of the impoverished village.


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‘Border pioneers’ face uphill task

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 May 2003, 12:44 GMT]
“We settled here in 1954 to safeguard our homeland. Today there is nobody to save us”, says Mr. Kanapathipillai Poopalapillai, 79, former President of the Rural Development Society of Sinnawaththai, a destroyed border Tamil village in the east coast’s interior. The Special Task Force and Sri Lanka Police built their camps in the Sinhala sector of this border zone with bricks and wood from the Tamil homes they dismantled or demolished in Sinnawaththai.
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SLRC celebrates World Red Cross day in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 May 2003, 11:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) celebrated its work in helping the people affected by two decades of war in Northeast and other parts of Sri Lanka by holding several events in Batticaloa district on the World Red Cross Day, Thursday, sources in Batticaloa said.


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General Satish Nambiar arrives in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 May 2003, 17:02 GMT]
Retired Indian army general Satish Nambiar arrived in Colombo Tuesday afternoon from Madurai in South India by Indian Airlines, sources in Colombo said.


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