Book on Baratha Natyam released in Mannar

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 16:44 GMT]
A research book on Baratha Natyam written by Miss Pavithra Edwin Christie of Mannar was released at an event held in Mannar Town Hall Monday evening. The author is a Fine Arts graduate passed out from Trichy Arts College in South India. Mr.Vithianantharasa, Principal of Mannar Siththivinayagar Hindu College presided.
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NCP Chief Minister appointed to lead Trincomalee development

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 16:43 GMT]
The President Mr.Mahinda Rajapakse has appointed Mr.Bertilal Dissanayake, Chief Minister of the North Central Province in charge of the development activities in the Trincomalee district. Mr.Dissanayake Monday presided over the conference held in Trincomalee district secretariat pertaining to the development of the district, district secretariat sources said.
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Truce talks in Geneva on February 22

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 15:34 GMT]
The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs Monday evening informed the press that the parties to the conflict in Sri Lanka, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, have asked Norway to facilitate talks in Geneva from 22 to 23 February. The announcement comes following the meeting between the Norwegian International Development Minister Mr. Erik Solheim and the Liberation Tigers Chief Negotiator and Political Strategist Mr. Anton Balasingham in London, and Mr. Solheim's consultations with the Government of Sri Lanka following his meeting with Mr. Balasingham.
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Colombo's bona fides on creating normalcy ahead of talks, questionable - paper

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 13:25 GMT]
Uthayan, the Jaffna based daily, in its Monday editorial warned of the potentially dangerous consequences of the attitude being displayed by the Sri Lankan Government insisting on its innocense and not taking urgent action to secure the release of the seven humanitarian workers of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in the east. Referring to the "strict adherence" by the Tamil side in living up to its pledge on the cessation of hostilities the last two weeks, since the meeting between Norwegian Peace Envoy and the LTTE leader commenced on January 25, the paper questioned whether Colombo has demonstrated its will to create a conducive environment in the run-up to the truce talks.
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Norwegian NGO condemns abduction of aid workers

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 11:12 GMT]
FORUT, a Norwegian non-Governmental Organizaton that works in Sri Lanka, said in a press release issued 2 February that it "condemned strongly the abduction of 10 workers from TRO in eastern Sri Lanka," and urged the "Government of Sri Lanka to give highest priority to the investigation of these abductions."
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Protest against kidnappings shuts down Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 February 2006, 09:12 GMT]
Entire Batticaloa district, on Monday, observed a shut down protest against the abductions of the seven humanitarian staffers of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO). The protest, called by the employees of local and foreign NGOs, who abstained from work, also drew support from private businesses and public services. Shops and banks remained closed. Public offices and schools wore a deserted look. The fate of seven TRO staffers, who were abducted while travelling on the A11 Batticaloa - Polonnaruwa road, the Main Supply Route (MSR) of the Sri Lanka Army one week ago, is not yet known.
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LTTE urges NGOs to expedite tsunami rehab in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 15:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) appealed to non-governmental organizations working in the Batticaloa district to expedite their tsunami rehabilitation and reconstruction work as large number of affected families are living temporary structures fourteen months after the disaster. Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE made this appeal at a conference held Friday in the office of the Vakarai Divisional Secretary attended by NGOs' representatives, sources said


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Halo Trust employee missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 14:43 GMT]
An employee of Halo Trust, an NGO engaged in mine clearing operations in Jaffna, is reported missing from Saturday night, sources from Jaffna said. Gunaratnam Logithas, 23, from Kaithady in Jaffna district, was travellling to Chavakachcheri from his home in his motorbike when he was reported disappeared.
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Karunanidhi to apprise Delhi on Sri Lanka Tamil issues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 06:31 GMT]
Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, said in a letter dated 1 February to Dr. Kalaignar M. Karunanithi, President of the Dravida Munnetra Kazhaham of Tamil Nadu, for his early attention to meet India's Prime Minister and Mrs Sonia Ghandi and to release a statement to the media on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) harassment of NorthEast Tamils, UPF media section said.
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Released TRO staffers to register complaint with HRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 February 2006, 04:59 GMT]
Head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), K.P.Regi, told TamilNet Sunday, that his staff are making arrangements to get the three released TRO workers later Sunday to register complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC). "We feel that it is important that released staffers meet with an impartial group such as the Rights Commision, so that facts about the abduction, obtained without any coersion, can be presented to the public and to the International Community," said Mr Regi.
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Rajapakse's Independence address avoids Geneva talks, Norway facilitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 16:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, in his address at Galle Face on Sri Lanka's 58th Independence Day on Saturday, avoided mentioning Norwegian peace efforts and the critical talks in Geneva on strengthening implementation of Cease Fire Agreement. The Sri Lankan President, who promised "honorable peace" to the people of Northeast at his address, said the independence achieved 58 years ago from the British, was at stake. Meanwhile, districts of NorthEast observed widespread shutdown.
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"Sri Lanka, an Asian Gaza strip"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 15:58 GMT]
Describing Sri Lanka's people as "talented, educated and ready for the globalization experience," and extolling Sri Lanka's virtues as a country that "could mature into a gem like Switzerland or Singapore, that it could offer the rest of the world an exemplary measure of hope," Prof Tom Plate of University of California, Los Angeles, says that two decades of conflict has converted the tourist postcard island into an Asian Gaza strip and that "things are getting worse. Its new, recently elected President, Mahinda Rajapakse, is demonstrating astonishing ineptitude," in an article that appeared on a UCLA Asia Media news journal, 3rd February.
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TRO abductions, GoSL response may stall Geneva talks - TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 14:10 GMT]
"We are concerned that the continued deterioration of ground situation in the NorthEast and the abduction of TRO staff members by paramilitaries can potentially prevent Liberation Tigers' participation in Geneva talks," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians after a meeting with Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi at 11 a.m. Saturday. "Colombo has openly attempted to discredit the LTTE by making misleading statements to the International Community on the recent abductions of TRO staff by the paramilitary cadres," they added. The meeting lasted for more than three hours sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Hartal observed in Trincomalee, Mannar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 11:56 GMT]
Tamil residents in the districts of Trincomalee and Mannar observed a general shut down on the Independence Day to protest against the harassment by the State armed forces. Towns of Trincomalee and Mannar came to a standstill as normalcy was disrupted due to the stoppage of state and private sector bus services, sources said.
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Reconstruction of 13,000 houses in NorthEast to begin

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 February 2006, 03:13 GMT]
The World Bank funded North East Housing Reconstruction Programme (NEHRP) has commenced the second phase reconstruction of 13000 houses for the war victim families in the NorthEast. NEHRP officials started distributing forms to collect necessary data to select qualified beneficiaries affected by the two decade-old war in the province to be included in the second phase, a press release of the NEHRP said.
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Action, not words is needed - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 20:43 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government’s tardy response to the kidnapping of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) have raised serious doubts about the prospects of peace talks, the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. Arguing that “last week’s optimism [about talks] was premature and, as many Tamils now feel, sorely misplaced,” the expatriate publication said “this incident has demonstrated exactly what the future of negotiations with President Rajapakse and his government is likely to be.”
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Court begins inquiry into Jaffna students FR application

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 17:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Thursday listed the Fundamental Rights (FR) application filed by fifteen Tamil students from the Jaffna district alleging discrimination in university admission for further hearing. The FR application came up for inquiry before a three member Bench of the Supreme Court comprising Justices Shiranee Bandaranaike, Raja Fernando and N.G.Amaratunge, legal sources said.
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Another TRO staffer released

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 13:53 GMT]
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Friday said in a press release that one of the abudcted TRO officials, Ms. S. Dosini, has returned to her relatives in Chenkalady. "Word has reached TRO through the Non-Violent Peace Force (NVPF) office in Batticaloa that Ms. S. Dosini, PSEDC Divisional Coordinator Mamunai North Division, has returned to the home of her relatives in Chenkalady, a Government of Sri Lanka controlled area of the Batticaloa District," the press release said. The fate of the remaining seven humanitarian workers is not yet known.
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Protest against Batticaloa abductions held in Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 12:26 GMT]
A protest demonstration attended by residents of Mannar and workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was held Thursday in Mannar demanding the immediate release of abducted TRO workers in the Batticaloa district. At the conclusion of the demonstration Mr.S.Jesuthasan, Mannar District Director of the TRO handed over memorandum to the district head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), District Government Agent, district heads of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, UNHCR, and the Bishop of Mannar Diocese, sources said.
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Valaichenai school principal missing, school shuts down in protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 February 2006, 12:15 GMT]
Valaichenani Hindu College was shut down by the students and fellow teachers on Friday in protest against the alleged kidnapping of their principal Thursday. "The family of the principal is probably under threat and confusion. The truth is no one knows the fate of Mr. Thavarasa," a school teacher who did not wished to be named told TamilNet. The family is yet to file a complaint of their missing father, sources added.
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