NE Tamil medium teachers strike, schools closed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2005, 05:20 GMT]
About twenty thousand Tamil medium teachers including principals in the northeast province Wednesday did not report for duty sending a sick note responding to the call of the Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) as a token protest against the government's failure to take prompt steps to implement several demands which included the immediate withdrawal of government troops located within fifty meters from schools and to hand over all schools which are located within the high security zones to the Department of Education.
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CWC ministers to resign, extend support to Ranil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2005, 05:13 GMT]
Mr.Armugam Thondaman, CWC leader said at a media briefing Wednesday morning that the party's two ministers would tender their resignations from the UPFA government. He said the CWC has decided to support UNP leader Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe in the forthcoming presidential election. The CWC further announced the 19 proposals that should be included in the agenda by the new Government. One of the proposals has urged the new government to resolve the ethnic problem through extensive power-sharing mechanism. Mr.Thondaman said that the UNP has accepted the 19 demands of the CWC in this regard.
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CWC to announce its stand on presidential election

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 October 2005, 04:16 GMT]
The Ceylon Workers' Congress (CWC), leading political party in the hill country representing upcountry Tamils is to officially announce its position in the forthcoming presidential election Wednesday morning at a media briefing held at Trans Asia Hotel, Colombo. The CWC is a constituent of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government.
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Unidentified gunmen abduct prisoners in Muttur

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 14:56 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen Tuesday morning around 10.55 a.m. waylaid a government passenger bus bound for Muttur town at 59th mile post on Muttur Batticaloa highway and abducted four suspects two Tamils and two Muslims who were taken by prison officials from Trincomalee remand prison to be produced in the Muttur Magistrate Court in connection with criminal cases. Later two Muslims suspects were freed but unidentified men took the Tamil suspects, Muttur Police said.
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Trincomalee children peace camp concludes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 11:36 GMT]
Two day "Children Peace Camp" organized by the Centre for Performing Arts (CPA) for children of the internally displaced people sheltered in five welfare centers located in suburbs of Trincomalee town, Allesgarden, Linganagar, Manaiyaveli, Division No: 10 and Andanakulam, to mark the International Children Day held at Hindu Cultural Hall in the east port town concluded Sunday night. About two hundred children from all three communities, Tamil, Sinhalese and Muslim participated in the camp.
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Vilankulam families benefit from housing project

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 11:10 GMT]
Internally displaced families who fled from Vilankulam, a Tamil village located on the Trincomalee-Kandy highway about 13 km off southwest of the east port city, twenty years ago following ethnic disturbances are slowly resettling back in their own lands. The Trincomalee Rotary Club (TRC) has been implementing a low-cost housing project for these resettled families. Mr.Nihal Bogahalande, Sri Lanka's District Rotary Governor handed over the first house under this project to a beneficiary family on the twentieth anniversary of their displacement last weekend.


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Will EU declaration help Sri Lanka's peace?

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2005, 02:54 GMT]
The European Union’s (EU’s) announcement that it "will not receive members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in its member states until further notice," and is considering formally listing the LTTE as a terrorist organization has raised both controversy and questions over whether the move will aid or hurt the island’s stalled peace process.
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Court remands Tamil youths arrested in Trincomalee seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 October 2005, 21:03 GMT]
Trincomalee Magistrate Mr.S.Ramakamalan Monday ordered remand till 14th October for the four Tamil youths who were arrested by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) when they were allegedly video-taping the Trincomalee naval headquarters. The arrested youths are from Kayts, Kopay, Mullaitivu and Uyilankulam, and their ages ranged from 19 to 29, legal sources said.


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Aussie MP, Tamils gather in support of Tamil Resurgence

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 October 2005, 23:16 GMT]
Federal Member of Australian parliament, Ms Julie Owens, Chairman of International Commission of Jurists Justice John Dowd and several hundred Tamils from Sydney and adjoining counties participated in an event held at the Ryde Civic Center in Sydney Sunday in support of the Tamil Resurgence events being held by fellow Tamils in the NorthEast. The event was organized by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), an umbrella organization of Tamil groups in the region.
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Pongu Thamil event to be held in Trinco 22nd October

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 October 2005, 18:37 GMT]
About hundred Tamil activists and representatives of Tamil organizations attending a discussion held at Trincomalee Vigneswara Maha Vidiyalayam Sunday decided to hold the next Tamil National Resurgence Convention (Pongu Thamil) in Trincomalee town before the end of October, sources said.
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CTTU to strike on Teachers Day

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 October 2005, 18:24 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) gave notice to Dr Tara de Mel, Secretary of the Ministry of Education and Higher education, that its members will go on one day sick leave as a token trade union action on October 5 as the Education Ministry has failed to fulfill its promises regarding its twenty five demands. The CTTU said that it will be compelled to go on continuous strike from October 24 if the demands are not met.


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Trincomalee community leaders felicitated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 October 2005, 03:47 GMT]
Four leading citizens of Trincomalee town, three of them octogenarians who have rendered selfless services to their language, religion and community were felicitated at the 2005-Literary Festival of the Trincomalee Divisional Secretariat held Friday evening at Trincomalee Town Hall.
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International children's day celebrated in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 October 2005, 16:44 GMT]
Children from nine chidren's homes in Mullaitivu and Kiliochchi districts participated in International Children'day celebrations that included sports competitions and cultural events held in the Kilinochchi Central Play grounds Saturday, sources in Vanni said. Supporting events were also held in Akkarayan, Pooneryn and Vaddakachchi, according to event organizers.
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NLF supports Tamil Resurgence Conventions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 October 2005, 12:34 GMT]
The New Left Front (NLF) in a statement released Saturday in Colombo expressed its wholehearted support for the Tamil National Resurgence Convention being held in the northeast province. "We wish Tamil people to work hard for their liberation. Tamil National Resurgence Convention has been contributing very much to the Tamil liberation struggle," said Mr.Wickremabahu Karunaratne, leader of the NLF in a statement.


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Trinco children home administrator sentenced to jail for child abuse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 October 2005, 07:09 GMT]
Trincomalee Additional Magistrate Mr.M.Ganesharajah Friday sentenced the former administrator of the Trincomalee 'Anbu Illam', a leading children home in the eastern port town to two years rigorous imprisonment when he was found guilty for child abuse. When the case was taken up for delivering order, the prosecution informed court that the accused has gone into hiding. The Magistrate, however, delivered the order in absentia and issued open warrant to arrest the accused, legal sources said.
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Thousands attend Jaffna Pongu Thamil rally, seek Army withdrawal

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 September 2005, 14:51 GMT]
An estimated two hundred thousand people attended the Tamil Resurgence celebrations in Jaffna Friday at Jaffna University Grounds, calling for the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to vacate the Tamil homeland and declaring that the Tamils right to self-determination is non-negotiable. Speakers at the rally said the event recognizes the Vavuniya proclamation and condemned the one-sided punitive measures taken by the European Union against the Liberation Tigers.
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Jihad militant leader killed in Muttur

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 September 2005, 09:28 GMT]
An unidentified gunman shot and killed Abdul Hakeem, the leader of a Muslim armed Group. The incident took place at Palainagar, Mutthur, around 7.50 p.m., Thursday. His body was found riddled with eight bullets, the Police said.
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Danish group declares areas in Kanniya, Thiriyai mine free

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 September 2005, 05:34 GMT]
About 10,000 square meter area in Kanniya and about 8,000 square meter area in Thiriyai in the Trincomalee district have been declared mine free by the Danish Demining Group (DDG), civil society sources in Trincomalee said. Mr.Magnus Johansson, Technical Advisor of the DDG Wednesday and Thursday handed over "Release of Land Certificates" to the civil authority in these villages.
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Jaffna gets ready for sixth Tamil Resurgence Convention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 15:00 GMT]
All roads in Jaffna district will lead to University Grounds Friday September 30 where the Tamil Resurgence Convention, is to be held. This is sixth in the series of such conferences held in recent months, first Vavuniya, second in Batticaloa, next in Killinochchi, fourth in Mullaitivu and fifth held at Mannar Wednesday.
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EU Declaration shatters peace hopes - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 September 2005, 09:18 GMT]
Warning that the European Union's declaration will be interpreted by Colombo as providing tacit support to its policies and therefore will likely harden Colombo's views and approach to the peace process, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, S. P. Thamilchelvan, told TamilNet Wednesday that the announced restriction on receiving LTTE delegations in EU countries, has ruined the trust Tamil people had in the EU, and has caused irreparable damage to prospects for peace.
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