TNA seeks govt. stand on Trinco Buddha statue issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 July 2005, 06:06 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance ( TNA ) parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian made a statement in parliament Wednesday morning seeking the Government to reveal its stand on the Trincomalee Buddha statue issue following the withdrawal of the case filed by the Attorney General in the Trincomalee District Court for the removal of the statue.
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P-TOMS to be debated in SL parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 16:58 GMT]
A debate on P-TOMS signed by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is scheduled for August 11 and 12 in Sri Lanka Parliament, political sources said. The decision was taken at the party leaders meeting held Tuesday evening with the Speaker Mr.W.M.J.Lokkubandara in the chair.
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Peace co-chairs call for end to violence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 11:25 GMT]
In a press release issued by the US Embassy in Colombo Tuesday, the Co-chairs for Sri Lanka Peace Process expressed alarm at the escalating violence called on the LTTE to stop killings, and the Government of Sri Lanka to disarm all paramilitaries and to guarantee security to unarmed LTTE cadres.
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New Institute to boost Tamil education in NorthEast

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 July 2005, 01:30 GMT]
In an event held in the Killinochchi zonal education office in Kilinochchi Sunday, The Education Development Institute of North East (EDINE) was inaugurated to develop Tamil medium education in the northeast province, education sources said. Professor C.Mohanathas, Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University, unveiled the name board of the office and Mr.R.Thiakalingam, from North East Provincial Education Ministry, declared open the office.
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Mobs attack Tamil estate

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 July 2005, 22:51 GMT]
Sinhala mobs armed with batons attacked Tamil plantation workers in Panthi tea estate near Mathugama, a small town in Western Province, 61 km. from Colombo, Mr. Mano Ganesan, leader of the Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) told TamilNet. Two Tamil civilians were injured in the attack that took place around 10:30 p.m. Monday.
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Peoples agitation campaign planned in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 July 2005, 14:14 GMT]
About five hundred representatives of civil groups in the Jaffna district Monday decided to hold one-day peoples' agitation campaign mustering several thousand people to seek the support of the international community to recognize the self-determination rights of the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Colombo's political drama shatters hopes for peace- LTTE

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 July 2005, 03:14 GMT]
"As Tamil people have repeatedly witnessed in their tortuous history of the past several decades, Colombo has shown its reluctance to provide remedies to Tamil people even after humanitarian disasters of colossal proportions. Sinhala leaders under severe international pressure, signed the deal after dragging for six long months, the Sinhala chauvinists then staged protests to derail the deal, and when all techniques were exhausted Sinhala nationalists engaged the willing apex court to use constitutional reasoning to scuttle the deal," said S P Thamilchelvan after a 4-hour long meeting with the TNA leaders in Kilinochchi Sunday.
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Kantalai ancestral farmers face denial of water rights

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 July 2005, 13:19 GMT]
Mr.R.Sampanthan, Trincomalee district parliamentarian, has requested the Sri Lanka's Ministry of Irrigation not to divert water from Kantalai tank for irrigating fields in a newly created Sinhala settlement Jayanthipura undermining the preferential rights of ancestral (Purana) farmers of Tampalakamam and Mullipoththanai of the down stream. When the augmentation of Kantalai tank took place in 1950s to support new Sinhala settlements Government of Ceylon gave an undertaking to traditional Tamil and Muslim farmers ensuring their right to water from the tank.
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Court ruling adds fuel to Sri Lanka chauvinism- Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 July 2005, 19:36 GMT]
"Sri Lanka's Supreme Court's ruling on the P-TOMS is not a challenge to Tamil people but to the two main political parties, Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) and United National Party (UNP). The ruling ia a boost to the chauvinist forces that insist on the continuation of the unitary constitution and would like to see the P-TOMS abrogated," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader addressing members of the Trincomalee branch of Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Saturday morning in his residence, sources said.
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P-TOMS receives belated praise from Clinton

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 July 2005, 17:15 GMT]
Although Sri Lanka's aid deal, the Post Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS), is engulfed in crisis with extreme Sinhala nationlists and Muslim groups opposing the deal, Sri Lanka President's official website quoted former US President, Bill Clinton, as saying, "problems between Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims have been now solved and they are working well together for tsunami recovery," and that the task forces established for post-tsunami rehabilitation must be kept for future disaster management.
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Methodist Church assists Kallady villagers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 July 2005, 15:09 GMT]
The Trincomalee Methodist Church distributed one million rupees worth household implements to 204 families and 500,000 rupees worth push cycles to 70 students in Kallady in Eachchilampathu division, who were afftected by tsunami that hit the village in December 2004.
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Hindu Conference begins in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 July 2005, 18:36 GMT]
Three day Hindu Conference began in Jaffna Friday at the Jaffna College of Education premises. The All Ceylon Hindu Mamantram (ACHM) has organized the conference in collaboration with the Jaffna College of Education to mark the golden jubilee year of the ACHM. Mr.V.Kailasapillai, President of ACHM presided over the inaugural event.
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LTTE responds to GoSL proposals, calls for immediate action

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 July 2005, 06:58 GMT]
In a letter addressed to Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on Friday, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm (LTTE), rejected the conditions stipulated by Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) restricting the number of journeys and the number of persons. The letter said that the GoSL has the responsibility to ensure the safety of LTTE's unarmed members in military controlled areas and urged that the proposals sent to GoSL on 30 June 2005 need to be accepted in full in order to ensure safe travel of their cadres. It further said that the time frame set by the LTTE was consequent to the long delay incurred.
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Sri Lanka's Supreme Court issues stay order against P-TOMS

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 July 2005, 06:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Supreme Court (SC) Friday issued a stay order on four main points of the Post-Tsunami Operational Management Structure (P-TOMS) signed between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), legal sources said. Fund management, location of Regional Committee in Kilinochchi, Project approval and implementation issues in Regional Committees are the issues being mentioned in the stay order, according to the information available at the moment. The marxist Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the Buddhist Sinhala nationalist JHU filed cases seeking the Court to make P-TOMS null and void.
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Three persons killed in Akkaraipattu

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 July 2005, 05:36 GMT]
Three persons, two Muslims and a person with Sinhala-Tamil mixed background, were shot and killed by unidentifed gunmen at the Sixth Mile post, Akkaraipattu on Thursday night. The killers had stopped the persons, who were travelling in a three-wheeler, tied the victims hands behind before shooting them dead, Police said. Soldiers from the Special Task Force (STF) and Police personnel are deployed in Akkaraipattu town as the situation in the area was reported as tense following the discovery of the bodies Friday morning.
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One LTTE cadre killed, two Navy soldiers injured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2005, 16:21 GMT]
One Liberation Tiger cadre was killed and two Sri Lankan Navy soldiers were injured in a shooting incident that took place near Perkar area in Kumburupiddy division north of Trincomalee, according to Police sources. The incident took place near the German radio relay station Deutche Velle around 6:30 p.m. Thursday. Meanwhile, Kumburupiddy villagers, who have taken refuge in the Methodist Church, said that two Tamil civilians are missing in the area following the shooting incident.
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Sri Lanka military pushing for war- Batticaloa LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2005, 15:01 GMT]
"Sri Lankan military is visibly pushing for a war. Sri Lanka Military Intelligence personnel is deployed all over the borders monitoring our cadres. Heavily armed Sri Lankan soldiers are being deployed in SLA held areas of Batticaloa. The situation is getting tense and our political officials in SLA held areas are under threat. If this situation continues, we will be forced to relocate all our political cadres and officials," said Deputy Head of LTTE's Batticaloa-Amparai Political Division, Mr. Dayamohan Thursday.
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Two civilians injured in grenade explosion in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2005, 13:17 GMT]
Two civilians, a Tamil and a Sinhalese , were wounded when a grenade lobbed by an unidentified person missed the target and fell into a saloon and exploded. The incident took place at Anuradhapura junction, about two km off Trincomalee town on Trincomalee-Kandy highway, police said.


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Thamilchelvan to meet TNA parliamentarians on Sunday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2005, 05:07 GMT]
Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is to meet all twenty-two Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians of the northeast province on Sunday evening at Killinochchi political secretariat. Mr. Thamilchelvan is expected to brief TNA parliamentarians about the thinking of LTTE leadership on the present volatile situation in the northeast, TNA sources said
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Tamil youth shot dead in Puttalam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 16:49 GMT]
Mr Krishnan Ravichandran,23, a Tamil, was shot and killed by unidentified gunmen Thursday around 2:30 a.m. at Sempattai, Mathuramkuli in Puttalam district, sources said.


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