Trinco district secretariat conference hall opened

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 16:03 GMT]
Mr.Pandu Bandaranayake, Deputy Minister of Public Administration and Home Affairs declared open the new conference hall built at a cost of 12.7 million rupees in the Trincomalee District Secretariat built inside the Fort Frederick in the east port town last weekend. The District Secretariat has been functioning in a two-century-old building constructed during the British rule. The conference hall is the first new building constructed in the District Secretariat premises after about two hundred years, said Mr.Gamini Rodrigo, Government Agent and District Secretary at the opening event, sources said.
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Four SLA soldiers injured in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 09:15 GMT]
Four soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were injured in two separate grenade attacks in Trincomalee and Muttur since early morning Wednesday. With these casualties the number of soldiers injured in grenade attacks and firing increased to six and policemen to thirteen since Tuesday following the general shut down called by Tamil District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) condemning the killings of LTTE cadres at Chelvanayakapuram on Sunday, police said.
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Historic Trinco Sivan Temple Chariot festival held

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 July 2005, 01:21 GMT]
The annual "THER" festival of the four-century-old historic Sri Visvanathaswami (Sivan) Temple in Trincomalee was held Tuesday morning after about twenty-two years in a newly constructed thirty-three feet tall chariot. The trial run of the new chariot buit at a cost of Rs 4 million was held Monday morning.
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Navy rescues two Tamils from sandbank in Mannar Sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 14:07 GMT]
Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Tuesday ordered remand till July 22 for two persons-one Sri Lankan Tamil and another Indian citizen when they were produced by Talaimannar Police on a report that they had been rescued from a sandbank in Mannar sea by Sri Lanka Navy Monday evening around 5 p.m., legal sources said.
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General shut down paralyses Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 11:31 GMT]
The normal life in Trincomalee town Tuesday came to standstill following a general shout down called by the Trincomalee District Tamil People's Forum (TDTPF), condemning the murder of LTTE memebrs at Chelvanayakapuram by unidentified armed men in military uniform, Sunday.
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Trinco mourns deaths of LTTE cadres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 July 2005, 10:11 GMT]
"The ceasefire now in operation has become a question mark because of the complicity and collusion of a section of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with paramilitaries in attacking unarmed LTTE cadres doing political work in army controlled areas," said Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head Monday evening at the meeting held in Trincomalee esplanade to pay last respects to LTTE cadres killed in the Sunday Chelvanayakapuram attack, sources said.
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ICRC takes bodies of LTTE cadres from Trinco to Sampoor

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 July 2005, 17:07 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) Monday evening took charge of bodies of Lt.Colonel Dikkan alias Vengai (Sebastiampillai Jeyachandran, Ward No 06, Periyakulam, Sambaltivu), Second Lieutenant Ilampuli (Thangarajah Wijendrarasa, Koonitheivu, Muttur) and Anushan Kulasingham, National Auxiliary Force member at the Trincomalee esplanade to be handed over at Sampoor in the LTTE held Muttur east for burial, sources said. They were killed Sunday morning by an unidentified group at Chelvanayakapuram farm complex.
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Capital Hill warms to "Occupier" theory on Suicide attacks

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 July 2005, 01:39 GMT]
Faulting the U.S policy makers for misreading suicide terrorism as a function of Islamic fundamentalism, Robert A Pape of University of Chicago says that most suicide attacks are undertaken to drive away occupying forces, Washington Post said in an article Sunday reviewing Pape's recent book "Dying to win." "Several of the 18 legislators at the Capitol Hill briefing found his [Prof Pape's] ideas interesting," the paper added.
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Trinco to observe day of mourning, hartal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2005, 18:11 GMT]
Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples Forum (TDTPF) Sunday appealed to Tamil people of the east port town to observe a day of mourning on Monday and a general shut down ('hartal') on Tuesday when the bodies of two LTTE members and two civilians who were gunned down in Chelvanayakapuram are expected to be buried at Alankulam LTTE war cemetery, sources said.
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TNA condemns Chelvanayakapuram killings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2005, 17:14 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday condemned the Chelvanayakapuram killings and said that the motive of the attack is the disruption of the ceasefire agreement. "The government cannot be unmindful of its obligation to take the maximum possible measures to ensure that such incidents do not recur. It is necessary for the Government to take steps to erase the impression of collusion or complicity in such attacks," said in the press release signed by Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader.
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STF cordon and search Thiraikerni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2005, 13:29 GMT]
More than two hundred Special Task Force (STF) soldiers cordoned off and conducted a house to house search operation in Thiraikerni, a Tamil village in Akkaraipattu Sunday from 2.00 pm to 6.00 pm, sources said. Thiraikerny is a suburb, 3 km from Akkaraipattu town, 64 km south of Batticaloa.
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SLA responsible for Chelvanayakapuram killings- Elilan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 July 2005, 11:55 GMT]
Mr.S.Elilan, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Trincomalee district political head Sunday afternoon lodged a complaint with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) based in the east port town that the killing of two LTTE cadres and two civilian supporters at Chelvanayakapuram house was a pre-planned act of the Sri Lanka Army. Mr.Elilan brought to the notice of the SLMM his earlier complaint regarding the threat by army intelligence operative to a LTTE cadre Mr.Kaarvannan when being interrogated at the Plantain Point army camp in Orr's Hill, Trincomalee.
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Estate Tamils' security is tied to NorthEast's strength- Chandrasekaran

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 July 2005, 23:52 GMT]
"Recognition of the fundamental rights and the right of citizenship of Hill country Tamils is imperative for long term sustainable peace and stability in Sri Lanka," said Parliamentarian and Leader of Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), Mr Periyasamy Chandrasekaran, when he talked with TamilNet Saturday in Washington D.C. On the future security of the people of Indian origin, Mr Chandrasekaran said, "As a minority community powerless to defend itself against discrimination and repression, the security is tied closely to the security framework to be established by the NorthEast Tamils under the political and military leadership of the Liberation Tigers."
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Research book on Tamil language released in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 July 2005, 20:06 GMT]
A research book on Tamil Language written by a Tamil scholar Pundit V.Paranthaman was released Saturday at an event held in Kailasapathy Auditorium of the Jaffna University. Mr.C.Ilamparithi, Jaffna district LTTE political head handed over the first copy of the book to Ms Thilakavathi Periythambi, Chairperson of the Jaffna District Educational Development Forum and former Director of Education. Dr.S.Sivalingarajah, Dean of the Tamil Department in the Jaffna University presided, sources said.


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Tenth anniversary of Navaly church massacre observed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 July 2005, 19:51 GMT]
Tenth death anniversary of 147 Tamil civilians including men, women and children who were killed in the indiscriminate bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Navaly St Peters Church and Navaly Murugamoorthy Kovil in the Jaffna district on 09 July 1995 was observed Saturday. "The massacre of hundreds of civilians who sought refuge in places of worships was a gross human rights violation by the government security forces," said Rt.Rev Thomas Soundaranayagam, Jaffna Bishop at the Holy Mass held at the Navaly St.Peter's Church Saturday evening, sources said.
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NorthEast Governor visits Mannar

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 July 2005, 16:24 GMT]
Fishermen from Pesalai and Talaimannar in Mannar district Friday complained to NorthEast Governor Mr.Tyronne Fernando that deepening of the Palk Straits under the Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) would destroy the breeding ground of fish in the sea territory close to Mannar shore. Mr.Tyronne Fernando during his one-day visit to Mannar Friday afternoon met with groups of fishermen in Pesalai and Talaimannar separately and inquired about their grievances and difficulties, Mannar district secretariat sources said.
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GTZ funds Elephant Pass Girl's Hostel

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 July 2005, 11:15 GMT]
A Hostel for more than 50 women employees working at the Elephant Pass salterns and salt packing plants was ceremonially opened last week, sources in Kilinochchi said. The facility was built with financial support of the German Government through the German Technical Co-operation (GTZ).
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"No international legal action on SSCP project"- Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 July 2005, 10:41 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has rejected a suggestion to take up the controversial Sethusamudram Canal Project (SSCP) to the International Court of Justice. "With regard to the reference made by a parliamentarian to possible international legal action, it must be said that at this point it is some what premature and remains in the realm of possibility. This is so because the Indian authorities at the highest level have indicated that they will co-operate with us and we hope they would agree to joint monitoring and assessment of any adverse implications,"said Mr.Lakshman Kadirgamar, Foreign Minister in a seven-page statement on the SSCP in parliament Thursday evening, parliamentary sources said.


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SL Parliament approves Terrorist Financing Suppression Bill

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 July 2005, 11:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka's parliament Thursday adopted the Draft Bill to give effect to the Convention on the Suppression of Terrorist Financing with a majority of sixty votes, 81 parliamentarians including ruling party, United peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), main opposition United national Party (UNP), National Unity Alliance (NUA), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and the four dissidents of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) voted for the bill. 21 parliamentarians including 20 Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MPs and one UNP MP Mr.T.Maheswaran voted against the bill. parliamentary sources said.
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State of Maryland declares Thirukkural Week

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 July 2005, 10:53 GMT]
A three day international conference on Thirukkural, a 2000 year old literary and ethical treatise of Tamils starts on 8 July Friday at Smith Auditorium, Howard Community College, Columbia Maryland in USA. Professor George Hart, a well known Tamil scholar who holds the position of The Tamil Chair at the University of California Berkeley, will be one of the keynote speakers, organizers said. State of Maryland has issued a proclamation declaring 8-10 July as a "Thirukkural Conference Week."
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