BBC South Asia services disrupted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 11:00 GMT]
The BBC’s South Asia services were amongst those hit as staff at the Corporation, protesting job cuts and privatisation plans, went on strike Monday severely disrupting several TV and radio networks. The BBC’s Tamil service provided almost normal service despite employees joining the protest as senior staff crossed the picket lines of what was described as the “most successful strike in BBC history,” sources said.


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"Horrendous consequences if peace process collapses"- TNA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 May 2005, 10:39 GMT]
"The forces who opposed negotiations with the LTTE are forces committed tocontinuing the present structure of governance in this country, who want a unitary structure of government to continue, who want majority hegemony to continue. If these forces succeed, the peace process must inevitably collapse with all its horrendous consequences," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a recent one-day debate on the current state of the peace process, parliamentary sources said.
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Sri Lanka builds ten Dvoras with German engines

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 May 2005, 18:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy is building ten new Israeli-designed Dvora gunboats using German-built engines, Tamil press reports said this week. But allegations of kickbacks being received in the purchase of the engines have surfaced recently, the Virakesari reported last week.
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New Navy base on Jaffna coast

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 May 2005, 17:58 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has started preliminary work on a new naval base at Thiruvadinilai beach in Chulipuram, on the Jaffna peninsula’s western coast, reports said this week.


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Children's home conducts annual sports event

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 May 2005, 09:42 GMT]
Kalaimagal Children's Home located in the Thorangandal village in Thunukai region held its annual sports event for more than 150 children being looked after during the day in the children's home Saturday, officials said. The Children's home is funded by the Switzerland based expatriate Tamil Rehabilitation Organization and administered by the Village Upliftment Project.
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Security beefed up as Trinco prepares for Vesak celebrations

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 16:23 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Tamil Peoples' Forum (TDTPF) suspended the Hartal (General shutdown) as Trincomalee town Sunday struggled towards normalcy after tension-filled five days triggered by the erection of controversial Buddha statue. As Trincomalee residents await the final decision from Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge on the statue removal issue, the temporary normaly facilitates the Buddhists in the east port town to observe Vesak celebration Monday and Tuesday in a peaceful atmosphere, sources said.
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‘No-war, no-peace’ film scoops Cannes award

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 14:05 GMT]
A Sinhala director’s film has been selected for an award at the Cannes film festival. Vimukthi Jayasundara’s ‘Sulanga Enu Pinisa’ (The Forsaken Land), the joint winner of the Caméra d'Or award on Saturday, explores the difficulties of people’s lives in a ‘no-war-no peace’ climate.
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Blackmail curbed JVP’s fervour - paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 14:02 GMT]
The abrupt climb down by the Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) over its threat to exit President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s coalition government if it signed a joint mechanism with the Tamil Tigers was prompted by unofficial threats of JVP leaders being arrested on the basis of recently gathered evidence about their activities, The Sunday Leader newspaper said this week.
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The Idea of Eelam- Taraki

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 13:59 GMT]
In the 14th March 1990 issue of Sri Lanka's English daily, Island International, popular journalist and military analyst, late Dharmeratnam Sivaram, provided insight into how the concept of Eelam in its various interpretations were adopted or dismantled as the basis of the armed struggle of different Tamil liberation movements.
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Technical Institute opened in Mullaitivu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 12:12 GMT]
A Technical Institute in Mullaitivu with courses designed to prepare skilled workforce for the immediate and future needs for large scale needs for NorthEast development was opened Saturday morning, sources from Mullaitivu said. Classes that were ceremonially started at the institute during the opening day included Outboard motor repairs, Aluminum sheet metal engineering, Electrical wiring technology, and sawing machine repairs, officials of the institute said.
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JVP in Japan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2005, 11:52 GMT]
Leaders of the ultra-nationalist-cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Perumana (JVP) have arrived in Tokyo at the invitation of the Japanese government to study its economic and local governance policies, press reports said. It is the JVP’s first official visit abroad. But the party is expected to consolidate its support amongst the Sinhala community at the same time.
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Trinco hartal suspended pending President's decision

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 13:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge will make a decision on the demand to remove the controversial Buddha statue which was erected overnight on May 15 in a land close to the Trincomalee bus stand and used for parking three wheelers, said Major General (retd) Asoka Jayawardene, Defence Ministry Secretary at the conclusion of four hours of discussions he held with several representatives of civil groups in the Sri Lanka naval headquarters located inside Trincomalee Dockyard, sources said.
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Sri Lanka's future in peril, Jaffna editorials say

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 May 2005, 13:32 GMT]
Saturday editorials in Jaffna's popular dailies, Uthayan, Namathu Eelanaadu and Valamapuri, carried ominious messages reflecting an unpredictable and potentially explosive future facing the Tamil people as well as Sri Lanka. Quoting LTTE Head of Political Wing, Thamilchelvan who said recently, "If Sinhala leadership continues to impose majoritarian hegemony on Tamil people without pursuing peaceful solutions to satsify Tamil aspirations, there will soon be an end to this state of affairs," Eelanaadu editorial Saturday said.
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Trincomalee tense

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 10:37 GMT]
Tensions escalated in Trincomalee after one person was injured Friday at 12.30pm following an explosion close to the vegetable near the site where the controversial Buddha statue stands and at least three persons were admitted to the Trincomalee general hospital with cut injuries Friday in incidents that took place in the suburbs of the town, security sources in Trincomalee said.


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Do Sri Lanka's defense forces have conventional warfare capability?- Taraki

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 May 2005, 00:34 GMT]
In an article in the Colombo-based Tamil daily, Virakesari, on March 27, 2005, Dharmaretnam Sivaram, analyzed the history of Sri Lanka's defense forces and argued that from the very beginning, the Sri Lankan forces' mission was to confront internal crises that the country's ruling elite feared as grave threats, without the strategic thinking required for conventional warfare or to confront external threats.
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SLA troops arrest youth

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:43 GMT]
A Tamil youth was arrested “on suspicion” by troops during a search in the general area of Matkeliya junction, Trincomalee Wednesday around 7.55 p.m, the Sri Lanka Army said. Without elaborating the Army claimed unarmed youths tried to attack the soldiers “using some paraphernalia.”
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LTTE officer’s funeral in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 14:42 GMT]
The body of Tamil Tiger officer killed in an accident in Vanni on Sunday was brought for funeral rites to his home village in Jaffna on Wednesday , the Sri Lanka Army said. The remains of Lt. Senthalan (Thurairajah Selvakumar) were taken to Arugalmadam at Lotus Road in Jaffna through the frontline checkpoint at Muhamalai.
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SLN arrests 7 Tamils in Kachchativu Island

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 13:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy Wednesday night took into custody seven Sri Lankan Tamils, four women and three men when they were waiting in Kachchativu Island for an Indian boat to take them to Tamilnadu shore in South India. Mannar Magistrate Mr.N.M.M.Abdullah Thursday ordered them to be remanded till Friday, legal sources said.
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Competition for SriLankan, new Katunayake runway mulled

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 13:39 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government is set to allow local private airlines to operate international flights using its air service agreements with other countries and thereby competing with the national carrier SriLankan Airlines, press reports quoted the aviation minister as saying. Sri Lanka is mulling adding another runway to its sole international airport, Katunayake. Meanwhile Indian officials may be drafted in to break a strike by air traffic controllers.
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STF trooper wounded in landmine blast

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 May 2005, 12:25 GMT]
A trooper of the elite Special Task Force (STF) was injured when the vehicle he was driving was hit by a claymore land mine which detonated at around 9.30am near the 9th milepost on the Monaragala-Ampara Road, police sources said. The blast might have been linked to the presence of Karuna Group cadres in the following vehicle, which the STF was escorting, Police and the Army said.
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