CTTU protests delay in Tamil text book distribution

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2005, 13:29 GMT]
Twenty thousand member strong Ceylon Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) has brought to the notice of Sri Lanka's President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge that Education department officials are discriminating the Tamil medium students in distribution of free text books thereby violating the principle of equal opportunity in education, civil sources said. Ms Kumaratunge also holds the portfolio of Ministry of Education.


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Jaffna students register complaint with Rights Commission

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 March 2005, 03:25 GMT]
The International Students' Association of Tamil Eelam (ISATE) Saturday complained to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) about the attack by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police on ISATE's headquarters Friday afternoon. ISATE headquarters is located along Parameswara Junction, Thirunelveli in Jaffna town. ISATE has requested the HRCSL to take immediate steps and to bring the culprits before court of law, sources said.
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German Foundation assists tsunami hit Veloor villagers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 23:36 GMT]
Juergen Wahn Foundation (JWF), a non-profit organization located in Soest, Germany, Saturday donated about 1.2 million rupees worth of agricultural implements, bicycles and lamps to tsunami victims of Veloor hamlet located in Nilaveli village, about 16 km off north of Trincomalee town, at an event held at Nilaveli Tamil Maha Vidiyalayam auditorium, sources said.
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UNICEF has erred - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 18:47 GMT]
The question of child soldiers continues to vex strained relations between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers. That the matter has been raised against the Tigers by the UN and other rights organizations is considered by Colombo as a feather in its foreign policy cap. "The Government of Sri Lanka is more interested in cynically exploiting the child soldiers issue for its black propaganda war against us than in finding a political solution to the conflict", said Mr. S. P . Thamilchelvan in an interview with the TamilNet this week. He said there were serious errors in the UNICEF report on child recruitment by the LTTE.
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Jaffna agitation to student's death, spontaneous- Ilamparithi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 18:31 GMT]
Refuting allegations by Sri Lanka military that "LTTE was behind the public protest after the death of a student by an army vehicle," Head of LTTE Political Wing for Jaffna district, Mr Ilamparithy said "not a single political cadre of the LTTE was involved in the public agitation" in a press release issued Saturday after an LTTE delegation met with Sri Lanka Army delegation, sources said. The meeting was arranged by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in an effort to bring the tensed climate in Jaffna under control after the death of Vembadi Girls School student Thulashika and a civilian who was shot dead allegedly by Sri Lanka Police Friday.
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Thousands attend Thulashika's funeral

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 17:31 GMT]
Amid tight security provided by Sri Lanka Police, thousands of civilians including Mr.C.Ilamparithi, LTTE Jaffna district political head and several Jaffna district Tamil national Alliance parliamentarians, educationists and civil leaders Saturday paid their last respects to Miss Nagendran Thulashika, student of Jaffna Vembadi Girls College, who was killed by an army vehicle Friday morning in the Jaffna, civil sources said.
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Norwegian ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 13:35 GMT]
Mr.Hans Brattskar, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Saturday met with Head of LTTE Politicial Wing S.P Thamilchelvan at the LTTE Peace Secretariat, sources in Kilinochchi said. The Ambassador expressed his Government's concern and condemnation over the killing LTTE political cadres in the east, during the meeting and when he later met with journalists in Killinochchi, sources said.
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Taxes on Tsunami Aid not channeled through Sri Lanka Government

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 March 2005, 12:11 GMT]
In new measures announced by the Government of Sri Lanka, relief agencies, including Non-Governmental Organizations (NGOs), have to channel all relief items, including medicines, through respective Government Ministeries to avoid items being taxed by the Sri Lanka customs, Daily News reported under the headline "Speedy clearance for relief, reconstruction goods."
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Troops assault journalist, scores injured in Jaffna clashes

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 March 2005, 12:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka army troops Friday severely assaulted a journalist working for the state run Lake House Newspapers as restive crowds in the northern town set fire to six military points and smashed up President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office. One person was injured when army opened fire on a crowd at Kottadi. Scores of students and civilians were asaulted by SLA troops and riot Police in several parts of the town. Four persons injured in army and Police assault and firing were admitted to Jaffna hospital Friday afternoon.
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Home-grade purifiers provide clean water to resettlers

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 March 2005, 11:45 GMT]
In addition to setting up commercial grade water puritfication system for communities, relief organizations are experimenting with light weight purifiers for home use in new village resettlements being built for refugees from tsunami affected coastal villages in Amparai district, sources said. Families are provided training in the use of equipment and are instructed in health issues related to day-to-day use of the equipment, sources said.
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Police stop JVP attempt to build illegal settlement

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2005, 16:13 GMT]
Police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday evening stopped the construction of illegal Sinhala settlement and removed building materials brought to the esplanade of the Trincomalee Urban Council by a group of JVP cadres Wednesday night, Police said.
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JVP sets up illegal Sinhala settlements, Trincomalee tense

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2005, 11:48 GMT]
Tension is mounting in the eastern port city of Trincomalee Thursday as members of radical Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a major constituent of the United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government, attempt to construct small houses to settle Sinhalese people in State land in a portion of the esplanade of the urban council in the heart of Trincomalee town, civil sources said. Tension escalated Thursday afternoon as groups of Tamil youth blocked traffic by placing blockades on roads protesting the encroachment.
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Gunman who shot Kuveni worked for SLA intelligence – paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 March 2005, 05:00 GMT]
The gunman who allegedly shot and grievously wounded head of Liberation Tigers’ political division for Batticaloa-Amparai (women), Ms. Kuveni and two female LTTE political activists, was a former Sri Lanka military intelligence operative, the Tamil daily Virakesari said Thursday quoting Sri Lanka army Headquarters sources. The man, now in Police custody, has been identified as Mr. Johnson Jeyakanthan (also known as ‘Pratheepan’) who had worked as an informant for Sri Lanka military intelligence, the paper quoted SLA Headquarters sources as saying.


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Sinhala nationalists vow to oppose west, 'neo colonialism'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2005, 16:59 GMT]
Sinhala nationalists Wednesday declared 2 March as national ‘Anti-neo-colonialism Day’ at a rally to mark to commemorate Ven. Wariyapola Sumangala, the Buddhist monk who pulled down the Union Jack and hoisted the Sinhala lion flag 190 years ago. A widely publicized rally to mark the day was organized in Colombo by Patriotic National Movement (PNM), an alliance of Sinhala nationalists formed and backed by President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s main coalition ally, Janatha Vimukthi Permamuna (JVP).
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Thousands march in Jaffna, urge talks, condemn attacks on LTTE activists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2005, 12:39 GMT]
More than twenty thousand people marched in Jaffna Wednesday urging the international community to persuade the Sri Lankan government to restart the long stalled peace talks with the Liberation Tigers. The march condemned the killing and shooting of LTTE political leaders and called on Colombo to set up a joint mechanism with the Tigers for the equitable distribution of Tsunami aid to the northeast. Jaffna peninsula was shut down until the march, which wound through the northern town from morning 10.45, concluded in the afternoon.
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Sri Lanka Taxes, bureaucracy limit flow of Tsunami relief

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 March 2005, 00:48 GMT]
In camps off the North-East coast of Sri Lanka, over 300,000 people drink water from bowsers brought in from kilometres away. Dependant on an unsustainable water source, they are unaware of the NGOs' struggle with Sri Lanka's bureacracy and fight against Government's mechanisms to throttle relief reaching NorthEast. Nor are the refugees aware of the heavy duties paid to clear high-tech water filtration systems and relief supplies that would otherwise either collect dust in a customs warehouse or distributed to other areas at the fancies of Sri Lanka's Social Services Ministry officials.
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Jaffna to hold protest march

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 16:10 GMT]
Jaffna District Civil Organizations Consortium (JDCOC) Tuesday called for a protest march on Wednesday condemning the violence against political cadres of LTTE by the para military groups supporting the Sri Lanka government armed forces and the discrimination in providing relief to tsunami victims. The protest march will commence from Jaffna University Wednesday morning around 10 a.m. and will conclude in front of the Jaffna District Secretariat, sources said.
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Police allege Kuveni shooting suspect from paramilitary

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 16:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police said Tuesday evening they took into custody a suspect who had allegedly shot Ms. Kuveni and her two colleagues near Akkaraipattu Monday evening. Police sources in Kalmunai, 40 kilometres south of Batticaloa, told TamilNet that the man was identified as 'Pratheepan', a member of a paramilitary working with the Sri Lanka army. He was arrested by the Special Task Force Tuesday afternoon at the Carmel Fatima College Tsunami refugee camp in Kalmunai town, Police said.
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SEDB opens tenth bank branch in Vakarai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 15:10 GMT]
10th branch of the Socio Economic Development Bank (SEDB) headquartered in Killinochchi was opened in Vakarai in the Batticaloa district Monday. This is the second in the Batticaloa district. Mr.Gopal, Vakarai divisional director of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) presided over the event, sources said.
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Boat building yard opened in Vadamaradchchi east

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 March 2005, 11:26 GMT]
Funded by the Norwegian and Malaysian branches of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and in collaboration with the Multi Marine Services (MMS) organization, the TRO Monday opened a boat-building yard in Nelliyan, Vadamaradchchi east division in the Jaffna district, sources said.


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