South gambles with Sri Lanka's destiny- NLF

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2004, 11:40 GMT]
"The most urgent need today is not to cave in to the antics of the [Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna] JVP," said Mr. Thirunavukarasu, polit bureau member of the New Left Front (NLF) Saturday, political sources in Colombo said. He noted that the deadlock reached in the peace process is not of recent origin, but represents the "cumulative effect of the manner in which the ruling classes have handled the Tamil National issue since the 1950s" and said that the time has come for the two main parties to "shed their predilection just for power and one-upmanship."
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NorthEast Bishops appeal for permanent peace

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2004, 06:09 GMT]
Bishops of Jaffna, Trincomalee-Batticaloa and Mannar Dioceses Bishop Thomas Soundaranayagam, Bishop Dr. Kingsely Swampillai and Bishop Rayappu Joseph in their Christmas Messages appealed to all communities, the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers to work hard to sustain the ceasefire agreement and to ensure permanent peace.


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Interactive learning method for students in NE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2004, 00:08 GMT]
North East Provincial Ministry of Education has introduced a new learning technique to Tamil medium GCE ordinary level students through Compact Disc (CD) prepared based on school syllabus in Electronics, Botany, Mathematics and Science. These CDs could be purchased by students from their schools and zonal education offices, education sources said.
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"Talks on ISGA should start first"- UPFA Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2004, 00:04 GMT]
"Peace talks based on the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals should start first and both sides should try to resolve their differences across the negotiating table," said Mr.D.E.W.Gunasekara, Constitutional Affairs and National Integration Minister in the United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government addressing a meeting held at Kandy D S Senanayake Library Auditorium Thursday to commemorate the 100th birth anniversary of the late Dr. N.M. Perera, leader of the Lanka Sama Samaja party (LSSP).
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Jaffna mothers protest over LAF inaction

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 14:13 GMT]
Members of the Jaffna Mothers Front and Association of Guardians of Disappeared Persons in Jaffna District held a protest Friday from morning till two p.m. in front of the office of the Legal Aid Foundation (LAF) which is located next to the Jaffna Magistrate Court expressing their deep regret for the inaction of the LAF for not providing legal assistance to pursue their Habeas Corpus applications in law courts in Jaffna against army officials in connection with several youths and girls who were reported missing after the arrest by the government troops during 1996-1997 period.
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TNA condoles Narasimha Rao death

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 14:05 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Friday expressed grief over the demise of Shri P.V.Narasimha Rao, former Prime Minister of India. Shri Narasimha Rao died Thursday in New Delhi in India at the age of 83 following a heart attack.
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Kodikamam residents hold human chain agitation

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 12:53 GMT]
Several hundreds of Tamil civilians Friday participated in the third phase human chain protest held at Kodikamam junction in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district urging the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to resume peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without any more delay, sources said.
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LTTE calls for clear, well defined agenda for talks

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 12:34 GMT]
The LTTE leadership, in an official response to the fresh agenda proposed by the Sri Lanka government, has called for a clear, coherent, well defined agenda for peace talks. The Tamil Tiger leaders have also expressed their disapproval to the structure and content of the government’s agenda because of its vagueness and ambiguity.
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NGOs condemn U.S. military analysts’ visit to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 04:25 GMT]
Several people’s organizations in the Jaffna district have strongly condemned what they said was a secret visit by a group of U.S. military analysts to Jaffna with Sri Lanka's Army to study the security situation of SLA's frontline positions in the district. The organizations have sent letters to register their protest to the U.S. Embassy in Colombo and other international organizations, according to media reports in Sri Lanka and in the North-East.
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Sinhala Trade Unionist condemns war mongering by Southern politicians

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 03:32 GMT]
"People in the south are against the resumption of war. Power-seeking politicians infuse the idea of war in the minds of the people in the South. The Political parties, greedy for power, are driving fear into the minds of the southern people," said Mr. C. Jayathunga, General Secretary of the Lanka Guru Sangamaya (Teachers Union), the overwhelming majority of whose members are Sinhala Teachers, at an interview given to TamilNet during his recent visit to Jaffna. He also said that the means to achieve peace is for both parties to engage in talks both recognizing each other’s equality of status.
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New GoSL 'agenda' for talks with LTTE called smokescreen

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2004, 02:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga’s claims of a ‘new agenda’ for the resumption of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers through the Norwegian facilitators must be viewed in the context of the hurdle she faces in winning a two-thirds majority in parliament for the constitutional changes to abolish the executive presidency that she plans to table in January 2005, said the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan, in its editorial Wednesday.
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Muttur flood victims without adequate aid

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 December 2004, 11:23 GMT]
The government in providing immediate flood relief has ignored several hundreds of victims in Muttur-Eachchilampathu division in Trincomalee district where more than three thousand families are displaced and over twenty villages were flooded not by torrential rain but with spill water of Minneriya tank, humanitarian groups in the district complained to civil authorities.
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"Army harasses LTTE political activists in Trinco" - Elilan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 20:54 GMT]
"Sri Lankan Army soldiers are engaged in a planned way to disrupt our political activities in the Trincomalee district", Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, Mr. S. Elilan, told TamilNet Wednesday from Eachchilampathu by telephone. He said that he and his group were delayed more than three hours at the Kaddaiparichchan Sri Lankan Army (SLA) checkpoint when they were on their way to LTTE controlled Muttur east Saturday. They were again stopped at Mahinthapura SLA checkpoint Wednesday, he said.
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Jaffna IDPs appeal to LTTE for their resettlement

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 14:25 GMT]
A group of representatives representing hundreds of thousands of internally displaced families (IDP) due to the occupation of their houses and agricultural lands in Jaffna district by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday met with Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Killinochchi and explained their plight for the last fifteen years, sources in Kilinochchi said.
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Human-chain protest held in Kaithady

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 December 2004, 11:17 GMT]
The second phase of the human chain demonstration was held Wednesday morning at Kaithady in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district demanding the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) to resume peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals of the latter. Traffic through A9 highway was not obstructed. Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) who are located in sentries in the vicinity were withdrawn during the period of agitation. Policemen were deployed at the site to maintain law and order.
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Eeachilampathu villagers without food, medicine - Trinco MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 16:43 GMT]
Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham who has been visiting flood stricken Eachchilampathu division in Muttur area, down south of Trincomalee district told TamilNet by telephone Tuesday night that all roads connecting more than twenty villages have been washed away by the spill water flood and villagers are using plastic boats and catamarans to travel from one village to another.
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LTTE leadership studies fresh government agenda for talks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 15:41 GMT]
The leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) is studying fresh Sri Lankan government agenda for future talks, Mr. Anton Balasingham, the movement’s chief negotiator and political strategist told TamilNet Tuesday.
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Falk Rovik didn't represent Amnesty - Amnesty Norway

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 11:51 GMT]
Head of Information at Amnesty International Norway, Mr. John P. Egenæs , earlier on Tuesday, denied that a controversial Norwegian called Falk Rovik had represented his organisation at a conference held at the Bandaranaike Memorial International Conference Hall (BMICH) in Colombo on Saturday, 18 November 2004. The conference was organised by hard-line forces in southern Sri Lanka opposed to the Norwegian facilitation of the peace process. Mr. Egenæs told TamilNet that the controversial Norwegian neither is, nor has ever been a spokesperson of Amnesty International Norway.
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Judge criticizes Sri Lanka’s dismal record on fundamental rights

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 04:44 GMT]
“The Government of Sri Lanka went to the United Nations in 1980 and 1981, raised its hand to say it was a signatory to the UN’s social, cultural and economic rights conventions, and sought to raise the country’s profile internationally. But until now, not even a single section of the fundamental rights laws set forth in the 1978 constitution has been changed to reflect international conventions," said Vavuniya District Judge, Mr. Manickavasagar Ilancheliyan, Monday.
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Spill water floods Muttur villages, 3000 families left in the lurch

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2004, 00:46 GMT]
About twenty Tamil villages in Eachchilampathu division in Muttur area are under water since December 19 following the opening of sluice gates of two major irrigation tanks -Kantalai in Trincomalee district and Minneriya in Pollonnorawa district, which are in full capacity. Irrigation authorities have opened the sluice gates of these two tanks to avoid breach to them following heavy rain and excess water flowing from Mahaweli ganga to these tanks. About three thousand families have been displaced, as their wattle and daub houses were washed away or damaged by the spill water.
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