TNA to inaugurate political awareness campaign in northeast

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 16:28 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is to inaugurate district level political awareness campaign in the northeast province next week, said TNA parliamentary group leader and Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.R.Sampanthan. The three-day campaign will be inaugurated in Trincomalee district on October 16 with a public rally in Trincomalee town, TNA sources said.
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Identification parade to be held in Jaffna assault

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 16:22 GMT]
An identification parade will be held in Jaffna magistrate's court next week to identify the policemen who assaulted Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) in the Jaffna police station few days ago, legal sources said.
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Security forces assault Tamil youths in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 16:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army soldiers, police personnel and Sinhala home guards severely assaulted a group of Tamil youths Friday evening at Anpuvallipuram junction, in Trincomalee, injuring two of them. The injured youths have been admitted at the Trincomalee general hospital, sources said.
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Dhanapala visits Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 12:05 GMT]
Dr.Jayantha Dhanapala Secretary General of Sri Lanka's Government Peace Secretariat Friday visited Trincomalee and held discussion with the local and expatriate members of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in the office of the SLMM located along the Inner Harbour Road, Trincomalee. The discussions mainly centred on the question of obtaining the release of two Sinhalese home guards who are now in remand on the orders of Thamileelam courts, SLMM sources said.
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Trinco refugees protest demanding resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 10:40 GMT]
A group of Tamil refugees sheltered in UNHCR run Allesgarden camp located about three km north of Trincomalee town Friday morning around 7.30 a.m.held a sit in protest obstructing the traffic on the Trincomalee Nilaveli road stating that they are unable to return their villages of Kanniya and Kuchchaveli as their lands are still occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), civil sources in Trincomalee said.


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General shut down paralyses Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 07:52 GMT]
The entire Trincomalee town except few settlements where Sinhalese live in majority was paralysed Friday when Tamils and Muslims observed a general shut down (‘hartal’) responding to the call of the Trincomalee Tamil People’s Forum (TTPF). The ‘hartal’ is organised to express opposition to construction of new Buddhist shrines (vihares) and Sinhala settlements in traditional Tamil villages in the Trincomalee district after the ceasefire came into operation about two and half years ago and chauvinist elements making Trincomalee a centre for their racist activities, organisers said.
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Life sentence on Tamil youth quashed, acquitted

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 05:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Court of Appeal Thursday quashed the life sentence imposed on a Tamil youth Mr.Mylwaganam Wijeyaratnam who was charged under the Prevention of terrorism Act (PTA) and acquitted him from all charges indicted by the Attorney General.
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Tamil Women's Uprising Day celebrations begin in Kilinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 01:35 GMT]
Tamil Womens' Uprising Day celebrations and 17th year memorial of 2nd Lt Malathy began at 9am Wednesday at the Kilinochchi Central play grounds, sources in Vanni said. Deputy Director of Heros Memorial, Ms Thamil Arasi, presided the event.
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Jaffna Mosque Committee against SLMC meeting

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 October 2004, 00:10 GMT]
"We publicly appeal to the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress leadership not to use the resettled Muslim internally displaced families as pawns for its political purposes. If SLMC attempts to hold their general meeting in Jaffna we will launch a protest campaign on the same day," said Jaffna Masjid Mohamedia Jumma Mosque Committee in a press statement released Thursday.
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International Teachers Day celebration in Kalmunai draws thousands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 23:32 GMT]
International Teachers Day celebrations were held in Kalmunai, Wesley College grounds on Wednesday in a large scale involving Tamil, Muslim and Sinhala communities. About 2000 pre school teachers from Batticaloa and Ampara districts were taken in procession with pre school children's bands from Batticaloa district and Sinhala zones in Ampara district. The main banner leading the procession was carried by Muslim, Tamil and Sinhala Pre school teachers.
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Indian de-miners hand over cleared land in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 14:00 GMT]
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Sri Lanka ID card symbol of Tamils’ humiliations – TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 12:57 GMT]
“The national identity card is a symbol of enslavement for the Tamils. It is a symbol of the humiliations to which they were subjected by the Sinhala state. What is the guarantee that the two main Sinhala parties won’t unite in the future to deny Tamils their voting right by making voter identity cards issued under this law invalid in the northeast? These parties get together only to disfranchise Tamils or to deny their legitimate rights”, said Mr. Selvarajah Gajendran, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna, speaking on the election identity card bill in Sri Lanka’s Parliament Thursday.
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Grenade, ammo found in Mannar school

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 09:01 GMT]
A hand grenade and eighteen rounds of live ammunition were found in a plastic container by the compound wall of a school in Mannar town Wednesday evening, Police said. The grenade was exploded by a bomb disposal squad from the Sri Lanka army camp in Thallady around seven p.m.
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TRO honours Tamil, Sinhala, and Muslim pre-school teachers in Trinco

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 04:25 GMT]
Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee district and Pre-School Educational Development Council (PSEDC) honoured pre-school teachers of all communities, Tamil, Sinhala and Muslims in the district, Wednesday, to mark the International Teachers' Day with the Trincomalee Government Agent Mr.Gamini Rodrigo as the chief guest.
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Trincomalee to observe general shut down Friday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2004, 00:15 GMT]
Trincomalee Tamil Peoples' Forum (TTPF) Wednesday issued a statement appealing to Tamil speaking people of the port district to observe general shutdown (hartal) on Friday, 8 October, in support of the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and to urge the international community including United States of America (USA) to exert pressure on the Sinhala political parties to take steps to restart the peace process.


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Resettled Muslims oppose Jaffna SLMC meet

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 16:23 GMT]
''Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) high command's decision to hold its public meeting in Jaffna would create rift between Tamils and Muslim who now live in cordial atmosphere,'' said a statement released in Jaffna Wednesday by the resettled internally displaced Muslim families, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Peace Council will exacerbate contradictions- paper

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 11:04 GMT]
"Sri Lanka President Ms Kumaratunge's tactic to show that the peace process is being continued, while avoiding talks with the LTTE will only exacerbate contradictions among the southern political parties and will not create consensus," said Thinakkural, a popular Tamil daily published in Colombo in its editorial today.
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Resettlers receive houses built with World Bank funding

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 03:16 GMT]
Ceremonial handing over of keys of new houses built with World Bank funding and organized by the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) was held in Ananda Nagar in Kilinochchi at 12.30 Tuesday. Local Non Governmental Organizations and private citizens provided additional funding support to the Rs.150,000 provided by the World Bank to build each house.
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U.S Courts to hear case against Anti-terrorism Law

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 01:00 GMT]
The Ninth Circuit Court in California is scheduled to hear an oral argument against a provision of the Antiterrorism and Death Penalty Act on 14 December in Pasadena, legal sources said. The law suit was filed by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) in the U.S. District Court in March 1998 on behalf of eight plaintiffs including the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Re-examine stand on Home guards, SLMM tells LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2004, 00:03 GMT]
While saying that "there is no logic" to the demand of Liberation Tigers to release ten LTTE cadres arrested by Government of Sri Lanka nearly a year ago in exchange for the release of two homeguards is unreasonable the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in a press release said that a Trincomalee organization engaged in "irresponsible behavior" and is trying to discredit the SLMM.
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