TNA MPs meet Swiss Ambassador

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2004, 10:35 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Foreign Affairs Committee which met with Swiss Ambassodor to Sri Lanka, Mr. Bernadino Regazzoni, at the Switzerland Embassy in Colombo Friday expressed their concern on the reluctance shown by the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government to take steps to restart the peace talks, and urged the ambassador to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to actively seek ways to resume talks.
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Abrogate CFA if you want war, JVP told

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2004, 10:32 GMT]
"You embarked on a loose, infantile armed struggle and butchered thousands if youth, and you have now come here praising virtues of democracy. The Tigers are fighting for the rights of their people. If it is not for the CeaseFire Agreement (CFA) Sri Lanka would have been destroyed by now," said UNP MP for Puttalam District, Mr. Ekanayake, speaking in Parliament Friday on the adjournment motion presented by Trincomalee District JVP MP, Jayantha Wijesekera, parliamentary sources said. The motion condemned the abduction of two Homeguards by the LTTE and demanded their release.
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Reconstruction of school inside HSZ begins

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2004, 01:46 GMT]
Foundation stone was laid for the Swiss Government financed construction of war destroyed class rooms of the Eluthumadduval North Government Tamil school located inside the high security zone in Thenmaradchchi division, Jaffna district Friday. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) gave permission to the Principal, school teachers and students to attend the ceremony, education sources said.


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LTTE militarily strong to face another war- Elilan

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 2004, 17:20 GMT]
"We hate war and we are committed to the current peace process. However, we are militarily strong to face a war if it is thrusted on us," said Mr.S.Elilan, head of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Trincomalee political wing addressing a meeting which followed a token fast held Friday in Trincomalee Hindu Cultural Hall to mark the seventeenth death anniversary of LTTE senior leader Lt.Colonel Thileepan.
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USAID inaugurates four projects in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 2004, 12:59 GMT]
United States donated US$ 138,000 for four projects in the Batticaloa District the Embassy of United States press release said Friday. The US Embassy this week inaugurated the projects “aimed at improving the health and vocational skills of local residents” according to the press release. The projects are funded by US Agency for International Development (USAID).
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TNA criticizes SL President's UN speech

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 2004, 01:11 GMT]
Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunge's speech at the United Nations General Assembly "does not reflect true factual position...We urge the President to refrain from making rhetorical statements and focus on resolute action that would enable the recommencement of talks and meaningful consensus-building that would ensure the success of the negotiations," said parliamentarians from Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in a press statement released Thursday.
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Ilavalai residents demand return of occupied houses

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2004, 19:36 GMT]
Internally Displaced Peoples' (IDP) Welfare unit of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has taken steps to get back about thirteen houses from the occupation of Sri Lanka Police in Ilavalai and to hand over them to the displaced owners who are now staying in welfare centres, sources said.
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SLA-LTTE delegations meet in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2004, 19:32 GMT]
Representatives of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Thursday morning met at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), security sources said. Major General Sunil Tennekon met with the Jaffna LTTE leaders for the first time after he assumed duties as the Jaffna area commander.
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EPDP central committee member gunned down in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2004, 09:52 GMT]
A central committe member of the EPDP was shot dead in Colombo Thursday afternoon, Police said. The senior EPDP cadre, Mr.Somasunderam Varunakulasingham, 39, was being driven home in his car around 3 p.m. when unidentified gunmen shot him in Vihara Lane, Wellawatte, a predominantly Tamil suburb of Colombo. EPDP is a key ally of President Kumaratunga and is a paramilitary.
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Nagarkovil students massacre remembered

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 16:19 GMT]
The 9th death anniversary of 40 people, including 26 students, who were killed on 22nd September 1995 in an aerial attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on the Nagarkovil Maha Vidiyalayam was observed Wednesday afternoon at the Puloly Roman Catholic School in the Vadamaradchi division in Jaffna district, education sources said.


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Sri Lankan armed forces, LTTE meet again in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 04:51 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces officers and political officials of the Liberation Tigers met Wednesday in Batticaloa after a long gap to discuss cease fire related issues in the eastern district. The LTTE delegation was led by Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the Tigers' political division for Batticaloa-Amparai. Sri Lankan armed forces delegation was led by Brig. Vajira Wijegunawardena, General Officer Commanding (GOC), Sri Lanka army's 23 Division. Head of Sri Lanka truce monitoring mission, Maj. Gen. (ret) Trond Furuhovde presided.
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IOM assists refugees returning from India

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2004, 01:56 GMT]
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the financial support of AUSAID of the Australian Government commenced Monday in Trincomalee the distribution of livelihood development assistance to Tamil refugees returning from India, civil sources in Trincomalee said.
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Kurunagala Sinhala delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 2004, 16:28 GMT]
Forty-nine member delegation of Deva Sarana Centre, a Sinhala organization with its headquarters in Kurunagala district in the northwestern province, visited Jaffna Tuesday and held discussion with the representatives of Jaffna Non-Governmental Organizations' Consortium (JNOC) and Jaffna university students, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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Use new understanding to recommence peace talks - NPC

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 2004, 11:19 GMT]
Referring to the assurance of support given by the main opposition party UNP, to the Sri Lanka Government if it commences peace talks on the basis of LTTE's ISGA proposals, the National Peace Council in a Press Release issued on Monday, urged the Sri Lanka government to "build upon this implicit understanding with the opposition to take the peace process forward by engaging in peace talks with the LTTE".
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Provincial Tamil Language Day festival held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 20:13 GMT]
Northeast Tamil Language Day competition at provincial level was held Sunday morning and the winners were awarded with certificates in the evening at the Provincial Tamil Language Day Festival the same day evening at Trincomalee St.Mary's College Theresian auditorium.
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Discussion on IDPs issue held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 20:00 GMT]
A one-day discussion organized by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) on the problems of the internally displaced people was held on Monday in the auditorium of Jaffna district secretariat under the National Protection and Durable Solution for Internally Displaced Persons Project.
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Another Black September massacre remembered in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 15:39 GMT]
Special prayers were offered Monday in the Tamil temple and church in the villages of Savukkadi and Thalavaai, 14 kilometres north of Batticaloa, in remembrance of forty two men, women and children who were hacked and shot to death by Sri Lanka army troops on 20 September 1990. The villagers were massacred during an SLA operation along the coast toward Batticaloa.
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Canadian Ambassador meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 10:43 GMT]
Ambassador of Canada in Colombo, Valerie Raymond met with Head of the LTTE Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan in the LTTE Peace Secretariat building in Kilinochchi Monday, sources from Vanni said. The discussions centered on the peace process and the urgency of both parties, the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to show flexibility to resume the stalled peace talks.
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Popular radio network says plot to jam news

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 September 2004, 05:57 GMT]
The management of Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), the parent company of five popular radio stations in Sri Lanka Monday expressed concern over reports in local print and electronic media about an alleged request by the Ministry of Internal Security to jam news broadcasts on all the radio channels of the network. President Kumaratunga cancelled ABC's TV license soon after she seized key ministries from the United National Front government in November 2003. In August this year Sri Lanka army seized equipment ABC sent to Jaffna for upgrading its broadcast in the north.
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Canadian Tamils to demonstrate support for peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2004, 21:11 GMT]
Canadian Tamils are organizing a "Pongu Thamil" (Tamil upsurge) awareness festival in Toronto on September 25, 2004, to demonstrate their support for the current peace process and to request the Canadian government to take an active role in the peace process in Sri Lanka, Tamil community activists in Canada said Sunday.
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