Inquiry into HC applications begins

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 20:02 GMT]
Chavakachcheri Magistrate Mr.P.Subramaniam commenced recording the evidence of petitioners in three Habeas Corpus applications, which came up for inquiry Thursday. The petitioners have sought the court to order the first respondent who is an army official and other respondents to produce the youths who were reported disappeared after their arrest during the period 1996-1997, legal sources said.
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UNP urges UPFA government to commence peace talks

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 19:52 GMT]
The main opposition United National Party (UNP) Thursday appealed to the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government to commence peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as it has gained majority in the parliament.
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SLA soldiers arrest Vanni youths at Muhamalai checkpoint

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 18:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Thursday arrested two Tamil youths entering Jaffna district from Vanni through Muhamalai SLA checkpoint, sources said.
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Peace key to assisting children affected by war- UNICEF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 11:23 GMT]
Under the Action Plan, the only signed human rights agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE, "close to 7,000 children enrolled back to school and more than 43,000 children received catch-up-education classes in the first half of the 2004 alone. 241 school buildings damaged or destroyed in the war were repaired or reconstructed, and 580 child soldiers and their families received social work assessments," the UNICEF said in a press release issued in Colombo today.
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JVP bent on inflaming the South against ISGA- paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 10:41 GMT]
"Even though Sri Lanka's President Ms. Kumaratunge has cautioned the UPFA Ministers and parliamentarians not to air any views on the question of Interim Administration in public, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), a minority partner in the UPFA government, is openly defying the request. JVP MP and General Secretary, Wimal Weerawansa, stated the very next day that the JVP would continue to oppose any discussions with the LTTE based on the latter's ISGA proposals," said Thinakural, a popular Tamil daily, in its editorial Wednesday.
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TNA meets new Indian High Commissioner in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 06:49 GMT]
A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary delegation Thursday morning met with the new Indian High Commissioner for Sri Lanka Ms Nirupama Rao at the Indian High Commission office. The discussion centred on the current situation of the peace process since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), TNA parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan told TamilNet.
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Computer training classes opened in Trinco villages

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 September 2004, 00:19 GMT]
London-based T.R.Tec in collaboration with Trincomalee IT Tech Wednesday inaugurated two computer-training centres in Nilaveli and Tampalakamam villages in the Trincomalee district. "These training centres are opened in the northeast under a computer literacy awareness programme,"said Mr.S.Thilak, currently the Director of Economic Development addressing meetings at Nilaveli and Tampalakamam, which followed the opening of the centres and classes.


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TNA awareness campaign in Trinco district put off

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 18:35 GMT]
Three-day awareness campaign of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) , which was scheduled to be held in the Trincomalee district on September 11,12 and 13, has been put off for a later date, TNA sources said Wednesday night.
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25% of NE Provincial Council vacancies not filled

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 10:43 GMT]
More than one-fourth, about 18,666 vacancies are not filled in the the North East Provincial Council (NEPC), which administers eight districts of the province, Jaffna Killinochchi, Mullaitivu, Mannar, Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara. Out of 60,034 officially approved positions in 2000 only 41,368 have been filled, sources said.


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Sri Lanka army behind attack on border post- LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2004, 04:50 GMT]
An attack by a group of heavily armed men suspected to be Sri Lanka army commandos on the Liberation Tigers' border post in Pullumalai, 65 kilometres from Batticaloa, Tuesday night around 10.15 p.m. was repulsed, a senior LTTE official in Batticaloa said. "Two men in the group were killed in our counter fire according to mine clearing workers in the area who were forced by the attackers to carry their wounded across the border last night", he said after visiting the scene of attack Wedenesday morning.
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LTTE arrests Sri Lanka Policeman in Pullumalai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 17:29 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Tuesday arrested a Sri Lanka Policeman who had attempted to travel through an area held by them. He was taken into custody at the LTTE's border post at Pullumalai, northwest of Batticaloa near the Amparai district border. A Police officer in Batticaloa said the LTTE had released him to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission in Amparai later in the day.
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Jaffna DCC to meet next week

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 14:55 GMT]
Jaffna District Co-ordinating Committee (DDC) will meet on September 17 and 18 to assess the progress of ongoing development projects and the implementation of proposed development projects in the Jaffna electoral district, district secretariat sources said.
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Tamil villages in Trinco district ignored in electrification -TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 14:53 GMT]
Several Tamil villages in Muttur and Seruvila electorates in Trincomalee district are not supplied with electricity although transformers are located in the vicinity of these villages and electric cables go overhead. This is a deplorable situation," said Trincomalee district parliamentarian Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham in a letter to the Minister of Power and Energy.
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TNA urges President to commence talks with LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 08:00 GMT]
“The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) would strongly urge the Government to commence talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) without delay, on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority proposals of the LTTE. and thereby implement the position enunciated by the President on 10 June, when she met the TNA delegation”, said Mr.R.Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group leader in a statement made in the parliament Tuesday morning.
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Inquiry ordered into Vallai human skeleton discovery

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 September 2004, 00:22 GMT]
The Nelliady Police Monday commenced investigation into the discovery of a skeleton suspected to be of a young woman in the Vallaiveli area in Vadamaradchchi division on the orders of the Point Pedro Magistrate Mr.K. Ariyanayakam, legal sources said. The human skeleton was found Sunday morning in a shrub in a Catholic cemetery along Mandan Road, which branches off Point Pedro-Jaffna road, sources said.
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Tamil Students Federation HQ opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 September 2004, 14:46 GMT]
The headquarters of the Tamil Students Federation (TSF) was opened in Jaffna Monday morning. The headquarters is located along Kovil Road in Nallur."The headquarters will bring to the notice of the international community the violations of fundamental and human rights of Tamil students in the northeast," said Mr. P.Nilakshan, President of the TSF presiding over the event.
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Batticaloa shuts down for Black September massacres

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 09:48 GMT]
A general shut down (Hartal) was observed in Batticaloa Sunday to mark the massacre of hundreds of civilians, including pregnant women, infants and children, by Sri Lanka army and paramilitaries working with it on 5 September, 1990. Roads were mostly deserted and shops closed in response to a call by leading civil society groups and MPs of the Tamil National Alliance to observe 5 September as a Black Day.
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"Civil society, key to advancing a Federal solution"- Rupesinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2004, 00:46 GMT]
"The people in North and East want to control and plan their own future and develop their part of the country. This is the primary impulse behind the ISGA. An interim administration should be seen as a win-win solution to both sides... ISGA proposal has been developed and is the result of 25 years of civil war. The LTTE has presented its proposals for the first time. This has to be respected and acknowledged," said Dr. Kumar Rupesinghe, Civil Socieity Forum Chairman, talking to TamilNet this week.
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LTTE rescues Tamil children exploited by Kuchchaveli fishermen

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 17:15 GMT]
Trincomalee district political secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) recently handed over six Tamil boys who are below 18 years of age to the representatives of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) to be handed over to their Batticaloa homes of their parents. LTTE cadres rescued these boys when they fled from fish wadiyas run by Sinhalese businessmen in Kalliravu in Kuchchaveli division in Trincomalee district due to harassment, sources said.


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Swedish assistance to reopen school in Thenmaradchchi HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 September 2004, 16:06 GMT]
Swedish Government has come forward to provide necessary funds to renovate and reopen the abandoned Eluthumadduval Government Tamil Mixed School building which is located in the high security zone close to the forward defense line of the Sri Lanka Army in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district, education sources said.


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