South African Tamil activist dies

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 August 2004, 18:00 GMT]
The Tamil Co-ordinating Committee and International Centre for Performing Arts Sunday jointly hosted a memorial tribute to Mr. Seeniappah Padmanathan, who passed away on 27th June in South Africa. Mr. S. Padmanathan was the Director of the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee, a promoter of Carnatic Music and a Social & Welfare Worker, according to sources in South Africa.
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Parcel bomb defused in Eravur

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 August 2004, 09:30 GMT]
A parcel bomb is found in front of a shop in Eravur, 14 kilometres north of Batticaloa was defused by the Sri Lanka army Sunday morning around 8, Police said. A shopkeeper in Iyankerni, a large Tamil neighbourhood of Eravur town, had found a suspicious parcel lying in front of his shop early morning.
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Garbage dump sparks protest in Vavuniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 August 2004, 13:12 GMT]
Hundreds of people Saturday from four villages affected by a dump for disposing garbage from Vavuniya protested against the disposal of waste to near Rasenthirakulam eight kilometres west of the large northern border town. Protestors blocked tractors carrying garbage to the dump. Residents of these farming villages complain that the garbage dump used by the Vavuniya Urban Council (UC) has become a major health hazard in the area and its foul smell is unbearable. Protestors also blocked vehicle of the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) that was carrying waste to dispose at the dump.
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Jaffna undergrads smash Sri Lanka President's photo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 11:37 GMT]
A large group of undergraduates Friday forcibly removed a portrait of Sri Lanka's President Chandrika Kumaratunga from the general hall of the Jaffna University and smashed it in protest against the her government's policy on the Tamil question, staff said. Students of the university had earlier petitioned the Vice Chancellor urging him to remove her photo from the general hall.
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US calls on Colombo, LTTE to rebuild trust

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 07:11 GMT]
United States of America Thursday urged the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers to “take steps to work to rebuild trust and schedule the promised talks as soon as possible”. The US embassy issued a press release regarding the current state of the peace process in Sri Lanka after US Deputy Secretary of state Mr. Richard Armitage reviewed the situation in Sri Lanka with U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka Mr. Jeffrey Lunstead, according to the statement.
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Murder convict said organizer of Sri Lanka conference in Oslo

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2004, 05:20 GMT]
A man convicted of murder is the joint organiser of a conference on Sri Lanka in Oslo, the Norwegian multicultural newspaper Utrop said in its online edition Friday. The conference, which begins Friday, brings together Sinhala nationalist hardliners and Sinhala Buddhist extremists from around the world. The Norwegian, the joint organizer of the Sinhala nationalist conference, was convicted for murdering an immigrant restaurant owner in Oslo and sentenced to preventive detention for ten years in 1997, according to Utrop.
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JVP intensifies its campaign against ISGA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 13:48 GMT]
The Sinhala nationalist cum Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), major constituent of the ruling minority United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government has been actively engaged in a campaign in the south of the country against the Interim Self Governing Authority proposals of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on the topic " Who is the real enemy of peace?" It launched its campaign on August 11
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"Tamil national patriot" Selliah Ratnam passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 07:40 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) conferred the title "Tamil national patriot" on Mr. Selliah Ratnam, retired Assistant Government Agent and the Jaffna district co-ordinator of SIHRN who passed away Sunday in Colombo Apollo Hospital after a brief illness. The remains draped by the Tiger flag were kept first at SIHRN office in Killinochchi district secretariat and later at Thooyavan Political Science College of the LTTE Tuesday for the public to pay homage.
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SLA, police in Jaffna against hoisting of LTTE flag

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2004, 02:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police in Jaffna district have been exerting pressure on the organizers of public and sports events in the Vadamarachchi division not to hoist the Tamil Eelam national flag, which is also the flag of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). During the weekend, the LTTE flag was hoisted at four sports events in the Vadamaradchchi division. The SLA and police rushed to the sites and ordered the organizers to remove the flags. But the people gathered at the events refused, sources said.
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Tamil women's problems spotlighted in Vavuniya gathering

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 14:28 GMT]
A gathering of Tamil Eelam Women Associations, Sangamam, was held in Vavuniya Irambaikulam Girls Maha Vidiyalayam Monday on a grand scale. Noting that "women are subjected to more violence than during the war period", Vavuniya district Political Head of the LTTE's Women Wing, Ms Alai, said that the gathering was conducted to study about the violence and the forces behind the atrocities committed against women.
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Army officials' committee holds inquiry into Tamil journalist's complaint

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 13:39 GMT]
A three-member committee comprising military officials of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commenced inquiry Tuesday into the complaint made by journalist Mr.Velupillai Thavachelvam that he had been threatened with death by a military officer when he was covering the visit of a leading Buddhist prelate to Jaffna during the early part of this year.
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Peace talks should be over ISGA proposals - Mannar Bishop

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 August 2004, 02:35 GMT]
“The Interim Self Governing Authority [ISGA] document was only a proposal for discussion as a step towards a viable alternative to separation. The current talk of a counterproposal to be made by the [Sri Lanka] government is not acceptable to the Liberation Tigers, as the LTTE feels this will become an opportunity for the government to bide its time…The government can bring up all its proposals at the discussion table over the ISGA proposals,” said the Bishop of Mannar, Rt.Rev. Rayappu Joseph, when TamilNet interviewed him Monday.
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Tigers reiterate stand, say Tamils losing peace hope

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 12:13 GMT]
''We explained to the European Union envoys the LTTE leadership's stand that we are ready to restart negotiations with the Government of Sri Lanka on the basis of the Interim Self Government Authority proposal which was endorsed by the Tamil people at the general elections", said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan, head of LTTE 's political division, speaking to the press after meeting a top EU delegation from Colombo Monday in Kilinochchi.
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Senior EPDP leader shot dead in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2004, 05:03 GMT]
Mr. Bala Nadarajah Iyer (Sinna Bala), a senior member of the EPDP, a close ally of Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga, was shot dead in Colombo by unidentified gunmen Monday around 8.15 a.m. Mr. Iyer was the spokesman for the EPDP and was on the editorial board of its paper Thinamurasu.
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Devotees throng Keerimalai to fast

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 18:52 GMT]
Large crowds of Hindu devotees who lost their fathers Sunday thronged the Keerimalai Sea, which is located in the high security zones of the Sri Lanka Army in the Jaffna district, to perform Adi Amavasai 'theertham' (Water cutting religious ceremony held in 'July' according to the Tamil calendar). Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army who are located in the vicinity had subjected the devotees and their belongings to checks for security reasons before allowing them to enter the Keerimalai area, civil sources said.
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SLA blocks LTTE political activists in Trinco

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 18:45 GMT]
Soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army Sunday evening surrounded a group of political activists of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Mc Heyzer road in Orr's Hill, a suburb in Trincomalee town, and blocked their movement. Later they were allowed to go by the SLA at the intervention of monitors of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) in Trincomalee following a strong complaint lodged by Mr.S.Elilan, Trincomalee district political head of the LTTE, against the action of the SLA, sources said.
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Record crowds attend Madhu Church festival

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2004, 15:32 GMT]
The annual festival of Madhu Church concluded Sunday with three Bishops - Thomas Soundaranayagam (Jaffna), Malcolm Ranjit (Ratnapura) and Rayappu Joseph (Mannar) - jointly holding Holy Mass. About three hundred thousand devotees from all parts of the island participated in the final day of the festival of the Madhu Church, which is also called Jungle Shrine, revered by Tamils and Sinhalese, sources said.
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'Solution should be based on what Tamils want' - Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 18:33 GMT]
"We created the conditions for Peace Talks by unilaterly declaring a cease-fire in December 2001. Solution to the Tamil problem should be on the basis of aspirations of the Tamils because they are the ones who have faced discrimination, oppression and war for many years. It cannot be based on what the Sinhala people want. It cannnot be based on what the Sinhala government wants. This is why the political pacts Tamils made in the past with Sinhala leaders came to naught." said Mr. S.P. Thamilchelvan in a press briefing in Kilinochchi Saturday.
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Sri Lanka's PM meets with Norwegian PM in Athens

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 13:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse met with Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik Saturday in Athens. Prime Minister Bondevik believed that the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are committed to the process, a press release from the Royal Norwegian Embassy said Saturday.
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Sri Lanka faces fuel distribution crisis

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 August 2004, 11:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka is facing a major fuel distribution crisis after trade unions of the state owned Ceylon Petroleum Corporation went on strike against a proposed plan to sell a major share of the institution to an Indian oil company. Panicked drivers jammed fuel filling stations in many parts of the island as distribution of petroleum products stopped after the strike started Friday afternoon.
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