Nadesan funeral put off to Thursday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 17:06 GMT]
The cremation of the body of assassinated Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, is to be held Thursday evening at the Alankattai cemetery in Vathiri, in the Vadamarachchi division in Jaffna district. The body will be kept in his home in Vathiri from Thursday morning and will be removed later in the day to Nelliayadi Madhya Maha Vidiyalayam where funeral orations will be delivered by leading media personnel, academics, politicians and LTTE leaders.
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SLA, LTTE agree on establishing security measures in the East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 12:23 GMT]
At a meeting organized by the Sri lanka Monitoring Mission in the Batticaloa district Wednesday, Col. Ramesh, the special commander of the Liberation Tigers for the Batticaloa-Amparai region, pointed out to Major General Shantha Kottegoda, the Overall Operational Commander of the Sri Lanka Army for the Eastern Province, that elements of the SLA were involved in the recent killings in Batticaloa and that the SLA was associating closely with the renegade Karuna group. Col. Ramesh also agreed to immediately establish direct liaison with the SLA and Police, LTTE and SLMM sources said.
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Pattern of intimidation and murder to silence independent Tamil journalists

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 11:50 GMT]
“Nadesan had been harassed and threatened before his death because he had criticized the government and security forces, according to CPJ research”, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement condemning the murder of the veteran Tamil journalist in Batticaloa on Sri Lanka’s east coast. Meanwhile Mr. Nadesan’s colleagues in the east demanded investigations into “the pattern of intimidation and murder to silence Tamil journalists”.
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Donors warn Sri Lanka on peace process, economic reforms

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 11:06 GMT]
Following their meeting in Brussels Tuesday, the co-chairs of aid donors to Sri Lanka issued a statement warning the Colombo government that there should be "no drift and no delay in resuming and taking forward the peace process" and pointing out that "the peace process and the development process are mutually reinforcing and interlinked." The co-chairs called for "the establishment of effective delivery mechanisms for donor-financed development activities in the North and East."
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NorthEast observes day of mourning, hartal for Nadesan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2004, 10:46 GMT]
Areas of NorthEast from Point Pedro to Amparai observed a day of mourning and general shut down (hartal) Wednesday to protest against the killing of a leading Tamil journalist Mr. Iyathurai Nadesan, media sources said.


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RSF condemns Nadesan's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 21:57 GMT]
The Paris based world media watchdog, Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontieres) Tuesday condemned the murder of Tamil journalist Aiyathurai Nadesan in Batticaloa and voiced concern that "dissension within the Tamil separatist movement and existing tensions with the security forces could lead to an escalation of violation against the news media".
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Public to pay last respects to Nadesan in Kilinochchi, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 18:40 GMT]
The remains of the assassinated Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, will be kept at the Kilinochchi Cultural Hall Wednesday morning from 10 a.m. and in Jaffna at the Veerasingham Hall on Thursday morning for the public to pay last respects before being cremated in Nelliyady in the Vadamaradchi division of Jaffna district Thursday evening, media sources in Jaffna said.
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'Committee to sort out differences in UPFA'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 18:31 GMT]
The leaders of Sri Lanka Freedom party (SLFP) and the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the two major constituents of ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), Tuesday night agreed at a discussion to appoint a committee to sort out the differences that have arisen in implementing the Memorandum of Understanding signed by the two parties, sources said.
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North-East to shut down over Nadesan's murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 14:47 GMT]
Media associations in the North-East province Tuesday called for a general shut down (Hartal) on Wednesday to condemn the slaying of a leading Tamil journalist, Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, who was shot dead by unknown gunmen on Monday in Batticaloa town, sources said.
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Vanni journalists condemn Nadesan’s murder

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 13:56 GMT]
The Vanni district journalists association Tuesday released a statement expressing its shock and grief at the murder of the Batticaloa-based senior journalist, Mr. Iyathurai Nadesan, Monday. The association strongly condemned the murder and said the journalist's slaying has created a sense of fear and insecurity among Tamil journalists.
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Peter Harrold meets Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 10:50 GMT]
Director of World Bank Country Representative for Sri Lanka, Mr. Peter Harrold, met with LTTE's Head of Political Wing, S.P.Thamilchelvan at the Kilinochchi Peace Secretariat today, the peace secretariat website said. The discussions centered on the need of funds to support urgent humanitarian needs in the NorthEast, the website added.
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Killings threaten press freedom- SLTMA

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2004, 02:53 GMT]
"We urge all those who cherish press freedom and democracy to pressure the Sri Lanka Government to take immediate steps to safeguard the journalists from murder and harassment, and to bring to justice those who perpetrate dastardly crimes on Tamil journalists who question oppression and injustice," said members of the Sri Lanka Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), in a memorandum released Tuesday.
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NEIAP assists Kappalthurai resettled families

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 15:51 GMT]
The World Bank funded North East Integrated Agricultural Project (NEIAP) last weekend opened a grinding mill in the resettled village Kappalthurai which is located about 8 km off Trincomalee town, as an income generating measure and distributed sewing machines and push bicycles under the Life Support Activities (LSA) scheme for resettled families to earn for their livelihood, sources said.
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Nadesan's funeral to be held in Nelliyady Wednesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 14:42 GMT]
The funeral of Tamil journalist, Mr. Iyathurai Nadesan, shot dead by unidentified assailants Monday morning, is to be held Wednesday evening in his hometown Nelliady in Vadamarachchi division, 25km northeast of Jaffna town, media sources in Batticaloa said.


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LTTE condemns Nadesan's killing, warns SL security forces

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 13:50 GMT]
While expressing sympathy to the members of Mr.Nadesan's family, the Political Wing of the Liberation Tigers, in a press release issued today from Kilinochchi, warned the Sri Lanka security forces and the militants assisting them that unless killings stop, people of Sri Lanka have to face a calamitous period.
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Batticaloa journalist shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 08:31 GMT]
Mr. Aiyathurai Nadesan, a leading Tamil journalist in Sri Lanka, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen Monday morning around eight a.m. when he was going to work in a motorbike. The assailants came in a motorbike in front and fired at him, Batticaloa Police said.
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Ruling Alliance facing crisis?

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 03:14 GMT]
Media reports from Colombo indicated cracks appearing within the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA), as the marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), one of the mainconstituents of UPFA, sent a written communique to Sri Lanka's President Ms Kumaratunge accusing her of violating the MoU signed between the JVP and SLFP.


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Minority Rights workshop held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2004, 01:22 GMT]
A Two day workshop on 'Minority Rights and Good Governance' for selected representatives of government departments, non-governmental and humanitarian organizations, held in the Trincomalee office of the Consortium of the Humanitarian Agencies (CHA), concluded Saturday evening. The workshop was organized by the CHA Trincomalee district office and the Trincomalee District Community Protection Network (CPN), sources said.


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SLA, LTTE to discuss Eastern killings

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2004, 06:28 GMT]
Major General Shantha Kottegoda, Sri Lanka Army’s newly appointed Overall Operational Commander (OOC) for the eastern province, is scheduled to lead the SLA team to a meeting with the politico-military leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the east, arranged by the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). The purpose of the meeting is to find ways and means to arrest the continuing killings in the east by unknown gunmen, SLMM sources said.
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SL Govt. fails to implement State language policy- Minister

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2004, 17:27 GMT]
"In the sixty thousand-member strong Sri Lanka Police force only about 1600 are Tamil speaking. Several ministries and government departments are not implementing the official language policy of the 1978 constitution. I will make my ministry as a model to other ministries in this regard," said the Sri Lanka's new Constitutional Affairs Minister Mr.D.E.W.Gunasekara after assuming duties at his ministry office in Kollupitya Friday.


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