UPFA will not accept JHU as an ally - Anura Bandaranaike

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 18:23 GMT]
Mr.Anura Bandaranaike, Minister of Investment Promotion and Tourism in the United People's Freedom Alliance government of Sri Lanka, said Thursday that the UPFA would not form a coalition with the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), saying that his party could not accept the JHU's policies, according to media sources.
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U.S.-based Sri Lankan cardiologist develops new artificial heart valve

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 17:13 GMT]
Dr. Rohan Jayasinghe, an interventional cardiologist of Sri Lankan origin based in New York, U.S., on Wednesday presented what is said to be the world’s first artificial mitral heart valve that can be delivered to and implanted in the heart through a catheter inserted through a blood vessel in the groin, thus precluding the need for open heart surgery in heart valve replacement, at Columbia University in New York, medical sources said.
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Suspects in Analaitivu EPDP camp fire allowed bail

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 14:42 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr.A.Premashankar, Thursday released 22 residents of Analaitivu in the Jaffna district, arrested by the police in connection with the torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) in the village on April 11th, on cash bail with two sureties, legal sources said.
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Curfew in hill town, three Tamils shot dead

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 April 2004, 07:30 GMT]
Three Tamils were killed and four were wounded when Police opened fire on crowds in Kandapola, 16 kilomtres from Nuwara Eliya, Sri Lanka's main hill country town and holiday resort, on Wednesday night. Curfew has been declared in the area following clashes between Tamils and Sinhalese which flared up late Wednesday afternoon over a vehicle accident in Kandapola. A senior Tamil MP of the Ceylon Workers' Congress slammed the Police for precipitating the communal violence. "The Police acted in a very partial manner", he said. Fourteen Tamil shops in Kandapola were smashed up and ransacked.
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Analaitivu villagers complain of police harassment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 18:07 GMT]
The Kayts Police in Jaffna district has up to now sent notices to about 35 residents of Analaitivu village to appear in the police station in regard to the alleged torching of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic party (EPDP) on April 11. However, five civilians who went to the Kayts Police station Wednesday morning on receipt of such notice have not returned to Analaitivu till late in the night, civil sources said.
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‘Only self-government can help safeguard NE fisheries’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 16:42 GMT]
“Only when we have self-government will we be able to safeguard our fisheries resources and the lives of our fishermen,” said Dr. A. Soosai Ananthan, the Head of the Fisheries Department at the University of Jaffna, speaking at a seminar on the problems faced by fisheries workers, held at the Urumpirai Hindu College in Jaffna Sunday, the Jaffna-based Tamil language daily, Uthayan, reported Wednesday.
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Kalmunai Tamils prepare to welcome Amparai TNA MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 April 2004, 03:05 GMT]
The Tamil residents of Kalmunai are making arrangements to honor and welcome the newly elected Tamil National Alliance MP from Amparai (Digamadulla), Mr. Kanagasabai Pathmanathan, on May 5, according to Mr. E. Sivanandanayagam, a retired teacher who is the organizer for the event, sources said.
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“Sinhalese political leadership lacks maturity” - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 21:20 GMT]
“The late Tamil leader, Mr.S.J.V.Chelvanayakam, laid the path for the freedom struggle, advocating Tamils should be recognized as a distinct nationality with their traditional homeland and right of self determination,” said the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing a meeting to mark the 27th death anniversary of the late Tamil leader in Trincomalee town Monday evening.
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SLA prevents Muslims from resettling in Chavakachcheri

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 16:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army has prevented Muslim refugees who came back recently to Chavakachcheri, the second largest town of the northern peninsula, from repairing and resettling in their war-destroyed homes, a spokesman for the returnees told TamilNet Tuesday. “We have been living in refugee camps in Puttalam for many years. I arrived with my family today, hoping to restart my life here in my hometown. But the military says that it won’t vacate my house. Where do I go?” asks Mr. Ismail Sultan, 38, a businessman.


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13 civilians remanded for allegedly torching EPDP camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 15:50 GMT]
The Kayts Magistrate, Mr.A.Premshankar, Tuesday ordered remand for thirteen suspects who were produced by the police in connection with the alleged burning down of a camp of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) in Analaitivu following the April 2 general election, legal sources said.
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Escapee details 18-year detention, torture in STF camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 15:17 GMT]
A Tamil youth arrested in 1986 by the Special Task Force of the Sri Lanka Army at Kaluwanchikudy in the Batticaloa district, and assumed dead, has escaped last week from an STF camp where he was held incommunicado for 18 years, and has detailed the torture and killings by the STF that took place in the camp and elsewhere to Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), sources in Batticaloa told TamilNet.
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SLA's complicity claimed in Batticaloa murders

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 10:50 GMT]
Head of the Political Wing of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), S.P.Thamilchelvan, in a letter to the Head of Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Major General (retd.) Trond Furuhovde, said that the murder of seven LTTE cadres including four disabled Sunday night was a violation of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) and that the LTTE had "credible evidence that the attackers came from the Vavunathivu SLA [Sri Lanka Army] camp direction," according to the LTTE's Peace Secretariat website.
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UNCHR’s help sought for resettling Kevuliyamadu IDPs

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 April 2004, 03:56 GMT]
The people who were rendered refugees and were displaced during the war in 1985 from Kevuliyamadu in the Batticaloa district have demanded that they be allowed to resettle in their village, sources said.
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SL Government assistance to IDPs nil - Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 20:15 GMT]
"I dare say that the [Sri Lankan] government has no right to rule our people as it has failed to provide assistance to hundreds of thousands internally displaced who have been languishing in refugee camps and welfare centres to return to their lands and resettle," said the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group leader, Mr.R.Sampanthan, addressing a meeting in Kanniya village Monday morning.
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NECORD funded development projects launched in Kanniya

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 19:35 GMT]
Foundation stones were laid Monday morning for the construction of a pre-school and a multi purpose hall in the resettled Kanniya village, located on the Trincomalee- Anuradhapura road about 8 km north of Trincomalee town. The Asian Development Bank(ADB) funded North East Community Organization for Restoration Development (NECORD) under the Community Rehabilitation Development Project (CRDP) has allocated a sum of 6.8 million rupees for these development works, and the implementing agency is the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) of Trincomalee district, sources said.
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Tamil youth killed in explosion in Kurunagala

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 15:49 GMT]
Mr. Kanagasabai Thurairajasingham was killed in an explosion early morning at about 3 a.m. Monday at Polathapitiya near Kurunagala town in the northwestern province. He was later identified as a member of a Tamil group, probably a supporter of the renegade Karuna group, police said Monday.
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LTTE releases Sinhalese worker arrested with T-56

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 April 2004, 03:40 GMT]
The Tamil Eelam Police Service (TEPS) has released a Sinhalese contract worker arrested last year for carrying a concealed T-56 rifle in Paranthan to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), sources said.
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Muttur school dropouts re-admitted with UNICEF assistance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 19:02 GMT]
The first batch of thirty seven students identified by the Child Welfare Unit of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in Trincomalee district as school dropouts in Sinnakulam, Pallikudiruppu, Thangapuram, Santhanaveddai, Chenaiyoor, Santhosapuram and Kadatkaraichcenai in the Muttur east were re-enrolled for studies and were distributed with learning equipment and clothes for uniforms with the assistance of the UNICEF at an event held at Chenaiyoor Central College Friday to mark the World Education Awareness Day.
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Violence against JHU monks increases

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 18:25 GMT]
The attack on Buddhist shrines and intimidation against monks of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) is on the increase in the southern part of the country since the election of new Speaker of Sri Lanka's parliament. JHU leadership has accused the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) activists are encouraging such incidents for voting for the opposition candidate in the Speaker's election, sources said.


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LTTE to await official word from Norway on peace process

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2004, 03:37 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers will inform their stand on resuming the peace process if the Norwegian government officially informs the LTTE about the Sri Lankan government's stand, Mr. Daya Master, the media coordinator of the LTTE, told the Tamil media on Saturday. Meanwhile, sources quoting the Norwegian Embassy in Colombo say a high level delegation of the Norwegian government will visit Colombo in the first week of May to hold discussions with the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE.
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