TNA leaders meet to finalize election strategy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 20:22 GMT]
The central working committee of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) and the nomination board of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) are planning to meet Wednesday (February 18) morning at the headquarters of the TULF in Colombo, party sources said.


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TULF leaders' appeal in Sangaree case to be heard Thursday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 20:19 GMT]
The appeal filed by the Secretary General and Senior Vice President of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Mr.R.Sampanthan and Mr.Jospeh Pararajasingham respectively against the interim injunction issued by the Colombo District Court in favour of the TULF President Mr. V.Anandasangaree is listed for inquiry in the Court of Appeal (CA) on Thursday, legal sources said.


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Official acceptance of 13th election's nominations begins

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 16:03 GMT]
District Government Agents who are ex-offico Returning Officers of the Department of Elections Tuesday started accepting nominations from registered political parties and independent groups to contest the Sri Lanka’s thirteenth parliamentary general elections in all twenty electoral districts of Sri Lanka, election officials said.


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Tamils should vote only for policy-Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 09:43 GMT]
"We unanimously decided today that the Tamil people should vote only for policies of the Tamil National Alliance. This is the wish of our leader and our leadership. Tamils should unite under one leadership and one policy for this election," said Mr. S. P Thamilchelvan speaking to the press at the conclusion of a three hour long meeting with leaders of the Tamil National Alliance at the headquarters of Liberation Tigers’ political division in Kilinochchi Tuesday. "The TNA will definitely field Muslim candidates," he stressed.
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European media watchdog slams Kadirgamar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 February 2004, 03:58 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders (Reporters sans frontiers-RSF), a European media watchdog, condemned the Sri Lankan information and communication minister's decision, announced Monday, to cancel the TV broadcast channel licence that was granted to the Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) in 1995. The decision, which ABC executives called “politically motivated”, came just as the company was about to launch the channel.
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TNA leaders to meet LTTE leadership in Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2004, 18:12 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) leader Mr.R.Sampanthan said Monday that vital decisions would be taken in consultations with the leadership of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam on Tuesday in Killinochchi regarding the forthcoming parliamentary general elections.
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TULF leaders appeal over leadership challenge

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2004, 16:10 GMT]
Tamil United Liberation Front's Secretary General Mr.R.Sampanthan and Senior Vice President Mr.Jospeh Pararajasingham Monday filed a petition in the Court of Appeal, seeking to vacate the interim injunction order issued on them by the Colombo District Judge on an action instituted by the TULF President, Mr. V.Anandasangaree, stating that it was illegal and contrary to the law, legal sources said.
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Law and order said deteriorating in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2004, 11:52 GMT]
''We told Maj. Gen. (ret) Furuhovde that the law and order situation is deteriorating in Jaffna and that steps should be taken to arrest this trend. We did our best to cooperate with the Police to arrest the trend in Jaffna. But Police did little to rectify the situation,'' said Mr. S Ilamparithy, the head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers in the northern peninsula after meeting the chief of Sri Lanka's truce monitoring mission Monday afternoon.
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Kadirgamar cancels private media group's TV license

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2004, 06:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka'a Ministry of Information and Daily Communication, which is controlled by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Monday, cancelled the TV operating license of Asian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), a successful private media group that runs five FM radio stations. No official reason was given for the sudden move to stop ABC from starting its TV channel. ABC will challenge the decision in courts, sources said.
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Maheswaran says won’t contest April polls

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 17:11 GMT]
Mr. T. Maheswaran, who was Minister for Hindu Affairs in Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe’s United National Front (UNF) government, said Sunday he does not intend to contest elections to the Sri Lankan Parliament in April. Mr. Maheswran was the only Tamil from the UNF to be elected from the island’s northern parts in the Parliamentary polls in December 2001. Speaking at the opening of the renovated Karainagar Multi Purpose Co-operative Society Sunday morning, the ex minister said that he plans to retire from politics.
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"Tamil party support needed for stable govt"-UNF minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 16:38 GMT]
Senior minister in the United National Front (UNF) government, Dr.Rajitha Senaratne, addressing a meeting in Ratnapura Sunday said that no stable government could be formed after the forthcoming general election without the northeast Tamil parliamentarians and that the United National Party (UNP) is prepared to collaborate with the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) after the forthcoming general election, political sources said.


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TNA to meet again to decide on election symbol

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 15:36 GMT]
The leaders of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) will meet again on February 18th to take a final decision regarding the election symbol to contest the forthcoming parliamentary general election, which is to be held on April 2, party sources said. TNA leaders took the decision to this effect at a discussion held Sunday evening at the headquarters of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), main constituent of the TNA.


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SLMM new head to visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 12:48 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) Major General (retd) Trond Furuhovde is scheduled to visit Jaffna district Monday. This would be his first visit to Jaffna following his assumption of duties as SLMM head on February 1st for the second time after replacing Major General Triggve Teleffsen, sources said
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Sri Lanka Elections: News Brief

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 February 2004, 11:51 GMT]
Key members of Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) are likely to join the United National Front, Sri Lanka's Police force's leaves have been suspended, Thamilchelvan returns to Vanni from European trip and Anandasangaree continues to scuttle Tamil National Alliance efforts to formulate a coherent election strategy, according to local media reports.
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Polling in LTTE areas to be discussed with truce monitors

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 2004, 15:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Elections Saturday told Government Agents and Assistant Elections Commissioners from the Northeast that he would discuss with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission and the Sri Lankan Government’s Peace Secretariat about arrangements to enable more than two hundred thousand Tamils in regions that are not under Colombo’s control to vote in the general elections on 2 April. Sri Lankan armed forces prevented Tamils in these areas from voting in the Parliamentary elections of December 2001.
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SL soldiers charged in Chavakachcheri for traffic offence

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 16:41 GMT]
The Chavakachcheri Police Friday filed plaint against two soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army in the Magistrate’s court, charging them for causing injuries to a Tamil civilian by hitting him with their field motorbike on January 9th along the Post Office road in Chavakachcheri, legal sources said.
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TNA readies to face poll with ‘house’ or 'lighthouse'

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 09:42 GMT]
General secretary of the Federal Party (FP), Mr. Mavai Senathirajah and general secretary of the TELO, Mr. Indrakumar Prasanna, informed Sri Lanka's Commissioner of Elections their party’s intent to contest following uncertainty over the TULF's legal wrangle, a spokesman for the Tamil National Alliance said Wednesday. If the stand off between the TULF's President and executive central committee is not resolved next week the TNA will have to contest either under the TELO's 'lighthouse' symbol or the FP's 'house' symbol, he said.


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Cushnahan clarifies discussion with Thamilchelvan

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2004, 00:01 GMT]
Mr. John Walls Cushnahan, Member of the European Parliament, clarified to TamilNet Wednesday details regarding his discussion with Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, political leader of the Liberation Tigers, when he met him on February 6, 2004. “I said that I fully understood the dangers of their [LTTE’s] supporters becoming disillusioned with the peace process if it was not perceived to be delivering improvements to the quality of life in the North East and in this regard I appreciated the difficulties caused by the current political stalemate [in Colombo],” Mr. Cushnahan said in his clarification.
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Tigers hand over underage members to UNICEF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 13:49 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers Thursday handed over to the UNICEF in Kilinochchi 15 youth from their ranks who were found to be under eighteen. The youth, all males, were among those listed as underage members of the Tigers by UNICEF.
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Protest stops SLA from putting back Chavakachcheri FDL

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2004, 00:55 GMT]
The Sri Lanka army stopped efforts Wednesday to put its forward defence line (FDL) back in its original place in the Chavakachcheri high security zone following protests by families that got back their garrisoned homes from the military last weekend. The SLA pulled back the defence perimeter of its high security zone in two places on the outskirts of Chavakachcheri during the weekend to release about 79 war damaged and destroyed homes, including urban council quarters, to families that were displaced when the military garrisoned the area more than three years ago.
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