Tamils should secede if Colombo impasse persists - ACTC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 16:02 GMT]
'The Tamil people will have to exercise their right to self determination and secede if the political impasse in Colombo were to continue' the All Ceylon Tamil Congress, the oldest Tamil party in Sri Lanka, declared at its annual convention in Jaffna town Sunday.
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SLMC discusses its version of Interim Administration proposals

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 11:51 GMT]
Key officials of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) met Saturday night at SLMC Head Quarters in Colombo to discuss SLMC's version of proposals for Interim Administrative Structure for NorthEast and to obtain formal acceptance by SLMC' Special Political Division, sources said.
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Colombo hasn't spent a cent on Jaffna - GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 06:29 GMT]
TamilNet publishes the relevant parts of the speech by Government Agent of Jaffna at a meeting in Chavakachcheri on 27 December 2003 where he asserted that the Sri Lankan government “did not spend a red cent” on rehabilitation in the northern peninsula in the last two years. TamilNet is publishing the audio file of the GA’s speech on account of the seriousness of the allegations he had to make against TamilNet on ‘advice of Sri Lanka’s Minister for Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Refugees’. The statement in question can be indubitably verified from the audio files we have published today.
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Kumar Ponnambalam to be remembered

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 January 2004, 01:36 GMT]
The fourth death anniversary of Mr. Kumar Ponnambalam, leader of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC), who was gunned down in Wellawatte, Colombo, in 2000, is to be observed on January 5, Monday, in the NorthEast province, sources said. Wide participation of Tamil people across NorthEast is expected in the memorial event, the organizers of the event said.
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Thondamannar sluice gate to be reconstructed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2004, 17:55 GMT]
Thondamannar lagoon sluice gate which was built to prevent sea water entering the villages of Karaveddy, Mandan, Kapputhoo, Udupiddy, Velvety, Kerudavil and Thondamannar and which was blown off in 1985 by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is to be rebuilt by the Department of Irrigation, sources said. The sluice gate is located within the Karaveddy South and West Divisional Secretary's (DS) division.
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Jaffna Hindu priests urge Vajpayee to change stand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2004, 15:46 GMT]
Hindu priests in Jaffna have appealed to India’s Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee that his government should change its stand on the Tamils in the northeast and should fully contribute to the process of achieving their rights, a spokesman for their body told TamilNet Saturday. He said the Jaffna based International Hindu Priests’ Forum sent a letter Friday to Mr. Vajpayee, expressing distress that Delhi is siding with Sinhala leaders while following an adverse policy towards the aspirations of the Tamils.
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Jaffna students to file legal action against UGC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2004, 13:11 GMT]
Students in Jaffna district affected by the alleged discrimination in the admission to the Engineering Faculties have decided to file legal action against the University Grant Commission, local media reported.
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NECORD to assist Kanniya village rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 January 2004, 01:05 GMT]
The Asian Development Bank funded North East Community Restoration and Development (NECORD) project Friday signed an agreement with its partner organization, Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), to rehabilitate the war-ravaged Kanniya village in the Trincomalee district. The entire project is to cost about 6.37 million rupees. Of this amount, a sum of about 6 million rupees will be borne by the NECORD, said TRO's Trincomalee district director Mr.K.Mathavarajah.
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Sri Lanka President’s ally slams Armitage

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2004, 16:25 GMT]
The Janata Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the main political ally of President Kumaratunga, slammed US Assistant Secretary of State Mr. Richard Armitage for interfering in Sri Lanka’s internal affairs in a strongly worded statement Friday. The Sinhala nationalist party was reacting to Mr. Armitage’s comment Monday that “the current political impasse in Sri Lanka cannot be allowed to continue”. The JVP said that Mr. Armitage’s statement was made in a threatening manner.
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SLA to construct Buddhist Vihare on private property

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2004, 15:55 GMT]
Seventy eight year old father of five children, Mr Vethavanam Varathalingam of 3rd Mile Post, Mulliayadi has appealed to the Human Rights Commission (HRC) to help him to get his five acre paddy land from Sri Lanka Army occupation, civil rights sources said. Mulliayadi is located along Thampalakamam-Kinniya road in Trincomalee.


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SIRUP monitoring office opened in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 January 2004, 04:56 GMT]
The Trincomalee District Monitoring Office of the Small-scale Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Upgrading Project (SIRUP), funded by the Japanese Bank for International Co-operation (JBIC), was declared open Thursday, the first day of 2004 inside Fort Frederick. One of the co-chairmen of the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee and Trincomalee district parliamentarian, Mr.K.M.Thowfeek, unveiled the name board of the office and the office building by cutting the ribbon.
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Gazette notification accommodates CTTU demands

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 16:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Education agreed to issue an amended gazette notification accommodating some of the demands made by the Ceylon Tamil Teachers’ Union regarding the recruitment of 1000 GCE (Advanced Level) qualified Tamil medium teachers to northeast Tamil medium schools in the eight districts of the province, CTTU general secretary Mr.T.Mahasivam said Thursday.


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UGC blamed for discrimination in University Admissions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 15:32 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) Thursday wrote to Sri Lanka's President, Prime Minister and Higher Education Minister to take immediate steps to eliminate discrimination in admitting Tamil students to universities in the New Year. The number of Tamil students admitted to universities last year was higher than this academic year, said the CTTU in a memorandum sent to the Sri Lanka government leaders.


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President, PM should work jointly for peace - Jaffna Bishop

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 14:26 GMT]
The Bishop of Jaffna Rt Rev.Thomas Saundranayagam Thursday in a New Year message appealed to Sri Lanka's President and the Prime Minister to jointly work together for the dawn of permanent peace in the country in the New Year adopting a policy of give and take, said officials of Jaffna diocese.
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Thampalakamam market reopens after thirteen years

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 13:39 GMT]
The public market in the traditional Tamil village Thampalakamam, which is located 27 km southwest of Trincomalee town, was re-opened Thursday after about thirteen years. Thampalakamam divisional head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr.Thirumalai declared open the public market.


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Jaffna village asks SLA to open access road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 12:02 GMT]
Men, women and children from Koilamanai, a farming village near Kodikamam in Jaffna, sat in protest at the entrance of the Thenmaradchi Divisional Secretary’s (DS) office in Chavakachcheri Thursday demanding that the Sri Lanka army should vacate a camp blocking the only access road to their area. Koilamanai residents say that since the SLA completely blocked off the road in 2000, they have been using a footpath through private properties. This footpath has to be closed soon because owners of the properties are now resettling there, they say.
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TNA MP says Muttur bridge on the verge of collapse

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 06:16 GMT]
The Kattaiparichchan bridge, which divides the Liberation Tigers-held villages in Muttur east from the rest of Muttur town controlled by the Sri Lanka Army, is on the verge of collapse, said Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from Trincomalee, Mr.K.Thurairetnasingham, and brought the matter to the notice of the Trincomalee District Co-ordinating Committee Monday, sources said.
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Talks with a govt. sans defence impractical - Balasingham

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 January 2004, 04:45 GMT]
“It is impractical to hold peace negotiations when one party talks to the Tigers while another keeps the defence ministry in Sri Lanka. The international community, including Norway, has accepted this," Mr. Anton Balasingham, the political advisor of the Liberation Tigers told a Sri Lankan Minister and an MP who met him in London this week, according to the Thursday edition of Eelanaatham, a Tamil daily published from Kilinochchi, the main town in the LTTE controlled Vanni region.
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"Hold Tamil medium teacher recruitment exam in NE" - CTTU

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 19:18 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) have protested to the United National Front (UNF) government that the advertisement published by the Ministry of Human Development Resources, Education and Cultural Affairs calling for applications for the appointment of one thousand G.C.E. (Advanced Level) qualified teachers to Tamil medium schools in northeast province is "faulty and imperfect," according to a memoranda submitted to Ministry of Education, sources said.
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2003: The year in review

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 31 December 2003, 18:58 GMT]
The widespread optimism on peace that greeted the dawn of 2003 has evaporated and the power struggle between Sri Lanka's Prime Minister and President that threatens the peace process now occupies the center stage of politics in Colombo. High Security Zones (HSZ) in Jaffna continue to deny displaced Tamils their fundamental rights. Colombo's unwillingness and inability to disburse funds stalls development and rehabilitation in NorthEast, as international aid remains blocked, awaiting concrete signs of progress in peace.
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