LTTE, STF meet in Amparai

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2003, 16:51 GMT]
Members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by Batticaloa-Amparai district Head of Political section, E.Kausalyan, met with a delegation from Sri Lanka's Special Task Force (STF) led by Senior Police Officer Upul Seneviratne in Akkaraipattu, in Amparai district Monday between 10am and 12noon, security sources in Amparai said.


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Saiva revivalist Arumuga Navalar remembered on 181st birthday

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2003, 12:51 GMT]
Tamils in several parts of the northeast observed the 181st birth anniversary of the Saiva-Tamil revivalist Sri Arumuga Navalar on Sunday. Sri Arumuga Navalar is chiefly remembered for his work to revive Saivism in Jaffna and South India. He is also considered one of the important pioneers of Tamil revival in the 19th century.
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Language Don felicitated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2003, 01:01 GMT]
"Tamil people are grateful for the services rendered by Professor Mounaguru to the growth of Tamil arts and culture, and it is fitting that we are today celebrating his reaching 60th year," said E.Mounaguruswamy, Government Agent for Batticaloa district speaking as the chief guest in an event held Sunday afternoon in celebrating Prof.Mounaguru's birthday.
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Tamils warned to prepare for snap election

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2003, 16:45 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan Sunday said Tamil people should rally round under one banner to increase their parliamentary strength if the current crisis between Sri Lanka's President and the Prime Minister precipitates a snap election. “The LTTE leadership has endorsed this stand,” said Mr.Sampanthan.


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LTTE announces tax relief measures

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2003, 13:36 GMT]
At a press briefing held at the office of the Thamileelam Police at Pallai Sunday morning, Head of the Financial Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. Thamilenthi, announced that a list of essential materials including books, magazines, agricultural inputs, animal feed, boats, outboard engines, fishing gear, candle and camphor would be exempted from tax with effect from January 1st next year, sources from Pallai said.
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Jaffna said apprehensive of US military aid to Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2003, 09:59 GMT]
Senior government officials in Jaffna told a visiting US state department official Sunday that Tamils in the northern peninsula are “apprehensive about US military assistance to Sri Lanka- they fear that it would jeopardise peace”. Mr. Nicholas J. Dean, Deputy Director, Office of India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Maldives and Bhutan Affairs, US State Department, visited Jaffna Sunday and had discussions with senior government officials and the Bishop of Jaffna. The US officials and his team refused to speak to local media.
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NE bags 24 first places in Tamil day competitions

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2003, 17:59 GMT]
The All Island Tamil day celebrations and distribution of awards to winners of competitions to mark the day would be held Sunday morning at Bambalapitya New Kathiresan Hall in Colombo. Of 47 events in the competitions, first places in 24 events and second places in 07 events have been won by students from schools in the Tamil dominated northeast province, provincial education sources said.
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MPGA criticises Rights Commission of inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2003, 14:44 GMT]
At the Universal Human Rights (UHR) day celebrations held Saturday in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall under the auspices of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCS), members of the Missing Persons’ Guardians Association (MPGA) of Jaffna distributed pamphlets to the participants criticizing the HRC for its inaction with regard to cases of missing persons filed with the commission, civil sources in Jaffna said.
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NECORD funds village development project in Kanniya

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2003, 13:25 GMT]
Under the Village Rehabilitation Programme (VRP), Asian Development Bank supported North East Community Restoration Development (NECORD) project is funding reconstruction of abandoned roads and public wells and other infrastructure facilities destroyed in Kanniya, a village located about eight km off the east port town along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura main road, TRO Trincomalee district co-ordinator Mr. K.Mathavarajah said.
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Vavuniya Tamils decry Indian objections to ISGA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2003, 06:27 GMT]
Criticizing the comments made by the former Indian foreign secretary, Mr. M.K. Rasgotra, at a conference in Colombo on December 4, saying that India could not accept the Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA) proposals submitted by the Liberation Tigers, the Federation of Vavuniya Cattle breeders unions said in a statement Friday that the Tamil people would totally reject the opinion of Mr. Rasgotra.
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Danish group demines in Kanniya

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 20:24 GMT]
The Danish Demining Group (DDG) has been engaged in identifying and recovering unexploded ordnance (UXO) buried in the village of Kanniya, located along the Trincomalee- Anuradhapura trunk road, about 8 k.m. northwest of the Trincomalee town. DDG workers Friday morning exploded three such mines recovered from the vicinity of the Kanniya Tamil School where children of resettled internally displaced families are studying, sources said.
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NorthEast farmers face dire economic future - Adaikalanathan

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 12:13 GMT]
"Farmers in NorthEast have been facing severe hardship for the past several years. Many have to pawn their belongings now to continue to be able to cultivate their lands and earn a living," said Leader of Tamil Eelam Liberation Organization (TELO) and MP Selvam Adaikalanathan during a parliamentary debate on allocation of funds for the Ministry of Agriculture and livestock, sources in Colombo said.


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SLA trooper sentenced to death

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 07:29 GMT]
Vavuniya High Court Judge J.Visvanathan Friday sentenced to death Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier, Dinapalage Jayantha Dinapala, for murdering two brothers, Kanagasabai Kanagalingam, Kanagasabai Kanagendran, and their cousin Thamotharampillai Pulendirarajah, in the village of Chambaikulam in Vavuniya on 03 March 1996, legal sources said.
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Indian PM urged to recognize NE Tamils’ rights

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2003, 01:36 GMT]
In a letter to the Indian Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, sent Wednesday and signed by Prof. A. Sanmugathas, head of the Federation for Advancement of Tamils’ Education (FATE), and the Federation’s secretary, Mr. P. Kamalanathan, the FATE said that “until our people’s legitimate rights are secured, India should recognize our right to internal self-determination and help to restore normal life, with peace and dignity.”
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NE Educational Development Workshop held in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2003, 22:28 GMT]
A one-day North East Education Development Stakeholders Consultation Workshop was held Thursday in Trincomalee with the Provincial Governor, Major General (retd.) Asoka Jayawardene, as the chief guest. Representatives of UNICEF, World Bank, The German Agency GTZ, NECORD, Asian Development Bank and other international donor agencies participated in the workshop, which was held at the provincial guesthouse at Uppuveli, suburb in Trincomalee town.
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Manalkaadu SLA minefield issue before HRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2003, 13:33 GMT]
The Jaffna coordinator for the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC) Mr. R. P Ruwan Chandrasekera told TamilNet that he intends to take up with the Government Agent for Jaffna the issue of the Sri Lanka army laying a new minefield near the village of Manalkaadu on the peninsula’s southeastern coast. He said the people from Manalkaadu had complained to the HRC’s Jaffna office on Tuesday about the new minefield the SLA had planted near their village.
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Jaffna shuts down in protest against SLA shooting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2003, 04:56 GMT]
Shops, businesses, public offices were closed and few people and vehicles were on the roads in Jaffna Thursday in response to a call to observe a general shut down (Hartal) in the peninsula against the Sri Lanka army for shooting at a newspaper seller and wounding a commuter on Tuesday in the busy centre of the northern town.
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Land grab by Muslims alleged in Amparai Tamil village

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2003, 04:08 GMT]
Some Muslim families are settling by force in the Tamil area of Koddukal village in the Pottuvil division of the Amparai district, the Tamil people of the village have complained to the Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian from the district, Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandraneru, sources said.
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NE pre-school education development program inaugurated

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 17:58 GMT]
A seven-day residential training camp for pre-school education coordinators of the education zones of Trincomalee and Vavuniya south began Wednesday in Trincomalee. The training program has been organized by the North East Pre School Education Development Council (PSEDC) and funded by the Norwegian-Swedish agency, FORUT, and the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization in the northeast province, TRO sources said.
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SLA soldiers remanded for firing at Jaffna civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2003, 16:30 GMT]
The Jaffna additional Magistrate, Ms Srinithi Nandasekaran, Wednesday ordered remand till December 23 for three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army when they were produced by the Jaffna Police in connection with the shooting incident that had taken place in Jaffna bus stand Tuesday evening, causing injuries to civilians, legal sources said.
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