‘Let SL President resign and call fresh Presidential elections’ –TNA MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 16:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, should resign and call fresh Presidential elections as a way out of the current constitutional crisis without derailing the peace process and bringing more hardships on the people, said Mr. Ariyanayagam Chandraneru, the Tamil National Alliance’s Member of Parliament from the Amparai district, speaking to a gathering of fishermen at Alaiyadivembu in his district Monday, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA refuses permission to TNA MP to visit civil office

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 15:18 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Monday refused permission to the Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Mr. Mavai Senathirajah to pay an official visit to the office of the Medical Officer of Health (MOH) for Jaffna district which is housed in a portion of the Thellipalai Cancer Hospital which is located in the high security zone. The Thellipalai Cancer Hospital has been allowed to function since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, civil authorities said.
Full story >>

SLA prevents Maveerar Day preparations in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 November 2003, 14:42 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Tuesday prevented Tamil civilians renovating the welcome arch made of concrete across the junction where the Kachchai and Kandy roads meet in the heart of Chavakachcheri town in Jaffna district. The Chavakachcheri Urban Council (UC) constructed this welcome arch and it was destroyed in the military operation launched by the SLA in the year 2000, UC sources said.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's President and PM to meet again

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:22 GMT]
The second round of talks between the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge and Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe are expected to be held Tuesday at the Presidential office for the first time after Norway’s pulling out of the peace process it has brokered twenty two months ago with a ceasefire agreement between the United National Front government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, political sources said.


Full story >>

TNA denies report on President’s invitation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 18:16 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Sunday denied reports in a section of the media that the President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge has invited the TNA for urgent talks. The leader of the Tamil National Alliance parliamentary group Mr.R.Sampanthan told Tamilnet that the TNA has not received any invitation from the Presidential Secretariat for such talks.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka's President faces Hobson's choice - Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 13:14 GMT]
In a scathing editorial criticising Sri Lanka's President for endangering the peace process by her "precipitate and stupid" actions of proroguing the parliament and sacking the Defense, Interior and Communication Ministers, the Sunday Leader, a popular weekly published in Colombo said, "Ms. Kumaratunge now faces Hobson's choice: "She cannot preserve the status quo and govern; neither can she call an election and hope to come close to victory.""


Full story >>

Vadamarachchi fishermen refrain from going to sea

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 November 2003, 11:31 GMT]
Fishermen from the northern coastal villages in the Vadamarachi sector on the Jaffna peninsula say that they are unable to go out to sea as they fear their boats would crash against coral reef found around fisheries landing points. They say the coral reef should be removed to deepen the fishing landing points, but the Sri Lankan military (SLA) is obstructing their efforts, according to fisheries officials.
Full story >>

US encourages continued negotiations with LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 November 2003, 10:46 GMT]
Adam Ereli, Deputy Spokesman, US Department of State, in the daily press briefing on 14 November said that the US is "disappointed that Norway's Negotiators have found it impossible to move forward with the peace process," and that the US "encourage[s] the [Sri Lanka] Government to continue negotiations with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam."
Full story >>

TNA urges SL President to restore status quo ante

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 20:27 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance in a statement Friday urged Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, to take appropriate steps to ensure that the situation of a lack of clarity and uncertainty now prevailing in the country following the take over of three ministries is ended by restoring the status quo ante.
Full story >>

SLA said attacking Kiran villagers

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 November 2003, 04:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army personnel at the Kumburumoolai SLA camp in the Batticaloa district are attacking Tamil civilians following the recent death in nearby Kiran village of a soldier attached to the camp, who was part of a gang of soldiers engaged in several robberies in the village, sources said.
Full story >>

Referendum on de-merging NorthEast postponed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 17:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, has issued an extra gazette notification announcing the postponement of the referendum, which was to decide whether the temporarily merged Northern and Eastern provinces should be delinked or not, for another year. According to the gazette notification, the referendum for the east will be held on November 17th and for the north on December 01st next year, the Presidential secretariat said in a press release Thursday.
Full story >>

Naranthanai murder case accused to be tried in High Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 16:11 GMT]
The Jaffna Magistrate, Mr.R.T.Viknarajah, on Thursday committed the four accused in the Naranthanai murder case to stand trial in the High Court at the end of the non-summary proceedings, stating that there was prima facie case against the accused, legal sources said.
Full story >>

Political stability necessary for talks - Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 06:33 GMT]
"Mr. Pirapaharan sought guarantees from the Norwegians that the Sri Lankan government would continue its commitment to the cease fire and for the safety of the LTTE’s political activists in areas controlled by the Sri Lanka army," Mr. Thamilchelvan said, after the meeting between the Norwegian delegation and the leaders of the Liberation Tigers concluded in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
Full story >>

Pirapaharan, Norwegians discuss peace, Colombo crisis

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 November 2003, 05:36 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Minister, Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special envoy Eric Solheim, Norway’s Ambassador for Sri Lanka, Mr. Hans Brattskar met the Leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan, for discussions about the peace process and the current political crisis in Colombo in Kilinochchi Thursday morning.
Full story >>

TNA urges UNF not to abdicate responsibility

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 17:18 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance Wednesday told Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, that its support to the United National Front government was totally related to the peace process and assured him its continued support to further the peace process. The TNA urged the Prime Minister that the United National Front government should not abdicate its responsibility to meaningfully continue with the peace process.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka’s President meets Norwegian envoys

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:54 GMT]
Norwegian deputy foreign minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen, special peace envoy to Sri Lanka, Mr. Erik Solheim, Norwegian Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr.Hans Brattskar, and an officer of the Norwegian embassy in Colombo, Mr. Tomas Strangeland, met with Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunga, and discussed the resumption of peace talks with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at the Janadipathi Mandiraya (President’s Residence) in Colombo Wednesday, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA, Police harass TRO officer

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:26 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army and Police in Batticaloa stopped the vehicle in which the executive director of the Tamils’ Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) in the Batticaloa district, Mr. Kingsley Rajanayakam, was traveling on the Station road at about 7 p.m. Monday, and subjected him and his TRO vehicle to intrusive search and harassment, sources said.
Full story >>

Amparai STF-LTTE meeting postponed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 16:01 GMT]
The monthly meeting between the Liberation Tigers and Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force (STF) in the Amparai district, scheduled to be held Wednesday, was postponed indefinitely as a result of the current political and constitutional crisis in Sri Lanka, sources said.
Full story >>

‘Can’t achieve anything with the Constitution’ – Victor Ivan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 14:03 GMT]
“The situation is very critical and not very easy to resolve. This crisis will affect the peace process in a big way. Our constitution is the problem. It is wrong. We can’t achieve anything with it. It has to be reformed while a door is kept fully open for a solution to the ethnic conflict. The Prime Minister is a very smart leader but he is greedy for this constitution. He wants to keep it”, said Mr. Victor Ivan, editor of the influential Sinhala political weekly, Ravaya, in an interview with TamilNet Wednesday about the constitutional crisis in Colombo.
Full story >>

Four suspects escaped from Trinco prison

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 November 2003, 06:25 GMT]
Four Tamil youths who were arrested, allegedly for possessing fire arms, are reported to have escaped from Trincomalee prison, in the early hours of Wednesday morning, police said.
Full story >>