'SLA destroyed houses in HSZ during ceasefire'

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 18:50 GMT]
Peoples' Organizations in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district Monday accused the Sri Lanka Army of destroying their houses and other buildings in the villages of Maravanpulo and Kovilankandy, located in the high security zones, after the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came into operation, sources said.
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Tamil, Muslim MPs to meet to discuss eastern situation

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 16:14 GMT]
At the conference convened Monday evening by Sri Lanka’s Prime Minister, Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe, at his Temple Trees official residence in Colombo, to discuss the ethnic tensions between Muslim and Tamil communities in the East, parliamentarians of the Tamil National Alliance, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and the Eastern Muslim Parliamentarians' Union attended and unanimously decided to meet again after holding extensive talks with the representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, political sources in Colombo said.
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Sathurukondan massacre to be remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 13:52 GMT]
The People of Sathurukondan village in the Batticaloa district will hold the thirteenth year Remembrance Day of 184 Tamil civilians massacred by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at the village, on 9th September 1990, civil sources said.
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Pirapaharan opens Tamil Eelam Police HQ

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 17:03 GMT]
Speaking during the opening ceremony of the Tamil Eelam Police Head quarters complex today, Sunday 7th September 2003, at 06.40 am in Kilinochchi, Leader of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) V. Pirpaharan congratulated the Chief of Police, the young men and women of the police service and the liberation fighters who contributed to the growth of the Tamil Eelam police force, Voice of Tigers (VoT) radio said this morning.
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SLA blocks resettlement in Meeravodai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 13:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission to 352 displaced Tamil families to resettle in their former homes and land in Meeravodai in Valaichenai Pradeshya Sabai in Batticaloa district, said Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO).


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Fishermen urge GoSL not to release detained Indian trawlers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 September 2003, 03:29 GMT]
Jaffna District Fisheries Societies Federation (JDFSF) called on the Sri Lanka Government not to return captured Indian trawlers caught poaching in the northern waters of Sri Lanka until the Indian authorities release boats belonging to Sri Lankan fishermen which are being detained at Rameswaram in South India by the Indian coast guard authorities, civil group sources said.


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Jaffna against holding national sports festival

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 20:54 GMT]
Tamileelam Sports Co-ordinating Committee (TSCC) Saturday said in a statement that the decision of the Central Ministry of Sports to hold the 29th National Sports Festival in Jaffna is an act against the feelings of Tamil people, sources said.


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Madhu road to be opened for public

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 14:02 GMT]
After a high level meeting with the Mannar district Government Agent (GA) V.Visvalingam and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday at the SLA camp located at Madhu road junction it was announced that the Madhu road leading to the famous Madhu shrine from Vavuniya-Mannar highway will be opened for public use, security sources said.


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Restoration work begins at Kanniya Nadesar temple

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 September 2003, 02:34 GMT]
Restoration work of the Kanniya-Sivayogapuram Nadesar Temple, destroyed by the Sri Lanka security forces and Sinhala mobs 20 years ago during the 1983 July pogrom, commenced Friday. The only temple for Lord Nadesar in the island is located along the Trincomalee-Anuradhapura road, about 5 km northwest of the Trincomalee town, sources said.
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Fishing boats to leave Nagapatinam for Trincomalee Sunday

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 20:52 GMT]
Sixty one fishing crafts of Tamil fishermen of Trincomalee, being kept in the custody of Indian customs since 1990, will leave Nagapatinam port in Tamilnadu in South India Sunday to Trincomalee and the boats are expected to arrive in Trincomalee Monday or Tuesday, said the North East Rehabilitation, Resettlement and Social Welfare Ministry Secretary, Mr.S.Sivathasan, sources said.
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SLA reneges on agreement, orders house demolition

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 20:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Friday ordered an internally displaced person (IDP), who had constructed a new house in the Ponnalai area of Jaffna district, to demolish his house, saying it is located inside the high security zone, even though permission to construct the house had been granted under a resettlement program, security sources said.
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Women’s gathering emphasizes Tamil women’s potential

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 17:35 GMT]
At the women’s gathering held Thursday at the Vavuniya Town Hall, the leaders and members of the women’s wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam from all districts emphasized the importance of solving Tamil women’s problems together and attaining women’s liberation along with National liberation, and discussed the contributions Tamil women have made to the struggle of the Tamil people for self-determination, sources said.
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Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The people of Batticaloa district Friday observed the Black September Day, remembering the Tamil civilians, men, women, and children killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Muslim guards thirteen years ago on September 9 when 158 Tamil civilians who sought refuge in the East University Refugee camp and 184 Tamil villagers from Sathurukondan village disappeared after their arrest by the SLA soldiers, sources in Batticaloa said.


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LTTE delegation meets British Tory leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 17:22 GMT]
The political leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Mr. S.P.Thamilchelvan, met with the Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the British Parliament and Shadow Foreign Secretary, Mr. Michael Ancram,M.P., and Lord Ashcroft, the former treasurer of the British Conservative party, in Colombo Thursday shortly after his return from abroad, LTTE peace secretariat sources said.
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SLA constructs new road through Thenmaradchi lagoon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 15:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army is now engaged in constructing a new 3 km long road from Kachchai harbor in Thenmaradchi division in the Jaffna district through the nearby lagoon to connect the Chalambamthivu and Aruhuveli areas in the south. A large number of army personnel have been deployed to construct a bridge with Palmyra logs and iron bars to connect the lagoon with the land, civil sources in the peninsula said.
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SLMM raises LTTE flag issue at Tamil women's event

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 14:28 GMT]
When the Tamil Eelam National flag was about to be raised at an event organized by Tamil women’s organizations in the Northeast at the Vavuniya Town Hall Thursday, the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission objected to it, saying that such flag-raising in the Sri Lanka Army controlled area violated the ceasefire agreement. However, following an argument between the LTTE’s women wing political leaders at the event and the SLMM’s foreign monitors, the flag was raised and the event went on peacefully, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Japanese peace envoy Akashi to visit Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 11:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka's Cabinet spokesman, Minister Mr. G.L.Peiris, said Thursday at the weekly press briefing that the Japanese special peace envoy, Mr.Yasushi Akashi will be visiting Sri Lanka on September 11 to preside over a conference on the proper utilization of funds pledged at the Tokyo donor conference held in June, media sources said.
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LTTE delegation returns home

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 11:01 GMT]
The delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam led by its political wing leader, Mr.S.P.Thamilchelvan, and comprising Batticaloa-Amparai district special commander Col Karuna and Director of the LTTE Peace Secretariat Mr.Puleedevan returned to Colombo Thursday early morning after about two weeks' stay abroad, where the delegation held extensive discussion with their constitutional and legal experts in the French capital, Paris, sources said.
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Tamil youth killed in Sammanthurai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 16:06 GMT]
A Tamil youth in the Sammanthurai area of Ampara district was killed close to a paddy field Wednesday, sources in Sammanthurai said.
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Part time English teachers picket NE provincial education ministry

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 15:49 GMT]
The activities of the North East Provincial Ministry of Education and the Provincial Department of Education located at Orr's Hill in Trincomalee, the administrative capital of the NE Provincial Council, came to a standstill Wednesday due to picketing by hundreds of part time English teachers who launched a fasting campaign on a rotating basis Monday, demanding that they should be granted permanency, sources said.
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