Nallur festival turns Jaffna into spiritual town

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 August 2003, 11:44 GMT]
"Expatriate Tamils are invading Jaffna in astonishing numbers to attend the annual temple festival at Nallur Kandaswamy Kovil. Tamils in other parts of Northeast and the South are also making use of the prevailing atmosphere of peace to make their annual pilgrimage to the Nallur festival," said a delighted street vendor who has seen a marked rise in his business.
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Police recruitment begins in the east

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 20:26 GMT]
Interviews began Saturday to select 550 new recruits for Sri Lanka’s police service in the eastern province at police stations in Batticaloa, Trincomalee, Amparai, Kalmunai, Akkaraipattu, Muttur and Pottuvil, eastern region Deputy Inspector General of Police, Mr. Neville Wijesinghe, said Saturday.
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War shattered town seeks freedom to bury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 16:39 GMT]
Three years ago the people of Chavakachcheri saw their town being bombed and shelled into gnarled ruins and dusty rubble heaps. The guns have fallen silent and the fortunate few are keenly rebuilding. But the resettling residents of Chavakachcheri are also eager to enjoy their freedoms long circumscribed by the war – including the right to bury their dead in the town’s cemetery.
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Trinco to observe Hartal against anti-peace elements

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 15:44 GMT]
Trincomalee Resurgence Tamil Community (TRTC), a socially active Tamil organization, has called on the Tamil speaking people in the Trincomalee district to observe a one day general shut down (hartal) on Monday to show their opposition to anti-peace elements who are bent on derailing the present peace process, sources said.


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STF refuses to vacate camp encompassing private homes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 12:36 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) soldiers in Urani in Pottuvil, Amparai district, have refused to vacate the STF camp that encompasses several private residences and demanded that the owners should sell their property to the STF, security sources in the east said.


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Sencholai hosts CD release by expatriate Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 10:35 GMT]
Archana, a 9 year old Tamil girl born in Norway, released her 12-song Tamil Compact Disc, at a ceremony attended by senior members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organized by the Sencholai Children's Home located in Puthukudiyiruppu in Vanni earlier this month.
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SL Govt. servants at meeting on Pongu Thamil face SLA action

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 04:13 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government servants who participated at a meeting held last Sunday, August 17, in Vavuniya, in preparation for the Pongu Thamil celebrations in the city to be conducted on September 15, have been asked to provide an explanation for their attendance at the meeting by the Sri Lanka Army, sources in Vavuniya said.
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Jaffna undergrads study Potpathi villagers' problems

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 16:55 GMT]
A group of Jaffna university students and members of the International Student's Association of Tamil Eelam held a discussion Friday with the residents of Potpathi village in the Vadamarachchi east division in Jaffna district under the auspices of Jaffna University Students' Union (JUSU) regarding an attempt by the Sri Lanka Army to construct several camps and checkpoints surrounding the village, sources said.
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SLA restricts video, camera equipment inside Weber stadium

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) 23-3rd brigade commander Brigadier Rajitha De Silva has barred public and journalists from taking camera and video equipment inside Weber sports stadium in Batticaloa, security sources in the east said. The Brigadier said that the order was issued due to the security sensitive nature of the location which falls within the High Security Zone (HSZ).


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SLN arrests LTTE women cadres in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 10:18 GMT]
Soldiers of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested two women cadres of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who were engaged in political activities in Thiruperunthurai village in Batticaloa district yesterday, local reports said. After the intervention of LTTE’s Batticaloa political section head E. Senathirajah, the women cadres were released after 45 minutes of interrogation.


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LTTE, Sri Lanka Police meet in Kalmunai

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 August 2003, 09:45 GMT]
Members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and officers of Sri Lanka Police met in Kalmunai at 5pm yesterday at the Deputy Police Commissioner’s office to review the tense situation prevailing in Kalmunai and to formulate solutions to de-escalate tensions in the area, security sources said.


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‘Education for everyone is our goal’- LTTE official

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:57 GMT]
“Sections of the Sinhala media in the south are spreading deliberate falsehoods about the struggle for our rights. The Singhalese can enjoy the fruits of peace only if our people are also able to live in peace. Tamils have been cheated by successive Sinhala regimes. But today they are politically alert. Our people are very patriotic. They are prepared to pay any price to win their rights,” said Mr. C. Ilamparithi, the head of the political division of the Liberation Tigers in Jaffna, addressing a gathering in the northern peninsula Thursday.
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SLMM head to hold talks with LTTE's Trinco leaders

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 16:56 GMT]
The Norwegian head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Major General (Retd.)Triggve Tellefsen, is scheduled to hold talks with the Trincomalee district area commander of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Colonel Pathuman, and the Trincomalee district political head, Mr.S.Tilak, on Monday morning around 11 a.m., SLMM sources said.
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Hartal in Muslim areas in Ampara

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 15:17 GMT]
A Muslim community vigilantes' group organized a general shut down (hartal) in Ampara Thursday to condemn the disappearance of two Muslim youths from Sainthamaruthu in the Ampara district, and to seek their release if anyone had abducted them, sources said.
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Maintaining ethnic ratio in Police recruitment imperative - TNA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 10:40 GMT]
At a conference held Thursday morning between the Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation led by its parliamentary group leader Mr.R.Sampanthan at the parliamentary complex, it was decided to summon all Tamil and Muslim parliamentarians for a conference on Tuesday or Wednesday next week before finalizing the list of new recruits for the police force in the eastern province, political sources in Colombo said.
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Villages in need of demining identified

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 August 2003, 03:00 GMT]
Mr. R. S. Jeyabalan, the national executive director of the demining group FSD (Swiss Demining Federation), said Wednesday that 59 villages in the Vavuniya and Mannar districts have been identified as infested with land mines and booby traps and in need of demining.
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Thihilivattai fishermen obtain boats through TEEDOR's micro-loan scheme

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 21:02 GMT]
The Batticaloa-Amparai branch of Tamil Eelam Economic Development Organization (TEEDOR), the development authority attached to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), provided 10 fishing boats and fishing nets to fishermen from Thihilivattai in Kalkudah under a micro-loan scheme during an event organized today at 10 am at the Thihilivattai Government Tamil Mixed school, sources said.
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Police attempt to arrest LTTE activist by force thwarted

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 18:14 GMT]
A group of Sri Lanka Police personnel from the Point Pedro Police attempted to remove a Sea Tiger (Naval wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) activist from his house forcibly in Vathiri in the Vadamarachchi division of Jaffna district Wednesday afternoon, and the attempt was thwarted by the LTTE’s political head in Vadamaradchi, civil sources said, adding that tension prevailed in the area.
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SL President threatens to de-merge northeast province

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President, Ms. Chandrika Kumaratunge, issued a warning through her media spokesman, Mr.Harim Peiris, Wednesday that she would not hesitate to de-merge the northeast province if the United National Front government failed to quell the violence and restore peace in the east, media sources said.
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SL Police to recruit 500 in the East

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 15:00 GMT]
Five hundred constables and fifty reserve sub-inspectors are to be recruited to serve in several police divisions in the eastern province, Sri Lanka’s Police Headquarters in Colombo said in a press release Wednesday. The decision by the Defence Ministry to recruit more police personnel for the East was made following a conference held by the Ministry Tuesday in Colombo to review the security situation in the eastern province, sources said.
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