Tamil political prisoners cases to be expedited

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 March 2003, 04:01 GMT]
Attorney General (AG) of Sri Lanka, Mr.K.C.Kamalasabeyson, has instructed district court judges to expedite the hearings of cases of Tamil prisoners arrested under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), legal sources said. The only evidence against majority of Tamil political prisoners, many languishing in jails for several years, is self-confession obtained under threat of violence or torture, according to legal sources.


Full story >>

Resettlement should be about more than just politics

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 21:39 GMT]
While the attention of the peace talks and in the international community focuses on the internally displaced Tamils of the northern peninsula, the Tamils of the east, forced out by the Muslim Home Guards of the Sri Lanka Government have been forgotten. Residents of Tamil villages destroyed in the colonization of the east told TamilNet of their desire, and current inability, to return home.
Full story >>

Monitors says no evidence sunk ship carried weapons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 March 2003, 09:42 GMT]
Concluding an investigation into the sinking last week of an LTTE-owned vessel by the Sri Lanka Navy, international ceasefire monitors Monday confirmed the ship was a merchant vessel and said there was no evidence it was carrying weapons as claimed by the Navy. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) said it had not been informed in time of the interception of the vessel by the Navy and could not rule on the incident as it occurred almost 200 miles from Sri Lanka’s shore, in area where the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea applied.
Full story >>

SLA vacated schools in HSZ still closed

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2003, 23:31 GMT]
The Eluthumadduval North Maruthankulam Government Tamil Mixed School in the northern Jaffna district has not started functioning even after the Sri Lanka Army troops who occupied the school premises have vacated. Villagers complain that the school authorities are unable to repair the damaged buildings and restart the school, as the school is located in the Sri Lanka Army High Security Zone (HSZ).
Full story >>

NIE discriminates Tamil medium education -CTTU

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2003, 18:59 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) has requested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to take up the problems confronting Tamil medium education in the Northeast province at the next round of peace talks which is scheduled to begin Tuesday in Japan this week.
Full story >>

LTTE peace secretariat launches official website

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 March 2003, 15:57 GMT]
The peace secretariat of the LTTE has launched its official website from its headquarters in the Vanni, and the website, www.lttepeacesecretariat.com, will regularly carry the official press releases, current updates, events and photographs of the peace process, LTTE sources at the peace secretariat in Kilinochchi said.
Full story >>

Film on Women's struggle released in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 March 2003, 21:47 GMT]
Commemorating International Women Day, the Nitharsanam women film unit of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) released a full feature film, “Uppil Uraintha Uthirangal” (Blood stained sea), in Kaluthavalai Maha Vidyalayam, Batticaloa, Sunday sources said.


Full story >>

CTTU threatens strike over teacher appointments

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 March 2003, 16:18 GMT]
The Ceylon Tamil Teachers' Union (CTTU) warned the United National Front (UNF) government that if one thousand Tamil medium volunteer teachers now working in the northeast schools are not made permanent within one week the union will launch a continuous strike till the demand is met, in a statement issued Sunday by the General Secretary of the CTTU Mr. T. Mahasivam, said sources.
Full story >>

SLA blocks resettlement outside HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 March 2003, 18:01 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has refused permission for resettlers to build new houses or repair their damaged ones in Pannalai area close to Vasavilan which is outside the forward defence line of the Palaly high security zone (HSZ) in Jaffna district, civil sources said.


Full story >>

LTTE to attend Japan peace talks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 March 2003, 17:38 GMT]
The delegation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) will leave Colombo on Sunday night to attend peace talks in Hakone, Japan, scheduled to commence on March 18, said Mr.Anton Balasingham, LTTE theoretician, Saturday, addressing a press conference held at Killinochchi Peace Secretariat, sources said.
Full story >>

'Minister’s argument feeble' - Thamilselvan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 March 2003, 17:27 GMT]
“We wish to express our great displeasure and dispute the feeble argument you advanced to justify and legitimize the unwarranted and impulsive action taken by the Sri Lanka Navy in attacking and destroying our merchant vessel on the international waters,” said Mr.S.P.Thamilselvan, political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in a letter to the Defence Minister Mr.Tilak Marapane Saturday.


Full story >>

Bank of Tamil Eelam opens branch in Pallai

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 23:50 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) declared open a branch of Bank of Tamil Eelam today in Pallai, a town that lies between Elephant Pass and Jaffna on A9.
Full story >>

Hartal cripples Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 16:39 GMT]
Normal life in Trincomalee district was disrupted Friday due to the general shut down (hartal) and the resulting closure of all Tamil medium schools, offices of provincial and local institutions, shops, non-governmental organizations, state and private sector banks, sources said. The transport services were curtailed to minimum and almost all the roads in the east port town were deserted.


Full story >>

Unmanned Vehicle seen in Killinochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 12:06 GMT]
An Unmanned Air Vehicle (UAV) was seen in skies above Kilinochchi and Mankulam, circling and flying in different directions around 10 am for half an hour Friday, sources in Kilinochchi said.
Full story >>

Chandrika Kumaratunge meets Muslim delegation

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 11:28 GMT]
The President Ms Chandrika Kumaratunge held a two-hour discussion Thursday afternoon at presidential Secretariat with a delegation of Muslim parliamentarians on representation to Muslims in the peace talks now in progress between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The talks were conducted in a cordial atmosphere, Muslim sources said.
Full story >>

Norway's Deputy Foreign Minister holds talks with LTTE leaders

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 03:13 GMT]
Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Vidar Helgesen met with Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political head, S.P. Thamilchelvan, and Anton Balasingham, LTTE theoretician and leader of LTTE peace delegation, Thursday afternoon at Killinochchi, sources said.


Full story >>

Vanni TNA MPs fast, demanding Tamil detainees' release

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 March 2003, 02:19 GMT]
Three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Messrs Selvam Adaikalanathan, Raja Kuhaneswaran and Sivasakthi Anandan with hundreds of Tamil residents Thursday held a fasting campaign in front of the S.J.V.Chelvanayakam statue in Mannar town Thursday from morning till evening demanding the immediate release of all Tamil political prisoners from prisons at Kalutara and elsewhere in the south, sources said.
Full story >>

SLA stops Gurunagar ice factory construction

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2003, 23:28 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Thursday ordered the Northern District Fisheries Co-operative Federation (NDFCF) to stop the construction work of the ice factory immediately in the Gurunagar area in Jaffna town.
Full story >>

Tamil political prisoners' hunger strike continues

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2003, 23:26 GMT]
As the hunger strike of about sixty Tamil political prisoners at Kalutara prison entered its thirteenth day Thursday, demonstrations and a general shut down (hartal) are being organized in the North-East province demanding the immediate release of them.
Full story >>

Tamil medium volunteer teachers sit-in-protest continues

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 March 2003, 23:21 GMT]
The sit-in -protest campaign by the North-East Tamil medium volunteer teachers in front of the provincial ministry of education office in Trincomalee entered its eleventh day Thursday without any solution in sight.
Full story >>