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| Sunday, 30 May 2004 |
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Weekly update from the Tamil press by S. Selvakumar The Tamil press that expressed doubts on the continuation of talks on the peace talks when Norwegian special envoy Erik Solheim failed to meet with the President on two occasions since last Monday, breathed a sigh of relief when Mrs. Kumaratunga met him on Thursday evening and held a lengthy and positive discussion. The 'Thinakkural' of Tuesday on the killing of Kumaravel Thambiah (47), Dean of the Faculty of Economics of the Eastern University said the deceased was married to a lady in Batticaloa who is a lecturer at the Batticaloa Teachers Training College. During Karuna's reign of Batticaloa he was chased out of Batticaloa by Karuna's cadres. He went and lived in his village in Vavuniya and returned to Batticaloa only after Karuna was ousted from Batticaloa by the LTTE. In another front page story the paper said the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) refused to comment on a request made by the Army Commander through a letter addressed to the SLMM not to mention the ranks of LTTE cadres in statements issued from time to time. Parliamentarian and leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Rauf Hakeem said that his party has prepared an alternate report to ensure the Muslim community's political strength in a permanent solution for peace and this will soon be submitted to religious leaders and intellectuals for their approval. The Virakesari of Tuesday quoted Jaffna District Secretary (GA) S. Pathmanadan as having told a press conference in Jaffna the previous day that out of a total 126,000 families receiving free dry rations since 1996 only 66,536 would be entitled in the future. This he said was on the orders of the Ministry of Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement. The paper in a different story quoted a Jathika Hela Urumaya spokesman that the JHU will soon distribute CDs where the happenings in Parliament on the day of the election of the Speaker are recorded. The Thinakaran said inquiries over the suspension of three SLMC parliamentarians would commence soon and it will be conducted in an impartial manner. Ms. N. Rajalakshmi, a minister in the Andrapradesh State Assembly resigned her post on the request of her husband former Chief Minister Janarthan Reddy who got elected to the Lokh Sabah but was not given a cabinet portfolio in the Central government. Secretary General of the Reconstruction, Rehabilitation and Resettlement Authority Harim Peiris was in Jaffna Wednesday to hold urgent talks with Government Agent S. Pathmanadan on the announcement the latter made on Monday that almost half the recipients of free dry rations will not be entitled for same in future. The Thinakaran reported on Wednesday. Deputy Minister of Information and Media Segu Issadeen told Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam at the Bishop's House in Jaffna that Muslims will never be a hindrance to the peace process. An Indian youth Muralitharan from Kerala swam the Palk Straits from Talai Mannar to Danushkodi in South India on Monday in a record time of 11 hours, a distance of 18 miles, Thinakaran said. The Virakesari of Wednesday carried a picture of V. Anandasangaree, the TULF leader and TNA Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran seated next to each other at the India Cultural House witnessing a ceremony. The paper said both did not talk a word to each other until the whole ceremony was over. Students of the Vavuniya Campus of the Jaffna University boycotted lectures on Tuesday demanding basic facilities like hostels, canteen and a playground. The Thinakkural said that Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim who failed to meet the President on Tuesday as scheduled earlier, travelled to Vanni on Wednesday to meet with the Tiger hierarchy. Later in the evening he will meet with the President. The paper said that depending on the outcome of the discussions he may travel again to Vanni during the course of the week. Only after the successful outcome of Solheim's shuttle diplomacy, Norway would announce a date and venue for the recommencement of peace talks. Ven. Athureliya Rathanaseeha Thera, spokesman for the Jathika Hela Urumaya has said that the JHU will hold a massive protest rally opposing Norwegian facilitation in the peace process which he said is partial towards the LTTE. He did not mention as to when and where the protest rally would be held. The LTTE is opposed to the government's stand that the core issues and the ISGA proposals should be discussed simultaneously and this difference of opinion has retarded the pace of the talks on talks, the Thinakkural of Thursday opined. When Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa congratulated the newly elected Indian PM Manmohan Singh. The latter has assured his country's support to the peace negotiations in Sri Lanka. Government has shown interest to start environmental - friendly small power projects in place of the Upper Kotmale power project. The Thinakaran on Thursday quoted Thamilselvan saying that the LTTE did not ask for any guarantee from the government in writing. Instead has said that an assurance from Norway would suffice. Harim Peiris has told a conference in Jaffna that the distribution of free rations would continue, the Thinakaran said. The Virakesari on Thursday said that Thamilselvan answering a reporter's question confirmed that the LTTE has an Air Force and a plane. He has described the extension of the Indian ban on LTTE as "unfortunate". The Thinakkural on Friday said that extensive discussions are being held between Minister Mangala Samaraweera and Arumugam Thondaman to woo the CWC to the government. Two ministerial portfolios and two deputy ministerships are being offered and the outcome would be known by next week. Sri Lankan Tamil refugees returning to the country from India have charged that the Indian government is not taking any action to repatriate those willing to come back. The Virakesari said that the DMK of Tamil Nadu has welcomed the new Indian government's move to abolish the Prevention of Terrorism Act (POTA). It is recalled that several Tamil Nadu politicians were arrested and detained in the past on the orders of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha under the POTA for speaking on behalf of the LTTE. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission has commenced its own investigations into the killing of K. Thambiah head of the Economics Faculty of the Eastern University. The Thinakaran said that a 21 member delegation from the Tamil Nadu fisher community was told by a local delegation of fishermen in Colombo on Thursday that poaching by Indian fishermen in the Northern seas has endangered the livelyhood of over 2 lakhs of Northern fisher folk. Indian Central Government's Road and Shipping Transport Minister T. R. Balu has sought a decision from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha to commence a passenger transport shipping service between Colombo and Tuticorin. |
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