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| Sunday, 5 September 2004 |
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JVP goes East for awakening From the Tamil press by S.Selvekumar JVP's protest rallies in the East, Erik Solheim's meeting with Anton Balasingham in London and finally the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission observing the government's language policy in the breach were highlighted in the Tamil press from Monday to Friday. Posters have appeared in Ampara, Kalmunai and Samanthurai in the East opposing the LTTE's ISGA proposals and an organisation calling itself "The Eastern Awakening" has claimed responsibility, the Virakesari reported. The paper quoting TNA secretary general R. Sampanthan said the party was expected to meet the new Indian High Commissioner Nirupama Rao on their planned visit to meet Indian leaders in New Delhi to brief them of the situation here. Thirty five Buddhist monks have planned to visit Jaffna peninsula in September on a fact finding mission about the displace people and find out direct from them their present position. The trip will last five days, the Thinakaran said. Following talks with S. P. Thamilselvan the TNA has appointed four commitees consisting its MPs to campaign for Tamil's rights locally and internationally. Minister D. M. Jayaratne addressing a meeting in Bulathsinhala has said that the LTTE's ISGA proposals would not bring any harm to the country since it was an internal arrangement within a united Sri Lanka, the Virakesari said on Tuesday. The Sudaroli quoting Police intelligence said that Tigers had established two camps in the Vilpattu jungle areas and large number of women cadres were undergoing training in these camps. At a meeting between the LTTE and TNA in Kilinochchi on Monday it was resolved that further talks will be held only if the President agrees on the ISGA issue, the Thinakkural said in a banner headline. The paper in a front page story said that CWC leader Arumugam Thondaman was engaged in a lengthy discussion with an important government minister on Monday night and before this meeting he had consultations with the party hierarchy in Nuwara Eliya from where he was airlifted to Colombo. Health workers in North East state run hospitals will launch an indefinite strike from Wednesday the Thinakaran said and added that doctors and nurses will not participate in the proposed strike action. Norway's special envoy Erik Solheim who met LTTE theoretician Anton Balasingham on Tuesday in London is expected to brief President Kumaratunga on the outcome of the talks on September 13, the Thinakkural said. An Australian based Sri Lankan group named "Sri Lanka Human Rights Organisation" has filed a case in the International Court charging that Norway is helping the LTTE on military matters, the paper said in a front page story. Anton Balasingham has told Erik Solheim who met him, in London on Tuesday that peace talks and peace depends on favourable actions that have to be taken by the Kumaratunga government, the Sudaroli said in its lead story. The paper also said that Solheim arrives in the island on September 13. A Muslim youth was shot dead and two others seriously injured in Eravur on Wednesday and an Islamic militant group is responsible for the incident, the Police suspect. This militant group had earlier distributed handbills opposing Muslims indulging in gambling, drinking and prostitution, the Sudaroli reported on Thursday. The SLMM has said that willingness to meet and hold discussions between the LTTE and the Army is a positive sign that there won't be a resumption of war, the Thinakaran said on Thursday. Following Indian intelligence that war could resume in Sri Lanka Indian Navy has strengthened patrolling in the seas off Kerala and Tamil Nadu, the Thinakkural said in a Chennai datelined story. Police investigating the killing of an Army informant Suresh in Pepiliyana recently has arrested his wife and sister-in-law. Police suspect that they had a hand in the killing. Both were produced before courts and remanded till September 15. Over 2000 Sinhalese held a massive protest rallying Kalmunai on Wednesday shouting slogans against the LTTE's ISGA proposals and demanding the demerger of the North East, the Virakesari reported. The paper said they had travelled from Colombo, Matara and Trincomalee but no locals participated and they were only mere spectators. The protesters shouted slogans in support of the Muslims. In another story Virakesari said that a group of TNA parliamentarians met French diplomats and told them that President Kumaratunga and her government were responsible for the breakdown in peace talks. Batticaloa will observe September 5 as a day of killings. This is to commemorate the killing of 158 people who were refugees and living in the premises of the Eastern university. It was alleged the Army arrested them on September 5, 1990 and later gunned them down. It has been decided to observe this day as a day of mourning. People have been asked to fly black or white flags in front of their homes, shops will be closed and transport will come to a standstill, the Thinakkural reported on Friday. The JVP held a protest rally in Trincomalee on Thursday and requested all shops to be closed. This was to protest against the LTTE's ISGA proposals. However shop owners did not heed their request. Later about 100 JVP members stormed the office of the SLMM and forcibly occupied the premises requesting the SLMM to secure the release of two homeguards in LTTE custody, the Sudaroli said. In another front page story the paper said parliamentarian P. Chandrasekeran left for Kilinochchi on Friday to arrange a meeting between Malwatte Mahanayake Venerable Thibottuwawe Sumangala Thera and the LTTE. The Virakesari pointed out that the JVP, CP and the LSSP did not participate in the foundation stone laying ceremony for a new SLFP headquarters building that took place at Battaramulla on Thursday. Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in reply to a request by Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram has said that until security measures and infrastructure facilities were in place the Colombo - Tuticorin passenger shipping service will not commence, the Thinakkural said in a Chennai datelined story. The Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has contravened the government's language policy by sending a report and the covering letter only in the Sinhala language to a Tamil complainant Miss Devika Sivakumaran. This was pointed out to the Tamil press by Rev. Fr. Xavier Karunaratnam, head of the North East Human Rights Secretariat, the Sudaroli reported. |
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