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| Sunday, 17 October 2004 |
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Features |  |
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Ranil for Sethusamudram From the Tamil press by S. Selvakumar
Visiting Switzerland Foreign Minister who met her local counterpart promised her country's co-operation to recommence peace talks with the LTTE, the Virakesari said on Monday. In another front page story the paper reported a large demonstration in Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu staged by fishermen demanding the release of five Indian fishermen detained in Mannar. Security Security has been tightened in the Polonnaruwa - Batticaloa border areas on the orders of the President, the Sudaroli said. Following inter-religious clashes security was heightened in Kattankudy, the paper said in another story and added that armed police patrolled the streets. The Palaly airport runway would be restructured with funds provided by the government and it was decided to reject the American or Indian aid in this regard, the paper further said, in another report. Deputy Media Minister Segu Issadeen has told that North East Muslim's problems could be solved only by talking to the LTTE and not with the government or the UNP, the Thinakkural said. In another story the paper said Norwegian Deputy Foreign Minister Vidar Helgessen would meet with Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe in New Delhi. The Thinakaran on Tuesday reported that an Indian vessel with explosives was detained by the Navy in Jaffna when it strayed into Sri Lankan waters. The Virakesari quoted Norwegian Ambassador Hans Bratskaar saying there was no immediate possibility of commencing peace talks and his country was very keen that the ceasefire should hold. Demonstration in East The Sudaroli said Sinhala organisations in the East would organise a large scale demonstration calling for the release of the two homeguards abducted by the LTTE since the one month time deadline given to the government to secure their release had already passed. All privately owned Tamil dailies carried pictures of TNA MPs meeting the Malwatte Mahanayake Thera alongside the pictures of demonstrations by certain groups opposed to the meeting. Tamil Nadu fishermen If the Indian government fails to secure the release of Tamil Nadu fishermen, now in the custody of Sri Lankan authorities and return their trawlers as well before October 26, Indian fishermen would arrive in Jaffna in 10,000 trawlers and seek refuge with the Sri Lankan authorities, the Sudaroli said on Wednesday. Former UNF Minister Bandula Gunawardena has told the Virakesari that the government would require Rs. 97 billion to fulfil promises it had pledged to the people before the last general elections and added that the government would be in a predicament to find this sum at the budget. The Thinakkural led with the story on the detailed discussion Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe had with Norwegian Foreign Minister Vidar Helgessen in New Delhi on Tuesday. In a separate story the paper said the Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has told Wickremesinghe that peace talks should begin soon with the LTTE to find a political solution within a united Sri Lanka. The Thinakaran said the ten Tiger cadres whom the LTTE wanted in exchange for the two homeguards abducted, had been released on bail and predicted that the homeguards would be released soon. Referendum Upcountry People's Front leader and MP P. Chandrasekeran speaking to journalists in London called upon the government to conduct a referendum in the North East on LTTE's ISGA proposals, the Virakesari reported on Thursday. The paper in another front page story said witnesses identified two police officers who assaulted the Jaffna Human Rights Commission official Ruwan Chandrasekera. It also said of the possibility of four Hela Urumaya monks, all MPs, joining the government ranks following a split within the JHU. The Sudaroli said the hartal called by the North East Sinhala Association in Trincomalee demanding the release of two homeguards was a utter flop. The report said police in large numbers dispersed some people who attempted to block the roads. Muslims not pawns Deputy Media Minister Segu Issadeen was quoted in the Thinakaran during a prize giving ceremony in Akkaraipattu that Muslims should not be made pawns by the majority community to undermine the struggle of the Tamil people. Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was thanked by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi for the lease of the Trincomalee oil tanks to India, the Thinakkural said in its lead story. The Sudaroli had two lead stories on Friday. One indicated the government had prepared its alternate proposals to the LTTE's proposals and the other story quoted LTTE sources as telling there was no necessity for the LTTE to study the government proposals. All Tamil papers carried the news of the release of ten LTTE cadres on bail at the Batticaloa Magistrate courts and predicted the two homeguards abducted by the LTTE would be released soon. Canal project Wickremesinghe told Indian reporters at the Chennai airport that he was not opposed to the Sethusamudram canal project in the Palk Straits, the Virakesari said in a front page story. Meanwhile the Thinakaran in a front page story said the government had appointed a ministerial sub committee to take up the canal project issue with Indian authorities and submit a report on its pros and cons. |
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| Produced by Lake House |
Tamil dailies gave prominence to the meeting between Mahanayake Thera
of the Malwatte Chapter and a group of TNA MPs. The hartal in Trincomalee
demanding the release of abducted homeguards was widely covered in all the
papers and Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe's 'no opposition' stand
on the Sethusamudram canal project carried on Friday will sure to be a
subject of debate in the coming weeks.
