Colombo deprives renovation of four key jetties in Mannaar district

Students, families mark 11 years since genocidal massacre of 53 school girls

The 11th anniversary of 53 Eezham Tamil school girls and staff who perished in the genocidal aerial massacre, which was known as Chegnchoalai (Sencholai) killing in 2006, was emotionally marked by the families of the victims at Vallipunam in Mullaiththeevu and also by hundreds of Jaffna University students, academics and the staff inside the university premises in Jaffna on Monday. SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa was briefed at least 12 hours before the genocidal attack by Roshan Goonatilake, the commander of the SL Air Force. SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was instructing the state-owned broadcast apparatus to carry a radio message of warning against school children attending LTTE trainings, said a group of rights activists who have gathered details on the preceding events in Colombo in the final hours before the fateful day. Full story >>

Chinese interests eye India's closest coast in Jaffna

Occupying Colombo is silently promoting Chinese firms to enter militarised Poonakari (Pooneryn), which is situated in a controlling location linking Vanni with Jaffna Peninsula, with Palk Bay and Jaffna Lagoon on either side. During the times of Rajapaksa regime, China was showing interest in a plan for building an airport in Poonakari. Under Maithiripala and Wickramasinghe, Chinese firms are being invited by Colombo without the knowledge of Northern Provincial Council. In the meantime, Chinese fishing firms are also entering Ariyaalai East and the islets off Jaffna for fishing and freshwater crab farming. The SL Ministry of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, which is complicit in grabbing the territorial seas of Vanni away from Eezham Tamils, is bringing in Chinese firms to Ariyaalai East and the islands off Jaffna without informing the NPC, civil sources in Jaffna said. Full story >>

Jaffna village terrorised by ‘revenge arrests’ of STF

At least 42 young Eezham Tamils have been subjected to targeted cordon and search arrests in recent days at the village of Thunnaalai in Vadamaraadchi Soth-West, Jaffna. The so-called ‘Special Task Force’, which is a full-fledged military commando force organised under police of genocidal Sri Lanka. The normalcy of the village is completely marred by the cordon and search operations almost on a daily basis. The series of arrests have come as a targeted revenge against the poverty-stricken Tamil villagers, who smashed an SL police post a month ago when the police gunned down 24-year-old Yogarajah Thinesh, who was seated a vehicle after scooping sand at Kudaththanai and escaping police hunt. Full story >>

Protests reinvigorate grassroots movement in North

Grassroots activists from the North and progressive groups from the South have joined hands with the backing of civil and community groups in three of the five districts in North reinvigorating the struggle demanding dignified releases of Tamil political prisoners from the prisons of genocidal Sri Lanka. On Tuesday, coordinated protests were staged at the towns of Vavuniyaa, Ki’linochchi and in the city of Jaffna. The protests were attended by large number of representatives across a wide-spectrum of grassroots and civil groups as well as trade unions. University students, teachers and non-academic staff as well as religious dignitaries took part in the protest organized on the 5th Year Remembrance of two Tamil political prisoners, Nimalarooban from Vavuniyaa and Dilrukshan from Jaffna, who were killed following severe torture meted out on them at Anuradapura prison. Full story >>

Facing displacement since 1977, Tamils of up-country origin fight for Mannaar village

Around 30 Tamil families, who were living at a locality called A’naik-kaddu in Thampanaik-kulam GS division in Madu division of Mannaar district, have witnessed several displacements. They were initially uprooted from Kurunegala district in the North Western Province after SL State-sponsored anti-Tami pogroms in 1977 before the times of Tamil militancy. Vanni and Madu region was their choice for ensuring their security in the country of Eezham Tamils. However, twenty years later, they were again forced to displace from their village in Madu division to a ‘refugee camp’ at Neluk-ku’lam in Vavuniyaa district following a military operation code named ‘Edi Bala’ that targeted their village, which was under the administrative control of the Liberation Tigers in 1997. Still, they are refused entry to A’naik-kaddu, which they regard as their native village. Full story >>

Occupying Colombo steps up militarization of Jaffna streets through STF

Hundreds of armed ‘Special Task Force’ commandos have been patrolling the streets of Jaffna in recent days under the pretext of controlling ‘gang violence’ against SL Police. In the meantime, occupying Sinhala military and police Establishments in Jaffna have been falsely claiming that the former LTTE members were behind gang violence. Four Tamil gangsters, have been detained for alleged involvement in violence against SL Police. The SL Police was falsely claiming that the detained youth as former LTTE members. Refuting the false claims by the SL Police and SL military, legal activists in Jaffna questioned the credibility of such claim by referring to the age of detained youth. Tamil youth from Jaffna were completely blocked from entering LTTE controlled Vanni already in 2006. The youth arrested now were 10-year-old children at that time, they said. Full story >>

New Sinhala police station disturbs peace in resettled Vadamunai, Batticaloa

Some normalcy returned to Vadamunai village situated 65 km northwest of Batticaloa city two years ago when the occupying Sinhala military vacated its military camp, which was situated at a building of the Irrigation Department, which was located on the left bank of Vadamunai tank. Resettled Tamil women were continuously harassed by the Sinhala soldiers stationed at the irrigation building whenever the women went to the tank for water and bathing needs. A few days ago, a Sinhala policemen have stationed at the locality, causing trauma and fear among the resettled villagers. The Tamil people living in the interior village of Batticaloa district, is a border village to Polonnaruwa district of North Central Province. The survivors from Vadamunai village, who witnessed one of the brutal massacres, Mayilanthanai massacre in 1992, only managed to resettled back during the times of the LTTE. Full story >>