IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna starve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 06:01 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, extended an urgent call to local and International Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna to provide food for the IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna from Vavuniyaa internment camps, now detained in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) special camps and other places in the islets of Jaffna. The dry food rations given to the IDPs under World Food Programme (WFP) are insufficient to meet the needs as no food is provided by the government to them, the GA said in an urgent meeting held with the representatives of NGOs in Jaffna Secretariat, Tuesday.

Altogether 7,742 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the islets of Jaffna have been brought from Vavuniyaa internment camps until Monday to the islets.

These IDPs are again detained SLN special camps in Veala’nai, Oorkaavattu’rai, Nedunththeevu and Kaarainakar while some of them are held in the abandoned houses and some staying with their relatives.

The IDPs had fled their homes in the islets in 1990 due to Sri Lanka Army offensives.

The NGOs in Jaffna who are already taking care of the IDPs in Jaffna peninsula are now being urgently requested to feed the IDPs starving in the islets of Jaffna.