1,27,905 IDPs still held in Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 2009, 03:31 GMT]
While Sri Lanka government claims that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres can move freely, 1,27,905 of them are still being held in the camps, according to information given by Northern Province governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, in a special press meet held by him Monday in Jaffna Secretariat.
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Death threats to journalists in Jaffna, a 'defence matter' – NP Governor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 2009, 02:49 GMT]
The Governor of Northern Province, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, said that the issue of death threats being issued to journalists at a time when the government claims that normalcy reigns in Jaffna is a matter of defence and hence out of his area of power, in response to questions raised by journalists, in a special press meet held by the governor Monday in Jaffna Secretariat.
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Indian parliament expunges remarks on genocide in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 December 2009, 08:13 GMT]
When Communist Party of India (CPI) member D. Raja in his speech Friday in Rajya Sabha pointed out what happened in the island of Sri Lanka was full-scale war and genocide against Tamils with the assistance of Government of India, the Chair ordered to expunge the word genocide from parliamentary records. The verbatim but lengthy debate Friday questioned the government on IDPs, Kachchatheevu, Tamil Nadu fishermen, and about sending a parliamentary delegation to meet Tamil IDPs. But when it came to the core issue of political solution, the debate had nothing new to offer as from Indian foreign minister S M Krishna to main opposition BJP’s Vekaiah Naidu were still harping on treating the Eezham Tamils not as a nation but as a ‘minority’ and perceiving solutions based on obsolete 13th Amendment. Even Raja was using the word ‘national linguistic minority’.
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Jaffna IDP voters can vote in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 2009, 02:39 GMT]
Registered voters of Jaffna Electoral District who are displaced and living temporarily in and around Colombo can apply to the Department of Elections to cast their votes for the Presidential elections at a polling station in the area they are now residing.
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Attempts to split TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 December 2009, 06:35 GMT]
A faction led by Mavai Senathirajah and some by Srikantha, both Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians for Jaffna, are said to be engaged in activities aimed at splitting TNA, sources in Jaffna said. Srikantha and Selvam Adaikalanathan, another TNA parliamentarian, met Monday Basil Rajapakse, the brother and senior advisor of President Mahinda Rajapakse, in Colombo after which Srikantha told press that Basil Rajapakse had consented to allow resettlement of 4,500 IDPs from Valikaamam North in the first stage. Meanwhile, Mavai Senathirajah said in a press release to the media that Thamizh Arasukk Kadchi (TAK) had sent a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse requesting the resettlement of IDPs in Valikaamam North.
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Civilians held for more than a year in SLA Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 13:59 GMT]
One hundred and thirteen civilians, claimed to have surrendered themselves as Liberation Tigers, are being held for more than a year in Thellippazhai Special Rehabilitation Centre of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna peninsula, according to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) sources. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government refuses to reveal the number of inmates continued to be detained in Kaithadi SLA detention camp which has been converted into a Rehabilitation Centre, Jaffna Secretariat (JS) sources said.
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IDP resettlement must be unconditional - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 17:12 GMT]
Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka, Yolanda Foster, in a press statement issued from Washington said Tuesday that the Amnesty had received information about possible restrictions on families choosing to leave the camps in Vavuniyaa. Ms. Yolanda Foster referred to reports, which indicated that the IDPs could be asked to return to the camps after only 15 days. “A permanent release from camps must be accompanied by assurances that people are not subjected to further questioning or re-arrest in new locations,” said Foster. “It is also critical that the government maintain its responsibility to care for displaced people wherever they choose to go.”
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'Resettled' by forced labour, without food or freedom to move

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:30 GMT]
The few thousands who have been resettled in selected divisions of Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts, are reportedly affected by the lack of food supply, news reports reaching Vavuniyaa said. The 'resettled' are actually kept in schools in those areas and are extracted of forced labour to clear the locations of resettlement. Their freedom of movement is restricted. The whole operation doesn't look like resettlement of 'citizens' but of slaves, said a Tamil official on conditions of anonymity.
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SLA abductions of Tamil youth continue unabated in camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:19 GMT]
Several Tamil boys and girls including teenagers interned in the camps are called by name through announcing system by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence officers and are taken to unknown destinations, reports reaching from Vavuniyaa camps said. At least 10 young men and boys were thus 'abducted' on 21 November and around 30 youth, including girls, were taken on 27 November from Zone-0 IDP internment camp in Cheddiku'lam alone last week. They were taken in SLA vehicles and their family members lost all contacts with them since then, sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet Sunday.
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2576 Vanni IDPs still held in Pulmoaddai camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 November 2009, 17:26 GMT]
Although government authorities claim that all the Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Sahanagam camp 2 located in Pulmoaddai in Trincomalee district, 2,576 of them are continued to be detained, sources in Trincomalee said.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna face adversity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2009, 19:35 GMT]
Around 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps and handed over to their relatives are experiencing hardships as they are unable to make a living on their own due to lack of funds and government restrictions, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The local and international Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna are unable to help the IDP families for want of funds, the sources added.
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Resettle IDPs in Jaffna before Presidential Election – IDP Welfare General Committee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2009, 19:09 GMT]
The Welfare General Committee (WGC) of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Jaffna demands the speedy resettlement of IGPs in their own places occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in its High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna peninsula before the Presidential elections, WGC sources said. WGC has decided to present its request directly to Sri Lanka President, Mahinda Rajapakse when he visits Jaffna 8 December. Meanwhile, WGC strongly condemns Minister Douglas Devananda’s recent announcement that resettlement in HSZs in Jaffna peninsula will take place only in July 2010 after the presidential election.
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Travel restriction on Jaffna IDPs lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 November 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence Thursday lifted the travel restriction on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought from Vavuniyaa camps to Jaffna who were not allowed to leave Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, it is reported that Ministry of Defence will be allowing private sector buses in Jaffna to operate Jaffna-Vavuniyaa travel service through A9 route. The government, in view of the forthcoming presidential election, has begun to announce concessions to the people of Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Nearly 3000 IDPs from Jaffna released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:54 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said that 3,117 persons of 983 families from Jaffna district who had been held in the camps in Vavuniyaa and Kodikaamam Raamaavil camps have been released Tuesday. He further said that 445 persons of 425 families brought to Jaffna and held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp were sent to their own places in Jaffna district Tuesday.
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More than 600 IDPs brought to Jaffna detained in Thenmaraadchi camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have detained nearly 600 persons among the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps Tuesday night and held in Duraippah Stadiu, in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, as there were no relatives to take responsibility of them, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the Ambassadors of foreign countries in Sri Lanka who visited Jaffna Wednesday met the IDPs held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, the sources added.
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Another batch of IDPs brought to Jaffna, held in Duraiappa Stadium

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 12:04 GMT]
Despite Jaffna Government Agent’s (GA) recent announcement that all Jaffna IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps had been brought to Jaffna, a group of them were brought to Jaffna Tuesday night and held in Duraiappah Stadium, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had refused permission for many Jaffna IDPs to enter Jaffna claiming that they were involved in ‘terrorist’ activities. No instructions have been issued by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry about where the IDPs being held in the Stadium are to be sent to, the sources added.
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3 resettled IDPs arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 11:53 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the Intelligence Unit of the Mannaar police Tuesday evening. Police sources confirmed that the suspects were a part of a group of Tamil civilians recently resettled in Adampan and Parappaagka'ndal villages in Mannaar district after being released from internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
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A group of IDPs in Vavuniyaa camp to be taken to Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 19:10 GMT]
A batch of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Ki’linochchi district is to be taken from Vavvuniyaa camp to Ki’linochchi Maha Viththiyaalayam on 30th November in the first stage of resettling Vanni IDPs in their own places, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The IDPs who are to be resettled in nine Village Officers divisions located east of A9 road in Ki’linochchi will be first lodged in the Maha Viththiyalam, the sources added. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri has directed the Government Agent (GA) to take action to enable shops to function in all the areas of Ki’linochchi district.
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SLA in Jaffna refuses entry to 1500 Vanni IDPs

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 07:29 GMT]
1500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Vavuniyaa camps brought to Jaffna Friday claiming that they are from Jaffna peninsula are now being held in the abandoned Raamaavil camp in Kodikaamam as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna refuse them permission to be settled in Jaffna. Most of these IDPs are not from Jaffna but residents of Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi districts in Vanni and it appears that they will be held permanently in Raamaavil camp, Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretariat sources said.
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Colombo announces new phase of 'IDP management'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 00:55 GMT]
Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother and advisor Basil Rajapaksa MP on Saturday announced that the Tamils held in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa would be free, starting from December 01, to go and live wherever they want to or to choose whether they want to continue to remain inside the camps. Tamil sources in Vavuniyaa view the announcement with scepticism describing it as an 'election gimmick' while expressing fear of increased disappearances and militarisation of the Tamil homeland.
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