President Rajapakse will give nothing to Tamils – Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 06:49 GMT]
“Tamils should be vigilant of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse’s intentions. He says that there is no minority race in the country but only a majority race. It is clear that his intention is to assimilate the Tamil race into the Majority Sinhala race in Sri Lanka,” Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, told TamilNet Saturday in an interview in Jaffna.
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Poonthoaddam residents complain of stench from cemetary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 19:13 GMT]
Foul smell from Vavuniyaa-Poonthooddam general cemetery due to improper mass burial of dead from Sri Lanka miltary supervised Vanni internment camps which hold more than 300,000 Tamil civilians is posing health hazard to the village residents, civil society sources in Vavuniyaa said. Corpses are buried en masse in graves, and routinely, bodies of recently dead are placed over partly decomposed bodies buried earlier.
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Ruling party supporters confiscate voting cards in Jaffna – TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 17:11 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran alleged that the ruling party contestants in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election had forcibly confiscated more than 1500 voting cards from residents in Kozhumpuththu’rai, Ariyaalai and Eachchamoaddai area in Jaffna, in a press meet held in his Jaffna office Saturday. TNA parliamentarians Gejendrakumar Ponnambalam and Solomon Cyril along with Thamizharsuk Kadchi (TK) chief candidate Mudiyappu Remedias attended the press meet.
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Kandy / Senkadagala / Mahanuwara

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 07:43 GMT]
The enclosure / The red hill of difficult side / The great city
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Increase of typhoid, hepatitis reported in internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 July 2009, 16:56 GMT]
An increase of Typhoid fever and viral Hepatitis has been reported in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni civilians in Sri Lanka Army custody are being detained against their wish, health authorities in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, local NGO workers complained that doctors from South who do not converse in Tamil have been deployed inside the internment camps, creating a difficult situation for the Tamil people to communicate using their language.
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Colombo remembers Alfred Duraiappa, setting hands of the clock backwards

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 July 2009, 17:45 GMT]
Ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) observed the 34th death anniversary of assassinated Alfred Duraippa, former Mayor of Jaffna, Thursday at his grave in Alfred Duraippa Stadium in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lankan Minister of Vocational and Technical Training, Piyasena Gamage, and the former Chief Minister of Western Provincial Council, Reginald Cooray and other prominent members of SLFP laid flowers at the grave and garlanded the memorial monument, the sources added.
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SLA promotes 3 Brigadiers as Major Generals, 46 Colonels as Brigadiers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 July 2009, 10:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) promoted three Brigadiers to the rank of Major Generals and 46 Colonels as Brigadiers. These officers had served in Vanni war front during the military operations against the Liberation Tigers. Former General Officer of Command (GOC) of the 55 Division, Brigadier Prasanna Silva, present 53 Division GOC, Brigadier Chagi Gallage and Director Operations of Army Head Quarters, Brigadier Shavendra Silva have been promoted as Major Generals, sources in Colombo said.
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Attend to Vanni IDPs’ problems first – Jaffna University Students Union

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 July 2009, 17:10 GMT]
“We strongly criticize the Tamil politicians who seek votes without attending to the problems faced by the Vanni people held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa,” Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) said in a press release Tuesday in Jaffna. “We are deeply dissatisfied with some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who do not attend to the immediate problems of the Vanni IDPs,” JUSU said in its press release.
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SL Appeal Court fixes order in MPs’ petition to visit internment camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Monday fixed the order for August 24 in a petition filed by leading opposition parliamentarians seeking the court to order the authorities concerned to allow them to visit camps located in Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni internally displaced people are detained by the Sri Lankan military.
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TNA accuses government of using state resources in JMC election campaign

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:36 GMT]
Ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) conducted Sunday a large scale procession of vehicles organized by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna town in which more than a thousand supporters participated, canvassing people to vote for the Betel symbol of UPFA, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which has also entered into the fray, accused UPFA and its ally EPDP of using government vehicles for election campaign. TNA also accused the police for being partial to UPFA in carrying out duties related to Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, the sources added.
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New SLA Commander meets North-East commanders in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 02:34 GMT]
The newly appointed Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, met all the Security Forces Commanders of Jaffna, Vanni, Mullaitheivu, Killinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaarai and other senior Field Commanders in the North and East, for the first time after his assumption of duties, at the Vanni Security Forces headquarters located in Vavuniyaa Saturday. During the conference special attention was drawn to the security situation in different regions in the North and East, media reports said.
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Resettlement of IDPs within 180 days not possible – SL Minister

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 July 2009, 06:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister of Electricity and Energy, Aluthananda Gamage told media in Jaffna Saturday that it will not be possible to resettle Vanni IDPs in Ki’linochchi within 180 days. Aluthananda Gamage, who is staying in Jaffna to campaign in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council also said that the opening of the A9 route to public will be considered only after decisions are made in a Defence Ministry conference on the issue. Meanwhile, Basil Rajapakse, brother of Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse and his advisor, had inaugurated the bus service from Jaffna to Colombo Wednesday declaring that the service will be conducted every other day in a week in a much publicized event.
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Supreme Court calls for AG’s report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 July 2009, 12:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Friday directed the Attorney General to report on August 6 the position of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) about releasing internally displaced families from Vanni region now being detained in several camps in Vavuniyaa to ensure their right to live anywhere according to their wish. “It is unjust to detain IDPs in camps contrary to their wish,” the Supreme Court pointed out to the Deputy Solicitor General when it took up a Fundamental Rights petition filed by a relative on behalf of a four member family now being illegally detained in Veerapuram centre of the Vavuniyaa Kovil Kulam main camp for inquiry Friday. These camps are described by human rights organizations and activists as ‘internment camps’.
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1200 Southern police personnel to be engaged in JMC election duties

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 18:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has taken steps to bring 1200 police personnel to Jaffna in vehicles along A9 route to be engaged in election duties in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, police high officials in Jaffna said. This announcement comes amidst accusations raised by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that the government is planning to use these police personnel in unfair ways to conduct the election to achieve its own ends, sources in Jaffna said.
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Vanni IDP family files FR seeking release from “internment camp”

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:35 GMT]
A Fundamental Rights violation petition has been filed in Sri Lanka Supreme Court Thursday seeking the release of a four-member family displaced from Vanni and currently being detained in one of the several camps in Vavuniyaa and to order two million rupees as compensation for illegal detention. Seventy-year-old Kanapathipillai Ehambaram of Naachchikudaa filed the FR petition on behalf of her daughter, son-in-law, and two grand daughters now being detained in a camp located in Vavuniyaa Koayil Ku'lam, legal sources said.
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Depression setting among Vanni IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 04:30 GMT]
Number of people suffering from some form of depression in the centres which are described by human rights organizations and activists as ‘internment camps’ is on the increase, Colombo media reported quoting a medical officer working in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) centres. The medical officer did not want to be named.
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Dengue detected among IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 2009, 10:09 GMT]
For the first time seven persons were admitted to Vavuniyaa general hospital Tuesday on a single day suffering from Dengue fever, according to hospital sources. Six of the thirteen patients admitted to Vavuniyaa Hospital on that day had also been detected suffering from Japanese Encephalitis. The dengue patients are said to be inmates from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps located in Vavuniyaa. These IDP camps where hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced persons are held are described as internment camps by human rights organizations and activists.
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Prayers held in Keerimalai for the souls of Vanni victims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 15:42 GMT]
The Federation of Saiva organizations in Jaffna peninsula observed the annual Aadi Amaavaasai Day, the day on which children perform religious rituals to pacify the souls of their late fathers, in Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple in Jaffna peninsula Tuesday, in memory of all the people who lost their lives in the war on Vanni Tamils waged by the Sri Lanka government, sources in Jaffna said.
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Court directs SLA Vanni commander to admit IDP girl to hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 09:16 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday directed the Commander of the Sri Lanka armed Forces Headquarters, Vanni to take steps to admit the 13-year-old child Sopika Surendranathan immediately to Anuradhapura General Hospital for medical treatment. The Bench comprising Justices Shiranee A. Bandaranaike, Saleem Marsuf and Jagath Balapatebendi made this order, subsequent to the submissions made by the Counsel for Sopika who is presently housed in the IDP camp.
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Government yet to decide on 13 plus political solution – Minister Alagaperuma

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 July 2009, 16:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Transport Minister, Dallas Alagaperuma, said Monday in a press meet in Jaffna that no final decision has been made by the government on the proposed 13 plus political solution to the ethnic issue, correcting Minister Douglas Devananda, who told the reporters that President Mahinda Rajapakse and the cabinet have accepted the 13 plus political solution. The press meet took place in the newly opened Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office in Chu’ndukkuzhi in Jaffna to which more than a hundred media persons were brought from the South. Ministers Dallas Algaperuma, Douglas Devananda and Srisena Cooray were some of the political leaders present in the meeting.
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