Tamils facing “cultural annihaliation” by SL Government: Australian Politician

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 October 2009, 05:10 GMT]
“It may be argued that the Tamil people have a legitimate right to self-determination but what is essential now is that we must see an end to the oppressive and discriminatory policies of the victorious Sri Lankan Government” urged Greens MLC Ian Cohen in an address to the Australian Parliament on September 24th. Highlighting the “potential humanitarian catastrophe” faced by almost 300,000 refugees who “despite their desire and capacity to return home they are being held prisoner”, Cohen described the Governments treatment of Tamils as “a litany of injustice, cultural annihilation and human rights atrocities”. Meanwhile, a Tamil NGO official in Vavuniyaa, while welcoming the interest of Australian politicians, said they should also come forward to "first address the question of double standards, employed by their government, between issues such as East Timor and Eezham.”
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Colombo has plans to colonize North with Buddhist Sinhalese – Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 17:06 GMT]
The government of Sri Lanka is actively engaged in colonizing Ki’linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Jaffna district with Sinhalese Buddhists in order to crush the demand for Eelam in the traditional homelands of the Tamils in the North, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian, said in a press meet held Monday in his Jaffna office. He further accused the government for not accepting help from International Community in de-mining Vanni as it does not want the persons from foreign countries to see the mass graves of civilians killed by its armed forces in the Vanni during the war. The MP also said that though the government says that it had resettled 40,000 IDPs from Vavuniyaa internment camps, 95% of them have been again detained in new internment camps in their respective home districts under the direct control of Sri Lankan forces.
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UNHCR helps stranded pregnant IDPs to leave Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 October 2009, 15:28 GMT]
Officials of the UNHCR Monday sent a batch of 124 pregnant IDPs with their relatives to Jaffna. They had been staying in the wedding hall of the Vavuniyaa Sivan Koayil from September 29 since the refusal of permission by the Sri Lanka stating that they were not issued with proper clearance by the civil authority.
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2000 IDPs in Menik Farm camp identified with special needs

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 16:21 GMT]
Around two thousand Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in Zone 3 camp in Menik Farm alone in Vavuniyaa have been identified with special needs. Among them are children, women and others who have lost limbs, eye sight, and hearing in the war. Some children born with deformity have also been identified in Zone 3 camp, civil authorities in Vavuniyaa said.
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Civilian killed during curfew hours in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 09:17 GMT]
Unidentified men entered the house of a civilian Friday night during Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed curfew hours in Raamaavil in Kodikaamam and killed him by cutting his throat, Kodikaamam police who recovered the victim’s body and handed it over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital said. The killing took place close to the SLA detention centre in Raamaavil where IDPs are held.
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IDP pregnant mothers stranded in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 October 2009, 04:02 GMT]
124 internally displaced families including several pregnant mothers who were allowed to leave Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa to go to their places in Jaffna on September 29 are stranded in Vavuniyaa town without Sri Lanka Army (SLA) clearance to proceed to Jaffna. These IDPs were brought down from Menik Farm on September 29 and dropped at Vavuniyaa bus stand the same day midnight, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps cannot settle in Jaffna without SLA clearance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 16:06 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa camps, on their release from the camps, cannot get back to Jaffna without obtaining the ‘clearance’ of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna, according to Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh. 30 expectant mothers and their families released from Vavuniyaa camps are from Jaffna and their particulars have been submitted to the SLA authorities in Jaffna, he further said. However, he did not say anything about their fate if SLA refuses permission for them to be brought to Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said.
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Each IDP family in Vavuniyaa camp gets only 15 liter water daily – JVP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 October 2009, 08:57 GMT]
The Monitoring Centre of the Vanni IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps said Saturday that it had received 723 complaints so far relating to food, clothes, and health and toilets facilities. The monitoring centre is set up by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP). The convener of the centre Mr.Wijitha Herat, JVP parliamentarian, said fifteen liters of water are supplied to each family per day to meet all needs.
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Duplicitous Colombo bereft of excuses on holding internees - ICG

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 22:25 GMT]
Andrew Stroehlein, International Crisis Group's Communications Director, during his testimony to the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights on the situation in Sri Lanka Thursday, noted the poor and deteriorating conditions in the internment camps where more than 264,000 Tamils are being held by Colombo, and said, "[t]he worst kind of duplicity was seen just a few weeks ago, when the [Sri Lanka] government announced it had released 10,000 displaced persons. In fact, we know at least 3,300 people had been moved from an internment camp to another detention facility," and added, "Sri Lankan government has run out of excuses for continuing to keep these hundreds of thousands of innocent people prisoner."
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SLN camps in the islets worse than Vavuniyaa internment centres

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 October 2009, 04:10 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) hastily brought to the islets of Jaffna and held in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) makeshift camps complained that they are detained in roofless houses without sufficient drinking water and basic facilities, sources in Jaffna said. The government which is only interested in relocating the IDPs in Vavuniyaa in the islets of Jaffna in a hurry to avoid congestion has left them in the hands of SLN without providing them any assistance, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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No signs of Jaffna IDPs in Vavuniyaa to be brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Only after bringing the entire Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from the islets of Jaffna held in Vavuniyaa camps the IDPs from Vadamaraadchi East will be brought, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said. Of around 6,000 Islet IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps nearly 3,000 have been brought in different batches until Wednesday to the islets of Jaffna where they are again detained in camps under the control of Sri Lanka Navy, sources in Jaffna said.
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Vavuniyaa camps meant for detainees, not for IDPs - JVP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 17:51 GMT]
“It is not a refugee camp if inmates are escaping from that in large numbers. Then it should be called a detention or internment camp. IDP families have freedom to move in and out from IDP camps which are established under international norms. It is not so in Vavuniyaa camps, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) parliamentarian Wijitha Herat, said at a press briefing held at JVP headquarters in Battaramulla in Colombo Wednesday to discuss matters about the plight of IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps.
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IDP from Vavuniyaa camp arrested by Kandy Police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:31 GMT]
A member of an IDP family that fled from Vanni during last leg of military operation and detained in internment camp in Vavuniyaa was arrested by a special team of the Kandy police Sunday. The police team acting on the directions of Deputy Inspector Generals of Police Gamini Navaratne and Pujitha Jayasundara rushed to Chettikulam from Kandy and took the suspected IDP into custody, Police spokesperson Nimal Mediwake told media.
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UN warns Sri Lanka of Tamil ‘bitterness’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 01:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s failure to rapidly resettle nearly 300,000 Tamils who survived the government’s final onslaught against the Tamil Tigers and their further suffering under harsh conditions in militarised camps could result in growing bitterness, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Tuesday - the same day, the UN issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka’s continued internment of the hundreds of thousands of displacedTamils. Mr. Ban also stressed the need to expedite “a serious, independent and impartial accountability process to look into alleged violation of international law during the conflict as a critical part of moving forward and building peace in Sri Lanka,” a UN statement said.
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IDP families from Moothoor HSZ villages relocated elsewhere

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 17:02 GMT]
327 members of ninety-seven internally displaced Tamil families from Moothoor east in Trincomalee district were brought down to Verukal in fifteen State sector buses with police escort Tuesday morning from Kokkuvil transit centre in Batticaloa district. Moothoor Divisional Secretariat officials received them at Verukal Tuesday and transferred them to another transit centre located in Chinnakku’lam in Moothoor east as their original homes in Champoor east Champoor west, Kooniththeevu and Kadatkaraichcheanai in Moothoor east are occupied as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zones (HSZs).
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IDPs to be held in the islets of Jaffna for indefinite period

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 11:24 GMT]
Around 3,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), originally from the islets of Jaffna held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa and brought to the islets of Jaffna recently will be continued to be held in detention camps under the control of Sri Lanka Navy, Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh said. The IDPs will be allowed to go their residences only if Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities issue the necessary clearance to them, he said.
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374 Vanni IDP families remain in Trinco transit centres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 02:51 GMT]
Three hundred seventy four IDP families out of three hundred eight nine families brought to Trincomalee district from Vavuniyaa internment camps three weeks ago to be resettled in their villages are still held under detention in transit centres located in four schools under heavy security of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Trincomalee said.
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Indian envoy listens to preparations on IDPs withstanding monsoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2009, 00:55 GMT]
The Indian High commissioner in Colombo, Mr. Alok Prasad, on Saturday visited internment camps in Vavuniyaa and held discussions with the militarised 'Competent Authority' for IDPs in the Northern Province, Maj. Gen. Kamal Goonaratne, and the Sri Lankan Government Agent for Vavuniyaa Mrs. Charles. Amidst all what have been listed by the Indian High Commission, as matters discussed by the High Commissioner, observers give much significance to his listening to briefings on making facilities for the internment camp mates to face flooding and water logging during the forthcoming monsoon. Tamil circles find it as tacit acceptance by India for prolonging the internment camps beyond this year's rainy season.
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‘Paranoid Colombo machinates IDP human shield’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A whole world is duped in what Colombo is machinating in the name of resettlement of IDPs, Tamil circles in Jaffna commented, citing Sri Lanka Navy’s new internment camps around its installations in the island sector of Jaffna. Colombo’s aim is threefold: a human shield of civilians for its occupying forces, prevention of rightful owners reoccupying houses and lands around its military installations and eventually confiscating those lands in strategic areas for its expansion and other demographic conspiracies in the very heart of Tamil homeland, pointed out Tamil circles adding that a paranoid Sri Lankan state can never deliver justice to Tamils. The core truth is that the barbed-wire camps came up because the world powers wanted it. But some powers by not directly taking responsibility and some others like India by sitting on international action continue injustice, Jaffna circles said.
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Another batch of Vavuniyaa IDPs to be detained in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 September 2009, 04:12 GMT]
Around 500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna Thursday were handed over to Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) who took them to Kaarainakar, in the islets of Jaffna to be again detained in camps close to the SLN base. The IDPs are being held in Ma’raignanasampanthar Vithiyaalayam in Kaarainakar while the SLN is constructing new camps in the abandoned civilian settlements to detain them, sources in Jaffna said.
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