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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Police arrest youth in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Chu’n’naakam police took into custody a youth from Uduvil East in Jaffna for alleged involvement in the killing of Charles Wijewardne, Superintendent of Police (SP) on 05 August in I’nuvil, sources in Jaffna said. The arrested youth had been produced in the court for the killing of the SP but had been released for want of evidence. Later, the youth who had been detained in Vavuniyaa camp had recently come to Jaffna to stay with his family in Uduvil, the sources said.
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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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Foreign Ambassadors including Indian High Commissioner visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 11:53 GMT]
Newly appointed Indian High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Mr. Ashok K. Kantha is on a two-day visit to Jaffna while the Ambassadors of Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand and South Korea to Sri Lanka paid a sudden visit to Jaffna Wednesday accompanied by high officials from their embassies, sources in Jaffna said. The sudden visits of foreign emissaries to Jaffna prior to the Presidential election in January have raised questions among the residents of Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Credentials of IC challenged while widespread rape by SLA alleged in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence officers operating in the internment camps of Vanni have been allegedly involved in several rape cases during the past months. At least three cases of young victims, aged 14, 15 and 16, appeared in front of Vavuniyaa District Judge in October. SLA soldiers have also raped a 14-year-old mentally retarded Tamil girl inside the Vavuniyaa hospital.
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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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Counter-national conspiracy against Tamils comes to light

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 07:56 GMT]
LTTE members either in custody or operating units in the island have become the most vulnerable to counter-Tamilnational conspiracies of Colombo government, well informed sources in Colombo indicate. The Colombo government’s focus now is to get the section of the LTTE in its trap to denounce Tamil Eelam and efforts are intensified to make use of the Heroes’ Day to test the conspiracy. Colombo is as usual abetted by certain powers in this exercise, the sources further said. Meanwhile, Tamil diaspora circles responded to the news saying that under current circumstances any ‘statement’ addressed to the public has to be viewed not from the point “what is said or who has said but from where it has been said.” The free LTTE has a great responsibility in promoting the emergence of new democratic political leadership that truly represents the national aspirations of Tamils, they further said.
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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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Mannaar-Jaffna bus service resumed after 20 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 16:26 GMT]
The public bus service from Mannaar to Jaffna has been resumed after twenty years in addition to the bus services resumed to Colombo from Mannaar, sources in Mannaar said. Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus leaves Mannaar main bus terminal to Jaffna daily at 6:30 a.m.
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Shortage of transport buses to ply on A9 road from Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 06:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil authorities in Jaffna Sinhala Mahavidyalaya sent back Sunday nearly half of the persons who wanted to travel from Jaffna to out stations on personal errands as there were no buses to take them, sources in Jaffna said. Only 1655 passengers were permitted by SLA to travel. Meanwhile, the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) officials in Koa’ndaavil Depot said that their repeated requests to their superiors for more busses to be used in Jaffna peninsula remain unattended.
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SLA, SLN conduct search operation in Panku’lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 November 2009, 05:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) jointly conducted cordon and search in Panku’lam area Thursday in Trincomalee district following the recovery of a consignment of explosives in the Pea’raa’ru jungle. No one was taken into custody, sources in Trincomalee 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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'Future bleak, but do not give up,' veteran Marxist reviewed

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2009, 21:19 GMT]
“Fifty years of ethnic cleansing have wiped out whole generations who knew any sort of peace, and made cohabitation with the Sinhalese people virtually impossible,” says veteran Marxist A.Sivanandan on the political future of the island of Sri Lanka in an interview to the New Left Review 60, November-December 2009. The 87 years old ideologue, who in his younger days “had no sense at all of being a Tamil” while living in the south, and who now feels “not only for the Tamils but also for the Sinhalese people,” further said: “The Sinhala elite has transformed the country into a counter-insurgency state like Colombia, in which repression, torture, imprisonment without trial and disappeared people are institutionally embedded. I don’t think anything now can be done from above, let alone from the debased self-interests of the ‘international community’.”
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Vanni Government employees in Jaffna not allowed to report for duty in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 November 2009, 05:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administrative officials in Jaffna refused Friday to permit government employees earlier serving in Vanni to report for duty in Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts in Vanni though Northern Province Governor, Major G. A. Chandrasiri had ordered them to report for duty in both districts. Many government employees including teachers who are originally from Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts and now staying in Jaffna were not allowed to return to their places for duty Friday by the SLA civil authorities in Jaffna Sinhala Maha Viththiyalaya.
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Vanni IDPs held in Thenmaraadchi to be settled in Army HSZ in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 November 2009, 16:33 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from earlier Liberation Tiger controlled areas in Vadamaraadchi East beyond Naakarkoayil detained in Mirusuvil and Kodikaamam IDP camps in Thenmaraadchi are to be settled in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Ma’nattkaadu in Vadmaraadchi, according to Maruthangkea’ni Assistant Government Agent (AGA), S. Sriskantharajah. Ma’nattkaadu, Ampan and Kudaththanai villages are located in the HSZ where people are not permitted to move freely by the occupying SLA soldiers, sources in Vadamaraadchi said.
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Retired SLA major arrested for assisting LTTE in past

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 November 2009, 11:06 GMT]
A retired Major of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was arrested last week by the Terrorist Intelligence Division for allegedly assisting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) while in service and after retirement. The suspect is a Sinhalese and a resident in a suburb in Colombo. He worked in the SLA intelligence unit while in service. He served in the SLA for fifteen years, police sources said.
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IDPs taken to Vanni not allowed residing in their homes

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 November 2009, 06:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) does not permit the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) taken to Poonakari and Thu’nukkai in Vanni to reside in their houses but keep them lodged in the school buildings, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA in Jaffna takes a group of teachers to these areas and brings them back daily in buses claiming that they teach the children of the IDPs. This is but an attempt by the government to show that the released Vanni IDPs are leading a normal life as it is not possible to conduct educational activities in schools occupied by IDPs, education officers in Jaffna observed.
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Tamil, Muslim political parties find their table in Zurich

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 15:10 GMT]
Widely speculated as a drama backed by ‘high-powers,’ leaders of most of the Tamil and Muslim political parties in the island of Sri Lanka are meeting for the first time in Zurich, Switzerland, between Thursday and Saturday. The move is said to be for ‘extracting’ a joint proclamation of them necessary for further power manoeuvres in the island. A couple of years ago it was such a behind-the-scene move of some powers that made most of these parties except the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to rally behind Mahinda Rajapaksa and pledge support to him in the war that brought in disaster to Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Fonseka instructed to vacate official residence on short notice

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 10:35 GMT]
Retired Chief of Defence Staff and former SLA Commander General (retd) Sarath Fonseka is facing difficulty in securing a new residence in a safe location after the Sri Lankan defence authorities have given him near zero time to vacate his official residence in Colombo, sources close Fonseka said.
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Jaffna private sector lorries allowed to use A9 road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 05:57 GMT]
Governor of Northern Province, Major gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, said in a media release Wednesday that the lorries of private owners are allowed to transport goods through A9 road as a gesture related to the 64th Birth Day of President Mahinda Rajapakse and the completion of the fourth year of his term as President. This lifting of the restriction follows the earlier announced lifting of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) imposed travel pass restriction on Jaffna residents by the Governor.
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