SLA erects minicamps, sentry posts in interior parts of Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 18:20 GMT]
Fear and suspicion have risen among the residents of Jaffna peninsula as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna is actively engaged in hastily setting up minicamps and sentry posts manned by small groups of soldiers in the interior parts of Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. Though SLA has announced that it is removing its sentry posts near the schools in Jaffna Town they are not being removed but relocated in the interior areas, civil society representatives pointed out. SLA continues to occupy Gnanam Hotel and Subhas Hotel in the heart of the town while it refuses to open Clock Tower Road, Power House Road and Victoria Road in the town for public use, they added.
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Sri Lanka expands number of troops and officers in its armed forces

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 11:29 GMT]
Though Sri Lanka government claims that the war with Liberation Tigers is over it is actively engaged in recruiting persons to serve as soldiers and officers in Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), according to statements made by the spokesmen of the three armed forces to media in Colombo. Recruitment to Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Navy and Sri Lanka Air Force will continue to meet the targets for this year and the coming years, they said. New officers are much needed for defensive and offensive purposes, for humanitarian de-mining and for development work in the country, they added.
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Sri Lanka schemes ‘legal reform’ to negate identity and grab land

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 November 2009, 02:34 GMT]
News reports from Colombo indicate Sri Lanka government is planning to revise the Theasa Vazhamai law of Tamils, which is a constituent legal code, ever since the formulation of the island’s current legal system by the Dutch. The urgency of the Sri Lanka state at this juncture is not social reformation but grabbing the lands of Tamils without legal hurdles, besides removing last vestiges of Tamil sovereignty in the state apparatus, Tamil legal circles said.
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Age of struggle Tamil poetry comes in English

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 09:01 GMT]
Eezham Tamil poetry since 1970s by three leading poets has been translated into English and for the first time appears in an exclusive volume, which is to be launched in Canada Saturday. One of the poets, Puthuvai Rathnathurai, regarded as Tamil National Bard, was last seen among the displaced moving towards internment camps during the closing days of the war in Vanni and was taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army. He is reportedly kept in undeclared captivity under rigorous conditions.
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Jaffna, an open prison since SLA occupation – Southern media persons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 November 2009, 05:27 GMT]
A group consisting 27 media persons from the South brought to Jaffna by the Peace Congress Sunday told media in Jaffna that after 13 years of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupation Jaffna peninsula remains an open prison for its residents, before leaving Jaffna Monday. People lock themselves into their houses after dark and are subjected to various restrictions violating their freedom of movement, expression, imposed by SLA, they further said.
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India invites Ranil Wickremasinghe for talks

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 November 2009, 10:55 GMT]
Sri Lankan opposition United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremasinghe Sunday left for India on an invitation from the Indian government. Mr.Ranil Wickremasinghe is expected to meet Indian National Security Adviser R.K. Narayanan, Foreign Minister and Indian Opposition BJP leader Lal Krishna Advani to discuss the current situation in the island, sources in Colombo said.
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JU students boycott lectures following death threat to fellow students by SLA

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 November 2009, 08:59 GMT]
The students of the Art Faculty of Jaffna University abstained from attending lectures Monday morning following death threats to four of their fellow students from Vadamaraadchi by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit officers who had taken them away from their houses for interrogation to an SLA camp and assaulted them besides issuing death threats, Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) representatives said. The students have informed the Vice-chancellor that the entire student community of Jaffna University will boycott lectures from Tuesday if immediate action is not taken to ensure the safety of the four students threatened to death by the SLA, they further said.
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LTTE welcomes all diaspora ballots

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 November 2009, 00:19 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in a press statement issued on Monday welcomed all the current democratic moves in the diaspora, such as referendum on Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, Country Councils and Transnational Government and said that even if one of the efforts is at shortfall, it will affect all the others. “These are democratic efforts for which people have taken over the leadership to gain their political aspirations and while welcoming them the LTTE requests that they should be accomplished with full participation of people,” said the statement addressed LTTE headquarters. "It is now a historical duty of all Tamils to firmly tell the whole world that what they desire is independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam and they have their homeland, nationalism and the right to self-determination to claim it," the statement further said.
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Last of the Jaffna IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps brought to Jaffna – Jaffna GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 November 2009, 05:59 GMT]
The assignment of bringing Jaffna IDPs in Vavuniyaa to Jaffna has been completed with the arrival of 3,588 persons of 1,114 families Saturday night in Jaffna, according to Jaffna Government Agent (GA) K. Ganesh. Meanwhile, a group of media persons from the South led by Jegan Perera, the Director of Peace Congress, has been allowed by the government to come to Jaffna independently after the closure of A9 land route by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 2006, sources in Jaffna said.
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Reconciliation of two nation states requires parity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 2009, 18:42 GMT]
Considering all what had gone before, 'reconciliation' has to first take place between the powers and Eezham Tamil psyche and the probabilities are remote unless the powers recognize the national question as national question and come forward to address it in ways fit enough for chronic cases. Ultimate reconciliation has to take place between Sinhala and Tamil nation states but genuine reconciliation cannot come without parity and dignity. The issue has to be approached reconciling to the reality of two nation states, not only for peace in the island but for even achieving shared sovereignty of a regional model, if that is going to be the demand of time in future. Present day International Community will register a point of progress in the polity of humanity by collectively eradicating baneful states like Sri Lanka that habitually use the card of geopolitics to resist restructure.
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Vanni IDPs suffer in flooded Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 November 2009, 16:56 GMT]
Most of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps for Vanni IDPs in Vavuniyaa being flooded due to the current down pour many of the IDPs held in Menik Farm camp had fled from their shelters seeking refuge in the public halls and school buildings located inside the camp, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, amid heavy rains and thunder civil authorities continue to transfer IDPs from Menik Farm during nights and drop them in public places in areas where their homes are located.
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Vasudeva Nanayakkara to deliver speech titled “Tamils and Future” in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 18:20 GMT]
Vasudeva Nanayakkara, a senior Sinhalese politician and the senior advisor to President Mahintha Rajapakse, who arrived in Jaffna Friday is to deliver a speech titled “Tamils and Future” Saturday at Changkaraththai Hindu Youths’ Hall in Vaddukkoadai, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Vasudeva Nanayakkara met Jaffna district High Court Magistrate R. T. Vicknarajah in Jaffna Court Complex Friday where the magistrate stressed on the importance of resettling Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Valikaamam North evicted nearly 19 years ago by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in order to establish High Security Zones (HSZ) in the said area, the sources added.
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NP Governor orders all Vanni government servants to immediately report for duties

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 04:43 GMT]
The Governor of Northern Province and former Jaffna district Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrsiri, issued an order Wednesday calling all the government servants who had been serving in the districts of Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi in war torn Vanni to immediately report for duties at the IDP camps in Vavuniyaa, in a meeting held in Trincomalee with the heads of the government departments, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna suffer without shelters

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 04:28 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna district from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa are suffering in pouring rain without sufficient shelter for them, sources in Jaffna said. Divisional Secretaries (DSs) of Jaffna district find hard to meet the immediate needs of the IDPs for want of funds, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. The ten government ministers recently appointed by the President of Sri Lanka for Divisional Secretary areas in Jaffna to function as resettlement coordinators have failed to return to Jaffna after their first visit. Jaffna district DSs are at a quandary to take decisions without the approval of the respective ministers and due to lack of funds to spend on the immediate needs of the IDPs, the sources added.
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US Legislators urge rapid release of interned Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 November 2009, 03:49 GMT]
H. Res. 711 resolution, passed in the US House of Representatives Thursday by a vote of 421 to 1, reminded the Sri Lanka Government of its commitments to care for and ensure the 'speedy return' of those displaced by fighting, noting that Colombo made a commitment to the UN Human Rights Council that the 'bulk' of the IDPs would be resettled in 180 days, a period that will end on November 23, 2009. Fewer than 20% of those detained have been released as of Oct. 23, 2009. The resolution also emphasized that "the United States supports the rapid release and voluntary return of all civilian IDPs as a critical element of national reconciliation in Sri Lanka."
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Husband seeks HRCSL help to trace wife taken by SLA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 2009, 15:01 GMT]
Suntharalingam Thayaparan, a resident of Ki'linochchi , currently residing in Ne’lukkul’am in Vavuniyaa after being released from Menik Farm internment camp on October 26 has lodged a complaint with the regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to trace his wife Veni alias Arunthathi who was taken to Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital by the Sri Lanka Army in a helicopter for treatment to her head injuries caused due to the artillery fire in the last leg of military operation in Vanni region.
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TID interrogates TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 2009, 13:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Selvam Adaikalanathan has been subjected to interrogation by the Terrorist Intelligence Division of the Sri Lanka Police from Thursday morning. He has not returned to his residence located in Madiwela complex till Thursday afternoon, sources in Colombo said.
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Appeal sent to lift SLA restriction on travel through A9 road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 November 2009, 04:50 GMT]
The president of NGOs in Jaffna, C. V. K. Sivagnanam, sent an appeal Wednesday to government authorities to lift the restriction on travel to and from Jaffna through A9 road so that public could avoid spending exorbitant amount of money on air and sea travel, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has ordered the people to travel by the same means of transport they had used to enter or leave Jaffna. This restriction has been imposed in order to keep the air and sea travel service from loosing business and it is alleged that high SLA officials receive big amount of money as commission from the air and sea travel agencies, the sources added. Meanwhile, Sivagnanam pointed out in his appeal that Jaffna peninsula is still being administered by the SLA and not by civil officers as widely claimed by the government.
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Fonseka flees US

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 November 2009, 13:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army chief, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka fled the United States cutting short his planned stay in the US to avoid being questioned by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) over warcrimes under his command, according to an AFP report. "Mr Fonseka's future chances of retiring to the US are now in jeopardy, and consequent developments in other countries of the world, except the rights violator nations, may make him a fugitive," legal sources in Washington said. Meanwhile, incriminating, anonymous, hearsay evidence has surfaced on the activities of his son-in-law, Danuna Tillakaratne, on making weapons deals from Oklahoma. Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based pressure group, said yesterday that TAG will be preparing a detailed document after further research on this matter for possible use by the US law enforcement authorities.
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British MPs hail US initiative on Sri Lanka warcrimes

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 November 2009, 05:17 GMT]
Joining international calls for a full independent investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka, a group of British Parliamentarians Tuesday welcomed the initiatives taken by the United States in this regard and urged the UK government to support Washington’s efforts. In a statement, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) welcomed US authorities questioning of Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka over the massacre of Tamil civilians in the closing months of the war this year.
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