IDPs living on Jaffna railway track area ordered to leave

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 17:26 GMT]
The president of the Federation of Jaffna Non-government Organizations (NGOs), C. V. K. Sivagnanam, requested Jaffna Government Agent (GA) not to evict immediately the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), numbering around a hundred families, living in camps on the railway track area in Jaffna since the time they were thrown out of their residences in Valikaamam North which were declared High Security Zones (HSZ) by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 1990, sources in Jaffna said.
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TNA MP Kanagaretnam ordered further detention in Colombo court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 09:37 GMT]
The Colombo Chief Magistrate and Additional District Judge Mr. Nishantha Kappurarachchi Monday instructed the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police to further detain the suspect Mr.Sathasivam Kanagaretnam, Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, conduct investigations and submit a comprehensive report to court on the next date, July 26.
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Lessons to be learnt about China

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 20:04 GMT]
The ‘Himalayan’ blunder committed by Nehru and Krishna Menon in their China policy has been re-enacted by their descendants in the Indian Establishment nearly half a century later. A couple of years ago, writing on the crisis in the island of Sri Lanka, a TamilNet article quoted a saying in Tamil about the dog that allowed the squirrel to climb the tree (A’nil ea’ravidda naay). Now it seems that it isn’t just one but many in that situation, after allowing the ethnic question in the island to be hijacked by China. India has to realise at least now that a united Sri Lanka, that too an enforced one, at the cost of its natural ally – and at the cost of ruining its leverage with it – is no guarantee to prevent China’s ambitions in South Asia.
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Phone threats to Tamil groups, political parties contesting JMC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 15:34 GMT]
Persons alleged to be government supporters have begun issuing anonymous phone threats continually to prominent persons related to Tamil independent groups and political parties contesting the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, supporters of Minister Douglas Devanada in Kurunakar area had cautioned him of defeat in the election if he contests under the Beetle Leaf symbol of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and advised him to contest under the ‘Vee’nai’ symbol of his Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP), when he met them Sunday to learn of their opinion, the sources added.
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Lifting curfew in Jaffna peninsula not possible – SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 12:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna, Major Gen. Mendaka Samarasinghe, in response to a request made in the conference held Saturday at Minister Douglas Devananda’s office in Jaffna, said that it is not possible to lift the night curfew imposed in Jaffna peninsula immediately as it would affect law and order, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fate of young detainees in Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation camp bleak

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 11:58 GMT]
The fate of nearly 300 young women and more than 500 young men from Vanni held in Thellippazhai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) continues to remain unceratin and bleak, local NGO sources expressed concern. Education officials who had visited SRC said that there are more than a hundred youngsters between 14 to 18 ages whose educational needs are ignored by SLA authorities in charge of SRC. Neither UNICEF nor any other international organization has been permitted to visit these young detainees, sources in Jaffna said.
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Restrictions on fishing remain in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 11:51 GMT]
Despite government propaganda that fishermen in the North can engage in fishing 24 hours of the day freely, various restrictions imposed earlier continue to be in force, Fishermen Society sources in Jaffna expressed concern. Fishermen in Jaffna have to get the ‘fishing pass’ from their local Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp authorities every time they go fishing besides being subjected to checks by SLA soldiers at the jetties, they added.
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Armed Muslim youth in East instructed to surrender their weapons

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 10:25 GMT]
Amid announcement by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Eastern Regional Commanding Officer Srinath Rajapakse at a gathering in Kaaththankudi, a traditional Muslim town in the Batticaloa district that all who possess illegal arms should surrender them to Sri Lankan military on or before July 2, Provincial Government Minister Mr.M.L.A.M.Hisbullah publicly acknowledged through media that Muslim youth took arms to help the Sri Lankan forces during the war against the Tigers.
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100,000 Tamils march in London over Sri Lanka’s concentration camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2009, 02:25 GMT]
Over one hundred thousand expatriate Tamils in Britain marched Saturday through central London to express their outrage at international inaction over Sri Lanka’s massacre of tens of thousands of Tamils and the suffering of hundreds of thousands more enduring starvation, disease, disappearance, rape and torture in Colombo’s internment camps. Dressed in black, carrying placards and several hundred Tamil Eelam flags, the protesters marched from Hyde Park to rally at Embankment. The event was organised by the British Tamil Forum.
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Proposals for roof without foundation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 June 2009, 00:12 GMT]
M S Swaminathan is a great name in the world of agriculture. He is a pride for all Tamils all over the world. The 83-year-old veteran who is now a member of Indian parliament in the Rajya Sabha and is running his own research foundation in agricultural sciences has recently come out with a ‘roadmap’ for India to develop agriculture, livestock and fisheries in the North to facilitate the twin mantras ‘resettlement and rehabilitation’. Mahinda Rajapaksa pricked his enthusiasm by saying ‘de-mining first’. Dr. Swaminathan should have first spoken to Eezham Tamils, the intended recipients. With all due respect to him they would have told him that if the guilty Indian Establishment he represents could concede their self-determination, they would be able to resettle and rehabilitate by themselves without giving the trouble to anyone.
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Journalists barred from covering government meeting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 11:41 GMT]
North Ceylon Journalists’ Association (NCJA), in its media report Thursday, accused government authorities in Jaffna for barring journalists from attending a high level government meeting held Thursday by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother, Basil Rajapakse. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), when contacted by journalists seeking permission to cover the meeting, had said that journalists cannot be allowed to attend the meeting for security reasons, the report said.
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Opposition MPs denied access to Vanni internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 11:36 GMT]
“Sri Lanka government has not yet permitted the opposition parliamentarians to see the Tamil civilians held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps in Vavuniyaa in order to learn of their problems and help them,” Gayantha Karunathilaka, United National Party (UNP) media spokesman, said in a press meet held Wednesday at the office of the leader of the opposition in Colombo.
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7 SLA personnel arrested for allegedly aiding LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 10:17 GMT]
Seven officers of the Sri Lanka Army including two in the rank of Major were arrested by the intelligence officials of the Prevention of Terrorism Unit Wednesday on a report that they had been assisting the LTTE in the war time by collecting materials and other items, according to media reports that quoted SL Military Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara.
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Sinhalicisation insinuated in Musali

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:45 GMT]
Top Sri Lankan military officials appointed by SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa as Competent Authority in charge of resettlement of Tamils displaced from Vanni have finalised a plan to settle 200 Sinhalese people in Musali where 2,000 displaced Tamils have been allowed to resettle, informed civil officials in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet Friday. More than 4,500 civilians were forced to flee Musali division in Mannnaar district in September 2007.
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Basil's Jaffna meet fails to discuss people in internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 09:02 GMT]
The meeting meant to explore possibilities of the resettlement and rehabilitation of more than 13,000 Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna, held under tight security in Jaffna Public Library Thursday ended without any significant decisions regarding the issue concerned, Government officials who attended the meeting said. The venue of the meeting which was to be held in Jaffna Secretariat was changed at the last moment to Jaffna Public Library due to security reasons, the sources said. Even the pens carried by the officials were subjected to checking.
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Stolen van from Vanni recovered in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 10:53 GMT]
An officer of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the rank of Lieutenant, a police constable and another were taken into custody by the police in Polonnaruwa early morning on Sunday with a van allegedly stolen from Vanni. The police recovered a motor bike without a number plate, T-56 rife, live bullets, one laptop computers and a communication set from the van.
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Tamil sovereignty crucial to Eelam struggle: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 09:49 GMT]
Indian Member of Parliament and President of the Viduthalai Chiruthaigal Katchi (VCK) Thol. Thirumavalavan in a statement released Tuesday called upon the international Tamil community to realize that the Tamil sovereignty, Tamil Eelam national leader V. Pirapaharan and Tamil Eelam national flag, are crucial guiding forces in taking the Eelam liberation struggle forward. He also called upon the Tamil Diaspora to fulfil this "historical and moral obligation by not only shouldering the responsibility of overcoming the present crisis situation, but also by identifying and defeating the anti-struggle forces who were trying to infiltrate the liberation struggle." He also said that the Tamil diaspora must devise appropriate strategies to attaining Eelam bearing in mind the international scenario.
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Moothoor IDPs relocated against their wish in Ki'liveddi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 June 2009, 01:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka police forcibly took away 224 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Moothoor in Trincomalee district presently staying in Kirimuddi refugee camp in Batticaloa district, against their wish, to be relocated in Ki’liveddi in Trincomalee district, Tuesday noon, sources in Batticaloa said. UNHCR representatives, representatives of NGOs besides government officials were present during this incident, the sources added.
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Sri Lanka, unfulfilled challenge to peace mediators

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 17:43 GMT]
A group of well-known people in the peace making profession are gathering for an annual meet in recluse in Oslo between Tuesday and Thursday to reflect on current mediation processes, according to a news release from Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Geneva. The participants include some of those from Norway whose peace process has led Eezham Tamils to face genocide and incarceration in internment camps. The highlights of this year’s meet for discussion are Islamic groups, Afghanistan, Pakistan and North Korea, which means Washington is the peace vantage and war and peace are over for them in the island of Sri Lanka. What they should prioritize for discussion is ways of salvaging the very credibility of mediation itself that is lost in the island. Mediation without justice to people is only contribution to conflict.
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9 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 June 2009, 15:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police Tuesday morning took into custody nine Tami youths in a joint search operation conducted in the suburbs of Colombo city including Moratuwa, Panadura and Kalutura, sources in Colombo said. The arrested youths are from Upcountry, employed in shops the areas where they were arrested.
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