SLA shoots, injures fisherman in Jaffna seas

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2009, 19:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted along the coast of Kalmunai in Poonakari opened fire Monday around 6:30 a.m on a fisherman from Kurunakar in Jaffna who was fishing in Kalmunai sea area, sources in Jaffna said. The seriously injured fisherman was admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital around 9:30 a.m by fellow fisherman and is in a critical situation, hospital sources said.
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Breaking the deadlock through transnational governance

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 June 2009, 09:52 GMT]
The need of the time now is the metamorphosis of the existing infrastructure into a democratic and inclusive transnational government of Eezham Tamils to strengthen the diaspora socially, economically and culturally; to achieve the goal of independence and sovereignty of Eezham Tamils in the home country and to meet the international challenges internationally. Many of our readers confuse between the concepts of transnational government and government in exile. While the government in exile is a conventional phenomenon that needs a host country, the transnational government is a novel experiment that has no precedence.
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Seeman alleges abduction of young girls by SLA in Vavuniyaa internment camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2009, 13:42 GMT]
Popular Film Director Seeman on Sunday said he had received reliable information from the captives inside the internment camps in Vavuniyaa that the Sri Lankan police and military establishment have started to 'filter and separate teenage girls from their families during the latest hours in large numbers. Mr. Seeman from Tamil Nadu questioned how this 'filtering' of young girls could take place inside the internment camps without any monitoring by the UN agencies present in Vavuniyaa.
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2 decades of displacement continues for Valikaamam residents

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2009, 13:22 GMT]
Residents of Valikaamam North in Jaffna peninsula, evicted from their traditional villages on 15 June 1990 due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive and occupation of their villages, continue to languish in refugee camps and other places for the last twenty years, sources in Jaffna said. Despite Colombo Supreme Court directive to allow resettlement in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) areas in Valikaamam North, SLA authorities in Jaffna have not permitted anyone to return to their homes and properties until now, the sources added.
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WHO, IRD provide assistance to Jaffna hospitals

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2009, 16:16 GMT]
World Health Organization (WHO) and International Relief and Development (IRD) representatives handed over nearly 54 packages of Emergency Health Kit to the Director of Public Health Service in Jaffna in an event held in Chaavakachchea’ri recently, sources in Jaffna said. Chaavakachchea’ri government hospital which lacks basic facilities and medicine is the only hospital that the Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna are allowed to seek medical help and the assistance from these international organizations is a timely help, the sources added.
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British, Norwegian ambassadors’ visit to Jaffna postponed again

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 June 2009, 15:09 GMT]
The British and Norwegian ambassadors who were to visit Jaffna 10 Wednesday had to cancel it as the Defence Ministry had not issued permission for the visit in due time, sources in Jaffna said. Earlier scheduled visits by these ambassadors too had been cancelled more than twice in the past since the closure of A9 land route to Jaffna, due to delays caused by the Defence Ministry officials, the sources added.
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SLA impedes transport of goods by lorries to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2009, 22:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Anuradapura did not permit Thursday the lorries of private traders in the South carrying essential food items and fruits to proceed to Jaffna due to its security checking, sources in Colombo said. The traders who had invested heavily in this venture on the strength of government assurance of easy passage, are very much dissatisfied as the major part of the goods have perished due to the delay caused by the SLA authorities in Anuradapura, the sources added. This has led the traders in the South and Jaffna not to involve anymore in transporting goods through A9 land route to Jaffna.
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Neelson accuses NGO of supporting "dictatorship masquerading as democracy"

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 June 2009, 11:35 GMT]
"When even the then supporters of the GoSL [Government of Sri Lanka] in Berlin, Paris or London have demanded an enquiry into war crimes and violations of human and humanitarian law in view of the estimated 20,000 mostly dead civilians during the last few weeks, when even the established media question the internment of 300,000 Tamil IDP, there is no way for any self-respecting intellectual or the critical public in general in the country concerned to pretend that the only problem left to be tackled is "humanitarian," said Prof. John Neelsen of Institute of Sociology in Tuebingen Germany in response to appeal for relief funds by the head of the NGO Foundation for Co-Existense's Dr Kumar Rupesinghe, accusing the NGO of supporting a "dictatorship masquerading as democracy."
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More lorries to be used to transport goods from Colombo to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 20:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has announced its intention to transport goods by 200 lorries from Colombo to Jaffna through the A9 land route soon, sources in Jaffna said. Though the government had made much publicity of opening the A9 route for public transport in April, transport of goods in government lorries had been possible only eight times since then, the sources added.
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SLA refuses to release 6 Catholic priests detained in Vavuniyaa SLA camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 19:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Command rejected a request made by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, to release the six Catholic priests from Vanni held in one of the SLA detention centres in Vavuniyaa as they are suffering from illness, Jaffna Bishop House sources said. The Bishop had made the request to Defence Secretary to allow the six priests to get back to their parishes, the sources added.
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57,293 children held in Vavuniyaa SLA internment camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 17:46 GMT]
57,293 children from Vanni are presently detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, U. L. M. Haldeen, Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Relief said to the media.
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22 elderly IDPs die in Cheddikul’am internment camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Twenty-two elderly internally displaced persons from Vanni detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa and Cheddikul'am died in two days. Fourteen died on Sunday and eight on Monday and all those dead were above seventy years of age, medical sources said.
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Elderly IDPs to be released from Cheddikul’am camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 June 2009, 17:09 GMT]
Six hundred fifty three elderly Vanni internally displaced persons held in Cheddikul’am Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp in Vavuniyaa are to be released amid reports of rise of death of elderly IDPs detained in the camps in Vavuniyaa. Lists of names of elderly IDPs to be released are now displayed in Vavuniyaa District Secretariat and Cheddikul’am detention centre, media reports said.
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Health conditions among Vanni detainees deteriorate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 16:22 GMT]
Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa are suffering from serious health conditions due to lack of medicines, proper medical treatment and poor sanitary facilities, Jaffna Health Department sources said. A 29-year-old woman from Maamoolai, Mu’l’liyava’lai from Vanni held in Raamavil detention centre, suspected to be suffering from septicaemia, died on 6 May in Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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Largest ammunition dump explodes in SLA Vavuniyaa camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 13:08 GMT]
Residents of Eerapperiyaku'lam in Vavuniyaa reported hearing loud explosions, and seeing fire from the ammunition dump of the 211- Due Command of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vavuniyaa from 6:00 p.m. Tuesday. The explosions have been continuing for more than an hour, according to reports from Vavuniyaa. The ammunition dump is one of the largest used by the SLA, military observers said.
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IDPs occupying railway properties in Jaffna to be evicted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 11:13 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) has instructed all Internally Displaced People (IDPs) presently occupying railway stations and other railway properties including living quarters and the railway track areas from Thellippazhai to Kodikaamam to vacate them before 20 June, sources in Jaffna said. The government decision to resume train service from Vavuniya to Kaangeasanththu’rai soon and its directive to the GA is the reason for the urgent eviction order. The IDPs, more than 20,000 in number, are in a quandary as no alternate places for them to relocate have been arranged by the authorities, the sources added
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Boyle, Fein charge Sri Lanka of Genocide in Chennai seminar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 02:20 GMT]
Francis Boyle, Professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, and Bruce Fein, a Washington D.C. Attorney, speaking at a seminar in Chennai organized by the International Tamil Center Monday, reiterated charges of Genocide against the Sri Lanka Government alleging massacre of more than 50,000 Tamil civilians, sources attending the event said. While Prof. Boyle urged India to file charges in International Court against Sri Lanka for violating Geneva conventions, and to stop Colombo "to cease and desist from all acts of genocide against Tamils," Fein stressed the urgent need for the Tamils to reach a "consensus on their political aspirations." The event was organized by Dr Panchadcharam, a consultant physician from New York.
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‘Stop-Genocide’ candidate secures record result, but misses London seat

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 June 2009, 02:49 GMT]
Ms. Jan Jananayagam, an independent candidate contesting the European Parliament elections in London, secured over 50,000 votes, an unprecedented result, and a record for an independent candidate in an EU election. Though Ms Jananayagam failed to secure a seat, her campaign team said they were delighted with the results. Despite having decided to contest only days before voter registration closed and four weeks before the polls, the Tamil candidate had amassed more votes than some well-established small parties in Britain, and more than twice all other independent candidates combined, they said. Apart from Tamil expatriates, her campaign, conducted by students and volunteers, had drawn support and donations from British voters and other minority communities.
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SLA rejects request to free Saiva priests, orphans held in detention centres

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 June 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, rejected a joint request made by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and Jaffna District High Court Judge to release the Saiva priests and children orphaned or separated from their parents, from the SLA detention centres in Jaffna district, in a meeting held Saturday in the SLA head quarters in Palaali High Security Zone, sources in Jaffna said. The commander said that their release could be considered only after it is established that they have no connection with ‘terrorists’, the sources added.
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Bomb explosions heard in Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 20:56 GMT]
Residents in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Maiyiliddi area in Valikaamam North said that hey heard deafening explosions from the SLA High Security Zone across Tho’ndaimanaa’ru lagoon Saturday from 10:30 a.m to 11:00 a.m as if artillery shells were exploding. Defence Ministry spokesman in Colombo, however, said that it was an accidental bomb explosion referring to the Saturday incident.
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