Former LTTE spokesman Ilanthirayan’s wife bears witness before LLRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 06:13 GMT]
“I have not seen my husband after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers took him away saying that he was to be given medical treatment and I do not know what had happened to him,” Vanitha Ilanthirayan, the wife of former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spokesman Ilanthirayan (Rasiah Sivaroopan), said bearing witness before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Saturday in Batticaloa District Government Secretariat. Meanwhile, Bobby, the wife of former LTTE Commander of Batticaloa district Piraba (Krishnapillai Pirabakaran), told the LLRC that she has no information of her husband who was taken away by SLA soldiers when they came along with the people to the SLA controlled Vadduvaakal area in Mullaiththeevu district when the war ended, sources in Baticaloa said.
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Resettled families in Vanni suffer without adequate transport

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 05:35 GMT]
The resettled families in Vanni are facing great difficulty without adequate transport facilities as Sri Lanka government had not done anything to meet the transport facility needs of the people resettled in villages in Vanni located far apart, sources in Vanni said. The government run Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) had abandoned its depots in Vanni for the last twenty years and the limited number of buses allocated to Vanni after the war is hardly enough to serve the residents of Vanni, Ki’linochchi SLTB officials said.
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193 Sinhala families seek resettlement in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 05:12 GMT]
193 Sinhala families have arrived in Jaffna until Friday seeking resettlement in Jaffna claiming that their families had lived in Jaffna before 1983. They are occupying the old Jaffna Railway Station premises displacing the families of uprooted families from Valikaamam North Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) who had been staying there, local media sources said. Some of these Sinhala families belong to SLA soldiers in Jaffna and SLA authorities are providing the basic needs for all the Sinhala families. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar said that no one had informed Jaffna Secretariat about the Sinhala families coming to Jaffna. The families handed Friday appeals to Jaffna GA and Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda requesting help to resettle them in Jaffna.
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Pakistan joins Sri Lanka in execution video storm

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 01:16 GMT]
In the wake of criticism on Pakistan's human rights abuses by key US Congressmen, Pakistan's military Friday ordered an investigation into a video, widely available in the internet, showing Pakistani soldiers summarily executing blindfolded men in civilan dress, Washington Post reported. A similar, but more horrendous, video showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers extra-judicially executing blindfolded men, stripped naked with hands tied back was shown by British Channel-4 news in August 25th and declared authentic after a UN investigation, but no attempts have yet been made by Colombo to investigate the crime to identify the perpetrators.
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SLA stops volunteer teachers’ demonstration in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 07:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Ki’linochchi did not allow more than 300 volunteer teachers of Vanni to stage their token protest demonstration in front of Ki’linochchi Education office Wednesday demanding Sri Lanka government to appoint them permanently in their posts. The volunteer teachers have been serving the schools in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu without salary for the last ten years and even during the war on Vanni, sources in Ki’linochchi said. SLA said that no demonstration will be allowed in public places. The demonstrators who then went into the Education Office held a brief meeting before handing their appeal to the Education officials.
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Trincomalee under heavy security for Rajapaksa’s visit

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to preside over a conference at the Trincomalee Naval Base Monday morning to discuss development of the Eastern province that comprises the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai where security arrangements have been strengthened heavily. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and policemen deployed in large numbers are on patrol covering all parts of Trincomalee town.
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Douglas Devananda pays homage to SLA soldiers killed in demining

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 05:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda paid homage to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers killed in demining operations in the North in an event held in Vassavi’laan Maththiya Makaa Viththiyaalayam Tuesday. Paying homage to SLA soldiers by Douglas Devananda is an attempt to please Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, SLA Jaffna Commander who had openly criticized him for exploiting the sacrifices of SLA soldiers to attain selfish interests, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri is keen in improving relations between Douglas Devananda and Mahinda Kathurusinghe, the sources added.
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Kaaththaankudi police alleged of hushing up killing of a family man

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 September 2010, 05:08 GMT]
A young family man was found hanging from the roof of his house located in Kalladi in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district 12 August and the police had handed his body to his relatives after inquiry claiming he had committed suicide, without an inquest into the death by the magistrate or postmortem examination. Local residents, however, allege that the man was killed with the connivance of a policeman attached to Kaththaankudi police station who had an affair with the wife of the man found dead.
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Explosion kills SLA soldier, injures another in Valikaamam HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 September 2010, 18:06 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier was killed and another seriously injured when a device exploded Monday evening during a search operation conducted by SLA soldiers in Maaviddapuram area in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North occupied by SLA, a media report Monday night from Palaali SLA Head Quarter said. This incident has occurred in the context of Sri Lanka Government saying that people are to be allowed to resettle in their own properties in places excluding the areas around Palaali SLA base in Valikaamam North. Maaviddapuram is located in an area out of Palaali HSZ.
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Smuggling ancient religious statues from North to South escalates

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 07:30 GMT]
The people of Vadamaraadchi on finding ancient statues of Saiva temples hidden under a bridge in Vadamaraadchi informed the police and handed over the man who had stolen them from the Saiva temples in Vadamaraadchi East occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Saturday, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The man admitted that he had stolen the statues but information on where they were stolen from is yet not known. Historical artifacts from war affected Vanni by persons connected to occupying SLA soldiers and officers were taken to the South and sold to international antique dealers for large sums of money, sources in Vanni said.
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SLA replaces STF in Paduvaankarai in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 03:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops are moving into Paduvaankarai area occupying camps vacated by Special Task Force (STF) of Sri Lanka Police. STF has started withdrawing from their camps located in the villages of Vellaave’li, Paalaiyadiveddai, Periya Poaratheevu and Maavadi Munmaari in Paduvaankarai area since Saturday.
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Trincomalee town security strengthened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 2010, 16:21 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police have been conducting random checks on three-wheelers, motor bikes and other vehicles plying in Trincomalee town and its suburbs since the explosion that took place in Karadiyan-aa’ru police station in Batticaloa district last week.
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LTTE's Elilan surrendered to SLA on 18 May, wife tells BBC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 16:21 GMT]
Ananthi Sasitharan, wife of Elilan, former Trincomalee political head of the LTTE, told BBC Tamil service that she and her three daughters witnessed her husband and hundreds of other LTTE members surrendering to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 18th May 2009, after the war has come to an end. "I have been trying to trace my husband and has not been successful to locate his whereabouts. I have no doubt that Sri Lanka's president knows where my husband and others who surrendered are being held," she told the BBC.
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Guatemalan ex-soldier jailed in US for 1982 massacre

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 September 2010, 01:31 GMT]
Gilberto Jordan, 54, a former Guatemalan soldier was sentenced to 10 years in prison for failing to reveal his participation in the 1982 killings of at least 162 villagers at Dos Erres during the de facto presidency of General Efraín Ríos Montt. Guatemalan Government soldiers allegedly killed nearly 200,000 indigenous and Mayan people as part of the Guatamalan Government's scorched earth policy.
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Explosion in Vanni SLA camp, 3 soldiers wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 September 2010, 09:25 GMT]
Three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army were injured in a blast that took place Friday afternoon at SLA 211 headquarters in Vavuniyaa. It was an accidental explosion while soldiers were cleaning a detonator box in the camp, SLA spokesman Major General Ubaya Medawala told media in Colombo.
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2 Eastern Province youths arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 18:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) special police from Colombo arrested two youths from Eastern Province Thursday in Nalloor in Jaffna claiming they were robbers, Jaffna police sources said. Jaffna magistrate directed the police to place the youths in remand in Jaffna Prison for two weeks when they were produced in the court by Jaffna police.
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Properties of uprooted in Vanni plundered with SLA assistance

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 September 2010, 05:55 GMT]
Muslim and Sinhala traders from Southern Sri Lanka are actively plundering the properties abandoned when the people of Vanni were forced to leave them during war, with the assistance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vanni. The traders make huge profits transporting them in vehicles to Vavuniyaa, Anurdapura and Puththa’lam for sale. The plundered goods include iron objects, spare parts dismantled from abandoned vehicles, house fittings and other valuable things. SLA soldiers are given a percentage of the profits made by the traders for allowing them to plunder and transport the goods of the people in Vanni to the South, sources in Vanni said.
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SLA soldier killed, 2 injured in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 September 2010, 08:00 GMT]
A truck carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Galagedera in Kandy Tuesday night ran off the road killing a soldier and seriously injuring two, Kandy police said.
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Nirupama faces civil society outburst in North

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 August 2010, 17:31 GMT]
India provided arms and logistical support to Colombo in the Vanni war. It didn’t take any effort to stop the war. Even after one year of the war, India didn’t act on rehabilitating the incarcerated people, accused members of the confederation of citizens’ forums in Jaffna while meeting the visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao on Tuesday. Resettlement is a hoodwink in Vanni, said retired Senior Professor S.K. Sitrampalam of the University of Jaffna, expressing the strong sentiments of Eezham Tamils. Army has occupied the Tamil lands and people have strong doubts whether India would be of any help in Tamils getting a political solution, the civil society representatives told the visiting Indian diplomat.
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Guard at Jaffna women's home stabbed to death

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 August 2010, 19:05 GMT]
An unidentified person who tried to sneak into a home for destitute and war-affected women in Maruthanaamadam - Uduvil area Thursday night stabbed to death the watcher of the home who tried to catch him, sources in Jaffna said. Uduvil is an area in Jaffna where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are always present and the intrusion into the women's home during Thursday night cannot have taken place without the knowledge of the soldiers, the resident of the area said.
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