SLA soldiers force Tamils to hoist Sri Lankan flag in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 05:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna celebrating its victory in the war on the Tamils in Vanni forced residents in Jaffna peninsula to hoist the Sri Lankan flag in their houses and vehicles Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA had issued strict instructions to all private and government institutions to hoist the Lion flag Tuesday as a mark of celebrating the SLA victory. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan soldiers had blocked all events that were arranged to commemorate the Tamils killed by SLA in the war on Vanni.
Full story >>

Senior SLA officer: ‘Kill everybody!’ order came from the top

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 19:33 GMT]
A senior Sri Lankan Army commander and frontline soldier have told Britain’s Channel 4 News that point-blank executions of Tamils at the end of the civil war in May 2009 were carried out under orders ‘from the top’. In an extended segment on Sri Lanka Tuesday, Channel 4 broadcast translated video interviews with the two soldiers. Surrendering LTTE fighters and their families were detained, tortured and shot, the trooper said. Channel 4 also interviewed in the studio the former Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda, Louis Arbour, who slammed the impunity enjoyed by Sri Lankan forces throughout the armed conflict. Sri Lanka’s ambassador to the United Nations, Palitha Kohana, failed to show up, despite agreeing beforehand to appear to defend his government’s record.
Full story >>

SLA blocks May remembrance events in Jaffna, journalists threatened

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2010, 22:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has prevented the first commemoration events of Mu’l’livaaikkaal Massacre of May 2009 being observed in Jaffna Sunday in Nalloor and Jaffna town by chasing away the public from participating, threatening to death the reporters trying to cover the event and detaining Yarl Thinakural reporter who was present in the memorial event observed in Ilangkai Thamizh Arasu Kaddchi (ITAK) office on Martin Road, Jaffna.
Full story >>

SLA soldiers deployed again in road checks, patrol in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 19:11 GMT]
Thousands of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are deployed along with the police in carrying out checks and patrol of the main roads in Jaffna peninsula again, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna SLA Commander Mahinda Kathrusinghe informed that SLA forces are being deployed to help the police in Jaffna peninsula to contain the escalating abductions for ransom, killings, robberies and sexual violence on women, deteriorating law and order in the peninsula, in a meeting with the Jaffna district lawyers and magistrates Saturday.
Full story >>

SLA tears down Tamil Heroes memorial monuments in VVT

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 15:28 GMT]
More than a hundred Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers deployed Sunday evening in Theeruvil in Valveddiththu’rai, the birth place of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader V. Pirapaharan in Vadamaraadchi, are tearing down the memorial monuments erected in memory of twelve combatants including senior Commanders Kumarappa, Pulenthiran and another memorial monument of Col. Kiddu, sources in Valveddiththur’ai (VVT) said. Meanwhile, former TNA parliamentarian Sivajilingam told that he too had received complaints about the demolishing of LTTE memorial monuments.
Full story >>

SLA converts Tiger Heroes Resting Homes into bases in Vanni, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 16 May 2010, 14:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities are hastily converting the Heroes Resting Homes where Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) war heroes are buried in Vanni main land and Jaffna peninsula, to obliterate all traces of them and to prevent their dear and near ones visiting the tombs in fond memory, sources in Jaffna said. Another reason for the demolishing of the Heroes Resting Homes (HRH) is to prevent people from South seeing them when visiting North, the sources added.
Full story >>

SLA junior officer recovered dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 13 May 2010, 09:39 GMT]
Vaddukkoaddai police recovered the corpse of a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Second Lieutenant Wednesday around 11:00 p.m near Periya Thampiraan temple in Araali with more than four bullet wounds on the head, sources in Jaffna said. Police are investigating to find out whether internal conflict among soldiers was the reason or he was shot and killed out of the camp.
Full story >>

Jaffna peninsula people gripped in shock, fear as abductions escalate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 12 May 2010, 06:16 GMT]
Unidentified men arriving in a van forcibly took away a family woman Tuesday morning as she was returning along Karaveddi Sampanthar shop area after having taken her son to school, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The abductors had attacked the woman with the intention of killing her and dumped her among the shrubs in a deserted area in Valvai where Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are on patrol. Meanwhile, a teenage girl student had managed to escape from abductors with injuries Tuesday in Point Pedro in Vadamaraadchi while some men had tried to abduct a young woman in front of Jaffna Teaching Hospital as she was coming out of the hospital after treatment, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Colombo adopts failed Sudanese ruse to deflect war crimes charges - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 May 2010, 14:38 GMT]
Commenting on Sri Lanka's President Rajapakse's announcement that Colombo will appoint a 7-person commission to "search for any violations of internationally accepted norms of conduct in such conflict situations, and the circumstances that may have led to such actions [in Sri Lanka], and identify any persons or groups responsible for such acts," Francis A Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law said "after it was announced that the ICC was going after Sudan, they hired a British lawyer to advise them on setting up some type of fake internal procedure of investigation/ prosecution in order to head off the ICC, pretending to satisfy the requirement of complementarity. It miserably failed, and Sudan's Al Bashir is now under ICC's arrest warrant."
Full story >>

Naaka-naadu
Naaka-theevu
Naaga-deepa

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 2010, 22:01 GMT]
The country of the Naakar
The island / peninsula of the Naakar (The Jaffna Peninsula)
Full story >>

SLA builds base on demolished LTTE War Heroes’ Resting Home in Uduppiddi

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 May 2010, 16:53 GMT]
More than 200 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are engaged in constructing a military base since Friday morning on the very place of E’l’aangku’lam Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) War Heroes Resting Home in Vadmaraadchi which had been razed to the ground by SLA 03 May night using heavy equipments, sources in Jaffna said. Defence Secretary Gothabaya who recently visited Jaffna is understood to have issued the orders to demolish the above War Heroes Resting Home and to build a military base on the ground where it had stood, the sources said.
Full story >>

Why Genocide is an issue in the British elections

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 May 2010, 05:36 GMT]
This general election sees unprecedented levels of engagement of British political parties with issues that are important to the Tamil Diaspora. With three active party-affiliated campaigning groups within the Diaspora – Tamils for Labour, British Tamil Conservatives and the Tamils for Liberals and the reciprocal active engagement of candidates from a cross section of parties in issues specific to the Tamils, the British Tamil Diaspora is no longer expected to vote primarily for a single party that was ‘sympathetic’ to their issues. Voters will ultimately need to choose based on the relationships they have built and what they feel their candidates have achieved for them. However, in policy terms the priorities of the Diaspora are clear: Tamils need to see a fundamental shift in the way the conflict has been viewed.
Full story >>

SLA provides protection to Chaavakachcheari court

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 May 2010, 14:16 GMT]
In the wake of alleged death threats to Chaavakachcheari magistrate K. Pirabakaran by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) operatives, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major Gen. Mahintha Kathurusinghe, has provided military protection to Chaavakachcheari courts in addition to police protection from Tuesday. The Commander said that he has also arranged for military protection to Pirabakaran’s vehicle when he travels from Jaffna to Chaavakachcheari and back. Meanwhile, another suspect in the above case, Regan, Deputy Mayor of Jaffna, a key operative of EPDP, has gone into hiding following his associate Charles, EPDP Thenmaraadchi organizer, being arrested and detained in Jaffna prison, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

MIA spreads genocide message through video, album

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 May 2010, 17:15 GMT]
In a recent release of a video called "Born Free" containing "a hyper-violent mini-film" as a pre-release to her forthcoming album to be released on June 29, Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA) expresses her sympathy for genocide victims with the powerful imagery of her video. YouTube yanked her video Tuesday, triggering an avalanche of publicity, including a detailed narrative of MIA's album that appeared in the weekend edition of the Washington Post, MTV, and Los Angeles Times among other media outlets.
Full story >>

Indian aid to resettled Vanni civilians left undistributed along A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:06 GMT]
Materials to construct shelters given as aid by India meant for the resettled families in Vanni have not been fully distributed to them and are left unattended along A9 road due to noncooperation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni and their refusal to grant permission for distribution, sources close to Ki’linochchi Secretariat said. SLA authorities purposely delay and obstruct distribution of these materials with the aim to give them to Sinhalese families to be colonized in places including Kokkaavil and Maangku’lam in Vanni, according to some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) newly elected representatives. The distribution of the materials had not been carried out by the government officials due to noncooperation by SLA authorities in Vanni.
Full story >>

JMC evicts Sinhalese pavement traders in Nalloor

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 April 2010, 21:28 GMT]
Due to pressure from Jaffna Traders’ Union (JTU) and civil society organizations in Jaffna peninsula Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) administration has begun evicting the Sinhalese pavement traders who had illegally set up stalls in the surroundings of historically famous Nalloor Kanthasuvami Koayil, sources in Jaffna said. Some of the above Sinhalese traders along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had on 22 March demolished the memorial pillar of Lt. Col. Thileepan located behind Nalloor temple and this had enraged the residents of Jaffna peninsula who had accused JMC authorities for not evicting the illegal pavement traders from the streets around the temple.
Full story >>

SLA constructs big bases in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 April 2010, 11:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vanni without allowing the uprooted civilians from resettling in their homes is busy engaged in constructing big bases in strategic areas in Vanni, sources in Vanni said. Meanwhile, the small numbers of civilians permitted to resettle in some areas in Vanni are subjected to harassment by SLA. Armed group of men forcibly enter their houses in the nights where there are young women, the sources further said. SLA soldiers do not permit the civilians to move freely in the nights. Even during day time they are forced to carry their Sri Lankan National Identity Cards.
Full story >>

Ballot boxes dispatched to polling booths in Jaffna, Ki’linochchi districts

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 11:07 GMT]
Jaffna secretariat started dispatching Wednesday morning ballot boxes and polling cards in vehicles escorted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police to the polling centres in Jaffna district and to the cluster voting centres set up in Ki’linochchi district and in the islets of Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The ballot boxes, cards and election duty officers to Nedunththeevu were flown in a helicopter. Meanwhile, Saravanabavan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) candidate contesting Jaffna electorate, alleged that nearly 3,000 polling cards had been snatched away by Eezham People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) men in the islets of Jaffna.
Full story >>

Eezham fishermen not responsible for attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 06 April 2010, 14:11 GMT]
The president of Jaffna peninsula fishermen society federation, C. Thavarathinam, said Tuesday that the Tamil fishermen from Jaffna peninsula had nothing to do with the attack on Tamil Nadu fishermen on Kachchaitheevu seas Monday night. While refuting the rumour blaming Jaffna fishermen for the attack he said that there is a strong suspicion that the Sinhalese fishermen from the South who engage in deep fishing on Northern seas in large numbers had attacked the fishermen from Tamil Nadu with the assistance of Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers who are in full control of the islets of Jaffna and the seas around. Meanwhile, fishermen who were attacked said that SLN soldiers had assaulted them and cut off their nets besides confiscating their catch, sources in Raameasvaram said.
Full story >>

SLA shoots on persons transporting sand in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 April 2010, 16:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers opened fire Sunday evening on three youths on a tractor transporting sand for building purposes without stopping at the SLA check post in Allaarai area in Thenmaraadchi, sources in Chavakachcheari said. The soldiers were able to take two of them into custody while the third person had run off. Kodikaamam police to whom the two persons were handed over to produced them at Chaavakachcheari magistrate court Monday. The court ordered the two youths to be placed in remand prison.
Full story >>