SL National Defence Day to be held in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 September 2010, 06:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister of Disaster Management A. H. M. Fowzie will hold a meeting in Jaffna Sunday with government departmental heads and representatives of public organization to discuss arrangements of the Sri Lanka National Defence Day that is to be celebrated in Jaffna 26 December, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. This is another event like Sri Lanka Cabinet meeting held in Ki’linochchi and the Government Agents conference staged in Jaffna by the Sri Lanka government to show the world as if it is genuinely interested in the 'development' of the North, civil society organizations in Jaffna said.
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All island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 September 2010, 15:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Public Administration Affairs Ministry held its first all island District Government Agents conference in Jaffna Monday in District Secretaiat hall at 9:00 a.m presided by Sri Lanka Minister of Public Administration, John Seneviratne. Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar told Tamilnet that past development activities in the North and future devolpment projects were discussed in the meeting. Allocation of funds for various projects was also considered, the GA 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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Tamil political prisoners in A’pura appeal for release

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 August 2010, 08:16 GMT]
Thirty-five Tamil political prisoners held in Anuradhapura prison since 2005 have made an urgent appeal to Sri Lanka government Sunday to release them on bail or discharge them. They have told the authorities in a memorandum that they are in remand on fabricated evidence against them. These prisoners were taken into custody from Vavuniyaa, Anuradhapura, Mannaar, Jaffna, Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Batticaloa.
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Nirupama Rao to visit North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 August 2010, 07:53 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Rao is to visit Jaffna, Ki'linochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Vavuniyaa in the North 30, 31 August in the context of Indian Foreign Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna's proposed visit to Sri Lanka late September, sources in Jaffna said. Nirupama Rao will inspect the progress of development projects, resettlement and rehabilitation activities in the North before meeting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians 1 March in Colombo. Sri Lanka government, keen to make a show of the 'Development of North' to international countries and India, is sending its ministers to North in haste in an effort to support its claims of achievements in the above mentioned matters, the sources added.
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Colombo "deliberately shelled civilians," accuses UN's departing Holmes

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 August 2010, 11:18 GMT]
United Nation's Human Rights Co-ordinator, John Holmes, in a parting shot at Colombo the end of his 3-year tenure at the UN, defended his department's funding of the Sri Lanka government's internment camps where more than 350,000 held for several months while admitting the Sri Lanka government may have “deliberately shelled” civilians and hospitals, Inner City Press reported.
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NP Governor wants teaching stopped in war damaged schools in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 August 2010, 05:41 GMT]
Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri instructed the Education Authorities in Vanni to stop all educational activities in the schools in Vanni that were damaged and destroyed during Sri Lanka government's war on Vanni until they are rebuilt or renovated, in a meeting held in Vavuniyaa Monday with the officials of the Northern Province Ministry of Education and Vanni education authorities, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Governor's order is seen as a blow on the students of Vanni who already had been robbed of their education by the war, Vanni education officials said.
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18,237 students sit Year 5 scholarship examination

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 August 2010, 17:58 GMT]
698 uprooted students of Mullaiththeevu district held in welfare centres are among the 18,237 students sitting for the Year 5 Scholarships examination to be held in 196 centres Sunday in the districts of Vavuniyaa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mullaiththeevu and Mannaar in northern province.
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‘Development’ conquistadors have no appetite for psychological need of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 August 2010, 07:07 GMT]
Psychotherapy provides meaning for the enormous suffering people have undergone to hope for the future and to hope for trust in the world, says Daya Somasundaram of the University of Jaffna, one of the very few psychiatrics serving the war affected Eezham Tamils in the island. Considering the long history in the island, the meaning comes only when Eezham Tamils get their land and affairs into their hands and when their nation is recognised. But the ‘development’ conquistadors of the West and India show no appetite for basic psychology needed for regeneration in the context of the island, commented Tamil circles, citing Indian Foreign Secretary Nirupama Menon Rao who is scheduled to visit the island saying that conflict in the island had ended and India has to go beyond rehabilitation to look at development, without any reference to the crux of the matter.
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Indian HC refuses visa to head of Northern fishermen society representatives

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 August 2010, 06:48 GMT]
Indian High Commission in Sri Lanka refused to issue visa to the president of the Northern Fishermen Societies Federation, S. Thavaratnam who was to head the delegation of 23 representatives from Northern Sri Lanka to hold talks with their counterparts in Tamil Nadu. The former secretary of Vadamaraadchi Fishermen Society, K. Sooriyakumaran is now leading the delegation which is engaged in the talks now, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA extends HSZ in Ki'linochchi encroaching traditional Tamil villages

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 17:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has instructed the Government Agents of Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts not to resettle anyone in an area of 200 acres in the adjoining traditional Tamil villages of the already declared area as the High Security Zone (HSZ) of occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in an extent of 300 acres in Ira'naimadu in Vanni, Ki'linochchi Government Secretariat sources said. The 500 acres of land encroached by SLA are to be used to colonize it with Sinhala families of SLA personnel from South and other Sinhala families, depriving the Tamil residents of the area from cultivating their paddy fields irrigated by Ira'naimadu reservoir, sources in Vanni said.
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Attempt to misuse resettled women in Vanni foiled

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 06:38 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Saravanabavan and Sritharan intervened and stopped Sunday the attempt of a private company from Kandy in Ki'linochchi town enticing young women recently allowed to resettle in Vanni, with job opportunities in South Sri Lanka with attractive salaries. The parliamentarians, on suspicion raised by local people about the true intent of the company, visited the enlisting place in front of Ki'linochchi Government Secretariat and prevented the unsuspecting young women being taken away to the South.
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Fishermen society delegation from North leaves for Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 August 2010, 06:01 GMT]
A delegation of 23 representatives of the fishermen societies in North will leave for Tamil Nadu Monday afternoon to Trichi to participate in meetings with the representatives of major fishermen societies in Tamil Nadu, sources in Jaffna said. Two Catholic priests from Mannaar and Jaffna who had organized the programme will be accompanying the delegation. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has announced that two officers of the Sri Lanka Fisheries Ministry will be present in the meetings between the representatives to be held in Tamil Nadu. This reveals the keen interest of Sri Lanka government to learn first hand the nature and scope of the meetings in Tamil Nadu, the sources added.
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Indian, Northern fishermen society representatives meet to discuss comon issues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 August 2010, 05:20 GMT]
A group of 23 representatives of the fisheries societies in Northern Sri Lanka are to meet their counterparts in Tamil Nadu to discuss matters including the illegal invasion of Indian fishing trawlers into the seas of Northern Sri Lanka and the escalating attacks by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Tamil Nadu fishermen. The gorup, led by S. Thavaratnam, will hold discussion from 14 to 22 August, fisheries society sources in Jaffna said. Though a similar meeting had been arranged two years ago it had to be abandoned as Sri Lanka Defence Ministry and the Indian High Commission to Sri Lanka had not permitted the meeting to take place.
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SL president suspends plans to relocate NPC offices to Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 August 2010, 05:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa has directly intervened to immediately suspend the plans of Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri to relocate the offices of the Northern Provincial Council (NPC) functioning in Trincomalee to Ki'linochchi, NPC sources said. The president had called Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri to his official residence and issued the order. Moreover, President's brother and Secretary of the Ministry of Defence, Gothabaya Rajapaka had severely warned the officials of NPC 'not to even think' of relocating the offices, they added.
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2 Indian High Commission officials on sudden visit to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 August 2010, 19:05 GMT]
Two key officials of the Indian High Commission to Sri Lanka in Colombo visited Jaffna Monday and held talks with high officers of Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) and police in Jaffna Secretariat. Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri and Jaffna Government Agent, Ms. Imelda Sukumar participated in this meeting, sources in Jaffna said. The visit of the Indian officials had not been announced and local media was not allowed to cover the meeting.
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Surrendered students detained under PTA sit GCE A/L examination

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 August 2010, 08:19 GMT]
Around 2,500 hundred students from the districts of Vavuniyaa, Mannaar, Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu in Vanni sitting for the GCE A/L examination which commenced Monday are among the 2,45,000 students appearing for the examination throughout the country. 367 students from the districts of Vanni arrested and detained under Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) claimed as members of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are also sitting for the examination, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA exploits Chinese funds meant for resettlement of uprooted Vanni civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 August 2010, 07:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vanni is exploiting funds donated by China for the resettlement of uprooted Vanni people to construct permanent housing schemes for its personnel, in Kokkaavil, located west of A9 road in Vanni, civil society organizations in K'linochchi said. Uprooted civilians forcibly taken by SLA soldiers to work in the constructions said that even two storey buildings are under construction in an area where new roads have been laid. Meanwhile, around 3,000 uprooted families, brought to be resettled in Vanni by Sri Lanka government, continue to live under trees left abandoned while Sri Lanka government exploits international assistance meant for them to settle Sinhalese families from South, Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian said.
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Landmines explode in 3 Vanni school surroundings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 August 2010, 04:09 GMT]
Three landmines went off Sunday morning in the surroundings of schools in three separate schools in Ki’linochchi district in Vanni where uprooted families were resettled in Vanni on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) assurance that the areas had been completely de-mined. The landmines exploded when students set fire to waste heaped after cleaning the surrounding area of their schools, sources in Ki’linochchi said.
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Resettled families in Vanni left abandoned in deserted places

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 August 2010, 13:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vanni has refused permission to the uprooted families of Kumaarasaamipuram and Mayilvaakanapuram in Ki’linochchi district to resettle in their lands claiming that the area is infested with landmines, sources in Ki’linochchi said. These people were brought from Vavuniyaa SLA Menik Farm camp by Sri Lanka government authorities promising resettlement in their own villages. But now they are left abandoned in deserted places without sufficient food, water, hygienic facilities and safety, the affected civilians said.
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