Suspects in Navaali abduction to be charged under PTA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:59 GMT]
Jaffna police will frame charges against the three suspects who had abducted two family men from Navaali in Jaffna for ransom claiming that they were from the Intelligence Wing of Sri Lanka Army (SLA). The charges are to be made in Mallaakam magistrate court under Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and Emergency Regulations (ER), according to police sources. Preliminary investigations reveal the suspects’ involvement in earlier abductions, killings, robbery and sexual abuse in Jaffna peninsula after the opening of A9 road, the sources said. Meanwhile, the claim that they were of the SLA Intelligence Wing has raised suspicion among the peninsula residents of collaboration of the suspects with SLA Intelligence Unit and the paramilitary groups employed by it.
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Indian Railway engineers, technicians arrive at Medawachchiya

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 April 2010, 07:25 GMT]
A group consisting of Indian Railway Department engineers and technicians has arrived in the North to commence work on the reconstruction of the railway tracks and railway stations from Oamanthai to Kaangkeasanthu’rai (KKS), a project which India earlier announced as aid to Sri Lanka, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The Indian engineers and technicians presently located in Medawachchiya and Vavuniyaa have begun to work in stages. Meanwhile, an Indian firm has already started to construct the railway tracks between Vavuniyaa and Thalai Mannaar, the sources added.
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Elderly man abducted, killed in Jaffna, 9-year-old girl killed in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 April 2010, 16:01 GMT]
Jaffna police recovered Wednesday the body of an elderly man who had gone missing 15 April from his house at Kachcheariyadi in Jaffna. Police suspect that he had been abducted and later killed to rob the gold jewelry he wore and the cash he had in his possession. Meanwhile, robbers who entered a house in Thirunaavatku’lam Sivan Koayiladi in Vavuniyaa Tuesday night stabbed a nine-year-old girl to death and seriously injured her mother before robbing the cash and jewelry, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Law and order have deteriorated in the North where incidents of old people and women staying alone being killed for the purpose of robbery have increased at an alarming rate, sources in Jaffna said.
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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.
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Young woman abducted, sexually abused in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 15:32 GMT]
Two young men in Chu’n’naakam area in Valikaamam abducted Monday a young woman who had come from an internment camp in Vavuniyaa to visit her uncle in Chu’n’naakam and sexually abused her, sources in Jaffna said. The woman had managed to escape Tuesday morning from where she was held in the night and told what had happened to her to local people. The local people with the help of the hand phone which the young men had taken from the woman caught the two men and gave them a severe beating, the sources said.
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Muslim family man killed in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 16:17 GMT]
Unknown persons had stabbed to death a Muslim family man Sunday night in Aa’ndiyaa Pu’liyangku’lam in Cheddiku’lam area in Vauniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The man is suspected to have been abducted before being killed. The killing of a Muslim person has created tension among the residents of Vavuniyaa.
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Former SLRC employee in Vanni complains of death threat to HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 10:12 GMT]
An employee of Sri Lanka Red Cross who had served in Vanni during the last stages of war and now living in Ma’nkumpaan in the islets of Jaffna has lodged a complaint with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office of intimidation and death threats by armed men alleged to be ruling party ally Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) persons who operate with Sri Lanka Intelligence division. The armed men come to his place in the nights and intimidate him with threats of abduction and death, the employee said in his complaint.
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New Year celebrations dull in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 07:00 GMT]
The Tamil New Year was observed in a low key in the North as well as in the East of the country. The Vanni uprooted civilians held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps, not allowed to resettle in their own places despite countless promises and dates announced by the government, had other unfulfilled basic needs in their minds than the arrival of the New Year, according to sources in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, Sinhalese Buddhists from the South attended in unprecedented numbers in the religious ceremonies held in Nainaatheevu Naakavikaarai, Aariyaku’lam Naakavikaarai and the newly built Buddhist Vikaarai in Ki’linochchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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Clashes reported in the wake of election all over the country

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 19:56 GMT]
Clashes following Thursday parliamentary election between supporters of opposing candidates are reported to be taking place in several areas of the island, according to media reports. Former minister of the ruling United People’s Freedom (UPFA), M. Aluthgama is alleged to be directly involved in the assault of a member of the Election Monitoring Committee in Navalappiddi in the upcountry where incidents of post election violence has been high. Fights between two Muslim factions in Aalayadiveampu in Batticaloa in which Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) members are alleged to be involved, are also reported.
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Lowest number of votes registered in Jaffna electoral district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 18:31 GMT]
Only 18 to 20 percent of the voters in Jaffna electoral district cast their votes in the parliamentary elections Thursday recording the lowest in island, while the voting percentage in the whole country was from 52 to 55 percent, according to Election Monitoring Agencies. Jaffna electoral district, compared to other electoral districts, recorded the lowest turn over of voters where voting percentage in Thenmaraadchi was higher than that of Vadamaraadchi while voting was very low in the islets of Jaffna, the sources said. Compared to the recent presidential election where the voting was low the voting turn out was even less in the parliamentary election in Jaffna electoral district.
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Incidents of violence mark Election Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 10:15 GMT]
In Vavuniyaa in the North, alleged supporters of former Minister of Resettlement and ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Risard Badudeen harassed private bus owners transporting Vanni uprooted civilians in Vavuniyaa detention centres to the polling stations in Vanni district, according to Advisor to the Elections Commisioner, Bandula Kulathunge. Meanwhile, Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the Election Day was quite violent with incidents continuing to pour in from all parts of the island.
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Low turnout of voting, people disinterested in election in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 09:43 GMT]
Around 11:00 a.m Thursday only 4.29% persons eligible to vote had cast their votes in Jaffna while after 2:00 p.m there was a slight increase. However, only 10% of the total registered voters had cast their votes in Jaffna electorate by afternoon, Jaffna Secretariat officials said. People were seen disinterested in the parliamentary election and the general atmosphere in the peninsula was peaceful without any considerable election violence, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thousands of uprooted civilians denied voting: CaFFE election monitors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:46 GMT]
Many interned Tamil civilians in Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa were told by Sri Lankan election officials that they must go to Ki'linochchi Cluster Polling Station to vote, while election officials in Ki'linochchi station were instructing civilians that they must proceed to the Menik Farm Polling Station to vote, said Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) in a statement issued Thursday. "In the Killinochchi Central College Cluster Polling Centers only 362 out of 7,504 total registered voters have been able to cast their votes in the first set of 8 cluster polling stations. Furthermore, in the second set of 8 cluster polling centers only 283 out of 10,240 voters have been able to cast their votes by 12.00 noon," CaFFE statement said.
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Family man feared abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 16:37 GMT]
A family man of Soosaipi’l’laiyaar Koayiladi in Vavuniyaa, gone missing since Tuesday evening after going to the mechanic repair garage near Kanthasuvaami Koyiladi in Vavuniyaa town to have his three-wheeler repaired, is feared abducted, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with Vavuniyaa police. The abductee was released Thursday.
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Uprooted civilians sell dry food rations on streets in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 04:46 GMT]
Uprooted civilians from Vanni in Vavuniyaa internment camps are forced to sell their dry food rations on the streets of Vavuniyaa as they are unable to fulfill their other pressing needs including milk food for their children, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Help from NGOs being unavailable they are driven to sell their dry food rations for less than half the market price to meet their other vital needs. The uprooted persons resettled in Vanni and in Jaffna district too face the same predicament, sources from Vanni and Jaffna said.
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41 percent polling cards remain undelivered in Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 17:29 GMT]
Only 4, 27,164 (59%) polling cards of the total 7,21,359 polling cards of Jaffna electorate which consists of the districts of Jaffna and Ki’linochchi have been delivered to voters through post offices, Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Saturday. However, arrangements have been made for them to get their polling cards until 4:00 p.m on the voting day, he added. Steps have been taken to transport the uprooted Vanni voters held in Vavuniyaa detention centres from 8:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m to vote in the cluster voting booths on the election day, the GA informed on being reminded that there were allegations that the voters in the detention centres were not transported to vote in the last Presidential election.
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Tortured Jaffna undergrad commits suicide

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 20:21 GMT]
26-year-old Balasingham Karunanithi, a third year student of the Faculty of Management in Jaffna University, arrested and tortured by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) when he was held in a Vavuniyaa detention camp after the war on Vanni, committed suicide in Jaffna at a house in Naachchimaar Koayiladi where he was staying, sources in Jaffna said. Karunanithi is the fourth Vanni undergraduate of Jaffna University to commit suicide due to mental derangement resulting from their detention in SLA detention centres in Vavuniyaa, the sources added. A medical faculty student and two first year girl students of Jaffna University had committed suicide after the final offensive on Vanni.
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Young man beaten to death in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2010, 05:00 GMT]
Persons connected to Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) assaulted Thangarasa Krishnagoapal Saturday night at a liquor bar in Vavuniyaa who died of excessive bleeding Sunday due to injuries in Vavuniyaa government hospital where he was admitted by persons who were at the liquor shop at the time of the incident, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The victim was attacked by EPDP member Jeyaraj and EPDP student organization members, according to the statement given to police by the Krishnagopal at the hospital before he died.
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Resettled families in Vanni suffer in unrelenting rain

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 2010, 18:45 GMT]
Vanni uprooted faimiles resettled in haste by the Sri Lanka government without any basic facilities or proper structures have sought refuge under trees as persistent rain, gale and floods had destroyed their temporary tents and tin-roofed shacks, sources in Vanni said. There are no solid buildiings for them to seek shelter in as all of them have been razed to the ground by the Sri Lankan Army during the last phase of the war on Vanni, the sources added.
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2 resettled Vanni IDPs gone missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2010, 16:19 GMT]
A 17-year-old student from Sangkaanai in Jaffna peninsula and a family man from Naaranthanai in the islets of Jaffna, both Internally Displaced Persons brought from Vavuniyaa camps and resettled in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Army, had been reported missing by their family members to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. The mother of the student and the wife of the family man had made the complaints to HRC.
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