“We are not going to start another armed struggle” – PLOTE Sitharathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:25 GMT]
“We are not preparing ourselves to launch another armed struggle. The accusations that we had abducted minors from Vavuniyaa camps are baseless,” Sitharathan, the leader of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) said in a press meet held Saturday in PLOTE office in Jaffna. He further said that after the talks held with President Mahinda Rajapakse his party has decided to support him in the forthcoming presidential election, sources in Jaffna said.
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Bus passengers through A9 road suffer undue delay

[TamilNet, Saturday, 12 December 2009, 03:42 GMT]
Passengers travelling in Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) buses through A9 road between Jaffna and Vavuniyaa are held for nearly six to eight hours in their buses until Sri Lanka Army (SLA) allow the buses to leave in a convoy, civil society sources in Jaffna raised concern. The passengers are not allowed to get down from the buses even to answer calls of nature, they said.
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Parents of Tamil detainees hold protest march in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2009, 14:19 GMT]
Parents and relatives of Tamil prisoners held in Sri Lanka prisons in Vavuniyaa, Anuradhapura, and Jaffna held a peaceful demonstration Thursday in Vavuniyaa demanding the release of hundreds of Tamil civilians. The march commenced from the Vavuniyaa regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) and concluded at Vavuniyaa District Secretariat building, according to sources in Vavuniyaa.
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Cluster voting booths to be installed in resettlement areas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 03:17 GMT]
Cluster voting booths in the forthcoming presidential election are to be installed in Karaichchi and Poonakari areas where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been resettled, Jaffna Assistant Election Commissioner (AEO), S. Suthakar said. Meanwhile, provisions have been made to enable IDP voters who had lost their identification documents due to the war, he further said.
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1,27,905 IDPs still held in Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 08 December 2009, 03:31 GMT]
While Sri Lanka government claims that Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres can move freely, 1,27,905 of them are still being held in the camps, according to information given by Northern Province governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, in a special press meet held by him Monday in Jaffna Secretariat.
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Colombo's claims of free access a lie, says media, ICRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 December 2009, 03:30 GMT]
Reporters and aid workers said they are still being barred from visiting Government internment camps housing thousands of Tamil refugees, days after Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama proclaimed on British television that the areas were "totally open."
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Global meet urged to discuss environmental genocide by Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 December 2009, 13:18 GMT]
Decades-long massive military operations and occupation of Tamil Eelam by Sri Lankan forces have caused grave environmental destruction to the north and east of the island. Recovery is difficult as the Tamil homeland is in the dry and arid part of the island, depending on scanty and truant northeast monsoon, writes environmentalist and freelance journalist T. Thipaakaran. It may take more than 150 years for the plundered timber trees to grow again, he says. Tamil academic circles viewing the situation as 'ethnically motivated environmental rape taking place with international abetment,' urge the Denmark meet to discuss the challenge of curbing such crimes of ‘state sovereignty’ and to explore ways of entrusting in such situations the control of land to the sons and daughters of the soil, who only could take a genuine interest in the recovery and protection of their environment.
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IDP resettlement must be unconditional - Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 17:12 GMT]
Amnesty International’s expert on Sri Lanka, Yolanda Foster, in a press statement issued from Washington said Tuesday that the Amnesty had received information about possible restrictions on families choosing to leave the camps in Vavuniyaa. Ms. Yolanda Foster referred to reports, which indicated that the IDPs could be asked to return to the camps after only 15 days. “A permanent release from camps must be accompanied by assurances that people are not subjected to further questioning or re-arrest in new locations,” said Foster. “It is also critical that the government maintain its responsibility to care for displaced people wherever they choose to go.”
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'Resettled' by forced labour, without food or freedom to move

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:30 GMT]
The few thousands who have been resettled in selected divisions of Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts, are reportedly affected by the lack of food supply, news reports reaching Vavuniyaa said. The 'resettled' are actually kept in schools in those areas and are extracted of forced labour to clear the locations of resettlement. Their freedom of movement is restricted. The whole operation doesn't look like resettlement of 'citizens' but of slaves, said a Tamil official on conditions of anonymity.
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SLA abductions of Tamil youth continue unabated in camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 November 2009, 02:19 GMT]
Several Tamil boys and girls including teenagers interned in the camps are called by name through announcing system by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence officers and are taken to unknown destinations, reports reaching from Vavuniyaa camps said. At least 10 young men and boys were thus 'abducted' on 21 November and around 30 youth, including girls, were taken on 27 November from Zone-0 IDP internment camp in Cheddiku'lam alone last week. They were taken in SLA vehicles and their family members lost all contacts with them since then, sources in Vavuniyaa told TamilNet Sunday.
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IDPs brought to Jaffna face adversity

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2009, 19:35 GMT]
Around 20,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps and handed over to their relatives are experiencing hardships as they are unable to make a living on their own due to lack of funds and government restrictions, civil society sources in Jaffna said. The local and international Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna are unable to help the IDP families for want of funds, the sources added.
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Travel restriction on Jaffna IDPs lifted

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 November 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence Thursday lifted the travel restriction on Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought from Vavuniyaa camps to Jaffna who were not allowed to leave Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, it is reported that Ministry of Defence will be allowing private sector buses in Jaffna to operate Jaffna-Vavuniyaa travel service through A9 route. The government, in view of the forthcoming presidential election, has begun to announce concessions to the people of Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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Nearly 3000 IDPs from Jaffna released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:54 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh said that 3,117 persons of 983 families from Jaffna district who had been held in the camps in Vavuniyaa and Kodikaamam Raamaavil camps have been released Tuesday. He further said that 445 persons of 425 families brought to Jaffna and held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp were sent to their own places in Jaffna district Tuesday.
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More than 600 IDPs brought to Jaffna detained in Thenmaraadchi camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 20:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have detained nearly 600 persons among the Internally Displaced persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa camps Tuesday night and held in Duraippah Stadiu, in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, as there were no relatives to take responsibility of them, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the Ambassadors of foreign countries in Sri Lanka who visited Jaffna Wednesday met the IDPs held in Kodikaamam Raamaavil camp, the sources added.
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Police arrest youth in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Chu’n’naakam police took into custody a youth from Uduvil East in Jaffna for alleged involvement in the killing of Charles Wijewardne, Superintendent of Police (SP) on 05 August in I’nuvil, sources in Jaffna said. The arrested youth had been produced in the court for the killing of the SP but had been released for want of evidence. Later, the youth who had been detained in Vavuniyaa camp had recently come to Jaffna to stay with his family in Uduvil, the sources said.
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Another batch of IDPs brought to Jaffna, held in Duraiappa Stadium

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 12:04 GMT]
Despite Jaffna Government Agent’s (GA) recent announcement that all Jaffna IDPs held in Vavuniyaa camps had been brought to Jaffna, a group of them were brought to Jaffna Tuesday night and held in Duraiappah Stadium, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) had refused permission for many Jaffna IDPs to enter Jaffna claiming that they were involved in ‘terrorist’ activities. No instructions have been issued by the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry about where the IDPs being held in the Stadium are to be sent to, the sources added.
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3 resettled IDPs arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 November 2009, 11:53 GMT]
Three Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the Intelligence Unit of the Mannaar police Tuesday evening. Police sources confirmed that the suspects were a part of a group of Tamil civilians recently resettled in Adampan and Parappaagka'ndal villages in Mannaar district after being released from internment camps in Vavuniyaa.
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Credentials of IC challenged while widespread rape by SLA alleged in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence officers operating in the internment camps of Vanni have been allegedly involved in several rape cases during the past months. At least three cases of young victims, aged 14, 15 and 16, appeared in front of Vavuniyaa District Judge in October. SLA soldiers have also raped a 14-year-old mentally retarded Tamil girl inside the Vavuniyaa hospital.
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Train services disrupted in Vavuniyaa, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 November 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Train services between Colombo and Vavuniyaa towards the north and between Colombo and Batticaloa towards the east had been disrupted Tuesday morning for several hours. The Inter-City train that runs between Colombo Fort to Vavuniya was derailed Tuesday morning around 7:45 a.m. near the Girambe sub-railway station that is located along Polgahawela and Potuhara, railway department media spokesman said.
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A group of IDPs in Vavuniyaa camp to be taken to Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 19:10 GMT]
A batch of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Ki’linochchi district is to be taken from Vavvuniyaa camp to Ki’linochchi Maha Viththiyaalayam on 30th November in the first stage of resettling Vanni IDPs in their own places, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The IDPs who are to be resettled in nine Village Officers divisions located east of A9 road in Ki’linochchi will be first lodged in the Maha Viththiyalam, the sources added. Meanwhile, Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri has directed the Government Agent (GA) to take action to enable shops to function in all the areas of Ki’linochchi district.
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