SLA refuses permission to Jaffna civilians in Vavuniyaa camps to return home

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 October 2009, 04:24 GMT]
More than 300 families from Jaffna district, now detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, who had applied to return to their original places are held back as Jaffna SLA high command has refused clearance to them, sources in Vavuniya said. The clearance is denied as they are under suspicion and considered a threat to security, SLA authorities claimed.
Full story >>

5 Tamils arrested in Vavuniyaa, Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:52 GMT]
Five Tamils including two women were taken into custody by the police in two separate incidents Friday morning. In the first incident, four Tamils including a woman were arrested in Vavuniyaa by the Police Special Investigations Division. In the second incident a team of the Special Task Force (STF) of Police took into custody a Tamil woman in Ampaa’rai, according to police spokesman Nimal Mediwake.
Full story >>

SL Police arrest 2 Tamil youths at Katunayake

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 03:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took two Tamil youths of the north into custody in two separate incidents while the youths were waiting at the Katunayake International Airport to go abroad for employment, according to complaints lodged by their elatives to the police and Missing Peoples Monitoring Committee (MPMC) in Colombo. The arrested youths had valid travel documents.
Full story >>

Vanni IDP students admitted to Ratmalana Hindu College

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 October 2009, 10:28 GMT]
A batch of 144 Tamil students including 81 boys and 63 girls studying in grades from seven to eleven and detained in Vavuniyaa internment camp were admitted to Ratmalana Hindu College in Colombo district Wednesday. After detention they were rehabilitated at the Poonthooddam Child Protection and Rehabilitation Centre in Vavuniyaa. They left Vavuniyaa around 6.30 a.m. Wednesday in four special buses arranged by the Sri Lanka Army.
Full story >>

Batticaloa IDPs in Vavuniyaa transferred to transit camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 18:44 GMT]
The final and fifth batch of 785 members of 298 families among the hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people (IDPs)detained in Vavuniyaa internment camps since the fall of Vanni region to the Sri Lanka Army was sent to Batticaloa to be resettled in their own villages. They arrived in Batticaloa Sinhala Maha Vidiyalayam Wednesday morning in several buses under the escort of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
Full story >>

Vavuniyaa IDPs transported to transit camps in East

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 08:06 GMT]
1191 members of 385 Internally Displaced families among the hundreds of thousands detained in Vavuniyaa internment camps after the fall of Vanni region to the government forces were brought to Eastern province Sunday and Monday in two batches . They were transported to Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai in Sri Lanka Army buses, under heavy escort, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
Full story >>

Another batch of IDPs from Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 October 2009, 07:47 GMT]
Around 2068 persons of 699 families from Jaffna peninsula were brought to Jaffna Sunday from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa. Though nearly 20,000 IDPs have been brought to Jaffna until now none from Themaraadchi or Vadamaraadchi are among them. There are about 10,000 persons of Jaffna origin still being detained in Vavuniyaa camps and they will be sent to Jaffna before 15 November, according to SLA Vanni Commander, Major. Gen. Kamal Gunaratne.
Full story >>

30,000 Tamils march in London over Sri Lanka's internment camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 20:37 GMT]
More than 30,000 British Tamils marched to draw attention to the Sri Lankan government's continued incarceration of over 280,000 Tamils in military supervised camps despite earlier pledges to release within 180 days from the end of war in May. Protesters, young and old, carried banners and chanted slogans expressing that 150 days have passed with no concrete steps taken to resettle the Tamils held in the “concentration camps" in Vavuniyaa.
Full story >>

15 IDPs abducted from transit camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Fifteen Internally Displaced Tamil men were abducted by a group of unidentified persons clad in army uniform Saturday evening from the transit camp located in the complex of Eachchilampathu Sri Shenpaga Maha Vidiyalayam in Seruvila division in Trincomalee district. Abducted IDPs are married and in the age group 25-45, according to complaints filed with the police and the civil authority by abductees relatives, civil sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

Jaffna judges, magistrates, lawyers can travel via A9 road with SLA permission

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 09:25 GMT]
Minister of Justice and Law Reforms, Milinda Moragoda, said that the judges, magistrate and lawyers in Jaffna peninsula can travel through A9 road to Vavuniya obtaining permission from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander in Palaali military base in response to a request extended when he met the magistrates, judges and lawyers of Jafna in the Legal building complex in Jaffna town Friday, sources in Jaffna said. People in Jaffna peninsula can travel through A9 road only after getting the ‘travelling pass’ from their local SLA civil authorities.
Full story >>

Tamil internment, a manifestation of Sinhala state racism - paper

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 16:04 GMT]
"Despite the manifest outrage of international human rights groups like HRW and Amnesty International, relief agencies and several Western states, Sri Lanka defiantly continues to brutalize the [Tamil] detainees [locking them up in barbed wire militarized camps]. Whilst various international actors attempt to goad, cajole and compel Sri Lanka to let the civilians go, few have examined the reasons for their incarceration. As far as the Tamils are concerned, it is obvious: this is the latest manifestation of the Sinhala state racism," the British paper Tamil Guardian said in the latest weekend edition.
Full story >>

Armed robber kills one, injures one in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 15:24 GMT]
An armed man clad in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) uniform opened fire at a group of Tamil villagers who confronted the man when he attempted to rob a house in the Ellappar Maruthankulam in Vavuniyaa district Friday night around 9:00 p.m. One villager was killed and another one was seriously injured in the incident. The armed man fled from the scene with the loot of one hundred thousand rupees in cash and twenty six sovereigns of jewellery, sources said.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka refuses visas to two Canadian MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 October 2009, 04:48 GMT]
Patrick Brown, Conservative Member of Parliament (MP) for Barrie, and Paul Calandra Conservative MP for Oakridges Markham have been denied visas by the Sri Lankan Consulate in Toronto to visit the internment camps in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka, where more than 300,000 Tamil refugees are being held against their wishes in military supervised camps, sources in Canada said. Mr Brown in an interview with a Canadian Tamil TV said that although the Consulate has "clearly said no" to his visit he is prepared to try again. The MP added that he is "incredibly suspicious" of the Government and that he believes "what every one is saying, that there are breaches of human rights, breaches of international obligations, and deplorable conditions...and I think it is true."
Full story >>

SLA obstructs journalists meeting IDPs brought to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 October 2009, 09:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials in Jaffna did not allow media in Jaffna to meet and interview the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought to Jaffna from Vavuniyaa SLA internment camps Friday. The officials who had warned the IDPs of severe consequences should they meet or say anything to media persons said that they have been directed by the Ministry of Defence not to allow the media to meet the IGPs. Meanwhile the fate of two female undergrads who were among 28 women undergrads brought from Vavuniyaa internment camps to Jaffna, is not known, according to University officials in Jaffna. The two undergrads were taken for interrogation by the SLA from Kaithadi detention camp. The others have been handed over to Jaffna University administration.
Full story >>

Postal bags sent in passenger buses from Jaffna to Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 17:54 GMT]
After a long time postal bags from Jaffna were sent in Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) passenger buses to Vavuniyaa through A9 road after being inspected by Sri Lanka Army (SLN) and police in the check post located in Jaffna Sinhalese Maha Viththiyaalyam precinct, sources in Jaffna said. The postal bags transported with SLA and police guards will be handed over to postal authorities in Vavuniyaa who will send them to other places in the country, the sources added
Full story >>

Tree falls on internment camp, seriously injuring 3 IDPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 15:31 GMT]
Three inmates of one family detained in the Cheddiku'lam internment camp in Vavuniyaa were seriously injured when a huge branch of a tree fell on their hut Tuesday evening following heavy shower. Tension prevails in the camps as the inmates fear flooding during the imminent monsoon season.
Full story >>

Stop transferring IDPs from Vavuniyaa to camps in other areas - Bishop urges govt.

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 07:38 GMT]
Rev. Duleep de Chickera, Anglican Bishop of Colombo has urged the Government that if IDPs said to be released from Vavuniyaa are in fact being transferred to camps in different regions, this is misleading and must stop. Reports of the lack of co-ordination amongst State Authorities are disappointing, and all those responsible for implementing this decision should be required to ensure co-ordination, compassion and speed.
Full story >>

Government merely relocating IDPs instead of resettling them

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 October 2009, 07:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is actively engaged in merely relocating Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from one internment camp to other camps instead of resettling them in their own places, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna raised concern. The government, in an attempt to ward off pressure from International Community to speedily resettle the IDPs in their original villages, is putting up an appearance of resettling IDPs and it is suspected it is intentionally dragging its feet in resettling the residents of Vanni in their villages, they further said.
Full story >>

150 IDP families to be resettled in Trinco villages after screening

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 16:09 GMT]
One hundred and fifty members of forty-nine IDP families detained in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa were brought by state buses to Trincomalee Saturday and are lodged in Aalangkea’ni Vinaayakar Maha Vithithhiyaalayam in Ki’n’niyaa Divisional Secretary division. Civil authorities say that they would be resettled in their villages Thampalakaamam, Kii’n’niyaa and Kantha’laay, in Trincomalee district after being screened by government armed forces to find whether they were involved in terrorist activities in past.
Full story >>

IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna starve

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 06:01 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, extended an urgent call to local and International Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna to provide food for the IDPs brought to the islets of Jaffna from Vavuniyaa internment camps, now detained in Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) special camps and other places in the islets of Jaffna. The dry food rations given to the IDPs under World Food Programme (WFP) are insufficient to meet the needs as no food is provided by the government to them, the GA said in an urgent meeting held with the representatives of NGOs in Jaffna Secretariat, Tuesday.
Full story >>