UNHCR spotlights Batticaloa IDPs woes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 October 2006, 09:07 GMT]
UNHCR representative stressed the urgency for providing the basic facilities of displaced people from Pullumalai village in LTTE controlled territory along Chenkaladi-Badulla road in Batticaloa district before the onset of northeast monsoon at a conference held at the Eravur divisional secretariat, sources in Batticaloa said. N.Puvanendran, Divisional Secretary presided.
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SLA forces Union college to relocate

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 October 2006, 06:56 GMT]
Arrangements are underway to move educational activities of Tellipalai Union College in private buildings in Chunnakam, Malakam and Maruthanamadam areas following the refusal of the SLA to allow the college to function in its own premises which fell into the newly extended High Security Zone (HSZ) of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna, sources from Jaffna said.


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Jaffna Civil group appeals for conducive educational climate

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 October 2006, 00:04 GMT]
Prominent civil society members led by Jaffna Bishop, Rev. Fr. Thomas Saundaranayagam, at a press meet held Saturday at 10.30 a.m at the Bishop's House, appealed to the President of Sri Lanka and Sri Lanka security forces to consider favorably demands of the Jaffna District Student Federation (JDSF), and to create conditions conducive for education in Jaffna, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna students are to return attending schools after the Civil group convinced the JDSF to call off the 3-week long boycott in a conference held Wednesday.
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Three-pronged SLA offensive thwarted - Elilan

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 13:40 GMT]
The Tiger forces repulsed a three-pronged Sri Lanka Army offensive on LTTE controlled Vaharai territory after a defensive fight that lasted for 11 hours, LTTE's Trincomalee District Political Head S. Elilan said. At least seven civilians were wounded in heavy SLA shelling towards civilian settlements. More than 30 SLA troopers were killed, and one wounded soldier was captured alive, Mr. Elilan said. The offensive was launched from Kajuwatte SLA camp, south of Vaharai towards Panichchankerni, from Sinhapura SLA camp 3 km inside the LTTE territory in Kattumurivu and Sri Lanka Navy attempted to land troops in Panichchankerni around 1:00 p.m., according to initial reports from Vaharai.
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SLA launches new offensive towards Vaharai

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 05:21 GMT]
Sri Lankan forces have launched a new offensive towards Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vaharai region Friday morning. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops from Mankerni SLA camp advanced into LTTE controlled territory south of Vaharai with heavy artillery shelling, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment and rocket fire from the Sri Lanka Navy gunboats, according to civilian sources. Thousands of civilians, most of them recently displaced from Trincomalee, were struggling to flee to safer areas. Civilian casualty figures are yet to be reported. "An inhumane war has been thrust upon 61,000 civilians," says Trincomalee District parliamentarian Thurairatnasingham.
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Navalady families' tsunami woes continue

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 October 2006, 00:24 GMT]
Families of tsunami destroyed Navalady in Batticaloa District picketed in front of the offices of the Batticaloa Municipal Council, Manmunai North Regional Secretariat and Kacheri Planning Secretariat Wednesday at 10:00 a.m., demanding permanent housing, civil society sources in Batticaloa said. More than 250 families have been living with only basic facilities in make shift tents in Thiraimadu, Batticaloa for the past two years.


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Civilians turn to SLHRC for protection amid death threats

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 October 2006, 00:06 GMT]
More than 15 internally displaced families from Maduvil north in Thenmaradchchy complained that they have been receiving death threats from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), and sought protection from the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office, civil society sources in Jaffna said Tuesday. IDPs say they fear for their lives if they return to their homes in Thenmaradchy without security guarantees, the IDPs said.
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Vaharai IDPs protest lack of shelter

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 September 2006, 14:15 GMT]
Hundreds of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) protested Friday in Vaharai demanding flow of humanitarian relief into Vaharai where 34,000 civilians have sought refuge in 6 welfare centres. Amid increased fear of health hazards during the expected monsoon rains in October, the protesting IDPs currently forced to live in open terrain, demanded temporary huts. "Only UNHCR, UNICEF and ICRC are allowed to enter our area. We are in urgent need of housing. But, Sri Lankan authorities are not allowing these organizations to bring in shelters," a protester said after submitting an appeal to Divisional Secretary Kiritharan.
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Jaffna terrorized, held hostage by fear- TNA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 September 2006, 18:22 GMT]
150,000 school children, 7,000 University students and 3,000 Technical College students remain unable to attend schools, campuses for more than 40 days in the Jaffna peninsula where the residents are "terrorized and held hostage by fear," said Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian of Jaffna District, N. Raviraj, at a press conference held in Renuka Hotel Colombo at 10:30 a.m. Saturday. TNA MPs from five districts addressed the press.
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SLMM, LTTE meet in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 September 2006, 21:41 GMT]
Representatives of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited the sites damaged by the shelling and air-raids by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa district, and met S. Seelalan, the deputy Political Head of the LTTE for Batticaloa district, and Manoj, the Head of the Planning division, at Thenaham Thursday, LTTE sources in Batticaloa said.
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Masked men abduct, kill IDP youth in Valaichenai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:44 GMT]
Valaichenai Police Thursday morning located the dead body of a 23-year-old youth who was abducted by masked men at gun point Wednesday night from his relative's house at Kannankiramam in Valaichenai, 28 km northwest of Batticaloa. The victim, Mylvaganam Kohulan, 23, was an internally displaced person from Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled Vellayadimadu in Vaharai.
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SLA imposes conditions for resettling IDPs in Mannar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 September 2006, 06:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed restrictions for internally displaced families (IDP) to return to their homes located close to the Mannar public playground. SLA camp is located in the Mannar public playground. At a conference held in the Mannar district secretariat Wednesday with V.Visuvalingam, Government Agent in the chair, army officials present announced the conditions to be met by IDPs to return to their homes and to avoid any retaliation from the SLA in the event of attack on them, civil sources said.
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SLAF conducts air-raids over LTTE areas in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 September 2006, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) Kfir fighters flew air sorties over areas near residential homes in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) controlled territory in the Batticaloa district on Tuesday around 7 a.m, S. Seelalan, deputy head of the Batticaloa LTTE political wing said. Though two bombs were dropped simultaneously on Tharavi in Eerakulam region no one was hurt, Seelalan said.
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Uncertainty haunts Vaharai IDPs, two children die of diarrhea

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 September 2006, 15:54 GMT]
A one-year-old baby girl and a 7-year-old girl, both children of Internally Displaced families from Muthur East, have died of diarrhea at Vaharai hospital. A displaced medical doctor from Eachilampattu, M. Varathan, working at Vaharai hospital says the IDPs in Vaharai are facing health hazards. A displaced person, Thangarajah, says that the IDPs were however not prepared to return home, "at least until a situation that prevailed prior to April 25, is returned to our areas."


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IDPs cannot be resettled against their wishes - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 September 2006, 13:01 GMT]
Internally displaced people (IDP) should not resettled in the government controlled territory against their wishes and to do so would be violating their human rights, stated P.Ariyaneththran, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian at a conference held Saturday morning in the Batticaloa district secretariat which discussed the urgent need of providing relief assistance to those families who fled from the government controlled area and sought refuge Vaharai division in Batticaloa district.
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‘Our people are suffering’: St. Patrick’s Rector

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 September 2006, 11:31 GMT]
Saying food supplies were “urgently” needed in the Jaffna peninsula, the Rector of St. Patrick’s College this week called for the A9 highway to be opened and military restrictions on fishing to be lifted. Fr. Justin B Gnanapragasam also called for the military’s curfew in Jaffna to be lifted or at least confined to night time. “Our people are suffering immensely. Please keep them in your prayers,” he said in a letter to past pupils. Five thousand displaced people who sought shelter in St. Patrick’s are refusing to leave, disrupting classes which should have resumed by now, he said.
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Humanitarian crisis precipitated by twin-track strategy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 22:03 GMT]
An estimated 60,000 Tamils displaced by Sri Lankan military attacks in the eastern province are caught in a humanitarian crisis which aid workers say is being deliberately deepened by the Colombo government. The most recent displacements in the east join tens of thousands of people forced to flee their homes by military attacks in Wanni and the northern Jaffna.
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3 killed, 9 injured, multi-barrel rockets hit Kathiraveli

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 September 2006, 15:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher shells hit Kathiraveli, 10 km north of Vaharai, where Internally Displaced People from Muthur East and Eacchilampatru have sought refuge. 3 civilians were killed, 9 wounded, according to LTTE officials in Kathiraveli. Medical sources in Batticaloa reported that ICRC personnel transported at least 2 wounded civlians to Valaichenai hospital. The MBRL attack on Tuesday on Kathiramalai in Batticaloa district's north, comes amid speculation by analysts in Colombo that Sri Lankan military was planning another offensive towards southern Trincomalee and northern Batticaloa areas where thousands of IDP's have taken refuge.
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Food cargo to INGO workers in Jaffna arrives by air

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 September 2006, 12:46 GMT]
A private aircraft with a consignment of food cargo assigned for workers of international non governmental organizations arrived in Palaly military airbase in Jaffna district from Ratmalana in Colombo Monday morning. Basic supplies to the INGO offices and tents for IDP camps were transported to Jaffna. A group of INGO officials were scheduled to leave Jaffna in the aircraft, NGO sources said.
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Exodus of Tamil IDPs to Vaharai continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 September 2006, 12:35 GMT]
Exodus of Tamil families from the Trincomalee district to Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam controlled Vaharai has been continuing due to ongoing military operations by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Muthur East LTTE territory. "Till now about 62,643 members of around 16,540 Tamil families have sought refuge. Of this about 10,657 families have been sheltered in five camps in Vaharai division in the Batticaloa district", Mr.K.Mahesan, Batticaloa District Additional Government Agent said Sunday.
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