U.S. youths launch campaign against Microsoft Investment in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 10 August 2009, 15:51 GMT]
Noting MSNBC's coverage of the conditions within the military supervised internment camps in Vavuniyaa, which said that "no one is allowed to leave the camps and few are permitted entrance," and that the camps are "at best...at the edge of all kinds of internal principles...but more likely...illegal," the U.S. based activist youth group, PEARL, urged Microsoft to reconsider investments in Sri Lanka, saying, "[t]he human rights community and Tamils all over the world are deeply concerned about the ultimate use of funds given to government of Sri Lanka. While technology transfer is important, blanket support should not be given to governments who do not respect the rule of law and basic human rights. We urge you to hear the cries of voiceless Tamils, and avoid doing business with regimes as egregious as Sri Lanka's."
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Tamil voters nullify SL Government’s expectation - TNA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 15:28 GMT]
“Tamil National Alliance (TNA) winning Vavuniyaa Urban Council (VUC) election and Tamils refraining from voting in large numbers in Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election prove that Sri Lanka Government was not able to achieve the success it planned for and expected. We wish to thank the Tamils for voting for Ilankai Thamizh Arasu Kadchi (ITAK) even amidst intimidation and frustration and despair caused by the war,” TNA said in a press release signed by Jaffna District TNA parliamentarian, Mavai Senathirajah, Sunday.
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Outbreak of skin disease reported in Vavuniyaa IDP camps

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 09:23 GMT]
The outbreak of skin diseases among hundreds of thousands of internally displaced people from Vanni detained in several camps in Vavuniyaa has been reported. “They mostly complain of continuous itchy skin. They say the itching only starts when they wash. This may be due to the different levels of minerals found in the water that could cause irritation,” a medical officer who spoke on conditions of anonymity told Colombo media.
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Elections jeopardize democracy

[TamilNet, Sunday, 09 August 2009, 00:46 GMT]
With only 20 percent turn out in the municipal elections, the clear verdict of the Eezham Tamils is no confidence in the Sri Lankan state and its institutions, said Tamil circles, commenting further that genocidal war and democratic elections mean the same for Colombo. They were citing the manner in which the elections were conducted denying entry to outside witnesses, while 40 percent of the voters not present, 50 percent of polling cards not delivered, Colombo-sponsored forgery of ID cards accused, people coerced and even the Tamil outfit with the government was forced to drop its identity. Whether war and elections against Tamils mean the same to the international community too is the question now coming from the Tamil circles which pointed out that the armed forces occupying the peninsula were more than double in number than the people voted in the elections.
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UPFA takes Jaffna in 20% voter turnout, ITAK wins Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 21:37 GMT]
With international media reporting that Jaffna voters have rejected the Municipal council elections with less than 20% turnout, the ruling UPFA won 10,602 votes obtaining 10 seats with 2 additional bonus seats, and Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) took 8 seats after polling 8008 votes. In the Vavuniyaa Urban Council elections, ITAK secured 5 seats with Democratic Peoples Liberation Front (DPLF) obtaing 3 seats, UPFA 2 seats, and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress 1 seat.
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Polling begins in Jaffna MC, Vavuniyaa UC

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 07:29 GMT]
Polling began Saturday morning at 7:00 a.m to twenty three members of the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) and eleven members to the Vavuniyaa Urban Council (VUC) in the Northern Province and will close at 4:00 p.m. Results are expected to be announced at midnight. “We have deployed more than one thousand two hundred police personnel at all polling stations in the JMC and VUC. Mobile police patrolling is also being done in the two local bodies, “said Mr. Nimal Lewke, Deputy Inspector General of Police, for the northern province at a media briefing in Vavuniyaa.
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Supreme Court to inquire FR petition by IDP family against illegal detention

[TamilNet, Saturday, 08 August 2009, 04:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Thursday granted leave to proceed with the fundamental rights violation petition filed on behalf of members of one family who are detained in an Internally Displaced Persons’ Camp (IDP Camp) in Vavuniya against their wishes, and listed the case for hearing on November 12, legal sources in Colombo said. The bench comprised Justices Nihal Gamini Amaratunge and Chandra Ekanayake. The petition alleged infringement of plaintiffs' fundamental rights to equality, equal protection of the law, as well as their right to the freedom of movement and of choosing their residence within Sri Lanka.
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Details emerge on Tamil media workers killed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 August 2009, 00:52 GMT]
TamilNet recently compiled details on Tamil journalists and media workers confirmed killed during the height of war in Vanni, between March and May. The list is not exhaustive. These media persons, committed to the human cause and engaged in the noble task of bringing out information to the people inside and to the world outside, have laid down their lives in achieving what the international media shamefully couldn't accomplish. TamilNet will be serialising compilations on the losses of other humanitarian workers too in due course.
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130 IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 19:05 GMT]
One hundred and thirty Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa are to brought to Jaffna Wednesday to be resettled in places in Jaffna that are out of SLA High Security Zones (HSZ) and in Vadamaraadchi East except Maruthangkea’ni Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, informed in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Tuesday. The GA also told the media that he has nothing to do with the forms distributed by persons in Jaffna to apply for resettlement in Jaffna.
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TNA outlines political formula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 13:13 GMT]
Based on Self-Determination, distinct and comprehensive autonomy to the historical homeland of Eelam Tamils is the political solution envisaged by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the ethnic conflict in the island of Sri Lanka, said veteran Tamil politician and TNA Parilamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan, while addressing the press in Jaffna Tuesday. Mr. Sampanthan, who said that a draft proposal of the TNA will be released soon, was optimistic of India's support. This is the first time the TNA is coming out with its own political formula to resolve the ethnic conflict.
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15-25 births daily in Vavuniyaa ‘internment camps’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:31 GMT]
More than 2,500 pregnant mothers are detained in Vavuniyaa camps along with hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced civilians. Around fifteen to twenty five births take place each day. 350 births had taken place in the Vavuniyaa general hospital last month, July, according to a survey conducted by the health authorities in collaboration with the WHO and the UNICEF.
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TNA candidates, supporters attacked by government party men in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 05:26 GMT]
A group of supporters led by the leader of a government party contesting the election in the Vavuniyaa Urban Council attacked two candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and their supporters while they were engaged in electioneering at Kuruma'nve’li area in Vavuniyaa Monday evening in two separate incidents, according to complaints lodged with Vavuniyaa Police and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV).
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Reporters barred from Jaffna, Vavuniyaa during elections

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 01:23 GMT]
Sri Lanka will not allow reporters into Vavuniyaa and Jaffna to cover the local government elections to be held there on Saturday, the Associated Press reported. “The government did not give a reason for banning reporters, but it cites security reasons for denying entry to any outsider,” AP reported. The towns are accessible with Defence ministry permission and “even residents can't leave without permission,” AP report said. Meanwhile, an elections watchdog, PAFFREL (People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections) said there seemed to be little public interest in the polls as people were preoccupied with the plight of their relatives in government’s military-run internment camps.
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Indians need three years to clear mines

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 11:36 GMT]
It will take one-and-a-half to two years to do away with most land mines and another year to declare the areas safe for habitation, reported Times of India, Sunday, citing Indian Army’s retired Major General Prem K. Puri who is heading one of the Indian outfits engaged in de-mining the North and East. Meanwhile, 82 more former Indian soldiers have gone to Sri Lanka last week to join the hundreds or perhaps thousands already operating under the care of Colombo’s National Steering Committee. Mahinda Rajapaksa’s insistence on ‘de-mining first’ to free civilians from the concentration camps and India sitting on international intervention raise serious concern in Tamil circles, how long both the Establishments are going to continue the ‘human shield’ in fulfilling their agenda.
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Measles outbreak fear in Vavuniyaa ‘internment camps’

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 August 2009, 05:02 GMT]
More than 36,000 internally displaced (IDP) children under five years of age, held in internment camps in Vavuniyaa are to be vaccinated against measles under a special child health campaign to counter the sporadic cases of measles which have occurred in the past months and prevent risk of further outbreak, UNICEF sources said.
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IRC goods for IDPs yet to be given Colombo port clearance - SLRCS

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 18:13 GMT]
Twenty seven containers of goods sent by the Indian Red Cross (IRC) for the internally displaced Vanni people detained in camps in Vavuniyaa continue to lie in Colombo port since 9 July and are yet to be given clearance, as documents have not been received for clearance from the Indian Red Cross, Director General of Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS), Suren Peris said Saturday.
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Bus service via A9 route from Jaffna to begin Sunday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 August 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh informed media Saturday that 200 passengers from Jaffna will be taken to Madawachi every other day. Persons travelling should obtain the ‘travel pass’ from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and they will be allowed to return to Jaffna only by producing a copy of the travel pass to the SLA in Vavuniyaa, according to GA’s announcement.
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Ki'linochchi GA arrested under PTA

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 20:42 GMT]
Ki'linochchi District Government Agent, Nagalingam Vethanayagam was abducted Thursday night by a group of persons who arrived in a vehicle at his temporary residence in Vavuniyaa. On Friday, the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) informed Mr. Vethanayagam's family that he has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and that he has been taken to Colombo for further inquiries.
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Poonthoaddam residents complain of stench from cemetary

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 19:13 GMT]
Foul smell from Vavuniyaa-Poonthooddam general cemetery due to improper mass burial of dead from Sri Lanka miltary supervised Vanni internment camps which hold more than 300,000 Tamil civilians is posing health hazard to the village residents, civil society sources in Vavuniyaa said. Corpses are buried en masse in graves, and routinely, bodies of recently dead are placed over partly decomposed bodies buried earlier.
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Commencement of bus service via A9 route from Jaffna doubtful

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 08:45 GMT]
Government announced that transport service for public between Jaffna and Colombo will commence from 1 August but the officials of Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) in Jaffna who have to provide the buses said that they had not received any instructions from their superiors in Colombo. The five buses which took 210 passengers from Jaffna on 22 July in an event inaugurated by Basil Rajapakse, the brother and advisor of President Mahinda Rajapakse are being held back in Jaffna by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), they further said.
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