10 Tamil, Muslim civilians arrested in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 10:03 GMT]
Chilaapam Police in the northwestern province Wednesday night in a cordon and search operation arrested ten persons, majority of them Tamil and Muslim civilians, and detained them in Chilaapam police station for further interrogation. The operation was conducted on a tip off that some strangers were seen in the area, police sources said.
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Internment, poisoning hopes of reconciliation - Economist

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 October 2009, 05:29 GMT]
"The fate of a quarter of a million interned Tamils is poisoning Sri Lanka’s hopes of ethnic reconciliation....So long as Tamils feel abused by a racist Sinhalese state, the conflict may resume. Economic development of their shattered regions, which the government is planning, is unlikely to change that. Hence the government’s continued war-footing—but this is in turn also reinforcing Tamil grievances," a feature in the 1st October edition of The Economist said,
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Tamil, Muslim party leaders call for end to forced detention

[TamilNet, Thursday, 01 October 2009, 02:23 GMT]
Five Tamil and Muslim party leaders in a joint communique issued Wednesday stated that "the forcible detention of hundreds of thousands of Tamil citizens of Sri Lanka in camps for Internally Displaced Persons is illegal, without basis in the Constitution and in gross violation of international human rights norms," and called for immediate action to "end to military administration and restrictions placed on civilians, and we urge the restoration of full civilian administration to facilitate return to economic and social normality."
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UN warns Sri Lanka of Tamil ‘bitterness’

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 01:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s failure to rapidly resettle nearly 300,000 Tamils who survived the government’s final onslaught against the Tamil Tigers and their further suffering under harsh conditions in militarised camps could result in growing bitterness, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake Tuesday - the same day, the UN issued its strongest criticism yet of Sri Lanka’s continued internment of the hundreds of thousands of displacedTamils. Mr. Ban also stressed the need to expedite “a serious, independent and impartial accountability process to look into alleged violation of international law during the conflict as a critical part of moving forward and building peace in Sri Lanka,” a UN statement said.
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US Group opposes GSP+ extension

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2009, 03:59 GMT]
In a submission to the Chairperson of Human Rights Subcommission of the European Union (EU), Ms. Heidi Hautala, US-based pressure group Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said that the EU should terminate GSP+ privileges to Sri Lanka especially after the "failure of the UN system to uphold international human rights and humanitarian laws," and the "abdication of moral and diplomatic leadership by the UN Secretary General." The Subcommission is scheduled to meet on 1st October, and the decision on the status of the GSP+ to Sri Lanka is to be made on 15th October, according to sources in UK.
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Tissainayagam, a prisoner of conscience - paper, Amnesty

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2009, 15:48 GMT]
Arrested without a warrant, incarcerated without detention order, refused to see a lawyer for more than two weeks after arrest, denied privacy of conversation with his attorney and his wife while under detention, and held without charge for more than 5 months, and now sentenced by Sri Lanka's high court for 20 years in prison, Jayaprakash Sittampalam Tissainayagam, a Sri Lanka's Tamil journalist, "became a symbol of [Sri Lanka] government repression and a martyr for freedom of the press. To many observers, Tissainayagam’s treatment cemented Sri Lanka’s reputation as a totalitarian state in the making," Sunday Leader said in its weekend edition. Tissainayagam was chosen by President Obama as an emblematic example of persecuted journalists.
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Indian envoy listens to preparations on IDPs withstanding monsoon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 September 2009, 00:55 GMT]
The Indian High commissioner in Colombo, Mr. Alok Prasad, on Saturday visited internment camps in Vavuniyaa and held discussions with the militarised 'Competent Authority' for IDPs in the Northern Province, Maj. Gen. Kamal Goonaratne, and the Sri Lankan Government Agent for Vavuniyaa Mrs. Charles. Amidst all what have been listed by the Indian High Commission, as matters discussed by the High Commissioner, observers give much significance to his listening to briefings on making facilities for the internment camp mates to face flooding and water logging during the forthcoming monsoon. Tamil circles find it as tacit acceptance by India for prolonging the internment camps beyond this year's rainy season.
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‘Paranoid Colombo machinates IDP human shield’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A whole world is duped in what Colombo is machinating in the name of resettlement of IDPs, Tamil circles in Jaffna commented, citing Sri Lanka Navy’s new internment camps around its installations in the island sector of Jaffna. Colombo’s aim is threefold: a human shield of civilians for its occupying forces, prevention of rightful owners reoccupying houses and lands around its military installations and eventually confiscating those lands in strategic areas for its expansion and other demographic conspiracies in the very heart of Tamil homeland, pointed out Tamil circles adding that a paranoid Sri Lankan state can never deliver justice to Tamils. The core truth is that the barbed-wire camps came up because the world powers wanted it. But some powers by not directly taking responsibility and some others like India by sitting on international action continue injustice, Jaffna circles said.
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SLA shoots 6 including women, children in Cheddiku'lam camp

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 September 2009, 12:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Saturday around 6:00 p.m. opened fire and injured six civilians including two women and three children in Cheddiku'lam internment camp, according to initial reports reaching from Vavuniyaa. One 8-year-old child, seriously wounded in the episode, was transferred to Anuradhapura hospital from Vavuniyaa hospital, medical sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Another batch of Vavuniyaa IDPs to be detained in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 September 2009, 04:12 GMT]
Around 500 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa brought to Jaffna Thursday were handed over to Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) who took them to Kaarainakar, in the islets of Jaffna to be again detained in camps close to the SLN base. The IDPs are being held in Ma’raignanasampanthar Vithiyaalayam in Kaarainakar while the SLN is constructing new camps in the abandoned civilian settlements to detain them, sources in Jaffna said.
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Move to make money for 3-wheelers owned by state armed cadres, in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 13:48 GMT]
The office of Vavuniya Ramya House Army Civil Affairs has been shifted from the town to Ee’rataperiyaku’lam with immediate effect, causing inconvenience to the Tamil civilian travelers. The reason for the re-location of the office is mainly to enable the three-wheelers owned by Police, Army and Civil Defence force cadres to earn more money as hire from the Tamil passengers due to the long distance to the shifted office of Ramya House Army Civil Affairs in Ee’ratperiyaku’lam, according to well informed sources in Vavuniyaa.
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Police shoot, injures civilian in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 13:45 GMT]
Policemen at a check post in Paalaavi in Kodikaamam, Themaraadchi opened fire on a civilian Wednesday morning causing serious injuries to him, sources in Jaffna said. The police claimed that the man travelling on a tractor tried to run away when they stopped the tractor for checking. The seriously injured man was first rushed to Chaavakachcheari government hospital and then transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital as he was in a critical condition, the sources added.
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Civilians clash with SLA in Vavuniyaa internment camp

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 12:09 GMT]
Additional police and Sri Lanka Army troops were brought into the College of Education internment camp in Vavuniyaa after clashes erupted between civilian inmates and Sri Lankan forces following the arrest and assault of a Tamil youth in the camp. Several civilians and armed personnel sustained minor injuries, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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In Orwellian Sri Lanka 40 civilians disappear from camps daily - Samaraweera

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 11:49 GMT]
“In George Orwells 1984, the Ministry of Peace dealt with war, and the Ministry of Love with torture. Likewise we witnessed in Sri Lanka how the Peace Secretariat justified excesses carried out in the name of war against terrorism. And the so-called welfare camps are virtual prisons,” Daily Mirror said quoting Mangala Samaraweera's charge against the Sri Lanka in the parliament Tuesday, adding that about 30 to 40 persons are abducted on a daily basis from IDP camps in the North,
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Tamils protest in New York, say Ban ineffective, lacks leadership

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 04:08 GMT]
Several dozen American Tamils assembled near the United Nations building between 1st Avenue and 47th Street Tuesday around noon and protested against UN inaction, particularly the UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, for first failing to prevent the bloodbath in May when more than 20,000 Tamil civilians were allegedly killed by Sri Lanka Army using heavy weapons, and now for allowing Sri Lanka to continue to incarcerate nearly 300,000 in military supervised internment camps with little freedom of movement. Protesters urged the UN to take swift action to pressure Sri Lanka to allow civilians to return to their villages and resume normal life, attendees to the rally said.
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US leadership in rights issues questioned

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 02:27 GMT]
Noting that the "[Obama] Administration has pursued a low profile approach to Sri Lanka, where a military offensive against rebels is believed to have killed thousands of civilians," Washington Post in an article in Tuesday edition says that rights advocates have been frustrated by several episodes and said US's new approach has undercut U.S. leadership on human rights issues. Responding to U.S.'s assertion that "it[US] is not going to preach its values and not going to impose its values," Kenneth Ross, executive director of Human Rights Watch, said "[t]he problem is they are not American values -- they are international values."
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HRW: World leaders should demand end to Sri Lanka detention camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 September 2009, 02:08 GMT]
Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based rights group, in a press release issued Tuesday, expressed concern "about a lack of protection mechanisms in the camps and the secret, incommunicado detention - and possible enforced disappearance - of suspected combatants. Poor conditions, overcrowding, and inadequate medical care increases the risk of serious health problems during the coming monsoon season," and noting that "the authorities are not being open and honest with camp residents about when they may go home, keeping them in a state of uncertainty and anxiety," urged the world leaders to demand an end to Sri Lanka 'detention camps."
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UN envoy Kalin to arrive in Colombo Wednesday

[TamilNet, Monday, 21 September 2009, 17:30 GMT]
Mr. Walter Kalin, Human Rights envoy of the United Nations is scheduled to arrive in Colombo late Wednesday on a five-day visit that includes a tour to Vanni IDP camps holding tens of thousands of refugees. "Mr. Kalin will meet with senior government officials, international aid agencies, including UN staff, and also visit some sites holding internally displaced people (IDPs)," UN sources said.
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‘From one prison to another’: Sri Lanka’s ‘resettlement’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 2009, 08:31 GMT]
Under international pressure as the monsoon looms, the Sri Lanka government is hastily engaged in relocating some of the displaced Tamils being held in militarised internment camps in Vavuniyaa. However, the inmates are being moved from Vavuniyaa’s barbed-wire ringed camps to similar overcrowded enclosures without facilities in other districts, sources in Jaffna said. Moreover these camps are also located in low-lying terrain in the path of oncoming floods, NGO workers say. “There is no resettlement. This is like being sent from one prison to another prison," Mavai Senathiraja, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said.
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Continued detention of IDPs endangers future political stability: Pascoe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 2009, 04:11 GMT]
“Keeping these persons in the camps is breeding resentment and endangering the future political stability of Sri Lanka,” United Nations Under Secretary General of Political Affairs Lynn Pascoe told reporters Friday night in Colombo after meeting President Mahinda Rajapakse, sources in Colombo said. The UN too reflected the same sentiments saying that the political stability of Sri Lanka is jeopardized due to rising resentment among the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in the camps, the sources further said. While Mr. Pascoe was expressing his concerns of future stability of the [unitary state of] Sri Lanka, the UN administration of Ban Ki-moon in New York, was seeking to control its message and limit questions, to turn the tide of negative coverage of its handling of Sri Lanka, Inner City Press reported.
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