ADB assists resettled IDPs in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2010, 12:43 GMT]
In the context of Sri Lanka government failing in its duty to provide assistance to the resettled Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Jaffna peninsula as promised, Asian Development Bank (ADB) has stepped in to help the IDPs, paying each of the 16,831 IDP families with the second stage payment of 25,000 rupees, sources in Jaffna said. It is alleged that the government is yet to pay the first stage of payment of 5,000 rupees to some of the IDP families, the sources added.
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Magistrate courts to be built in Vanni where IDPs are yet to be resettled

[TamilNet, Sunday, 07 March 2010, 11:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka government is actively engaged in building police stations and magistrate courts in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu in Vanni where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are yet to be resettled, sources in Vanni said. Secretary to the Ministry of Justice made a sudden visit Wednesday to Ki’linochchi and Mullaitheevu with the view to find locations for the magistrate courts to be built. He was accompanied by Buddhist Priest Rev. Athamba Buthara Kalyanasitha Thero and the magistrates of Vavuniyaa, Mannaar and the magistrates appointed to Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu, the sources added.
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Police collect information of Vanni IDPs living out of refugee camps in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2010, 18:37 GMT]
Tamil Nadu police and its intelligence unit personnel are actively engaged in collecting details of the persons internally displaced from Vanni during the later stages of war who had gone to Tamil Nadu in South India from the detention centres in Vavuniyaa, sources in Tamil Nadu said. Information is being gathered particularly of those who are living with their relatives and friends in Tamil Nadu. Involvement of Sri Lanka intelligence in this investigation is suspected as many Vanni IDPs from Vavuniyaa detention centres were abducted by SL intelligence department and forced into turning informers, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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Government continues to deceive IDPs in resettlement in HSZs in Valikaamam – President of IDP Welfare organizations

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 March 2010, 11:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka government continues to deceive the people evicted from their properties in Valikaamam north and east in Jaffna, which were declared High Security Zones (HSZs) by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), without allowing to them to resettle in their homes as promised time and again by government ministers and officials, A. S. Nadarajah, the president of the Federation of Welfare Organizations in Jaffna peninsula told TamilNet Friday. Even the promises made by President Rajapakse and his brother Basil Rajapakse prior to the recent presidential election have not been fulfilled, he added.
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SLPP persons harass senior Tamil journalist Parameswaran in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 08:33 GMT]
Persons of Sri Lanka People’s Party (SLPP), a constituent of ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), caught and held N. Parameswaran, a senior Tamil journalist in Jaffna peninsula, the correspondent of BBC Tamil service and Daily Mirror, Saturday from 9:00 a.m til 9:30 in front of the SLFP office located at Veampadi Veethi in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. This office is actively engaged in getting SLFP membership forms signed by the resettled Vanni displaced persons in Jaffna on the pretext that the forms are to be used to get information about their children gone missing during the war and to give them relief food, and Parameswaran was caught and held for nearly half an hour as he tried to expose the motive of the forms to the Vanni IDPs waiting in queue to get them, the sources further said. Police, on being informed of the incident freed Parameswaran.
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GTF launch well attended by British politicians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 03:13 GMT]
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from 14 countries gather in the UK House of Commons to be addressed by speakers from across the political spectrum, including parliamentarians, councilors and prospective parliamentary candidates. Some delegates were also invited in for a private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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SLA relaxes travel restriction in Valikaamam North HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 February 2010, 02:49 GMT]
Newly appointed Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, Major. Gen. Kathurasinghe said Tuesday that travel restrictions in Valikaamam North in SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) have been relaxed so that people in Jaffna could travel freely, participating as chief guest in a Marathon race event held in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. But Welfare Organizations representing Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) said that this relaxation is mainly for the benefit of Buddhist devotees from the South visiting Naakatheepa Buddhist temple in Nainaatheevu and the Saiva temples in Maaviddapuram and Keerimalai and that it has not brought any relief to the IDPs who insist on being allowed to resettle in their own houses in the HSZ.
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SLFP branch in Jaffna enlisting members using deceptive tactics

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 February 2010, 03:04 GMT]
The Jaffna branch of the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) is actively engaged in getting membership forms signed by the resettled Vanni displaced persons in Jaffna on the pretext that the forms are to be used to get information about their children gone missing during the war and to give them relief food and other assistance, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLFP organiser for the districts of Jaffna and Vanni, Thilakumara Udugama said that so far 26,000 persons have enrolled themselves as members in SLFP.
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NGOs in Jaffna request government to increase dry food ration to resettled IDPs

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 February 2010, 03:15 GMT]
The Federation of Non-Government Organizations (FNGO) in Jaffna has again appealed to the government to increase the amount of dry food rations given monthly to the resettled Vanni IDPs in Jaffna. The amount of monthly dry food ration given to a family now is hardly sufficient for them for a week, the federation said. This is due to the fact the amount of dry food rations issued monthly is based on allocations decided on in 1990 when there was internal displacement due to war and in the following 20 years the prices of food items had escalated, it pointed out.
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IDPs evicted from army HSZ in Valikaamam again asked to register their names

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 03:06 GMT]
The residents of Valikaamam North evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to establish its High Security Zone (HSZ) have been asked to register their names with Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat (DS) if they wish to be resettled in their properties, before Thursday. Meanwhile, IDP Welfare Organizations in Jaffna said that this is the sixth time the residents are being asked to register their names and added that this is another drama being staged in view of the forthcoming parliamentary election.
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Government does not reveal true number of Vanni IDPs yet to be resettled

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 February 2010, 02:31 GMT]
Though the government of Sri Lanka reports that only less than 60,000 Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) detained in the camps remain to be resettled, more than a hundred thousand of them have not been resettled in their own places but have sought refuge with their relatives and friends while some of them live in temporary sheds put up on government lands, according to Ki’linochchi District Secretariat sources. The government issues false figures so as to create a picture that all is going well according to plans with the resettlement of Vanni IDPs, they further said.
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HSBC International opens branch in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 03:19 GMT]
British High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Mr. Peter Hayes and HSBC Executive Director for Sri Lanka and Maldives officially opened Thursday a branch of HSBC International Bank on Kaangkeasanthu’rai Road in Jaffna town, sources in Jaffna said. The Governor of Sri Lanka Central Bank Mr. Ajith Nivard Cabraal who was also present on the occasion said that a sum of 270 million rupees have been earmarked for development projects in Northern Province but failed to reveal any such project for the current year, the sources added.
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Resettled IDPs in Jaffna must apply to vote in Parliamentary election

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 February 2010, 02:30 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resettled in Jaffna district should submit their applications before 17 February if they wish to vote in the forthcoming Parliamentary election, Jaffna Government Agent said in a report to local media Thursday night. The application forms duly filled in should be submitted to Jaffna Secretariat before the prescribed date, the report further said.
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International countries should urge Sri Lanka to reveal proposal to solve ethnic issue

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:52 GMT]
Civil Society Organizations in Jaffna Peninsula requested Canadian Ambassador Mr. Pruce Levy to urge international countries to exert pressure on the Government of Sri Lanka to disclose immediately if it has any proposal to solve the ethnic issue, when the Ambassador met them at several places in the peninsula. President Mahinda Rajapakse who said that he will present the proposal after the presidential election now says that he will reveal it after the announced general election, the representatives told the visiting Canada Ambassador.
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Dead bodies of Vanni IDP male and female recovered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 02:26 GMT]
Koappaay police recovered the bodies of a male and a female first year students of Management Faculty of Jaffna University, found floating in Eriyaku'lam pond in Irupaalai by residents on Tuesday. The two students, both IDPs from Vanni, boy hailing from Jaffna and the girl from Batticaloa, had rejoined the University after being held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp in Vavuniyaa, University sources told TamilNet. Fear and tension prevails among the students of Jaffna University.
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Colombo not answerable to UN for 80,000 IDPs remaining in Vavuniyaa camps - Minister

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 13:01 GMT]
About eighty thousand Internally displaced persons from Vanni region still remain in camps located in Vavuniyaa despite Sri Lanka government's assurances to the United Nations that all IDPs will be resettled by January 31. Richard Badiudeen, Minister of Resettlement and disaster relief services, told Colombo media Monday that no such assurance has been given to any organization including UN.
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Resettled Vanni IDPs in Jaffna left to suffer

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 04:03 GMT]
The Internally Displaced People (IDPs) from Vanni brought to Jaffna and resettled have not been given economic or other assistance as promised and are facing severe hardships, civil society organizations in Jaffna expressed concern. Some of the IDP families are still to be paid the initial payment of 5,000 rupees while the families who were told that their second payment of 25,000 rupees will be paid before 15 January have not been paid the amount. Jaffna Secretariat officials refused to comment on the issue, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA take-over of buses disrupt IDPs transport to booths in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 10:38 GMT]
Voter turnout remained low in Ki'linochchi until 2:00 p.m. Only 27 persons had voted at a voting booth where 949 eligible voters were registered. Meanwhile, buses that were scheduled to transport the internally displaced persons (IDPs) from Vavuniyaa camps to voting booths were taken by the Sri Lankan military, disrupting the transport of the voters. Following complaints to Election Commissioner, more than 5,000 IDP voters have been transported in buses that were brought from Jaffna, election officials in Vavuniyaa said.
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TNA accuses EPDP for voter fraud in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 January 2010, 03:04 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarians accused Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) for having taken large number of persons to the islets of Jaffna with the intention of committing voter fraud, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, EPDP men have instructed the post masters in the islets of Jaffna to issue polling cards to persons without calling for their identity documents and that EPDP supporters have collected the polling cards of many persons in many parts of Jaffna peninsula, TNA parliamentarians further accused.
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70% of relocated Vanni IDPs in Jaffna not allowed to reside in their homes

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 January 2010, 17:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Armed Forces in Jaffna district have not permitted the Vanni IDPs brought to Jaffna district in the name of resettlement to live in their own houses, Jaffna NGO sources said. Particularly the IDPs in the islets in Jaffna are forced by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) to stay in makeshift shelters located in private lands near their camps, the sources said.
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