Resettled families in North suffer without basic medical facilities

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 October 2010, 06:00 GMT]
The female patients of the families allowed to resettle in Ki’linochchi district are forced to travel a long distance to Jaffna or Vavuniyaa as there is no female medical specialist in Ki’linochchi government hospital, hospital sources said. Meanwhile, there is no hospital at all in Vadamaraadchi East where more than six thousand uprooted people had been allowed to resettle and the people have to come to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for treatment of all kinds of illness travelling a long distance, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka government which says that it is gradually improving medical services in the North has failed to provide even the basic medical facilities to the resettled people in Vanni and Vadmaraadchi East, the sources further said.
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Media and state crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2010, 19:31 GMT]
“You don’t say or even think that the invasion of Iraq is a criminal aggression of the kind for which people were hanged in Nuremberg […]. Suppose a newspaper started publishing the truth—that the invasion of Iraq was a criminal invasion that destroyed the country, that newspaper or the TV station is not going to get any ads”, said 82-year-old Noam Chomsky in an interview to India’s Outlook, Saturday. Meanwhile, WikiLeaks’ Julian Assange, making his most brazen disclosure – 391,832 secret documents on the Iraqi war, is a hunted man by the world’s Establishments, reports The New York Times, Saturday. “You play outside the rules, and you will be dealt with outside the rules,” Mr. Assange an Australian national was told by an Australian official.
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Only 20% of vehicles abandoned during war can be returned to owners

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 October 2010, 05:36 GMT]
Some of the vehicles abandoned by their owners during the war on Vanni are found fit enough to be handed over to the owners, Ki’linochchi Government Agent (GA) said. A team of motor vehicle inspection has identified 2050 motor cycles and 250 vehicles of other types as fit to return, the GA said. The owners have to produce a copy of the complaint made to local police and the documents of ownership to claim their vehicles.
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Paintings depicting horror of war on Vanni draw large crowds in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 21:24 GMT]
A collection of paintings by Artist Kuzhanthaivelu Pugazhenthi titled ‘The Faces of War’, depicting the horror experienced by Eezham Tamils in its Fourth War and the heroic sacrifice and valour of Liberation Tigers, was exhibited in several places in Tamil Nadu from 11 May till September, beginning in Chennai. The exhibition was later held in Thanjaavoor and Thiruchchi drawing large crowds of people who also took part in the political seminars conducted at the venues of the exhibition. The French Cultural Centre in Chennai which usually caters to the upper class society which had first exhibited the paintings for ten days later extended it for another ten days due to the unexpected welcome shown by the people of Chennai, sources in Chennai said.
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SLA reluctant to disclose information of LTTE detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 06:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army did not disclose the number of ex-combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) still held in the SLA special detention camp located in its High Security Zone in Thellippazhai in Jaffna when it allowed 23 female Liberation Tiger ex-combatants to join their families Friday evening. Sri Lanka Minister of Rehabilitation & Prison Reforms D. E. W. Gunasekara who was the chief guest in the Friday event said that the released ex-combatants had undergone vocational training, sources in Jaffna said. However, SLA is reluctant to reveal the number of LTTE ex-combatants still held in the SLA special detainment camp. Families of the detainees still held in the special camp are in a state of anxiety and fear as they do not know of their fate, the sources added.
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Civilians’ gold recovered from Vanni should be returned to them – Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 October 2010, 05:33 GMT]
Commenting on Sri Lanka government’s claim that its troops collected vast amount of gold jewelry during its war on Vanni, Civil Monitoring Commission chief Mano Ganeshan told AFP that, “We don't know where the military found this gold, but what is clear is that it belongs to Tamil civilians." Chief government whip Dinesh Gunawardena told parliament Wednesday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops had collected gold items worth more than four million USD during the final months of the decades-long civil war last year and that they had been handed over to the Central Bank of Sri Lanka. “The rightful owners of the gold are Tamil civilians and they should get their property back,” Mano Ganeshan told AFP.
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Tissamaharama Tamil Brahmi inscription ‘missing’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 19:34 GMT]
The third century BCE potsherd inscription in Tamil language and in Tamil Brahmi script found at Tissamaharama in Hambantota district by German excavators is now missing in Sri Lanka’s Archaeology Department, informed sources said. The inscription found sometimes back was not included in the excavation reports of the Archaeology Department. Photo and decipherment of the inscription was brought out by Iravatam Mahadevan in The Hindu in June this year, followed by TamilNet. Meanwhile, accusing TamilNet for false publications, Dr. Susantha Goonatilleke in an article posted by transcurrents.com and published by Daily Mirror said that TamilNet had recently published inscriptions claimed to be from the South of Sri Lanka, which nobody in the Archaeology Department had seen.
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Human corpse washed ashore in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 10:45 GMT]
Oorkaavattu’rai police recovered a highly decomposed human body which had been washed ashore Wednesday night near the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) base in Ma’ndaitheevu in the islets of Jaffna. The body is so decomposed that it is unable to determine its gender, the police said. The islets of Jaffna are under the total control of SLN. Police handed over the body to Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary where it remains unclaimed by anyone, hospital sources said.
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Power cut in Jaffna peninsula will continue – SLEB

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 10:19 GMT]
Jaffna Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) is forced to impose one hour power cut during nights in entire Jaffna peninsula as ‘Northern Power’, the Chinese firm which had entered into a contract to supply the electricity needs of the peninsula has failed to do so, its officials said. Though the officials had attempted to suspend the contract of Northern Power high level officers of Sri Lanka government had obstructed it. It is alleged that a large sum of money has been paid as bribe by Northern Power to obstruct the move to suspend its contract. SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s brother Minister Basil Rajapaksa is alleged to be using his influence to keep Northern Power in Jaffna despite its inefficiency, sources in Jaffna said.
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Identify murderers of Tamil journalist, RSF appeals to Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 October 2010, 11:33 GMT]
Expressing hope that the Government of Sri Lanka will launch an investigation to identify the murderers of Tamil journalist Mayilvaganam Nimalarajan, who was gunned down on 19th October 2000, Reporters Without Borders (RSF), cautioned that "[r]econciliation in Sri Lanka will require tough government initiatives to combat impunity in high-profile cases such as Nimalarajan’s murder, one of the most shocking killings of the past decade."
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Amnesty to begin campaign on SLA execution of Trincomalee students

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 October 2010, 18:41 GMT]
With the fifth anniversary of the massacre of five Tamil students in Trincomalee beach by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers approaching on January 2nd, Amnesty International (AI), the human rights watchdog has embarked on a postcard campaign "to use this case as an example of the ongoing lack of accountability in Sri Lanka," according to the U.S. Director of Amnesty Jim McDonald. AI researchers plan to use the campaign as the focus of a broader effort to highlight the need for an independent international investigations into Sri Lanka's war crimes.
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Local authorities warn of landmine danger in Pachchilaippa’l’li in North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 October 2010, 05:04 GMT]
Pachchilaippa’l’li Piratheasa Chapai officials have warned the people allowed to resettle in their area by Sri Lanka government to be extra cautious of unexploded devices advising them not to burn the rubbish but to burry them to avoid being injured by them, sources in Jaffna said. This warning comes despite Sri Lanka Army (SLA) allowing resettlement in the area claiming that de-mining of this vast area including Pazhai and Iyakkachchi had been completed. A youth was seriously injured in Iyakkachchi Wednesday when he set fire to the rubbish heap in his compound. Sri Lanka government local officials too have warned the people of this area to be aware of the danger of landmines and other explosive devices that are found in this area.
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De-mining in Vanni delayed by lack of funds

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 06:12 GMT]
International organizations including European countries limiting their funds to the organizations engaged in de-mining in Vanni has resulted in the delay of de-mining projects in the war ravaged Vanni, Jaffna District Humanitarian De-mining Coordination Office authorities said in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Friday to explain the cause of the delay in de-mining activities in Vanni. Meanwhile, most of the landmines in Vanni had been sown by Sri Lanka Government while the majority of them are found to be products of Pakistan and USA, the officials said.
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Indian Secretary General leads Commonwealth away from human rights

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 October 2010, 00:13 GMT]
Another instance of key persons in international organisations sabotaging international norms of humanity came to light when The Guardian leaked last Friday a document of the Commonwealth Secretariat. This time it was the Secretary General of the Commonwealth, Kamalesh Sharma, an Indian national heading the organisation telling his staff that it was not their job to speak out against the human rights abuses of the 54 member states. The Secretary General ignored calls from secretariat staff urging him to express concern at least, when abuses were committed in member states in recent years, The Guardian said, citing specific cases including the course of war in the island of Sri Lanka. "All those cases were all about the values the Commonwealth is supposed to stand for and we failed," according to a staff member.
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USTR explores investment possibilities in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 October 2010, 06:52 GMT]
The Sri Lankan Ambassador to United States, Jaliya Wicramasuriya brought a team of the United States Trade Representative (USTR) for South and Central Asian Development Tuesday to Jaffna to explore into the possibility of trade investments in Jaffna peninsula. The USTR team met the representatives of Jaffna Traders Association and Sri Lanka National Chamber of Commerce in Jaffna Public Library Tuesday. Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda and Jaffna Mayor were some of the persons who were present in the meeting. US is also trying to initiate its trade activities in Jaffna peninsula which is already teeming with show rooms displaying Indian products while imported Chinese goods are available in large quantities in Jaffna peninsula and Vanni, Jaffna Traders Association circles said.
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IUSU demands release of Northern youths detained or disappeared

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 October 2010, 06:00 GMT]
Inter University Students Union (IUSU) president Uthila Premaratne said that a demonstration demanding the release of young men and women of the North detained by Sri Lanka government or gone missing is to be held in Jaffna, in a press meet in Jaffna town Tuesday. He appealed to the families of the youths detained or disappeared after arrest by Sri Lanka armed forces to join in the protest demonstration that is to be held in Jaffna in the end of October. Similar demonstrations will be launched in Colombo, he said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers had interrogated the media men and local daily reporters who attended the press meet. It is also alleged that the CID officers had intimidated the owner of the lodge where the IUSU group are staying in, media sources in Jaffna said.
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Former LTTE spokesman Ilanthirayan’s wife bears witness before LLRC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 October 2010, 06:13 GMT]
“I have not seen my husband after Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers took him away saying that he was to be given medical treatment and I do not know what had happened to him,” Vanitha Ilanthirayan, the wife of former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) spokesman Ilanthirayan (Rasiah Sivaroopan), said bearing witness before the Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Committee (LLRC) Saturday in Batticaloa District Government Secretariat. Meanwhile, Bobby, the wife of former LTTE Commander of Batticaloa district Piraba (Krishnapillai Pirabakaran), told the LLRC that she has no information of her husband who was taken away by SLA soldiers when they came along with the people to the SLA controlled Vadduvaakal area in Mullaiththeevu district when the war ended, sources in Baticaloa said.
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Resettled families in Vanni suffer without adequate transport

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 October 2010, 05:35 GMT]
The resettled families in Vanni are facing great difficulty without adequate transport facilities as Sri Lanka government had not done anything to meet the transport facility needs of the people resettled in villages in Vanni located far apart, sources in Vanni said. The government run Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) had abandoned its depots in Vanni for the last twenty years and the limited number of buses allocated to Vanni after the war is hardly enough to serve the residents of Vanni, Ki’linochchi SLTB officials said.
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SLA stops volunteer teachers’ demonstration in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 07:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Ki’linochchi did not allow more than 300 volunteer teachers of Vanni to stage their token protest demonstration in front of Ki’linochchi Education office Wednesday demanding Sri Lanka government to appoint them permanently in their posts. The volunteer teachers have been serving the schools in the districts of Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu without salary for the last ten years and even during the war on Vanni, sources in Ki’linochchi said. SLA said that no demonstration will be allowed in public places. The demonstrators who then went into the Education Office held a brief meeting before handing their appeal to the Education officials.
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