Medical surgeon M. Ganesaratnam receives honorary degree

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 07:14 GMT]
Jaffna University bestowed honorary PhD degree to medical surgeon Dr. M. Ganesaratnam attached to Jaffna Teaching Hospital in its twenty-sixth convocation ceremony held Wednesday in Kailasapathy Auditorium, sources in Jaffna said. Chancellor M. Sivasuriya presided at the event in which more than 1200 students, including 22 of the medical faculty received their degrees. Law students passed out from Jaffna University for the first time in its history in this event.
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Colombo takes control of historic Kanniyaa hot wells in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 October 2010, 06:08 GMT]
The Government Agent of Trincomalee Major General (retired) Ranjith de Silva Tuesday stopped the Trincomalee Town and Gravets Pradesya Saba (PS) from maintaining the historic Kanniyaa Hot Wells stating that it belongs to the Department of Archaeology. The Government Agent (GA) also directed his men to remove the name board put up by the Pradesya Saba stating that the ancient King Raava'nan founded the hot wells and constructed the Pi’l’laiyaar temple to conduct the 31st day ritual ('Anthiraddi' rites) to his deceased mother. The Hindus in this region conduct "Anthiraddi" rites in memory of their deceased kith and kin.
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Ki’linochchi volunteer teachers demand permanent appointment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 October 2010, 07:27 GMT]
More than 300 volunteer teachers serving in Ki’linochchi district without payment for the last ten years in war-ravaged Vanni are to launch a token protest demonstration in front of Ki’linochchi Education Office Wednesday demanding permanent appointments, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Sri Lanka government which has made permanent the volunteer teachers in other districts had ignored the volunteer teachers in Vanni saying it was under the control of Liberation Tigers, the sources added. This token protest is to be staged in the context of Sri Lanka government claiming to have rehabilitated Vanni.
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Swindler from South arrested in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 04:30 GMT]
A person from southern Sri Lanka who tried to cheat the war-affected women in Changkaanai in Valikaamam Jaffna was caught by local government officers and handed over to Maanippaay police. He had announced in the local media that he would help to get compensation money from Sri Lanka government and that the applicants should pay an amount of money for registration. He was caught when he was about to organize a meeting for the registration of applicants in Changkaanai. The person is detained in Maanippay police station for interrogation.
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SLA units in NorthEast to be strengthened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 October 2010, 03:05 GMT]
Moves are underway to restructure the Army before January 1st, 2011, the Lankadeepa newspaper said quoting Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander Jagath Jayasuriya at a function held in Anuradhapura to commemorate the army’s 62st anniversary. Special military units will be appointed in every district following the restructuring of the military, according to Jayasuriya. All security forces units in the north and east will also be strengthened in the coming months as part of the overhaul, the Commander added.
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Resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ not possible – Jaffna SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 October 2010, 07:12 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander, Major Gen. Mahinda Kathurusinghe, who had earlier admitted the possibility of resettling uprooted families in Valikaamam North SLA High Security Zone, however, said that resettlement is not possible due to the danger of landmines. He told the representatives of the Committee for Peace and Goodwill so in a meeting held in Jaffna Bishop House Sunday, presided by Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam. Meanwhile, the Coordinating Committee for De-mining in Jaffna Secretariat said that SLA had not permitted de-mining in its HSZ in Valikaamam North. Mahinda Kathursinghe’s announcement has caused shock and despair among the families uprooted by SLA from their properties in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said.
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SL government neglects war-ravaged Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 September 2010, 06:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has not allocated sufficient funds for the renovation and rebuilding of schools and other government department offices which had been either badly damaged or totally destroyed during its war on Vanni, officials of Northern Province Education Ministry and Ki’linochchi Government Secretariat said. Basic facilities are not made available for the government employees and teachers from other areas who have returned to work in Vanni mainland and they attempt to get transferred out of Vanni. Our time is spent mainly in receiving the numerous SL government ministers and their officials claiming to rehabilitate Vanni but it will take more than a year to restore working standards, an official in one of the District Secretariats, said. SL government stops with its publicity of developing Vanni without allocating the required funds for development, he added.
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SLA erects Buddhist temples in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 September 2010, 05:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni are actively engaged in erecting Buddhist temples in the surroundings of Saiva temples in Vanni, sources in Ki’linochchi said. The construction of a Buddhist temple in the precincts of Mu'rika’ndi Pi’l’laiyaar temple located on Kandy road by SLA has been suspended by the Local Government Body of the area. A case filed by a private person in Colombo High Court claiming that Mu'rika’ndi Pi’l’laiyaar temple belongs to him is being taken up for inquiry, the sources said.
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India's reasons for banning LTTE false, fabricated: Vaiko tells Tribunal

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 14:55 GMT]
MDMK leader Vaiko on Friday appeared before New Delhi’s Tribunal set to hear petitions against the ban of the LTTE in India, to argue that he should be involved in the hearing and to plead that the ban extended by the Central Government on 14 May 2010 should not be confirmed by the Tribunal. The very first reason given by GOI for the ban that the Tamil Eelam objective of the LTTE includes Tamil Nadu, falls to the ground to pieces as the LTTE never wanted to annex an inch of land of Tamil Nadu, Vaiko said, adding that GOI’s reasons are totally fabricated with falsehood. The Tribunal judge Vikramjit Sen was specific in raising the question “Don’t they [the LTTE] want to annex Tamil Nadu or part of India with Tamil Eelam?”
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Smuggling ancient religious statues from North to South escalates

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 07:30 GMT]
The people of Vadamaraadchi on finding ancient statues of Saiva temples hidden under a bridge in Vadamaraadchi informed the police and handed over the man who had stolen them from the Saiva temples in Vadamaraadchi East occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) Saturday, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. The man admitted that he had stolen the statues but information on where they were stolen from is yet not known. Historical artifacts from war affected Vanni by persons connected to occupying SLA soldiers and officers were taken to the South and sold to international antique dealers for large sums of money, sources in Vanni said.
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20th death anniversary of Chavukkadai massacre of Tamils held

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 September 2010, 03:20 GMT]
The people of the village of Chavukkadai village located in Batticaloa district observed the twentieth anniversary of the Chavukkadai massacre of forty-two Tamils including men, women, children and elders by Sinhala hoodlums on 20th September 1990. Relations of the victims and people of the village held special prayers in Saiva koayils and churches in Chavukkadai.
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'EU should coordinate powers to bring justice to Eezham Tamils'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 September 2010, 05:08 GMT]
While powers and countries like Norway, preoccupied with geo-strategy and ‘development’, ignore the fundamentals of the crisis in the island, the European Union should work towards convincing and coordinating them in bringing political justice to Eezham Tamils, said 62-year-old Jegatheeswaran Arunachalam, an Australian national who witnessed the war in Vanni to its end. The EU, consisting of old nations that have gone through the gravity of national question in history, is in a better position to grasp appropriate solutions, he said. “As an immediate action, the EU should send a fact finding mission that includes members of the diaspora, and it should work for an internationally guaranteed situation for the diaspora to independently reach out its kith and kin in the island”, Jegatheeswaran, now on a Walk for Justice mission across Europe with two fellow activists, told TamilNet Friday.
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SLA intruder attacked by house-owner in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 2010, 11:33 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier, who attempted to enter a house Thursday night while the house-owner, his wife and two daughters were fast asleep, was hacked and cut by the owner of the house, civilian sources in Kanakaampikaik-ku'lam in Ira'nai-madu told TamilNet Friday.
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Indian Mumbai private contractor company officials visit North

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 September 2010, 04:43 GMT]
A team of a Mumbai private contractor company officials on a two-day visit to North Sri Lanka participated in a meeting Thursday in Jaffna Secretariat presided by Jaffna Government Agent, Ms. Imelda Sukumar, and discussed the project of constructing 50,000 houses in the war affected Vanni and Jaffna peninsula. The team, accompanied by officials of Colombo Indian High Commission, visited many places in Vanni before coming to Jaffna. The Mumbai private contractors are in Sri Lanka to finalize the contract of constructing 50,000 houses in the war affected North. Meanwhile, local contractors have raised objection to Mumbai Company’s reported intention to bring 20,000 workers from India. Jaffna Government Secretariat officials, however, said that this issue was not discussed in the meeting.
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SL government imposes restrictions on local NGOs in North, East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2010, 03:25 GMT]
Local Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in North and East in Sri Lanka face the risk of becoming inactive due Sri Lanka government’s new restrictions on registering or renewing the registration of such organizations, NGO circles said. These NGOs should submit applications to register themselves or to renew registration to Sri Lanka President’s Action Committee and Sri Lanka Defence Ministry for their approval to function, according to the new procedure imposed on them. The local NGOs serve local people in need with the assistance of International Organizations. Securing the required approval of the above authorities is not easy as Sri Lanka government generally views the local NGOs as agencies of foreign elements opposed to it, NGO circles in Jaffna said.
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Ampaa'rai student tops Tamil scholarship exam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 18:23 GMT]
A girl student of Thampiluvil Kalaimakal Viththiyaalayam in Thirukkoayil Education Zone in Ampaa’rai district secured the first place in Tamil medium Year Five scholarship examination 2010.
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Colombo hurriedly readies military colony in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 September 2010, 07:34 GMT]
One hundred houses in the military occupation scheme consisting twelve thousand houses by the Sri Lanka government in Ki’linochchi district to colonize the Tamil land of Vanni with Sinhala families of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) are being hurriedly prepared for occupation. Families of one hundred SLA officers will take possession of them in an event to be held shortly, informed sources in Ki’linochchi said. Arrangements are under way for the event in which key persons of Sri Lanka Defence Ministry will take part. Meanwhile, the owners of the land, all of them Tamils, their properties encroached by Sri Lanka government for colonisation, are not allowed even to go to their places where the military colony is being constructed. Informed Tamil officials in Vanni also said that Colombo is using foreign funds donated in the name of resettlement of uprooted families of Vanni.
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Sri Lanka’s LLRC, a hoax – Vanni war victims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 September 2010, 05:36 GMT]
Only fifteen of nearly four hundred persons, most of them women, were allowed to witness before Sri Lanka’s Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) in Mullaiththeevu Government Secretariat Monday while the others were driven away, sources in Mullaiththeevu said. The women had come with the hope of getting information about their husbands, sons and daughters who had disappeared without trace after surrendering themselves to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the final days of the war on Vanni. Denied of the opportunity to witness before the Commission and from futile attempts in the past they said they had no faith in the Commission calling it a hoax staged by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapaksa to deceive them and the world.
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‘Elusive international justice snatches away desire to live’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 20:42 GMT]
“We expected some country to step in to resolve the crisis... We believed that a dawn would come, a solution would come through [international] mediation after all the hardships we went through. But, nothing happened. Everything went out of hand for us to end up in the army-controlled area as living corpses. All countries have betrayed us,” told 40-year-old Ananthi Sasitharan, the wife of Elilan, the former Trincomalee Political Head of the LTTE, to BBC Tamil Saturday after complaining to the LLRC that SL President should know the whereabouts of her husband and fellow LTTE officials surrendered through a Catholic Priest in Mullaiththeevu on 18 May 2009. When asked whether she was concerned about repercussions for stating her views publicly from Vanni, the mother of three responded: “I am not afraid. I am prepared to face anything since we don't now live with the zest for life.”
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LTTE's Elilan surrendered to SLA on 18 May, wife tells BBC

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 September 2010, 16:21 GMT]
Ananthi Sasitharan, wife of Elilan, former Trincomalee political head of the LTTE, told BBC Tamil service that she and her three daughters witnessed her husband and hundreds of other LTTE members surrendering to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers on 18th May 2009, after the war has come to an end. "I have been trying to trace my husband and has not been successful to locate his whereabouts. I have no doubt that Sri Lanka's president knows where my husband and others who surrendered are being held," she told the BBC.
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