3 People’s Bank branches to be reopened in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 June 2010, 20:37 GMT]
People’s Bank branches of Maangku’lam, Ki’linochchi and Paranthan areas where uprooted civilians have been allowed to resettle in Vanni which had ceased to function due to war are to be officially reopened Monday, sources in Vanni said. It is hoped that the customers of these banks who had lost all their properties and documents will be offered some measures of compensation during the opening events Monday, the sources added.
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Student Unions observe death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 21:20 GMT]
Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) and Jaffna Technical College Student Union (JTCSU) observed the death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran who was the pioneer in leading the Tamil youth into armed struggle to regain the robbed rights of Tamils marking this transition and setting its basic attributes such as sacrificing one's life by consuming cyanide. Only a few students participated in the event due to fear while Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) which vie with each other to observe the death anniversary of Pon. Sivakumaran did not show any interest in commemorating the day, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA soldiers harass resettled women during nights in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 20:29 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier who broke into a house in Thirunakar in Ki’linochchi Friday midnight and attempted to sexually harass a woman was chased away by neighbours, according to complaints made by the resettled families to Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, N. Siritharan. The soldier who tried to escape the chasing men accidentally fell into a well on the way and had to remain in the well until rescued by fellow soldiers who came that way in a tractor as the men who chased him did not pull him out.
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Alston: Domestic inquiries into extrajudicial killings insufficient

[TamilNet, Saturday, 05 June 2010, 00:08 GMT]
United Nations special envoy, Prof. Philip Alston, stressed the need for international inquiries into serious allegations of extrajudicial executions in cases where national probes have been insufficient, citing Sri Lanka, among other nations. Mr. Alston also referred to the allegations that as many as 30,000 people were killed in Sri Lanka last year in the closing months of the conflict between Government forces and Tamil rebels and that grave violations of human rights and humanitarian law were committed. “In this case also there is a need for an independent international inquiry,” UN News Center reported, quoting Alston. Professor Francis A Boyle commented after Alston's statement that "U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon no longer has any excuse to delay appointing an International War Crimes Committee on Sri Lanka, which has been within his powers to do for the past year now."
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Boat service to begin between Jaffna and Poonakari in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 20:49 GMT]
Government authorities in Jaffna announced that a boat service is to be inaugurated 13 June between Kurunakar jetty in Jaffna and Ma’n’niththu'rai jetty in Poonakari. This boat service is being started to enable public to travel between Jaffna and Vanni quickly, Northern Province Governor, Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri said.
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Maangku’lam Maha Viththiyalayam relocated due to SLA occupation

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 June 2010, 20:36 GMT]
Maangku’lam Maha Viththiyaalayam (MMV) located along A9 road had to be shifted to another building in Maangku’lam as MMV has been transformed into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) base since 2008, education department sources said. MMV which had remained closed even after families had been allowed to resettle in the area began to function Thursday in the Technical College building constructed by NECORD in Maangku’lam.
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Former SLA Commander to be appointed as Mullaiththeevu GA

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 16:53 GMT]
One of the former Commanders of Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Major Gen. C. R. de Silva, is to be appointed as the new Government Agent (GA) to Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Colombo government and SLA had already begun changing Mullaiththeevu district into a Sinhalese area by declaring it as Weli Oya district consisting of Pathaviyaa, Ma’nalaa’ru, parts of Vavuniniyaa North and Anuradhapura. The appointment of a former Sinhalese military commander to Mullaiththeevu district as GA is another calculated step in making Mullaiththeevu district a Sinhalese area, the sources added.
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Father of victim in Channel 4 photo identifies son as LTTE member

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 16:15 GMT]
The father of a victim in the photos released by Channel- 4 in mid May identified one of them as his son as a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mu'l'livaaykkaal between 18 and 19 May 2009. The father told TamilNet that the LTTE combatants could not have been arrested in April 2009 as it was reported earlier as he had met his son on 11 May in 2009. A mother and her daughter have earlier identified another victim in the photo as 40-year-old Thuraichamy Harikrishanan, a native of Vavuniyaa, an ex-member of LTTE. Meanwhile, close relatives living in the diaspora of another LTTE member also claimed the same person as their relative. Efforts are under way to clarify the identity of the victim, a Tamil group working on genocide documentation told TamilNet Friday.
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Protests against controversial IIFA event draw attention on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 01:15 GMT]
As protests gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, with the support of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), against holding International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Colombo, big stars from the Indian film industry have decided to avoid participation, media reports from Mumbai said. Hindustan Times reported that the event was turning out to be IIFAs most controversial, even before it has been held. The protests in South India have also brought media attention in New Delhi. The NDTV has timed a documentary, titled ‘Blood on Water,’ accommodating Tamil perspectives and an Indian doctor who was part of an Indian paramedic team present in Vavuniyaa last year, during the final phase of the war in Vanni, has spoken out on the scale of the slaughter as "massive casualties" among the civilian population.
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Bishop's House appeals to Vatican to urge Colombo to renovate Vanni churches

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:49 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop House sent an appeal to the Holy See in Vatican to urge Sri Lanka government to renovate and restore the churches in Vanni destroyed or badly damaged during the war on Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one except Jaffna Bishop had been permitted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Vanni to see the churches in Vanni after the war and Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundranayagam, had been greatly shocked and distressed to find the churches destroyed and plundered, Bishop House circles said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka government has announced financial aid for renovating the churches in Vanni where people have been allowed to resettle.
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SLA hastens to destroy skeletal remains of victims killed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:18 GMT]
Following the disclosure of five male corpses in a toilet pit in Ki’linochchi Monday Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has ordered all skeletal remains of persons assassinated or killed in war lying visibly in Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, an officer of a humanitarian de-mining organization who had personally seen some skeletal remains along the roads in Mullaiththeevu and the frantic efforts of SLA soldiers to burn them without any trace told TamilNet Tuesday. Colombo has sent in a team of Sinhalese officers from Vavuniyaa to survey the areas and evaluate the extent of de-mining that has to be done, with the assistance of SLA, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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'Freedom Flotilla symbolises new dimension of humanitarian struggle'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 12:48 GMT]
A project manager of the Vanni Mission ship of the Tamil diaspora has said the courage displayed by the organisers and activists of the Freedom Flotilla and the sacrifices made by the activists have brought a new dimension to the global humanitarian struggle, exclusively revealing to TamilNet how Tamil Nadu government was 'forced' to act in delivering the aid carried by the Tamil mission last year. S. Noel, the France based project manger of the Tamil diaspora project said humanitarian activists world over should not hesitate to initiate similar actions in future if the humanity is serious about changing the attitude of oppressors, who cause untold sufferings to innocent children in besieged situations of genocidal proportion, and urged Tamil diaspora to express solidarity with those affected in the tragedy.
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UN Rights chief renews call for Sri Lanka war-crimes probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 10:41 GMT]
The United Nations human rights chief, Navaneetham Pillay Monday reiterated her call for an "independent international probe" into Sri Lanka Government's final offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the final months of the war in 2009. While noting the appointment of "post-war reconciliation commission" by Colombo, Navi Pillay said, "based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives [looking into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims] would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," AFP reported.
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3rd death anniversary of slain journalist Thevakumar observed in Moo’laay

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 20:01 GMT]
Public organizations in Moo’laay in Jaffna observed Sunday the third death anniversary of Jaffna correspondent of Sakthi TV station, Paranirupasingam Thevakumar, 34, abducted while he was returning to his residence in Moo’laay and hacked to death in Kaakkaitheevu, a barren land near Naavaanthu’rai in Jaffna on 28 May 2008, in Ganesha Community Centre Hall in Moo’laay, sources in Jaffna said. Immediately after the killing, his wife in her statement to three Sinhalese journalists from Colombo had said that men of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), a constituent of ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), were directly involved in her husband’s assassination.
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Minister Douglas Devananda to launch a new Tamil daily in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 16:32 GMT]
The leader of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Douglas Devananda, a cabinet minister in the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA), who continues to publicly accuse the three Tamil dailies published in Jaffna of having denied him and his party equal opportunity and sufficient cooperation during the last parliamentary elections, is actively engaged in launching a new Tamil daily in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. Minister Devananda had in person offered higher wages to the members of the editorial boards of the three dailies published in Jaffna in an attempt to lure them to his new daily, the sources added.
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Sinhala names given to junctions in Mullaiththeevu district by SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 09:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forces that occupy Vanni after the recent war have put up new name boards in Sinhala language only with new Sinhala names for many road junctions and streets in Mullaiththeevu district. SLA, besides erecting special camps and High Security Zones in strategic places in Mullaiththeevu, is engaged in changing the entire district like any other typical Sinhalese area in the country, sources in Vanni said. The photos here were taken a few weeks ago and the SLA soldiers posted at the junctions explained what the Sinhala names mean and why they had been chosen.
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Treaty discussion, reminder for appointing Sri Lanka War Crimes panel, says Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 21:53 GMT]
While Secretary General Ban Ki Moon extolled the contributions of the UN's International Criminal Court (ICC) as an effective instrument to uphold peace, justice and human rights, in a Washington Post article, as UN's member nations convene Monday in Kampala to formally review the Rome Treaty, Professor Francis A. Boyle criticized Ban for delaying action on establishing accountability for Sri Lanka's "massacre of about 50,000 Tamils" and urged Ban to "immediately appoint the International War Crimes Committee for Sri Lanka that he had already promised to do several weeks ago."
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Records of persons fleeing Vanni destroyed by Special Action Committee of Basil Rajapakse

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 19:51 GMT]
The Special Action Committee (SAC) of Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, the present Sri Lankan Economic Development Minister and the former senior advisor to the President during the war on Vanni, had ordered the records of all persons who fled Vanni at the end of the war to be destroyed so as to conceal the recorded particulars of more than 17,000 persons who were suspected as Liberation Tigers and who had later disappeared without any trace, an official of the Ministry of Disaster Management and Resettlement (MDMRS) said. Rizard Badudin who was then the minister of the above ministry is alleged to have functioned as a puppet in the hands of Basil Rajapakse in destroying the records, sources close to MDMRS officials who had recorded the details of persons fleeing Vanni said.
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Family man beaten to death in the islets of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 17:14 GMT]
Pungkudutheevu police recovered Friday evening a male body with assault injuries near Thengka’n Thidal Pi’l’laiyaar Koayil in Pungkudutheevu in the islets of Jaffna and handed it over to Jaffna Teaching Hospital mortuary Saturday morning, sources in Jaffna said. The victim had gone from Vanni to visit his relatives in Pungkudutheevu and was last seen waiting at Aaladi junction to travel back to Jaffna.
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Sinhalese Buddhists celebrate Vesak grandly in the North

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 18:46 GMT]
Sinhalese Buddhists from South and the government armed forces in the North celebrated Thursday and Friday the annual Buddhist Vesak festival in Jaffna, Ki’linochchi and Vanni in a grand scale in comparison with last year, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka government provided full support for the celebrations while security measures were strengthened in Jaffna with 700 additional policemen deployed along with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, the sources added. Vehicles were not allowed near Duraippah Stadium where grand Vesak lanterns had been hoisted.
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