Tsunami victims remembered in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 December 2009, 02:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna transported nearly a thousand people in vehicles to Thaazhaiyadi in Jaffna Saturday where a memorial event was held for the victims killed by tsunami tidal wave five years ago, sources in Jaffna said. Tsunami had claimed 956 lives in Uduththu'rai area, 76 in Ma'natkaadu and 16 in Maathakal in Jaffna district. Persons who participated in the event said that the tsunami memorial monument erected by Liberation Tigers and the graves of tsunami victims had been destructed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the war.
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SLA refuses permission for IDP resettlement in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 26 December 2009, 02:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities denied permission for the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) to resettle in their villages in Thenmaraadchi earlier occupied by SLA during war. Though SLA has removed its bases and men from the lands of the IDPs permission is denied saying that the lands are infested with mines, the IDPs said.
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Poor quality rice given as relief food in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 25 December 2009, 02:48 GMT]
Rice that is distributed as relief food for the resettled IDPs and other needy people in Jaffna district by the government of Sri Lanka is of very poor quality and unsuitable for consumption, according to concerns raised by Non-government Organizations in Jaffna. All relief dry food items are purchased by the Commissioner of Essential Services (CES) in Colombo and sent to Jaffna for distribution, Jaffna Secretariat officials said. The officials further said that they distribute what is sent to Jaffna by the CES.
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Youth's body recovered from well in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 03:55 GMT]
Police recovered the body of a youth Tuesday from a well in A'laveddi in Valikaamam on information from local residents. The youth is suspected to have been killed elsewhere and his body brought and dumped in the well, police said.
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Resettled IDPs in Jaffna yet to be give initial payment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 23 December 2009, 03:50 GMT]
More than half the number of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resettled in Jaffna peninsula have not been paid the first stage payment of 5,000 rupees yet, according to information which came to light in a conference held by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) in Jaffna Secretariat Tuesday. Only 44% of the total 71,186 persons of 23,882 families resettled IDPs have been paid 5,000 rupees as initial payment in the first stage. Two thirds of the IDPs in Jaffna camps had been taken over by their relatives in Jaffna peninsula, the GA said. Meanwhile, IDP Welfare organizations in Jaffna complain that the relief food items supplied by UNCHR are of poor quality.
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Mobile billboard aids boycott campaign

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 December 2009, 08:23 GMT]
Times Square holiday shoppers were alerted Monday by a moving truck carrying a large bill board in its cargo bay urging the shoppers to boycott garments produced in Sri Lanka for Gap, Victoria's Secret and other big-label department stores, sources in New York said. The truck with a large billboard showing images of Tamil refugee suffering drove along popular shopping clusters in New York city, including 34th Street and Broadway. Lighting arrangements in the truck enabled the campaign to extend until early evening 7:00 p.m., according to the organizers of the campaign.
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British Minister under fire for Lanka vacation

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 December 2009, 15:48 GMT]
"Ben Bradshaw will be free to travel in Sri Lanka in a way that 100,000 displaced Tamils cannot," said the British daily Independent, adding, "the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, has raised eyebrows by taking a Christmas holiday in Sri Lanka days after the British government condemned the Colombo administration for its poor human rights record." Bradshaw's act follows a month after Gordon Brown blocked "Sri Lanka's attempt to host the next Commonwealth summit," and a week after last "David Miliband told the Commons that there remained ongoing concerns about the island's government after a crackdown on the Tamil population earlier this year," the paper said.
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Improve lives of resettled people in Moothoor, demands IDP Union

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 13:44 GMT]
The president of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) Union requested government authorities to take several actions which could greatly help the resettled people to improve their lives, in a meeting held Wednesday around 10:00 a.m in Kaddaippa’richchaan Vipulaanantha Mahaa Viththiyaalayam. Eastern Province Chief Minister, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Governor Mohan Vijayavickrama, Government Agent T. T. R. de Silva, Cooperative Development Minister, A. Majeed, Eastern Province Agriculture Minister T. Navaratnarajah, Divisional Secretary N. Selvanayagam and government officials participated in the meeting, sources in Trincomallee said.
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Zurich, Vienna, war crimes and Tamil polity

[TamilNet, Friday, 18 December 2009, 07:28 GMT]
By concentrating in an undue way on the choice of a president between the two main candidates seen as war criminals, why should Eezham Tamils ultimately uphold the interests of any of the powers either committed or abetted those very war crimes but show no signs of mending their ways on the national question and are now backing those dummy candidates, argues TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. Instead, Tamil politicians and new political aspirants among Tamils should leave the matter to genuine and spontaneous decision of the Tamil people and should make the best use of the time to concentrate more on laying strong foundations to the emerging national polity of Eezham Tamils to face any eventuality that emerges after the presidential elections, he further said.
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More than 1000 families displaced due to floods in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 December 2009, 02:17 GMT]
More than a thousand people have sought refuge in churches and school buildings due to floods caused by relentless rain in Jaffna peninsula. 1329 persons of 374 Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) families brought from Vavuniyaa camps and settled in the abandoned tsunami shelters in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Maruthangkea’ni area in Vadamaraadchi had to leave the shelters and seek refuge in churches and schools, according to Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh.
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Cast the first vote to Bahu: Manickasothy

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 21:43 GMT]
All Tamil political leaders should ensure in unison that Dr. Vikramabahu Karunaratne receive the first preferential vote in the presidential election, so that the two main candidates equal in their chauvinistic agenda against Tamils will not get the necessary 50 percent to win, said senior politician and civil movement member Manickasothy Abhimannasingham in an interview to media in Jaffna, Tuesday. Bahu was always consistent in his stand on Tamil question even under trying times and voting him is an opportunity to show the Tamil will locally and internationally, he further said. On the candidature of Mr. Sivajilingam, he said the candidature should not demonstrate Tamil disunity. His observation on TNA was that it is nowadays open about its proclivity to India and is now waiting only to receive instructions from India.
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Heavy floods in East, 3 killed, IDP camps under water

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 09:37 GMT]
Lightning claimed the lives of three people and more than 25,000 have been displaced due to heavy floods as cyclone 'Ward' entered the Eastern coast Monday night. Vaakarai, Vaazhaichcheanai, Kaaththaankudi and Vavu'natheevu are among the worst affected areas in Batticaloa. Meanwhile, all the huts of 'welfare centers' located in Moothoor East and Eechchilampattu in Trincomalee district where hundreds of internally displaced Tamil families, still sheltered awaiting resettlement in their own villages, are under water due to torrential rain now being experienced. Roofs of these huts have been blown off due to gale winds due to depression that moves along the coast of North and East.
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Resettled IDPs in Jaffna ordered to register particulars with SLA, SLN

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2009, 03:13 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) brought from Vanni camps and resettled in Jaffna have been ordered to register their particulars with the local civil administrative authorities of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) or Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), sources in Jaffna said. These IDPs who had already registered their particulars with their local Village Officers are again being subjected to endless inconvenience, the sources added. The IDPs in Jaffna peninsula and the islets cannot move freely without the Family Registration Certificate (FRC) issued by SLA or SLN.
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Unrelenting rain continues in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 December 2009, 14:15 GMT]
Monsoon rains continue to pour down in Jaffna peninsula for the third day Monday flooding the low lying areas, sources in Jaffna said. The most affected by the persisting rain are the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) resettled in Jaffna and those living as permanent refugees evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) because they are located in low lying areas that are easily flooded. However, no one had left their residences until now and they will have to move into school buildings if the rains do not stop, Jaffna Secretariat officials said.
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“We are not going to start another armed struggle” – PLOTE Sitharathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:25 GMT]
“We are not preparing ourselves to launch another armed struggle. The accusations that we had abducted minors from Vavuniyaa camps are baseless,” Sitharathan, the leader of People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) said in a press meet held Saturday in PLOTE office in Jaffna. He further said that after the talks held with President Mahinda Rajapakse his party has decided to support him in the forthcoming presidential election, sources in Jaffna said.
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Family rule or Democratic rule? – Ranil Wickremasinghe

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 December 2009, 10:22 GMT]
“The time has come for the people to decide whether they want the Rajapakse family rule to continue or democratic rule to be restored in Sri Lanka,” Leader of the opposition and United National Party (UNP), Ranil Wickremasinghe, who is in Jaffna canvassing support for Sarath Fonseka, the common candidate of the opposition parties in the presidential election, said Saturday speaking among the students of the private College of Education near the Buddhist temple in Jaffna.
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Reveal whereabouts of surrendered, arrested Liberation Tigers – Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 06:35 GMT]
“The government should maintain transparency in matters related to the Liberation Tigers who had surrendered or were arrested at the end of the war,” Mano Ganeshan, Democratic People’s Front (DPF) leader and parliamentarian said, in a special interview to TamilNet Thursday. Mano Ganeshan, presently in Jaffna, also said that Sarath Fonseka, the common opposition presidential candidate, is steadfast in solving the issues related to the reunion of the Liberation Tigers with their families and resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs).
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Senior HRW, ICG staff slam US Senate report

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 03:37 GMT]
The 18-page report released Monday by US Senate Foreign Relations Committee advocating the need to focus on economy and security of Sri Lanka instead of humanitarian considerations to initiate warming of relationship with Sri Lanka was slammed by Rights organizations as "incredibly shoddy" and drew comments that authors of the report appear to be people who "don’t know anything about Sri Lanka." The report comes amid growing concern among many activists that President Obama’s policy of diplomatic engagement with abusive or authoritarian governments, such as China, Burma, Iran, Sudan, and Syria, is being pursued at the expense of human rights, Inter Press Service (IPS) News Agency said.
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US Senate Committee evaluation pushes aside political solution to Tamils

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 07:32 GMT]
US Senate Foreign Relations Committee, recommending Monday on ‘recharting’ US strategy on Sri Lanka, said the US should focus on economy and security of the island instead of humanitarian considerations, IDPs and civil society; should also invest in Sinhalese parts of the country instead of just focussing on North and East; should resume training of Sri Lankan military officials to ensure human rights in future operations as well as to build critical relationships and implied that US should not emphasise on political reform as a condition to assistance, bringing rift in US- Sri Lanka relations making the latter to align with countries of alternative model of development. While the report based on evaluation by two staffers, one of whom a US Sinhalese, is viewed by Tamil circles as an open insult to their struggle, it is also seen as an election ‘manifesto’ to woo Sinhalese votes.
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Cluster voting booths to be installed in resettlement areas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 December 2009, 03:17 GMT]
Cluster voting booths in the forthcoming presidential election are to be installed in Karaichchi and Poonakari areas where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) had been resettled, Jaffna Assistant Election Commissioner (AEO), S. Suthakar said. Meanwhile, provisions have been made to enable IDP voters who had lost their identification documents due to the war, he further said.
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