French Ambassador to Sri Lanka visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2010, 18:23 GMT]
The French Ambassador in Sri Lanka, Ms. Christine Robichon, accompanied by two key officials of the embassy visited Jaffna peninsula Thursday where she first met Jaffna Government Agent (GA) K. Ganesh at Jaffna Secretariat. She later went to the French Friendship Cultural Centre (FFCC) located in Thirunelveali to observe its activities, sources in Jaffna said.
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District Election Commissioner, deputies to be monitored

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 March 2010, 10:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Commissioner of Elections Dayananda Dissanayake has given consent to deploy two observers at the Elections Secretariat in Rajagiriya in Colombo and two each at the all District Secretaries where District Returning Officers are located to monitor their movement and activities on the polling day on the forthcoming general election. Accordingly, two monitors, one from PAFFREL and the other from CMEV will be allowed to stay at the Elections Secretariat in Colombo and at all the District Secretariats, election department sources said.
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45,969 IDPs eligible to vote

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 2010, 09:50 GMT]
About forty five thousand nine hundred and sixty seven internally displaced voters are eligible to cast their votes in the forthcoming general elections that is set to be held on April. Of them fifteen thousand eight hundred and eighty seven IDP voters are from Vanni electoral district, according to a communiqué issued by the Elections Secretariat.
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India’s genocide of its own tribal nations

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 March 2010, 02:21 GMT]
India had larger plans when it backed genocidal Colombo in the UN Human Rights Council. India is now embarked upon a greater genocidal war against its own tribal nations, picking up the footsteps of Colombo, making use of its partnership experience in crushing Eezham Tamils, exploiting the impotency of international community and encouraged by the electoral endorsement from Tamil Nadu. The precarious dimensions of the ongoing war in Central India, vividly brought out by Arundhati Roy in Outlook India this week, need careful study by all Eezham Tamils to device apt political moves for them and for the benefit of entire humanity. The IC, Tamils in India and progressive Sinhalese have to realise that acknowledging Eezham Tamil independence is a test case in reconstructing State outlook that is messing up life in entire South Asia and in achieving wider solidarity of peoples in the region.
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BBC: Fox and Love lobbied for Sri Lanka after junkets

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 March 2010, 04:00 GMT]
Two British MPs, Mr. Andy Love of the ruling Labour party, and Dr. Liam Fox of the main opposition Conservative party, made visits to Sri Lanka paid for by the government there, and while not declaring their trips, spoke in support of Sri Lanka in parliament, a BBC investigation has revealed. Both MPs were hosted by Mahinda Rajapakse regime in the past three years amid Sri Lanka’s onslaught in which tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed. Mr. Fox, some of whose trips coincided with international outrage over the ongoing slaughter, told the BBC his visits were to “promote peace and reconciliation in Sri Lanka.” Following his second visit in 2008, Mr. Love urged British ministers to send more aid to Sri Lanka.
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2 resettled Vanni IDPs gone missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2010, 16:19 GMT]
A 17-year-old student from Sangkaanai in Jaffna peninsula and a family man from Naaranthanai in the islets of Jaffna, both Internally Displaced Persons brought from Vavuniyaa camps and resettled in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Army, had been reported missing by their family members to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. The mother of the student and the wife of the family man had made the complaints to HRC.
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Government engaged in rebuilding courts in North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2010, 05:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Chief Justice, Asoka de Silva who arrived in Jaffna Saturday accompanied by Justices Balapatabendi, K. Saravanabavan and S. Amaratunge officially opened the newly built court complex in Nedunththeevu in the islets of Jaffna Saturday evening. The Chief Justice will lay the foundation stones for the court complexes in Mallaakam and Chavakachcheri court premises Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. The government had already taken steps to erect new court buildings in Vanni though people had not been permitted to resettle in those areas, the sources added. The active and urgent interest of the government to build police stations and court complexes in places where people are not permitted to resettle reveal its motive to consolidate its authority in the north, legal society sources in Jaffna said.
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Prof. Boyle: PCIJ precedent brings GoSL's war-crimes within UN jurisdiction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 March 2010, 20:58 GMT]
Quoting a landmark 1923 decision on rules governing international agreements by the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), Professor Boyle, an expert in international law, referred to Colombo's claim that UN is infringing on the sovereignty of a member state, and said, "I am not going to spend a lot of time here refuting this erroneous and disingenuous interpretation of international law and the requirements of the United Nations Charter by the GoSL (Government of Sri Lanka) and its Foreign Minister. There is one definitive answer to their objection. Namely, the GoSL Army undoubtedly inflicted numerous violations of the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949 upon the Tamils in Vanni a year ago, and in particular but not limited to gross violations of Common Article 3 thereof, which constituted war crimes. Sri Lanka is a contracting party to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949."
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“All military camps in Jaffna peninsula will be scrapped if UNP wins” – Ranil

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2010, 16:25 GMT]
Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of United National Party (UNP), who arrived in Jaffna accompanied by his wife said that all the military camps in Jaffna peninsula will be scrapped except Palaali Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp, in the UNP election campaign meeting held in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall Friday. “High Security Zones are no longer necessary in the peninsula and the people evacuated from these places will be immediately resettled in their own properties if UNP becomes the ruling party in the general election,” he further said.
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Cutting UN ties will earn Sri Lanka rogue status, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 March 2010, 00:28 GMT]
"If the Government of Sri Lanka ruptures relations with the United Nations, then it will turn itself into a pariah state along the lines of apartheid South Africa or the genocidal rump Yugoslavia, both of which the United Nations General Assembly suspended from participation in the activities of the United Nations for their criminal behavior. In fact and in law, the same principles should apply here.," said Professor Boyle, commenting on Colombo's recent warning that "ties with the United Nations (UN) is in danger of going sour if the present conflict with UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon over his move to appoint a panel on Sri Lanka is not resolved."
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Government engaged in Sinhalese colonization in Kokkaavil – Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2010, 18:17 GMT]
Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) former Jaffna parliamentarian and a TNA candidate contesting Jaffna electorate, accused Sri Lanka government of systematically colonizing Kokkaavil in Mullaiththevu district along A9 road with Sinhalese, in the TNA election campaign meeting held Thursday in Chuzhipuram-Tholpuram area, sources in Jaffna said. He also accused Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and soldiers of dismantling the vehicles abandoned by Vanni residents when they were driven to Mu’l’livaaikkaal and selling the parts in Vavuniyaa and Anuradapura making huge profit.
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TNA candidates meet SLA officers in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 March 2010, 20:55 GMT]
Former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians Mavai Senathirajah and Suresh Premachandran, held a meeting with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers in Ki’linochchi Tuesday where they brought to their attention about TNA candidates as well as contestants of Tamil National United Front (TNUF) being obstructed from canvassing among the resettled people in Ki’linochchi district recently, according to Suresh Premachandran. The SLA officers have now agreed to allow candidates to meet the resettled people in Ki’linochchi and canvass among them but whether the SLA soldiers manning the check posts will carry out the instructions of their superiors is yet to be seen, he added.
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‘Vanni Mouse’ wins best fiction award in international film festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2010, 18:01 GMT]
A Tamil short film directed by a diaspora Eezham Tamil winning the best award in an international festival is seen as a first with the short film titled ‘Vanni Mouse’, which has won the best film award in the fiction category in the nine-day 11th International Short and Independent Film Festival (ISIFF) at the Shaukat Osman auditorium of Central Public Library in Dhaka on Friday. Commenting on the award, Barrister S. J. Joseph of Eelavar Cine Arts Council, based in London told TamilNet on Monday that this was the first time an Eezham Tamil artist being awarded at an international film festival.
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Government allows 15 NGOs to help resettled IDPs in Mullaiththeevu - GA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 March 2010, 06:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka government has allowed around fifteen Non-government Organizations (NGOs) to assist the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) in Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni to create livelihoods for them, Mullaiththeevu Government Agent (GA) Ms. Imelda Sukumar said in an interview to the national Tamil daily Virakesari. Projects constructing 2700 houses in the two divisional secretary areas have begun and the President’s Work Committee has issued permission to around 15 NGOs to involve in helping the resettled IDPs, she added.
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Holy relics of St. Anthony flown to Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 March 2010, 20:39 GMT]
Thousands of devotees participated in the procession in which the holy relics of St. Antony flown to Palaali airport in Jaffna were taken in procession to Maanippaay St. Antony’s church Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. The sacred relics of St. Antony were brought to Sri Lanka from Italy on the occasion of the 175th jubilee anniversary of the St. Antony’s Church, Kochchikkadai in Colombo, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA soldiers obstruct ITAK candidate from campaigning in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 March 2010, 16:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers manning the check posts along the roads do not allow him to go the places where Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) are resettled in Ki'linochchi district, Sivagnanam Sritharan, the candidate contesting Ki'linochchi district in Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) ticket and the principal of Ki'linochchi Maha Viththiyaalayam said, in the press meet held Friday at the ITAK office on Martin Road in Jaffna where the ITAK election manifesto was released. He was forced by the soldiers to reveal the names of the persons he wants to meet and as this would put them in danger he had not given their names, Sritharan said.
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Chinese representatives discuss road development projects in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 March 2010, 16:34 GMT]
Two Key representatives of Chinese government who visited Jaffna Thursday met Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh at Jaffna Secretariat and discussed the projects of broadening five main streets in Jaffna peninsula with Chinese aid, sources in Jaffna said. The representatives, along with the GA and the Director of Planning, inspected the Pa’n’nai causeway bridge located on Jaffna-Oorkaavattu’rai road which had not seen maintenance or repair in the last 30 years due to war. The projects of broadening of Jaffna-Oorkaavattu’rai road into a two-way street and the renovation of the bridge on it have been prioritized, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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Chinese involvement in Jaffna peninsula gains momentum

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 March 2010, 08:16 GMT]
While India is said to be seriously considering opening a branch of its High Commission for Sri Lanka in Jaffna, Chinese contractors are actively engaged in planning the broadening of five major roads in the peninsula in keeping with the agreement entered with Sri Lanka President, Mahintha Rajapakse, sources in Jaffna said. A conference presided by Jaffna Government Agent was held Tuesday at Jaffna Secretariat to discuss matters related to road development projects in Jaffna peninsula with Chinese funds. Top officials from the Northern Province Street Development Commission Board (NPSDCB) explained the proposed projects to the participants in the conference. Divisional Secretaries, representatives of Traders’ Union and other civil organizations were invited to the above conference, the sources added.
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SLA harasses resettled IDPs in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 March 2010, 11:21 GMT]
Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) allowed to resettle in some areas in Ki’linochchi and Mannaar districts are being subjected to severe restrictions and harassment by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources close Jaffna Bishop's House said. This information was gathered from the group of Catholic Bishops of six districts who visited the said areas in Ki’linochchi and Mannaar recently, the sources said. The Bishops, however, are reluctant to officially disclose this situation in Vanni due to fear, 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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