Muslims join Tamils opposing Colombo's suppression of Thileepan Remembrance in North

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 September 2020, 23:19 GMT]
Tamil business and student communities in the North-East observed hartal on Monday condemning SL State's widespread hostility towards the annual commemoration of Lt Col Thileepan on Saturday. Occupying Colombo's police and military were trying to block the business owners from conducting the shutdown. However, the business chambers didn't succumb to the pressure. Also, Muslim traders in the cities of North fully observed shutdown. They also marked hartal in their residential suburbs in Jaffna showing solidarity with Eezham Tamils. Except for the hospitals and necessary public transportation, the cities and towns were at a standstill in Jaffna, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa and Mannaar.
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SL Police harasses Shivajilingam at 25th Remembrance of Navaali massacre in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 July 2020, 00:05 GMT]
Hundreds of people emotionally marked the 25th remembrance of 147 Tamil men, women and children who perished in SL Air Force bombing and artillery attacks when they had sought refuge at two temples at Navaali in Jaffna on 09th July 1995. On Thursday, the Sinhala police of occupying Colombo was trying to block former TNA parliamentarian and former provincial councillor M.K. Shivajilingam when he went to the remembrance event. On Wednesday, the SL Police was attempting to secure a court order against the participation of the Tamil politician in the remembrance. Mr Shivajilingam, who has been in the forefront championing the right of Eezham Tamils memorialisation events, especially after 2009, was however allowed to take part by the courts. Yet, the SL Police was harassing him at the site, irking the Tamils.
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Occupying Colombo converts 6 Tamil colleges in North as quarantine centres for SL military

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2020, 21:53 GMT]
Occupying Colombo’s military has started to convert a Tamil college of teachers in Jaffna and five other schools in the Northern province as Quarantine Centres for military personnel stationed in the region. Civil sources in the North have condemned it as a high-handed move disregarding the safety of Tamil civilians in the densely populated areas. The top brass of the Sinhala military has not consulted the provincial and local authorities. They have not even asked the provincial health director for advice. Nirosh Thiyagarajah, the Chairman of Valikaamam East Divisional Council, has condemned the conversion of Jaffna National College of Education (JNCOE) at Koappaay into a military QC.
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SL ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division resumes abduction-style arrests in North

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2020, 21:07 GMT]
Leaked reports from SL’ Terrorist’ Investigation Division (TID) in Jaffna to local media earlier this week claimed that it had detained four Tamil youth from Poonakari (Pooneryn) with explosives at an uninhabited area in Vallipuram in Vadamaraadchi in Jaffna on Tuesday night. There was no independent verification of the incident. So far, no one has lodged any complaint with the Jaffna office of the SL Human Rights Commission, according to Thangavel Kanagaraj, the coordinator of the commission. However, he was able to confirm that 40-year-old S. Uthayasivam, a resident of Maruthangkea’ni in Valikaamam East, was being detained by the TID.
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Jaffna villagers agitate against exploitative sand traders from South

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 December 2019, 22:47 GMT]
In what was described as the first-initiated protest against the SL authorities in Jaffna after Gotabaya Rajapaksa assuming office as the SL President in the South, the Tamil residents from Valikaamam East blocked the A9 Highway for more than one hour at Puthukkaadu Junction on Saturday. The protesters were agitating against the exploitative sand mining escalating without any control in Jaffna. They demanded the SL Police to block the southern sand traders who were dispatching their tipper vehicles to transport the excavated sands from Jaffna. The SL Police had to promise the protesters of setting up a new point to control the sand transport to end the protest.
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Occupying Colombo resumes military land grab in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 October 2019, 20:14 GMT]
The occupying military of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has resumed appropriation of lands at several locations in Jaffna peninsula. The SL Survey Department officials have been instructed to carry out surveying activities on Monday and Tuesday for the SL Navy that wants to grab lands at Chuzhi-puram. The tendency is notably worse at Neduntheevu (Delft), the farthest islet off Jaffna, said Shageevan Shangmugalingam, an elected councillor of Valikaamam North and the chairman of Resettlement Committee in that division.
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No to alternative lands, original lands must be released with compensation, say Tamil activists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 September 2019, 18:19 GMT]
SL Governor to North Suren Raghavan is deceiving the Tamil land-owners by proposing to consider accepting alternative properties in return for the fertile lands, which the occupying SL military wants to retain under its control in Valikaamam North in Jaffna. Out of 47 GS divisions, 21 are affected by SL militarisation. It is the most fertile soil in the entire peninsula. The SL military has continued widespread cultivation, dairy farming and fishing by utilising the resources of the uprooted Tamils even after the end of the war in 2009. It is not justifiable, said Nallathamby Ponrajah, the member of Valikaamam South Divisional Council. In the meantime, grassroots activists are planning to launch a renewed campaign to free their lands said SL State must return the properties and also compensate for the loss of income caused by the unjustified occupation of their areas so far.
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SL Governor disregarding District, Divisional Secretariat data on lands signals bad intention

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 September 2019, 23:07 GMT]
The details of all the private lands still retained by the occupying SL military have been gathered and kept up-to-date by the Divisional Secretariats and the District Secretariats for years. However, SL Governor to North, Suren Raghavan, has recently issued a new form instructing the people who wish to reclaim their lands to file details along with the copy of the land deed directly to his secretariat. The latest move could be nothing else than a pure deception as witnessed forty-five days ago in Keerimalai (J/226) GS area, says Shageevan Shangmugalingam, the chairman of Valikaamam North Resettlement Committee. The landowners in Keerimalai were asked to allow surveying of their lands to reclaim the plots. But, the SL military was using the opportunity to seize the properties not claimed within the timeframe. Only 69 acres (1,100 Parappu) were counted as claimed by the owners, he said.
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SLA Jaffna commander refuses to release Palaali lands at meeting presided by Wickramasinghe

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 August 2019, 23:08 GMT]
The commander of the SL Army in Jaffna Major General Ruwan Wanigasooriya, has openly refused to release the SL military-occupied lands in Palaali and Vasaavi'laan citing the expansion of Palaali airport. The revelation was made at the District Coordinating Committee meeting which was presided by the visiting SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe at the District Secretariat of Jaffna on Saturday. The scheme is projected as ‘development’ by New Delhi and Colombo while the uprooted people of the villages demand their lands released back to them. The TNA is observing silence. However, the uprooted land-owners are not going to tolerate the military grabbing these lands anymore permanently, said Chairman of Valikaamam North Resettlement Committee Mr Shageevan Shanmugalingam, who is also an elected member of the Divisional Council of Valikaamam North.
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Colombo converts 2000 acres of ex-HSZ lands citing India-assisted airport expansion in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 August 2019, 20:05 GMT]
The SL State schemes to permanently seize 2000 acres of properties belonging to private Eezham Tamil landowners in Valikaamam North, citing the Indian-funded transformation of the so-called civilian airport in Palaali in Jaffna. Valikaamam North Divisional Councillor Shanmugalingam Shageevan, who is also the chairman of Vali-North Resettlement Committee, said the occupying SL military was converting the former ‘High-Security Zone’ lands into the so-called civilian airport lands. The ultimate aim of the SL State is retaining the areas as before during the times of war, he accused.
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Toxic cancer medicines transported from South for improper disposal in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 July 2019, 22:59 GMT]
Unused and outdated cancer treatment medicines, which are extremely toxic to humans and animals, are being transported from Anuradhapura Cancer Hospital and disposed through an average medical waste incinerator at Thellip-pazhai Cancer Hospital, informed medical sources in Jaffna told TamilNet this week. The equipment is not made to handle such a large quantity of cytotoxic drugs at necessary high temperature. The disposal tool at use doesn't meet the required standards for burning the poisonous human-made chemicals that turn into dioxins, which could cause many new types of cancers to the resettling Eezham Tamils in Valikaamam North, the informed health-workers warned. Several truckloads of outdated cancer medicines have been disposed throughout the last three years, they said.
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SL military in Jaffna hurriedly constructs Buddhist vihara in ‘HSZ’ lands in KKS

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 July 2019, 23:33 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka is silently and hurriedly erecting a Buddhist vihara at Thaiyiddi in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) in Jaffna. The construction is taking place inside the military-held former High-Security Zone area which has not been released back to the people. Tamil civic member Shageevan Shanmugalingam from Valikaamam North (Thellip-pazhai) Divisional Council told TamilNet on Monday that he was turned back by the SL military when he went there to see the construction. In the meantime, journalists have managed to photograph the structure from a distance, exposing the project. New Delhi talking about the ‘development’ of the KKS port and upgrading the Palaali airport without ensuring de-militarisation, is paving the way for socio-economic and cultural Sinhalicisation of the coastal stretch of Eezham Tamils in Valikaamam North, Tamil activists in Jaffna said.
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Occupying Colombo set to grab 227 acres of private lands in Vali North in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 March 2019, 20:24 GMT]
At least 163 acres of private lands of Eezham Tamils in a triangle area along the coast in Kaangkeasan-thu'rai (KKS) between the Cement Factory, the old hospital and Keerimalai are to be officially seized by the SL State for the use of the occupying Sinhala Navy in KKS Centre (J/234) GS Division. In the meantime, another area of 64 acres is being appropriated in the vicinity of the historically famous Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple in Keerimalai GS Division (J/226). The ‘Tourist Development Authority’ of genocidal Sri Lanka (SLTDA) is set to receive this land. Two acres of these lands are also going to be transferred to the SL Navy, Tamil officials at Jaffna District Secretariat said.
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SL military launches ATMs, postal office in occupied Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 October 2018, 16:01 GMT]
The occupying military of genocidal Sri Lanka wants to control the civil administration and all aspects of the civilian life in the former ‘High-Security Zone’ in Valikaamam North, Jaffna. The commander of the occupying Sinhala forces in the peninsula has instructed the military to install ATMs and to operate postal offices in Palaali. The SL military, which is running the ATM stations has also started to run a post office in Palaali. The latest move comes amidst increased criticism of SL military intervening in the civil affairs.
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Vadamaraadchi East fishers besiege intruding poachers from South

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 September 2018, 22:42 GMT]
Eezham Tamil fishers from Valveddith-thu'rai (VVT) in Vadamaraadchi to Maruthang-kea'ni in Vadamaraadchi East in the district of Jaffna have mobilised against the Sea-Cucumber poachers who are deployed in the territorial seas and lagoons of Eezham Tamils in the North. The occupying SL Navy and the SL Police are protecting the intruders whom the native fishermen blame as destroying the fishing ecosystem in the North. The SL Fisheries Ministry and its department, coming under the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, have been collaborating with the big export-oriented business owners in the South who deploy the fishers from South for large-scale Sea Cucumber poaching. On Tuesday, Tamil fishers staged a coordinated action searching for intruders in their coast during the early hours and detained 8 Sinhala poachers along with three boats.
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Drastic reduction of funds hampers resettlement of uprooted Tamils in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 14 September 2018, 22:25 GMT]
The uprooted people from SL military occupied Valikaamam North in Jaffna are still languishing in 34 camps. However, the occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka has allocated barely 250 million rupees (USD 1.5 million) for resettlement of the internally displaced people in Jaffna district in 2018, Tamil civil sources in Jaffna said. For comparison, 5,500 million rupees (USD 32.7 million) was allocated in 2016 - 2017, the sources said. Mr S. Muralitharan, the additional District Secretary who deals with land affairs, has admitted the figures on the expenditure on resettlement.
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Maithiripala ‘coordinates’ relentless land grab at massive-scale in North-East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 July 2018, 22:49 GMT]
Occupying Colombo's Forest Conservation Department and Wildlife Conservation Department have grabbed tens of thousands of acres of lands in the eight districts of North-East. These departments, coming under the unitary state system based in Colombo, are refusing to hand over even a few hundred of acres of these lands to the Divisional Secretariats and other mechanisms, which are also controlled by the same unitary system. A meeting convened by the SL Presidential Secretariat on Friday ended up strengthening further the position of the SL Forest and Wild-Life departments, Tamil officials who attended the meeting said. The Ministry of ‘Mahaweli Development’ and Environment, to which SL President Maithiripala Sirisena is the responsible minister, plays a central role in determining the extent of lands that could be released back, the officials told TamilNet on Saturday.
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Role of powers with colonial legacy, abetting contemporary Sinhalicisation, requires scrutiny

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 July 2018, 20:33 GMT]
The National Housing Development Authority (NHDA), which comes under the occupying unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka, is silently transferring 5 acres of lands to the notorious British-trained ‘Special Task Force’ (STF) to expand its commando post into a permanent camp to defend the controversial Sinhala colony at the strategic entrance to Jaffna at Naavat-kuzhi. The colonisation scheme, initiated during the rule of Rajapaksa brothers, received state-patronisation after the regime change backed by the West. The colony is planned to control the arteries of the city and to Sinhalicise Jaffna city itself. The trend is also evidenced in the latest move by the occupying Colombo to station its troops at the Jaffna Fort, which is ‘developed’ with the blessings, funding and research coming from the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
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New Delhi fails to update Jaffna on Palaali airport plans

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 July 2018, 22:09 GMT]
SL Prime Minister Ranil Wickramasinghe has repeatedly been claiming that Colombo was proceeding with its plans to renovate the runway at Palaali in Jaffna with Indian assistance allowing flight services from South India to Jaffna. There were also reports that New Delhi was reviewing a plan for “regional airport” as before the times of war. In the meantime, the occupying military of Colombo, which has been deploying Palaali runway as its airbase since 1977, is rushing ahead with planting coconut and palmyra saplings in the lands seized from the uprooted Tamils in five GS divisions. The SL authorities have taken the lands citing a war-time Gazette notification from 07 August 1987. However, the office of the Consulate General of India (CGI) in Jaffna, has no information from New Delhi regarding India's plans on the airport, informed sources at the Northern Provincial Council said.
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Colombo steps up shadow war against NPC Chief Minister Wigneswaran

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 July 2018, 21:29 GMT]
The Chief Minister of the Northern Provincial Council, Justice C.V. Wigneswaran, has stated that he would be opposing the level of militarisation even if the SL military was to behave in a manner attracting the people of the North by doing good deeds. In his weekly Tamil statement formatted as Q&As, Wigneswaran was responding to the latest comment coming from Lt Gen Mahesh Senanayake, the commander of the SL military, that the NPC CM was trying to cause a rift between the SL military and the people in the North. In the meantime, Tamil political observers in Jaffna said Colombo had staged a series of hostile events in the recent days with the hidden agenda to checkmate the emerging symbolic leadership of the mainstream Tamil politics.
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