3112 Vanni IDPs in Jaffna camps released

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 August 2009, 14:46 GMT]
3112 persons belonging to 1057 families brought from Vanni and held in the six detainment centres in Jaffna district were released and allowed to go with their relatives Wednesday in an event which the government conducted as an election campaign stunt in Duraiyappa Sports Stadium in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. The IDPs, brought to the venue from 3:00 a.m from their camps, had to wait in the broiling sun until 3:30 p.m as Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse and his advisor, arrived at Jaffna only after 2:30 p.m to take part in the event, the sources added.
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130 IDPs in Vavuniyaa camps to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 August 2009, 19:05 GMT]
One hundred and thirty Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa are to brought to Jaffna Wednesday to be resettled in places in Jaffna that are out of SLA High Security Zones (HSZ) and in Vadamaraadchi East except Maruthangkea’ni Assistant Government Agent (AGA) division, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, informed in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Tuesday. The GA also told the media that he has nothing to do with the forms distributed by persons in Jaffna to apply for resettlement in Jaffna.
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Seek experts’ advice before recommencing cement production in Kaangeasanththu’rai - FNGO

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 09:08 GMT]
The Federation of Non-government Organizations (FNGOs) in Jaffna appealed to the government to seek the advice of experts in the field of environment pollution before embarking on opening the cement factory in Kaangeasanththu’rai in Jaffna for production. Seas erosion, excavation of lime stone and underground water are issues which should be taken into serious consideration, FNGO said. Plans are underway to hand over the cement factory to India or some other foreign country for recommencement of production, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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Prayers held in Keerimalai for the souls of Vanni victims

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 15:42 GMT]
The Federation of Saiva organizations in Jaffna peninsula observed the annual Aadi Amaavaasai Day, the day on which children perform religious rituals to pacify the souls of their late fathers, in Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple in Jaffna peninsula Tuesday, in memory of all the people who lost their lives in the war on Vanni Tamils waged by the Sri Lanka government, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thenmaraadchi IDP families seek resettlement in their villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 05:10 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) welfare organizations in Jaffna peninsula sent an appeal Monday to Sri Lanka Government authorities and to several International Humanitarian Organizations requesting the immediate resettlement of the IDP families displaced from Thenmaraadchi due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives in 1999, in their own villages, sources in Jaffna said. SLA continues to deny permission for the resettlement though the villages have been cleared of landmines, claiming that the villages are within its High Security Zone (HSZ), the appeal said.
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More Moothoor IDPs transferred to Ki’liveddi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 2009, 09:37 GMT]
Aaraiyampathi Vayiravar Koayil welfare centre in Batticaloa district was closed down Tuesday following the transfer of the final batch of 51 members of eighteen Tamil families displaced from Tamil villages located in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district during 2006 April military operation. They were transported in three State sector buses via Vaakarai and Verukal to Ki’liveddi Tuesday morning. They would be sheltered in welfare centres located in Ki’liveddi, Paddiththidal and Thillaangkear’ni till alternative lands are found for them, civil authority sources said.
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Mullaiththeevu town declared HSZ: GA

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 2009, 10:31 GMT]
The Government Agent of Mullaiththeevu, Imelda Sukumar, on Sunday reportedly told a section of the uprooted Tamils of Vanni sheltered at the internment camp situated at "Sahanagama" in Pulmoaddai that the town of Mullaiththeevu has been declared High Security Zone by the Sri Lankan military, dashing any hope of resettlement in the coastal township of Vanni.
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SL Attorney General conducts workshop in Jaffna for trainees

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 2009, 05:28 GMT]
“Sri Lanka’s Attorney General (AG) stressing on building up confidence among residents of Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka’s legal and judicial systems sounds not only discordant but also ridiculous when he has conspicuously failed to comment on or discuss the fate of more than a hundred civilians languishing in Jaffna Prison and in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Special Rehabilitation Camps in the peninsula without being brought to trial,” one of the magistrates in Jaffna peninsula who attended the meeting held by Attorney General, Mohan Peiris, at Palaali SLA Head Quarters Sunday around 9:30 a.m, said.
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Moothoor HSZ displaced barred from resettling in own areas

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 July 2009, 00:44 GMT]
Lands in Kattaiparichchan village are being cleared to set up temporary structures to shelter displaced families from traditional Tamil villages of Kadatkaraichcheanai, Champoor, Koonitheivu and Soodaikuda in Moothoor east division which fall under the High Security Zone (HSZ) declared by the Government of Sri Lanka after the 2006 military operation.
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IDPs living on Jaffna railway track area evicted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living on Sri Lanka government railway properties since they were evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) twenty years ago from their residences in Valikaamam North, were forced to leave Tuesday to leave their temporary shelters in railway crossings, stations and officers’ quarters as the dead line to quit being 30 June, sources in Jaffna said. The government officials and SLA officers who were very keen to evict the families had not provided any alternate place for them to move in, the families complained.
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IDPs living on Jaffna railway track area ordered to leave

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 June 2009, 17:26 GMT]
The president of the Federation of Jaffna Non-government Organizations (NGOs), C. V. K. Sivagnanam, requested Jaffna Government Agent (GA) not to evict immediately the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs), numbering around a hundred families, living in camps on the railway track area in Jaffna since the time they were thrown out of their residences in Valikaamam North which were declared High Security Zones (HSZ) by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 1990, sources in Jaffna said.
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Lifting curfew in Jaffna peninsula not possible – SLA Commander

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 12:02 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander of Jaffna, Major Gen. Mendaka Samarasinghe, in response to a request made in the conference held Saturday at Minister Douglas Devananda’s office in Jaffna, said that it is not possible to lift the night curfew imposed in Jaffna peninsula immediately as it would affect law and order, sources in Jaffna said.
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Fate of young detainees in Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation camp bleak

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 11:58 GMT]
The fate of nearly 300 young women and more than 500 young men from Vanni held in Thellippazhai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) continues to remain unceratin and bleak, local NGO sources expressed concern. Education officials who had visited SRC said that there are more than a hundred youngsters between 14 to 18 ages whose educational needs are ignored by SLA authorities in charge of SRC. Neither UNICEF nor any other international organization has been permitted to visit these young detainees, sources in Jaffna said.
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Journalists barred from covering government meeting in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 June 2009, 11:41 GMT]
North Ceylon Journalists’ Association (NCJA), in its media report Thursday, accused government authorities in Jaffna for barring journalists from attending a high level government meeting held Thursday by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse’s brother, Basil Rajapakse. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), when contacted by journalists seeking permission to cover the meeting, had said that journalists cannot be allowed to attend the meeting for security reasons, the report said.
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2 decades of displacement continues for Valikaamam residents

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 June 2009, 13:22 GMT]
Residents of Valikaamam North in Jaffna peninsula, evicted from their traditional villages on 15 June 1990 due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive and occupation of their villages, continue to languish in refugee camps and other places for the last twenty years, sources in Jaffna said. Despite Colombo Supreme Court directive to allow resettlement in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) areas in Valikaamam North, SLA authorities in Jaffna have not permitted anyone to return to their homes and properties until now, the sources added.
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IDPs occupying railway properties in Jaffna to be evicted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 11:13 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) has instructed all Internally Displaced People (IDPs) presently occupying railway stations and other railway properties including living quarters and the railway track areas from Thellippazhai to Kodikaamam to vacate them before 20 June, sources in Jaffna said. The government decision to resume train service from Vavuniya to Kaangeasanththu’rai soon and its directive to the GA is the reason for the urgent eviction order. The IDPs, more than 20,000 in number, are in a quandary as no alternate places for them to relocate have been arranged by the authorities, the sources added
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Bomb explosions heard in Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 06 June 2009, 20:56 GMT]
Residents in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupied Maiyiliddi area in Valikaamam North said that hey heard deafening explosions from the SLA High Security Zone across Tho’ndaimanaa’ru lagoon Saturday from 10:30 a.m to 11:00 a.m as if artillery shells were exploding. Defence Ministry spokesman in Colombo, however, said that it was an accidental bomb explosion referring to the Saturday incident.
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President Rajapakse’s wife, son visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 June 2009, 13:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka president’s wife Shiranthi Rajapakse and his son Namal Rajapakse arrived on a sudden visit to Jaffna Friday morning with a statue of Changkamiththa, Emperor Aoska’s daughter and the first woman Buddhist missionary to Ceylon, to be enshrined in the newly built Buddhist temple in Maathakal in the High Security Zone (HSZ), sources in Jaffna said. Seven girl students were taken to the temple by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers on the occasion to sing the national anthem in Sinhalese language, the sources added.
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SLA forcibly removes youths from its detention centres in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have forcibly taken away young men and women among the Vanni civilians held in the SLA detention centres in Thenmaraadchi and Vadamaraadchi, according to NGO representatives who visited the detention centres. The family members who raised protest against the abduction of their children in Mirusuvil detention centre have been taken away from the centre for ‘interrogation’ by SLA soldiers, the sources added. SLA officials say that the youths taken away are to be placed in the SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) located in Thellippazhai High Security Zone (HSZ).
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Family man knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 15:26 GMT]
Unidentified persons knifed to death a family man in Thurkkaapuram, a village close to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai Thursday night during curfew hours, sources in Jaffna said. The victim had been sleeping outside his house and his family members saw his body Friday early morning and informed Thellippazhai police.
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