HR Day observed in Jaffna after 3 years

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 December 2009, 07:28 GMT]
Thousands of persons whose family members had gone missing after abduction or arrest by Sri Lanka Armed forces and paramilitary men participated in an event organized by Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna Veersingham Hall Thursday around 10:00 a.m to mark the 61st International Human Rights Day. Representatives of various Tamil political parties and human rights activists participated in the event which ended around 2:00 p.m. The day’s events concluded with the torch festival held in Aariyaku’lam in Jaffna after a procession which highlighted human rights, source in Jaffna said.
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SLFP office officially opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2009, 02:27 GMT]
The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) officially opened its office in Jaffna in a private building located on Fourth Cross Street in Jaffna town Wednesday. Sri Lankan Minister of Education, Susil Premajayantha, SL Media Minister, Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, Deputy Education Minister, Nirmala Kotalawela, Deputy Education Minister, Sachithananthan and EPDP paramilitary leader and Minister Douglas Devananda were present at the event presided by Jaffna district SLFP organizer Velmurugu.
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Text books, school uniform issue event conducted in Sinhalese in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2009, 02:23 GMT]
A "national" event of issuing free text books and school uniforms to students in Jaffna was held entirely in Sinhalese Wednesday in Jaffna Veampadi Girls’ College, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa was to preside in this event and later his brother Basil Rajapaksa was to participate in the event instead of the president. But Basil Rajapaksa too did not attend the event as announced in the local media. In the meantime, the Sri Lankan president visited Vanni Wednesday to open a "national war memorial" north of Mullaiththeevu at the centre of Puthukkudiyiruppu tank.
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Facing offensive presidential election with self-respect

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 December 2009, 23:04 GMT]
The Tamil parties thinking of fielding a common candidate should rise above outside diktats, should do justice to the Tamil cause at this formative stage of new Tamil polity and should come out with an election agenda that doesn’t harm the cause of Tamils in the long run. Any mistake made now will be irreversible, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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Resettle IDPs in Jaffna before Presidential Election – IDP Welfare General Committee

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 November 2009, 19:09 GMT]
The Welfare General Committee (WGC) of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Jaffna demands the speedy resettlement of IGPs in their own places occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in its High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna peninsula before the Presidential elections, WGC sources said. WGC has decided to present its request directly to Sri Lanka President, Mahinda Rajapakse when he visits Jaffna 8 December. Meanwhile, WGC strongly condemns Minister Douglas Devananda’s recent announcement that resettlement in HSZs in Jaffna peninsula will take place only in July 2010 after the presidential election.
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Counter-national conspiracy against Tamils comes to light

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 November 2009, 07:56 GMT]
LTTE members either in custody or operating units in the island have become the most vulnerable to counter-Tamilnational conspiracies of Colombo government, well informed sources in Colombo indicate. The Colombo government’s focus now is to get the section of the LTTE in its trap to denounce Tamil Eelam and efforts are intensified to make use of the Heroes’ Day to test the conspiracy. Colombo is as usual abetted by certain powers in this exercise, the sources further said. Meanwhile, Tamil diaspora circles responded to the news saying that under current circumstances any ‘statement’ addressed to the public has to be viewed not from the point “what is said or who has said but from where it has been said.” The free LTTE has a great responsibility in promoting the emergence of new democratic political leadership that truly represents the national aspirations of Tamils, they further said.
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Tamil, Muslim political parties find their table in Zurich

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 November 2009, 15:10 GMT]
Widely speculated as a drama backed by ‘high-powers,’ leaders of most of the Tamil and Muslim political parties in the island of Sri Lanka are meeting for the first time in Zurich, Switzerland, between Thursday and Saturday. The move is said to be for ‘extracting’ a joint proclamation of them necessary for further power manoeuvres in the island. A couple of years ago it was such a behind-the-scene move of some powers that made most of these parties except the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to rally behind Mahinda Rajapaksa and pledge support to him in the war that brought in disaster to Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo.
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SLA refuses permission to Minister Douglas Devananda to take IDPs to Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 November 2009, 16:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Thenmaraadchi in Jaffna peninsula refused permission Thursday when Jaffna based Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda tried to take Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who were evicted when SLA occupied Thenmaraadchi in 1990 to show their villages where they are to be resettled, sources in Jaffna said. Hundreds of men and women taken by Minister Douglas Devananda had to return disappointed to their camps or to the houses of relatives where they have been staying for more than 18 years being turned back at Aasaippi’l’ai Eattam near Ezhuthumadduvaa’l in Thenmaraadchi, the sources added.
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TNA members boycott initial ceremonies of first JMC session

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 October 2009, 17:48 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) who kept away from the initial ceremonies which preceded the inauguration of the first session of JMC Wednesday said that the vain ceremonies held by the ruling United People’s Front Alliance (UPFA) and allied political parties as propaganda is deplorable while the Vanni IDPs are suffering in the internment camps. “We will not allow exploitation of JMC and its activities for propaganda purposes of political parties, the leader of TNA opposition in JMC, Mudiyappu Remedias said.
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Vanni IDPs continued to be detained in Jaffna district camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 October 2009, 12:04 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Mullaiththeevu and Ki’linochchi districts in Vanni now held in the detention camps in Mirusuvil, Kodikaamam Naavaladi and Kaithadi will be continued to be held in the same camps, according to Minister Douglas Devananda, who Sunday visited the three camps. Though the government says that it is going to resettle Vanni IDPs in their own villages, in reality they are continued to be held in the camps, NGO sources in Jaffna said.
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Court remands EPDP cadre in robbery case

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 October 2009, 04:00 GMT]
Colombo Additional Magistrate, Mr.Ruchira Weliwatte, Friday ordered remand till October 29 to a member of the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), legal sources said. The suspect, Sellathurai Mathialagan, was produced in court on a complaint that he was alleged to have grabbed a handbag from a woman passerby while riding a motorbike, court sources said.
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SLA conducts Perahera in Jaffna city

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 October 2009, 07:03 GMT]
The 51st Division of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna conducted the ‘Katrima Pooja’ perahera (Buddhist religious procession) of Naakavikaarai located in Jaffna city Thursday night led by Namal Rajapakse, the son of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who had come along with 250 youths and 20 Buddhist priests from the South to participate in the perahera. Local residents, however, did not show any significant interest in the perahera conducted by the SLA.
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8 years to complete development project in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 October 2009, 06:51 GMT]
It has taken more than eight years for the government to complete construction of an office building of Agricultural Service Department in Jaffna peninsula, NGOs sources in Jaffna pointed out. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) restrictions and lack of cooperation were the main causes for this long delay, they added on the occasion of the building being officially opened Tuesday by the Minister of Agriculture, Maithiripala Sirisena, Jaffna sources said. Minister Douglas Devananda too attended the event.
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Singapore Foreign Minister visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 October 2009, 09:07 GMT]
Foreign Minister of Singapore, Mr. George Yeo, paid a visit to Jaffna peninsula Saturday where he went to the Internally Displaced Person (IDPs) held in Koappaay Teachers’ Training College buildings accompanied by Northern Province Governor and former Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander G. A. Chandrasiri, Minister Douglas Devananda and Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, sources in Jaffna said. The Governor extended a request to the visiting Singapore Defence Minister to help develop computer technology education and related activities in the North, the sources added.
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'Time for South India to take care of its own geopolitics'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 October 2009, 00:26 GMT]
The historic duty of Tamil Nadu today is to cast with far sight its diplomatic weight internationally, convincing New Delhi and the international community to come out with fundamental solutions recognizing the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils, writes TamilNet political commentator in Colombo. "Saying foreign affairs is an exclusive domain of the Centre is only an excuse in contemporary world, especially when a federal government fails in it seriously affecting the strategic interests of a state. A Tamil Nadu delegation visiting Sri Lanka is perhaps for the first time an external affairs exercise of a state in India, but it has cut a negative image with the people to whom it was meant for, raising questions on the bona fides of the whole exercise," the commentator further says.
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SLA denies permission to Thirumavalavan to meet public in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 October 2009, 07:26 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna turned down the request of Thol. Thirumavalavan, Tamil Nadu Parliamentarian and leader of Viduthalai Chiruthaikal Kadchi (VCK) Party, to meet the public in Jaffna when the delegation of Tamil Nadu MPs was taken to Jaffna Public Library for a meeting Sunday, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Jaffna University Students expressed their strong protest against India for having let down the Eezham Tamils and for deceiving them continually, when the MPs met students in Jaffna University Sunday, the sources added.
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Minister seeks permission to use unclaimed funds in northern banks

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 30 September 2009, 04:13 GMT]
Minister Douglas Devananda said that he had sought permission from President Mahinda Rajapakse to use the funds in the form of cash and gold jewellery worth around 3000 million rupees lying unclaimed in the banks in the north for the development of the north, sources in Jaffna said. Around 1000 million rupees and gold jewellery worth 2000 million rupees stagnate in government and private banks in the north, he said in a press meet held Sunday in Jaffna.
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JTC students march in protest against college management

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 September 2009, 11:53 GMT]
More than a hundred students of Jaffna Technical College (JTC) went on a protest march Tuesday around 11:00 a.m. from JTC accusing the college management for corruption and malpractices, sources in Jaffna said. The protesting students first handed over their memorandum to Minister Douglas Devananda at his office in Jaffna Srithar Theatre and then to Jaffna District Government Agent, K. Ganesh, at Jaffna Secretariat in Chu'ndikkuzhi, demanding speedy action, the sources added.
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‘From one prison to another’: Sri Lanka’s ‘resettlement’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 19 September 2009, 08:31 GMT]
Under international pressure as the monsoon looms, the Sri Lanka government is hastily engaged in relocating some of the displaced Tamils being held in militarised internment camps in Vavuniyaa. However, the inmates are being moved from Vavuniyaa’s barbed-wire ringed camps to similar overcrowded enclosures without facilities in other districts, sources in Jaffna said. Moreover these camps are also located in low-lying terrain in the path of oncoming floods, NGO workers say. “There is no resettlement. This is like being sent from one prison to another prison," Mavai Senathiraja, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said.
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Students detained in Vavuniyaa camps to be used as showpieces

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 September 2009, 05:55 GMT]
The students from Ki’linochchi, Mullaiththeevu, Vavuniyaa and Mannaar districts, now detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Vavuniyaa, are to be taken like prisoners under military and police guard to participate in a Sports Meet that is to be held in Jaffna Alfred Duraippa Stadium from Friday for three days, sources in Jaffna said. The students thus brought to Jaffna will be taken back to the SLA internment camps in Vavuniyaa at the end of the sports meet, the sources added.
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