‘Grease devil’ episode develops into standoff at Tholpuram in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 September 2011, 13:06 GMT]
An standoff that erupted between the residents of Paa'naaveddi village and the occupying Sri Lanka Army soldiers of 51-3 brigade Saturday night was contained in the last minute from deteriorating into a blood bath by the intervention of community leaders and politicians, after the residents caught two armed SLA soldiers. While the residents of the village situated in Tholpuram in Valikaamam West were chasing two alleged ‘grease devils’, two armed SLA soldiers emerged from the place where the ‘grease devils’ vanished. The two SLA soldiers were captured by the villagers and kept inside a house bound to ropes.
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HSZ people less likely to get their lands back

[TamilNet, Sunday, 11 September 2011, 11:08 GMT]
With the so-called lifting of emergency, a rosy picture was painted by some Colombo-based ‘peace’ groups and lawyers that the SL government cannot keep the High Security Zones anymore. But the SL government now plans to permanently ‘acquire’ private lands where the HSZs are now located. According to SL Justice minister Rauff Hakeem, if there is any need to retain HSZs in some areas, then the government would acquire the land ‘legally’ and the affected people will be relocated, Sunday Times reported.
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SL 'grease devils’ in Jaffna target uprooted Vanni families

[TamilNet, Friday, 09 September 2011, 06:52 GMT]
While news reports from the East earlier this week said that the Sri Lanka Army in Batticaloa has been harassing the families of former LTTE members, including those who had left the movement 20 years ago, reports from different areas in the Jaffna peninsula indicate that the SL military operated ‘grease devils’ and ‘abduction units’ in the peninsula have been increasingly targeting uprooted families from Vanni, who have settled themselves in the Jaffna peninsula after the Vanni war. Amidst the tension and chaos created by ‘grease devils’, reports of children being abducted are on the increase, civil activists in the peninsula said.
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SLA terror unleashed in Jaffna after public unmasks ‘grease devils’

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 August 2011, 07:52 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army entered into houses at Naavaan-thu’rai in Jaffna city Monday night, dragged out hundreds of youth and children and tortured them in their camps during the night, following public in Naavanthu’rai on Monday identifying the ‘grease devils’ as SLA soldiers. Many houses were destroyed and plundered by the SL soldiers. On Monday when five ‘grease devils’ entered into a house at Naavaanthu’rai and when the public chased them, the intruders escaped by entering into a nearby SL Army camp. Identifying the intruders as SLA soldiers, the public waged a protest in front of the camp demanding the arrest of the intruders by SL police. The angry public pelted stones at the camp. The SL Army in a planned revenge terrorised the residents during the night.
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Basil inaugurates KKS Harbour project, makes money on Jaffna limestone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 July 2011, 22:01 GMT]
After the agreement entered between New Delhi and Colombo last week on carrying out a wide-ranging “rehabilitation” project of Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) harbour in the SL Army occupied High Security Zone in Valikaamam, Jaffna, Indian engineers have already started to work on removing the wreckage of at least 6 Sri Lanka Navy and government owned ships that were sunk by the LTTE in the war. The wreckage had been blocking access for large vessels to reach the harbour. In the meantime, reports from the Sri Lanka Navy sources in Jaffna said that the SL presidential sibling and “development” minister Basil Rajapaksa has sold tonnes of high quality quarried limestone that has been stored in KKS, to an Indian company, making personal profit from the sales.
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TNA wins civic elections in North

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 July 2011, 17:58 GMT]
Despite widespread SLA harassments in Ki'linochchi administrative district and violations by UPFA-EPDP of election practices in Jaffna, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has won the civic elections in North by more than two third majority in all of the urban councils and most of the Piratheasa-Chapai (PS). Of 16 Piratheasa Chapais, the TNA has won 14. The UPFA captured two islands off Jaffna, Neduntheevu (Delft) and Oorkaavat-thu'rai (Kayts). These islands were completely sealed off for campaign by the occupying SL Navy. The SL Governor for the Eastern Province who was formerly a Navy commander in the islands was brought to Delft for Rajapaksa's election campaign. In Ki'linochchi, where Rajapaksa regime let loose its military even on the election day, the TNA has managed to secure at least 50% of the polled votes. In Mullaiththeevu, the TNA secured 7 seats polling 72% of the votes.
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46% votes in civic elections in Jaffna by end of Saturday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 July 2011, 08:27 GMT]
46% of registered voters in Jaffna exercised their votes in the civic elections on Saturday, election officials in Jaffna told media. Ruling UPFA men were seen in almost all election booths, violating the election rules by distributing notices and watching that their posters were not removed from the walls. In the islets off Jaffna, the voters were given alcohol by UPFA-EPDP personnel and there were widespread reports that the voters were allowed to enter the booths without proper identity checking. The Sri Lanka Army largely remained in their positions. SL Police was in duty. The voting will be taking place till Saturday 4:00 p.m.
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India signs MoU with Colombo to ‘rehabilitate’ KKS harbour

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 July 2011, 00:27 GMT]
The government of India entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Rajapaksa regime of Sri Lanka on Thursday to carry out a “complex and wide-ranging project” to “rehabilitate” the Kaangkeasanthu'rai (KKS) harbour in the SL Army occupied High Security Zone in Valikaamam, Jaffna.
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SL Army in Jaffna harasses JVP campaigners from South

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 July 2011, 18:02 GMT]
After curbing the Tamil National Alliance from conducting campaign meetings ahead of civic elections in North, the occupying Sri Lanka Army of Mahinda Rajapaksa regime now harasses the other opposition parties that come from the South for election campaign. The JVP campaigners in Jaffna told media Thursday that a Brigadier rank officer of the SL military headquarters in Palaali in Jaffna had phoned and threatened them when they went to the SL Police to complain against the harassments by the SLA soldiers.
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SL police refuses permission to TNA to hold election meetings

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 July 2011, 11:44 GMT]
Sri Lanka police in Jaffna refuses permission to civic election candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to conduct public meetings. Instead, the ‘advise’ the candidates to engage in door-to-door campaign. But in the meantime, presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa and a team of 13 SL ministers are camping in Jaffna to conduct Colombo’s campaign in various ways, misusing SL government’s administration and resources, complain the TNA candidates. SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa is also expected in Jaffna to campaign for the civic elections in the guise of opening a school building and laying foundation stones for certain projects.
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Military exercises aim at terrorising people in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 June 2011, 21:47 GMT]
Joint military exercises conducted by the occupying SL Army and Navy in the Jaffna peninsula in recent times, aim at terrorising Eezham Tamils and keeping them under indefinite military occupation environment, civil society circles in Jaffna said. Intense joint military exercises were conducted continuously for three days this week at Naakar-koayil in Vadamaraadchi East and at Maathakal-Thiruvadinilai coast in Valikaamam, where people recently resettled. Fishermen avoided going to the sea as volleys of shells were fired towards the sea and residents confined themselves to houses.
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Jaffna returnee found hanged to death

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 June 2011, 15:10 GMT]
A 30-year-old male who had recently returned to Jaffna, after staying in south for 2 years, was found beaten and hanged to death Sunday morning at a playground in Achchuveali Thoappu in Valikaamam East, 20 km northeast of Jaffna city. The victim, Balachandran Satkunanathan, had sought refuge in South after he had been harassed by the Sri Lanka Army intelligence operatives 2 years ago, residents in the area said. Recently, he had returned to Achchuveali. The attackers, believed to be from an SLA squad had come in motorbikes Saturday night and have taken him away before hanging him to death at the grounds, the residents further said.
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Colombo to declare permanent ‘Sacred HSZ’ at Maathakal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 June 2011, 10:01 GMT]
Genocidal Sri Lanka plans to keep Thiruvadinilai area of Maathakal, the northwest tip of the Jaffna Peninsula, as a permanent ‘High Security Zone’ by building a naval base there, but camouflaging it as a ‘Sacred Place’ of the Sinhala-Buddhists, news sources from Jaffna said. The location is one of the two closest spots of communication between the island of Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. While Thalai Mannaar in Mannaar district is the closest to Rameasvaram, Maathakal in Jaffna Peninsula is the closest to Koadikkarai (Point Calimere) in Tamil Nadu. Colombo’s archaeologists claim Thiruvadinilai as the landing place of Sinhala-Buddhism to the island in 3rd century BC, and are building modern Buddhist establishments there. A gazette notification of Colombo is soon expected to declare the area a ‘Sacred Place’ to facilitate permanent confiscation of lands belonging to Tamils.
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UK routeing ex-LTTE ‘reintegration’ through SL Army raises controversy in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2011, 22:06 GMT]
Announcing a donation of 5,00,000 pound sterling (90 million SL rupees), and entirely accompanied by the occupying Sri Lanka Army, the British Deputy High Commissioner in Colombo, Mark Gooding, visited a detention camp run for ‘reintegration’ of ex-LTTE combatants by the SL military at the High Security Zone part of Thellippazhai in Valikaamam North, Jaffna, on Monday. The British government policy of accepting a genocidal military accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity as competent authority for the ‘reintegration’ of the ex-LTTE combatants, and involving the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) of questionable local credibility in the process, raises controversy in Jaffna.
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Colombo continues bilateral ploy to elude international solution

[TamilNet, Monday, 13 June 2011, 01:35 GMT]
The genocidal establishment of Mahinda Rajapaksa continues with its pre-war trick of bilateral dealings to escape comprehensive international action cum solutions to the national question in the island, and some competing powers and their proxies continue to provide space for Rajapaksa juggle, by not collectively calling for the logical solution of liberation of Eezham Tamils but bilaterally harping on unworkable models, accused political circles in Jaffna watching the coming and going of the Indian Troika and new bilateral deals Colombo is hatching with others. While there is immense irritation in Eezham Tamil political circles over New Delhi and Colombo ‘talking’ land and police powers for nearly 25 years, informed sources said anger is mounting in Tamil Nadu over New Delhi ignoring the stand of TN State Assembly and scheduling the visit of Manmohan Singh to Colombo.
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Occupying SL Navy confiscates lands for new HSZ in Ma’ndaitheevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 08:22 GMT]
More than 40 acres of private land, including Saiva temples and their tanks, have been recently confiscated by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy in Ma’ndaitheevu island off Jaffna city to build a naval base and to expand the High Security Zone (HSZ) in that island. Sri Lanka occupying the country of Eezham Tamils denies the existence of High Security Zones in the north. Presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa addressing a meeting in Jaffna last month said that there are no High Security Zones, but the entire island is a ‘peace zone’. The creation of a new HSZ in Ma’ndaitheevu contradicts Colombo’s claim that de-mining is the reason why it is not allowing the resettlement of the HSZs in Jaffna by the owners of the lands.
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Sri Lanka GA concedes more than 50,000 continue as refugees in Jaffna alone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 May 2011, 06:55 GMT]
Around 55,700 people still live the life of refugees in Jaffna, conceded Sri Lanka Government Agent in Jaffna, Mrs. Imelda Sugumar on Tuesday. The number includes people who lost their homes by the confiscation of lands by the occupying Army in Jaffna for ‘High Security Zones’ (HSZ) and those who have Jaffna connections and have come from Vanni after the war. On de-mining HSZs, 32 percent has been completed, 56 percent doesn’t need de-mining, work progresses in 5 percent and work is yet to start only in 7percent of lands, Imelda said. She didn’t answer the question whether 26 villages that are yet to be resettled in the Valikaamam HSZ come under the 56 percent that doesn’t need de-mining. She also didn’t answer the question whether the lands that are not de-mined yet are localities that have been refused of vacation by the occupying Army.
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Colombo targets Nalloor for Sinhalicization of the country of Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 May 2011, 21:50 GMT]
The occupying genocidal Army of Sri Lanka targets Nalloor, the former capital of the Kingdom of Jaffna, for focusing its agenda of Sinhalicisation of the country of Eezham Tamils in the island, news sources in Jaffna said. The occupying Army passed curfew-like orders this weekend prohibiting the movement of people in the locality of the Nalloor Kanthasaami Temple, while engaging in bringing in Sinhala traders and investors to occupy the surroundings of the temple. Nalloor is located in the suburbs of the Jaffna city today. It has an image as the cultural capital of the people of Jaffna. Not only the Colombo government, but also the international agencies and the Indian establishment have a focus on Nalloor. The recently opened Indian diplomatic mission in Jaffna and the UN offices are also located close to the temple of Nalloor.
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26 Villages continue as HSZ in Valikaamam alone

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 May 2011, 00:13 GMT]
While visiting SL presidential sibling Basil Rajapaksa claimed in Jaffna on Monday that there is noting called ‘High Security Zone’ (HSZ) and that the whole island is a ‘Peace Zone’, 26 villages in the Valikaamam HSZ alone are occupied by Sri Lankan military, uprooting 43,700 people of 17,108 families for more than two decades now. The number is actually more, and could go upto 70,000, if refugees to foreign countries are included, welfare societies in Jaffna said. Considering, their location and the intentions of the occupying military, the people of these villages are afraid that they will never see their homes back. The excuse of Colombo is that it would take 8 more years for de-mining these villages.
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Nothing will happen by some welcoming UN report: Basil Rajapaksa

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 May 2011, 18:50 GMT]
Sri Lanka President’s brother and SL Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapaksa made an unannounced sudden visit to Jaffna Monday. Nothing will happen by some welcoming the UN panel report and ‘Tamils should not play treachery by betraying the country for a few thousand dollars,’ Basil Rajapaksa who was carrying a ‘special message’ from Mahinda Rajapaksa to the people of Jaffna said, while addressing a meeting at Maaviddapuram. Basil’s ‘message’ implied a warning against any evidence going out of Tamils in Jaffna on the war crimes and genocide committed on them, news sources in Jaffna said.
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