A life as rough as coir

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2003, 18:09 GMT]
Few would dare to make a living on Jaffna’s ‘forgotten coast.’ Layers of concertina, sentry points, fences, bunkers and watch towers seal the lagoon shore for about 12 kilometres between Koilakandy and Kilaly, southeast of the Jaffna town. But for the coir makers and fishermen who survive here, it is home – the waters and soil where their forbears made their livelihood for centuries.
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Destruction of coconut trees continues despite MoU

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 September 2003, 02:54 GMT]
Several owners who visited their coconut estates located in Thenmaradchchi division inside the high security zone in Jaffna district last week complained Monday that several hundred coconut trees that survived the war have been found felled and removed from the fenced compounds, civil group sources said.


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Jaffna fishermen wrestle with increased Navy harassment

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 September 2003, 19:10 GMT]
Fisheries societies in Jaffna district Sunday complained to civil authorities that the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers, alleging that they have been directed by Sri Lanka defense authorities to tighten security of the coastal areas in Jaffna town, have started harassing fishermen from Gurunagar, Pashaiyoor and Colombagam, sources said.


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Vavuniya MP says SLA disrupts Pongu Thamil

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 September 2003, 17:02 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army in Vavuniya has beefed up its checkpoint outside the Pongu Thamil (Tamil Upsurge) office, and SLA personnel are checking and video taping those who visit the office. Such actions are intended to disrupt the Pongu Thamil event in Vavuniya, said Mr.N.Sivashakthi Anandan, the Vanni district Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian, Thursday.
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SLA, SLN firing exercises hamper fishing in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 September 2003, 00:05 GMT]
Jaffna district fisheries co-operative sources complained Tuesday that firing practices by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) along the coast of northern sea have rendered several areas dangerous for fishermen, sources said.


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SLA bars Halo Trust from de-mining HSZ paddy fields

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 September 2003, 15:35 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army said Tuesday that it would not allow demining groups to de-mine the released paddy fields for cultivation in the high security zones in Thenmaradchi south division in Jaffna district, and instead would use its own soldiers for the de-mining, security sources said.
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'SLA destroyed houses in HSZ during ceasefire'

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 18:50 GMT]
Peoples' Organizations in Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district Monday accused the Sri Lanka Army of destroying their houses and other buildings in the villages of Maravanpulo and Kovilankandy, located in the high security zones, after the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam came into operation, sources said.
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Sathurukondan massacre to be remembered

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 September 2003, 13:52 GMT]
The People of Sathurukondan village in the Batticaloa district will hold the thirteenth year Remembrance Day of 184 Tamil civilians massacred by soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army at the village, on 9th September 1990, civil sources said.
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Batticaloa remembers Tamils massacred in 1990

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 September 2003, 11:13 GMT]
The people of Batticaloa district Friday observed the Black September Day, remembering the Tamil civilians, men, women, and children killed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Muslim guards thirteen years ago on September 9 when 158 Tamil civilians who sought refuge in the East University Refugee camp and 184 Tamil villagers from Sathurukondan village disappeared after their arrest by the SLA soldiers, sources in Batticaloa said.


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SLA to bar soldiers' night prowl

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 20:31 GMT]
In the wake of protests against an attempted rape of a housewife by a Sri Lanka Army soldier in the Manalkadu village in the Vadamaradchi east division, the Sri Lanka Army Thursday gave an assurance that its soldiers would not be allowed to move out of camps in the village after 7 p.m. to avoid soldiers' misbehavior with women, civil sources said.
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HRC to hold inquiry into LTTE's complaint

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 September 2003, 20:18 GMT]
The Jaffna regional co-ordinator of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, Mr. Ruwan Chandrasekara, Thursday decided to hold a full-scale inquiry next Wednesday after obtaining the advice of the Inspector General of Police of Sri Lanka into the complaint by a LTTE political activist, Mr.Nadaraja Premachandran alias Jegan, that he had been humiliated and mistreated by the Sri Lanka Army soldiers and the police Tuesday, HRC sources said.
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LTTE activist complains of harassment by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 14:37 GMT]
Mr.Nadaraja Premachandran alias Jegan, a political activist of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Wednesday lodged a complaint at the Jaffna regional office of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka that the Sri Lanka Army at Muhamalai checkpoint had humiliated him when he was on his way to Kilinochchi, human rights officials in Jaffna said.
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Varani SLA enjoys economic benefits from coconut estates

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 03 September 2003, 11:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers operating from camp located in Idaikurichchi and central Varani area in Thenmaradchy district have disallowed owners of nearby coconut estates to collect coconut and other produce from their estates, according to local residents.


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SLA stops resettlement in Swamimalai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 16:06 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Saturday stopped a group of internally displaced persons making arrangements to resettle in their abandoned Tamil village Kachchakodi Swamimalai in the Pattipalai division in Batticaloa district, civil group sources said. The Kachchakodi Swamimalai village is located on the border of Batticaloa and Amparai districts in the eastern province about 25 km off southwest of Batticaloa town.
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Karainagar IDPs complain of harassment by SLN soldiers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 August 2003, 14:13 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) has tightened check on internally displaced people who return to resettle in Karainagar village in Jaffna district. The Sri Lanka Navy soldiers manning the entry point of Karainagar subject the the newly returning IDPs to body checks and extensive questioning, civil group sources said.


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The garrisoned rice bowl

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 13:22 GMT]
Thenmaradchi was Jaffna's rice bowl until three years ago. Today most of the region's fertile rice fields are enclosed by the Sri Lanka army's concertina and mine laden defence perimeter. Thenmaradchi’s main farming villages lie derelict inside this vast garrisoned area hemmed in by the A9 and the Jaffna lagoon. Local farmers have been waging, collectively and individually, what increasingly appears to be a hopeless struggle to gain access to their homes and fields since the Liberation Tigers and Colombo signed a ceasefire agreement in February last year.
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SLA bans NGOs from using Kinnaiyady lagoon access path

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 August 2003, 01:49 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has imposed ban on travel by officers of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Batticaloa district through Kinnaiyady lagoon, security sources in the Eastern province said. Kinnaiyady is located 32 km off northwest of Batticaloa town.


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Vadamaradchy woman foils rape attempt by SLA soldier

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 17:43 GMT]
Three soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) were questioned by their superiors Wednesday on a complaint that one soldier had molested a tamil woman who is a mother of two Tuesday night when she was alone while her husband was away. This incident took place Tuesday night at Inbaruty, a fishing hamlet in Vadamarachchi north in Jaffna district, police said.
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SLA restricts civilian visit to Point Pedro schools in HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 August 2003, 15:59 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Wednesday said civilians would be allowed to visit Hartley College and Methodist Girls High School in the high security zone of Point Pedro town in Jaffna district only on Wednesdays and they will need prior permission obtained from the security forces, civil sources said.
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War shattered town seeks freedom to bury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 August 2003, 16:39 GMT]
Three years ago the people of Chavakachcheri saw their town being bombed and shelled into gnarled ruins and dusty rubble heaps. The guns have fallen silent and the fortunate few are keenly rebuilding. But the resettling residents of Chavakachcheri are also eager to enjoy their freedoms long circumscribed by the war – including the right to bury their dead in the town’s cemetery.
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