Abductions shock Mannaar, relatives of victim confront white van

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 January 2011, 19:22 GMT]
Sinhala-speaking armed men in white-van rushed through Mannaar abducting four males, one of them a Muslim youth, Jaharil Jazeel. The episode resulted in a confrontation between the relatives of Mr. Jazeel and the abductors, exposing the level of top-hierarchy involvement of Sri Lankan defense authorities in the chain of abductions. Sri Lanka Navy, Sri Lanka Army and Police guarding the Mannaar Bridge withdrew their security, allowing the abductors to proceed southwards after seeing a piece of paper produced by the men right in front of the victim’s relatives, who were chasing the white van in four three-wheelers. The armed men, confronted by Jazeel’s relatives opted to take away the mother of Jazeel in their vehicle only to force her off their vehicle at gunpoint at Vangkaalai Junction after crossing the Mannaar bridge on their way to South along Mannaar – Medawachiya Road.
Full story >>

Flood affected in Moothoor East deprived of relief: Former MP

[TamilNet, Sunday, 02 January 2011, 11:50 GMT]
All affected families whether they are displaced or not in Moothoor East resettled villages due to the torrential rain now being experienced in the Trincomalee district should be provided with relief and compensation, according to a request by K.Thurairatnasingham, former member of parliament, to the Government Agent and the Divisional Secretariat concerned.
Full story >>

Killed Tamil youth of postal department was an environmentalist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 January 2011, 00:30 GMT]
Ketheeswaran Thevarajah, who was working in a post office in Vadamaraadchi and was killed Friday night was an environmentalist, who was protesting to scooping of sand in Vadamaraadchi that was causing environmental damages. Sometimes back, he was dispatching photographs through Facebook, showing environmental damage caused by sand-scooping in his locality. A feedback on his contribution to environmental protection has been sent to TamilNet by a reader who is a relative of him and who has seen the news of his assassination. Media sources in Jaffna confirmed that Mr. Ketheeswaran has been actively engaged in the protests against sand excavation and was instrumental in the protests held in Kudaththanai. He has also provided in-depth reports to local media on the environmental damage inflicted on his village.
Full story >>

US emergency food aid amid WFP fears for 2011

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 December 2010, 19:07 GMT]
The United States this week provided the UN’s World Food Program operation in Sri Lanka with $5.5 million of emergency food aid, shortly after the organisation warned of serious shortages and halved the wheat flour and sugar in rations it distributes to displaced people. The food situation remained ‘fragile’, despite improving since march 2010, and the next four months are critical , the WFP was quoted by IRIN as warning. The WFP estimates that it needs some $27 million next year to continue to provide assistance to an estimated 371,000 Tamils displaced by the armed conflict from 2008 and has warned of a “pipeline break” looming in 2011.
Full story >>

Floods worsen woes of Champoor uprooted in transit camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 December 2010, 03:18 GMT]
Continuous rain for the last one week has disrupted the normal life in several parts of the Trincomalee district, especially the refugees uprooted from Champoor in Moothoor East in 2006 military operations by the Sri Lanka Army and currently sheltered in temporary transit camps in Ki'liveddy, Manatcheanai and Paddiththidal, civil society sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

35,000 persons affected by rain in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 December 2010, 13:27 GMT]
More than thirty five thousand members of 7,200 families in eight DS divisions in Batticaloa district have been affected and over 15,000 houses are under water due to continuous torrential rain for the last six days. In the meantime, people affected by floods already, two weeks ago, complain that they have yet to receive relief and assistance from the government.
Full story >>

Sinhala encroachment unabated in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 December 2010, 10:36 GMT]
Encroachment of lands belonging to Tamil people goes unabated in several villages in Batticaloa district despite assurances given by M.L.A.M.Hisbullah, a deputy minister for women affairs who also holds the post of chairman of the Batticaloa District Development and Coordinating Committee, and Deputy Minister for Resettlement Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan that they would take immediate action, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP P. Selvarasa charged at the District Development and Coordination (DDC) meeting, sources in Batticaloa Thursday said.
Full story >>

Mahinda doctrine deprives Tamils of irrigation in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 December 2010, 01:44 GMT]
While the Sri Lankan state with its 'Mahinda doctrine' has revamped the 50-year-old Sinhala colonisation scheme in the Ampaa'rai and Batticaloa under a new name tag, Navodaya, calling it a 'renaissance' programme and spending 1,260 million rupees between 2008 and 2011, one of the potential irrigation source of Tamils in Batticaloa, U'rukaamam tank in Paduvaan-karai, situated 20 km north of Batticaloa city, has been completely ignored. Two third of water in the tank is going waste without any benefit to the farmers under its potential reach. Dr.R.Rushanthan, Deputy Commissioner of Agrarian Development Services has said only thirty percent of those residing in the area manage to live with at least one meal per day.
Full story >>

Hathurusinghe, Imelda, deny existence of ‘High Security Zone’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 10:48 GMT]
Addressing media in Jaffna Friday, the Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Mrs Imelda Sugumar said that according to the briefing she had from Sri Lanka’s military commander in Jaffna Maj. Gen. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, the nomenclature High Security Zone (HSZ) is inappropriate in the present context. According to the General, in the past as there was war between the LTTE and the SL government, people were evacuated from that area in order to save the public from getting trapped in the war, and as the SL government was providing security to that area it was called High Security Zone. Now it is only a zone ‘restricted to the public,’ the GA said. Meanwhile, the GA also said in the same press meet that it would take another 10 years to clear mines in the HSZ and resettle people there. But a map obtained from mine clearing agencies show a different picture.
Full story >>

Colombo directs closure of Northern UN, ICRC offices

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 December 2010, 11:45 GMT]
Following directives from Sri Lanka Government authorities to close the branch offices of the United Nation agencies and the International Committtee of Red Cross (ICRC) in the North, these agencies are reducing the number of staff, civil society sources in Jaffna said. UNICEF, UNHCR, UNDP, and WFP offices are said to be affected by the directive from Colombo. A number of offices of the said organizations in Vanni area have already ceased operations. Meanwhile, British Members of Parliament raised concerns on the closure of the ICRC offices in Jaffna.
Full story >>

More than 100,000 persons affected by rain in the North

[TamilNet, Sunday, 12 December 2010, 13:39 GMT]
More than hundred thousand people were affected by rain in Jaffna, Mannaar, Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu district, according to civil society sources in the Northern province. Menik Farm camp used as an internment camp to hold Tamil civilians, is surrounded by flood. More than 20,000 remaining refugees have been struggling with toilets submerged in flood. Dengue and malaria are spreading rapidly, according to medical sources.
Full story >>

Torrential rain adds to woes of Batticaloa resettled families

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 December 2010, 03:37 GMT]
Continued torrential rain in Paduvaangkarai area in Batticaloa district has badly affected the resettled Tamil families, civil sources in Batticaloa said. Several villages in Vellaave'li, Ko'raalaipaththu South, Ea'raavoorpaththu, Chengkaladi, Ko'raalaipaththu North and South E'ruvilpaththu are under water, causing closure of schools and affecting the administration of government departments. Public transport to these villages from Batticaloa has also been affected as roads are submerged in water. Batticaloa District Meteorological Department Official K. Sooriyakumar said 90.6 mm rain fall was recorded within 24 hours.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka’s police stations get own buildings in Ki'linochchi, Maangku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 12:34 GMT]
Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne on Friday opened two new buildings for two key police stations in Vanni, which have been functioning the buildings of LTTE-run administration, at Maangku'lam and Ki'linochchi.
Full story >>

Sinhala settlers in Jaffna rob rain-affected Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:57 GMT]
Tamil families who had to temporarily leave their houses in low lying resettlement lands in Naavatkuzhi and returned back have found their properties robbed by settlers of a newly established Sinhala colony. According to latest reports, the number of families in the Sinhala colony in Naavatkuzhi has increased to 186 as Colombo was scheming ways to set up more Sinhala settlements in the peninsula. Resettled Tamil families also complain of theft during nights.
Full story >>

SLA in Vadamaraadchi East pilfer properties of uprooted people

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 November 2010, 08:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers occupying Vadamaraadchi East continue to pilfer the roof and timber components of the houses from which the uprooted families fled during SLA offensives, the recently resettled families in Vadamaraadchi said. Though the families had fled, most of their houses in the areas from Naakarkoayil to Saalai had remained undamaged as there was no war fought in the said area. SLA soldiers since then had pilfered the components of the houses abandoned to construct their sentry posts and camps along the coast and roads. Now, SLA soldiers refuse to return the properties of the uprooted families who have been resettled in Vadamaraadchi East, the families said.
Full story >>

Rains flood low-lying areas in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 November 2010, 19:27 GMT]
Jaffna peninsula is experiencing persisting rains since Wednesday and the most affected are the families from Vanni resettled in low-lying areas lodged in tin sheds and tarpaulin covered huts, sources in Jaffna said. The uprooted families who had lived in temporary makeshift structures in the camps suffer the same life even after being resettled. Jaffna Fort, Kurunakar, Pommaive’li and Kaakkaitheevu in Jaffna town are some of the places where residences and other buildings are submerged in floods.
Full story >>

Public protest against SLA interference in civil administration in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 11:44 GMT]
Welfare associations and public organizations in Karaichchi in Ki’linochchi district gathered in protest Wednesday morning in front of Ki’linochchi Government Agent’s office demanding immediate cancellation of the sudden transfer of Karaichchi Divisional Secretary, Ms. Sivakumar, issued on the request of local Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Ms. Sivakumar had not cooperated with the SLA officials in their efforts to evacuate the resettled families in lands in Karaichchi which the SLA authorities want to claim for SLA and Sinhala colonization, the sources said. She had been transferred within two hours of her refusal to comply with the evacuation plans of the SLA officials, the sources added.
Full story >>

SLA intensifies surveillance on ‘outsiders’ visiting Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 19 November 2010, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni have instructed all schools and other such public institutions and organizations in their areas to inform them in advance if any political persons, representatives of volunteer organizations and Non-government Organizations (NGOs) from outside Vanni visiting their places. On such occasions SLA being informed beforehand sends its men to watch and record the proceedings of the meetings and events conducted or attended by the above ‘outsiders’, according to complaints made by some school heads in Vanni to a Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian.
Full story >>

Rural dispensaries in Batticaloa district closed

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 November 2010, 08:34 GMT]
Rural dispensaries in Thiraaymadu, Paalameenmadu, Naavatkudaa, Vavu'natheevu, Koaddaimunai, Maiyilaveddavaanan and Unnichchai in the Batticaloa district have been closed due to acute shortage of physical resources. Some of them are located in the resettled villages, Unnichchai, Mailavedduwan and Vavu'natheevu, Vaakarai, Karadiyanaa'ru and Maavadichchenai rural hospitals in the district are also likely to be closed due to lack of physical resources, medical sources said.
Full story >>

SLA accused of imposing restrictions on resettlement in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 16:07 GMT]
The Welfare Associations for the uprooted families from Valikaamam accused Jaffna Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities for imposing undue restrictions on the people in Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat area. Jaffna Government Agent (GA) Ms. Imelda Sukumar, instructed by the SLA authorities has asked the families of the above area to again register their particulars on 19 November though they had submitted the necessary particulars earlier, the associations said. Besides, the Non-government Organizations that are to assist the families to be resettled are also asked to submit applications through the GA. The families are not going to be resettled in the SLA occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam but in the No-man-zone on the edge of the HSZ, the associations pointed out.
Full story >>