SLA blocks resettlement within 600 m radius of Palaly HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 August 2003, 19:43 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army has declared that the internally displaced families will not be allowed to resettle within a 600 meter radius of the Palaly high security zone in Jaffna district, and SLA authorities have asked those already resettled within 600 meters of the HSZ in Kuppilan north to vacate immediately from the area, civil groups in Jaffna said.
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Norwegian HR activist visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 August 2003, 14:35 GMT]
The Jaffna District Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JDHAC) Friday told a visiting Norwegian human rights activist, Mr.Bernt Gelbrandsen, at the JDHCA office in Jaffna town, that the Sri Lankan government has failed to implement the terms of the ceasefire agreement signed by it with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam seventeen months ago last year, civil sources said.
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Priests champion revival of HSZ Hindu temples

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 August 2003, 14:24 GMT]
Mavittapuram temple, Naguleswaram temple and Keerimalai temples all lie within 3km radius within the High Security Zone (HSZ) near KKS harbor. These temples almost completely destroyed during the war in early 90s are being resurrected amid heavy odds by temples’ custodian priests.


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Jaffna fishermen capture Indian poachers

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 August 2003, 14:45 GMT]
A Group of Vadamarachi fishermen in the Jaffna district Wednesday around midnight took into their custody ten Indian fishermen with their trawlers when they were engaged in poaching in northern waters. The Indian fishermen and their trawlers were brought down to the Vadamarachchi shore and later handed over to the Point Pedro police through the village level officer (Grama Sevaka) of the area, Police sources said.
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Owners of paddy lands in HSZ to meet

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 August 2003, 23:52 GMT]
Owners of the paddy lands ocated in the High Security Zone of Thenmaradchchi in the Jaffna district and released by the Sri Lanka Army for cultivation last week, will meet on August 7 at the office of the Kaithady Divisional Agrarian Office to decide on the next course of action, civil sources said.
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SLA releases a fifth of the paddy fields in Thenmaradchi HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 31 July 2003, 15:08 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Thursday said it has released about one thousand acres from the high security zone in the Thenmaradchchi division in Jaffna district for paddy cultivation. The area declared as HSZ in Thenmaradchi by the SLA in 1999, and in effect since then, girdles more than five thousand acres of paddy fields, farmers’ association sources said.
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'SLA's HSZ in Nagarkovil prevents resettlement'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 29 July 2003, 02:03 GMT]
The Hindu Cultural Affairs Minister in the United National Front government of Sri Lanka, Mr. T. Maheswaran, and the Jaffna government agent (GA), Mr. S. Pathmanathan, Monday morning visited the Nagarkovil area in the Jaffna district to inspect the conditions for resettlement in the area, and said that the conditions there are not yet conducive to resettling people, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA allows devotees into Ottahapulam Church after 14 years

[TamilNet, Sunday, 27 July 2003, 21:16 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Sunday allowed Christian devotees to hold religious observances at the Ottahapulam St James' Church, located in the high security zone about one thousand meters away from the Palaly military base in the Jaffna district, for the first time in fourteen years, civil sources said.


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‘HSZ in Jaffna expanded post ceasefire'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 20 July 2003, 18:37 GMT]
The high security zones in the Jaffna district have been expanded since the signing of the ceasefire agreement by the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said the former Jaffna Municipal Commissioner, Mr.C.V.K.Sivagnanam, who is the current President of the Northern Federation of Farmers' Co-operative Societies, addressing a press briefing held at the Jaffna Humanitarian Agencies Consortium (JHAC) office Sunday.
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HSZ blocks progress of Hartley and Methodist schools

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2003, 18:06 GMT]
School development society officials in Jaffna complained Thursday that the progress of Hartley College and the Methodist Girls High School, premier educational institutions in the Northen Province and located in Point Pedro in the Vadamaradchi division, has been set back as these institutions come under a high security zone imposed by the Sri Lankan security forces.
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School reopened in Omanthai HSZ

[TamilNet, Thursday, 17 July 2003, 11:15 GMT]
"For the many children who were displaced, denied of basic education and forced to eke a living selling nuts along A9, this event marks an important turning point in their lives," said Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Vavuniya district Political Head, Sengathir, speaking at the opening ceremony of Omanthai Mahavidyalayam in the High Security Zone (HSZ), sources attending the function said.
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HSZ issue blocks relocation of eighty displaced families

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 July 2003, 17:39 GMT]
Civilian officials in Jaffna are in a quandary to relocate about eighty internally displaced families now temporarily living in a low lying area in Point Pedro, as the security establishment, citing that the areas selected for resettlement are close to High Security Zones (HSZs), is blocking every move to find a suitable site, Jaffna district secretariat sources said.


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Nambiar recommendation unacceptable – ANC expert

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 July 2003, 00:39 GMT]
“The recommendation made by the Indian army expert General Nambiar that all the long range weapons of the Liberation Tigers should be placed under the supervision of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission cannot be accepted until permanent peace is achieved,” said retired South African army officer and a member of the African National Congress (ANC) Dr. Rocky Williams at a discussion held at Pandatherippu Meditation Center Wednesday.
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HRC requests SLA to submit report on HSZ issue

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2003, 18:20 GMT]
The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka has asked the Sri Lanka Army to furnish a report regarding complaints made by several internally displaced people of the Jaffna district that they are unable to resettle in their homes and do cultivation in their agricultural lands as they have been occupied by the SLA in the name of high security zones (HSZ), sources in Colombo said.
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129 families resettled in Omanthai area

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 June 2003, 05:57 GMT]
Vavuniya Government Agent K. Ganesh said Friday at a meeting held in Vavuniya Secreatariat that in three villages adjoining the High Security Zone in Omanthai area 129 families have been resettled, according to Secretariat officials.


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92,000 IDPs yet to return to Valigamam north HSZ

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2003, 02:46 GMT]
Of more than one hundred thousand internally displaced (IDP) Tamil people from Valigamam north since 1987, only about 8,838 persons from four hundred and sixteen families were allowed to return to their homes. Around ninety two thousand IDPs are yet to return to Valigamam north, which is designated as HSZ, Jaffna district secretariat sources said.


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Colombo has failed to bring normalcy to Northeast - FJDMA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2003, 11:08 GMT]
The Federation of the Jaffna District Minibus Association (FJDMA) Sunday told the United National Front (UNF) government that it has failed to create a conducive situation in the northeast province enabling the internally displaced families to return to their villages. "Instead the government is insisting on maintaining the high security zones in residential areas according to the agenda of its military," the Federation said in a statement, Jaffna sources said.


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SLA aircraft damaged on landing, troops escape injury

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 June 2003, 18:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force's (SLAF's) AN-32 aircraft carrying 55 soldiers from Colombo Ratmalana airport to Palaly airport in Jaffna veered off the runway during landing and crashed into a nearby a signpost Saturday injuring one soldier, said security sources in Jaffna.


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NGO to assist farmers affected by HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 June 2003, 00:15 GMT]
An international non-governmental organization ACTIONFAIM has formulated a scheme to provide livelihood assistance to resettled villagers in Thenamaradchchi division in Jaffna district who are unable to cultivate their agricultural lands occupied by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), divisional secretariat sources said.
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Ariyalai residents' resettlement delayed due to uncleared mines

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 June 2003, 11:09 GMT]
Residents of Maniyam thottam in Ariyalai Southeast in Jaffna district, in a letter to the Nallur Pradeshya sabha secretary, have appealed to expedite clearing of mines in Mulli area in Ariyalai to facilitate their temporary resettlement in Mulli, said local reports from Jaffna.


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