Thenmaraadchi IDP families seek resettlement in their villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 July 2009, 05:10 GMT]
Internally Displaced Persons (IDPS) welfare organizations in Jaffna peninsula sent an appeal Monday to Sri Lanka Government authorities and to several International Humanitarian Organizations requesting the immediate resettlement of the IDP families displaced from Thenmaraadchi due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives in 1999, in their own villages, sources in Jaffna said. SLA continues to deny permission for the resettlement though the villages have been cleared of landmines, claiming that the villages are within its High Security Zone (HSZ), the appeal said.
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Sri Lanka turning Manik Farm camp into permanent ‘city’ - report

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 July 2009, 12:11 GMT]
Despite assuring the international community that most Tamils interned in militarized detention camps would be resettled by the end 2009, the Sri Lankan government is turning Manik Farm, the largest barbed-wire ringed site, into a permanent detention centre, The Times newspaper reported Friday. Tamil refugees are being used as forced labour, UN sources told the paper. Aid workers say the site was fast becoming Sri Lanka’s second biggest city after the capital, Colombo. Whilst Sri Lanka blames mines for preventing resettlement, foreign demining agencies say that they have been given access so far to only about 30 sq km of the former Vanni conflict zone.
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A "rolling" genocide?

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 2009, 11:56 GMT]
"The continuing concentration of over 250,000 people in the camps both blocks the search for answers to these questions, and itself constitutes a most serious crime. If the doors are not opened quickly, this will raise questions of whether the government seriously intends a restoration of Tamil society in the conquered zone. This would indeed pose a question of genocide, in the sense of the deliberate destruction of a population group in its home territory," writes Dr. Martin Shaw, professor of International Relations at UK's University of Sussex, and a historical sociologist of war and global politics.
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Ploy of Buddhism in nullifying Tamil nationalism

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 01:53 GMT]
The North and East of the island of Sri Lanka should first be subjected to ‘archaeological’ investigation to prove the land’s Sinhala ownership, before its ‘resettlement’, is the demand of the National Front of Buddhist monks of Sri Lanka, reported Virakesari a few days ago. If archaeology has any say, the entire island having microlithic sites of prehistoric period has to be resettled by Veddas, and if enough Veddas are not found in the island they could still be found among their next of kin outside, ranging from the Austro-Asiatic tribes of the South Asian subcontinent to aborigines of Borneo, Papua New Guinea and Australia, commented an academic of ethnic studies in the island.
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Jaffna Muslim IDPs should be resettled soon – Muslim contestant in JMC election

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 June 2009, 15:34 GMT]
“While welcoming the government’s interest in resettling the displaced Vanni civilians in their original places we request that it should also take action to resettle the Muslims displaced from Jaffna soon,” Ahamed Sulthan Subiyan, the president of Jaffna Muslim IDPs Association and the independent contestant in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, said in a press meet held Monday in his newly opened election office in Jaffna town.
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Champoor families return to shelters in Ki'liveddi transit camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:27 GMT]
231 members of 57 Tamil families, who were displaced from their traditional villages in Moothoor division in Trincomalee district in 2006 military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), were transported in 10 buses of the State Transport Board on Thursday via Vaakarai from Batticaloa district where they had been sheltered in welfare centres for resettlement. IDP families of Champoor and Chanthoasapuram in Moothoor east division have been sheltered in Ki'liveddi transit camp. This was in accordance of "their wish," rehabilitation officials said.
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Japan’s aid for Tamils’ rehabilitation will not reach them – TNA tells Yasuhi Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
”Japan’s 480 million aid to Sri Lanka government to rehabilitate displaced Tamils will only help the government’s aims to segregate the traditional home lands of the Tamils converting Vanni into a military zone”, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Suresh Premachandran told Japanese Ambassador, Yasushi Akashi when the TNA delegation led by Iraa. Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group’s leader, met the Ambassador Saturday, TNA sources said. Yasushi Akashi, in response said that the Sri Lanka government which was elected by the people of Sri Lanka has pledged to him that the displaced Tamils will be gradually resettled and was told by Iraa. Sampanthan that Sri Lanka government will never keep to its pledge, the sources added.
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Sinhalese colonization of Tamil village in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 04:37 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians accused the government of colonizing traditional Tamil villages in the border area between the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai districts with Sinhalese families, sources in Batticaloa said. Encroachment by Sinhalese families of paddy fields of Tamils in Keviliyaamadu village in Paddippazhai Divisional Secretariat in Batticaloa district takes place with government assistance, they further said.
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Moothoor IDPs demand to be resettled in their own villages

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Hundreds of men, women and children displaced from Champoor East and West, Kooniththeevu and Kadatkaraicheanai Village Officer divisions in Trincomalee district gathered in Batticaloa Koaddaimunai Methodist Church premises Wednesday on completing the third year of their forced displacement due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives in 2206, to pray and fast from morning till evening in an effort to draw the authorities' attention to their plea to be resettled in their original villages, Moothoor East Internally Displaced Peoples’ Welfare Association, which organized the event said.
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42 civilians gone missing in Wellaave’li – PS president

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 2009, 10:09 GMT]
Wellaave’li Predesha Sabah (PS) President V. R. Mahenthiran said in the Batticaloa District Development and Coordinating Meeting, that 42 civilians had gone missing in Wellaave’li police division, held in Batticaloa District Secretariat 30 March, sources in Batticaloa said. Many civilians had gone missing abducted by unidentified armed men in Paduvvankarai area in the past few months and the complaints made by their relatives in the respective police stations have not brought forth any constructive results, he further said.
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SLA harass Tamil resettled civilians in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 06:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are subjecting the resettled civilians in Koa’ralaippattu South Divisional Secretariat area in Batticaloa district to undue harassment and restrictions accusing them of helping Liberation Tiger combatants who had infiltrated into the area, the civilians said. SLA soldiers intimidate them aimng to to expel them when they have to attend to their seasonal agricultural work, they added.
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Memorial mass for Rev. Fr. Philip Jim Brown held in Allaippiddi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 April 2009, 15:01 GMT]
Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, Jaffna Bishop, conducted a memorial mass Wednesday morning in Allaippiddi St. Philip Neri Roman Catholic church in remembrance of Rev. Fr. Jim Brown and his assistant V. Vimaladas who had gone missing on their way to Allaippiddi church in the islets of Jaffna at a Sri Lanka Navy (SLA) check post in late August 2006, sources in Jaffna said. The church had been damaged in the Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire on the people who had sought refuge in it during a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive on 11 August 2006 and was renovated by the efforts of Chaaddi Parish Priest, Rev. Fr. Philip Stanislaw, the sources added.
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Resettled Tamils in Moothoor east live in fear

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 15:40 GMT]
Resettled Tamil families in Moothoor east and Tamil villages in Serunuwara division in Trincomalee district are living in terror following the killings of three Tamil farmers of Paarathipuram, Thangkanakar and Poonakar. Tamil civilians in this area fear that these killings had taken place in revenge of the killing of Sinhala farmers in Serunuwara by some unidentified men last week, sources in Moothoor said.
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SLN obstructs resettlement of IDPs in Allaippiddi in the islet of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which hold the islets of Jaffna in its control is delaying permission for IDP resettlement in Allaippiddi besides not allowing demining in the coasts of Allaippiddi, according to Jaffna Secretariat officials who had forwarded the applications of 48 Allaippiddi families staying in refugee camps in Jaffna town to SLN officials. Recently, Minister Douglas Devnanda, along with his government, had made much publicity in resettling Allaippiddi IDPs, sources in Jaffna said.
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93,877 displaced 19 years ago yet to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 08:10 GMT]
Nearly 93,877 civilians belonging to 27,601 families displaced due to war from various parts of Jaffna peninsula 19 years ago still languish in refugee camps while most of them are living with their relatives or friends, a statistical report of Jaffna Secretariat said. 73,672 persons of 21,591 families were displaced before 31 December 2005 and 20,205 persons of 6,010 families were displaced after the A9 land route to Jaffna peninsula was closed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 2006, according to the report.
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Colombo ignores Court order to resettle Jaffna IDPs inside HSZ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 02:13 GMT]
The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from their lands occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) enclosed within the High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam north are being asked to provide alternate choice of location to be resettled in other than their own lands, Welfare organizations of the IDPs said. Colombo Supreme Court instruction to begin resettlement inside the designated areas within the HSZ is being ignored by this new measure adopted by the Ministry of Nation Building, Plantation, and Infrastructure Development in assistance with UNHCR office, they said.
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Holmes u-turns minutes after TNA meeting

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 February 2009, 11:41 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentary group leader R. Sampanthan has told the visiting UN Under Secretary General of Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, that there is an urgent need for the international community to act decisively to stop the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the Vanni. However, in the press conference he gave minutes afterwards, Sir Holmes lauded the Sri Lankan government’s conduct vis-à-vis the humanitarian situation and said there was “good cooperation” between UN agencies and the Mahinda Rajapakse regime.
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SLA hands over body of Tamil farmer to Vaazhaichcheanai hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2009, 08:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers in Paduvaankarai in Batticaloa district handed the body of a Tamil farmer Friday morning to Vaazhaichcheanai hospital claiming that he had committed suicide by taking poison, sources in Batticaloa said. Vaazhaichcheanai district magistrate who held the inquest into the death ordered Vaazhaichcheanai police to find the true cause of death and submit the report before 12 February.
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Co-Chairs: LTTE surrender will save Vanni civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 16:53 GMT]
The Tokyo Co-Chairs (Norway, Japan, US and EU) Tuesday called on the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms surrender to the Sri Lankan government if the civilians of Vanni are to be spared further death and suffering. The Co-Chairs said they would (thereafter) ensure an “inclusive dialogue” that will lead to lasting peace.
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'Vision' of a Sinhala sociologist

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:22 GMT]
"This victory should not be lost in the peace. [….] The mono-ethnic nature of the North should be dismantled. [….] 'Defence Colonies' defence settlements should be established all over the North. Retired husband and wife ex-employees of the armed forces should be settled in such strategic settlements. Like in mainland China, and earlier in Korea, Armed Forces owned industries should be established in these areas for both defence and civilian production. Our forces should be further strengthened to deter any future attempts,” writes engineer turned Sinhala sociologist Dr. Susanta Goonatilake in Sunday Times, dated, January 18. His article is a specimen to understand the vision of a section of Sinhala elite on the political process to follow Colombo’s victory.
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