Massacre grave unearthed in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 16 July 2008, 07:03 GMT]
A mass grave, containing skeletons bearing gunshot wounds, has been discovered Wednesday morning at Paalameenmeadu, 6 km north of Batticaloa city, near a Tsunami resettlement. The grave was found after the IDPs, who were engaged in digging wells near their camp, unearthed body parts in one of the wells Monday. At least 32 pieces of skeletons have been recovered with cloths since 9:30 a.m., when Judge B. Ramakannan from Batticaloa visited the massacre site with Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) M.M.A. Rahman and the Police. The site, located 1.5 km from a Sri Lankan military post, manned by police and later by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Moothoor IDPs resettled in Veeramaanakar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 13 July 2008, 02:30 GMT]
A group of 135 members from 44 Tamil families who fled from the Moothoor east during the 2006 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives, and sheltered in temporary structures in several welfare centres located in Manmunai North, Aarayampathi and Kaluwaanchikgudi, were resettled in their village, Veeramanagar in Pattalipuram Grama Sevak division in Moothoor, divisional secretariat sources said.
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Sri Lanka's rank critical in Failed States Index

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 July 2008, 16:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka, which was positioned 25th among the most failed states during the last two years, ranked this year as the 20th in the Failed States Index (FSI), compiled by the Washington based think-tank, Fund for Peace (FfP) and Foreign Policy magazine. Sri Lanka's score further dropped this year in almost all of the 12 indicators in the FSI. The country was ranked 2nd worst, next to Sudan in one of the indicators, 'Group Grievances'. Five of the eight South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) countries, including Sri Lanka, accounting for one-quarter of the population of South Asia, are placed among the 35 critically failed states of the world in the FSI 2008 index.
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SLA artillery shells target IDPs in Iluppaikkadavai

[TamilNet, Monday, 07 July 2008, 01:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troops are conducting continuous artillery attacks targeting civilian settlements in Illuppakkadavai in Mannaar district since Saturday morning and a number of shells have exploded along roads usually made use of by the general public and as well as in the vicinity of Illuppaikkadavai junction, residents said.
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381 IDPs resettled in Moothoor villages

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 July 2008, 15:52 GMT]
A batch of three hundred and eighty one members of 114 families displaced from Moothoor East in 2006 to Batticaloa district were brought down Saturday by fourteen buses escorted by the Sri Lankan police via Vaakarai and resettled in their villages, Iththiku'lam, Thangkanakar and Sreenivaasapuram in Pa'l'likkudiyiruppu GS area in the Moothoor DS division in Trincomalee district.
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Ejected IDP family denies wrongdoing

[TamilNet, Friday, 04 July 2008, 12:39 GMT]
A widowed Tamil woman and three children displaced from Trincomalee district and living in an interim camp in Kalviyangkaadu, Batticaloa, and recently ejected from the camp by the village officer (GS) of the area for immoral conduct, has called for justice from Human Rights Commission (HRC).
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HRW calls on GoSL to end illegal internment of IDPs in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 July 2008, 22:58 GMT]
The New York based Human Rights Watch has voiced against the illegal internment of around 400 Internally Displaced Tamils, who are languishing under Sri Lanka Army detention in a so-called 'welfare center' in Ka'limoaddai in Naanaaddaan division of Mannaar district. Since March 2008, the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has detained civilians fleeing areas controlled by the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) at Ka'limoaddai. The SLA has imposed severe restrictions on freedom of movement, instituting a daily pass system that limits to 30 the number of people who can leave the camp each day, and only if a family member remains behind to guarantee the detainees return in the evening.
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SLA artillery attacks target IDP settlements in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 July 2008, 19:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continue to launch artillery fire on Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) settlements in Ka’l’liyadi, Aaththimoadai and Illuppakkadavai in Mannaar district from Monday early morning. Large number of civilians who had been displaced from their villages in Mannaar district due to SLA offensives had been living in temporary shelters in the above villages.
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Trinco IDPs arrested in Batticaloa, released after detention

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 June 2008, 16:11 GMT]
Eleven civilians arrested during a cordon and search operation conducted by STF commandos Saturday afternoon in Kalviyangkaadu IDP camp located within the administrative area of Ma'nmunai North District Secretariat in Batticaloa, were released Sunday afternoon. The arrests were made while a sports competition for the children in the camp was being conducted by the Non Governmental Organization (NGO) Save the Children (STS) under the “Improvement of Education of Refugee Children” scheme was in progress.
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Civilian killed in DPU attack in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 June 2008, 15:38 GMT]
An Internally Displaced Person (IDP) who was residing in Mallaavi was killed in a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) operated Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) Claymore attack Sunday around 9:30 a.m. at Paalaippaa'ni near Mallaavi, Tamileelam Police officials said.
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SLN arrests begging children in Thalaimannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 June 2008, 00:55 GMT]
A 12-year-old girl with her 9-year-old sister and another 10-year-old girl, who had taken to street-begging and reached Thalaimannaar pier where a Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) camp is located, were arrested by the SLN. They were later handed over to Thalaimannaar Police, who brought the children to the Mannaar Courts Friday. Mannaar District Judge T. J. Prabakaran ordered the children to be placed under protective custody till 26 June. The children were sent to Anuradhapura prison from Mannaar, according to legal sources.
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Number of School drop-outs escalate in Jaffna district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 June 2008, 15:57 GMT]
The number of children dropping out of school due to economic hardships, particularly children of fisher families in the coastal areas of Jaffna peninsula and among Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) is on the increase at a disturbing rate, Education Officials in Jaffna warned. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), Thursday, requested Education Authorities in the peninsula to submit data on the student drop-out immediately, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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SLAF airstrike kills 4 Tamil civilians, 10 wounded

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 June 2008, 06:45 GMT]
Three civilians were killed on the spot Sunday morning when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombed a civilian settlement of Internally Displaced Persons in Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththteevu district. Another civilian succumbed to his injuries at the hospital. 10 civilians, including a pregnant mother, were wounded in the air attack, Tamileelam Police said. Puthukkudiyiruppu Central College, located 100 meters away from the IDP settlement, zonal office of education, and temples in the vicinity have sustained damage in the SLAF attack. Tension prevails in the town as shrapnels from the air-blasts of the bombs were spread around the area.
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East CM wants foreign funds for rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 16:16 GMT]
"We need assistance from foreign countries to provide dwellings to resettle displaced," said Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan, the Chief Minister of Eastern Province and the head of TMVP paramilitary. "My administration will not show any discrimination while maintaining law and order with our own police force," he said.
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26 IDP children hospitalized after eating toxic seeds

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 15:12 GMT]
Twenty-six children of Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) living in Yoakapuram Settlement Camp in Urumpiraai after being displaced Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam north, were admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) Tuesday evening, after eating poisonous seeds of the wild Castor Oil plant. The children are recovering after treatment, and are out of danger, JTH sources said.
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CPA: Trincomalee HSZ violates international law

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 June 2008, 01:00 GMT]
Asserting that "sustainable solutions are required to reduce tension, discrimination and deprivation of communities," the Center for Policy Alternatives (CPA), a Colombo-based political, humanitarian think-tank, in a report on the current status of issues related to land in Trincomalee, said that, "[u]nfortunately, the various policies adopted by the authorities have had the opposite effect." Noting that 7,338 people will lose their homes due the 'reduced' High Security Zone (HSZ), the report said, "a serious review needs to be taken of the necessity of incorporating such a large extent of land into the HSZ."
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SLA appropriating Tamil IDPs' properties in Ampaa’rai district

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 June 2008, 09:38 GMT]
The appropriation of the properties of the Internally Displaced People (IDP) and a Non-government organization in the Tamil areas in Ampaa’rai district by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) Friday is a premeditated government plan to prevent the displaced from resettling in their traditional villages, K. Pathmananthan, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Thikaamaduva in Ampaa’rai district, said.
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Ea’raavoor remains paralyzed

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 May 2008, 10:53 GMT]
Ea’raavoor remains deserted due to the curfew imposed from Monday, and extended until Wednesday 5:00 a.m, sources in Ea'raavoor said. All business establishments, public and private institutions remain closed following the curfew imposed after the killing of a Muslim woman by Special Task Force (STF) commandos Monday.
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IDP youth abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 May 2008, 12:24 GMT]
Unidentified men operating from a white van abducted a youth residing in a refugee camp located in Saththurkko’ndaan within Batticaloa police division first week of May, the victim’s relatives stated in a complaint lodged at the offices of Human Rights Commission (HRC) and International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), sources said.
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Court orders Colombo to expedite resettlement in Jaffna HSZ

[TamilNet, Monday, 05 May 2008, 17:54 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday directed the Defense Secretary to expedite the resettlement of the first group of identified displaced farmers in their agricultural lands located in the high security zone (HSZ) in Jaffna district to start their cultivation in time. The SC issued the directive when the fundamental rights applications filed by Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Maavai Senathiraja and two farmers. All three petitioners are among the displaced persons from the high security zone, legal sources said.
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