Indian aid to resettled Vanni civilians left undistributed along A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 16:06 GMT]
Materials to construct shelters given as aid by India meant for the resettled families in Vanni have not been fully distributed to them and are left unattended along A9 road due to noncooperation of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Vanni and their refusal to grant permission for distribution, sources close to Ki’linochchi Secretariat said. SLA authorities purposely delay and obstruct distribution of these materials with the aim to give them to Sinhalese families to be colonized in places including Kokkaavil and Maangku’lam in Vanni, according to some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) newly elected representatives. The distribution of the materials had not been carried out by the government officials due to noncooperation by SLA authorities in Vanni.
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Young woman abducted, sexually abused in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 April 2010, 15:32 GMT]
Two young men in Chu’n’naakam area in Valikaamam abducted Monday a young woman who had come from an internment camp in Vavuniyaa to visit her uncle in Chu’n’naakam and sexually abused her, sources in Jaffna said. The woman had managed to escape Tuesday morning from where she was held in the night and told what had happened to her to local people. The local people with the help of the hand phone which the young men had taken from the woman caught the two men and gave them a severe beating, the sources said.
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Muslim family man killed in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 19 April 2010, 16:17 GMT]
Unknown persons had stabbed to death a Muslim family man Sunday night in Aa’ndiyaa Pu’liyangku’lam in Cheddiku’lam area in Vauniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The man is suspected to have been abducted before being killed. The killing of a Muslim person has created tension among the residents of Vavuniyaa.
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Former SLRC employee in Vanni complains of death threat to HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 April 2010, 10:12 GMT]
An employee of Sri Lanka Red Cross who had served in Vanni during the last stages of war and now living in Ma’nkumpaan in the islets of Jaffna has lodged a complaint with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office of intimidation and death threats by armed men alleged to be ruling party ally Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) persons who operate with Sri Lanka Intelligence division. The armed men come to his place in the nights and intimidate him with threats of abduction and death, the employee said in his complaint.
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New Year celebrations dull in North

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 14 April 2010, 07:00 GMT]
The Tamil New Year was observed in a low key in the North as well as in the East of the country. The Vanni uprooted civilians held in Vavuniyaa Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps, not allowed to resettle in their own places despite countless promises and dates announced by the government, had other unfulfilled basic needs in their minds than the arrival of the New Year, according to sources in Vavuniyaa. Meanwhile, Sinhalese Buddhists from the South attended in unprecedented numbers in the religious ceremonies held in Nainaatheevu Naakavikaarai, Aariyaku’lam Naakavikaarai and the newly built Buddhist Vikaarai in Ki’linochchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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Clashes reported in the wake of election all over the country

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 19:56 GMT]
Clashes following Thursday parliamentary election between supporters of opposing candidates are reported to be taking place in several areas of the island, according to media reports. Former minister of the ruling United People’s Freedom (UPFA), M. Aluthgama is alleged to be directly involved in the assault of a member of the Election Monitoring Committee in Navalappiddi in the upcountry where incidents of post election violence has been high. Fights between two Muslim factions in Aalayadiveampu in Batticaloa in which Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) members are alleged to be involved, are also reported.
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Lowest number of votes registered in Jaffna electoral district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 18:31 GMT]
Only 18 to 20 percent of the voters in Jaffna electoral district cast their votes in the parliamentary elections Thursday recording the lowest in island, while the voting percentage in the whole country was from 52 to 55 percent, according to Election Monitoring Agencies. Jaffna electoral district, compared to other electoral districts, recorded the lowest turn over of voters where voting percentage in Thenmaraadchi was higher than that of Vadamaraadchi while voting was very low in the islets of Jaffna, the sources said. Compared to the recent presidential election where the voting was low the voting turn out was even less in the parliamentary election in Jaffna electoral district.
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Incidents of violence mark Election Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 10:15 GMT]
In Vavuniyaa in the North, alleged supporters of former Minister of Resettlement and ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) Risard Badudeen harassed private bus owners transporting Vanni uprooted civilians in Vavuniyaa detention centres to the polling stations in Vanni district, according to Advisor to the Elections Commisioner, Bandula Kulathunge. Meanwhile, Executive Director of PAFFREL, Rohana Hettiarachchi said that the Election Day was quite violent with incidents continuing to pour in from all parts of the island.
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Low turnout of voting, people disinterested in election in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 09:43 GMT]
Around 11:00 a.m Thursday only 4.29% persons eligible to vote had cast their votes in Jaffna while after 2:00 p.m there was a slight increase. However, only 10% of the total registered voters had cast their votes in Jaffna electorate by afternoon, Jaffna Secretariat officials said. People were seen disinterested in the parliamentary election and the general atmosphere in the peninsula was peaceful without any considerable election violence, sources in Jaffna said.
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Thousands of uprooted civilians denied voting: CaFFE election monitors

[TamilNet, Thursday, 08 April 2010, 08:46 GMT]
Many interned Tamil civilians in Menik Farm in Vavuniyaa were told by Sri Lankan election officials that they must go to Ki'linochchi Cluster Polling Station to vote, while election officials in Ki'linochchi station were instructing civilians that they must proceed to the Menik Farm Polling Station to vote, said Campaign for Free and Fair Elections (CaFFE) in a statement issued Thursday. "In the Killinochchi Central College Cluster Polling Centers only 362 out of 7,504 total registered voters have been able to cast their votes in the first set of 8 cluster polling stations. Furthermore, in the second set of 8 cluster polling centers only 283 out of 10,240 voters have been able to cast their votes by 12.00 noon," CaFFE statement said.
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Family man feared abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 16:37 GMT]
A family man of Soosaipi’l’laiyaar Koayiladi in Vavuniyaa, gone missing since Tuesday evening after going to the mechanic repair garage near Kanthasuvaami Koyiladi in Vavuniyaa town to have his three-wheeler repaired, is feared abducted, according to a complaint lodged by his wife with Vavuniyaa police. The abductee was released Thursday.
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Uprooted civilians sell dry food rations on streets in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 04:46 GMT]
Uprooted civilians from Vanni in Vavuniyaa internment camps are forced to sell their dry food rations on the streets of Vavuniyaa as they are unable to fulfill their other pressing needs including milk food for their children, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Help from NGOs being unavailable they are driven to sell their dry food rations for less than half the market price to meet their other vital needs. The uprooted persons resettled in Vanni and in Jaffna district too face the same predicament, sources from Vanni and Jaffna said.
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41 percent polling cards remain undelivered in Jaffna electorate

[TamilNet, Saturday, 03 April 2010, 17:29 GMT]
Only 4, 27,164 (59%) polling cards of the total 7,21,359 polling cards of Jaffna electorate which consists of the districts of Jaffna and Ki’linochchi have been delivered to voters through post offices, Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said in a press meet held in Jaffna Secretariat Saturday. However, arrangements have been made for them to get their polling cards until 4:00 p.m on the voting day, he added. Steps have been taken to transport the uprooted Vanni voters held in Vavuniyaa detention centres from 8:00 a.m to 10:00 a.m to vote in the cluster voting booths on the election day, the GA informed on being reminded that there were allegations that the voters in the detention centres were not transported to vote in the last Presidential election.
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Tortured Jaffna undergrad commits suicide

[TamilNet, Friday, 02 April 2010, 20:21 GMT]
26-year-old Balasingham Karunanithi, a third year student of the Faculty of Management in Jaffna University, arrested and tortured by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) when he was held in a Vavuniyaa detention camp after the war on Vanni, committed suicide in Jaffna at a house in Naachchimaar Koayiladi where he was staying, sources in Jaffna said. Karunanithi is the fourth Vanni undergraduate of Jaffna University to commit suicide due to mental derangement resulting from their detention in SLA detention centres in Vavuniyaa, the sources added. A medical faculty student and two first year girl students of Jaffna University had committed suicide after the final offensive on Vanni.
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Young man beaten to death in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 29 March 2010, 05:00 GMT]
Persons connected to Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) assaulted Thangarasa Krishnagoapal Saturday night at a liquor bar in Vavuniyaa who died of excessive bleeding Sunday due to injuries in Vavuniyaa government hospital where he was admitted by persons who were at the liquor shop at the time of the incident, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The victim was attacked by EPDP member Jeyaraj and EPDP student organization members, according to the statement given to police by the Krishnagopal at the hospital before he died.
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Resettled families in Vanni suffer in unrelenting rain

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 March 2010, 18:45 GMT]
Vanni uprooted faimiles resettled in haste by the Sri Lanka government without any basic facilities or proper structures have sought refuge under trees as persistent rain, gale and floods had destroyed their temporary tents and tin-roofed shacks, sources in Vanni said. There are no solid buildiings for them to seek shelter in as all of them have been razed to the ground by the Sri Lankan Army during the last phase of the war on Vanni, the sources added.
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2 resettled Vanni IDPs gone missing in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 March 2010, 16:19 GMT]
A 17-year-old student from Sangkaanai in Jaffna peninsula and a family man from Naaranthanai in the islets of Jaffna, both Internally Displaced Persons brought from Vavuniyaa camps and resettled in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Army, had been reported missing by their family members to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office. The mother of the student and the wife of the family man had made the complaints to HRC.
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EPRLF releases election manifesto in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 March 2010, 18:03 GMT]
Eelam People’s Revolutionary Front (EPRLF) released its election manifesto Sunday around 10:00 a.m in a press meet at EPRLF Pathmanaba faction office on Hospital Road in Jaffna, sources in Jaffna said. EPRLF and People’s Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) are jointly contesting in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa districts in the forthcoming parliamentary election. The EPRLF election manifesto was released by Sritharan, the leader of EPRLF Varathar faction. A political solution based on the right to self- determination in the Tamil provinces, creating a true democratic atmosphere and implementing speedy economic development are the main propaganda aspects mentioned in the manifesto.
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Government engaged in Sinhalese colonization in Kokkaavil – Suresh Premachandran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 March 2010, 18:17 GMT]
Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) former Jaffna parliamentarian and a TNA candidate contesting Jaffna electorate, accused Sri Lanka government of systematically colonizing Kokkaavil in Mullaiththevu district along A9 road with Sinhalese, in the TNA election campaign meeting held Thursday in Chuzhipuram-Tholpuram area, sources in Jaffna said. He also accused Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and soldiers of dismantling the vehicles abandoned by Vanni residents when they were driven to Mu’l’livaaikkaal and selling the parts in Vavuniyaa and Anuradapura making huge profit.
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‘Vanni Mouse’ wins best fiction award in international film festival

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 March 2010, 18:01 GMT]
A Tamil short film directed by a diaspora Eezham Tamil winning the best award in an international festival is seen as a first with the short film titled ‘Vanni Mouse’, which has won the best film award in the fiction category in the nine-day 11th International Short and Independent Film Festival (ISIFF) at the Shaukat Osman auditorium of Central Public Library in Dhaka on Friday. Commenting on the award, Barrister S. J. Joseph of Eelavar Cine Arts Council, based in London told TamilNet on Monday that this was the first time an Eezham Tamil artist being awarded at an international film festival.
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