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 >>

Iluppaik-kadavai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 December 2010, 01:32 GMT]
The Iluppai tree locality to pass through
Full story >>

Properties, temples of uprooted Tamils robbed in Valikaamam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 00:09 GMT]
How the number of Tamils in Valikaamam in Jaffna district has dwindled during the last 20-years due to Sri Lankan genocidal onslaught on Tamil homeland became evident when only 970 families registered for resettlement in the three villages of I'lavaalai and Viththakapuram in Valikaamam North, bordering the Sri Lanka Army declared High Security Zone, civil sources in Jaffna said. 1746 families were registered in the same area in 1990, according to the statistics by Thellippazhai divisional secretariat. The uprooted civilians, who were allowed to visit their villages last weekend and later denied of proper access-route to their villages, also complained that even the few properties that remained in their houses and temples have been robbed away after they were allowed access to the villages.
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 >>

Youth shot, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 November 2010, 15:27 GMT]
A youth from A’laveddi in Jaffna was admitted to Jaffna Teaching Hospital with gun shot injuries on his hands and stomach Thursday. He had been first rushed to Thellippahai government hospital but was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Sarvodaya officials in North accused of swindle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 08:47 GMT]
The farmers among the resettled families in Vanni accuse the officials of Sarvodaya for having sold them inferior quality seeds at a high price making huge profits for themselves, sources in Vanni said. The Sarvodaya officials buying black grams and other grains whole sale in Colombo market at low prices sell them in packets as quality seeds at high prices, the sources added. Meanwhile, the agricultural implements issued to the resettled people in Vanni are found to be of poor quality and unsuitable for use in Vanni, the sources said. The people of Vanni already rendered destitute by the war on Vanni are further cheated by unscrupulous men in organizations like Sarvodaya, the sources in Vanni said.
Full story >>

War affected women in North exploited by SL ministry agents

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 October 2010, 06:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka government ministries affected by the slump in garment exports due to the loss of GSP Plus face an acute shortage of workers in the garment industries in the South. The workers, mostly women, have left due to drastic pay cuts. The ministries now attempt to lure war affected young women in the North to work in the garment factories in the South at much lower salary. In this context, two groups of young women from Thellippazhai and Uduvil Divisional Secretariat areas in Jaffna have been taken to Colombo Thursday by the agents of some ministries, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, an attempt to entice some war affected young women in Ki’linochchi in Vanni with employment by a company in Kandy with the intention of misusing them had been stopped with the timely intervention of local social activists.
Full story >>

SLA reluctant to disclose information of LTTE detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 October 2010, 06:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army did not disclose the number of ex-combatants of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) still held in the SLA special detention camp located in its High Security Zone in Thellippazhai in Jaffna when it allowed 23 female Liberation Tiger ex-combatants to join their families Friday evening. Sri Lanka Minister of Rehabilitation & Prison Reforms D. E. W. Gunasekara who was the chief guest in the Friday event said that the released ex-combatants had undergone vocational training, sources in Jaffna said. However, SLA is reluctant to reveal the number of LTTE ex-combatants still held in the SLA special detainment camp. Families of the detainees still held in the special camp are in a state of anxiety and fear as they do not know of their fate, the sources added.
Full story >>

EPDP Thinamurasu published as daily paper in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 October 2010, 03:14 GMT]
Thinamurasu, the Eealam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) weekly that was published in Colombo and issued in Jaffna peninsula by EPDP leader and Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda was released in Jaffna Friday as a daily when he opened his press located in Chu’ndikkuzhi on Jaffna main road. It is alleged that Douglas Devananda had coerced the editors and workers of former ‘Namathu Eezhanaadu’ daily which had stopped publishing, into working in his newly opened press, local media sources said.
Full story >>

Colombo Crime Division arrests press owner in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 September 2010, 18:25 GMT]
A special team of Colombo Crime Division arrested the owner of Churapi Achchakam (printing press), C. Kuruthev, in Jaffna Tuesday and took him to Colombo for inquiry, sources in Jaffna said. Kuruthev’s brother, the General Manager of the Tamil daily Namathu Eezhanaadu, C. Sivamaharajah, had been assassinated at his house in Thellippazhai in August 2006. Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda, the head of Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), had sought to acquire Churapi Achchakam to print a Tamil Daily in the name of Thinamurasu to which Kuruthev had not consented, media circles in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

SL Army, Archaeology dept appropriate lands of uprooted Tamils in Maathakal

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 September 2010, 07:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka government’s archaeological department with the help of Sri Lanka Army is constructing more structures in Thirvadinilai in Maathakal in Vallikaamam North SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), in addition to a Buddhist temple erected in October 2009. This area had been the home of Tamil families living there since ancient times evicted twenty years ago when Valikaamam North HSZ was established by SLA. Now the families are not allowed even to see their own places in Maathakal while thousands of Sinhala Buddhist pilgrims visit the newly built temple daily which now has become a 'tourist attraction' in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Youth abducted in Valikaamam escapes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 August 2010, 04:35 GMT]
Two unidentified men stopped a youth on motorcycle Tuesday night in Thellippazhai, located next to the High Security Zone (HSZ) of occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Valikaamam North and abducted him on his motorcycle. The youth managed to escape the abductors and sought protection at Thellippazhai police station, sources in Thellippazhai said. The men could not have abducted the youth without the knowledge of the SLA soldiers present in the place, the sources said.
Full story >>

Devotees not permitted to stay overnight to continue rituals in Keerimalai temple

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 August 2010, 06:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Jaffna peninsula did not allow thousands of Hindu devotees Monday night to continue the religious rituals to their ancestors in the historically famous Keerimalai Nakuleasvaram temple located in the SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North, sources in Jaffna said. The residents of this area, evacuated 20 years ago by SLA have not been permitted to resettle in their own properties which are under SLA occupation. Earlier in April, SLA had put up notices that no one should pollute the temple pond and the seas around as the area has been declared as a tourist spot. This infringement on religious rights had angered the devotees who gather to perform rites which had been observed by Hindus through ages.
Full story >>

Swiss ambassador to Sri Lanka visits Jaffna, German ambassador's visit cancelled

[TamilNet, Monday, 14 June 2010, 18:39 GMT]
Ms. Ruth Flint, Switzerland ambassador to Sri Lanka arrived in Jaffna Monday where she met Jaffna Government Agent (GA) K. Ganesh in Jaffna Secretariat and discussed development projects carried out by Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Jaffna peninsula. Incidentally, TamilNet had reported Friday the construction of a school by CDC in Maravanpulavu in Jaffna district at a cost of 18 million rupees where people have not resettled due to insecurity. Meanwhile, the German ambassador to Sri Lanka who was to participate in a cultural program Monday organized by German Cultural Society in Jaffna had cancelled the visit without any official information for the last minute cancellation of the visit, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

SLA releases 495 Tamils detained in special detention centres in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 05:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) released 495 Tamil detainees held in Thellippazhai Special Rehabilitation Centre and Kaithadi SLA detention centre in an event held in Jaffna Veerasingham Hall Tuesday. 270 students, 198 boys and girls of school going age, 72 Jaffna University students, 125 men and women claimed to have been former Liberation Tiger cadres were officially handed over to their parents at the event.
Full story >>

Valikaamam HSZ resettlement issue remains unresolved

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 18 May 2010, 09:46 GMT]
The issue of resettling families uprooted from their properties by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) for the establishment of High Security Zone (HSZ) discussed in a meeting in Thellippazhai Divisional Secretariat Monday was not resolved due to the non-cooperation of the Tamil political leaders, the representatives of the Welfare Organizations for Uprooted Persons (WOUP) who arranged the meeting said. WOUP had requested all the parliamentarians of Jaffna district to raise their voices together to solve the issue, its representatives said.
Full story >>

SLA instructs public on celebrating its Mu’l’l’ivaaikkal victory in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 17 May 2010, 20:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high command in Palaali military head quarters released Monday a media directive to Jaffna dailies calling all government offices, schools, shops, public markets and people, in Jaffna peninsula to hoist the Sri Lanka National flag in their places Tuesday, celebrating the first anniversary of SLA Mu’l’livaaikkal victory, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, SLA has also announced that more than 600 young women held in Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp and Kaithadi SLA detention camp are to be released in an event to be held in Jaffna Veeraisngham Hall Tuesday, the sources added.
Full story >>

Resettlement of uprooted civilians remains rejected in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 15 May 2010, 11:05 GMT]
The civilians uprooted from Valikaamam in Vadamaraadchi by occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) converting their lands into High Security Zone (HSZ) 20 years ago have lost all hopes despite repeated promises and announcements made by government ministers, officials and Jaffna SLA Commander as SLA authorities continue to deny permission for resettlement, according to A.C. Nadarajah, one of nearly a hundred thousand uprooted persons in Jaffna peninsula. Mr. Nadarajah, a former principal, social activist and the present manager of ‘Yarl Thinakural’ in Jaffna, leads one of the welfare organizations for uprooted civilians in Jaffna peninsula. "It is obvious that the main reason for this predicament is the adamancy of the SLA to vacate the lands and properties confiscated from thousands of families in Jaffna peninsula," Mr. Nadarajah told journalists in Jaffna.
Full story >>

SLA releases Vanni civilians from Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre, opens Clock Tower road

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 April 2010, 10:28 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) released 106 Vanni uprooted persons including young men and women held in Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Centre (SRC) and opened Clock Tower Road in Jaffna town Wednesday in a last minute attempt to support the government in the context of Thursday parliamentary election, sources said. Jaffna SLA Commander Major Gen. Mahintha Kathurasinghe presided at the official event held at Thellippazhai SRC Thursday morning and later officially opened Clock Tower Road which had been closed by SLA for the last 15 years. Jaffna Government Agent, K. Ganesh, Jaffna University Vice-chancellor Prof. Shanmugalingan, Commanding Officer of SLA 515th Division G. A. Jayasundara participated in the event at Thellippazhai.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>