31 percent voters of Jaffna Municipal Council limit displaced

[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 03:18 GMT]
11.6 percent of the voters eligible to cast their votes in the elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) are detained in several camps for internally displaced in Jaffna district, and 20.9 percent IDPs are living elsewhere out of the district in several parts of Sri Lanka. About 71.8 percent are currently living within the JMC limit, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The election to the JMC is scheduled to be held on August 8 along with Vavuniyaa Urban Council.
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Increase of typhoid, hepatitis reported in internment camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 31 July 2009, 16:56 GMT]
An increase of Typhoid fever and viral Hepatitis has been reported in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni civilians in Sri Lanka Army custody are being detained against their wish, health authorities in Vavuniyaa said. Meanwhile, local NGO workers complained that doctors from South who do not converse in Tamil have been deployed inside the internment camps, creating a difficult situation for the Tamil people to communicate using their language.
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3 TNA candidates in Vavuniyaa polls receive death threats - CMEV

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 July 2009, 11:56 GMT]
The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) said Wednesday that it received complaints that three candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) contesting the election to the Vavuniyaa urban Council have been issued with death threats.
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Free civilians from detention camps, HRW tells Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 July 2009, 11:49 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government should immediately release the more than 280,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians held in detention camps, Ney York-based rights group, Human Rights Watch (HRW), again demanded Wednesday. “The government has effectively sealed off the detention camps from outside scrutiny. Human rights organizations, journalists, and other independent observers are not allowed inside,” HRW said. Condemning the mass detention as “outrageous”, HRW cited comments by Walter Kälin, the UN secretary-general’s representative on internally displaced persons, that: “Prolonged internment of such persons would not only amount to arbitrary detention but it also aggravates the humanitarian situation needlessly.”
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Attend to Vanni IDPs’ problems first – Jaffna University Students Union

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 July 2009, 17:10 GMT]
“We strongly criticize the Tamil politicians who seek votes without attending to the problems faced by the Vanni people held in the internment camps in Vavuniyaa,” Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) said in a press release Tuesday in Jaffna. “We are deeply dissatisfied with some Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians who do not attend to the immediate problems of the Vanni IDPs,” JUSU said in its press release.
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Sri Lankan port yet to clear Mercy Mission supplies

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 28 July 2009, 11:09 GMT]
Sri Lankan port authorities in Colombo are refusing to hand over the humanitarian supplies of Tamil diaspora Mercy Mission, stating that the Indian authorities are yet to produce necessary documents including the Bill of Lading, Sri Lankan Red Cross officials in Colombo said. Meanwhile, customs authorities in Colombo said though the government has waved off the import duty, the Sri Lankan Red Cross has to pay demurrage for harbouring the cargo in the port.
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SL Appeal Court fixes order in MPs’ petition to visit internment camps

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Court of Appeal Monday fixed the order for August 24 in a petition filed by leading opposition parliamentarians seeking the court to order the authorities concerned to allow them to visit camps located in Vavuniyaa where hundreds of thousands of Vanni internally displaced people are detained by the Sri Lankan military.
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TNA accuses government of using state resources in JMC election campaign

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:36 GMT]
Ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) conducted Sunday a large scale procession of vehicles organized by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) in Jaffna town in which more than a thousand supporters participated, canvassing people to vote for the Betel symbol of UPFA, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) which has also entered into the fray, accused UPFA and its ally EPDP of using government vehicles for election campaign. TNA also accused the police for being partial to UPFA in carrying out duties related to Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election, the sources added.
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173 detained students in Vavuniyaa camps qualified to enter university

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 16:34 GMT]
One hundred and seventy three students currently being detained in camps described as internment camps in Vavuniyaa, are qualified to enter the Vavuniyaa campus of the Jaffna University for the forthcoming academic year.
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New SLA Commander meets North-East commanders in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 July 2009, 02:34 GMT]
The newly appointed Commander of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), Lieutenant General Jagath Jayasuriya, met all the Security Forces Commanders of Jaffna, Vanni, Mullaitheivu, Killinochchi, Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampaarai and other senior Field Commanders in the North and East, for the first time after his assumption of duties, at the Vanni Security Forces headquarters located in Vavuniyaa Saturday. During the conference special attention was drawn to the security situation in different regions in the North and East, media reports said.
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Political struggle will continue until Tamil aspirations are met -Sampanthan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 July 2009, 18:43 GMT]
"Tamil militancy was a part of the political struggle of the Tamil people to achieve the right to self-determination in the traditional homeland of the Tamil people in the northeast. The Sri Lanka government says that the armed struggle has been completely defeated. But the political struggle of Tamil people would go on till the legitimate political aspirations of the Tamil people are achieved," said Mr.R.Sampanthan, leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentary group, addressing a meeting in Vavuniyaa Saturday in support of the TNA candidates contesting the elections to the Vavuniyaa Urban Council under the banner Ilankai Thamil Arasu Kadchchi (ITAK).
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Supreme Court calls for AG’s report

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 July 2009, 12:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s Supreme Court Friday directed the Attorney General to report on August 6 the position of the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) about releasing internally displaced families from Vanni region now being detained in several camps in Vavuniyaa to ensure their right to live anywhere according to their wish. “It is unjust to detain IDPs in camps contrary to their wish,” the Supreme Court pointed out to the Deputy Solicitor General when it took up a Fundamental Rights petition filed by a relative on behalf of a four member family now being illegally detained in Veerapuram centre of the Vavuniyaa Kovil Kulam main camp for inquiry Friday. These camps are described by human rights organizations and activists as ‘internment camps’.
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Postal voting in Jaffna, Vavuniya local elections on July 27, 28

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 14:44 GMT]
Postal voting in the forthcoming elections to Jaffna Municipal Council and Vavuniyaa Urban Council is to take place on July 27 and 28. 183 government servants are qualified to cast their votes in Vavuniyaa Urban Council and 335 out of 473 are qualified for postal voting in Jaffna Municipal Council, election department sources said.
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Vanni IDP family files FR seeking release from “internment camp”

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:35 GMT]
A Fundamental Rights violation petition has been filed in Sri Lanka Supreme Court Thursday seeking the release of a four-member family displaced from Vanni and currently being detained in one of the several camps in Vavuniyaa and to order two million rupees as compensation for illegal detention. Seventy-year-old Kanapathipillai Ehambaram of Naachchikudaa filed the FR petition on behalf of her daughter, son-in-law, and two grand daughters now being detained in a camp located in Vavuniyaa Koayil Ku'lam, legal sources said.
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Depression setting among Vanni IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 04:30 GMT]
Number of people suffering from some form of depression in the centres which are described by human rights organizations and activists as ‘internment camps’ is on the increase, Colombo media reported quoting a medical officer working in the Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) centres. The medical officer did not want to be named.
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Dengue detected among IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 July 2009, 10:09 GMT]
For the first time seven persons were admitted to Vavuniyaa general hospital Tuesday on a single day suffering from Dengue fever, according to hospital sources. Six of the thirteen patients admitted to Vavuniyaa Hospital on that day had also been detected suffering from Japanese Encephalitis. The dengue patients are said to be inmates from Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps located in Vavuniyaa. These IDP camps where hundreds of thousands of Vanni displaced persons are held are described as internment camps by human rights organizations and activists.
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Vavuniyaa hospital security tightened

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 17:15 GMT]
The deployment of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Vavuniyaa general hospital has been suddenly stepped up from Monday. SLA soldiers and police personnel are seen in every nook and corner of the hospital monitoring movement of each individual, civil sources say. All the entry and exit points of the hospital have been placed under the strict surveillance of the Sri Lankan forces.
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Court directs SLA Vanni commander to admit IDP girl to hospital

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 July 2009, 09:16 GMT]
The Supreme Court Monday directed the Commander of the Sri Lanka armed Forces Headquarters, Vanni to take steps to admit the 13-year-old child Sopika Surendranathan immediately to Anuradhapura General Hospital for medical treatment. The Bench comprising Justices Shiranee A. Bandaranaike, Saleem Marsuf and Jagath Balapatebendi made this order, subsequent to the submissions made by the Counsel for Sopika who is presently housed in the IDP camp.
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Government yet to decide on 13 plus political solution – Minister Alagaperuma

[TamilNet, Monday, 20 July 2009, 16:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Transport Minister, Dallas Alagaperuma, said Monday in a press meet in Jaffna that no final decision has been made by the government on the proposed 13 plus political solution to the ethnic issue, correcting Minister Douglas Devananda, who told the reporters that President Mahinda Rajapakse and the cabinet have accepted the 13 plus political solution. The press meet took place in the newly opened Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office in Chu’ndukkuzhi in Jaffna to which more than a hundred media persons were brought from the South. Ministers Dallas Algaperuma, Douglas Devananda and Srisena Cooray were some of the political leaders present in the meeting.
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Air of martial triumph unbefitting while controversy surrounds Tamil civilian deaths - NY Times

[TamilNet, Sunday, 19 July 2009, 16:07 GMT]
Noting that "[t]he Tamil minority has suffered discrimination and violence at the hands of various Sinhalese-dominated governments through the decades. Tamils have sought, first peacefully, then violently, the right to a measure of self-rule in Tamil-dominated areas," the New York Times in a Sunday article said, "[m]any Sri Lankans see these soldiers as heroes, but given the controversy that remains over how many Tamil civilians were killed in the last weeks of the fighting, some people find the air of martial triumph unseemly."
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