500 Tamil police personnel to be appointed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 09 September 2009, 08:19 GMT]
Jaffna district Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP), Roshan Fernando, said that 500 Tamil young men and women are to be selected to be trained as police constables, sub-inspectors and inspectors to serve in Jaffna district to meet the need for Tamil police personnel, in a press meet held Tuesday in Jaffna police station, sources in Jaffna said.
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SL Minister participates in Jaffna Technical College event

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 July 2009, 09:12 GMT]
With Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) election in a month’s time, Sri Lanka government ministers and its key officials continue to visit Jaffna in an effort to gather support to the ruling United People’s Freedom Alliance (UPFA) candidates in Jaffna and Minister Piyasena Gamage was in Jaffna Monday to participate in an event at Jaffna Technical College (JTC) related to the governments ‘180 Day Programme’ under its much publicized ‘Spring of the North’ project, sources in Jaffna said.
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SL Attorney General conducts workshop in Jaffna for trainees

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 July 2009, 05:28 GMT]
“Sri Lanka’s Attorney General (AG) stressing on building up confidence among residents of Jaffna peninsula in Sri Lanka’s legal and judicial systems sounds not only discordant but also ridiculous when he has conspicuously failed to comment on or discuss the fate of more than a hundred civilians languishing in Jaffna Prison and in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Special Rehabilitation Camps in the peninsula without being brought to trial,” one of the magistrates in Jaffna peninsula who attended the meeting held by Attorney General, Mohan Peiris, at Palaali SLA Head Quarters Sunday around 9:30 a.m, said.
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SLA opens Special Rehabilitation Camp in Kaithadi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 July 2009, 17:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has placed youngsters over 14 years of age, suspected to have been trained to handle weapons by Liberation Tigers in Vanni, in its newly opened Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) located in Kaithadi Saiva Children Home, sources in Jaffna said. Some young people who were held along with their families in Kaithadi Saiva Children Home, converted into an internment centre earlier, had been taken away by SLA to its Thellippazhai Special Rehabiltation Camp and no information about them is available, the sources said.
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IDPs living on Jaffna railway track area evicted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 June 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Families of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) living on Sri Lanka government railway properties since they were evicted by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) twenty years ago from their residences in Valikaamam North, were forced to leave Tuesday to leave their temporary shelters in railway crossings, stations and officers’ quarters as the dead line to quit being 30 June, sources in Jaffna said. The government officials and SLA officers who were very keen to evict the families had not provided any alternate place for them to move in, the families complained.
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UN Jaffna officials accused of misreporting in favour of GOSL, SLA

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 June 2009, 17:23 GMT]
Civil society sources in Jaffna raised accusations against United Nation (UN) Jaffna officials for releasing facts and statistics, related to the detainees held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps, provided by Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and SLA, instead of the true situation prevailing in the camps, to the outer world. For instance, the UN officials in their June 15 report said that only four detainees had died in the past six months in Jaffna camps where as many have died including a woman due to septicemia, in a meeting held in Jaffna town Thursday, participants in the meeting said.
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Fate of young detainees in Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation camp bleak

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 June 2009, 11:58 GMT]
The fate of nearly 300 young women and more than 500 young men from Vanni held in Thellippazhai Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) continues to remain unceratin and bleak, local NGO sources expressed concern. Education officials who had visited SRC said that there are more than a hundred youngsters between 14 to 18 ages whose educational needs are ignored by SLA authorities in charge of SRC. Neither UNICEF nor any other international organization has been permitted to visit these young detainees, sources in Jaffna said.
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IDPs occupying railway properties in Jaffna to be evicted

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 June 2009, 11:13 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) has instructed all Internally Displaced People (IDPs) presently occupying railway stations and other railway properties including living quarters and the railway track areas from Thellippazhai to Kodikaamam to vacate them before 20 June, sources in Jaffna said. The government decision to resume train service from Vavuniya to Kaangeasanththu’rai soon and its directive to the GA is the reason for the urgent eviction order. The IDPs, more than 20,000 in number, are in a quandary as no alternate places for them to relocate have been arranged by the authorities, the sources added
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SLA denies permission to Jaffna HRC to visit Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna denied permission to the local officials of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office to visit Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation Camp where more than 600 young men and women from Vanni are detained, sources in Jaffna said. The officials routinely visit the above camp to attend to matters related to human rights violation like torture. SLA said that only on permission from the Justice Ministry in Colombo the officials would be permitted to visit the said Rehabilitation camp, HRC Jaffna sources said.
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SLA removes young women to Thellippazhai SLA camp

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 05:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers took away nearly a hundred young women from Vanni held in Thenmaraadchchi SLA detention centres in buses to Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC), claiming that the young women had been given military training by Liberation Tigers, sources in Jaffna said. The young women, however, were brought back to the detention centres following the strong protest and agitation raised by the parents and family members of the young women, the sources added.
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SLA forcibly removes youths from its detention centres in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have forcibly taken away young men and women among the Vanni civilians held in the SLA detention centres in Thenmaraadchi and Vadamaraadchi, according to NGO representatives who visited the detention centres. The family members who raised protest against the abduction of their children in Mirusuvil detention centre have been taken away from the centre for ‘interrogation’ by SLA soldiers, the sources added. SLA officials say that the youths taken away are to be placed in the SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) located in Thellippazhai High Security Zone (HSZ).
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Colombo SLHRC restricts its Jaffna office functions

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Colombo Head Office Secretary, Ms. Chandra Ellawela, has instructed Jaffna office not to admit anyone seeking protection to their lives into the office but to get the assistance of the police to check them and not to take them to Court in HRC vehicles but in private vehicles, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, it has been decided to instruct persons seeking protection to their lives to do so in one of the five Magistrate Courts in Jaffna peninsula, in a high level meeting between Jaffna Additional Magistrate, T. Wicknarajah and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, according to directions released by the Additional Magistrate, the sources added.
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76 Vanni civilians taken to SLA Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 06:10 GMT]
Seventy-six Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna peninsula have been forcibly taken by SLA to Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation centre, according to complaints made by the persons’ relatives in the detention centres to NGOs in Jaffna. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, in a press notification Sunday, said that the 76 Vanni civilans have volunteered to be placed in Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation Centre, sources in Jaffna said.
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Family man knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 15:26 GMT]
Unidentified persons knifed to death a family man in Thurkkaapuram, a village close to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai Thursday night during curfew hours, sources in Jaffna said. The victim had been sleeping outside his house and his family members saw his body Friday early morning and informed Thellippazhai police.
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Court recommendation on moving HSZ in Valikaamam ignored

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 07:42 GMT]
The newly appointed Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander who had earlier rejected the recommendation by the committee appointed by the Supreme Court to expedite resettlement of displaced residents in Thellippazhai has allowed demining on both sides of Kaangkeasanththu’rai-Jaffna road so that students and patients to Union College and Cancer Treatment Hospital in Thellippazhai could access the institutions that are located within SLA High Security Zone (HSZ), Jaffna District Coordinating Committee (DCC) officials said. However, it is not known when the said road will be opened for public use, the sources added.
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Number of civilians fleeing war to Jaffna drops sharply

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 16:26 GMT]
Despite announcement made by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) over loudspeakers in the last few days calling people in Liberation Tigers held area in Vanni to cross over the no man’s land into Jaffna district, only around ten persons had come to Jaffna Tuesday and Wednesday, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. News of civilians in the SLA detention centres in Jaffna district being forcibly taken away to the SLA Special Rehabilitation camp in Thellippa’lai and the restriction to which the inmates are subjected to appear to have discouraged anyone willfully leaving Liberation Tigers held area in Vanni, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA takes away 65 detainees including students to Thellippa’lai Camp

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers forcibly took away Saturday and Sunday 65 detainees including students from three SLA detention centres in Jaffna district where civilians fleeing war in Vanni were held, sources in Jaffna said. The soldiers took away the 65 detainees to the SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) in Thellippa’lai claiming they were involved in terrorist activities. Though this matter was expected to be raised in the Tuesday meeting in Jaffna Secretariat held to discuss the problems faced by the inmates in the SLA detention centres, none of the representatives of the local and international organizations serving the interests of children, including UNICEF and the education officials, had mentioned the abduction of the detainees by SLA soldiers during the week-end, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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SLA abducts 11 students from Koappaay detention camp

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 April 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers forcibly took away Sunday eleven students held along with their parents in the SLA detention camp in Koappaay Teacher Training College hostel, according to Education officials who visited the detention centre Monday. The students were taken to the SLA Rehabilitation Camp in Thellippalai, the parents of the students told the officials. This incident has created shock and fear among the detainees held in the SLA detention centres in Jaffna and Thenmaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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ILO delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
A three-member delegation of International Labour Organization (ILO) visited Jaffna last week and participated in a meeting, related to the rehabilitation of persons whom SLA claims to have surrendered themselves to it, held in Jaffna District Secretariat with Additional Government Agent, S. Sivasamy, under the auspices of the government of Sri Lanka. Local NGO representatives who were invited to participate later said that the conference was but another attempt of the government to raise funds for maintaining the SLA detention centres in which the civilians fleeing war in Vanni are being held.
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Swiss embassy First Secretary visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
First Secretary of the Swiss Embassy in Sri Lanka, Fiona Corrigan, arrived Sunday on a two day visit to Jaffna to participate in events related to the projects of the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. The delay by the Defence Ministry in handling the Ambassador’s request for permission to visit Jaffna was said to be reason why the Ambassador was unable to attend the events, the sources said. The First Secretary will be visiting the various projects the Swiss Development Corporation in the peninsula, and is expected to stay in Jaffna until Tuesday.
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