Sinhala settlers in Jaffna rob rain-affected Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 December 2010, 09:57 GMT]
Tamil families who had to temporarily leave their houses in low lying resettlement lands in Naavatkuzhi and returned back have found their properties robbed by settlers of a newly established Sinhala colony. According to latest reports, the number of families in the Sinhala colony in Naavatkuzhi has increased to 186 as Colombo was scheming ways to set up more Sinhala settlements in the peninsula. Resettled Tamil families also complain of theft during nights.
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One did not fly over

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 04:54 GMT]
It was billed as a ‘private’ visit. But when Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse flew to Britain on Monday, the entourage he took with him included Foreign Minister G. L. Peiris, Education Minister S.B.Dissanayake and even a Provincial Council member, Nauzer Fauzi, amongst other politicians. Also came Sri Lanka Army Major General Chagi Gallage – though he was Thursday reportedly scrambling to find a flight out to escape an arrest warrant UK lawyers are building a case for. The only member of President Rajapsksa’s entourage not to get a visa to Britain, The Times newspaper reports, was Tamil paramilitary leader and ruling party Parliamentarian, Douglas Devananda.
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SLA suspends resettlement in Valikaamam North HSZ villages

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 30 November 2010, 10:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army Sunday suspended the resettlement of displaced people of three village (GN) divisions including I'lavaalai and Viththakapuram after the civil authorities ceremonialy launched resettlement of 970 families in Valikaamam North sector of Jaffna district on Saturday with a pooja at Nakuleasvaram temple, attended by EPDP leader and minister Douglas Devananda and Tamil National Alliance MPs. The military officials have said there were crucial security establishments with minefields on the way to the villages. As a result, the much awaited resettlement has again been postponed, this time for 'another month'. Meanwhile, informed sources said that the whole episode of resettlement was hurriedly staged at Keerimalai temple to coincide with the visit by Indian Foreign Minister S.M. Krishna to Jaffna last week.
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Jaffna dailies threatened not to cover Heroes’ Day

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 18:26 GMT]
Two helmeted armed men arriving on motor cycles Thursday night to the offices of two Tamil dailies published in Jaffna issued letters threatening them not to publish any news about Heroes’ Day that falls on Saturday, media sources in Jaffna said. The letter warned that the offices of dailies which fail to pay heed to the warning will be burnt.
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New Secretaries appointed to ‘Mahinda Chintana’ government

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 November 2010, 12:24 GMT]
55 Secretaries, the highest civil servants of the ministries appointed Tuesday by the President of the Colombo government Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, were advised by him to discharge their duties properly according to the ‘Mahinda Chintana’, reports Daily Mirror. Structuring the ministries in his second term of office, Mr. Rajapasksa handed over new appointment letters to the secretaries of the various ministries. The Mahinda Chintana list of Secretaries has one Tamil and one Muslim among the 55. The lone Tamil secretary is appointed to the Ministry of Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development for which Mr. Douglas Devananda is the minister.
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SDC hands over completed building to Education Department in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 16:20 GMT]
Officials from the Switzerland Embassy in Colombo rushed to Jaffna Tuesday to open a school building built by Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Ma’ravanpulavu in Thenmaraadchi avoiding the standing instruction by Sri Lanka government to all Government and Non-government Organizations to invite its ministers and military officials to any public or ceremonial event held by them, sources in Jaffna said. The building was handed over to the Jaffna Education Department by the visiting Swiss Embassy officials. Northern Province Governor Major Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri, SL minister Douglas Devananda and his party parliamentarian Athavan are alleged of compelling the NGOs and voluntary organizations to invite them as chief guests to the opening of the development projects completed by them.
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Opposition Councilors accuse JMC administration of embezzlement, corruption

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 24 November 2010, 06:48 GMT]
Eight opposition councilors of Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) led by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) councilor, M. Remediyas have jointly released a media report Tuesday accusing the JMC administration run by ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) of embezzlement and corruption. The councilors have also sent a detailed report of the misadministration of JMC by its Mayor, Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam and Deputy Mayor in collaboration with Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda, to the Governor of Northern Province. The councilors pointed out in their report that the JMC administrators continue to reject whatever proposals submitted by the opposition councilors.
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Tamil Nadu fishermen society delegation to visit Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 November 2010, 05:45 GMT]
A delegation of representatives of fishermen societies in Raameasvaram and Tamil Nadu are expected to visit Sri Lanka shortly to conduct talks with the related authorities in Colombo on issues affecting the fishermen of both Tamil Nadu and Northern fishermen, fisheries society representatives in Jaffna said. Many decisions taken by both fishermen society representatives in the talks held in Tamil Nadu in August remain unexecuted due to non-cooperation by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), the sources added.
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Military fortresses and colonisation in Jaffna choke Tamils, threaten India

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 16 November 2010, 10:26 GMT]
The selection of locations for building new military fortresses and for colonising Sinhalese in the Jaffna peninsula is sinisterly schemed by colonial Sri Lanka to permanently squeeze the Tamil heartland. Casual visitors don’t perceive it. Tamils of collaborative politics helplessly defend it. Indian policy planners of habitual bungling compare it with what they do in Kashmir, tribal belt and northeast India and agree with it. They think that if the nation of Eezham Tamils is permanently erased and if they get one or two harbours there that is enough for the security of India. The military cum colonisation complexes come up with the full blessings of India and with Chinese material help. But eventually they are going to be trained on India, said an academic in Jaffna, citing the complexes that squeeze the peninsula at strategic locations.
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Chinese companies begin road extension work in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 November 2010, 05:45 GMT]
China Railway No. 5 Engineering Group, China Aero Technological Engineering Group and China Hydro Corporation, the three Chinese companies that have undertaken the road development projects in the North of Sri Lanka funded by China, began their projects in Jaffna Sunday. Namal Rajapaksa, son of Sri Lanka president Mahinda Rajapaksa and MP for Hambantotoa, inaugurated the projects in Jaffna peninsula accompanied by SL ministers G. L. Pieris, Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Government Agent Ms. Imelda Sukumar and parliamentarian Ranga, sources in Jaffna said. The team of SL ministers and parliamentarians had inaugurated similar road development work in Vanni Saturday.
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Paramilitary-employed Daya master says ex Tiger members unable to secure jobs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 17:23 GMT]
“All the former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants detained should be released under general amnesty and steps should be taken to reunite them with their families enabling them to lead a normal life,” V. Thayanithy, who was once an employed media coordinator of the movement, said while 'witnessing' at a session before Mahinda Rajapaksa's 'Lessons Learnt & Reconciliation Commission' (LLRC) in Oorkaavattu’rai St. Henry’s Church, in the islets of Jaffna on Sunday. 'Employers are reluctant to give jobs to the rehabilitated and released former LTTE combatants. They are unable to lead a normal life and they should be assisted to rejoin the society, Mr. Thayanithy said.
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Highways 'development' projects with Chinese aid in North to be inaugurated

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 November 2010, 09:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan government has announced that inauguration ceremonies are to be held Sunday and Monday in the North where foundation stones for various road development projects will be laid by a group of Sri Lanka ministers and deputy ministers including Basil Rajapaksa, Douglas Devananda and Namal Rajapaksa. Three Chinese firms have taken charge of the highway development projects and their engineers and technicians have already arrived in Jaffna and the work in the projects is to be done exclusively by Chinese work force, sources in Jaffna said.
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Media denied access to meeting in Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 09 November 2010, 06:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Minister Douglas Devananda, Jaffna Mayor Ms. Yogeswary Patkunam and the staff of Jaffna Public Library held a meeting Monday to consider the mode of admitting tourists to visit the library following the incident where unruly Sinhala tourists from South had stormed into the library on 24 October. Media persons were not allowed to cover the meeting but sent away. Douglas Devananda had been accusing local media to have fabricated the said incident adding that the Mayor of Jaffna and the President’s Task Force had categorically stated that no such incident had taken place, sources in Jaffna said. It was decided in the meeting to allow the tourists to visit the library in limited numbers, library employees said. Prof. Pon. Balasutharampillai, former Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University and advisor to Douglas Devananda, too attended the meeting.
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SLA blocks access road to resettled areas in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Thursday, 04 November 2010, 05:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying Vadamaraadchi East has blocked Point Pedro-Maruthangkea’ni road, the main access road to Vadamaraadchi East where nearly 6,000 uprooted persons were resettled recently, Non-government Organizations (NGO) representatives in Jaffna said. The resettled families suffering without any help from Sri Lanka government after being allowed to resettle depend entirely on NGOs for their sustenance. The access road, opened with much publicity by SLA and Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda when the people were resettled, was later blocked for public. Government officials and NGOs, however, were allowed to use the road. But SLA has now blocked the road even to them. The NGOs are forced to suspend or abandon their assistance to the resettled families due to the closure of the main access road by SLA.
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Tourists not allowed to visit Jaffna Public Library

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 October 2010, 17:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted at the entrance of Jaffna Public Library did not allow any of the tourists who wished to visit the library Saturday, sources in Jaffna said. SLA officials had informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library according to instruction issued by government authorities. This instruction had come in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last on 22 October. SLA authorities had posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday to guard the library along with the guards of Jaffna Municipal Council Administration.
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Jaffna Public Library out of bounds to tourists

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 October 2010, 17:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials Friday informed the Chief Librarian of Jaffna Public Library that tourists will not be permitted to visit the library and that SLA soldiers will be posted outside it to maintain order, sources in Jaffna said. The officials who said that they had been instructed by high level government authorities did not, however, disclose who the authorities were. This instruction comes in the wake of a gang of Sinhala tourists storming into the library and vandalizing the premises of the Thanthai Chelva memorial monument located next to the library last Saturday. SLA authorities have posted four soldiers at the entrance of the library Friday.
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SLA targets prominent Tamil businessmen in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 October 2010, 12:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has cast its net wide to arrest around 163 leading Tamil traders in Jaffna on charges that they had funded Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the past, Jaffna Traders Association (JTA) circles said. Some of them had been already arrested and detained after being interrogated in the notorious ‘Fourth Floor’ of the SLA Intelligence Wing in Colombo. SLA is engaged in rounding up the prominent Tamil traders claiming that it has evidence of their involvement with LTTE found in the statements of the traders in their detention, the sources added. The real motive behind this move is to cripple the prominent Tamil traders in Jaffna to eliminate them competing with the Sinhala traders who continue to invade Jaffna since the opening of A9 land route, JTA circles said.
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Confidential report on Devananda to Madras High Court

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 October 2010, 13:20 GMT]
A lower court in Chennai handed over a confidential report to the Madras High Court related to a 1994 order declaring Sri Lanka minister Douglas Devananda a “proclaimed offender” in connection with a murder case in Chennai in 1986, Press Trust of India reported Wednesday. Douglas Devananda had filed a petition in August seeking to set aside the lower court order declaring him as a proclaimed offender treating him as an absconding accused, it further said. Consequently Justice G. M. Akbar of Madras High Court had called for a report from the trial court on 22nd September 2010.
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Villagers stop illegal sand excavation in Vadamaraadchi East

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 October 2010, 05:46 GMT]
The people of Kuddaththanai East in Vadamaraadchi protesting against the illegal sand excavation in their villages by persons of ‘Maheswary Funds’, an organ of Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP), stopped the men and vehicles excavating Friday, sources in Vadamaraadchi said. Indiscriminate excavation of sand has caused seepage of sea water into their village submerging the public crematorium and the villages too will be submerged if the sand excavation is not stopped, the protestors said. Maheswary Funds representatives joined by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel and EPDP men who arrived at the scene had to agree to suspend the excavation for two days. The villagers will continue their united protest unless the excavation is stopped completely, the protestors said.
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Sri Lankan police fail to protect harassed female ex-combatant

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 October 2010, 09:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka police in Veala’nai in the islets of Jaffna have ignored the complaints made by a former underage female member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on attempts made by a gang of ten men on 09 October to abduct and sexually abuse her in her relative’s house in Veala’nai. IOM and UNICEF officials who had facilitated her release from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp and placed her in the custody of her relatives too have not taken steps to protect her from being intimidated by her tormentors even in Jaffna Teaching Hospital where she is admitted for treatment, the girl said. The family members who had given her refuge had been attacked by the gang and injured when they tried to protect the girl.
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