SLA blocks IDPs permanent resettlement citing Moothoor HSZ security

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 11 August 2009, 16:23 GMT]
A group of 63 Tamil families consisting of 244 members, internally displaced from their traditional villages in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district and sheltered in temporary camps located in Paalameenmeadu in Batticaloa for the last three years, were transported Tuesday in eleven buses via Verugal River to temporary shelters in Ki'liveddi welfare centre. They will remain here until an alternative site is found for them to be resettled permanently as their own traditional Tamil villages have been brought under high security zone (HSZ) following the military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Seven Tamil youths reported missing in Batticoloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 11 July 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Seven Tamil youths have gone missing in the Batticoloa district during June, and this has been reported by the relatives to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Police and the Human Rights Commission, sources in Batticoloa said.
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More Moothoor IDPs transferred to Ki’liveddi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 July 2009, 09:37 GMT]
Aaraiyampathi Vayiravar Koayil welfare centre in Batticaloa district was closed down Tuesday following the transfer of the final batch of 51 members of eighteen Tamil families displaced from Tamil villages located in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Moothoor east in Trincomalee district during 2006 April military operation. They were transported in three State sector buses via Vaakarai and Verukal to Ki’liveddi Tuesday morning. They would be sheltered in welfare centres located in Ki’liveddi, Paddiththidal and Thillaangkear’ni till alternative lands are found for them, civil authority sources said.
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SL Police shoot 3 persons dead in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 18 June 2009, 06:49 GMT]
A special team of the Sri Lankan Police in Vavuniyaa shot and killed three persons at Nelukku'lam cemetery area in Vavuniyaa division in the early hours of Thursday around 2:30 a.m. Their identities have not been revealed by the police. But, the police claimed that the victims belonged to a gang of robbers and that they were shot by the police in an encounter. However, informed sources in Vavuniyaa said there was a clash between LTTE cadres and the Police.
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SLA delays relocation of Vanni detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Plans to relocate the Vanni detainees held in schools turned into internment camps in Jaffna peninsula stall due to the reluctance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities to allow relocation activities to proceed as planned, Non-government Organizations sources in Jaffna said. SLA is particularly reluctant to establish permanent internment camps for the Vanni detainees in Chavakachcheari Thampu Thoaddam and Kodikaamam Raamaavil areas, the sources added.
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Vanni detainees in Jaffna relocated to permanent camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 15:58 GMT]
The civilians fleeing war in Vanni detained in schools converted into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Chaavakachcheari Hindu College and Kodikaamam Thirunaavukkararsu M. V. have been moved Saturday to the permanent SLA internment camp constructed in Raamaavil, Kachchaay in Kodikaamam, a press note by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said.
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Rakwana Hindu Cultural Hall opening put off due to chauvinist opposition

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 09:15 GMT]
The ceremonial opening of the newly constructed Hindu Cultural Hall in Rakwana in Ratnapura district did not take place on Friday (Siththirai Pooranai) as scheduled, due to opposition by Sinhala extremist elements. Earlier the annual festival of Rakwana Sri Muththumaariamman Koayil which was scheduled to be held from April 28 till May 10 was stopped due to opposition by Buddhist extremists that the Thear festival falls on Vesak Day. Chauvinist elements in the area said that no festival of any other religion should take place on Vesak Day.
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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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Paramilitary kills kidnapped girl in Batticaloa after ransom demand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 11:56 GMT]
Dead body of the 8-year-old Thinusika Satheeskumar, the girl reported missing since Tuesday after going to her school, was recovered inside an abandoned well in the city Saturday morning. The victims' relatives have alleged that the killers were paramilitary operatives who have been demanding 3 million rupees in ransom. Thinusika is the daughter of Satheeskumar Santhirarajah who was abducted two years ago allegedly by Karuna Group paramilitary men demanding ransom. He was reportedly slain in Welikande even after a part of the ransom was paid. Now, a former PLOTE paramilitary operative is alleged to be the man behind the abduction and murder of the girl.
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TNA parliamentarians condemn disappearance of students in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 16:12 GMT]
“How could the government say that normalcy has been restored to Eastern Province and that civil administration takes place when many students in Batticaloa, Ampaa’rai and Trincomalee have gone missing?” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarians asked, in a joint report which called on the government to take action to have the abducted students released at the earliest, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Students, public agitate against abduction of girl student in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 30 April 2009, 11:42 GMT]
Students and public continued their agitation for the second day Thursday in Batticaloa town and its suburbs demanding the immediate release of the eight-year-old girl student of Batticaloa Koaddaimunai Junior Viththiyaalayam who had gone missing mysteriously Tuesday, sources in Batticaloa said. Students of all the schools in Batticaloa town and its suburbs have boycotted classes in protest against the suspected abduction of the girl student.
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Youths held in Jaffna SLA detention centre escape

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 April 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna said that a number of youths held in the SLA detention centre in Nelliyadi Maththiya Mahaviththiyalayam escaped Monday and Tuesday into residential areas in Vadamarraadchi. SLA is engaged in announcing over loudspeakers fitted to vehicles instructing the escapees to surrender, informing that the escapees would be granted general amnesty, since Monday in Vadamaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said.
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Schools in Jaffna to reopen Monday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 13:40 GMT]
Directors of Education in Jaffna peninsula met Saturday to explore possibilities of reopening the schools for the second term and to find alternate arrangements to continue education for the students of the schools where civilians from Vanni are being held, sources in Jaffna said. It was decided in the meeting to reopen all schools in the peninsula on 27 Monday and to enable the students of the schools appropriated, to study in the schools located close by, based on a shift system, Education Department sources said.
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Plans afoot to establish SLA concentration village in Kodikaamam

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 17:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities have instructed Jaffna Government Agent to have the mines sown in SLA 55th Division main artillery base located at Kodikaamam in Thenmaraadchi removed as the first step to hold nearly eleven thousand Vanni civilians, now held in various SLA detention centres in Jaffna, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. Danish Demining Organization (DDO) has already begun clearing land mines and the debris from artillery and Multi-barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire, the sources said.
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Thousands of civilians under SLA custody in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is said to be holding civilians from Vanni in Iyakkachchi without permitting them to enter Jaffna, since Monday, according to reliable sources in Jaffna. So far, only 4,325 civilians who were brought to Point Pedro in fishing boats by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) have been placed in the SLA 'detention centres' in Thenmaraadchi, according to Divisional Secretariat sources there. Several thousands of civilians were caught by the SLA on Tuesday when it advanced its troops into the 'safety zone'. Exact number of civilians in SLA custody is not known. The SLA has been accused for separating females, males and elderly and for subjecting the separated for 'filtering' before placing them in separate internment camps.
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Contradicting figures raise fears of disappearances

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 15:05 GMT]
While the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) claimed Monday that 30,000 civilians had reached territory under its control from the so-called safety zone, civil officials in Vavuniyaa and in Jaffna reported Tuesday that only 8,500 have arrived in the districts. However, SLA officers in Jaffna gave contradicting figures ranging between 5,000 and 12,000 in the custody of the army in Vanni, waiting to be evacuated. Meanwhile, over 1,000 civilian casualties were reported from reliable sources in Vanni Monday. In addition a large number of injured were also in the custody of the SLA. Unconfirmed reports put the casualty figure much higher. It seems at least one in ten suffered either death or injury in the SLA's operation to capture the civilians on Monday.
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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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Young Tamil Teacher in Weligama detained in Booza camp

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Weligama police arrested a young Tamil Teacher who went to the police station to seek permission to travel to his family in Jaffna and sent him to Booza Detention Camp in the South, according to a complaint made to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office by his family members.
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Resettled Tamils in Moothoor east live in fear

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 15:40 GMT]
Resettled Tamil families in Moothoor east and Tamil villages in Serunuwara division in Trincomalee district are living in terror following the killings of three Tamil farmers of Paarathipuram, Thangkanakar and Poonakar. Tamil civilians in this area fear that these killings had taken place in revenge of the killing of Sinhala farmers in Serunuwara by some unidentified men last week, sources in Moothoor said.
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2 Tamils in Moothoor shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed Saturday night two Tamil civilians in front of Paarathipuram Viththiyaalayam in Moothoor in Trincomalee district. One of them was brought by the armed men from Thanganakar to Paarathipuram where both men were handcuffed behind their backs and shot to death, sources in Moothoor said.
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