Eastern University students protest against arrests

Eastern University students staged a protest demonstration Wednesday against the University administration for not taking steps obtain the release of two fellow students arrested and detained by the police for four months ago, sources in Batticaloa said. An earlier demonstration by the students failed to initiate any action from the campus administration, student leaders said. 

Sasikaran, the president of the Student Union and a third year Agricultural Faculty student, was arrested and detained by Ea'raavoor police on suspicion of involvement in the killing of a Sinhalese student in the student hostel on 21 August. 

Sasikaran is still under detention.

A Commerce Management faculty student arrested in connection with a bomb blast in Kalladi is the second student under detention.

Sri Lanka: Batticaloa Muslim trader abducted in Colombo

A Muslim trader was abducted in Colombo Sunday by unidentified armed persons while he was waiting near a mosque in Maradana. He has been identified as M.A.Abdul Majeed 59, a resident of Oaddamaavadi in Vaazhaichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district.

City honoured for work post-tsunami in Sri Lanka

Port Alberni was honoured recently for its involvement in reconstruction efforts following the tsunami of 2004 in Southeast Asia that killed more than 225,000 people.

When the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) put together reconstruction efforts, Port Alberni immediately jumped aboard.

City of Port Alberni staff were involved in Batticaloa and Galle, Sri Lanka and responded directly to local needs identified by the local authorities devastated by the tsunami.

City manager Ken Watson participated in Batticaloa where activities supported the improvement of the public works systems with a special focus on drainage systems and storm water managers.

City engineer Guy Cicon was involved in Galle, focusing on a pavement management program to assist in the reconstruction and rebuilding of infrastructure.

"Our combined efforts with Batticaloa and Galle in Sri Lanka is a prime example of how different orders of government in different countries can work together toward the betterment of our respective citizens," said Mayor McRae.

MOU BETWEEN TMVP-GOSL-UNICEF ON CHILD SOLDIERS!!!

An office to monitor the process of releasing children who were among the TMVP cadres in the East will be established in the Batticaloa Government Agent's Office in the second week of January. 

This move has been taken as a result of the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the Government of Sri Lanka, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP) and UNICEF early in December to work closely with each other to complete the process of releasing children from the fighting carders of the TMVP within the next three months. 

Eastern Province Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, TMVP leader Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, Commissioner General of Rehabilitation and Secretary to the Justice and Law Reforms Ministry Suhada Gamlath on behalf of the GOSL and the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) entered into the MoU. The Commissioner General of Rehabilitation Suhada Gamlath said that schools and rehabilitation centres will be established in the Eastern Province on the instruction of President Mahinda Rajapaksa to accommodate children who had been misled into joining any form of armed conflict. 

According to the UNICEF database, by the end of October 2008, it had received reports of 545 children being recruited by the TMVP of which 133 still remain within its fold, including 62 who are still under 18. 

Following the provincial elections in the Eastern Province in May, the TMVP clearly stated its continued commitment to stop the recruitment of children and release all children in their ranks. 

During the three month process the CGR and the UNICEF will ensure that information on children recruited by the TMVP, provided the families concerned consent, is shared with the TMVP to facilitate children's release. 

They would also ensure that the families of children to be released are contacted and supported in the preparations for children's return home and ensure that the children who cannot return home for whatever reason are provided with alternative care arrangements in keeping with their best interests. 

The CGR and the UNICEF would ensure that the children released are provided with reintegration assistance and develop modalities with the TMVP for planning and coordinating actions for the prevention of recruitment and facilitating children's release, care, protection and reintegration. 

dailynews.lk

Mahinda Rajapaksa issues an ultimatum to the LTTE: free people trapped in the war zone or face a ban.

 
A SRI LANKAN Tamil outside a refugee shelter in Batticaloa on March 9, 2008. Tens of thousands of Tamils who have fled areas under the control of the LTTE are detained in Army-run camps, says a Human Rights Watch report.

THE ultimatum issued to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by President Mahinda Rajapaksa on the afternoon of December 22 was proof enough that the situation in battle-scarred Sri Lanka could get only worse as 2009 dawns. In a speech to a mixed gathering at the Presidential Palace, Rajapaksa asked the Tigers to allow people trapped in the war zone to cross into safe areas by January 1 or face a ban with all “its consequences”.

The ultimatum came amid pitched battles between the Sri Lankan forces and the Tigers and claims and counter-claims of high casualties on the other side by both parties. The intensity of the battles could be gauged from the fact that though on November 26 the military predicted the “imminent fall” of Kilinochchi, a month later the picture was still far from clear.

Implied in Rajapaksa’s message are two ideas. One, there are no signs of an early end to the two-and-a-half–year-old Eelam War IV. Two, the government is determined to “fight to the finish”. There could be no other explanation for the threat of a ban now by the President against an outfit which has been engaged in an all-out war against the armed forces since July 2006.

No one was, in fact, surprised at Rajapaksa’s ultimatum. Many feel a ban on the Tigers is long overdue and has not been imposed by the government for a number of reasons. One of them is that it wants to appear reasonable in the eyes of the international community. A ban on the LTTE should logically have followed the government’s abrogation, in the beginning of 2008, of the Norwegian-brokered 2002 Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) on the grounds that the accord had become a farce.

The position of the government vis-a-vis the legal status of the LTTE has been incongruous for quite some time. Ironically, the LTTE is either banned or kept under watch in nearly 30 countries across the globe even as it remains a legal entity in the country where it is fighting a secessionist war against the state. Indeed, since the current phase of hostilities began about two and a half years ago, a debate has raged within the upper echelons of the Rajapaksa government on the pros and cons of a formal ban. The question was left hanging following the majority view that in practical terms a ban served little purpose.

While serving a notice on the LTTE either to let citizens in the areas under its control leave or face proscription, Rajapaksa charged the Tigers with holding innocent people as human shields against the advancing military. His assertion was corroborated by several accounts, including a December 23 report titled “Besieged, displaced and detained” by the Human Rights Watch (HRW). There are no precise numbers of the civilians trapped in the war zone of Wanni; estimates vary from 230,000 to 300,000.

The HRW has indicted the Tigers for the plight of the ordinary citizens caught in the fight between the government forces and the LTTE and emphasises the responsibility of the government to protect the interests of the people. “As the LTTE has lost ground to advancing government forces, civilians have been squeezed into a shrinking conflict zone. The encroaching fighting has left many homeless, hungry, and sick, and placed their lives increasingly in danger,” it notes.

In the name of security the government has compounded the plight of ordinary citizens by ordering the United Nations and international humanitarian agencies to leave the Wanni. The HRW report details the humanitarian crisis created by the government’s sweeping restrictions on humanitarian agencies and its policy of detaining indefinitely in military-guarded camps virtually all civilians fleeing LTTE-controlled areas.

LAKRUWAN WANNIARACHCHI/AFP 

PRESIDENT MAHINDA RAJAPAKSA and Army chief Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka during the Sri Lanka Army Sinha Regiment Commemoration ceremony in Ambepussa on December 13, 2008.

“The LTTE has forcibly blocked civilians in areas under its control from crossing into government-held territory, compelling them to move with retreating LTTE forces. As a result, only about a thousand civilians from the Wanni have managed to reach non-combat zones and most of these, including many families, have been detained in government camps. The LTTE also has continued to force civilians, including children, to join LTTE ranks and to carry out abusive forced labour,” says the HRW report.

With humanitarian and civilian movement in and out of the Wanni restricted by both the Sri Lankan authorities and the LTTE, affected communities find it increasingly difficult to obtain desperately needed humanitarian assistance.

While conceding that officials have reason to vet new arrivals in order to ensure that LTTE fighters are not concealed among them, the HRW raises a matter of serious concern. According to its investigations, all those who cross into government-held areas, including entire families, are being detained by security forces indefinitely in camps with little prospect of joining their relatives or host-families elsewhere in Sri Lanka. “This makes them particularly vulnerable to extrajudicial killings, enforced disappearances, and other human rights abuses rampant in government-controlled territory. Forced to remain, and too fearful to flee, many are now also beyond the reach of the humanitarian agencies who seek to assist them. The government should immediately end the arbitrary detention of civilians seeking to flee the conflict,” says the HRW.

The threat of proscribing the LTTE by the Rajapaksa government is to be assessed against this background. While asserting that he “will not agree to any ceasefire that will strengthen the LTTE in any form”, Rajapaksa has left no one in doubt that the road ahead is hard. “Many evil forces will conspire to prevent the victory against terrorism, but we shall overcome them all. There will be many attempts to create division, crisis and unrest in the country, all of which are targeted at helping the cause of Tiger terror. Attempts will be made to create a negative public mood in the battle against terror. But we will face the biggest challenges and obstacles to make 2009 the Year of Heroic Victory against Terrorism,” he said.

Judiciary versus executive

Rajapaksa also used the occasion to speak his mind on what is billed as an impending clash between the judiciary and the executive over a number of subjects in general and the pricing of petroleum products in particular. The recent order of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka asking the government not to impose more than a 100 per cent tax on petrol, and the reluctance of the government to comply with the order have led to fears of a clash between the judiciary and the executive. Questioning the rationale of the government in selling a litre of petrol at (Sri Lanka) Rs.122, the court had directed that the price be reduced to Rs.100. (The exchange rate for US dollar is Sri Lanka Rs.108).

In an indirect criticism of the court order, in the same speech in which he put the LTTE on notice, Rajapaksa noted that the government needed revenue to meet the demands of development and the costs of the military operations against terrorism. “The needs of a mere 4 per cent of the people who use petrol for cars could not supersede the needs of more than 90 per cent of the people who travelled by bus and train,” he argued.

Targeting the main opposition, the United National Party, he maintained that those who petitioned the courts on the price of petrol were the same people who campaigned abroad against the extension of the GST+ (goods and services tax) relief for the country. “The issue of taxation and duties should not be looked at in isolation, but as a whole. Some people may today seek relief in court against the 300 per cent duty on cigarettes and arrack, the 450 per cent duty on whisky or the 500 per cent duty on imported luxury cars,” he said.

Little wonder, the presidential ultimatum to the LTTE hardly generated any enthusiasm. The English daily The Island, in its editorial, expressed scepticism about it. “It is only wishful thinking that [LTTE chief Velupillai] Prabakaran will stick to the President’s deadline,” it noted, adding that instead of setting deadlines for Prabakaran the President should be soliciting the help of India – especially the State of Tamil Nadu – other members of the international community, international non-governmental organisations, priests, et al, who are pressing for a ceasefire, to secure the release of the Wanni civilians.

Source :FrontLine

Living in constant fear, the Tamils are fugitives in their own land

When our white van stopped in the Muslim hamlet of Saintha Maruthu in Batticaloa district on the night of November 23, residents viewed us with fear. So my friend from the locality introduced me to them, “She is a journalist from Chennai.”

For the Tamils in Sri Lanka, a white van is terror on four wheels. “White vans have been used to abduct people, especially young Tamil men,” my friend told me. It was in such a van that Madura Guna Singam was abducted from Colombo last June. “My son was staying with my eldest daughter, Kalanayagi, in Colombo. I knocked on all doors. God knows what happened to my son,” said Madura’s mother, Velayutham Pushpavalli, 60, from Kilinochchi.

Madura’s sister Sivapatham, who stays in Vavuniya, said her brother had no links with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). “My brother was innocent. He was a van driver. They might have taken him thinking he was with the LTTE. Please give him back to us,” she said with folded hands.

Soon after the abduction, the family informed the police, but they did nothing. “We tried every avenue, the Red Cross and the human rights organisation. We met minister Douglas Devananda three times. We do not know who abducted my son and why,” said Pushpavalli. Though fragile and old, she has not given up. “I am sure he is alive and will come back,” she said.

Jayanthi Krishnan’s husband, Pushparaja Krishnakumar, 34, was abducted from Colombo in June. “Some people came to his shop in a white van and took him away,” said Jayanthi, who has a two-year-old son, Vekesh. “To run the family, I had to sell off the shop. If my husband does not return, I will have to go begging with my child,” she said.

Mukunda Sivagunaratnam, 33, was waiting to join his wife in Canada when he was arrested in June. His mother, Selvajothi, feels she led him to his fate. “He was living in London and came here to get himself registered so that he could join his wife in Canada. I suggested he join a computer course. He was abducted from the computer centre,” she said. Mukunda had called up his family saying that he was being taken by the police. Selvajothi and her daughter Darshini approached the police, who said they were unaware about the abduction. Said Darshini: “We are sure the army has done it because after the abduction, the special task force came to our house twice for inquiry.”

Unaware of Mukunda’s fate, the Canadian embassy recently sent a letter to him, asking him to appear for a medical test. “Mukunda would have been overjoyed to see the letter,” said Selvajothi. As proof of her son’s innocence, she has the ‘no objection’ certificate issued to him by the police for his travel abroad. “He had a clean record. He was a simple person. Why would anybody want to snatch him away from us?” she asked.

Idayarani knows that her son Robinson, abducted five months ago, is in Boosa detention camp in Galle, near Colombo. “There is no sign of his release. We are not allowed to see him. There is no inquiry. He just exists there,” she said. The family received a ransom call, but Idayarani cannot pay it.

Mano Ganesan, MP from Colombo and head of the Civil Monitoring Commission that tracks human rights issues of the Tamils, feels the abductions were carried out with the connivance of the army. “Anybody with a number on his mobile phone that the government thinks belongs to an LTTE cadre can be picked up, abducted or shot,” he said. Reports say there have been around 3,000 white van abductions in Sri Lanka since the ceasefire ended in 2005; 300 of them were in Colombo.

The Tamils live in constant fear of being abducted or shot. They suffer the ignominy of having to register themselves in their own places, and live as a displaced people in their own country. The government had made registration mandatory for Tamils who came to Colombo in the last five years. “They think every Tamil-speaking person is a terrorist. It shows they don’t trust us,” said Murugan, a hotel employee.

Despite the government’s statement that civilians are not affected by the war, 3,000 families are living in camps for Internally Displaced Persons in Batticaloa. Displaced during the ‘liberation’ of the east, they cannot return to their homes, which, as a woman said, “are in high security zones.” The life of IDPs on the war front in the Wanni region is even worse.

My attempts to get the permission to go to Jaffna failed. Later, a lawyer friend said it was easier for Sri Lankan passport holders to get permission. “In a family I know, the parents had UK passports and the daughter a Sri Lankan passport. The daughter went to Jaffna, but the parents’ request was rejected,” she said. “Your governments will make it a big issue if you are affected. We can be shot like dogs in Sri Lanka. No one bothers about Tamils.”

The peace in government-controlled areas is not without violence. Said S.L.M. Hanifa, a Tamil writer in Batticaloa: “We have suffered more during times of peace and ceasefire than during times of war.”

Ten 'Governance based Intervention Programme' clinics will be held in the North and East Provinces early next year

12/31/08:9:08 AM

Ten 'Governance based Intervention Programme' clinics will be held in the North and East Provinces early next year under the Tsunami Affected Areas Rebuilding Project (TAARP) to resolve overdue legal and administration related issues of the people in the tsunami affected areas.

TAARP Director and Secretary to the Justice and Law Reforms Ministry Suhada Gamlath said so far three such programme clinics were held in Batticaloa and Trincomalee Districts at Divisional Secretariat level to offer legal assistance, governance and anti corruption methods.

The three clinics held in Kaluwanchikudi, Manmunai North and Town and Gravets in Trincomalee held under the supervision of the Justice and Law Reforms Ministry were participated with 5,473 persons and 5,010 appeals were presented. As immediate action was taken, 1,498 grievances were solved the same day while 3,299 appeals were forwarded to the relevant authorities to work out resolutions. 440 applications were rejected as they lacked credibility.

The clinic was presented with appeals of legal and administrative related issues inclusive of issuance of identity cards, birth certificates, death certificates, marriage certificates, seeking legal advice and litigation help and governance issues.

The programme clinic is consists of Divisional Secretaries, Grama Niladaries and institutions like Registrar General Department, Department of Registration of Persons, Ministry of Social Service and Social Welfare, Ministry of Land and Land Development, Probation and NCPA, Legal Aid, Human Rights Commission, Police Department, Department of Fisheries, Special Mediation Board, Tsunami Housing and Compensation, Bribery or Corruption Commission, National Housing Development Authority and Public Administration Ministry.

The LTTE had delivered letters to an army camp in Vaharai, between Trinco and Batticaloa, telling the commanders there (in Venu’s words) “Quit the place or we will hit you.”

The LTTE seemed to be gearing up for an offensive in the East, and we received a blow-by-blow account. In late June, there were LTTE troops massing near Tricomalee and Jaffna. The Trinco commanders believed they could take the city in under 48 hours, but had been ordered by the leadership to hold off on their attack. The LTTE had delivered letters to an army camp in Vaharai, between Trinco and Batticaloa, telling the commanders there (in Venu's words) "Quit the place or we will hit you." It looked as though the LTTE had planned ahead to an assault on Batti. Meanwhile, the media had reported that the army was waiting for a new weapons system to arrive in Jaffna. We speculated that the LTTE, rather than attacking before the army improved its defenses, was actually waiting for the new weapons to arrive so they could steal them—a tactic they had used successfully in the past.

Police arrest Muslim armed gang in Ampaa’rai

Kalmunai police arrested a Muslim armed gang of robbers Sunday night on information given by the public. The arrested gang was allegedly involved in the several robberies and killings in Chaainthamaruthu area in Ampaa'rai district, Kalmunai police said.

The leader of the gang, Ribas Abdul Majeed, had a repeater gun when the Police apprehended him, the police said.

The other members of the gang arrested were Mohamed Riyas, 17, from Munthaiyadi Aliyaar Veethi in Chaainthamaruthu, Adampasi Mohamed Risvan, 17, of Ward 12, Chaainthamaruthu, Saleemkan Mohamed, 17, and Abdul Majeed Riyas, 26, residents of Ward 10, Chaainthamaruthu.

More than targeted lands cultivated

 

Under the "Nagenahira Navodaya" the cultivation of 100,000 acres of additional lands during Maha 2008/2009 in the Eastern Province and to enhance paddy production in the country was initiated by the Senior Advisor to the President and Member of Parliament Basil Rajapaksa. Up to now 115,000 acres of additional land have been cultivated, out of which 49,000 acres are abandoned lands in the districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara.

This was disclosed by A. R. M. Mahrouf, Secretary to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock Production and Development, Rural Industries Development and Fisheries (Eastern Province) in an exclusive interview with the Daily News recently.

He said this was made possible due to the able leadership of Senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa with the fullest co-operation of the Minister of Nation Building Susantha Punchnilame, Governor Rear Admiral Mohan Wijewickrama, Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, Minister of Agriculture Thuraiappa Nawaratnarajah, the respective District Secretaries and the Officials of the Department of Agrarian Services and the Department of Agriculture.

Mahrouf said although the rains commenced late this season in mid October, more than the targeted abandoned lands have been cultivated, Assistance was given to farmers in terms of land preparation and free seed paddy by the INGOs and other Volunteer Organisations. In addition the farmers were also motivated and they commenced cultivation using their own inputs as well as assistance from NGOs and INGOs.

The programme is expected to boost paddy production in the country by additional 184,000 mt which will be harvested in February 2009 onwards.

Chikungunya spreads due to monsoon rain

Chikungunya is spreading in Kalmunai and Embilipitiya areas with the onset of monsoon rains, Epidemiologists said yesterday. Director, Government Epidemiology Unit, Dr. Prabha Palihawadana said there was   an increase of Chikungunya patients in the urban and suburban areas  and a significant increase in Kalmunai and Embilipitiya. "This is a non-fatal vector -born disease. The main culprit is the man himself as he is responsible for creating an ideal environment for the mosquito 'Aedes' the carrier of virus that spread not only Chikungunya but Dengue fever as well to breed," she said. It is natural that there is a tendency for the incidence of Chikungunya to increase in the rainy season as empty containers, tyres, kitchen utensils, flower pots etc. filled with rain water become ideal breeding grounds. Dr. Palihawadana said that the disease restricted to urban areas is now found in urban and semi-urban areas because the public are not much concerned about maintaining a clean environment. She said the fever spread in the last few weeks in Sevanagala in Embilipitiya has been diagnosed as Chikungunya by the MRI.

Rail-Bus services between Trincomalee and Batticaloa from January

Sri Lanka government plans to launch its first rail bus service between Trincomalee and Batticaloa, in the Eastern Province of the country from next January.

M.A.L.M Hisbullah, one of the senior ministers in the Eastern Provincial Council said the new rail bus service will commence with 4 buses on January 14th with the assistance of the central government.

The rail buses for this project will be imported from India as the new system is easier to implement than the current transport systems.

According to the sources currently travel between Trincomalee and Batticaloa by train takes ten hours. The Minister hopes to reduce it by six hours with the rail bus service.

Minister said 110 passengers could travel in one trip by using the rail buses and the route will most probably be through the city of Polonnaruwa.

Bishop for Batticaloa and Trincomalee Rev. Kingsley Swamipillai in his Christmas message says that the escalating violence is destroying the humanity.

The Bishop for Batticaloa and Trincomalee Rev. Kingsley Swamipillai in his Christmas message says that the escalating violence is destroying the humanity. He says that the people caught in conflict are struggling for a living while thousands have lost their livelihood. The bishop said that in the East, abductions and killings are still taking place despite government’s claim it has been liberated. “It’s unfortunate that some of the people who were displaced two years ago have still not been settled,” said Bishop Swamipillai.

The Minister said nearly 80 new buses have been added to the fleet in the Eastern Province.

The Government has added 120 new buses to the existing fleet to meet the demand of commuters in the North and East, Transport Minister Dullas Alahapperuma said.

The Minister said nearly 80 new buses have been added to the fleet in the Eastern Province. All depots including three model depots in Ampara, Kalmunai and Batticaloa in the Eastern Province provide an efficient transport service while some of depots have recorded the good revenue,” he pointed out.

Forty buses have been given to depots in Mannar, Point Pedro, Jaffna and Kankasanthurei for the benefit of commuters in the North. He pointed out that an employee attached to the depot in the North will be rewarded for excellences at the 50th SLTB anniversary celebrations to be held on December 30 at the BMICH.

He explained that the transport services in the two provinces were below expectation and efficiency had remained zero for many decades as a result of the terrorist activities. “Despite many obstacles, we were able to fill the existing vacancies of drivers and conductors while improving the infrastructure facilities in these provinces,” he noted.

Almost all depots in the East and several depots in the North are now operational except for depots in Kilinochchi and Mulaithivu. Meanwhile, Minister Alahapperuma together with Social Services and Social Welfare Minister Douglas Devananda submitted a joint Cabinet memorandum last week seeking to strengthen the state transport system in the North Province.

Four LTTE cadres were killed

Four LTTE cadres were killed when the Police Special Task Force (STF) personnel ambushed them at Black Bridge in Chenkalady, Batticaloa.

According to area security sources, four bodies of slain cadres and two T-56 assault riffles were found during the subsequent 

Daily Mirror - Colombo,Western,Sri Lanka

STF shoots dead youth in Batticalo

Special Task Force (STF) commandos lying in ambush shot and killed a youth Sunday around 7:00 a.m in Kokkaddichchoalai police division at Maavadi Munmaari Nellikkaadu area in Batticaloa district, sources from Batticaloa said. The youth’s body remains unidentified in Batticaloa Teaching Hospital. 

Village residents said the victim was a local youth.

STF said that they had to fire at him to preempt his launching a claymore attack, and claimed that a claymore device, a CDMA phone, a hand grenade and a cynide phial were recovered from his possession.

Mavadi Munmaari is located 20 km from Batticaloa town.

One STF killed, 3 injured in Chengkaladi

One Special Task Force (STF) member was killed and three sustained serious injuries when Liberation Tigers attacked the STF group which was lying in ambush in Karadiyanaaru, Batticaloa, along the Chengkalady-Badulla road at 1:30 a.m. Sunday, police sources said. 

Although Police claim four LTTE cadres were killed in the encounter and that the Police has recovered their arms, LTTE has not confirmed the incident.

Local residents say that those killed by the STF were local cattle herders.

The killing occurred 16km north of Batticaloa town.

SRI LANKA: Breakaway Tamil Tiger faction to stop child recruitment

Photo: Government of Sri Lanka

TMVP leader Vinyagamurthi Muralitharan (right) with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse

 A breakaway faction of the Tamil Tigers is to stop underage recruitments completely, the group's leader told IRIN. 

Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, leader of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), which broke away from the Tamil Tigers in 2004, said it signed the action plan with the government and UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) on 1 December, with a three-month deadline for ensuring that all underage recruits in the TMVP are demobilised. 

"I do not want children to carry arms and get into the armed culture. We, the TMVP, signed an agreement with UNICEF to show our commitment to protecting the rights of children," Muralitharan, better known as Karuna, told IRIN. "My wish is to provide children with the basic facilities for their education and also for their development in life." 

Muralitharan, who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1983 as a 17-year-old, broke away in April 2004 and formed the TMVP. He was appointed a member of parliament with the ruling People's Freedom Alliance on 7 October 2008. 

"The Action Plan must now be translated into concrete actions [by the TMVP] on the ground," Philippe Duamelle, UNICEF's representative in Sri Lanka, said. 

UNICEF said the three-month plan set out a clear timeframe: by 1 January 2009, the TMVP must release all children from its ranks; by 1 February, the TMVP is to spell out its stance on underage recruitment and issue directives to members; and by 1 March it should have trained key TMVP personnel on recruitment and child protection. 

Access to camps

UNICEF's spokesman James Elder told IRIN the TMVP would also give UNICEF and the Sri Lankan government access to its camps and offices to verify the status of children associated with the party. UNICEF had complained that efforts to gain access to TMVP camps had been unsuccessful, despite pledges from high-ranked officials. 

"The Action Plan states that the TMVP will carry out checks in all their camps and offices to identify the number and whereabouts of all children in their ranks," Elder said. "They will provide the government and UNICEF with a list of all children, their locations and areas of origin. UNICEF will then work with the government to make contact with the children's parents and begin the preparations for [their] return home." 

Once home, their status will be assessed by Save the Children and the Probation and National Child Protection Authority, the government body overseeing the protection of children. The two agencies will also assist in the rehabilitation and reintegration of the children, Elder said. 

"UNICEF's preferred strategy is that all children, wherever possible, return to their families and communities. However, there will be cases where some children upon release need to go into alternative care," said Elder. "Ideally these children should be accommodated in areas where they can maintain their links with their community, culture and family. But if there are security threats to the children, it would be in their best interests to move outside their district until it is safe for them to return." 

According to UNICEF statistics, there were 133 outstanding cases of underage recruitment by the TMVP as of 31 October. Of that number, 62 were younger than 18, while 71, who had been recruited while under 18, had passed that age. 

Muralitharan told IRIN his organisation was not recruiting children into armed combat but that most of the underage members had sought protection. 

When it entered elected politics in the Batticaloa District in eastern Sri Lanka, its home base, by contesting two regional elections in March and May this year, the TMVP also released more underage recruits from its ranks. In April, it released 39 children just before the elections for the Eastern Provincial Council. 

Sri Lanka: Sinhala hoodlums search, rob Tamil passengers in trains (TamilNet)

Incidents of Tamil passengers robbed by Sinhala gangs in trains running between Vavuniyaa, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, and Colombo have escalated at alarming rate, according to civil sources. Sinhala hoodlums enter trains when the trains stop at Ragama, Veyangoda, Maho and Anuradhapura stations, and subject Tamil passengers to search amid security provided by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police

Batticaloa and Trincomalee – facing problems in water, hygiene,

"The Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs through the Directorate General for Cooperation and Development has contributed with a financial amount of 250.000 to UNHCR in response to urgent humanitarian assistance for the refugees camps in Sri Lanka- Jaffna, Killinochchi, Mannar, Vavuniya, Batticaloa and Trincomalee – facing problems in water, hygiene, sanitation and energy sectors.

The donation will cover needs identified by UNHCR."

Oxfam closes tsunami response

Mohanasram Shanthini, 23, secretary of an Oxfam gender group, outside her transitional shelter, built by Oxfam in Ralodai camp, north of Batticaloa. She says her committee tries to settle disputes in families and to ensure that women are treated equally: "We have an awareness program to stop men drinking, and a program to find work for women-headed households. Whenever new cash-for-work projects come, we see how they can be implemented so men and women can participate equally. There is a problem of violence against women but because of our efforts, it's being reduced. Oxfam has brought great changes in our lives." (Photo: Howard Davies/Oxfam)

Oxfam International is preparing to formally close its response to Indian Ocean tsunami at the end of this month, four years after the disaster. Oxfam and its local partner organizations assisted 2.5 million people in seven tsunami-affected countries in the largest emergency program in its history. It has now moved into longer-term programs in these areas.

Staff from Oxfam and partner Kinniya Vision construct an 11,000 cubic meter water tank in 'CTB camp', Trincomalee District in the weeks after the tsunami. Oxfam was one of the first agencies on the ground, delivering some 700,000 litres of clean water a day to more than 60,000 people. (Photo: Tori Ray/Oxfam)

Barbara Stocking, the chair of the Oxfam International Tsunami Fund Board, said: “What has been achieved is astounding. Hundreds of thousands of people are now living in better conditions than they were in before the tsunami thanks to the generous support we received from the public, the dedication and hard work of our staff and local partners and the efforts of the affected communities themselves to rebuild their lives”.

Oxfam received $294 million in donations to help affected people – more than 90 per cent of it from the public. “The money we received allowed us not only to help meet the immediate emergency needs of tsunami-affected populations, but also to try to address the factors that made them vulnerable: not least poverty and a lack of influence over their own lives,” Stocking said. “The less visible interventions are just as important. We have helped to give people better access to markets for their goods. We have helped them gain the knowledge they need to protect themselves against future disasters and the confidence to demand a say in decisions that affect them.”

“There are still far too many people in tsunami-affected countries living precarious lives. Poverty limits their opportunities and reduces their ability to cope with future disasters and ongoing conflict. Oxfam will continue to work with them in longer-term development projects,” Stocking said.

Oxfam hopes that the world's generous and speedy response to the devastation wrought by the tsunami will be regarded as landmark. There are processes in place to keep improving the coordination between international agencies. Thanks to the money it has been able to invest in research and evaluations, Oxfam itself has extracted many lessons from the tsunami response which have already been applied in subsequent disasters.

Karuna Drops ‘Pulikal’

MP Vinyagamurthi Muralitharan also known as Karuna Amman plans to form a new party named Tamil People’s Liberation Front (Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Koddani -TMVK).

He had earlier formed the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal party (TMVP) and the new party has dropped the term ‘Pulikal’ which means Tiger.
Chairman of the new party will be Karuna Amman. Inaiyana Bharathi has been appointed the General Secretary.

The formation of the new party followed differences of opinion between Karuna and Chief Minister of the Eastern Provincial Council Chandrakanthan (Pillaiyan), party sources said.

Michael McNulty, of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology,

Michael McNulty, of the Chicago School of Professional Psychology, is flying to Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, after Christmas to help train local helpers in counseling skills.

•  •  Background: After the 2004 tsunami Batticaloa lost 3,700 residents in less than half an hour. A former priest at Sacred Heart Church in Winnetka, the Rev.. Paul Satkunanayagam, was already in Batticaloa bringing social services to thousands of people, including orphaned children, ex-child soldiers and traumatized adults. McNulty, who had been the priest's altar server in his youth, was summoned to help.

•  •  Update: Since then, McNulty has returned six times. This time he and several professors will teach courses to get locals certified as counselors. "Now residents live in fear of abductions, violence and torture due to civil war. Or they have debilitating post-traumatic distress. Father Paul's work is amazing.

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court issued notice on two Batticaloa

The Colombo Chief Magistrate last week ordered the Tamil Investigation Department (TID) to seek the legal opinion regarding a complaint made by the Inspector General of Police (IGP) alleging the three Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, notoriously infamous for Pro-LTTE Tamil Terrorism that they have made speeches in a Pongu Tamil ceremony held in Germany in 2006, violating the Sri Lankan Constitution and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

The Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court issued notice on two Batticaloa District MPs S. Jeyananthamoorthy and P. Ariyanethran, and Jaffna District MP S. Kajendran.    All 3 Tamil MPs were issued an order to appear before court and explain their actions.  MP Ariyanethran was prevented from leaving the country where he was not allowed to board a plane leaving for Chennai by airport officials.  In a statement made to TamilNet he maintained that he was in fact not fleeing to avoid prosecution but was going abroad to receive medical treatment:

“I was going to Tamil Nadu last minute for medical treatment,  and not in any attempt to flee the authorities.  I was to have my semi-annual Colo-rectal exam in a specialist hospital in Tamil Nadu.” Claimed the very distraught Mr. Ariyanethran.  “ I cannot simply trust any second rate homophobic sinhala doctor to enter my rectum with his arm like I can with a trusted Tamil doctor. This attempt to stop me seeking medical care is yet another attempt to target Tamils in Sri Lanka.”

When asked about the current charges against him and his speech in Germany he replied: 

“It is not a crime to support the Hero Freedom Fighters of the LTTE or to support a separate state for Tamils.  After all we Tamils have the right to go to White countries and cry like little bitches in front of Human rights groups and try to swing them in our favor.  I may have taken an oath to the Sri lankan parliament but I am a Tamil of Eelam first.  Sri Lanka is only the country that pays my salary, and pension. I have done nothing illegal”  

The TID however claim that the three parliamentarians had taken an oath to uphold the Sri Lankan Constitution and sworn not to encourage inside or outside Sri Lanka, directly or indirectly, any act leading to the establishing of a separate state on Sri Lankan soil.

The TID said it had taken steps to inform the Speaker and the Attorney General about this ‘illegal act’ by the pro-LTTE TNA’s MPs.

MP’s Jeyandamoorthy and Kajendran refused to comment on the allegations stating.

How to pronounce “Batticaloa”

The American-Batticaloa Development Fund website - The ABDF was formed to
help Batticaloa, Sri Lanka, devastated by the 2004 tsunami.
<http://www.abdf.org/?p=195>
The American-Batticaloa Development Fund
<http://www.abdf.org/>

Vacancy Announcement- Chief of Partyr-Chemonics International-Reposting

Chief of Party
Location: Batticaloa with frequent travel to Colombo and other areas.
Chemonics seeks a chief of party for an anticipated USAID-funded conflict mitigation and community development project in Sri Lanka. Responsibilities include: lead day-to-day operations; implement conflict and post-conflict resolution activities through grants; oversee project administration, including hiring, supervising, and training local personnel; systems and office setup; budgeting and financial management; procurement and property tracking; and monitoring and evaluation; and oversee grants under contract.
Position Qualifications:
a.. Master's degree in public policy, conflict resolution, international relations, or similar field.
b.. Minimum seven years' experience managing large, complex, international donor-funded projects. Demonstrated experience managing USAID contracts, and USAID-funded grants under contracts is strongly preferred.
c.. Proven experience managing program operations in conflict or post-conflict environments.
d.. Experience in grants management, community and infrastructure development, community-focused reintegration assistance, rehabilitation for at-risk youth, with particular focus on ex-combatants including working with at-risk youth, , land-claims registry, and developing creative approaches to gathering and disseminating news and information aimed at improving public confidence preferred.
e.. Prior work in Sri Lanka or South Asia preferred.
f.. Strong written and spoken fluency in English required. Proficiency in Tamil and/or Sinhala preferred.
Application Instructions:
Send electronic submissions to SriLankaSW...@chemonics.com by December 30, 2008. No telephone inquiries, please. Finalists will be contacted.

JasmineNews - Sri Lanka News To Your Mobile Phone » Flood Risk in ... Flood risk in Batticaloa, Ampara districts due to heavy rain last night. 147mm in Ampara, 56mm in Batticaloa rain fall recorded last night.Victims assessment going on–GA Batticaloa, Met Dept Batticaloa–rep-JNW ... JasmineNews - Sri Lanka News... - http://www.jasminenews.com/

 

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Sri Lanka to allow rice imports despite bumper harvest - LANKA ... These areas were the north-central Anuradhapura and Kurunegala districts, as well as the eastern Batticaloa district. Government forces freed the eastern region of Tamil Tiger rebel activity last year, allowing normal cultivation to ... LBO-Lanka Business Online - http://www.lbo.lk/

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Troops Expand Their Defences Sri Lanka Army - Colombo,Sri Lanka In the meantime, Tiger infiltrators into the eastern SITTANDY, DEVAPURA area in BATTICALOA tried to launch an abortive claymore attack on an Army foot ... See all stories on this topic