More skeletons to be exhumed from mass grave

More skeletons to be exhumed from mass grave in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 December 2013, 20:23 GMT]
Medical experts from Colombo must be present in order to further excavate the recently located mass grave in Mannaar, Sri Lankan police officials said as the work was suddenly stopped on Monday after 11 full human skeletons were recovered from the site at Thirukkeatheesvaram. Northern Provincial Council minister of fisheries Mr Deinswaran, who witnessed the excavation, said the bones bore marks of torture. Local residents said that there were signs that more skeletons were buried under the road, running parallel to the excavated pit. The second largest camp of the occupying Sri Lanka Army in Mannaar was located at the locality from 1993.

Mass grave site found near Maanthai Junction in Mannaar

In the meantime, residents of Veaddaiyaa-mu'rippu village, feared that some of the Tamil youth reported abducted from their village by the SL military, were the victims dumped in the mass grave.

The excavation of mass grave was carried out with Mannaar Justice Ananthy Kanagaratnam present at the site on Saturday and Sunday. The work was expected to continue on Monday.

A Judicial Medical Officer from Anuradhapura inspected the skeletons on Sunday.

A temporary secretariat was to be established before further excavation, the JMO has requested the courts, the SL police said adding that a team of experts would have to be present to continue the exhumation.

Chronology:

24.12.13  More skeletons to be exhumed from mass grave in Ma..

22.12.13  Colombo sabotages DNA testing on skeletal remains ..

SL minister Badurdeen splits Tamil speaking people

SL minister Badurdeen splits Tamil speaking people in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 December 2013, 12:05 GMT]
Attempting to incite community hatred between various Tamil-speaking communities of Naanaaddaan, Rishard Badurdeen, the Industry and Commerce Minister of the occupying Sri Lanka, has again interfered in the civic affairs, sabotaging the efforts by the Bishop of Mannaar to resolve a land dispute in Pon-theevu-ka’ndal village, news sources in Mannaar said. The SL minister has played a crucial role in creating a conflict between the residents of the Muslim village of Poovarasang-ku’lam and Pon-theevu-ka’ndal where non-Muslim Tamils live. The SL Police and government officials are under the control of the controversial minister, who has been behind causing unrest between Catholics and Muslims in the district.

Last year, when Badurdeen incited violence and went on record in SL parliament issuing a threatening statement against the Bishop of Mannaar, there were widespread protests against him in the North.

Recently, the Divisional Secretary of Naanaaddaan, who was allegedly under the influence of Mr Badurdeen, went ahead with a plan to distribute lands to Muslims and non-Muslims in Pon-theevu-ka’ndal village. As some Muslim villagers from the nearby Poovarasang-ku’lam started to construct houses in Pon-theevu-ka’ndal on Monday, the villagers objected to the move.

Following the episode, a meeting was held at Naanaaddaan Divisional Secretariat. When the divisional secretary was taking the side of SL minister Badurdeen, the protesting villagers of Pon-theevu-ka’ndal attacked the secretariat causing damage to the secretariat. The officials of the secretariat went on a protest, and the SL minister reportedly instructed the DS officials in Musali and Mannaar to join the boycott against the attack on Naanaaddaan divisional secretariat.

Sri Lankan police arrested 65 villagers of Pon-theevu-ka’ndal, including women, on charges of attack against the Naanaaddaan secretariat. The arrested were sent to Anuradhapura remand prison. On Wednesday, the District Court of Mannaar ordered 18 of these to be detained till 18th December and granted bail to the remaining 47 on a surety of Rs 25,000 each.

In the meantime, when Mannaar Bishop and the Catholic priests wanted the SL Government Agent M.Y.S. Deshapriya, to resolve the conflict, the SLGA, who is behind the Sinhalicisation of Mannaar, has told them that the people concerned should resolve the dispute at the Divisional Secretariat in Naanaaddaan.

SL military threatens Tamil Catholic priests in Jaffna, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 November 2013, 19:38 GMT]
The intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military have threatened Tamil Catholic priests in Mannaar and Jaffna, who have been active in exposing the genocide of Eezham Tamils by the Sri Lankan State. The threats against the priests in escalated following the visit by UN Human Rights Commissioner for Human Rights and have topped after British PM visited North on 15 November. The Catholic priests were active in exposing the recent genocidal experiment of birth control carried out by the Sri Lankan authorities and the priests joined the peaceful march by the kith and kin of the missing persons when they wanted to berate their plight to the visiting British PM and the foreign journalists who accompanied him to Jaffna.

The parish priest of Urumpiraay, Fr Jude Nixon being attacked by SL police in front of Jaffna Public Library on 15 November.

The priests have complained to their respective Bishops on the threats coming from different corners of the Sri Lankan military system.

In the meantime, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, called on Pope Francis at Vatican on Wednesday and handed over a letter to Pope Francis inviting him to the island on behalf of his brother. This is the second time within four months Rajapaksa siblings are campaigning Pope to visit the island.

Rev. Fr. E. Sebamalai in Mannaar, writing an appeal on behalf of the Citizens' Committee in Mannaar, on Friday said: “Even the people affected in various forms expressing their grievances, objections or protests in the internationally accepted democratic way and peaceful resistance are not tolerated in this country.”

Fr. Sebamalai also noted that the Police in Jaffna had manhandled Catholic priests who were with the people at a peaceful rally in front of Jaffna Public Library on 15 November.

However, the visiting PM didn't meet the grieving relatives of the missing persons in Jaffna despite the British mission officials were being fully aware of the peaceful gathering waiting outside the Public Library.



The Catholic priests and rights activists like Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh), who has now been subjected to the death threat by the SL military intelligence operatives in Mannaar, played a key role in bringing the families closer to the visiting Channel-4 journalists who were being waylaid by a camouflaged protest organised by the SL police and SL military intelligence operatives in civil who had blocked the road with their truck, shielding the visiting journalists from spotting the Tamil demonstrators.

Parish Priest of Thevanpiddi Fr Neru and Mannaar District Coordinator of National Fisheries Society Organization, Mr Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh) at the forefront of the demonstration in Jaffna on November 15.

Angered by the efforts of Mr Sunesh and the Catholic priests present with the protestors, the SL military has stepped up its threats.

In the East, Jesuit Priest Fr Veeresan Yogeswaran, who is one of the leading human rights activists, was at the receiving end of the SL government's ire after his meeting with Ms Navi Pillay during her visit to the East in August.

Ms Navy Pillay was told that what was going on in the island was a genocide against Eezham Tamils.

However, the Human Rights High Commissioner, in her intention to project the crime of genocide as a crime of bad governance on the part of the Sri Lankan State, came with an open lie to the press in Colombo stating that no one used the word genocide during her visit to North and East.

Family of Tamil activist threatened after ‘Sri Lanka CHOGM’

Family of Tamil activist threatened in Mannaar after ‘Sri Lanka CHOGM’

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 November 2013, 14:05 GMT]
Sri Lankan Military Intelligence operatives have threatened the wife of a Tamil activist in Mannaar, while she was at her house with her 2 months old baby and a 5-year-old child on Thursday. Her husband, Jude Bashil Sosai (Sunesh) was at forefront in the demonstration held in Jaffna on 15 November demanding the attention by the visiting British PM David Cameron. The threat by alleged SL military operatives was reported on Thursday when Mr Sunesh was on his way to attend a meeting in Colombo. The president of the Citizens' Committee of Mannaar District, Rev. Fr. E. Sebamalai, in a letter addressed to SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa on behalf of the citizens' committee, on Friday said the Committee suspected Sri Lankan armed forces for the threat issued on Mannaar District Coordinator of National Fisheries Society Organization (NAFSO) Mr Sunesh and his family.

A few unknown persons, believed to be SL military intelligence operatives, knocked at the door of the house of Mr Sunesh on Thursday and shouted “ado Sunesh come out”. The fear-stricken wife of Mr Sunesh kept herself and the children silent inside the house. After a few minutes, one of the operatives tried to peep through by tearing the canvas over the grill, the letter by the Citizens' Committe said.

One of the operatives then dialled to Sunesh and asked him to come out saying that they were waiting for him in front of his house.

On Friday, the Citizens' Committee took up the matter, staging a protest, which went from St. Sebastian Church to the office of the Deputy Inspector General of the SL Police.

The protestors then proceeded to the District Secretariat and handed over the appeal of the Citizens' Committee to SL Government Agent Ms Stanley de Mel.

“The security excesses, CID threats and intimidations continue to be the order of the day and civil routine almost daily,” the letter by the Citizens' Committee said adding that the civil organisations and their workers face “threats and intimidations by various types from the Intelligence side varying from warning to telephone threats, extortion and intimidation.”

• Letter by Mannaar Citizens' Committee

The Citizens' Committee also pointed out that the SL military and its ‘security’ forces had blocked the people from attending the Human Rights Festival, which took place in Sri Kotha in Colombo. The people were waylaid at Medawachchiya and Madu Road at Kaddai Adampan and turned back.

The relatives of missing persons, while peacefully demonstrating and demanding the visiting British PM to witness their plight, were attacked by the Sri Lankan Police, the letter by Fr. E. Sebamalai stated, also noting that Catholic Priests with the civilians too were manhandled.

Rt. Reverend Rayappu Joseph, the Bishop of Mannaar Diocese, was present at the demonstration, which was also attended by Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian S. Vino Nokarathalingam, Northern Provincial Council (NPC) minister of health and indigenous medicine P Sathiyalingam, NPC minister of fisheries and transport B. Deniswaran, NPC member Primus Sirayva, President of Missing Persons Association in Mannaar S. Britto, NAFSO Coordinator S. Jesudasan, Catholic priests and the members of Women Rights Group in Mannaar.

Historic statue of Our Lady of Refuge stolen in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 October 2013, 17:52 GMT]
A divine statue of St Adaikkala Maatha (Our Lady of Refuge) said to be over 178 years old has been reported missing from the shrine in Mannaar Naanaaddaan creating panic among the general public. According to a complaint filed by the authorities of the Shrine at Murungkan Police station, the statue was stolen by ‘unidentified persons’ last Sunday. The complaint says some unidentified persons had gone into the shrine on September 29 and had removed the statue which was kept in a glass cabinet. The intruders removed the clothes on the statue and placed them inside the cabinet from where the statue was removed.

The SL policemen from Murungkan station had visited the shrine on Monday to conduct an inquiry. Occupying SL military personnel were also seen accompanying them.

A sniffer dog was brought to trace the site. Though the dog ran a fair distance, no clues were found.

The SL police has taken away the clothes, which had been removed from Matha’s statue, for further examinations.

UN Human Rights Commissioner Navi Pillay, in her oral update to the UNHRC last Wednesday said she had received a compilation of 227 incidents of religious attacks, threats and incitement against Muslims alone that were recorded between January and July 2013. There have been numerous other attacks or incitement against Christians and Hindus as well, she had noted.

Mannaar villagers protest against SL Navy occupying church lands

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 September 2013, 15:35 GMT]
Tamil villagers of Chi’ruth-thoappu on Thursday staged a peaceful protest against the Sri Lanka Navy occupation of 17 acres of land belonging to their church. The villagers demanded the Sri Lanka Navy base Gajaba to vacate the land. The protest comes as the SL State has recently taken a move to legally appropriate the lands after having it occupied for 10 years. The SL military occupying the land has also exploited the natural resources of the church the villagers complained. The church is situated along Mannaar – Thalaimannaar Road.

More than 2,000 coconut palms and more than 300 palmyra trees were in the lands that belongs to the church. Earlier, the income from these resources went to the villagers of Chu'ruththoappu.

Hundreds of these valuable trees have been cut and exploited by the SL Navy, the villagers complain.

Fr Anthony Victor Sosai, the vicar general of the Mannar diocese, Mr Martin Dias, the head of the Mannaar Piratheasa Chapai (PS), deputy head, TNA politicians and a large number of the public took part in the protest.

TNA parliamentarian Selvam Adaikkalanthan has sent an appeal on behalf of the villagers to SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, urging the SL defence establishment to release the lands belonging to the church.

Intelligence operatives harass freelance journalist

Intelligence operatives harass freelance journalist in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 September 2013, 06:37 GMT]
Two unidentified operatives claiming to be Sri Lankan intelligence officers interrogated Senior Journalist P.A. Antony Mar in Mannaar at his residence on Tuesday, the freelance journalist has complained to SL Police Tuesday evening. The investigation was carried out in a threatening manner, the journalist told Police in his complaint.

The so-called intelligence officers came in a motorbike to Antony Mar's residence situated on Moor Street and collected his personal details and questioned him in a threatening voice.

Mr Antony Mar has been associated with Ilangkai Thamizh Arasuk Kadchi (ITAK) earlier. He was an ITAK candidate in an earlier election, media sources in Mannaar said.

Abducted Mannaar Tamil youth ‘escapes’ from Sinhala squad

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 August 2013, 08:50 GMT]
A Tamil youth engaged in removing sand legally in Koo'raay area in Mannaar district was abducted on Monday by a group of 22 Sinhalese persons deployed by a Sinhalese trader from the South in sand removal in the country of Eezham Tamils. The Sinhala trader operates with the backing of the occupying SL military. The abduction took place while the Tamil youth was at the Anuradhapura office of the SL authority to renew his sand removal permit. However, the 21-year-old youth managed to escape from the custody of the abductors on Tuesday and made a complaint to the SL police in Ilupaaik-kadavai, news sources in Mannaar said. The ‘escape’ was reported after the Tamil villagers in Koo'raay held 5 Sinhalese workers deployed by the Southern trader at the house of the Tamil victim.

The abducted youth Nagalingam Rajeevan had obtained a permit from the relevant authority to remove and transport 200 tractor loads of sand per month from Koo'raay.

A Sinhalese from the south also obtained a permit to remove sand for sale from the same area with the influence of an SL government minister from the Southern Province. With the backing of the occupying Sri Lanka Army, the trader form the South has been engaged in removing more than 2,000 loads of sand per month from Koo'raay for sale.

When Mr Rajeevan was abducted on Monday, a friend of him who had accompanied him to Anuradhapura immediately conveyed the news to his relatives at Koo'raay.

Angered residents of Koo'raay area immediately took into custody of five Sinhalese labourers, who were engaged in removing sand deployed by the said Sinhalese trader. The Sinhala workers were kept at Rajeevan's residence.

On receipt of information the SL police rushed to the site and got the five Sinhalese labourers released.

However, according to a telephone message to his brother, Mr Rajeevan has said that he had managed to ‘escape‘ from his abductors and lodge a complaint to the SL police about the ordeal he underwent in the custody of the abductors, the news sources further said.

SL military intelligence collects details of TNA candidates in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 August 2013, 23:43 GMT]
The intelligence operatives of the occupying Sri Lankan military in Mannaar have been visiting the houses of candidates of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) taking part in the provincial elections and ‘registering’ the personal data, their affiliations and details of the family members in an intimidating way, the candidates taking part in the Northern Provincial Council elections say. Some of the ‘visits’ have taken place during the nights.

Two different teams of intelligence operatives have been collecting details, one claiming that they were from ‘State Intelligence Service’ and the other team claiming as the intelligence division of the SL military in Mannaar.

The visiting intelligence squads have been asking the TNA candidates where they studied in the past and their employment history.

The details of family members and their whereabouts have also been registered by the visiting intelligence squads.

A similar round of ‘intelligence harassment’ was reported before the nominations were filed to intimidate possible candidates from coming forward to participate in the elections. A former government agent of Mannaar, two lawyers, a doctor, a councillor and a village officer were intimidated this way before the nominations.

Now, the second round of harassment targets those who have been officially nominated by the TNA.

Mannaar district Sinhalicised

Border division of Mannaar district Sinhalicised

[TamilNet, Monday, 12 August 2013, 19:35 GMT]
After Sinhalicising a border division in the Mullaiththeevu district of the Northern Province as ‘Weli-Oya’ on the eastern coast, genocidal Sri Lanka is now engaged in the Sinhalicisation of a border division, Musali, in the Mannaar district of the Northern Province on the western coast, news sources in Mannaar said. Both the Sinhala colonisations take place as demographic projections from the Anuradhapura district of the North Central Province. Around 400 acres of forest has been cleared for settling 1300 Sinhala families at the Ko’ndaichchi coast of Mannaar district. The families, who have nothing to do with the district are not only brought down hurriedly and settled as ‘re-settlers’, but also are advised to register as voters before the NPC elections.

New Delhi and Washington talking about the NPC elections without recognising and guaranteeing the territoriality and demography of Eezham Tamils, amounts to nothing but blatant complicity in the demographic genocide as continuity of their complicity in the genocidal war, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

The divisional secretary of Musali, Mr. Ketheesvaran, who was protesting to the ‘resettlement’ hoax and registration of the colonisers as voters, was served with a transfer order, news sources in Mannaar said.

Even the earlier divisional secretary Mr. Raveendran was transferred as he had objections to the colonisation in the name of ‘special resettlement’.

The Sinhala Government Agent of Mannaar, Mr Y.S. Desapriya denied the accusations.

This is a normal ‘resettlement’ he claimed, denying the transfer order to the divisional secretary and the reports that the Sinhala colonisers were brought by buses from Anuradhapura.

The SL Government Agent was newly posted after his predecessor had been removed for not adequately cooperating with Colombo in the Sinhala colonisation programmes.

Sources associated with mosques and churches in the region confirmed the arrival of Sinhala colonisers from Anuradhapura district.

According to news sources, under the SL government project called ‘special resettlement programme’ the Sinhala colonisers were brought from Maavilaachchi and Nochchiyaa-gama parts of the Anuradhapura district to Ko’ndaichchi and Kokkup-padaiyaan coast of the Mannaar district.

Around a 4 Sq.km settlement has been created for them. The Sinhala families are provided with half an acre of land to each and are promised of permanent houses for them soon.

The families were neither affected by the war nor were displaced people. Hence they could not be treated as ‘re-settlers’ and could not be permitted, was the stand of the divisional secretary.

The Musali divisional secretary has also pointed out that the colonisers for whom voter registration in the division is demanded are still registered voters in Anuradhapura district and their registration there has not been cancelled, which is a prerequisite for new registrations.

While on one hand the so-called ‘international aided’ resettlement of war-affected people is abused for demographic genocide by such colonisations, on the other hand, a fraud is committed by bringing in outside voters to the NPC elections for which the 2012 registration is the basis, observers in the Northern Province commented.

The area selected for the Sinhala colonisation is the coast of a fertile bay, which was once the centre for pearl diving traditionally conducted since time immemorial by Eezham Tamil coastal folk called Paravar and Mukkuvar.

Meanwhile, 2500 Tamil-speaking Muslim families who were displaced during the war have also now returned to Musali as 6000 families.

They also complain that the 5-acre per family settlement plan of theirs is also misused for Sinhala colonisation.

While SL minister Risard Badurdeen appropriates Tamil lands for the colonisation of Tamil-speaking Muslims, his government is engaged in colonising Sinhalese brought from Anuradhapura, observers in the district said.

Colombo engages in widespread Sinhalicisation

Colombo engages in widespread Sinhalicisation of Mannaar: TNA-MP

[TamilNet, Monday, 22 July 2013, 23:38 GMT]
The Colombo government is actively engaged in colonising around 6000 Sinhala families in the Mannaar district of the Northern Province, including its coastal areas, while it is not taking care of the resettlement of the Tamils and Muslims displaced by the war, accused Mr Selvam Adaikkalanathan, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian for Mannaar. The TNA may have to seek judicial remedy if the government is bent on bringing in Sinhalese without resettling people affected by the war, he further said. The TNA parliamentarian should first have the guts to mobilise the people to ask the USA, Co-Chairs, India and the UN that have asked the people to come into the barbed-wire camps, commented Tamil activists for alternative politics in the island.

The Colombo government is deploying all sorts of tactics to colonise Sinhalese in Mannaar, while it shows lethargy in resettling Tamils and Muslims in their own land in the district, the TNA-MP said.

Genocidal Colombo is very systematic in colonising the Mannaar district, especially in snatching away the entire division Musali, bordering the North Central and North Western Provinces. The Sinhala colonisations are just parallel operations to Sinhala militarisation of the district, as in the case of the recent SL Naval enclave at Ma'richchukkaddi in the Mannaar district, political observers in the district said.

The Tamil politicians are not equally systematic in scientifically exposing what is happening in the region, in explaining to the masses what is happening, and in preparing the masses in knowing and facing the ultimate culprits, because they are forced to become the part of the agenda of the actual culprits, political observers in the district said.

This is not a domestic question. This is an international question. If the Tamil parliamentarians elected by the people are not going to project it in the proper way, who else are going to do it, ask the political observers.

The Tamil parliamentarians vaguely come out with statements accusing Colombo. It is a joke to harp on Sri Lanka’s judiciary on such matters. Everybody knows the interest taken by the genocidal State’s judiciary in politically delinking the geographically contiguous north and east of the territory of Eezham Tamils in the island, the observers said.

Rather than coming out with empty press statements, the Tamil parliamentarians could contribute better and produce better results, by mobilising the people to tell the message in no uncertain terms to the forces that are using the Colombo government as an agent, the observers further said.

SL military, Mannaar GA blamed for sabotaging seminar

SL military, Mannaar GA blamed for sabotaging seminar on land resources

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 05 June 2013, 22:50 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lankan military, with the help of the SL Government Agent of Mannaar district has blocked Tamil officials employed in the civil administration from attending a seminar organized by the Centre for Human Rights and Development with the support of the Citizen Committee of Mannaar on Saturday, according to Mr D.P. Sinnathurai, the secretary of the Citizen Committee in Mannaar. The seminar, which was to be held on matters relating to land resources, was intended for the officials working at government departments.

Initially, invitations had been extended to all officials of Mannaar District Secretariat and Divisional Secretariats.

However, the occupying SL military had intervened and instructed the civil officials through the Government Agent of Mannaar, not to attend the seminar.

In turn, the Sri Lankan GA in Mannaar, a Sinhalese, has also instructed his Additional Government Agent not to allow the officials to participate, according to the news sources in Mannaar.

Uprooted Tamils ordered to leave their lands in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 May 2013, 23:02 GMT]
Mannaar Divisional Secretary D.Dayananda has ordered all uprooted Tamil residents residing in the public lands at Ezhil Nakar to dismantle their temporary sheds and boundary fences and vacate from the land within one week's time. The eviction order has been issued by the Divisional Secretary to settle down about 600 Sinhalese from the South, civil sources said.

Mannaar DS has threatened the Tamil occupants that he would file action in the Sri Lankan law courts if they failed to carry out his instruction.

The latest move by the divisional secretary comes while Sri Lanka's Government Agent to Mannaar District has been scheming a Sinhala colony at Saanthipuram and South bar in Mannar district, the civil sources further said.

Colombo brings 1500 Sinhalese from South to Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 May 2013, 22:11 GMT]

Stepping up the process of colonisation of the country of Eezham Tamils, the occupying Sri Lanka has brought in 1,500 Sinhalese in buses to Musali DS division in Mannaar District, which is bordering the North Western and North Central provinces. The occupying Colombo government had already planned to settle down five thousand Sinhalese families from the South in Mannaar district in an attempt to change the demography of the district before holding the Northern Provincial Council election, according to a confidential document received by the Mannaar district secretariat.

The Sinhalese colonizers brought in have been settled in temporary sheds, news sources in Mannaar said.

The latest move by Colombo comes while the uprooted Tamils and Muslims from the Musali area are still residing as refugees in temporary huts without basic facilities.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in participation with Tamil and Muslim civil representatives is to conduct a detailed discussion shortly on the land appropriation in Mannaar district, said TNA parliamentarian Mr Selvam Adaikkalanathan.

SL Police arrests TNPF politicians on Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day

SL Police arrests TNPF politicians on Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 18 May 2013, 11:30 GMT]

Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) politician and former parliamentarian Selvaraja Kajendran and Visvalingam Manivannan of the TNPF and thirteen other TNPF activists were arrested by the Sri Lankan Police at Mannaar Saturday afternoon while they were on their way to attend a Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day function. The SL police is trying to curb the activities of the TNPF politicians by attempting to detain them under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), initial reports from Mannaar said.

The TNPF politicians were on their way to attend the event after visiting Vavuniyaa where a memorial symbol put up on the occasion of Mu'l'livaaykkaal Remembrance Day was destroyed Friday night.

Colombo plans settling 5,000 Sinhala families in Mannaar: TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 May 2013, 22:11 GMT]

The occupying Sri Lanka has planned to appropriate lands in Mannaar district of the occupied country of Eezham Tamils to settle five thousand Sinhala families thus creating two new Sinhala villages, said Vanni district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Mr.Selvam Adaikalanathan citing inside instructions coming from Colombo to Mannaar district secretariat. “According to this covert plan one thousand five hundred Sinhalese families in Maanthai West DS division, one thousand Sinhalese families in Madu AGA division and one thousand five hundred Sinhalese families in Musali DS division are to be settled down in the district,” Mr Adaikkalanathan further told media.

Selvam Adaikkalanathan [Library Photo]

According to reliable information, a Sinhalese village to be created between two Muslim villages and another Sinhalese village is to be created between two Tamil villages in Mannaar district.

The covert plan for the land appropriation and creation of two Sinhala villages in the district has the blessing of a Cabinet Minister who hails from district, Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan further said.

The TNA parliamentarian and TELO leader who also hails from Mannaar said land appropriation and creation of new Sinhala villages are to take place while large number of uprooted Tamils and Muslims are still waiting for the resettlement in their own villages.

SL military launches inteligence operations to monitor Muslim youth

SL military launches inteligence operations to monitor Muslim youth of Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 March 2013, 13:43 GMT]
While the Sinhala Buddhist organizations, with alleged backing from certain sections of Colombo government, have stepped up attacks on places of worships of the Muslims in the South and a hate campaign against Halal meet is being whipped up, the Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives in Mannaar district have started to ‘observe’ Muslim youth under a military operation termed as ‘preventive measures’. The SL police sources in Mannaar said Muslim youth who might contemplate on armed resistance against the Sinhala extremist elements in South are being monitored in recent days, both day and night.

The Muslim organisations in the Mannar district, the activities of Muslim clergy and any other activities in relation to the Muslim places of worship are under scrutiny by the intelligence forces.

The SL operation has been launched following the Halal food controversies and the killing of two Sinhala officers in the district.

Information regarding any possible existence of a Jihad movement in Mannar district, whether there existed a Jihad movement earlier, the details of the Islamic organisations that function at present, information about the funding sources and the persons who provide leadership etc., are being collected in a confidential manner, news sources further said.

Muslim dominated areas of Mannaar city, such as Moor Street, Uppuk-ku'lam, Periya-kadai, Puthukkudiyiruppu, Karaisal are continuously monitored by SL intelligence operatives during the day time. SL military personnel have stepped up monitoring duties at nights.

Further, particulars relating to individuals who retired from government service are also being collected in a covert manner in the Mannaar district.

The SL intelligence operatives are also collecting details such as the department they belonged to, whether they receive funds from abroad, where and with whom they stay at present etc., the news sources further said.

Badurdeen supporters grab Tamil lands in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 24 January 2013, 19:58 GMT]
Rifghan Badurdeen, a brother of SL minister Rishad Badurdeen and his supporters have been grabbing lands of Tamils situated in Thalaimannaar Pier, complain landowners in the area. Several landowners have lodged complaints with the SL police and the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Mannaar. But, there has been no action against the illegal land grab by the SL minister who has been causing disharmony among the peoples belonging to different religions. Civil officials in Mannaar have forwarded one of the complaints made in December 2012 to media, exposing the culprits behind the illegal encroachment.

Mr Badurdeen men are engaged in grabbing lands of Tamils in Thalai-mannaar area in Mannaar DS division and in Maanthai West DS division, civil officials in Mannaar say.

The SL minister has instructed the police not entertain such complaints, the officials further said.

Badurdeen’s men have been encroaching into palm groves in Thalai-mannaar while the SL military is also grabbing lands in Ezhuththoor GS division in Mannaar causing panic among the villagers. Similar incidents signaling a systematic land grab have also been reported at Kuthiraik-kea’ni and Paalameen-oadai, and in Maanthai West.

Gotabhaya appropriates whole village in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 December 2012, 15:53 GMT]
An entire Eezham Tamil village, Mu’l’lik-ku’lam in the Musali division of Mannaar district, has been declared out of bounds for its uprooted residents by SL defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa visiting the village on Wednesday. The entire village will be used for a military base of the occupying Sinhala forces and to serve as a hub for the Sinhalicisation and Colonisation process of the land and waters of the strategic locality in the Mannaar district. Nobody would be allowed to resettle within a perimeter of 750 meters of the Mu’l’likku’lam village, Gotabhaya said at a meeting held at the SL Naval Base established there on Wednesday between 10:30 am and 1:30 pm.

The ‘conference’ was attended by Ravindra Silva, the Sinhala Government Agent of Mannaar, K.Ketheesvaran, the divisional secretary of Musali, Bishop of the Mannaar Diocese Rt.Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, Rev. Fr. Ranjit and the commanding officers of the occupying Sinhala Army in Mannaar and Vavuniyaa.

The villagers, displaced from Musali, have been temporarily staying in Peasaalai, Thaazhvup-paddu, Keeri and in Thalaimannaar and have been subjected to various harassments by the SL military throughout the last five years.

A section of the uprooted people from Mu'l'lik-ku'lam attempted to enter their lands six months ago. Some of the families have been residing at Kaayaang-kudi and at Malang-kaadu.

Now it is learnt that 450 acres, at the rate of half an acre per family, have been allotted for these people to resettle away from the village. They have been informed that they could visit schools and religious places but not to their abandoned houses in Mu'l'likku'lam.

After the SLN camp meeting was over, Gotabhaya held discussions with members of the public assembled there. At the discussion some of them have consented to accept alternative lands leaving their own lands in Mu'l'likku'lam.

More than 4,500 civilians were forced to flee Mu'l'likku'lam and surrounding villages in the Musali division in September 2007.

Since their eviction, the people of Mu'l'likku'lam have been continuously protesting and demanding return to their village for resettlement. They have been appealing to the SL authorities for five years. The ruling UPFA politicians have been neglecting all their demands. 


Chronology:

27.12.12  Gotabhaya appropriates whole village in Mannaar

04.11.12  SL Navy continues to obstruct resettlement of disp..

17.06.12  SL Navy blocks resettlement-seeking Tamils from en..

15.09.11  Mu'l'likku'lam villagers left to languish, resettl..

19.06.09  Sinhalicisation insinuated in Musali

02.07.08  HRW calls on GoSL to end illegal internment of IDP..

18.06.08  385 Tamil civilians languish in SLA detention in N..

11.05.08  Musali displaced harassed by SLA, 70 families flee..

07.03.08  SLN, Police instruct Vanni IDPs away from Mannaar ..

5,000 rendered homeless due to floods in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 December 2012, 23:02 GMT]
5,134 members of 1,690 families have been displaced and kept in transit centres due to floods following the breach of the Malwaththu Oya in the Mannaar district, according to the Mannaar Disaster Management Unit Assistant Director M.A.C.Riyaz. The water released from Malwaththu Oya from Anuradhapura flows through Aruvi Aa'ru in Mannaar district causing deluge in several villages in the district.

4,488 members of 1,540 Tamil families in Maduk-karai village were displaced seeking refuge in Nanaaddan Maha Vidiyalayam.

646 persons from 150 Tamil families, displaced from Naanaaddaan and Thampuma'nik-ku'lam in Madu DS division were kept in another school.

Transport from Kugnchuk-kul'am village in Madu DS division to other areas is cut off for the last two days due to ten feet of flood overflowing from Aruvi Aaru.

More than 1,400 persons living in the village are also suffering without food and other basic facilities.