Occupying SLA hoodwinks resettlement of uprooted people in Champoor, Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 July 2013, 14:55 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army and the Trincomalee district Government Agent, who is also a retired Major General in the army, have been spreading false information via media regarding the resettlement of uprooted Tamil villagers from Champoor area in Trincomalee. Uprooted people are not resettled in their original villages in Champoor area. Some selected displaced who preferred to move out of the IDP camps due to personnel reasons are settled in alternative sites that are not fit for habitation, according to reports emerging from the area.

53 families accepted resettlement at Seethana-ve'li area which was offered by the army as an alternate site, amid several shortcomings including water and other essential services. They preferred Seethana-ve'li because it is close to Santhoasha-puram, one of the villages they were living while being evacuated due to war. They were given 20 perches land per head and a small house. Only two wells are in the village for drinking purposes.

Acute malnutrition and hunger still prevail among uprooted Champoor families now staying in ‘welfare centres’ that are located at Kaddai-pa'richchaan, Ma'nat-cheanai, Ki'liveddi and Paddiththidal in the Moothoor East.

About 4,036 members of 263 families from Champoor uprooted six years ago due to SL military operation launched in 2006 are staying in these camps as the government had refused to allow them to resettle in their own villages in Champoor area. According to reports by civil groups that the stoppage of distribution of dry ration relief under the World Food Programme for the last six months has led to the tragic situation in welfare camps.

Male members staying in the camps go for daily manual work for their earning and sometimes they go for small scale fishing. But the income derived from these sources is not enough for their survival, according to a report of by a non-governmental organization.

The entire village of Champoor has been grabbed by Colombo in complicity with New Delhi for demographic changes in the country of Eezham Tamils and for structural genocidal purposes, according to Tamil sources.

In June, an Indian corporate, Gateway Industries signed a 4 billion dollar direct foreign investment deal with genocidal Colombo to create a special industrial zone for heavy industries in Trincomalee in the land grabbed earlier for the High Security Zone by the Sinhala military.

Residents of Champoor, in the Trincomalee District have filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court on 15 June 2012, challenging the demarcation of a Special Zone for Heavy Industries (SZHI) through Gazette Extraordinary No. 1758/26 issued on 17 May 2012, Colombo media reports said. 640 acres including residential plots belong to 208 families have been appropriated for the proposed construction of Coal Power Plant and about 818 acres have been appropriated under a Special Gazette Notification under the Special Economic Development Project. Ancestral lands belong to 774 families have been brought under the high security zone.

Resettlement remains frozen for 51,000 Tamils in Valikaamam, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 13 November 2012, 01:45 GMT]
Since 2010, the SL government officials in Jaffna, including the GA, have been claiming that there were no ‘High Security Zones’ in the Jaffna district. In the meantime, more than 51,000 Tamils, belonging to 22 GS divisions, are denied access to their fertile lands and houses in Valikaamam, Jaffna. While the Colombo government was claiming that there were only ‘no go zones’ where land mines were yet to be cleared, the SL Supreme Court gave permission to proceed with the FR petition filed by Mr Mavai Senathiraja, 1 year later.

Fundamental Rights violation petitions were filed by the uprooted families seeking permission to resettle in their lands in Valikaamam North in 2003.

A three-member SL Supreme Court panel, including the SL Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayake who was facing impeachment in the SL parliament, on Monday gave permission to proceed with the FR cases filed by TNA parliamentarian and representatives, 10 years after the case was taken up for investigation.

SL Navy continues to obstruct resettlement of displaced Muslims of Musali

[TamilNet, Sunday, 04 November 2012, 23:47 GMT]
Displaced Muslim residents of Musali divisional secretariat division in Mannaar district are being prevented by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy under the pretext that the area has been brought under the high security zone. Rishard Badurdeen, a cabinet rank SL minister, who has been working with the Colombo government to appropriate lands of Tamils in Mannaar district, is now being accused by his own community for his inability to stop Colombo's appropriation of lands that belong to Muslims from Musali division, according to representatives of displaced people from Musali.

8 temporary sheds were completely burnt down and 21 were damaged two months ago. Resettlement-seeking Muslims suspect that the Sri Lanka Navy was behind the destruction of their temporary shelters. But, no action was taken against the suspected Sinhala navy personnel. More than fifty families are residing in temporary huts.

475 families who were solely depending on fishing and cultivation for their survival were living in the area before displacement in 1990.

Now, five years any military confrontation in the area, the SL Navy is obstructing the resettlement in the name of ‘High Security Zone’, the affected Muslims complain.

Maha season paddy cultivation has begun in neighboring villages and the displaced Muslim people find it difficult to ensure their livelihood due to obstruction placed by the occupying Sri Lanka Navy.

The SLN officials have been repeatedly assuring the Muslim politicians and officials that they are not putting obstruction for the resettlement. But, they work against their assurances as usual, the affected families complain.

The Sri Lanka Navy also keeps closed the B379 road from public use, forcing the Muslim people to travel 70 km instead of using the 4 km road to reach Rahumaniya from Puththa'lam.

The Muslim minister who plays a key role in generating animosity between Catholics and Muslims and who drives Muslims to appropriate lands of Tamils in Mannaar, is unable to take action against the SL Navy that is obstructing his own community to resettle in their lands, the affected families say.

Ki’linochchi rises up against resettlement farce and SL military occupation

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 September 2012, 10:22 GMT]
More than 50% of the participants, who took part in a protest held opposite the District Secretariat of Ki'linochchi district on Thursday, were parents of missing persons, allegedly abducted or arrested and held incomunicado by the occupying Sri Lankan military. The protestors who carried the photos of their missing kith and kin, put forward three main demands to the SL State and to the United Nations Human Rights Council, to end Sinhala colonisation in the Tamil homeland, to ensure freedom of movement to the civilians to resettle in their own houses and to reveal the whereabouts of their loved ones. The protest, organised by the Tamil National Alliance, saw the participation of Tamil National Peoples Front (TNPF) and Democratic Peoples Front (DPF).



TNA leaders, Mavai Senathiraja, S. Sritharan and Vino Noakraathalingam, together with DPF leader Mano Ganesan and Selvaraja Kajendren, the general secretary of the TNPF, attended the peoples’ protest.

The Sri Lankan State, which has not recognized the resolution passed during the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in March this year, is continuing with the same trend of subjugating the Tamil people, Maavai Senathiraja, a leader of the ITAK told the gathering.

While Mavai Senathiraja of the TNA was harping on the US-tabled Geneva resolution, Selvarajah Kajendren of the TNPF criticised the TNA for having failed to set the course in correct direction.

By failing to attend the UNHRC sessions and by simply calling for the countries to back the resolution, the TNA not only failed in setting the trend, but also shares the responsibility in the post-Geneva scenario for having brought the accountability process onto an LLRC-based track, which is full of traps, Mr Kajendren said. While xtending TNPFs support to agitations being organised by the TNA, Kajendren also appreciated the TNA for taking part in the protests organised by the TNPF.

Mavai Senathiraja 27 09 2012 by TamilNet

Resettlement farce disproves claims of IOM and UN

Resettlement farce disproves claims of

 IOM and UN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 September 2012, 00:04 GMT]
No one from the UN or any other international humanitarian body had come to witness the plight of the people who were forcefully relocated from IDP camp to Vattaappazhai in Mullaiththeeu and then dumped at a plot of land cleared after burning jungle at Chooripuram. The people belonging to more than 110 families languish without potable water or any basic facilities. Many of the remaining families have also been dumped at similar sites at Kaiveali and in other pockets of Puthukkuidyiruppu division. TamilNet brings out photos of Kaiveali and Chooripuram and a video clip from Chooripuram. The visuals tell the story, while the UN and IOM, who have not taken any effort to visit the site, pat their own backs and that of Colombo on fulfilling the ‘commitment’ and resettling people back in their ‘homes’ with safety and dignity.



The country of Eezham Tamils has become a fertile ground for a number of international forces to test all their state-of-the-art techniques in conducting genocide and at the same time making it not an issue to the world. There is no international mechanism to indict responsible international organizations like the IOM that tell lies. During the war, the UN lied on the number of people surrounded by a genocidal military and now it comes out with similar lies in shielding the structural genocide to give a clean chit to Rajapaksa, political activists in Vanni told TamilNet.

The international organizations of the establishments are now openly working in complicity with the structural genocide and annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils in the island, the activists further said.

The remaining families at Cheddiku'lam camp were opposing to relocate themselves as they already had witnessed the plight of those who opted to move out of the camp not getting back their original homes and lands, grabbed by the occupying Sinhala military.

361 families, from the villages of Manthuvil and Keappaapulavu were fighting till the last moment. But, despite their opposition, the SL military run ‘resettlement’ officials threatened the families and forcefully transported them to Vattaappazhai and from there dumped the families of Manthuvil at Kaiveali and the families from Keappaapulavu at Chooripuram.

The SL military has been heavily guarding the localities at Kaiveali and Chooripuram. The military is manning the posts, including the toilet pits at the localities, and are blocking journalists and humanitarian activists from interacting with the people.

The uprooted families, with elderly persons, pregnant women and children, are forced to drink the water, which was to be used for cleaning at the toilet pit side, as the water tank which was there when they were brought to the spot, had been removed by the SL military, the people say.

People who feared wild elephants at Cheddiku'lam camp after fences were dismantled by the SL military and were prodded to move out, are now dumped at a jungle plot full of poisonous snakes, the families told TamilNet over phone on Wednesday.

They were putting up temporary shelters using clothes in their possession and the felled trees. There was no NGO to assist the people at Chooripuram or Kaiveali.

Kaiveali was the home of several humanitarian organizations under the LTTE run de-facto state administration before the genocidal onslaught carried out by Colombo with international abetment.

Selvarajah Kajendren, the general secretary of the TNPF managed to sneak into Chooripuram on Wednesday to witness the plight of the people. Crying women were telling their story to the former parliamentarian.

“We were living a hard life at Cheddiku'lam for almost four years. The visiting humanitarian agencies only favoured people associated with them. My family had to sell rice to make a living there. And after all the difficulties, now we are dumped here. I have not washed my body for 3 days. There is no drinking water. We had to drink the water supplied for toilet,” a lady told the visiting Tamil politician at Chooripuram.

At Kaiveali, despite the promise given by the divisional secretariat officials that they would supply food, there has been no assistance forthcoming, the people told journalists over the phone. The families at Kaiveali are also in the same situation like those who were dumped at Chooripuram. They sleep under the trees.

None of the officials, including the village officer (GS) or those from the divisional secretariat have visited the people.

In the meantime, SL president Mahinda Rajapaksa has visited Vanni on Tuesday to open a market in Ki'linochchi. 284 million rupees was reportedly allocated to construct the market, but the money has been subjected to mismanagement, civil official said adding that only 14 percent of the allocation had been spent on the project.

Likewise, a new building for Karaithu'raippattu divisional secretariat, completed one year ago, was put on hold until Rajapaksa to come and declare it open.

An electricity supply arrangement constructed with Japan's aid to ‘integrate’ the power grid of the North with the rest of the island was also declared open by the visiting SL president who was joined by his sibling Basil Rajapaksa and progeny Namal Rajapaksa, together with Douglas Devananda.

People putting up their own huts at Kaiveali in Puthukkudiyiruppu

Chronology:

27.09.12  Resettlement farce disproves claims of IOM and UN

25.09.12  UN and IOM deceive world on Tamil IDP resettlement

24.09.12  IDP camp dismantled, inmates appeal directly to In..

22.09.12  SL military threatens IDP camp inmates to accept ‘..

21.09.12  SL forces attack, throw dirt at people demanding r..

20.09.12  Resettled people report traces of genocide

UN and IOM deceive world on Tamil IDP resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 September 2012, 19:16 GMT]
While the Eezham Tamil survivors of the genocidal war, herded into barbed-wire camps three years ago, are now dumped against their wishes into shelters and jungle tracts forced onto them after their fertile lands and homes are grabbed by the occupying military, the United Nations and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) entered into a deceptive campaign in favour of the genocidal state on Tuesday that all the IDPs have now returned to their ‘homes’. "These families wanted to go home and IOM, in partnership with the UN and the humanitarian community, has helped them to do so in safety and dignity,” the IOM was cited saying on the closure of the last IDP camp, while the UN welcomed it as a “significant sign of the transition from conflict to sustainable peace” and fulfilment of the “commitment of the Government to resettling tens of thousands of people back to their homes.”

On Monday evening, the people of Keappaa-pulavu village, the last inmates of the Cheddi-ku’lam IDP camp were brought to a school building at Vattaap-pazhai and from there, they were immediately dumped in a plot of land at a place called Choori-puram.

The Sri Lanka Army will not give their village Keappaa-pulavu back to them, they were told by the occupying military.

They were also threatened that if they don’t accept what is given to them now, they would not get anything at all.

On Sunday night, while sleeping under trees of the dismantled IDP camp at Cheddi-ku’lam, the people helplessly watched their belongings transported by heavy vehicles to an unknown destination.

On Monday after transported to Vattaap-pazhai by buses, they were told that their belongings had gone to Choori-puram and they should go there, the place designated for them by the SL military.

Fearing the loss of even their little belongings, most of the people went to the Choori-puram plot against their will. There were not even potable water facilities.

They have been told that they would not get any further ‘humanitarian’ assistance.

What happened to the Keappaa-pulavu people was the routine way of ‘resettlement’ by the genocidal state of Sri Lanka in the occupied country of Eezham Tamils.

The helpless plight of the subjugated people leading them towards a future structural genocide was always highlighted as a ‘significant humanitarian achievement’ by the SL government and the international agencies that uphold the genocidal state.

None of them think of restoring the sovereignty of the affected nation of people to rebuild themselves with their own choice and dignity.

* * *

The IOM on Monday claimed that it had helped the last 251 families in the IDP camp to “voluntarily’ return to their homes in Mullaiththeevu district.”

The move, funded by the Government of Japan and in close coordination with the UN, NGOs and the government, marks the end of an IOM operation in the island, an IOM press release said on Tuesday, adding that the home area of the IDPs has now been demined and is suitable for habitation.

Other activities implemented by IOM through this programme include livelihood support to former Tamil Tiger (LTTE) soldiers and other conflict-affected individuals, training and career guidance for youth, support to psychosocial services and community development, the press release further said.

The brutal and shadow activities of the IOM in favour of the establishments and against Eezham Tamils were exposed even in on an earlier occasion related to ship refugees, commented Eezham Tamil activities.

• Statment by UN OCHA in Colombo

Echoing the IOM in welcoming the resettlement hoodwink, but with a compromise that will not in any way change the fundamentals of Tamil subjugation, the UN on Tuesday said that “there are still some people who are unable to return to their homes and a solution urgently needs to be found.”

“While these last residents have not been able to return to their former land the Government is providing them with land in another area The Government is looking for solutions but it is important that the displaced people should be able to make an informed and voluntary decision about their future including being part of the planning and management of their resettlement,” said the UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Colombo, Mr Subinay Nandy, in a press statement of the UN.

How ‘voluntary’ decisions are thrust onto subjugated Eezham Tamils in the island cannot be unknown to the UN that allowed the herding of 300,000 Eezham Tamils into barbed wire camps of their genocidal adversaries, humanitarian activists in the island responded to the Bengali UN official from Bangladesh.

The UN official was harping on the LLRC implementation.

“Allowing people to settle anywhere in the country and resolving legal ownership of land for those who have resettled away from their original homes is a key part of the reconciliation process,” the UN official’s statement reflects the thrust of the LLRC implementation that aims at the annihilation of the territoriality of the nation of Eezham Tamils, and legitimizes the land grab, demographic changes etc., carried out by the genocidal state and its military, responded Tamil political activists.

As usual the international media that earlier abetted the genocidal war now highlights only the Establishment’s picture on the resettlement hoodwink faced by Eezham Tamils.

Washington operates behind the IOM, informed circles say.

The International showcasing of the closure of camps, hurried dumping of the Tamil IDPs after grabbing whatever possible lands from them and all the other moves are ultimately heading towards US and India bailing out Sri Lanka in the world forums, while allowing it to complete the annihilation of the nation of Eezham Tamils, observed Tamil political activists in the island.

Chronology:

25.09.12  UN and IOM deceive world on Tamil IDP resettlement

24.09.12  IDP camp dismantled, inmates appeal directly to In..

22.09.12  SL military threatens IDP camp inmates to accept ‘..

21.09.12  SL forces attack, throw dirt at people demanding r..

20.09.12  Resettled people report traces of genocide

Related Articles:
12.09.12   IOM blamed for double standards


External Links:

Releifweb:		IOM Completes Voluntary Returns from Sri Lanka's Menik Farm Displacement Camp
AFP:		Sri Lanka shuts war-time refugee camps
Business Recorder:		Sri Lanka shuts war-time refugee camps

SL forces attack, throw dirt at people demanding resettlement in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 21 September 2012, 11:22 GMT]
When people of Mullaiththeevu for the first time in last three years gathered in hundreds in front of the district secretariat on Friday, to demand resettlement in their village at Keappaa-pulavu in the district, the occupying Sinhala military deployed in large numbers responded with intimidation of taking videos of the demonstrators and by arranging a gang to throw human excretion at them. After throwing dirt the gang escaped by getting into a nearby SL police station. Later, a motorbike gang followed the vehicle in which Mr S. Kajendran was returning from the demonstration to attack it near Mu’l’liyava’lai. Another gang, in the very presence of SL military, attacked the vehicle in which Dr. Wikramabahu Karunaratne and Mr Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam were returning via Paranthan road. A vehicle of media persons was also attacked.

Barbed wires placed to puncture tyres ambushed Mr. Kajendran’s vehicle at an open and lonely stretch of the road, when the motorbike gang that was following the vehicle started attacking the vehicle and the passengers inside. Mr. Kajendran drove the vehicle away in punctured condition to escape from the attackers.

The demonstration was led by TNA parliamentarian for Vanni, Mr Sritharan, TNPF leaders Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam and Mr S. Kajendran, leading civil society activist Mr. Guruparan Kumaravadivel as well as Dr. Wikramabahu Karunaratne, Mr. Mano Ganeshan and leaders of the United Socialist Party from the South.

The demonstration participated by more than around 400 local people, including the villagers of Keappaa-pulavu, took place for nearly one and a half hours between 11-30 AM and 1-00 PM.

SL military is currently stationed in the village Keappaa-pulavu and recently there was news that the occupying military plans a permanent base there.

“We want our land, let the military quit our homeland,” the demonstrators demanded.

An SL military officer of the rank of Major was engaged in an intimidating way in videographing the demonstrators.

The SL military has also organized a group of around 20 people to come to the venue and shout that demonstrations are not necessary for Tamils.

Later, speaking to media, Mr. Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam expressed his concern over how the OHCHR team that visited the island for a week is going to present its report. Everything moves towards a planned hoodwink, he implied.

All leaders who participated the demonstration opined that the affected people are left with no option other than struggle and demonstration in addressing the world and in letting the world know of their plight.

Sri Lanka Navy expels resettling Muslims, destroys huts in Musali, Mannaar

[TamilNet, Monday, 03 September 2012, 23:31 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel in uniform and civil clothes, numbering around 70, went amok on the temporary settlement of Muslims at Maraikkaar village in Musali division setting fire to 15 huts and smashing another 10 huts Monday evening around 7:00 p.m., residents said. The SL Navy has ‘warned’ the civilians, who had resettled there in 2010, to vacate the area, the sources further said. In the meantime, a Catholic school that started to function on Monday at Mu'l'likku'lam was also vacated by the SL Navy.

The SL Navy, which has militarised the division it captured from the Tigers, has been very reluctant in allowing the people to resettle in their own villages.

The occupying navy of Sri Lanka has built up a large cantonment with its regional command in Mu'l'likku'lam.

The resettling Muslims have put up around 150 temporary huts. Plans were also afoot to construct 40 permanent houses there, the Muslim people said.

Meanwhile, Mu'l'likku'lam Roman Catholic Government School, which was re-opened on Monday after five years with 21 students and three teachers was also interrupted by the SL Navy. Claiming that the area ‘belonged’ to them, the SL Navy said the area belonged to them and ordered the teachers and students to vacate the school building.

The administration of the school said it had informed the Zonal Education office and the SL military bases well in advance of the reopening of the school.

Double standard in clearing UXOs endangers resettlement in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 29 August 2012, 23:03 GMT]
Leftover unexploded cluster munitions keep exploding every day in the suburbs of PTK, where the resettling people have embarked upon the dangerous exercise of clearing their lands. In a propaganda drive to close down the Menik Farm camp in Cheddiku'lam, Vavuniyaa, Sri Lanka military operated de-mining officers have given green signal for resettlement in selected suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) of Mullaiththeevu district, while the lands appropriated by the occupying SL military for militarization and Sinhalicisation in the same area have been carefully de-mined with external aid. At least four cases of big explosions have been reported in Vanni and Jaffna this week with two people seriously injured.

On Monday, a resettling Tamil man was injured in a UXO explosion and admitted to Chavakachcheari hospital and later transferred to Jaffna hospital.

On Tuesday, a 28-year-old male, Thiyagaraja Yogaraja, was seriously wounded in both of his legs at Kanakaampikaik-ku'lam in Ki'linochchi district when a land mine exploded while he was clearing the land.

The occupying military of Colombo, engaged in erasing the traces of its genocidal onslaught on Eezham Tamils, has not allowed internationally renowned humanitarian agencies in the field of de-mining to engage in independent operations even after three years have elapsed since the end of Vanni war.

Meanwhile, there are also allegations that South African companies were deployed in removing the traces of genocide and bulldozing the areas where the occupying SL military carried out its genocidal slaughter in the final days of the war. Now, the occupying Sinhala military is engaged in earning money by systematically backing plunder and trade of vehicles and scrap-iron left in the villages, where resettlement is not allowed.

In the meantime, resettling people in the suburbs of PTK engage in the dangerous exercise of burning almost everything in their lands to make sure that cluster munitions and other unexploded ordinance remaining in the surface.

Former humanitarian workers, who were engaged in de-mining work during the ceasefire, blame that the SL military de-miners are not following the procedures for clearing the lands. They further accuse that the workers at UN agencies that engage in monitoring the final phase of clearance are also influenced by the Colombo regime to cooperate with its selective approach in clearing land mines.

Chronology:

29.08.12  Double standard in clearing UXOs endangers resettl..

24.08.12  Resettlement showcase brings in further miseries t..

21.08.12  SL military blocks resettlement in suburb of PTK

Related Articles:
23.08.12   UN exposes use of cluster munitions in Vanni War
21.08.12   SL military blocks resettlement in suburb of PTK
19.08.12   Village, jungle adjacent to Mu’l’livaaykkaal grabbed for Sin..
07.08.12   SL military backs plunder of scrap iron, vehicles, in land o..
25.06.12   SL military goes amok on uprooted civilians in Vanni, 2 inju..
21.06.12   SL Navy plants land mines again, steps up genocidal land gra..
26.04.12   UN admits use of cluster bombs three years after Vanni War
26.04.12   Two children die in landmine explosion at Pazhai in Jaffna p..
21.04.12   800,000 landmines remain in Thenmaraadchi FDL: DCO in Jaffna
17.04.12   Military-managed de-mining endangers security of Eezham Tami..
21.03.12   De-miners locate remains of cluster bomb in Ki'linochchi
10.03.12   SLA re-confiscates land ‘declared’ resettled in Jaffna HSZ

Resettlement showcase brings in further miseries to uprooted Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 August 2012, 20:29 GMT]
250 families recently brought to Chivanakar village in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) division of Mullaiththeevu district complain that they have been let down by the SL authorities that rush to vacate the Menik Farm in Cheddiku'lam, Vavuniyaa. Promising the uprooted proper resettlement to the uprooted Tamils in their own village, 141 families were brought from Menik Farm to Chivanakar. Another 101 families who were residing with their kith and kin elsewhere also joined them when their village was announced opened for resettlement. Now, these families are struggling in their own village without any shelter and have sought refuge under the trees. There are no basic facilities. Most of these families, who are below the poverty line, demand at least temporary huts and basic facilities before the rainy season begins in a few weeks from now.

The complaints from the people of Chivanakar follows the reports of SL military expelling the people brought from Menik Farm to Mallikaith-theevu in PTK a few days ago. The SL military chased away the people of Mallikaiththeevu saying there were still land mines in their village. The area had been declared ready for resettlement earlier.

In the meantime, uprooted people brought from Menik Farm to Poonakari division in Ki'linochchi district a few months ago, have now announced civil protests after their requests and repeated appeals for basic facilities have been totally ignored by the Sri Lankan authorities.

The Sri Lankan State, while projecting military enclaves and Sinhala colonies in the country of Eezham Tamils, systematically sabotage external aid programmes reaching the resettling Tamils. Foreign and local NGOs are not allowed to operate in Vanni and the people are made to expect assistance coming through their enemy's genocidal gates.

Colombo authorities only gave 20,000 rupees to each of the family of Chivanakar, who were promised resettlement in their own village. Since then, there has been no credible move in assisting them with basic facilities necessary for resettlement.

Recently, SL Defence Secretary and presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has gone on record vowing to close down the Menik Farm camp.

Diplomatic circles in Colombo said the Rajapaksa regime in Colombo was attempting to project that all the displaced Tamils have been resettled by dispersing the uprooted Tamils without providing basic facilities.

Chronology:

24.08.12  Resettlement showcase brings in further miseries t..

21.08.12  SL military blocks resettlement in suburb of PTK

SL military blocks resettlement in suburb of PTK

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 August 2012, 22:16 GMT]
Landmine clearing unit of the occupying Sri Lankan military has instructed forty Tamil families who resettled recently at 9th ward of Mallikaith-theevu village in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) division in Mullaiththeevu district, to vacate from their lands after the SL authorities had allowed the families to resettle earlier this month. The families were among 96 families that were hurriedly brought down to Mullaiththeevu from Menik Farm camp in Cheddi-ku'lam in Vavuniyaa, promising resettlement in Mallikaith-theevu, Puthukkudiyiruppu West and Puthukkudiyiruppu East. On the one hand Colombo is rushing to showcase that it is closing down the Menik Farm camp. But, on the other hand the occupying military of Colombo is blocking resettlement in the land of Vanni genocide. The SL military still considers the area as its High Security Zone (HSZ), relocated civilians said.

Colombo has not allowed resettlement in Puthumaaththa'lan, Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, Iraddai-mu'l'livaaykkaal, Valaignar-madam and certain suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu town.

In a highly publicized move, the SL authorities had brought down the families from Menik Farm to Puthukkidiyiruppu and its suburbs, promising resettlement in their own lands on 13 August.

However, within a few days, a Sri Lankan military operated land mines clearing team had come to the 9th ward and claimed that the area was not cleared of unexploded ordnance when the people were clearing their lands.

After the warning of land mines by the SLA, the families have sought refuge at the school building in the village.

The SL military had adopted similar tactics earlier by curbing resettlement citing various reasons.

At Koampaavil, people promised of resettlement in their own lands were brought down from Menik Farm and trapped into yet another camp life. Even the UN agencies were indirectly abetting the SL State's programme of relocation of uprooted people without basic facilities.

At Thirumu'rika'ndi, Tamil families brought down from Menik Farm by the SL authorities promising resettlement were later assaulted and relocated when they refused to accept the terms of the SL military and vowed to stage a protest.

‘Resettled’ people, who are not provided with basic facilities in Poonakari are staging a protest on Wednesday in front of their divisional secretariat.

Meanwhile, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Vanni Mr. Sritharan was refused access to Menik Farm when he went there recently to inspect the situation of the people there.

In the meantime, the occupying Sinhala military is also engaged in erasing all the remaining traces of genocide.

Uprooted Tamils in Ampaa'rai question SL Minister's statement on resettlement

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 August 2012, 20:27 GMT]
Tamil people have been systematically evicted from forty villages in fifteen different DS divisions in Ampaa'rai district, Tamil civil officials in the district say. Since 13 April 1967 to date, at least 3,500 Tamil families have been uprooted from these villages. Recently, Rauf Hakim, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) who holds the portfolio of Minister of Justice in Mahinda Rajapakse regime has told a foreign envoy in Colombo that steps would be taken to return the lands and properties lost by people in the past decades. Tamil civil officials questioned whether the Tamil people who were systematically uprooted from their traditional villages could get their lands appropriated by Sinhalese and Muslims during the conflict.

Around 6,500 acres of paddy fields, 3,500 acres of coconut lands and about 2,000 acres of lands used for sugar cane cultivation have been appropriated from the Tamils during the systematic eviction, the officials told TamilNet.

Tamils have been uprooted from the DS divisions of Chammaanthu'rai, Ninthavoor, Adda'laich-cheanai, Akkaraippattu, Poththuvil, Kalmunai, Chaainthamaruthu, I'rakkaamam, Ampaa'rai, Aalaiyadivempu, Kaaraitheevu, Naavithanve'li, Thirukkoayil, Uhana and Lahugala in the Ampaa'rai district.

Tamils were first driven out during the Ceylon-state aided colonization that took place under the Gal Oya colonization scheme.

In 1983, Tamils were chased away during state-sponsored pogrom.

Later, in 1985 and in 1990, following Muslim - Tamil riots, Sri Lankan elite commando Special Task Force (STF) evicted Tamils by engineering massacres against Tamils.

Due to fear and pressure, some Tamil families had sold their lands for low prices before fleeing their villages to save their lives.

The Eastern Province was fully occupied by the Sri Lanka Army in 2007. Thereafter, SL-state sponsored Sinhalicisation of Tamil villages has been stepped up.

More than 20 Hindu shrines have been destroyed in these villages.

New Buddhist Viharas have mushroomed and new highways and roads have been put up to facilitate the Sinhala colonisation.

SL Navy blocks resettlement-seeking Tamils from entering Mu'l'likku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 June 2012, 04:28 GMT]

The occupying Sri Lanka Navy Friday morning stopped a group of 75 uprooted Tamil families, who were demanding resettlement in Mu'l'likku'lam village in Musali DS division of Mannaar district. Earlier, on Wednesday, the uprooted Tamils met the Bishop of Mannaar, Rt. Rev. Dr. Rayappu Joseph, and requested their Catholic priests to accompany them in their effort to gain access to their native village that remains occupied by the SL military since September 2007. Responding, the Parish Priests of Thoaddave'li and Chilaavath-thu'rai, Rev. Fr. Nehru and Rev. Fr. Rasiah, accompanied the villagers. However, the SL Navy camped at Mu'l'likkulam junction stopped the uprooted Tamil families stating that they had no permission to enter the village. The families immediately sat in front of the SLN camp and staged a protest till they were forced to relocate to a nearby locality, Periyaku'lam.

The officers of the occupying SLN told the protestors that they would only be provided access to enter Paraloaka Maathaa Church in their village for prayers.

When the protesting Eezham Tamils demanded access to their livelihood, to engage in fishing in their sea and to engage in agriculture in their lands, they were told they could only engage in fishing. But, the occupying SL Navy was particular in telling the people that there would be no access to their houses.

In the meantime, their village has been transformed into a military cantonment, informed sources say.

Mu'l'ikku'lam has become a strategic point of occupation to the Sri Lankan forces that aim to Sinhalicise and colonise the land and the historic waters of Eezham Tamils.

More than 4,500 civilians were forced to flee Musali division in Mannnaar district in September 2007.

Since their eviction, the people of Mu'l'likku'lam have been continuously protesting demanding their village to be opened for resettlement and have been appealing to the SL authorities for five years. All their demands were neglected by the ruling UPFA politicians.

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.

Chronology:

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 ..

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