Pressure Mounts On Jaffna Student Arrest

By Chrishanthi Christopher, SundayLeader

Jaffna University students taking part in the simple act of lighting lamps to commemorate the ‘Mahaveer’ day

Despite repeated calls by opposition political parties, civil society movements and human rights groups to release the Jaffna University students who were arbitrarily arrested last month on alleged terrorism charges, they continue to remain in custody of the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID).
It is two weeks since the students were arrested and detained on charges of terrorism for the simple act of lighting lamps to commemorate the ‘Mahaveer’ day on November 27. The police had submitted the names of eleven students to the University administration demanding that they be produced at the Jaffna Police station. There was no explanation or intimation of charges levelled against them. Last Monday, major Tamil parties and others staged a protest opposite the secretariat office in Kilinochchi demanding that the students be released and their rights respected.
The students were peacefully commemorating the war heroes’ day when the security forces and the police interrupted the event resulting in a clash. Following this the students staged a protest the next day. They were having a peaceful protest march on November 28 from the main entrance at the Parameshwaran Road to the Science Faculty entrance. But the police attacked them again. In the melee that followed many students were beaten and dragged causing injuries.
Following this on December 6 eleven students were arrested under the PTA by the TID and seven of them were subsequently released. Still four students continue to languish in  the   Welikanda military camp along with 600 other ex-LTTE cadres. The students are said to be under interrogation.
The arrested are B. Bawanathan  – Leader, University Students’ Union, P. Tharshananan – Secretary, University Students’ Union, K. Jenamejayanth – Leader, Arts Faculty Union and S Solomon – Member, Science Faulty Union.
Today the Jaffna University is closed. The military and the police are occupying the place and the students are boycotting academic activities demanding the release of the students.
Students from other universities island wide have joined in solidarity protesting against the arrest and demanding their release. Last week students from the Peradeniya University gathered outside the university premises for protests.
Tamil University students in Norway carried out a peaceful demonstration with lights and banners condemning the attack and arrests of students.
Also the Canadian University Tamil Students’ Association held a countrywide awareness campaign on the plight of the Jaffna University students.
But the Defense Secretary is unrelenting. He had told in no uncertain terms to the Jaffna University Vice Chancellor Wasanthi Araseratnam and other academics who visited him last week that they would not be released. His explanation is that the students are ex LTTE cadres and they need to be rehabilitated.
TNA MP Suresh Premachandran questions on the kind of rehabilitation university students need. They are final year students and have been peacefully studying all these years.” said Premachandran.
Premachandran contends that a court has to decide whether they need be rehabilitated.  He says that the students were only lighting a lamp to commemorate the death of their relatives and friends. If the JVP can do it, so can they – they have a right to remember their family and friends.
Premachandran says that although the government talks of reconciliation among the Tamils and the Sinhala people it continues to arrests the Tamil people without any intimation to their families. He says that in the last three years and six months following the end of the war there has been no reports of violence but over 50 people have been arrested in the north.  “Their families have not been informed of their whereabouts. There is no reconciliation anywhere”.
Wickramabahu contends that the government is losing its popularity among the people and it is trying to orchestrate that the LTTE is re-emerging. It wants to show the Sinhala masses that it is continuing to fight them.
He says that the LSSP has written to over 100 countries informing about the sort of things taking place in Sri Lanka. “We have informed through our International Centre at Amsterdam.  India and Pakistan have been intimated separately” he adds.
Meanwhile, last week the police hot on the heels of the arrest of the Jaffna University students, went on a rampage arresting youth in Jaffna branding them as ex LTTE cadres.  Police media spokesman Preshantha Jayakody says that they have gathered intelligence on these youth for a long time and now they were arresting them. The arrests are continuing. Premachandran says that over 50 youth have been arrested and being detained without any charges or their families being informed.
Meanwhile, human rights groups have expressed their concern over the new developments in the northern peninsula.  The Human Rights Watch in a communiqué says that the present trend of arresting Tamils and detaining them sends out a dangerous message.  “… any Tamil can be detained arbitrarily and detained  indefinitely,” says Brad Adams, Asia Director, Human Rights Watch.
“The Sri Lankan authorities should realize that such actions generate legitimate grievances not reconciliation,” the message adds.
The Amnesty International was quick in condemning the arrests. The London based human rights group expressed concerns over the well being of the students under the TID custody.  Jim Mc Donald, Sri Lanka country specialist of Amnesty International USA says that the situation is of grave concern and has called on the Sri Lankan government to release the students from custody or charge them with a recognizable criminal offence. “They should be treated in accordance with international standards while in detention,” Jim Mcdonald reiterates.
The Movement for Equal Rights in Sri Lanka has also urged the government to immediately release the Jaffna University students.  The movement has also called for the withdrawal of the army from the north and east and granting equal rights to all Sri Lankans.
Meanwhile, the families of the students arrested have been given the opportunity to visit their sons. Families say that the students had been interrogated intensely looking for information on other students in the university.
The families of the students in custody are wailing and weeping not knowing whether their sons will ever come back home. They say that their sons are innocent and have not been involved in any sort of LTTE activities. All four of them are final year students and they could have not got involved in any terrorist activities.
“The four are being detained because they were vividly portrayed in the media holding placards and protesting. It was a peaceful march until the police intervened and attacked the protestors” said a parent.
TNA MP E. Saravanabhavan who was at the scene when the police and army attacked the students on December 27 says that the arrests of those students is an illegal practice and questions who decides on the need to rehabilitate the students. “It is the court of law – this is illegal practice. Nobody to ask including journalists. None of the media in Colombo highlights our plight,” he laments.
Jaffna Lecturers’ Union, President, Rasakumaran says that the students are in fear. He says that many students do not want to resume their studies and have left the country.
“They say that they do not want to come back and resume their academic activities when their leaders are in rehabilitation camps,” he said.
He says that the government is trying to create a rift between the Tamil and Sinhala students in the university. He claims that there are over 250 Sinhala students studying in the faculty of science and arts. And if the students demand that the academic activities be resumed there will be a clash of interest. We need reconciliation in the minds of all people and the little we have achieved should not be broken – we need to co-exist for a long time,” he said.

A Government Gone Mad And Bad

By Prof S. Ratnajeevan H. Hoole, sundayleader

Police assaulting Jaffna University students

The heading is inspired by S. L. Gunasekera (his letter to BASL, 28.11.2012) where he asked the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) “to oppose this [impeachment] madness of the incumbent government,” adding that he continues to support the government.
The Sinhalese in collective have been content to sit back and watch as our government literally took Tamils apart – perhaps 70,000 according to the recent Petrie report. A year ago their intelligentsia went after the previous UN Panel, with Jayantha Gunasekera, PC, trying to pass a resolution against its report at the BASL even before it was out. It was a fait accompli anyway and passed as soon as the report was released.
The BASL’s decision last week to not support any new CJ is laudable but there is a lot more wrong with the country as well as with the BASL. The CJ matter is merely symptomatic. For example news reports say that the goverrnment imported racing cars worth $100 million, paying no duty. But far more importantly, how can a young man just starting life on a government salary (whose father too is on government salary) pay $100 million as alleged? The Sunday Leader (06.03.2011) records Prabha Ganeshan saying that Basil Rajapaksa “promised Rs. 20 million to him and another UNP cross-over,” P. Digambaram; supposedly for development work. Ha! The sumptuous meals at Temple Trees, vulgar lifestyles at 5-star hotels, foundation on vain men, and the free flow of liquor at public expense can all be explained away through entertainment budgets from parliament. But the $100 million is more difficult. Thinking people like Gunasekera must reevaluate their support.
However, as public opinion builds up against the insane government, Marwaan Macan-Markar has opined that while the CJ’s supporters are “few and far from the required critical mass … [muscle and power on the streets are still controlled by the well-oiled Rajapaksa political machine”.
Tamil Powerlessness
Imagine then the powerlessness that Tamils feel when the Sinhalese intelligentsia feels so helpless. I recall August 1970 when violent Sinhalese policemen were on punishment transfer in Jaffna as if to say, “If you are driven to beat up people, then go beat up Tamils”.  Standardization was taking form with 28 bonus marks added to every Sinhalese aggregate before determining university admission. It was the time frustrated Tamil youth began pelting policemen with stones and would soon break up the SLFP office and bomb Alfred Duraiappah’s car.
Recent events at Jaffna University where students were assaulted by the army and later pelted soldiers with stones the next day, replay old times. To be expected but scarier are recent incidents in Puthukudiiruppu. A Tamil man was keeping four women, exploiting the gender imbalance since the war crimes. All four were chopped to death by a group imposing Tamil virtue. In the same place an old man was supplying Tamil women to the Sinhalese. He and a soldier were also chopped up. In Jaffna , The Island reported, a Sinhalese worker fooling around with women was killed when he arrived at a set-up tryst.
Similarly, recent reports tell of a Tamil robber gang in Jaffna that is on hire as killers.  They had state protection. When a police official got court sanction to shoot to kill, he was promptly transferred. Some have since taken the law into their hands and disappeared parts of the gang.
Tamilwin.com reports that this has the support of the people of Jaffna . But how different is that attitude from what the army did to Tamils in Mullaitivu? From BASL going all out to condemn the Ban Ki-moon Panel’s report to cover up murder of civilians and vigilante execution of the LTTE leadership?
The Tamil medium is being eliminated from the good universities in the South as we powerlessly watch. Eliminating Tamils from professional schools teaching in English, however, needs alternative strategies. Accordingly Jaffna gets a ramshackle engineering faculty when in all of Sri Lanka there are only three Tamil engineering PhD holders of working age. Ruhuna’s Engineering Faculty was built, for buildings alone, at a cost of Rs. 900 million (in 1998 the dollar cost Rs. 68 as against Rs. 128 today). But Jaffna ’s Engineering Faculty has only an allocation of Rs. 250 million in today’s rupees. It has been located in the jungles off Kilinochchi by a decision of the government and army, backed by the EPDP Vice Chancellor and Council. This despite my recommendations as UGC Coordinator, supported in writing by those such as Professors K. K. Y. W. Perera and Lakshman Ratnayake, that to be successful the Faculty must be in Jaffna to exploit the business environment and private housing so as to use the limited funds for building teaching space. (The sum I requested for buildings and equipment was a mere quarter of the car imports and was told there is no money).
The distance rule implies that students from the North who now are sent to Peradeniya, will be shunted into a cattle shed off Kilinochchi with few or no PhD level teachers. Touché.
Colonization of Kilinochchi: Counter Violence
It is no secret – and government parties have been explicit – that the plan is to have all parts of the country settled by all communities. Jaffna cannot be so easily converted but Vavuniya is now almost taken care of and Kilinochchi can easily follow.  Thus locating Engineering in Kilinochchi deprives Tamils of Peradeniya training and prepares Kilinochchi for colonization. The Vavuniya Campus was exclusively Tamil four years ago, but now the Sinhalese figures are 48 percent in Applied Science and 70 percent in Management with the balance shared between Muslims and Tamils. The direction for Kilinochchi is clear.
Frances Harrison, citing World Bank data, says that 101,748 Tamils are unaccounted for during the last months of the war from Mullaitivu. Many men having died or fled since, the women are easily exploited.
Reports allege that in Visuvamadu, Piramanthanaaru and Kumarasaamypuram, 100 Tamil women have been forcibly married to one Sinhalese soldier whose women are then given extensive facilities including ration cards. I find this credible, given the number of Tamil women made pregnant by Sinhalese and workers in the Kilinochchi area. A female native physician shyly testifies to the many women who come to her for abortion and contraception after illicit unions.
Tamil Subservience
In 1970 when four of us boys were assaulted for no reason by berserk policemen, one of us on the first slap pleaded “Sir, Sir” and was let off.  Two of us who did not bend were brutally assaulted and I ended up with lumps all over my thighs from police boots.
We revolted for justice with little understanding of rights. The revolt, noble and ignoble at once, culminated in the massacres of 2009. And we have become meek servants.  In Jaffna the Tamil public ‘Sirs’ ill-educated soldiers. We are ruled from Colombo through Tamil quislings and an uneducated army.
We grumble that Gotabaya Rajapaksa summoned the Vice Chancellor and Deans of Jaffna University to Colombo . By what protocol can a Defence Secretary summon a VC appointed by the President and Deans? They meekly obeyed. If they had simply said that he needs to come to the university, they would have been a shining example to the ‘Sirring’ public.
For this madness to stop, the government gone mad and bad must stop. Thinkers like S.L. Gunasekera need to understand that human rights violations and the cultivation of fearful subservience are not ethnically oriented, but an assault on all citizens alike.

பல்கலைக்கழக செயற்பாடுகளை வழமைக்கு கொண்டுவர முயற்சி; படைத் தளபதியுடன் சந்திப்புக்கு ஏற்பாடு; எதிர்ப்பும் கிளம்பியது
 http://onlineuthayan.com
 

யாழ்ப்பாணப் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தை மீண்டும் வழமைக்குக் கொண்டு வருவதற்கு முயற்சிகள் மேற்கொள்ளப்படுகின்றன. எனினும் இது தொடர்பான முயற்சிகள் குறித்து விசனங்களும் எழுப்பப்படுகின்றன. 

 

பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் கற்றல் கற்பித்தல் நடவடிக்கைகளை மீண்டும் வழமைக்குக் கொண்டு வருவது தொடர்பில் இராணுவத்தின் யாழ். மாவட்டக் கட்டளைத் தளபதியுடன் பேச்சு நடத்த பலாலிக்கு வருமாறு துறைத் தலைவர்களுக்குப் பதிவாளரால் அழைப்பு விடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

 

எதிர்வரும் வெள்ளிக்கிழமை இந்தச் சந்திப்பு நடைபெறும் என்று அறிவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது. 

பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் அனைத்துத் துறைத் தலைவர்களுக்கும் இது தொடர்பிலான அறிவித்தல் துணைவேந்தரின் பணிப்பின் பேரில் பதிவாளரால் வழங்கப்பட்டுள்ளது என்று "உதயன்' பத்திரிகைக்கு அறியவந்தது. ஆனால், இராணுவத் தளபதியுடன் துறைத் தலைவர்கள் பேச்சு நடத்த வேண்டும் என்ற பல்கலைக்கழக நிர்வாகத்தின் எதிர்பார்ப்புக்கு உடனடியாகவே எதிர்ப்புக் கிளம்பியுள்ளது.

 

படைத் தளபதியுடனான பேச்சுத் தொடர்பில் கலைப்பீட துறைத் தலைவர்கள் சந்திப்பு நேற்று நடைபெற்றது. அதில் இந்த யோசனைக்கு கடும் எதிர்ப்புத் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டதாக தகவல் வட்டாரம் "உதயன்' பத்திரிகையிடம் கூறின. "தாம் இராணுவத்தினரைச் சந்திக்க வேண்டிய அவசியமே இல்லை என அவர்கள் கூறிவிட்டனர்'' என்று அந்த வட்டாரம் மேலும் தெரிவித்தது.

 

மாவீரர் தினத்தைத் தொடர்ந்து கைது செய்யப்பட்ட யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவர்களில் நால்வர் இன்னும் விடுவிக்கப்படவில்லை. அவர்கள் வெலிகந்தவில் புனர்வாழ்வுக்கு உட்படுத்தப்பட்ட பின்னரே விடுவிக்கப்படுவர் என்று பாதுகாப்புச் செயலர் கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்ஷ பல்கலைக்கழக நிர்வாகத்திடம் கடந்த வெள்ளிக்கிழமை தெரிவித்திருந்தார். அத்துடன் மாணவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்படுவதற்குக் காத்திருக்காமல் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் செயற்பாடுகளை வழமைக்குக் கொண்டுவர நடவடிக்கை எடுக்குமாறு அறிவுறுத்தியிருந்தார். 

 

இதனை அடுத்தே யாழ். மாவட்ட இராணுவத் தளபதியுடனான சந்திப்புக்கு துறைத் தலைவர்களை வருமாறு அழைப்பு விடுக்கப்பட்டுள்ளது.

Jaffna University officials agree to reopen campus

By Mirudhula Thambiah, SundayTimes

Classes will soon resume at the University of Jaffna, which was closed for three weeks after a clash between students and the Army and the Police.

On Friday a Jaffna University delegation, led by Vice-Chancellor Vasanthi Arasaratnam, met Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa and other education officials to discuss the university’s problems and other issues. The Sunday Times learns that Vice-Chancellor Arasaratnam was advised to re-open the university. Meanwhile, the Terrorist Investigations Department (TID questioned three female undergraduates on Friday and recorded their statements. Jaffna University students have told the university authorities that they will not return for classes until the four detained students were released.

Professor V. P. Sivanathan, Dean of the Arts Faculty, University of Jaffna, told the Sunday times that students were on an “unofficial boycott” of lectures.

Army personnel deployed around the university campus during the student protests have been withdrawn, while a dozen Policemen have been deployed in three temporary huts at the entrance to the campus.

“We urge the Government to consider the immediate release of the four students being helde at the rehabilitation centre in Welikanda” academic Ratnam Vigneswaran told the Sunday Times.

Mr. Vigneswaran, who is Vice-president of the Federation of University Teachers Association (FUTA) and Associate Professor of Mathematics at the University of Jaffna, said the four students, once they were released, would be counselled while the university authorities restored normalcy on the campus.

Prof. Vigneswaran said the hostels were empty and students feared to return after the recent clashes with the Army and the Police.

According to Police spokesperson SSP Prishantha Jayakodi, the four female students had no charges against them and were sent to the rehabilitation centre at their own request.

Jaffna Deputy Inspector General Eric Perera told the Sunday Times that the security arrangements at the university will continue.

On November 27, the birthday of slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, Jaffna University students observed what they called “Maaveerar Day” (Martyrs’ Day), to commemorate the LTTE dead. The following day, a tense situation developed at the campus, resulting in a violent clash between students and Police and Army personnel. Eleven students were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

University teachers unions, students and civic groups have criticised the Government’s handling of the incident and have called for the release of the four detained students.

“We fully support the wish of the our colleagues to have in Jaffna University an institution that fosters pluralism, in which it is prepared to help, although the government’ action was contrary to this aim,” a statement from FUTA said.

In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Jaffna University Science Teachers Association (JUSTA) says obstacles to the smooth functioning of the institution should be removed. JUSTA Vice-President Professor S. Selvaraja said the university awaited a resolution of the university’s problems.

மாணவரை உடன் விடுவிக்க பாதுகாப்புச் செயலாளர் மறுப்பு; "கவுன்ஸிலிங்' கொடுக்க வேண்டும் என்கிறார்

onlineuthayan.com

பயங்கரவாதத் தடைச் சட்டத்தின் கீழ் கைது செய்யப்பட்டு தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த மாணவர்களைவிடுவிப்பதற்கு பல்கலைக்கழக நிர்வாகம் நேற்று மேற்கொண்ட முயற்சிகள் சாதகமான பயனைத் தரவில்லை என்று கொழும்புத் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. 

அவர்களை உடனடியாக விடுவிக்க முடியாது என்று பாதுகாப்புச் செயலர் கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்ஷ துணைவேந்தர் வசந்தி அரசரட்ணம் தலைமையிலான குழுவினரிடம் நேரில் தெரிவித்துவிட்டார் என்று நம்பகரமான வட்டாரங்கள் "உதயன்' பத்திரிகையிடம் தெரிவித்தன.

எனினும் "சில நாள்கள் வைத்து உளவளத்துணை (கவுன்ஸிலிங்) கொடுக்கப்பட்ட பின்னரே மாணவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்படுவார்கள்'' என்று பல்கலைக்கழக குழுவினரிடம் தெரிவிக்கப்பட்டது என்று முகாமைத்துவ மற்றும் வணிக பீடாதிபதி க.வேல்நம்பி நேற்றிரவு "உதயன்' பத்திரிகையிடம் தெரிவித்தார்.

பாதுகாப்புச் செயலரைச் சந்தித்த குழுவில் அவரும் இடம்பெற்றிருந்தார். மேலதிக விவரங்கள் எவற்றையும் தெரிவிக்கவில்லை.

மாணவர்களின் விடுதலையைத் துரிதப்படுத்தி யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் நடவடிக்கைகளை மீண்டும் வழமைக்குக் கொண்டுவரும் முயற்சியாக துணைவேந்தர் தலைமையிலான குழுவினர் நேற்று பாதுகாப்புச் செயலரைச் சந்தித்துப் பேசினர்.

பல்கலைக்கழகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த பீடாதிபதிகள் இந்தக் குழுவில் அடங்கியிருந்தனர். நேற்றுப் பிற்பகலில் சந்திப்பு இடம்பெற்றது.

மாணவர்களின் கைதைத் தொடர்ந்து பல்கலைக்கழகத்தில் அனைத்து நடவடிக்கைகளும் பாதிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளமை குறித்து குழுவினர் எடுத்துரைத்தனர். மாணவர்களை உடனடியாக விடுவித்து பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் செயற்பாடுகள் வழமைக்குத் திரும்ப உதவுமாறு அவர்கள் விடுத்த கோரிக்கையை நிராகரித்த பாதுகாப்புச் செயலர், "மாணவர்கள் உடனடியாக விடுவிக்கப்படமாட்டார்கள். 

நீங்கள் பல்கலைக்கழகத்தை இயக்க நடவடிக்கை எடுங்கள்'' என்று பதிலளித்தார் என கொழும்புத் தகவல் வட்டாரங்கள் தெரிவித்தன. யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவர் ஒன்றியத் தலைவர் வி.பவானந்தன், ஒன்றியச் செயலர் ப.தர்சானந், கலைப்பீட மாணவர் ஒன்றியத் தலைவர் க.ஜெனமேஜெயந்த், விஞ்ஞானபீட மாணவர் ஒன்றிய உறுப்பினர் எஸ்.சொலமன் ஆகியோர் நவம்பர் மாத இறுதியில் கைது செய்யப்பட்டனர்.

மூன்று வாரங்களாகத் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள அவர்கள் கடந்த வாரம் வெலிகந்த முகாமுக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டிருந்தனர். அவர்களை உடனடியாக விடுவிக்குமாறு வலியுறுத்தி பல்வேறு அரசியல் கட்சிகளும் அமைப்புக்களும் தொடர்ச்சியான போராட்டங்களை நடத்தி வருகின்றன.

FUTA SPECIAL STATEMENT ON JAFFNA UNIVERSITY PROBLEM

FUTA SPECIAL STATEMENT ON JAFFNA UNIVERSITY PROBLEM

மாணவர் பிரதிநிதிகள் நால்வர் வெலிக்கந்தைக்கு திடீர் மாற்றம் மீதி 7 பேர் விடுவிப்பு

 Uthayan online

கைது செய்யப்பட்டு வவுனியாவில் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த யாழ். பல்கலைக்கழகத்தைச் சேர்ந்த 7 மாணவர்கள் விடுவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ள நிலையில் 4 மாணவர்கள் வெலிக்கந்தை தடுப்பு முகாமுக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டிருக்கிறார்கள் என்று அவர்களது உறவினர்கள் கூறுகின்றனர். 

 

பல்கலைக்கழக மாணவர் ஒன்றியத் தலைவர் வி.பவானந்தன், ஒன்றியச் செயலாளர் ப.தர்ஷானந்த், கலைப்பீட மாணவர் ஒன்றியத் தலைவர் க.ஜெனமேஜெயந்த், விஞ்ஞான பீட மாணவன் எஸ்.சொலமன் ஆகிய நால்வருமே பயங்கரவாத விசாரணைப் பிரிவினரின் வவுனியா அலுவலகத்தில் இருந்து வெலிக்கந்தை தடுப்பு முகாமுக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டிருக்கின்றனர் என்று தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.

 

"நேற்றுக் காலை நாம் வவுனியாவுக்குச் சென்றபோது அங்கு அவர்கள் இல்லை. வெலிக்கந்தைக்கு அவர்கள் கொண்டு செல்லப்பட்டுவிட்டார்கள் என்று அங்கிருந்த அதிகாரிகள் எமக்குத் தகவல் சொன்னார்கள்'' என மாணவர்களில் ஒருவரின் உறவினர் தெரிவித்தார்.

 

மாணவர்கள் வெலிக்கந்தைக்கு மாற்றப்பட்டதற்கான காரணங்கள் அவர்களது பெற்றோருக்கோ, உறவினர்களுக்கோ தெரிவிக்கப்படவில்லை. ஆனால் மாணவர்களில் மூவருக்கு எதிராக மூன்று மாதகாலத் தடுப்புக்காவல் உத்தரவு பெறப்பட்டுள்ளதாக பொலிஸ் பேச்சாளர் பிரசாந்த ஜெயக்கொடி தெரிவித்தார் என்று கொழும்பு ஆங்கில ஊடகம் ஒன்று நேற்றுத் செய்தி வெளியிட்டிருந்தது. 

 

"பயங்கரவாதத் தடைச்சட்டத்தின் 9வது பிரிவின் கீழ் தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர். இவர்கள் 3 மாதங்கள் வரை தடுத்து வைத்திருக்க முடியும். ஏனைய ஆறு மாணவர்களும் பயங்கரவாதத் தடைச்சட்டத்தின் 61 பரிவின் கீழ் 72 மணித்தியால தடுப்புக்காவலில் வைக்கப்பட்டனர்'' என்றும் பொலிஸ் பேச்சாளர் தெரிவித்திருந்தார்.

 

தடுத்து வைக்கப்பட்டிருந்த ஏனைய 7 மாணவர்கள் நேற்று விடுவிக்கப்பட்டனர். வவுனியாவுக்கு அழைக்கப்பட்ட மாணவர்களின் பெற்றோர், பல்கலைக்கழகத்தின் சில பீடாதிபதிகள், மூத்த மாணவர் ஆலோசகர், நலச் சேவைப் பதிவாளர் ஆகியோரிடம் இந்த 7 மாணவர்களும் ஒப்படைக்கப்பட்டனர்.

 

நேற்றுப் பகல் யாழ்ப்பாணத்தை வந்தடைந்த மாணவர்கள் யாழ். பொலிஸ் நிலையத்துக்குச் சென்று தாங்கள் விடுவிக்கப்பட்ட விடயத்தைக் கூறிய பின்னர் பெற்றோர்களுடன் வீடுகளுக்குச் சென்றனர். 

 

மருத்துவ பீடத்தைச் சேர்ந்த க.சஞ்சீவன், ச.பிரசன்னா, சி.சசிகாந்த, செ.ஜனகன், ரி.அபராஜிதன் மற்றும் முகாமைத்துவபீடத்தைச் சேர்ந்த ப.சபேஸ்குமார், விஞ்ஞானபீடத்தைச் சேர்ந்த செ.ரேணுராஜ் ஆகியோரை விடுவிக்கப்பட்டுள்ளனர்.

Jaffna teachers to continue protest

 Dailymirror

While seven of the 11 Jaffna University students in TID custody were released today, Jaffna university teachers said they would return to work only if the others in custody were also released.

Police arrested 11 students following a tense situation that prevailed at the Jaffna University last week where students were involved in a violent clash with police and army personnel.

Jaffna University Teachers Union said university activities came to a standstill after the incident and this situation might continue if all the students were not released.

Union President R. Vigneswaran said university teachers were informed that the university general body would meet today to decide if teachers should return to work or continue to stay away until the other four students were released.

“We will stay away from work even if students come for lessons,” he said.

The university Vice Chancellor and faculty deans had left to Vavuniya yesterday to bring back the seven students from TID custody to Jaffna. The university Vice Chancellor and other senior university officials are looking forward receive information on the release of the other four students,” he said.

The Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) charged that the students were arrested on false charges and urged for their immediate release.

“Armed personnel in civilian clothing and uniform are still present in the university premises. This situation must change immediately,” IUSF leader Sanjeew Bandara said.

The clash between security forces and university students took place when the students held an event called Maaveerar (Martyr' Day) to commemorate former LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran’s birthday on November 26. The students were arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

Students were also interrogated over a petrol bomb explosion at the TELO political party office in Jaffna and posters put up to commemorate the slain LTTE leaders birthday.

Several students were injured during the clash and students accused the police of attacking them while the police allege the students of throwing stones at the officers which compelled them to act. (Olindhi Jayasundere)

Jaffna Uni crisis deepens, tension heightens

• By  Arthur Wamanan and Sandun Jayawardana
• Sunday, 09 December 2012 02:18
• Nation

The arrest and detention of nine students of the Jaffna University have triggered unrest and tension among the student community who continue to boycott academic activities in protest, University sources claimed.

Human rights activists claim the arrest and detention of the students would once again create a fear psychosis among civilians, causing further friction between the people and the security forces in the North and East.

Convener of the Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) and former Parliamentarian, Mano Ganeshan warned that such acts would only create tension between the two communities and hamper the reconciliation process.

The police arrested nine students last week following clashes that erupted during a protest on November 28 after students commemorated LTTE Martyr’s Day.

“The government should allow the dead to be remembered,” he said. He added that the JVP and the FLSP continued to commemorate those who died during the 1971 insurgencies. “One might disagree with the politics behind the movements. But the people should be allowed to remember the dead,” he said adding students in the North should be given the same political freedom as other parties in the South.”

Meanwhile, the Inter University Students’ Federation (IUSF) said the government was engaged in ‘state terrorism’ preventing students from commemorating the dead.

“We totally condemn this act by the police. The students should be given the freedom to express their political views,” IUSF Convener, Sanjeewa Bandara said. He said the IUSF would campaign for the release of the students.

Among those still under arrest is V. Bhavanandan, President of the Jaffna University Students’ Union.
However, University officials were non-committal on the issue and noted no steps have been taken get the students released. The reopening of the campus also hung in the balance with students refraining from attending classes as a mark of protest. A spokesperson for the University said all academic activities was at standstill since November 29 and would commence once the students returned.

“It is not only the universities and students who are helpless, but the entire people. Very little can be done here,” lamented Dr Mahim Mendis, spokesperson for the Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA).

When contacted, Police Spokesperson SSP Prishantha Jayakody said nine Jaffna University students were in police custody as of Friday (07). He claimed they had been arrested on charges of ‘supporting terrorist activities’.

“Originally 10 students were in custody but one was released after being produced before Courts,” he said.

Of the nine students currently in custody, three are held under Section 9 of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), which would enable them to be detained for up to three months, Jayakody said. The other six are held under Section 6-1 of the PTA for 72 hours. If the investigators feel that these six suspects should be interrogated further, they would go before Court to obtain another detention order for 72 hours, he explained. The suspects are currently being interrogated by the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), Jayakody added. 

Meanwhile, in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association warns of “a deteriorating situation” at the university and expresses frustration at how the entire episode was being handled.

The letter alleged that on the morning of December 6, a man claiming to be from the TID had given a list containing the names of ten students to be produced at the Jaffna Police Station “Without any information of the reasons or the charges against them”.

“A study of the list convinced us that all these students were wanted only because they were well known as prominent in student activities or were victims of police assault on November 28, whose pictures featured in news reports on the Internet,” the letter adds.

The letter also takes university authorities to task for allegedly “handing over” the said students to the police without any questions and for failing to seek a speedy resolution. It further notes that the PTA under which the students are detained is “most inappropriate” to deal with issues that are essentially political in their nature. “To see terrorism in political gestures and political opinion that do not take recourse to violence and to respond to them by an overwhelming show of force, is both illogical and counter-productive,” it adds.

The letter warned of dangerous consequences that could arise from allowing the situation to aggravate. “Where there should be trust and co-operation there is fear, resentment, and then defiance. Surely, we do not want the consequences of that again”, it stated.

Jaffna dons petition president

December 9, 2012, 9:57 pm , the island


Almost a hundred members of the Jaffna University Science Teachers’ Association have petitioned President Mahinda Rajapaksa expressing concern over recent incidents at their institution. They have accused the army of causing unnecessary trouble, while blaming Jaffna based civilian authorities of failing to address their concerns.

The dons accuse the government of default "through continued presence of the military without tangible moves towards a political settlement." At a time the petitioners are trying hard "to make our university one that respects differences and advocates pluralism," the army, they say, entered the halls, "separating the Sinhalese from the Tamil students, showing hostility to and even threatening only the latter."

Attesting that there "is now no anti-state terrorism in Jaffna," they accuse the police of physically attacking the students who demonstrated on Nov. 28 by merely crying slogans that were "well within the norms of democratic protest."

The university teachers’ four page memorandum details the harassment they face. They question how a bomb throwing incident was used to arrest students after the perpetrators got away despite the place being surrounded by armed forces.

They claim the university administration was given, a list of 10 students by the Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) to be produced. They are of the view that the 10 students "were wanted only because they were well known as prominent student activists or were victims of police assault on Nov. 28, whose pictures featured in news reports on the Internet."

They question the "practice of the university authorities ‘handing over’ students without questioning "the police as to the reasons." The situation is so bad, they say, that even lawyers are afraid to represent students.

The petitioners politely remind the President that he has been in politics for several decades and at the centre of two Southern insurgencies and "that the defeat of an insurgent force does not extinguish the feelings or causes that gave rise to it. Such feelings are not a police matter, but are rather to be handled as part of the political task of reconciliation and rebuilding."