SLA fires cluster shells, 45 civilians killed, 120 wounded Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 17:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling killed 43 civilians throughout the day on Tuesday. 13 civilians, including 9 members of 2 families, were slain in Ampalavanpokka'nai and Valaignarmadam area in the morning. 3 of the killed were children. Four civilians were killed hit by gunfire. 120 civilians were wounded throughout the day, according to medical and aid workers in the safety zone.
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Thanthai Chelva’s 111th Birthday commemorated in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 16:28 GMT]
Hundreds of persons including several dignitaries took part in an event Tuesday morning to commemorate the 111th birthday of Thanthai Chelva, late S. J. V. Chelvanayagam, respectfully known as the Father of Tamil Nation, at the Thanthai Chelva Square in Jaffna town. Rev. Dr. S. Jebanesan, the president of Thanthai Chelva Trustee Board, presided at the event and delivered the memorial address. Later in the evening a memorial service was held in St. John’s Church in Chu’ndikkuzhi where Rev. Dr. S. Jebanesan paid tribute to Thanthai Chelva.
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SLA attacks kill 88 Tamils, including 21 children on Monday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 16:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling on Monday claimed the lives of 70 civilians as Fifty Caliber gunfire from the SLA positions across the lagoon also killed 18 civilians on the road, which links the makeshift hospital with IDP settlements. 21 of the slain victims and 31 of 156 wounded civilians were children. 63 tarpaulin huts were destroyed in SLA attacks. TamilNet correspondent witnessed that four children were orphaned as they lost both their parents and siblings. The civilians were struggling to take their wounded to the hospital as the entire stretch of the road has come under 50 Caliber machine gun fire. Four civilians, including a worker of the fishing union that arranges boats to transport the patients from the coastal point Thidal to the ICRC ship, were wounded in SLA gunfire.
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Resettled Tamils in Moothoor east live in fear

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

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 15:37 GMT]
A gang of unidentified armed men shot and killed Sunday night a Tamil youth at his residence in Poonakar in Serunuwara police division in Trincomalee district, according to Serunuwara police. The killers forcibly entered the youth’s house and opened fire on him, the sources added.
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JU Arts Faculty students to boycott demanding Raveendran’s release

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 14:11 GMT]
The Arts Faculty Students Union (AFSU) in Jaffna University is to engage in a boycott of lectures from Wednesday until further notice demanding the immediate release of their lecturer Selvarajah Raveendran, the younger brother of Jaffna District Tamil National (TNA) parliamentarian, Selvarajah Kajendran, according to a report to the media by AFSU. Raveendran was abducted 24 March night by armed persons inside the high security area in Madiwela in Colombo while he was returning to the parliamentarian's residence, according to police.
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EUSL Registrar, Dean resign after paramilitary threats

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 11:12 GMT]
The Registrar of the Eastern University of Sri Lanka (EUSL) has resigned his post following harassments by a paramilitary operative, Julian alias Newton, who claims to be in charge of "educational affairs" of SLFP appointed Minister of National Integration, Vinayagamoorthy Muraleetharan alias Karuna. The resignation comes after the paramilitary person demanded two-thirds of the income of Eastern University from its Registrar threatening him either to pay the sum or resign from his post. Meanwhile, the Dean of the faculty of Fine Arts at the EUSL has also resigned his post after being harassed by Newton to select Karuna-favoured candidates the posts of assistant lecturers.
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Batticaloa district development meeting held without TNA parliamentarians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 10:16 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians representing the people of Batticaloa district, P. Ariyanenthiran, S.Jeyanandamoorthy, K. Thangeswary and T. Kanagasabai did not attend the Annual Batticaloa District Development meeting Monday in Batticaloa District Secretariat for fear of danger to their lives by the paramilitary men operating along with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Special Task Force (STF) in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa. This is a meeting where the district’s parliamentarians allocate funds to various development projects in the district.
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Teacher, student die as tree falls on outdoor classroom

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 08:00 GMT]
A teacher and one of her female students were killed and 30 students sustained injuries when a tree fell on them while the teacher was conducting an outdoor class at Thiru Gnana Sampanthan Mixed School, Vavuniyaa, Tuesday noon, Police said.
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Case filed to block US vote on IMF loan to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 04:00 GMT]
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, filed a complaint against Secretary of the US Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and the US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Meg Lundsager, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to obtain a "declaratory judgment that a failure of the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan application would constitute a violation of 22 U.S.C. 262d," Monday at 6:00 p.m. Filing can be accessed by refering to Docket No: 09-0598, according to Bruce Fein, counsel for TAG.
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Apply adequate pressure on Colombo for ceasefire and negotiations: LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 01:09 GMT]
The LTTE is not a movement believing that war is the only means to achieve the aspirations of the people it represents. But, political solution needs an environment conducive to it. The IC can play a positive role by adequately pressurizing Colombo for ceasefire and by promoting negotiations between GoSL and the LTTE as equal partners with due recognition, said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in an interview to TamilNet on Monday. On the issue of civilians, Mr. Pathmanathan said they have already asked the IC, what international instruments now hold GoSL accountable for the denial of basic rights of the people already moved and presently living in the internment camps.
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2 Tamils in Moothoor shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed Saturday night two Tamil civilians in front of Paarathipuram Viththiyaalayam in Moothoor in Trincomalee district. One of them was brought by the armed men from Thanganakar to Paarathipuram where both men were handcuffed behind their backs and shot to death, sources in Moothoor said.
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SLA attacks kill 53 civilians inside 'safety zone' Sunday

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 14:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued artillery, mortar and long-distance gunfire throughout Sunday killing at least 53 civilians and causing injuries to around 119. At least 17 civilians were killed in Maaththa'lan, 18 in Pokka'nai, 15 in Valaignarmadam and 3 in Pachchaip-pulmoaddai, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. Meanwhile, around 1,192 civilians including 275 children, belonging to 298 families have lost their shelters within last 5 days as their tarpaulin huts were completely destroyed in SLA attacks.
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ILO delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
A three-member delegation of International Labour Organization (ILO) visited Jaffna last week and participated in a meeting, related to the rehabilitation of persons whom SLA claims to have surrendered themselves to it, held in Jaffna District Secretariat with Additional Government Agent, S. Sivasamy, under the auspices of the government of Sri Lanka. Local NGO representatives who were invited to participate later said that the conference was but another attempt of the government to raise funds for maintaining the SLA detention centres in which the civilians fleeing war in Vanni are being held.
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SLA arrests Mannaar hospital employee in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 13:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested a hospital employee from Mannaar government hospital who had gone on duty to Vavuniyaa government hospital where he was arrested by the SLA soldiers and handed over to Vavuniyaa police 22 March, according to the complaint registered by his father with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Monday.
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Arundhati Roy: "Colossal humanitarian tragedy"

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 00:52 GMT]
Pointing an accusing finger at the Indian Government for silence on the unfolding tragedy in Sri Lanka, Arundhati Roy, writer and activisit, in an article appearing in Times of India says, "while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from this great country [India]. It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now. Before it’s too late."
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Elderly detainee in SLA detention centre dies in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 09:01 GMT]
An elderly civilian held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centre in Mirusuvil in Thenmaraadchi died Saturday night in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) due to delayed medical treatment, sources in Jaffna said. Regional Health Service sources said that there is an acute scarcity for ambulances to transport patients in need of urgent treatment from the SLA detention centres to hospitals. Besides, SLA soldiers do not permit the civilians held in the detention centres to go out for early treatment when they are infected and sick and the life of the elderly man may have been saved had he had proper treatment in time, the sources added.
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Youth shot, injured in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 07:19 GMT]
Two unidentified men on motorcycle shot and seriously injured a youth Sunday around 9:30 a.m in front of his house in Church Lane, Kokkuvil West in Jaffna as he was returning home on his motorcycle, sources in Jaffna said. The youth is admitted to the Intensive Care Unit in Jaffna Teaching Hospital.
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7th SLA detention centre opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 05:49 GMT]
In addition to the existing six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna district SLA has established another in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchi where there are already four centres, to detain civilians fleeing war in Vanni. Saturday alone more than 200 families arrived in Thenmaraadchi and were placed in temporary makeshift sheds erected in the building complex of Palmyra Development Board (PDB) in Kaithadi, Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretariat officials said.
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6 STF commandos killed, 8 injured in 3 separate LTTE attacks in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 04:47 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched attacks on Special Task Force (STF) commandos at three separate locations Friday and Saturday in Batticaloa district killing a commando and seriously injuring three in the first attack while killing two commandos and seriously injuring one in the second attack. The third attack was on the STF sentry post in Karadiyanaa’ru police division in which three STF commandos were killed and four seriously wounded, LTTE claimed in a media release Sunday. Meanwhile, two Sri Lankan home guards lost their legs caught in a booby trap set by the Tigers Saturday around 6:30 a.m in the 16th village in Ampaa’rai district, the Tigers said.
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179 civilians including 76 children killed within 3 days inside 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 20:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks have claimed the lives of 179 civilians within the three days of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the casualty figures collected by TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. At least 76 of the slain victims were children below the age of 15. At least 16 pregnant mothers were among the slain. More than 109 children below the age of 15 have sustained injuries. Around 45% of the thousands of shells fired by the SLA have hit the safety zone. Meanwhile, a foreign staff of the ICRC, who came in the ship on Saturday to transport the wounded civilian had a narrow escape when the ship was hit by long distance gunfire by the SLA damaging a window of the ship. On Friday, a local ICRC worker, P. Satheeskumar, was reportedly injured in SLA shelling.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Tangalle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 15:27 GMT]
Tangalle police in Hambantota district in the south arrested five Tamil youths Wednesday early morning in a house owned by a Sinhalese at Walsmulla-Kohulana area. The owner was also taken into custody for renting out his house to strangers, the police said. Three Tamil youths had fled from the house when the police raided the house.
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US Group notifies IMF, US Treasury of filing complaint

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 13:42 GMT]
Counsel for the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), in a letter addressed to Secretary of the US Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and to the US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Meg Lundsager, Friday, said that TAG will be filing a complaint Monday in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia "to obtain a declaratory judgment that a failure of the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan application would constitute a violation of 22 U.S.C. 262d."
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Reporter arrested for plundering computers, temple artifacts in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 12:27 GMT]
A Sinhala TV reporter attached to the state-run Rupavahini Corporation and posted to cover the conflict in the Vanni was arrested on Thursday along with five laptops and ten digital cameras allegedly plundered from Tamil Tiger bases, police confirmed. Several artifacts allegedly removed from Hindu temples were also found on his possession, according to the investigators.
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Sydney protest draws more than 5,000

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 11:30 GMT]
More than 5,000 protesters took to the streets of Sydney Saturday demanding action against the Sri Lankan government and the atrocities being committed against Tamil civilians caught up in the war in the Vanni. Sydney's Central Business District suffered traffic congestion and delays as demonstrators took over major city roads as the protesters marched towards the city's Town Hall, participants in the rally said.
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Chilaw police arrest 13 Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 06:26 GMT]
Chilaw police Thursday took into custody thirteen Tamil civilians in cordon and search operations conducted in town area to prevent strangeers from infiltrating the area, police sources said. Majority of the arrested are residents of North and Upcountry areas, and employed in business establishments and factories in Chilaw town, police added.
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257 Tamils arrested in outskirts of Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 05:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police took into custody 301 persons including 257 Tamils in a joint search conducted in Gampaha, in the outskirts of Colombo city, from Thursday 6:00 p.m till Friday 6:00 a.m, according to police spokesman, Ranjith Gunasekara. 8,830 persons were interrogated in the search, he said. The relatives of the arrested Tamils have lodged complaints with Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan and Mano Ganeshan, leader of Western Peoples’ Front (WPF) and Colombo district parliamentarian.
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4 Tamils arrested in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 04:24 GMT]
Four Tamil civilians who are residents of North and East were arrested by the Katunayake police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in a cordon and search operation conducted on Thursday. The owner of the house where they were boarders was also taken into custody for interrogation, police sources said.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Borella

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 02:22 GMT]
Western province Police Intelligence Unit Thursday arrested a Tamil civilian, who was resident of Jaffna, while he was waiting to board a bus to his destination at Borella bus stand in Colombo. The police said he was suspected to be involved in terrorist activity, according to information they received.
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Jesse Jackson calls for ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 23:13 GMT]
Veteran American civil rights campaigner Reverend Jesse Jackson, who addressed the diaspora Tamil conference in London on Thursday said that "we [the global community] have a moral obligation to stop the killings" in Sri Lanka. The American civil rights activist also raised the need to increase the international awareness of the crisis and asked what his organisation, the Rainbow Push Coalition could do to help. Rev. Jackson stated that the crisis can only be resolved by "thinking it out, and not by shooting it out." He called for a commitment to a ceasefire because “we cannot negotiate to the sound of bullets whizzing over our heads.”
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Diaspora conference in London calls for immediate ceasefire

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 22:27 GMT]
45 Tamil dignitaries from 21 countries gathered in London on Wednesday and Thursday to resolve that an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka was essential and that humanitarian access to the Vanni should be permitted immediately. The delegates also said that the Eezham Tamils should determine their own destiny and emphasized that the people of the traditional Tamil homeland had not only given their democratic mandate to the homeland concept, but they also have reiterated that mandate at every juncture of their political discourse.
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Abducted Jaffna student detained by Uppuve’li police

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 17:44 GMT]
A 17-year-old student from Jaffna staying with his relatives in Trincomalee was abducted first and then held under detention in Uppuve’li police station, according to complaint made by his parents with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office Friday.
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Jaffna University Teachers urge immediate release of Selvarajah Raveendran

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 17:31 GMT]
Abducted Jaffna University lecturer Selvarajah Raveendran should be released immediately so as to enable the smooth function of Jaffna University and to expel the fear and anxiety that prevails among the tutorial staff of Jaffna University, Jaffna University Teachers’ Association (JUTA) urged in a press report released Friday.
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STF commando commits suicide in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 11:42 GMT]
A Special Task Force (STF) commando on road patrol in an area in Batticaloa police division shot himself to death Thursday, sources in Batticaloa said. The commando had lunch at an eatery at Thaa’ndavanve’li junction before killing himself with his own weapon in the evening, the sources added.
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2 Karuna group men shot, killed in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 11:33 GMT]
Unidentified armed men entered Thursday around 8:30 p.m into the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) office of Karuna group in Annamalai in Chava’lakkadai police division in Ampaa’rai district and opened fire on two Karuna group men killing them, sources in Ampaa’rai said.
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Slain Lasantha Wickrematunge’s wife complains of inaction to IGP

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 08:35 GMT]
“The statements made by senior members of the government show unequivocally that he (Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella) and the president of Sri Lanka are aware of the identity of the killers,” said Ms. Sonali Wickrematunge, the wife of the assassinated Sunday Leader Editor, Lasantha Wickrematunge on 8 January, in her letter sent to the Inspector General of Police (IGP) on 15 March.
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7 Tamils including 3 women arrested in South

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 07:06 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested seven Tamils including three women Wednesday in a cordon and search operation conducted in Kamburupitiya, a town in the southern province, police sources said. The arrestees, residents of estates located in Galle and Deniyaa, are detained and interrogated in Kamburupitya police station as they had failed to prove their identity and justify their presence in the location.
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Tamil youth abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 06:55 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van forcibly abducted Tuesday around 9:30 p.m a Tamil youth from his house in Unit 3 Menik Farm, Cheddiku’lam in Vavuniyaa district, according to the complaint made to Cheddiku’lam police by his wife.
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Grenade attack on SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 06:40 GMT]
Unidentified persons lobbed three hand grenades in succession Thursday night around 7:45 p.m on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at the electricity transformer sentry post on Kaangkeasanthu’rai road in I’nuvil, sources in Jaffna said. Two soldiers may have been killed or seriously injured, unconfirmed reports said.
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20 lorries arrive at Jaffna through A9 land route

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 04:56 GMT]
Twenty lorries including two cooler vehicles transporting around 20 metric tonnes goods to private traders in Jaffna arrived at Naavatkuzhi Government ware house Thursday around 2:30 p.m through A9 land route, sources in Jaffna said. Two weeks ago lorries had brought goods to Jaffna through A9 road for the first time after a long period.
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SLA denies permission to Vanni IDP children to attend normal schools

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 March 2009, 04:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna refuse permission to the children held in two SLA detainment centres in Kaithadi to attend normal schools near the centre despite efforts by educational officials and UNICEF readiness to offer financial assistance, sources in Jaffna said. The SLA authorities say that there are security problems in transporting the children to the schools and back, the sources added.
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SLA attacks kill Mullai DS officials engaged in humanitarian work

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 19:37 GMT]
Two of the 131 civilians slain on Wednesday were District Secretariat officials engaged in humanitarian work, according to initial details from the civil sources in Vanni. A 52-year-old female, Mariyanayagam Deisyrany, attached to the registrar section of the Mullaiththeevu District Secretariat and a 27-year-old female, Janoja, engaged in the supply of World Food Program (WFP) delivered humanitarian aid.
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SLA attacks hospital, 5 patients killed, 11 wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 16:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacked the makeshift hospital at Puthumaththa'lan with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) in the early hours of Thursday between 4:00 and 4:30 a.m., killing five patients who were being treated at the Intensive Care Unit and causing injuries to 11 including two medical staff. Six patients who were already being treated for their injuries from shell attacks and 3 relatives of the patients were wounded in the RPG attack. The attack also destroyed part of the medicines recently brought to the hospital.
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Carnage continues, 131 civilians including 32 children killed Wednesday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 15:57 GMT]
131 civilians, including 32 children were killed in various types of attacks carried out by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) inside the safety zone throughout the day on Thursday, according to data collected from various local NGO workers and medical authorities within the civilian pocket besieged by the SLA. 49 of 252 wounded were children. SLA fired RPG shells, deployed long-range gunfire and mortar shells targeting the 4 km stretch from Puthumaaththa'lan to Valaignarmadam. 7 members of a family, including 4 children below the age of 10, were killed in RPG attack by the SLA in Maaththa'lan. 31 travellers were killed in gunfire and mortar attacks on Wednesday. Meanwhile SLAF bombardment claimed the lives of 27 civilians.
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Youth recovered dead in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
Chammaanththu’rai police recovered Wednesday night the body of a youth with gun shot wounds on its head and chest on Malkampiddi Nainaakkaddu Veethi in their police division in Ampaa’rai district, informed by the residents in the area.
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Immediate ceasefire, humanitarian access before political engagement - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 07:48 GMT]
S. Jeyananthamoorthy, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian from Batticaloa district on Thursday said that the TNA had decided not to engage in talks with the Sri Lankan President or anyone representing the SL state before a conducive environment for such political engagement is created by an immediate ceasefire and unhindered humanitarian access to the suffering people of Vanni. The TNA has clarified the reasons in detail in a press meet in Colombo, he said, condemning the abduction of the brother of Jaffna district MP Kajendran, barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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4 home guards shot, killed, 4 injured in Polanaruwa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 March 2009, 07:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed Wednesday night four home guards in Welikande police division in Polanaruwa district besides seriously injuring four of them. However, Welikande police claimed that the persons killed and injured are farmers of Manikdeniya village where the attack took place, sources in Polanaruwa said.
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25 Tamil civilians arrested in Morawewa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 20:38 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army and Police Tuesday conducted combined cordon and search operations in several Tamil villages in and around Morawewa division in Trincomalee district and took about twenty five Tamil civilians into custody following the attack on a patrolling group of the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) that took place in the morning at Veappanku'lam which is located along Trincomalee-Anuradhapura highway about 15 miles from east port town.
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Website launched in Jaffna on Cancer Awareness Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 18:03 GMT]
Dr. A. Ketheeswaran, Director of Public Health Services Jaffna district, officially opened Tuesday a website located in the Pa’n’nai Cancer Treatment Centre in Jaffna in an event in which hundreds of students, medical experts and others took part. Dr. C. Jamunananthan, who is in charge of Cancer Prevention and Control, presided in the event in which a website to create awareness of cancer and ways of preventing and curing it was launched officially, sources in Jaffna said.
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RSF "outraged" at grenade attack on Jaffna Uthayan HQ

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders (RF), a Paris-based media watchdog, expressed "outrage" at the grenade attack at the Uthayan Head Quarters building in Jaffna Tuesday night, and urged "the Sri Lankan authorities to carry out a thorough investigation with the aim of arresting those responsible and bringing them to trial." RSF noted that Senior Sri Lanka Government officials had recently told news organisations not to publish reports about civilian victims of the fighting in the northern district of Vanni or not to reproduce LTTE interviews, but that Uthayan and other newspaper, Valampuri, had nonetheless printed photos of children killed in Vanni.
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Jaffna University lecturer abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Selvarajah Raveendran, a lecturer of the Geography Department of the Arts Faculty of Jaffna and brother of Jaffna District Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Selvarajah Kajendran has been abducted by armed persons inside the high security area in Madiwela in Colombo while he was returning to the parliamentarian's residence Tuesday night, Police said. Meanwhile eyewitnesses said Mr. Raveendran was stopped by a police sentry for a routine check. A short while later a van arrived on to the scene and bundled him into the vehicle before speeding away, eye witnesses said. The incident took place barely 48 hours before the TNA was to decide its position on accepting an invitation for a meeting with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse that was scheduled for Thursday evening.
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10 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 06:56 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and home guards took into custody ten Tamil youths including two young women Tuesday morning in a search conducted in several areas in Colombo city including Pettah, Fort, Wellawathe, Colpetty, Mattakuliya and Grandpass, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan, by the arrestees’ relatives.
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19 Tamil civilians arrested in Matara

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 06:43 GMT]
Deniyaya police arrested nineteen Tamil civilians, most of them residents of North and East, in a cordon and search operation conducted Monday in Deniyaya town in Matara district, sources in Matara said.
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SLEB extends power cut in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 05:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) officials in Jaffna informed that the power cut imposed in Jaffna peninsula has been extended by two hours with effect from 8 March. ‘Northern Power’, the Chinese firm, which had entered into a contract with Sri Lanka government to supply 36 MW electricity to Jaffna peninsula has pulled out due to the breakdown of the six generators it had installed, sources in Jaffna said.
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Gunmen shoot dead 29-year-old civilian in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 03:40 GMT]
Two gunmen riding a motorbike shot and killed a 29-year-old welding worker on Moor Street in Mannaar city Tuesday around 6:45 p.m., Police said. The victim, Selvarajah Kingsley, was on his way to his residence after the work.
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SL ministers taking side harm communal harmony in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 01:46 GMT]
Mistake and oversight of government officials in re-allocating an already leased out land have caused a conflict between two Tamil speaking communities in Mannaar. Two ministers of the Colombo government, taking sides, but failing in sorting out the issue is adding to the tension, sources from Mannaar said.
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Uthayan office in Jaffna attacked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 23:57 GMT]
The main office of Uthayan Tamil daily in Jaffna came under grenade attack Tuesday night around 11:10 p.m., the administration of the paper told media in Colombo. Tamil media circles added that the attack had come after verbal instructions by the top officials of Rajapaksa government not to publish stories related to civilian casualties in Vanni or reproduce the contents of interviews given by the LTTE officials to news agencies and media. Uthayan and Valampuri newspapers have recently printed photos of children being killed in the Sri Lankan attacks inside 'safety zone' in Vanni.
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Saiva delegation visits IDP detention camps in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 17:39 GMT]
A five member Saiva delegation group led by Nallai Aatheenam Chief Priest, Srila Siri Somansunthara Parmaachchaariya Suvaamika’l, visited the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Koappaay and Kurunakar Tuesday where it gave goods to the detained Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who had fled the war in Vanni to Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. This is the first visit to the SLA detention centres in Jaffna by a Saiva organization and the members of the group expressed concern that many needs of the IDPs remain unfulfilled.
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62 civilians killed, SLA, SLAF step up attacks on safety zone

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up shelling on all areas within the so-called safety zone from 12:30 a.m. Tuesday, killing 62 civilians and causing injuires to many. Artillery and mortar shells hit the safety zone killing 27 civilians during the night. Artillery-fitted cluster munitions exploded between Valaignarmadam and Ampalavanpokka'nai causing heavy casualties. The SLA deployed RPG shells, short range mortars and long distance gunfire on the safety zone during the daytime on Tuesday in addition to 12 air strikes in the settlements surrounding the Pachchaip-pulmoaddai junction within the safety zone. More than 70 bombs were dropped by the SLAF bombers that flew at low altitude killing at least 17 civilians.
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More than 1,200 HR violations in Jaffna peninsula in 2008 – HRC report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
More than 1,200 human rights violations including extra judiciary killings, abductions, forced disappearances, death threats, torture and harassment by Sri Lanka armed forces and paramilitary men have been registered with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office in the year 2008 alone, according to the HRC report to Colombo HRC Head Office. SLA soldiers and policemen have been directly accused in around 65 complaints made to HRC Jaffna. The above complaints have been made despite threats not to report these instances to HRC. Meanwhile, a four-member team of key HRC officials is presently in Jaffna to instruct SLA officials on matters related to human rights.
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SLN misappropriates outboard motors of Vanni IDPs in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel in Vadamaraadchi are forcibly confiscating the boats with outboard motors in which civilians flee the war in Vanni to Vadamaraadchi from areas like Mullaiththeevu, fisheries society sources in Vadamaraadchi complained. Some SLN officials who had taken away the outboard motors in their vehicles had tried to sell them in the black market, the sources alleged.
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1 dead, 131 admitted to Trincomalee hospital after food poisoning

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 13:41 GMT]
One person died and 131, including school children and 65 elderly persons, were admitted to Trincomalee hospital Tuesday morning after having bread for breakfast. All bakeries in the city and its suburbs have been closed down with immediate effect following the suspected poisoning of buns, breads and other items.
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SL armed forces bar Tamils travelling to Colombo by Yarl Devi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 11:59 GMT]
Complaints have been lodged with human rights organizations that Sri Lanka armed forces are imposing severe restriction on Tamil people from traveling to Colombo and southern parts of the country from Mannaar and Vavuniyaa areas. The Yaldevi express train service is being conducted from Colombo upto Madawachchi due to security reason.
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Sri Lanka guilty of Genocide - Prof. Sornarajah

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 11:20 GMT]
"Every indicia of genocide is satisfied by the conduct of successive Sri Lankan governments, the oppression accentuated in intensity by the present government which has unleashed immense terror through its armed forces on a people in the name of suppression of terrorism. The chauvinism of successive Sri Lankan governments since independence targeted the Tamil people for oppression. These acts supply the objective factors necessary for the satisfaction of the crime of genocide," says Professor Sornarajah, Pierre Genest Visiting Professor, Osgoode Hall Law School, York University, Toronto, in a position statement released this week, adding "there is a duty incumbent on every state to ensure the protection of the Tamil people. It is important that this duty be taken seriously so that such scourges on humanity are not repeated elsewhere."
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Garment factory workers in Nuwereliya continue protest

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 05:06 GMT]
The workers of a garment factory in Norwood in Nuwerelyia district continue to stage protests against the delay in paying their wages for the past two months, sources in Nuwereliya said. Around 6.3 million rupees in wages remain unpaid and the workers say that they will not allow the manufactured garments to leave the factory until they are paid their due.
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SLA attacks kill 128 civilians in 48 hours

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 01:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army short-range mortar shelling, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) attacks and gunfire killed 96 civilians, including 19 children within the 'safety zone' Monday. 32 civilians, including 7 children were killed Sunday, according to local aid workers and medical authorities. Around 160 civilians sustained injuries on Monday when Sri Lanka Army stepped up mortar fire, RPG attacks and opened fire from the other side of the lagoon into Puthumaaththa'lan within the 'safety zone'. Increased and systematic attacks on civilians during the day time was targeting to evict civilians from the so-called safety zone, said TamilNet correspondent who visited the site of the carnage.
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Tamil trader abducted in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 19:50 GMT]
Forty year old Gopal Chandrasekaran, a trader by profession was abducted on Saturday night from his residence located along Kubudu Mawatte in Puththa'lam town by a gang of three unidentified persons who arrived in a three-wheeler on the pretext that he was wanted for inquiry, according to a complaint by his wife to the Puththa'lam police.
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Tamil employee in Anuradhapura hospital arrested

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 19:46 GMT]
Anuradhapura police arrested a Tamil employee of Anuradhapura Teaching Hospital Sunday claiming that he had used a Sinhalese name instead of his own name. The police arrested him on complaints that he was often moving in and out of a medical ward where injured Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were being treated, according to media reports.
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Transport of goods through A9 route to Jaffna risky

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 18:09 GMT]
Commissioner General of Essential Services, S. B. Divaratne, informed Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and the representatives of the Traders’ Union in Jaffna that goods will not be transported through A9 route and that the ship services involved in this task would continue uninterrupted, sources in Jaffna said. This ruling comes as the government is working hard on plans to bring goods in 19 lorries by private traders next week, the sources added.
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Tigers attack STF mini-camp in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 09:35 GMT]
Three Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos were killed and five sustained injuries Sunday night when Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) commandos launched a surprise attack on an STF mini-camp on Chengkaladi - Badulla Road, according to a news release issued by the LTTE Political division in Batticaloa.
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TRO reports detail struggle for survival

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 02:01 GMT]
In a series of reports Lawrence Christy, planning director at the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) details the travails of daily life of the civilians caught in the war, amidst the artillery fire of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). "From the first shell no one knows how to escape. Before second shell falls all will be in the bunkers. Like parent rabbits and their kids scurrying to a hole when they saw a vulture parents dragging and lifting their children and hurry into the bunkers," Christy says in the 11th March report.
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SLA launches extensive search operations in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched large scale cordon and search operations in areas in Vadamaraadchi, Thenmaraadchi and Valikaamam in Jaffna peninsula from Sunday early morning till evening, sources in Jaffna said. Warned by its Intelligence Wing of infiltration into the peninsula by Liberation Tigers, SLA has stepped up cordon and searches besides strengthening its security arrangements throughout the peninsula, the sources added.
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US Group to file court action against US vote on IMF loan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 14:07 GMT]
Bruce Fein, counsel for Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, said Sunday that TAG is preparing to file a complaint in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a preliminary and permanent injunction, and a declaratory judgment to prohibit the United States Treasury Secretary from voting to support the request by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) for $1.9 billion in economic assistance from the International Monetary Fund. TAG’s complaint alleges that a United States vote in favor of the assistance would violate a federal statute, 22 USC 262d, intended to prevent United States financial complicity in harrowing human rights abuses by IMF member governments, Fein said.
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Eastern University Tamil girl student commits suicide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 10:50 GMT]
A girl student of Eastern University set fire to herself Sunday around 9:45 a.m inside the bathroom in Women’s Hostel A in the campus, in her third attempt to commit suicide, sources in Batticaloa said. She succumbed to the burns while being rushed to Chengkaladi Hospital where her body is kept for post mortem examination. On 23 February the women hostel female warden was recovered dead from her room in the hostel while on 26 February a female student hanged herself to death in the hostel.
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TNA parliamentarian reiterates his political stance

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 08:14 GMT]
S. Vino Noharathalingam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Vanni parliamentarian, released a report to the media Sunday in which he condemns and rejects certain malicious misreporting and misrepresentation of his speech in the Sri Lanka Parliament Thursday, making himself clear on his unwavering commitment to the struggle of the Tamil Nation.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 05:48 GMT]
A Tamil family man from Paavatkodichcheanai who had been stopped on his way by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Unnichchai 6th Mile Post SLA camp check point in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district is reported missing since Friday, sources in Batticaloa said. The missing man was returning home with 100,000 rupees from sales of his cattle and people had seen him being detained at the SLA check post Friday.
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2 Tamil youths shot, injured in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 05:21 GMT]
Policemen in a sentry post in Chainthamaruthu in Chammaanththu’rai police division in Ampaa’rai district opened fire Friday around 11:30 p.m on two Tamil youths on a motorcycle seriously injuring both, sources in Kalmunai said. The police claimed that they opened fire as the youths failed to obey when asked to stop.
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42 civilians killed, 80 wounded in Vanni Saturday

[TamilNet, Sunday, 22 March 2009, 04:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells into the 'safety zone', also on Saturday, killing 42 civilians and causing injuries to around 80 civilians, including a GS (Village officer), initial reports from Vanni said Saturday. Meanwhile, the SLA and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) were using heavy explosives in their clashes with the LTTE defensive units in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) area. At least 7 civilians who ventured into Iranaippaalai to collect coconuts were reported killed in SLAF air strike.
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Defence ministry procrastinates Jaffna Hospital’s requests

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 17:37 GMT]
Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) administration informed Jaffna Government Agent Saturday that Defence ministry in Colombo has delayed meeting its request for urgently needed essential medical implements, very much affecting the services rendered, sources in Jaffna said.
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Trinco Varsha killing; Tamil paramilitary groups blame each other

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 17:08 GMT]
Two paramilitary groups, Tamil Makal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) led by Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillaiyan and other by Karuna Amman alias Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan, who resigned from the TMVP and joined the ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), are blaming each other for the abduction and killing of six-year-old girl student, Varsha Jude Reggie, according to Colombo media reports.
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US Tamils protest against IMF loan to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 11:16 GMT]
Dozens of American Tamils on Friday staged a protest rally in front of the headquarters of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC, urging the IMF to deny funding to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's request for $1.8 billion in loans is under consideration by the IMF. Tamil community fears that the Sri Lankan government would use the funds to perpetuate Tamil genocide while entrenching mass displacement of Tamils confining them to institutionalized internment camps, organizers of the rally said.
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SLA denies complicity to robberies in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 09:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials rejected accusations of SLA soldiers’ involvement in or complicity to the increasing number of robberies in Jaffna peninsula, particularly when the night time SLA curfew is in force, in a meeting held Saturday in Jaffna Duraippah Stadium with the shop keepers in Jaffna Municipal Council area and representatives of Jaffna Traders’ Union, sources in Jaffna said. Extortion demands through phone calls too have escalated at an alarming rate, the attendees told the SLA officials.
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SLA shelling kills 102 civilians within 3 days inside 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 05:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery shelling killed 46 civilians Friday inside the safety zone in the besieged pocket in Mullaiththeevu. SLA-fired shells hit 6 tarpaulin shelters of the IDPs in Maaththa'lan Friday, killing 16 civilians. Meanwhile 4 civilians were killed around 11:00 a.m., 300 meters near the coastal spot, where the ICRC was transporting wounded civilians. On Thursday, 39 civilians including 11 children were killed and at least 17 civilians were reported killed inside the safety zone on Wednesday.
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Civil war generation documents life amidst death in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 04:49 GMT]
The Odour of Death: An Account of People Devoured by War, a collection of narratives and features of personal experience expressed in the form of short stories by 1983-born T. Agiilan, is a significant example of creative writing coming from first hand impressions of a generation of Eezham Tamils that has seen nothing but war ever since birth. Another importance of the book is its documentation of war-torn Vanni of pre 2002 era from the perspectives of a person of that land.
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STF, SLA conduct search in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 03:34 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers conducted a cordon and search Friday from 5:30 a.m to 11:00 a.m in Aarayampathi area in Kaaththaankudi police division in Batticaloa district. As no policeman or policewoman was engaged in this search fear and tension prevailed among the residents who were subjected to rigorous search and interrogation by the commandos and the soldiers who entered their houses, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Ambassador Rice supports UN Council briefing on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 02:47 GMT]
Speaking at the Security Council Stakeout microphone, March 20, 2009 Ambassador Susan E. Rice, U.S. Permanent Representative, said US supports UN Security council briefing on Sri Lanka, and added: "The United States feels strongly about and concerned about Sri Lanka and we support the provision of it to the Council- a full and updated information on the humanitarian situation."
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SLA deserter from Vanni arrested with jewelry in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 17:31 GMT]
Thambuthegama police in Anuradhapura district arrested Tuesday evening a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) deserter from Visuvamadu battle front in Vanni with jewelry articles worn by women worth around 3 million rupees at a check point in Thambuthegama, according to media report in Colombo quoting H. W. Kumarasiri, the Officer-in-charge of Thamuthegama police.
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SLN obstructs resettlement of IDPs in Allaippiddi in the islet of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which hold the islets of Jaffna in its control is delaying permission for IDP resettlement in Allaippiddi besides not allowing demining in the coasts of Allaippiddi, according to Jaffna Secretariat officials who had forwarded the applications of 48 Allaippiddi families staying in refugee camps in Jaffna town to SLN officials. Recently, Minister Douglas Devnanda, along with his government, had made much publicity in resettling Allaippiddi IDPs, sources in Jaffna said.
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Tigers seize weapons from SLFP Karuna camp in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 14:14 GMT]
An armed paramilitary person was killed and two T-56 assault rifles were seized Thursday night around 11:00 p.m. when an ambush team of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) carried out a surprise attac on a building at Ku'laththumadu in Vaakaneari in Vaazhaichcheani, according to a news release by the LTTE. The building, used as an office of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) was a minor camp of Karuna group, the Tigers said. Dayamohan, the Batticaloa district political head of the LTTE told TamilNet last week that Karuna group had stepped up intimidations against the civilians in Batticaloa and Ampaa'rai districts in recent times.
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Youth shot dead in Vaakanea'ri, Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 12:49 GMT]
A 26-year old youth was shot dead in Mu'rththaanai area in Vaaknea'ri, Batticaloa Thursday by member of a paramilitary allied with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tissainayagam: always agitated against violence, fought for justice for oppressed

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 12:16 GMT]
In statement made to the Court Friday, senior Tamil journalist J.S. Tissainayagam who has been held in detention for more than a year under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), said: "I was and am still an advocate against terrorism. I have criticized terrorism in whatever form. I never advocated violence, my objective was to generate non violent means of resolving the conflict, my research, writings and work was towards achieving this." Many international rights groups have called for the "unconditional release of Tissainayagam, who has been subjected to arbitrary court adjournments and is suffering ill health.” First anniversary of arrest and imprisonment of Tissaianayagam fell on 7th March.
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“SL parliament passes only bills favourable to the Sinhalese” – Ariyanenthiran MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 10:52 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa district parliamentarian, P. Ariyanenthiran, participating in the debate on the bill to issue pension to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) home guards, said that there are more than 45,000 Tamil War Widows in the North and East whom the government does not help while it gives compensation and pension to the members of the three armed forces which clearly shows that it discriminates the Tamils. The bill was submitted in the House when it met Thursday around 9:30 a.m.
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20 Tamil youths arrested in Badulla

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 10:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested 20 Tamil youths Friday in a joint cordon and search in Pasa’rai in Badulla district. Eleven of them were produced in Badulla District Court where they were ordered to be placed in remand prison and nine youths were released after interrogation on the intervention of Deputy Health Minister, Vadivel Suresh, sources in Badulla said.
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LTTE urges China to consider Tamils plight at UN

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 07:31 GMT]
Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), B. Nadesan, on Friday urged Chinese government to allow Tamils plight to be discussed at the UN Security Council for a second time. "The Sri Lankan state is not only denying the Tamil sovereignty, but it is waging a genocidal war against them of catastrophic dimensions," said Mr. Nadesan adding that Colombo was engaged in a propaganda campaign saying that the conflict is an internal matter.
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Trinco mourns death of Varsha, one suspect shot dead, other commit suicide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 21:07 GMT]
Many schools were closed in Trincomalee city on Wednesday to mourn the death of a six year old student Miss Varsha Jude Reggie. Students did not attend schools. She was abducted on March 11 Wednesday morning from Trincomalee St.Mary’s College in a three wheeler by an unidentified person. Later her body was found in a fertilizer bag dumped in a drain in the heart of Trincomalee city last Friday noon.
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Injured mother, child reported missing after admission to Mannaar hospital

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 19:18 GMT]
A mother and her two-month-old child sustaining injuries in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling in Vanni and taken to Trincomalee by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) and admitted to Mannaar government hospital 16 February had reported missing Wednesday night, according to complaints made by her relatives to Vanni Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians.
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Indian assistance to children in SLA detention camps in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 14:08 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) distributed learning materials donated by the Indian Embassy in Colombo to the children held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps in Mirusuvil and Kodikaamam. The Indian Embassy officials who had discussed the arrangement with Jaffna GA earlier had sent the learning materials through Sri Lanka Army, Jaffna secretariat sources said.
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SLA refuses permission to humanitarian organizations to enter Jaffna detention camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 13:35 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel at the SLA detention camps for the civilians who had fled war are not permitting representatives of Human Rights Commission and other independent humanitarian organizations in Jaffna to enter the said camps under the control of SLA, sources in Jaffna said. Only the government officials assisting the inmates and a few local and international humanitarian organization representatives are allowed entry into the detention camps, the sources added.
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4 Tamil herdsmen reported missing in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 06:44 GMT]
Four Tamil herdsmen who went to graze their cattle on 23 January in the area between Ampaa’rai and Batticaloa district boundaries, with permission from Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers had gone missing, according to complaints made to the police authorities. More than 500 cattle taken for grazing in Pullukannaava, Manka’lakama, Keviliyaamadu and Vakkiyella are reported missing too.
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Policeman, 2 SLA soldiers killed in LTTE attack in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 06:12 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched an attack Wednesday around 10:00 a.m on a road patrol unit at Saahaamam area in Akkaraippattu police division in Ampaa’rai district killing a policemen, sources Ampaa’rai said. In another attack around 12:00 noon LTTE attacked the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers engaged in a cordon and search in Panangkaaddu area in the same police division killing two soldiers and injuring two, LTTE souces in Ampaa'rai said. Meanwhile, SLA shot and killed a Tamil youth in Panangkaddu area and claimed that he was a member of LTTE pistol group and that a pistol recovered from him, Akkaraipattu police said.
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Wounded CARE aid worker dies due to lack of medicine in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 05:20 GMT]
A 24-year-old humanitarian worker of the CARE International has succumbed to his injuries caused by a shell attack inside the no-fire zone (safety zone) in Mullaiththeevu, said Nick Osborne, Country Director for CARE International in Sri Lanka on Wednesday. The victims leg had to be amputated following the injury, and he died on Tuesday lacking necessary medical treatment.
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Third ICRC worker wounded in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 05:15 GMT]
An ICRC worker was wounded Wednesday in Puthumaaththa'lan in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fire within the 'safety zone', medical sources in Vanni said. An ICRC worker was killed earlier this month and two ICRC workers had sustained injuries within the safety zone.
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Tamil Eelam flag flown in Toronto protest legal - Canadian Police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 05:06 GMT]
The use of Eezham Tamil national flag did not contravene any law in Canada, according to a report by CBC News which cited Toronto police spokesman Mark Pugash. Citing the ban on the LTTE, some representatives of the Sri Lankan government, who have been over-sensitive to any demonstration of overwhelming Tamil diaspora support to Tamil nationalism, have been demanding a ban on the national flag of the Eezham Tamils, seeing it an opportunity of dismembering Tamil nationalism.
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Socialist Resistance voices for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 02:17 GMT]
“The socialist and labour movement stand against repression and genocide. We stand in solidarity with the Tamil people in the face of its suffering at the hands of the Sri Lankan government”, said Duncan Chapel, member of the Socialist Resistance steering committee, Tuesday, greeting 25,000 strong Tamil demonstration outside of the European Commission. Supporting the demands for sending food and medicine, withdrawal of Sri Lanka military from Tamil homeland and lifting the ban on LTTE, “the legalization of the LTTE has to be the first step towards Tamil peace, freedom and self-determination”, he said.
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US support to IMF's Sri Lanka loan illegal – Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 00:17 GMT]
“Concerning the proposed loan to Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund, United States domestic law makes it quite clear that the Obama Administration is obligated to oppose the loan. And given the weighted voting system for the IMF Board of Directors, a United States vote against the loan would be tantamount to a veto,” said Prof. Boyle, Professor at Illinois College of Law, adding, “for the Obama Administration to violate the Statute [22 USC 262d] and vote in favor of the proposed IMF loan to support the GOSL's "policy goals" would render the United States government "complicit" with Sri Lanka's genocide.”
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Uthayn editor Vithiyatharan detained for 3 more months

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 19:12 GMT]
Colombo Pettah Court majistrate, Jegan Balapitiya, extended Wednesday the detention period of Uthayan editor Vithiyatharan for 3 more months when he was produced before him by Prevention of Crime Branch police, sources in Colombo said. The police requested the court for the extension of detention of Vithiyatharan on the directions of Gothabaya Rajapakse, Defence Secretary and the brother of President Rajapakse, the sources added.
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UN withheld civilian casualty figures to protect Sri Lankan state - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Publishing two leaked documents by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN, in an exclusive report on Wednesday revealed that the United Nations office had its own estimates of casualty figures. The UN had internal documentation for 9,924 civilian casualties including 2,683 killings and 7,241 injuries since 20 January to 07 March 2009. "Now it appears that unlike in other conflicts from Darfur to Gaza, the UN withheld the Sri Lanka figures, in effect protecting the Sri Lankan government from criticism," the Inner City Press reported Wednesday. The report comes as the Sri Lankan government was trying to discredit TamilNet figures, fearing that the UN-referred casualty figures were based on TamilNet coverage.
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Japan to offer financial assistance for demining in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 15:39 GMT]
A delegation of key officials of the Japanese Embassy in Sri Lanka which visited Jaffna recently had intimated Japan’s inclination to provide financial assistance to continue the demining activities in Jaffna peninsula which has been curtailed in recent times, sources close to the Coordinating Committee for demining projects in Jaffna District Secretariat said. Areas in Changaththaanai, Madduvil and Oorkaavattu’rai have been earmarked to benefit from Japan's help in the first stage, Danish Demining Organization (DDO) sources said.
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2 SLA soldiers killed, 3 injured in LTTE attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 10:30 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched a grenade attack Tuesday around 8:05 p.m on a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) unit at Mu’rakkoddaancheanai in Ea’raavoor police division, killing two soldiers and injuring three, Batticaloa LTTE wing said.
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India’s help significant in defeating Tigers - Sri Lanka minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 09:28 GMT]
Nimal Sripala de Silva, a cabinet minister in Sri Lanka parliament, said that India’s great assistance helped Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to defeat the Liberation Tigers and that the people of Sri Lanka should be grateful to India, while responding to the strong accusation against allowing Indian Medical team into Sri Lanka by Anurakumara Tissanayake, the parliamentary group leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, during the proceedings of the House of Representatives when it met Tuesday around 9:30, sources in Colombo said.
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Tamil goldsmith reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 07:00 GMT]
A Tamil goldsmith from Koaddaikkallaa’ru in Batticaloa district is reported missing since 25 February after going to the Special Task Force (DTF) camp in Ka’luvaangchchikkudi police division to deliver a letter given to him by an STF commando who stopped him on his way to the local bank, according to the complaint registered by his wife with the police.
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99 Tamil civilians arrested in Matara district

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 06:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police took 99 Tamil civilians into custody Sunday in a joint cordon and search in Akuressa and Morawaka in Matara district on a tip that the suicide bomber involved in the recent Akuressa bomb blast had spent several months in an estate in the district. Meanwhile, Matara police had earlier arrested 19 Tamils, most of them upcountry residents, in connection with the Akuressa bomb blast,They are being detained and interrogated on Defence Ministry detention orders, Matara police said.
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First ever English novel on Vanni by a writer of Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 00:53 GMT]
Veteran writer Balamanoharan has come out with another first of its kind piece of writing of him recently. His Bleeding Hearts is a first ever novel based on the settings of Vanni, written in English. More than three decades ago, when Balamanoharan wrote Nilakki’li, it was widely appreciated for the ‘scent of earth’ it was emanating and was acclaimed as the first Tamil novel coming from Vanni. Three decades of his maturity and the impact of changes that have taken place during this time in his beloved homeland are obviously perceivable in his latest work.
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2 Muslim civilians abducted in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 22:43 GMT]
Two Muslim civilians were abducted Monday night in Munthal and Kadayamootai in Puththa'lam by unidentified men clad in army uniform. Fifty-four year old S.M.Jamal was abducted by armed gang arrived in white van from his residence in Munthal. Twenty four year old Farook Shan was abducted by army clad men in a white van from his shop at Kadayamootai.
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23 Tamils arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 22:41 GMT]
The Bambalapitya Police in cordon and search operations conducted in Wellawatte in Colombo on Sunday night arrested 23 Tamil civilians, majority of them are residents of North, East and Central provinces. They had been staying in lodges and with their relatives at that time of arrest, police said.
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Rally in New York urges UN, US to intervene to stop genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 19:23 GMT]
More than 200 expatriate Tamils protested in front of the Office of the United States Mission to the United Nations Monday, urging the United States and United Nations stop Sri Lanka military from firing into the ‘safe zone’ on the Tamil civilians. Demonstrators shouted slogans calling upon US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, to ensure that refugees fleeing the war zone are given shelter and basic facilities, and not confined to internment camps without any freedom to lead a normal life.
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Detainees in SLA camps in Jaffna lack freedom, facilities - NGO representatives

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 18:42 GMT]
Representatives of Non-governmental organizations in Jaffna peninsula who visit the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled detention camps in Jaffna district expressed concern for detainees who lack clothes, proper food except the dry food rations provided by the government, besides being denied permission meet their relatives. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent, in his press report Tuesday, has detailed a long list of assistances given by the District Government Secretariat and the Divisional Secretariats to improve living conditions of the said detainees, sources in Jaffna said.
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604 SLA killed in 3 days - LTTE media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 17:53 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers, the radio broadcast of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in its evening broadcast on Tuesday said that 604 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in Puthukkudiyiruppu. Several hundred soldiers were wounded in the fighting, according to the VoT.
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84 killed, 182 wounded in SLAF attacks, shelling on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 17:19 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment and Sri Lanka Army shelling that targeted Pachchaippulmoaddai, Valaignardam areas within the so-called safety zone announced by the Sri Lankan government on Tuesday killed 52, causing injuries to 182, according to initial reports by the Voice of Tigers (VoT) evening broadcast. Earlier, in the morning, 32 civilians were killed in the shelling in other areas of the 'safe zone', according to independent sources.
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SLA shoots dead 2 Tamil civilians in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 16:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed Sunday two Tamil civilians who had gone to collect firewood in in Mathurangku’lam and Kaddum’rivu jungles in Vaakarai in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. SLA claimed that the two killed were Liberation Tigers and that T56 type rifles were recovered from them. The bodies of the victims remain unidentified in Vaakarai government hospital.
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40,000 Tamils stage protests in front of EU, UN in Europe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 16:14 GMT]
More than 25,000 Tamils, especially youth, across the Europe took to the streets of Brussels on Monday demanding EU to de-proscribe the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam, to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan government to allow medicine and food to the civilians besieged by its military in all fronts and to demand the Sri Lankan military to pull out from the Tamil homeland. The organisers blamed the EU's misguided policy on proscribing the LTTE as having tilted the diplomatic balance between the parties, causing the war of aggression against the Tamils by the Sri Lankan state. Meanwhile more than 10,000 Tamils staged a protest in front of the UN office in Geneva.
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Swiss embassy First Secretary visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 16:04 GMT]
First Secretary of the Swiss Embassy in Sri Lanka, Fiona Corrigan, arrived Sunday on a two day visit to Jaffna to participate in events related to the projects of the Swiss Development Corporation (SDC) in Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. The delay by the Defence Ministry in handling the Ambassador’s request for permission to visit Jaffna was said to be reason why the Ambassador was unable to attend the events, the sources said. The First Secretary will be visiting the various projects the Swiss Development Corporation in the peninsula, and is expected to stay in Jaffna until Tuesday.
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18 civilians reported missing in 'safe-zone' border

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 14:21 GMT]
18 civilians who had gone to pluck coconuts in I'ranaippaalai area taking risks amid shelling and firing are yet to return, according to their relatives inside the 'safety zone', TamilNet correspondent reported Tuesday morning.
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'Safe zone' under encircling fire, 137 killed in 3 days, ICRC worker wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 12:48 GMT]
137 people have died and more than 200 injured since Saturday night in Sri Lanka Army shelling and gunfire inside the 'safe zone' of Vanni. At least 18 of them have died hit by long-range gunfire coming from SLA attacking the civilian zone. Meanwhile, massive bunker buster bombs numbering around 50 dropped by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on the fringes of the 'safe zone' on Tuesday caused untold panic among the civilians.
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ICRC transports 440 wounded to Indian military hospital in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 11:18 GMT]
The makeshift-hospital in Puthumaaththa'lan on Monday said 440 patients were taken on board in the ICRC ship "Green Ocean." Meanwhile, sources in Colombo said the ICRC was instructed to transport the patients to the hospital run by Indian paramedics in Pulmoaddai. In the meantime, doctors at the hospital who were on duty on Monday were not able to treat patients as the no medicines at the hospital. A shipment of humanitarian supplies was expected on Tuesday, the officials in Vanni told TamilNet Monday.
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Allow ICRC to transport medicines, RDHS urge Sri Lankan Health Ministry

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 10:40 GMT]
Regional Directors of Health Services for Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu districts, Dr. T. Varatharajah and Dr. T. Saththiyamoorthy, Monday jointly urged the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health to supply medicines intended for the civilians in Vanni at least in the next ICRC shipment. Only 5% of the combined quota of medicine and dressings meant for the last quarter of 2008 and the first quarter of this year was earlier transported by the ICRC. "We were shocked and felt very sad when we were informed by the ICRC that no medicines have been handed over by the ministry officials to be taken in the ship," the doctors said. "Many deaths could have been prevented if basic infrastructure facilities and essential medicines were made available."
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North, East residents in Colombo asked again to register with police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 06:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police issued an ultimatum Monday to all residents of North and East provinces currently staying in Colombo district without registering their particulars at their local police stations, to do so before Tuesday. They would be charged in court if they fail to do so before the deadline, according to Police Spokesman, Ranjit Gunasekara.
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Parents, son fleeing war in Vanni, shot dead on Vadamaraadchi sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 06:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Defence Ministry reported that government forces opened fire Sunday early morning on civilians fleeing the war in Vanni in four boats from Puthumaaththa’lan in Mullaiththeevu to Vadamaraadchi, killing a 9-year-old boy and his parents. Point Pedro police recovered the body of the boy and handed it over to Manthikai government hospital mortuary but the fate of the bodies of his parents, who were first reported injured and later reported dead by the Defence Ministry remains unknown, sources in Point Pedro said.
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Tamils jam Toronto, demand Sri Lanka to stop genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 03:14 GMT]
More than 100,000 expatriate Tamils crowded downtown Toronto between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m. Monday to raise the plight of the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the war in Vanni, and subjected to continuous artillery attacks and aerial bombardment by Sri Lanka military. Cries of 'genocide' and accusations of human rights abuses were heard throughout the protest, as the protesters held a giant hand-in-hand human chain that stretched along Bloor, Yonge, Front and across to University Avenue. Police officials said this was the largest ever rally held in Toronto.
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Court recommendation on moving HSZ in Valikaamam ignored

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 17:12 GMT]
The committee appointed by Supreme Court to consider its recommendation to expedite resettlement of displaced residents from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai met Sunday in Palaali SLA head quarters headed by President of the committee, Jaffna High Court magistrate, R. T. Vicknarajah, to discuss the recommendation. The committee, however, decided on certain other measures related to the issue Sunday, ignoring the recommendation of the Court, attendees of the meeting said. Meanwhile, the committee’s announcement that demining work in the said HSZ has begun is refuted by the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) in Jaffna District Secretariat, the sources added.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 06:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody Monday five Tamil youths who were walking along the streets in Colombo Fort and Petta areas, relatives of the youths said. Many Tamils on the streets were checked and interrogated by the police who also checked their vehicles, in this operation.
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Tamil woman abducted in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 06:16 GMT]
Unidentified armed men abducted 9 March a Tamil woman, a mother of three children, in Poththuvil police division in Ampaa’rai district, according to the complaint lodged by her relatives at Poththuvil police station. No action has been taken on the complaint yet, the relatives said.
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Grenade attack on SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 06:00 GMT]
Unidentified persons lying in ambush hurled more than two hand grenades Sunday around 8:00 p.m on a tractor carrying supplies between Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camps, at Naayanmaarkaddu junction in the outskirts of Jaffna town, causing severe damage to it, sources in Jaffna said. SLA has not reported on any causality or injury in the attack.
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Boyle warns UN repeating Srebrenica debacle in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 03:41 GMT]
Pointing out that “in 1995 the United Nations Organization as a whole was fully complicit in Serbia's genocidal massacre of 8500 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in violation of Article III (e) of the 1948 Genocide Convention that prohibited, criminalized and required the punishment of: 'Complicity in genocide'," Professor Francis Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at Illinois College of Law, said that it looks as if "the United Nations is now repeating one of the most shameless and disgraceful debacles in its entire history in today's Vanni Pocket by becoming complicit in Sri Lanka's genocide against the Tamils there.”
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Makeshift-hospital struggles without medicines

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 15:57 GMT]
"Due to exhaustion of stocks of important medical supplies and the demonstrated inability of the District officials to resupply essential medicines, we are unable to operate the hospital. We are saddened that many sick and wounded who need immediate attention, including children and new borns have to suffer serious consequences because of this action," said Dr T Varatharajah, in a letter sent to the Provincial Commissioner of Health Services for the North and East provinces.
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Gotabaya comments on "media freedom"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 13:30 GMT]
"Mentioning the editor's [Vidyadaran's] name provoked a surprising response," says Amos Roberts, reporter for Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) program Dateline, in his 25 minute report from Sri Lanka, referring to the spontaneous display of anger by Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse who had ordered Vidyadaran's arrest and accused Vidyadaran of "terrorism" saying, "he is involved in recent air attacks and I am telling you if you try to give coverup for that person you have blood in your hands [...] I am telling you he is a terrorist. He is responsible for co-ordinating air-attacks in Colombo." Gotabaya Rajapakse is a citizen of the United States.
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Nadesan urges UN to investigate Colombo's War Crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 08:19 GMT]
B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sunday said the Tigers had "plenty of evidences" to document that the Sri Lankan government of Mahinda Rajapaksa was "intentionally directing attacks against civilians," committing war crimes and crimes against humanity when asked to comment on the recent statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UN High Commissioner had warned that the actions by the warring parties could amount to war crimes.
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Pungkudutheevu Catholics march for peace

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 07:14 GMT]
Hundreds of Catholic men, women and children went on a Lent Period march for peace, calling to stop the humanitarian disaster in Vanni caused by the relentless and indiscriminate attacks on innocent Tamils unleashed by the government of Sri Lanka, Saturday. The procession started around 5:30 a.m from Pungkudutheevu Savariar Catholic Church and ended at St. Mary’s Church in Chaaddi, Veala’nai, sources in Jaffna said.
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Shelling doesn't spare even babies in wombs

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 02:18 GMT]
While four pregnant mothers were killed in SLA shelling on Friday inside the safe zone, another mother who was admitted to the makeshift-hospital after injuries in her lower abdomen gave birth Saturday to a baby girl, but the hospital staff noticed the child having shrapnel on her left thigh. The newborn child went through a small surgery even before her first feeding, according to the medical staff at the hospital in Maaththa'lan.
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Civilian casualties mount as intense bombing and shelling continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 01:45 GMT]
69 civilians were killed, including 19 children, and scores wounded within the safe zone in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardments Saturday in Mullaiththeevu. The SLAF bombers have been attacking the zone continuously for the 5th day, despite the call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the SLA "should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone."
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Fein invites Patton Boggs for debate at Press Club

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 18:56 GMT]
Bruce Fein, former Associate Deputy Attorney General under President Reagan and counsel for a Washington-based Tamil activist group, has invited Patton Boggs LLP, the Washington Law firm retained by the Government of Sri Lanka for advocacy work in the U.S., for a debate at the National Press Club to defend the President of Sri Lanka and his inner circle against credible allegations of genocide under the Genocide Accountability Act (GAA).
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Ask people their choice - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 18:04 GMT]
Have those who advocate evacuation ever cared to ask the concerned civilians whether they want to leave? What will they do if people refuse evacuation? Will they allow them to be killed, asked Yogaratnam Yogi, LTTE military advisor in Vanni in a speech given by him to the LTTE broadcast, Voice of Tigers, Thursday. Why are the governments reluctant to ask our people whether they want to live under the Sri Lanka government or under their own government? They don’t ask because they know the answer. Our request to the world is to pose this question to the people and make decisions rather than attempting through murder and denial of food, in the belief of forcing the people to accept the Sri Lankan regime, Yogi said.
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SLA intensifies restrictions on fishing in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna has imposed additional restrictions on fishing in the seas of Jaffna peninsula to facilitate safety of their troops’ transport between Kurikkadduvaan in Pungkudutheevu in the islets of Jaffna and Mannaar, fisheries society representatives in Jaffna said. The existing ban on fishing onTuesdays and Wednesdays in a week has been extended to other days too as transport of troops through the newly opened A9 land route is not feasible enough as anticipated by the SLA, sources in Jaffna said. The additional restrictions on fishing have deprived the fishermen in Jaffna peninsula of their sole livelihood, the sources expressed concern.
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Pathmanathan welcomes US shift in approach

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 14:51 GMT]
"We have been hoping for such a fresh approach to the longstanding but little understood problem of the Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the newly appointed LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, when contacted by TamilNet for his response on US Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton’s statement Friday. “An immediate ceasefire can stop the killing of civilians and will pave way for other measures to take effect in a more acceptable manner to the affected people”, he further said, adding, “ grief on one side and greed on the other side have to be assessed impartially in working out a solution meeting the aspirations of all of Sri Lanka’s communities.
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Colombo-Vavuniyaa train service stops with Madawachchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 14:13 GMT]
Vavuniyaa bound Yaazh Theavi (Yarl Devi) train service from Colombo has been curtailed up to Madawachchi due to 'security reasons' with effect from Thursday until further notice, media reports said. Railway Department, however, has not given the reason for the suspension of service, according to media reports.
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Police, SLA harass Aalangku’lam Tamil residents

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 00:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police conducted a cordon and search operation Thursday in Aalangku’lam village in Batticaloa district following the burning down of a Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus in Vaazhaichcheanai area by uniformed men Thursday early morning. The Tamil residents were intimidated and subjected to harassment, sources in Vaazhaichcheanai said. Policemen allegedly warned the residents that they will be killed if a similar incident occured again, local residents said.
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Clinton call expresses concern over deteriorating conditions in 'safe zone'

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 22:08 GMT]
In a call made to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa, U.S. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton 'expressed the United States' deep concern over the deteriorating conditions and increasing loss of life occurring in the Government of Sri Lanka-designated 'safe zone' in northern Sri Lanka,' and 'stated that the 'Sri Lankan Army should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone,' a press release issued by the U.S. State Department said. Meanwhile, US State Department South Asia official, Diane Kelly, commenting on 'distorted' accounts appearing on some Sri Lanka websites, said: "there was a call, but it was not the sunny news relayed."
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Second-generation diaspora reflects trauma and hope

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 20:39 GMT]
"I feel guilty every day for waking up... I follow the news everyday with my family, and sadly our family time has been all about discussing the fate of the Tamil community,” writes Sumudini Sathivadivel reflecting the trauma of the second generation diaspora of Eezham Tamils. “What can I do at this point to take my guiltiness away? I sit here in tears, holding my head… unable to think because I feel helpless. Then I get back on my feet and think to myself there is hope... I guess we are all eagerly waiting for the day to say I am a Tamil from Tamil Eelam.”
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UN lopsided in calling for evacuation - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 17:21 GMT]
Calling for the evacuation of civilians and making them to end up in the hands of their killers, is taking side with one of the parties to the conflict and amounts to another one of the war crimes, perhaps the most serious one of them when comes from a world body of human rights, said Jaffna MP, Kajendran, responding to a statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Friday. The High Commissioner, Ms. Navi Pillai called on both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to immediately suspend hostilities in order to allow the evacuation of the entire civilian population by land or sea, a press release from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. She didn’t say anything on where should they be evacuated or on who would be responsible for them thereafter.
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SLA shelling targets relief supplies and hospital, patients wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells hit the area close to the makeshift-hospital in Puthumaaththa'lan inside the 'safe zone' Friday around 4:10 p.m., causing injuries to four patients who were already wounded. The artillery attack intensified while ICRC ship was unloading humanitarian supplies. Seven civilians were killed and 32 wounded in shell explosion near the ground where the humanitarian supplies were being stored around 3:00 p.m. Totally, 31 civilians were killed during the daytime on Friday inside the 'safe zone'.
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Six-year-old girl recovered dead in Trincomalee town

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 12:48 GMT]
Unidentified men who abducted Wednesday a six-year-old girl from Trincomalee St. Mary’s Girls’ School and demanded 30 million rupees as ransom from her mother, later killed the girl slitting her throat Friday for not paying the demanded ransom, sources in Trincomalee said. The girl’s body was found Friday morning along Sarathaa Veethi in Trincomalee town. Saratha Road and St. Mary’s Girl’s school are both located in the High Security Zone (HSZ) area in the city where there are many police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry points, the sources added.
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4 TMVP Karuna group men shot dead in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 10:52 GMT]
Armed men alleged to be Liberation Tigers launched an attack Friday around 2:05 a.m on the office of Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) Kaurna paramilitary group located at 6th mile post, Cho'rikkalmunai in Chammaanthu'rai police division in Ampaa'rai district killing four men of the paramilitary group and injuring two of them, sources in Ampaa'rai said.
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Australian State MP supports Tamils' struggle for self-determination

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 03:32 GMT]
“It is important that the Government of Australia and the international community recognise the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people and acknowledge the legitimacy of their struggle for self-determination,” said Hon. Ian Cohen, Member of Legislative Council and Greens Party during a speech he delivered on Thursday 5 March 2009 in New South Wales Parliament, Australia. "Too many lives have been lost, and each day we keep silent we allow more deaths to occur. It is important that the Government of Australia and the international community recognise that the' targeting of a minority' has been taking place for decades. What we see taking place today is but a culmination of successive attacks targeting the Tamils."
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SLA shelling targets humanitarian supplies in 'safe zone'

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 02:29 GMT]
A pregnant mother delivered dead twins Thursday and her husband was wounded when Sri Lanka Army fired bullets reached their hut in Maaththa'lan, across the lagoon. Meanwhlie, SLA-fired shells hit the ground 300 meters away from the spot where the humanitarian supplies were being unloaded. Five civilians were killed and 20 sustained injuries in the attack that occurred around 8:20 a.m. Later in the evening, another shell attack targeted the ground where the supplies were being stored. 62 civilians were killed and more than 129 wounded throughout the day and the night inside the safe zone.
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US Senators call for immediate ceasefire, international oversight of detention camps

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 02:15 GMT]
A bipartisan group of seven senior U.S. Senators in a letter to Foreign Secretary Hilary Clinton blamed the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers for the "impending catastrophe," and said: "The situation in Sri Lanka is unacceptable and must be remedied as quickly as possible. We commend your recent statement with UK Foreign Minister David Milliband that called on the government and the LTTE to adhere to a ceasefire, allow access to humanitarian agencies, and resume political discussions to bring the long-standing ethnic conflict to an end. An enduring peace can be achieved only through a political solution that treats the Tamil minority as equal citizens under the law. Without such an agreement, the violence will only continue."
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SLA shelling kills 82 civilians inside 'safe zone' on Wednesday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 23:40 GMT]
Mullaiththeevu Medical Superintend V. Shanmugarajah narrowly escaped Wednesday from Sri Lanka Army fired Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells that hit Mu'l'livaaykkaal inside the 'safe zone', and a 7-year-old child was killed in long distance gunfire near the inland waters in Maaththa'lan. Totally, 82 civilians were killed and more than 130 wounded. Civilians who were waiting in queue to receive humanitarian supplies were hit by the MBRL and artillery fire. More than 500 patients were struggling without shelters and medical treatment amidst heavy rains.
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EU Parliament passes significant resolution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 21:43 GMT]
The EU Parliament Thursday passed a resolution, with a large majority, calling for immediate ceasefire between the Sri Lanka Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone. Condemning all acts of violence against civilians in the safe zone and expressing serious concern for the plight of the people in the refugee camps run by the Sri Lankan government, the EU Parliament demanded full and unhindered access to international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists to the combat zone and to the refugee camps.
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5 Tamil civilians arrested in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 18:19 GMT]
Five Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the police in cordon and search operations conducted in Trincomalee town and its suburbs on Wednesday following the bomb attack on a procession in Akuressa in Matara in down south.
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3 more SLA detention centres for Vanni IDPs opened in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 15:23 GMT]
Three additional Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres have been opened in Thenmaraadchi to detain the civilians fleeing war in Vanni, namely Kodikaamam Govt Tamil Mixed School (GTMS), Jaffna University Chiththa Aayurveatha College hostel in Kaithadi and Saiva Children Home of Jaffna Saiva Maha Chapai in Kaithadi, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the temporary school erected with UNICEF funds in a private land near the SLA detention centre in Kodikaamam GTMS for the children in the detention centre was officially inaugurated Thursday morning, the sources added.
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SLTB bus burnt down in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 14:28 GMT]
A gang of unidentified men in military uniform burnt down a Sri Lanka Transport Board bus after ordering out the 50 passengers, conductor and the driver Thursday around 2:00 a.m at Aalangku’lam junction in Vaazhzichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. This act of arson may have been carried out as an attempt to create rifts between the Tamil, Muslim communities by some political forces, following the bomb blast in Akuressa in the Southern Province Tuesday, residents of Batticaloa said.
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50,000 families affected by floods in 'safe zone'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 13:07 GMT]
Health officials in Vanni said Wednesday that civilians inside the 'safe zone', urgently need at least 50,000 temporary shelters and temporary toilets as they live under worn out tarpaulin tents. There is a severe shortage of food and medicines. Scarcity of drinking water and sanitation facilities add to the woes of the people, health officials said. The makeshift hospital in Puthumaaththa'lan was struggling to accommodate patients under its roof. Many patients were earlier staying outside the building. The ICRC ship, which uses to transport the seriously wounded did not come due to the bad weather conditions, the officials further said.
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LTTE asks whether UN abets Colombo discrediting combatants

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 11:04 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Puthukkudiyiruppu political head C. Ilamparithi categorically denied Wednesday the misuse of a high energy food sent for children by UNICEF in June 2007 by diverting the therapeutic food to the use of LTTE cadres. Based on a report of Colombo alleging the 'discovery' of the said food samples in the belongings of a dead LTTE cadre, the Colombo UN office on Tuesday came out with a statement deploring the diversion of its assistance meant for severely malnourished children.
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US Legislators point out Sri Lanka's "Red Alert" genocide ranking to Secretary Clinton

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 02:44 GMT]
A group of 38 United States members of Congress sent a joint letter today to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, highlighting the humanitarian crisis faced by Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka, and expressing concern over conditions in the internment camps, calling for bringing the issue to the UN Security Council, and encouraging active U.S. leadership to bring about a long-delayed political settlement.
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Jaffna food produces to be sent to South

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 18:10 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) informed Wednesday that 9 lorries will take a consignment of local food produces including dried fish, onions, beetroot and prawns to South Sri Lanka Thursday through A9 land route. Fisheries society sources expressed concern that this arrangement will raise the price of fish that is in heavy demand in the peninsula, affecting the consumers. The GA, however, said that this measure is being taken to increase marketing opportunities for the local products.
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Woman’s skeletal remains recovered in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 17:50 GMT]
Kodikaamam police recovered the skeletal remains of a woman concealed among shrubs along A9 road in Iyakkachchi area in Thenmaraadchi which has been occupied by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in recent times. SLA demining personnel informed Kodikaamam police on finding the skeleton.
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SLA shelling kills 133 civilians including 49 children on Tuesday

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 17:27 GMT]
More than 49 of 133 civilians killed inside 'safe zone' in SLA shelling on Tuesday were children and 16 of them were children below 3 years of age. The SLA deployed internationally banned cluster munitions and fire-bombs against civilians who were stranded without shelter inside the 'safe zone' which has become a killing field, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. 273 civilians, including a GS (village officer) and an ICRC worker, were wounded on Tuesday. 47 of the civilians succumbed to their injuries on the way to hospital or after their admittance.
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Civilians entering Jaffna town subjected to severe checking

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 17:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and police subject civilians entering Jaffna town from all parts of the peninsula to severe checking in three or four points along each of the main roads to Jaffna town while security measures at important places in Jaffna town are being strengthened, during the past few days, sources in Jaffna said.
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Jaffna youth reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 16:39 GMT]
The mother of a youth from Jaffna lodged a complaint with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office that her son had gone missing in Colombo since Saturday from the lodge he was staying in. He had left to Colombo 20 days ago to travel to a European country and the manager of the lodge had informed that the youth had not rerturned after leaving the lodge Saturday around 5:00 p.m, the mother said in her complaint.
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Tigers blast 6 Sri Lankan artillery positions in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 11:54 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Black Tiger commandos and Col. Kiddu Artillery formation launched a joint attack destroying six artillery positions of the Sri Lanka Army in the early hours of Tuesday, confirmed an LTTE official in Vanni to TamilNet on Wednesday. Six artillery weapons platforms in Thearaavil, located around 18 km from Puthukkudiyiruppu junction, were completely destroyed in a "precise mission" carried out by the Black Tiger commandos and the Tiger artillery formation, the official said. Ammunition dumps were also destroyed, the Tigers said.
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Tamil lady teacher abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 11:39 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van at the house of a Tamil lady teacher serving at Rajagiriya Roman Catholic School in Colombo Tuesday evening at Wellawathe forcibly abducted her, according to complaint lodged with Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by her relatives.
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2 STF commandos injured in LTTE attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 March 2009, 05:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched an attack Monday around 8:45 p.m on the Special Task Force (STF) sentry post located between Koappaave’li and U’rukaamam in Ka’radiyanaa’ru police division in Batticaloa district, seriously injuring two STF commandos, Batticaloa district LTTE sources said.
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Diaspora prepares to send relief to forsaken civilians in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 23:47 GMT]
The Tamil diaspora in Britain is organising a direct 'mercy mission' taking food and medicine to the civilians of Vanni, forsaken by the conscience of the International Community, said Dr. V. Arudkumar from London, on Tuesday. Prominent humanitarian personalities are expected to participate in this mission. The expedition will be supported and participated by diaspora Tamil professionals in the medical field.
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Relief supplies reach Jaffna through A9 road

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 21:47 GMT]
Despite announcement made by Commissioner of Essential Services that relief supplies to Jaffna would be sent from Vavuniyaa in 40 lorries only 22 of them arrived in Jaffna Tuesday around 7:30 p.m at Naavatku’li Government Stores, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and other key government officers in Jaffna, on directives by the government, had waited at Naavatku’li to receive the convoy of lorries that were bringing goods along A9 land route for the first time after a long period, but had to cancel their program and get back to Jaffna as the lorries were late in arriving at their destination, sources in Jaffna said.
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Hillary, Menon discuss Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 19:26 GMT]
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met for 45 minutes in Washington, Monday. “A discussion of one regional issue, in particular, was Sri Lanka -- the importance of trying to find a way to make sure that whatever happens in the armed conflict, that there is a political settlement in the future that both the US and India can help create, and participate in", reports Rediff News Tuesday, citing Administrative sources in Washington.
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Missing old woman recovered dead in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 13:40 GMT]
Jaffna police recovered Tuesday the body of a woman aged eighty-five, reported missing two and a half months ago from her home in Jaffna town to Human Rights (HRC) Jaffna office, strangled to death and buried in her compound, sources in Jaffna. The police, on being informed by public, conducted the search Tuesday in her house accompanied by Jaffna Magistrate K. Vasanthasenan.
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Tiger shelling reaches Pa’lai, Mukamaalai, Ki’laali areas

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
Large number of shells said to be launched by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) since Monday midnight fell and exploded near A9 road in Pa’lai and Mukamaalai, until Tuesday afternoon, sources in Thenmaraadchi said. Around 22 lorries loaded with goods which started to Jaffna along A9 road around 11:00 a.m Monday are yet to reach Naavatku’li but 25 buses carrying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have reached Thenmaraadchi along A9 route around Tuesday afternoon, the sources added.
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18 Tamil youths arrested in outskirts of Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 12:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka police and home guards arrested eighteen Tamil youths in a joint search conducted Monday in Panadura, Pandura Nalloor, Kalutura and Minuwangoda areas in the outskirts of Colombo, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by the relatives of the arrested youths. Five of the youths arrested are from Jaffna and the rest are from upcountry, Panadura police said.
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U.N. funding Sri Lanka internment camps, withholds casualty numbers - ICP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 12:28 GMT]
"The UN on Monday acknowledged that it is funding camps in Sri Lanka from which people cannot leave, and that it has compiled casualty figures from the fighting which it will not release," correspondent Matthew Lee of Inner City Press (ICP), who has been reporting on UN issues on Sri Lanka, said in a report. "Inner City Press, which two weeks ago published a local count of 1800 civilians killed since January, on Monday asked UN's relief coordinator John Holmes to confirm that the UN now has a count of 2300," said the report, but accused U.N.'s Holmes of withholding the figures.
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Sri Lankan cluster shelling kills 129 civilians within 7 hours

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 10:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells fitted with cluster munitions and fire-bombs into civilian 'safety zone' killing at least 129 civilians between 2:30 a.m. and 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday. Around 200 civilians were wounded. 300 tarpaulin huts burned down to ashes in Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fired rockets. The medical store at Valaignarmadam has sustained damage and the son of a doctor was reported killed there, according to initial reports. A local NGO official, who was coordinating the rescue of the wounded described the carnage as "Colombo’s show of open mockery at international concern," reports TamilNet's Vanni correspondent. "The attack was criminally deliberate as it was timed for the aftermath of a mini cyclone and floods, at the stranded civilians," the NGO official said.
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Tibetans mark fifty years of lost freedom

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 08:44 GMT]
Tibetans all over the world marked on Monday, 50 years of Chinese occupation of their homeland. China sent military into largely independent Tibet in 1951. A rebellion of Tibetans against Chinese occupation was crushed by Chinese military in 1959, causing the death of around 90,000 people and the fleeing of the spiritual cum political leader Dalai Lama into India with 200, 000 Tibetans. Ever since, Tibet witnessed rebellions from time to time, the latest taking place last year resulting in the death of hundreds of Tibetans. China systematically colonized the country to the extent Tibetans make only one fourth of the population today.
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Bomb blast in Islamic procession in Matara, 10 killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 07:43 GMT]
Ten people were killed and several, including a Sri Lankan minister were wounded Tuesday noon in a bomb explosion at a Milad-un-Nabi festival procession in Akuressa in Matara in Southern Province, Police said.
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Police station opened in SLA occupied village in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 07:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police key officials participated in the official opening of a police station Monday around 10:00 a.m. in Muzhangkaavil village, which was earlier under the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Mannaar district. Four police stations were established last year later part in Chilaavaththu’rai, Madu Church, Vidaththaltheevu, Illuppaikkadavai and the one established this year are the five police stations opened in Mannaar district. Civilians are not allowed to enter these villages.
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Flood affected refugees in internment camps refuse temporary re-location

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 06:48 GMT]
Tamil refugees from Vanni, detained at schools in Vavuniyaa, were affected by heavy downpour of rain Monday, but refused temporary relocation, officials in Vavuniyaa said. The refugees turned down the offer in fear of getting separated from each other, the sources added.
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Evacuation would constitute U.S. "complicity in genocide"- Prof Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 05:59 GMT]
"For the United States government to "evacuate" Tamils from Vanni and then turn them over to the genocidal Government of Sri Lanka would constitute "Complicity in genocide" by the United States to the genocide that GOSL is currently inflicting on the Tamils in violation of Genocide Convention Article III (e) and the United States's own Genocide Convention Implementation Act as amended. Such a turn-over could very well create personal criminal responsibility for United States government officials involved in this process under both international criminal law and United States domestic criminal law," warns Prof. Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law.
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Colombo's shelling carnage of flood-hit civilians, 25 children killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 02:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified indiscriminate shelling on the 'safe zone' throughout Monday, continuing into Tuesday morning to the time of this reporting, killing 74 civilians and injuring more than 100, TamilNet correspondent reported from Vanni. 25 of the victims killed were children. "The inhuman shelling deliberately targeted all the areas of the 'safe zone' where civilians are already victims of flood and a mini-cyclone that hit them Monday." All lethal ammunitions such as artillery-fired cluster shells, fire-shells and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells were used in the SLA attack.
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SLA cut downs use of A9 route to Jaffna due to security risks

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 15:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had earlier announced the opening of A9 land route to Jaffna has now limited its turns of transporting soldiers to 3 days in a week due to clashes breaking along the road and security risks, SLA sources in Jaffna said. Information on the days of transport is not disclosed and the convoy of busses takes the soldiers on vacation from Palaali to Vavuniyaa and back on unannounced days, three times a week.
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LTTE breaks through SLA lines amidst casualties

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 14:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army divisions surrounding Puthukkudiyiruppu face the threat of attack from behind their lines as LTTE fighters managed to break through their lines despite suffering casualties on Sunday, reports from Jaffna said quoting Sri Lankan military sources of anonymity. In the meantime, Sri Lankan defence sources in Colombo claimed recovery of more than 100 bodies of LTTE fighters. The Voice of Tigers, the official radio of the LTTE has claimed that more than 450 SLA soldiers were killed and around 1,000 injured in the first four days of the month in the clashes in Puthukkudiyiruppu alone and more than 100 SLA dead and 450 injured on Sunday.
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Shelling amidst mini-cyclone and lashing rains, thousands stranded

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A lashing rain that started Sunday night became a mini-cyclone Monday severely causing misery to the already suffering civilians in the 'safe zone' in Mullaiththeevu. Amidst this catastrophe they were inhumanely attacked by the Sri Lanka Army shelling in which 71 civilians were killed within the last 36 hours, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. The mini-cyclone blew away the temporary tarpaulin tents and the low land adjacent to sea coast where the people were herded became heavily flooded causing at least 20,000 families stranded. A person who witnessed shell hit killings told TamilNet correspondent with frustration that he was 'unfortunate to survive'.
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Liquor baron buys Gandhi memorabilia in US auction

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
The spectacles, chapels, pocket watch and eating plate along with a bowl, used by Mahatma Gandhi were bought for 92 million Indian rupees by Bangalore based Indian liquor baron Vijay Mallya when the memorabilia were auctioned in Washington, USA, on Thursday. “It is unfortunate that the Indian government first of all allowed them to go out of the country, didn’t take any legal effort to regain them and didn’t even care at least to buy them in the auction. It is a sad irony to see liquor money bringing back the belongings of Mahatma Gandhi, who throughout his life fought for temperance in India”, writes Communist Party of India (CPI) leader, C. Mahendran, in Janasakthi, Monday.
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TNA urges IC to ensure Sri Lankan forces do not bomb besieged civilians

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 06:24 GMT]
The leaders of four major Tamil parties, the ITAK, ACTC, EPRLF and TELO comprising Tamil National Alliance (TNA), on behalf of the 22 elected parliamentarians from North and East, sent an appeal to the International Community urging it to ensure an immediate cessation of the war and ensure that adequate medical supplies, food and shelter be sent to the 333,000 civilians inside the area under siege by the Sri Lankan military. "The civilians are merely asking, that the SriLankan armed forces do not bomb them, and that the government permits adequate food, medicine and shelter into the area." Since the beginning of this year, more than 2150 civilians have been killed inside the so-called ‘safe zones’ by bombing campaigns carried out by the Sri Lankan armed forces and over 5000 are wounded, the TNA appeal said.
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British Tamils pay tribute to ‘hero’ Varnakulasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 17:46 GMT]
Ten thousand British Tamil expatriates paid tribute Saturday at the funeral of Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, 26, who self-immolated in front of the United Nations in Geneva in protest at the international inaction amid the mass killings of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military. "This man died not for himself but for us," the British Tamil Councillors and Associates group said, according to a BBC report. Mr Varnakulasingham’s family have said they were proud of his actions.
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Toronto youths on 800km walk to Chicago to publicize Tamil plight

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Six students from Canadian universities are on a 60-day 800km walk from United States Consulate in Toronto to Harpo Studio in Millenium Park Chicago to highlight the plight of the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians who are struggling to survive in harsh conditions of food embargo and amidst daily aerial bombardments and artillery attacks by the Sri Lanka armed forces. The youths started their campaign on Wednesday, hoping to draw the attention of Television host, Oprah Winfrey who airs her show from Harpo studio, according to the campaign organizers.
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Heavy fighting reported in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 16:19 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched heavy artillery barrage and mortar fire Saturday midnight on Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) soldiers of its 55th Division stationed in Chaalai, Chu’ndikku'lam and some areas of Puthukkudiyiruppu, killing and seriously injuring considerable number of soldiers, according to an SLA source in Thenmaraadchi.
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SLA arrests 12 youths in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 11:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested 12 youths Sunday morning in a search operation conducted in Cheddiku’lam and Poovarasangku’lam in Vavuniyaa district. The fate of seven of the arrested youths is not known as only five of them are detained in Vavuniyaa police station, the relatives of the youths said.
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Indian High Commissioner rebuffs memorandum of Mauritian demonstrators

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 21:45 GMT]
The Indian High Commissioner in Mauritius rebuffed a memorandum of thousands of Mauritian Tamil demonstrators Friday, requesting India to stop the war against Tamils in Sri Lanka. The representatives of the demonstrators were seeking to submit the memorandum in person to the High Commissioner who is a Tamil and they had informed the High Commission of their request five days in advance. On Friday, Third Secretary Ms Menon and the Deputy High Commissioner who received them, turned down their request. Angered at the contempt, the demonstrators chose to burn the memorandum outside the High Commission. The Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius and the Justice Minister were active participants of the emotion-charged demonstration, organized by National Movement Against Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, reports Koomaran Chetty from Mauritius.
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IDPs threatened by malnutrition - RDHS

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 19:07 GMT]
Dr. Santhiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi district on Saturday people do not have vegetables or fruits to eat and severe malnutrition is going to be the result if they are not provided with nutritious food. He also said 50% of the children admitted at the hospital were coming with the history of watery diarrhoea which could have been caused by the food pattern.
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Kachchaitheevu St. Antony’s Church annual festival cancelled

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 18:13 GMT]
The annual festival of the historically famous St. Antony’s Church located on the on the islet of Kachchaitheevu on the sea boundary between Sri Lanka and India has been cancelled this year as Sri Lanka Defense Ministry had delayed permission until last minute to go to Kachchaitheevu besides restricting the number of devotees to 50 from Sri Lanka and 50 from India, Jaffna Bishop House said in its report.
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IDPs in Jaffna SLA detention camps require help

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:33 GMT]
Financial and relief assistance given to civilians fleeing war in Vanni and held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Government and Non-government organizations are inadequate, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Hindu Maha Sabai (JHMS) has extended an appeal to the Saiva institutions and humanitarian organizations in Jaffna peninsula to donate funds to provide the additional needs of the detainees in the camps, according to a media report signed by JHMS Secretary, S. Sakthikireepan.
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Mediaperson killed in SLA shell attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:10 GMT]
TamilNet sadly shares the news of the killing of an independent media person Friday, in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shell attack inside the 'safe zone' in Vanni. He was long helping TamilNet’s independent Vanni correspondent and even just before his killing, he had assisted our main correspondent in covering a story. He was killed hit by an SLA shell while in his cottage in the 'safe zone'.
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Tamil family man abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:07 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen in a white van forcibly abducted Saturday around 12:30 p.m a Tamil family man who was riding on his bicycle along Ka'n'nangkudaa Veethi in Koththiyaapulam area in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district, according to a complaint lodged with Vavu’natheevu police.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil woman in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit men shot and killed Friday around 8:00 p.m a Tamil woman, the mother of two children, in her house at Kaakkaachivaddai village in Vellaave’li police division in Batticaloa district. A 14-year-old Tamil girl was raped by a policeman Sunday while a Tamil woman social activist was strangled to death Monday, in Viveakaananthapuram, the neighbuoring village of Kaakkaachivaddai, where the mother of two children was shot and killed by SLA Friday night, sources in Batticaloa said. The killing being the third consecutive incident of violence perpetrated on Tamil women by Sri Lanka armed forces in Vellaave’li police division within a week has created tension and fear among the Tamils of the area.
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California Democrats seek Referendum to resolve Sri Lanka conflict

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
The Santa Clara County Democratic Party Central Committee, Thursday, passed a resolution asking "U.S. Congress and the Federal Administration to immediately persuade the government of Sri Lanka and the UN to conduct a UN monitored referendum in the Tamil region of Sri Lanka to determine if the people wish the autonomy or the complete independence." The organizers of the resolution said they will be mounting a campaign to urge other Democratic party branches in different counties to adopt similar resolutions to raise Sri Lanka as a key policy issue within the Democratic Party.
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Sri Lankan attacks kill 208 civilians within 72 hours

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 12:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery-fitted cluster shells hit several IDP settlements within the 'safety zone', claiming the lives of at least 53 civilians Saturday until 3:00 p.m. Around 112 civilians sustained injuries. On Friday, 86 civilians were killed and more than 100 civilians were wounded. Dead bodies were not brought to the hospital as shelling continued. Thousands of civilians within the 'safety zone' were forced to remain inside the bunkers. 69 civilians were killed on Thursday in the indiscriminate shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardments. More than 330 civilians have been wounded within the last 3 days.
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Paramilitary, intelligence personnel arrested for abduction, ransom

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 06:22 GMT]
Vavuniyaa police in mufti arrested Wednesday three paramilitary persons and three Sri Lanka military intelligence personnel for the abduction of the Assistant Manager of the Bank of Ceylon Vavuniyaa branch and a security officer Tuesday, demanding millions of rupees from the Bank as ransom, sources in Vavuniyaa said. The abductors later demanded the family members of the two abducted officers to pay a ransom of 900,000 rupees as Bank of Ceylon authorities refused to pay the sum originally demanded.
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Toddy tapper knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 05:42 GMT]
Residents of Punnaalaikkadduvan, located close to Valikaamam Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Front Defence Line (FDL), who found Friday morning in their village a toddy tapper seriously injured with knife cuts to his throat rushed him to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The injured man succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, sources in Jaffna said.
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Commonwealth ministers’ silence, Colombo’s membership questioned

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 20:21 GMT]
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on Thursday condemned the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) for not reviewing the situation in Sri Lanka in its meeting in London, Wednesday. CMAG, a body of nine ministers, is mandated to check persistent violations of the ‘Fundamental Values and Principles of the Commonwealth,’ including democracy and human rights. Contrary to the norm that limits each country to two-consecutive sittings, Sri Lanka is currently serving its third consecutive two-year term. Sri Lanka‘s membership has become particularly controversial as its own credentials as a guardian of these values become increasingly questionable, read a statement from CHRI.
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Press Freedom Group calls for unconditional release of Tissanayagam

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 19:31 GMT]
In a press release issued to mark the first anniversary of incarceration of Tamil journalist on unsubstantiated terrorism charges, the International Press Freedom Mission, a group of international media watchdogs including Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is “calling for the unconditional release of Tissainayagam, who has been subjected to arbitrary court adjournments and is suffering ill health.” First anniversary of arrest and imprisonment of Tissanayagam fell on 7th March.
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Human chain demonstration in Norway

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 16:11 GMT]
More than 700 Norwegian Tamils stood in line with joined hands forming long human chains Thursday around 5:00 p.m staring from the Oslo Central Railway Station up to National Theatre along both sides of Karl Johans Street protesting against attempts to force out Tamil civilians from their birth places to Sri Lanka Army concentration camps in government controlled areas outside Vanni. The demonstration organized by Norwegian Tamils’ Forum (NTF) ended around 6:00 p.m.
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Silent prayer, fast for Vanni Tamils in Jaffna University concludes

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Thousands of persons including students, lecturers, faculty heads, employees and Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University took part Friday between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 a.m in final day of the silent prayer and fast conducted daily since 9 February for the sake of the suffering Tamils in Vanni due to the war waged on them by the Government of Sri Lanka.
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3 shot dead, 3 injured on Point Pedro Sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Point Pedro is alleged of opening fire on civilians fleeing from Puthu Maaththa’lan in Mullaiththeevu towards Vadamaraadchi on a boat Thursday killing three and seriously injuring three including a one-year-old boy, sources in Point Pedro said. SLN handed over the arrested civilians to Point Pedro police Friday evening while the bodies of the civilians killed are kept in Point Pedro Base Hospital mortuary.
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3 SLA soldiers injured in LTTE attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched an attack Thursday around 9:15 p.m on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Kommaanththu’rai 6th mile post area in Ea’raavoor police division, injuring three of them, LTTE in Batticaloa said.
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Police arrest 3 Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 10:19 GMT]
Police arrested three Tamils including two women Wednesday in a house at Athurugiruya in Colombo district suspected to be supporters of Liberation Tigers, according to police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara. The three arrested are being detained in the police station and interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division of Sri Lanka police.
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93,877 displaced 19 years ago yet to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 08:10 GMT]
Nearly 93,877 civilians belonging to 27,601 families displaced due to war from various parts of Jaffna peninsula 19 years ago still languish in refugee camps while most of them are living with their relatives or friends, a statistical report of Jaffna Secretariat said. 73,672 persons of 21,591 families were displaced before 31 December 2005 and 20,205 persons of 6,010 families were displaced after the A9 land route to Jaffna peninsula was closed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 2006, according to the report.
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Doctors warn severe shortage of medicines in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 07:56 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lankan and its armed forces have systematically blocked medical supplies, causing several patients to die at the hospital and inflicted slow death of patients dependent on medications. The makeshift-hospital at Puthumaaththa'lan is struggling to cope with the situation. On Thursday, Dr. Saththiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) of Ki'linochchi district, in his situation report, said medicines for four months have not arrived in Vanni.
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Japan accused of aiding Sri Lanka's war against Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 06:00 GMT]
U.S. Tamils plan to protest in front of Japanese Embassy located at 2520 Massachusetts Ave, Washington D.C. Friday urging Japan to stop funding Sri Lanka's war against Tamils, and appealed to Tamils world-wide to boycott Japanese goods, organizers of the protest said. Japan is the top contributor in aid to Sri Lanka, providing $350m a year of the nearly $1 billion Sri Lanka receives in bilateral/multilateral aid, loans from aid agencies and other countries.
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‘UN must protect civilians in Sri Lanka’ – Tutu, British academics

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 04:57 GMT]
Demanding that the UN protect civilians in Sri Lanka, Archbishop Desmond Tutu and several leading scholars at British universities have written an open letter to the British government urging it to press for a UN Security Council Resolution authorising a fact-finding mission to the island’s Northeast. “The deteriorating humanitarian and human rights situation throughout the war-afflicted areas of northern and eastern Sri Lanka warrants immediate attention and action by the Security Council,” the letter, published in the Times newspaper, said.
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Forced starvation constitutes an act of Genocide - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 04:53 GMT]
Commenting on recent reports that Colombo is withholding food supplies forcing into starvation the more than 300,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the war-zone, Prof. Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet said, "[I]n the context of longstanding Sri Lankan genocide against the Tamils, this recent GOSL atrocity also constitutes an act of genocide as defined, prohibited and criminalized by Genocide Convention Article II (c):"Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
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Only 2.2% of humanitarian supplies reached Vanni in February - RDHS

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 01:41 GMT]
Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) of Ki'linochchi district, in a situation report issued on Thursday said that only 109.71MT of food had been received for the month of February 2009 through the ships with the help of the ICRC. The real requirement per month, according to the RDHS is 4950 MT. "Consequently people are threatened with starvation unless the food condition is urgently rectified," the doctor said in his situation report adding: "Particularly children, women, elders and those who are seriously ill become vulnerable to the onslaught of starvation."
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Media activists in Colombo fear reprisals, keep away from protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 01:12 GMT]
Around 25 media persons, mostly leftist oriented, took part in a demonstration Thursday noon at Colpetty junction in Colombo, protesting against the manner in which Vithyatharan, the editor of ‘Sudaroli’ Tamil newspaper was 'arrested' by the Sri Lankan Police. Many media activists and journalists kept away from demonstration fearing reprisals by the Colombo government, concerned activists told TamilNet. Colombo Crime Division police personnel, disguised as media men, took photographs of the protesters, according to the participants in the protest.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Uppuve'li

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Uppuve'li Police took two Tamil youths into custody in Trincomalee district during a cordon and search operation conducted on Wednesday evening. Police said both were residents of Jaffna and had been staying in the area without identity card. They also failed to justify their presence in the location, the police said.
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Police arrest owner of Poobalasingam Book Depot in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 21:10 GMT]
Prevention of Terrorism branch police arrested the owner of Poobalasingam Book Depot, Sritharasing, for sending Tamil Nadu ‘Ananda Vikadan’ weekly magazine to Ratmalana Air port to be sent to Jaffna branch of Poobalsingam Book Depot when the police at Ratmalana air port found articles and photos in ‘Ananda Vikadan’ in favour of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sritharasing’s relatives in Colombo said.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil youth in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed a Tamil youth Thursday around 8:45 p.m on Punnaikkudaa Veethi near Ear’aavoor Public Market in Ea’raavoor police division and claimed that the youth was a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pistol group. SLA also claimed to have recovered a pistol and a hand grenade from the youth killed.
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President of Women’s Society threatened to death in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 17:36 GMT]
The President of the Women’s Association, who led the demonstration recently in front of Point Pedro Divisional Secretariat protesting against the inadequate relief food supply, filed a complaint Wednesday evening of threat to her life by unidentified persons who came to her house, to Point Pedro police. Some other activists representing the Fisheries Societies, Women’s and Rural Organizations in Vadamaraadchi who actively participated in the demonstration too have been issued similar death threats, sources in Point Pedro said.
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No democracy in Sri Lanka – TNA parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 15:06 GMT]
“Abductions and other humanitarian violations in Colombo, the North and the East are escalating at an alarming rate which indicates that Sri Lanka is not a democratic country,” TNA member for Batticaloa district, Ms. K. Thangkeswari said speaking on the motion to extend the state of emergency for another month in Sri Lanka parliament, Wednesday. Another TNA MP, Sivanathan Kishore asked: “How can the International Community believe Sri Lanka government’s version of what is happening in Vanni is true when it has effectively expelled the international human organizations and media from there?"
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Perpetrating civilian starvation is violation of all norms of war: LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 13:51 GMT]
"The brutalities committed by Colombo's armed forces on civilians have no precedence in any conventional war," said LTTE's Puthukkudiyiuruppu area political head C. Ilamparithy on Wednesday describing that the offensive by the Sri Lankan government denying food and medicine to civilians whom it claims as its citizens as an "abnormal violation of all norms of war." He urged direct presence of the International Community to witness the gravity of the situation by itself and urged the Tamil diaspora to engage with the IC in order to make it look at the crisis through the perspective of the affected people and to work for sending international journalists to visit and report the plight of the civilians besieged in Mullaiththeevu.
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Woman killed in Vellave’li not the mother of raped girl

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 12:40 GMT]
Ka’luvaangchchikkudi Base hospital Medical Officer said Wednesday that it was Viveakaananthapuram Women’s Deveolpment Society treasurer who was found killed with her neck wrung and dumped in a well Monday night in Vellaave’li police division in Batticaloa district and not the mother of the raped 14-year-old girl, Y. Punithavathy, as Ka’luvaangnchchikudi hospital sources had earlier reported. The mother of Punithavathy is alive and being treated now in Batticaloa Teaching Hospital, said the MO Dr. P. Vaseekaran.
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SLA fires cluster shells near hospital, scores wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 07:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army has fired shells in the close vicinity of the makeshift-hospital at Maaththa'lan causing injuries to several civilians. A cluster shell that exploded 500 meters from hospital caused injuries to 37 civilians in tightly populated IDP area, according to medical sources. So far, 126 civilians were rushed to hospital on Thursday.
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Dengue fever claims life of 7-year-old boy in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 06:59 GMT]
A 7-year-old boy infected with dengue fever admitted to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital died, Hospital Director Dr. K. Murukanantham said. Hundreds of people are admitted to the hospitals in Batticaloa, Kaaththaankudi and Aarayampathi infected with dengue fever, in Batticaloa district.
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2 SLA home guards killed in Puththa’lam

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 06:39 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen lying in ambush opened fire Wednesday around 8:20 a.m on a road patrol unit in Puththa’lam area in Hambantota district, killing two home guards and took away their two guns and cartridges, police media spokesman, Ranjith Gunasekara said.
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Emergency extended in Sri Lanka for another month

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 05:58 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Parliament Wednesday adopted a motion to extend the state of emergency for another month by a majority of 62 votes. 74 parliamentarians of the ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance (UPFA) and its allied parties, Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples Front (UPF), National Freedom Front (NFF), Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) voted for the motion, parliamentary sources said.
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Diarrhea claims 13 lives in Vanni within 14 days

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 01:32 GMT]
A child and an elderly person died of diarrhea on Wednesday at Maaththa'lan hospital. At least 13 people have died of the disease in the overcrowded 'safety zone' within the past 14 days, according to medical sources.
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SLA shelling kills more children, carnage in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 23:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up artillery fire Wednesday inside the 'safety zone' killing 78 civilians. 21 of the victims are children, according to emerging details from various settlements. 23 civilians were killed in artillery barrage in the morning from 5:30 to 9:00 a.m. and 47 in the evening between 5:00 and 9:00 p.m. 182 civilians have sustained injuries. High number of casualties were reported in Pokka'nai and Maaththa'lan within the security zone. An ICRC worker, who was returning to his tarpaulin tent after transporting wounded civilians to ICRC ship was killed in Pokka'nai. A pregnant mother was also among the victims.
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ICRC worker killed in SLA shelling

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 17:15 GMT]
A staff worker of the ICRC in Vanni was killed Wednesday around 5:00 p.m. while he was returning after sending some of the seriously wounded patients from Maaththa'lan hospital in ICRC ship, reported TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. The victim was identified as Vadivel Vijayakumar, 36.
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SLN arrested Vanni civilians held back in Point Pedro

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 16:08 GMT]
Only five of the 92 civilians fleeing war in Vanni and arrested Tuesday by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on the seas of Point Pedro have been handed over to the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Kodikaamam Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS) while the fate of the rest 87 civilians remains unknown, Kodikaamam sources said. None of the arrested civilians has been produced in Point Pedro Magistrate Court either until Wednesday evening. Independent sources in Jaffna said that civilians fleeing war from Liberation Tigers held areas coming into Vavuniyaa and Jaffna peninsula and arrested are subjected to intensive screening by the SLA and that many of them have disappeared without any trace, a trend that continues.
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US Congressman supports review of Gotabaya, Fonseka indictment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 11:59 GMT]
Congressman Walter B Jones representing North Carolina's 3rd District, in a letter of support sent to the United States Attorney General, Eric Holder, said that the "Department of Justice must take care to review all issues brought to its attention," in the model indictment submitted early February, and requested that the Justice Department to "review this document thoroughly." Congressman Jones serves in the House Committee on Armed Services and in the Committee on Financial Services.
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Arrests of Tamil young people in Colombo escalate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 11:05 GMT]
23 Tamil youths including 8 women have been arrested in the past week alone in the city of Colombo and its suburbs and most of the arrested are from the districts of Jaffna, Trincomalee and Batticaloa, Colombo sources said. Democratic People’s Front (DPF) led by Mano Ganeshan, Colombo District parliamentarian and Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan of Upcountry People’s Front (UPF), said that complaints are made to them every day of arrests of Tamil youths in Colombo, by their relatives.
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SLEB employees demonstrate against passing of amendment motion, in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 03:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Electricity Board (SLEB) employees staged a protest demonstration in front of Fort Railway Station in Colombo Tuesday against the SLEB amendment bill being passed in Sri Lanka Parliament, sources in Colombo said. The bill, which has been a subject of controversy and vehemently opposed by the opposition United National Party (UNP) and Sinhala nationalist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), was presented on Tuesday by Sri Lankan Minister of Power and Energy, John Seneviratne, in the parliament where it was debated on before allowed to vote on.
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SLA in killing spree in the 'safety zone', 73 killed, 160 wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 02:55 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells and air attacks by the Sri Lanka Air Force have claimed the lives of at least 73 civilians, most of them inside 'safety zone' on Tuesday in Mullaiththevu district, according to the details from medical and local aid workers in the district. More than 160 civilians have sustained injuries. Around 35 cluster-fitted artillery shells were fired within the last 3 days. 15 cluster shells were fired into civilian areas Tuesday alone. 11 children below age 10 have been killed, 4 in the morning, 5 in the night and one of the two children missing in morning was later identified as the child's mother recovered a fragment of its head. Maaththa'lan hospital was full of weeping mothers who were begging the doctors to save their wounded children from death.
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Shell landed on a civilian saves others

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 01:06 GMT]
An artillery shell fired by the Sri Lanka Army landed on a civilian standing within 150 meters from Maaththa'lan makeshift-hospital Tuesday, killing her on the spot. However, the shell didn't explode, saving the lives of around 20 civilians who were at the locality, according to medical sources. The hospital is located within the 'safety zone'. The victim was identified as Thangeswaran Neelampikai, 50.
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Deputy ZDE of Mullaiththeevu dies of shock from shell explosion

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 March 2009, 00:48 GMT]
Initial reports from Mullaiththeevu on Tuesday said Deputy Zonal Director of Education in Mullaiththeevu Ms. Sivasundaram Kunaladsumy died Tuesday of shock from a shell explosion in Maaththa'lan.
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Humanitarian stocks completely depleted - Rev. Anton Rock

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
“That there is nothing to eat for the next meal is the only certainty for us and we wait with the hope, praying that someone would come to ensure our safety,” Rev. Anton Rock who has sought refuge in Valaignarmadam in Mullaiththeevu with his parish members and other priests, displaced from Vaddakkadchi in Ki'linochchi, said in an interview given to the last monthly issue of the magazine ‘Paathukaavalan’ (Catholic Guardian) published in Jaffna by the District Catholic Diocese. “Burying the dead, dressing the wounds of the injured and wiping the tears of our fellow beings are our daily routine other than praying to God in the hope of someone will come to ensure our safety.”
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RDHS confirms 13 hunger deaths, urges officials to act

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 13:59 GMT]
Dr. T. Varatharajah, the regional director of health services in Mullaiththeevu in a letter faxed to the Government Agent of the district has stated that his hospital has received 13 dead bodies of civilians who have died due to starvation. Five victims were identified and one of them was a 17-year-old girl. Dr. Varatharajah provides details of the known victims of the starvation and urges measures to address the predicament. The doctor also says people have begun using unusual substitutes like leaves never used in cooking and named six patients being treated at Maaththa'lan hospital after eating such leaves.
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SLA shells hospital environs, 13 killed including 4 children

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 13:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells targeting the environs of Maa'ththa'lan makeshift-hospital within the 'safety zone' from 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The shells hit the IDP settlement, located 200 meters near the hospital, claiming the lives of 13 Tamil civilians. Four of them were children, including a 1-year-old baby. 56 civilians have sustained injuries, according to medical sources. Two children below the age of 10 were reported missing. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force fighter bombers were seen bombing north of the 'safety zone' twice Tuesday morning.
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Tamil three-wheeler driver shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 13:01 GMT]
Unidentified persons who hired a three-wheeler Tuesday around 12:30 p.m at the auto-stand in Arasadi in Uppoadai police division shot and killed the driver near Lourdes Mary Church, sources in Batticaloa said. The killers had then escaped on motor cycles.
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Charred body with gunshot wounds recovered in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 12:15 GMT]
The charred body of a youth with gunshot injuries in his head was recovered Monday morning in Maha Irrambaiku'lam area in Vavuniyaa police division. He was blindfolded and hands were tied from behind, media sources said.
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SLA arrests 10 civilians in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 12:06 GMT]
Ten civilians, majority of them Tamils were taken into custody in a joint cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Police in Chilaw town from dawn to dusk on Monday. Hundreds of houses and vehicles were searched, media sources said.
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2 STF commandos killed, SLA soldier, policeman injured, in claymore attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 11:11 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a claymore attack on a team of armed forces patrol Tuesday around 8:00 a.m at Ma’ndoor in Vellaave’li police division in Batticaloa district, killing 2 Special Task Force (STF) commandos and seriously injuring a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier and a policeman, Batticaloa district LTTE said. Additional STF commandos and police deployed at the site of the attack jointly engaged in a search assaulting some Tamil youths in the area, the sources added.
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Woman recovered dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 11:04 GMT]
Vellaave’li police recovered the body of the mother with the help of neighbours and handed it over to Ka’luvaangnchchikudi hospital. The victim was identified as Sivakumar Mahathevi, 32, the treasurer of Viveakaananthapuram Women’s Development Society.
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SLA launch search in Jaffna University surroundings

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 08:32 GMT]
Tension mounted around Jaffna University as large number of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police conducted an intensive search and checking operation from 6:30 a.m Tuesday in front of the entrances of University hostels and the faculties located along Aadiyapaatham road and Parameasvara junction in Jaffna, disrupting normalcy in the activities of the university, sources in Jaffna said. SLA arrested a Management Faculty student at the entrance of the hostel around 6:30 a.m but brought him and released him at the place of arrest after an hour, Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) said.
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Skin rash breaks among children in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 05:22 GMT]
A skin rash that is said to be infected through organisms living in sandy places is spreading fast among the children of the people crowded into the ‘safe zone’ located between Mullaiththeevu sea and lagoon, sources in Vanni said.
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Vanni IDPs starving due to acute shortage of food

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 05:04 GMT]
The plight of people herded into the narrow strip of ‘safe zone’ assigned by the Sri Lanka government is growing worse with each day as vegetables, food items, milk powder for babies have become so scarce that they are starving, TamilNet correspondent reported Tuesday from Vanni. Liquid cash is not available as many are unable to withdraw from their savings in the banks, most of them gone out of function due to continuing indiscriminate attacks by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery barrage and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombings.
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Sri Lankan cricket team shot in Pakistan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 04:45 GMT]
Sri Lankan cricket team which was on its way to participate in the second day of Test match in Lahore, the eastern city of Pakistan, was shot and six players were wounded in the episode that took place around 9:30 a.m. Pakistan time, according to initial reports in Colombo. Five Pakistani police officials escorting the Sri Lankan team in a bus were killed instantly in the gunfire, the reports said. Four of the players are discharged from the hospital and two are still undergoing treatment.
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Washington youths launch campaign to woo CNN's Anderson Cooper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 02:50 GMT]
An international grassroots effort led by concerned youths in Washington State and Toronto area calls prominent CNN journalist, Anderson Cooper, to visit Sri Lanka and report on the growing culture of impunity towards media freedoms on the island. Driven by Jeffersonian instinct for the freedom of press, the Free-Our-Press website said the petition was inspired by the "call of conscience" of Lasantha Wickramatunga's final essay, where the late editor decried the plight of media freedom in Sri Lanka. The virtual campaign was launched with a new website that chronicles media suppression in Sri Lanka, and calls for 5000 supporters to join the campaign to woo Cooper.
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U.S. Tamil group urges Pacific Command not to abet Colombo's war on Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 01:53 GMT]
Citing "credible reports" from Colombo, a U.S. based activist group, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), on Monday said the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) was planning to lead an evacuation of nearly 200,000 Tamil civilians in Vanni. The plan would only serve to "exacerbate the crisis for these civilians and support ethnic cleansing in this region," the statement said and added: "Instead of an evacuation, the 'safe zones' these civilians are currently in should be strengthened, with full access for aid workers, journalists and human rights monitors."
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Sri Lanka Police arrests 13 youths in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 01:09 GMT]
Thirteen youths, majority of them Tamil and residents of north and east, were taken into custody in several cordon and search operations conducted by the Sri Lanka police Sunday from dawn to dusk. Police said majority of them were working in business establishments, failed to prove their identity during the operation.
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SLA uses A9 route to Jaffna after 18 years

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 22:51 GMT]
A detachment of around 600 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrived in a convoy of buses Monday evening in Jaffna town along the A9 Jaffna-Kandy land route from Vavuniyaa town after a period of nearly eighteen years, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA shelling kills 122 within 3 days in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 22:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells have claimed the lives of more than 45 Tamil civilians Monday within the 'safety zone' at Mu'l'livaaykkaal, Valaignarmadam, Pokka'nai, Maaththa'lan and the adjoining Ira'naippaalai. On Sunday, around 37 civilians were killed and the day before around 40 were reported killed in SLA barrage and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment.
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Police arrest 8 Tamil youths in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 17:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested eight Tamil youths in Kalubovilla and Kohuwella, suburbs of Colombo in a search conducted Monday morning and have detained them in Dehiwala police station, according to complaints lodged with Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by the youths’ relatives.
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Karuna group person shot, injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 17:33 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen on motor cycles opened fire Monday around 3:30 p.m on a vehicle in which Karuna group coordinator in Batticaloa, the person in charge of educational affair was travelling, seriously injuring a youth who was with him, from Batticaloa to Vaazhaichcheanai at Ituthayapuram in Batticaloa police division, Batticaloa police said. The coordinator had escaped being injured in the shooting and the injured youth is admitted to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital.
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Unitary Ceylon was an error: British Politician

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 15:45 GMT]
A Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, Dr. Rachel Joyce, apologised Sunday for the error of Colonial Britain in making a unitary Ceylon out of two nations, the Tamils and the Sinhalese. “The Tamil people have lived on the island currently called Sri Lanka for millennia - in their own contiguous, distinct, geographical territory. They lay claim only to the territory they have historically lived in. In fact, the 3 million Tamils of the island constituted a self governing nation until invaded and occupied by Colonial powers – in particular Britain, who amalgamated them with the Sinhala nation purely for convenience. In retrospect, this cultural naivety was a mistake that has caused problems since independence,” she said in a meeting held at Harrow, where Bruce Fein, a constitutional expert from the United States was the guest speaker.
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Hunger claims lives in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 15:43 GMT]
Four children below the age of 15 and their parents were admitted to Maaththa'lan makeshift-hospital Monday in serious condition after consuming Adampan leaves (Beach Morning Glory) as nothing else was available for them to eat, according to medical sources. Meanwhile, at least six people have already died due to hunger inside the 'safe zone' in recent days, the sources further said adding that many more are feared dead due to starvation but not accounted for. "What prevents the world powers to set aside their diplomatic maneuvering and arrange enough food and medicine to reach us immediately," ask the people of Vanni reports TamilNet correspondent.
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SLN imposes ban on fishing in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 14:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) imposed new restrictions in Jaffna peninsula banning fishing in seas of the islets as well as in Jaffna lagoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, fisheries society sources in Jaffna said. SLN has warned that fishermen attempting to go fishing on these two days will be shot at and their boats confiscated, the sources added.
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Sri Lankan commandos sexually abuse 14-year-old Tamil girl in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 13:53 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos in Vellaave'li police division in Batticaloa are alleged to have sexually abused a 14-year-old Tamil girl in front of her mother during a cordon and search conducted Sunday early morning in Vallaave’li, sources in Batticaloa said. The medical officer who examined the girl admitted to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital confirmed that she had been sexually abused. The STF commandos, having ordered all the men in the area to go to a temple, interrogated the women who were left alone in the houses collecting particulars about members of the family besides sexually abusing them.
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Colombo killed 700 children in 2 months - LTTE Radio

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 11:36 GMT]
Voice of Tigers, the official radio of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam on Sunday said Sri Lankan armed forces have killed 2,018 Tamil civilians in January and February in Vanni and that 700 of the victims were children. The VoT has been airing a program, "Bridging the beloved" (U'ravup Paalam), where civilians have been providing details of their missing family members and whereabouts of the remaining members in the hope of locating their missed ones.
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Britain trying to dodge obligations to prevent Genocide of Tamils - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 04:05 GMT]
Commenting on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's statement in the British Parliament that "a failed [UN] resolution- one that faces a veto- is worse than no resolution at all," Prof Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law, said that "Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950" allows a vetoed resolution to be turned over to United Nations General Assembly for action. "The General Assembly can and must do the same with respect to the genocidal plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka [...] Britain is simply trying to dodge its own obligation under Article I of the Genocide Convention "to prevent" the genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka," Prof Boyle added.
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IDP shelters gutted by fire in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 18:34 GMT]
Eight temporary shelters in the welfare centre for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) located in Unit 11 in Poonthoaddam, Vavuniyaa were completely gutted by fire Saturday noon, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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2 children with their mother reported missing from Mannaar hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 18:32 GMT]
A young mother and her two children, injured in Vanni and admitted to Mannaar general hospital by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) are reported missing from the hospital, which is under strict security measures of the government, since Friday afternoon, according to a complaint lodged with Mannaar police.
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CCD Police interrogates senior Tamil journalists in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 11:04 GMT]
Colombo Crime Division police in Demattagoda interrogated Saturday and Sunday the President of Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), Vice President and Secretary in connection with Chudaroli Editor Vithyatharan who was ‘abducted’ first and later claimed ‘arrested’ and now detained at the Crime Division of the police in Demattagoda, media circles in Colombo said. Some Tamil journalists working for the English media too have been subjected to similar interrogation, the sources added.
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