UN can investigate Sri Lanka’s actions - war crimes judge

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 20:47 GMT]
The United Nations is able to investigate the war crimes which occurred recently in Sri Lanka, British human rights lawyer and international war crimes judge, Geoffrey Robertson QC said Sunday. The avenues for the UN include the UN Human Rights Committee, which can investigate individuals’ complaints against states under the International Convention on Human Rights, to which Sri Lanka is a signatory. The UN Human Rights Council, by contrast, is a “highly politicized” body staffed by diplomats of various countries, including those abusing human rights, rather than human rights experts, he said.
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Muslims oppose Digavaapi designation in Ampaa'rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 09:07 GMT]
Local Muslim leaders in Ampaarai district have expressed concern over the move by central government authority to carve out a Sinhala dominated Divisional Secretariat division in the name of Digavaapi DS division that includes traditional Muslim villages of Paalamunai, Aalanku'lam, and Mu'l'likulaththumalai, media reports said.
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Extortionists arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 06:35 GMT]
Mannaar Police arrested six persons including a woman who are alleged to have been extorting money from traders in Mannar Friday. The gang of extortionists is said to have been directed by their leader via telephone from Anuradhapura remand prison where he has remanded. Six suspects are detained in Mannaar police station for further interrogation, media reports said.
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Sri Lanka Police arrests Tamil woman in Wattala

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 03:46 GMT]
A Tamil woman was arrested in Wattala town in Colombo district on Thursday night on a tip off from the public that she is stranger to the area. Police said it was revealed at preliminary inquiry she was a resident of Mullaitheivu, and had come to Wattala during the height of military operation in Vanni, according to media reports.
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Potent Tamil voice for European Parliament

[TamilNet, Sunday, 31 May 2009, 01:44 GMT]
June 4th elections will determine if Tamils in the London electoral region have the political muscle, organizational acumen and seasoned campaigning skills to attract broader British voters to elect Ms Janani (Jan) Jananayagam, a British, French educated young professional, who is contesting as an Independent candidate to the European Parliament. Ms. Jananayagam’s educational credentials, demonstrated communications skills, and a deftly constructed election platform centered on civil rights, financial transparency, and equality and diversity, will appeal to a broad section of British public and other immigrant groups besides the Tamil community, political observers in London say.
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Misappropriation of relief food to Vanni detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 23:39 GMT]
Representatives of Non-government Organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna have brought to the notice of Jaffna Government Agent (SLA) the prevailing misappropriation in the supply of relief food to the detainees held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna peninsula. Though the NGOs spend millions of rupees in supplying cooked food to the detainees daily, the food is below standard and the distribution irregular, NGOs told the GA. Nearly 40% of the daily relief food supply is being misappropriated.
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SLA officials accused of taking bribes from Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 23:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high officials in charge of the internment camps in Jaffna, where Vanni civilians are held, are alleged to be taking bribes ranging from 50,000 to 100,000 rupees to free the youths among the detainees, according to complaints made by the detainees to Human Rights Organizations (HRC) in Jaffna. SLA authorities in Jaffna, however, continue to refute such allegations.
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TNA MP Kanagaretnam allowed to meet fellow TNA MPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 16:53 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarians, Mr N Srikantha and Mr Sivanathan Kishor met separately their fellow parliamentarian Sathasivam Kanagaretnam who is being detained in the Fourth Floor of the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police in Colombo. Mr.Kanagaretnam is detained since a special CID team took him into custody from an internment camp in Omanthai, in Vavuniyaa district where Vanni IDPs are being kept, media reports said.
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2 Tamil women arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 16:52 GMT]
Two Tamil females were taken into custody by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police in a cordon and search operation conducted from evening 6 pm till about 10 pm Thursday in Wellawatte area in Colombo district. Police said the two women are detained in the police station for further interrogation as they failed to establish their identity and justify their presence in the location.
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The Times demands action over ‘monstrous collusion’ in slaughter of Tamils

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 15:59 GMT]
Pointing out that not only the United Nations but several Western governments knew of the ongoing slaughter of 20,000 Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Army, but kept silent for fear of upsetting the Colombo Government, The Times newspaper Saturday demanded international action to prevent further atrocities. “Such a monstrous collusion in covering up an atrocity must not go unchallenged. If the UN Human Rights Council refuses to investigate what has happened, the West must do so forthwith,” the paper said. “The silence of those who were warned of civilian deaths in Sri Lanka is shameful. They must speak out now to prevent future atrocities,” the editorial’s subtitle charged.
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Evidence points to Colombo culpability to Tamil massacre - Washington Post

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 13:24 GMT]
Adding to the increasing international media coverage of Government of Sri Lanka's culpability to the massacre of more than 20,000 Tamil civilians in Mullaitheevu, Emily Wax of Washington Post in a Saturday story said, the beach "shows clear signs of heavy artillery shelling, according to a helicopter inspection of the site by independent journalists, interviews with eyewitnesses, and specialists who have studied high-resolution satellite imagery from the war zone." The paper notes Rights advocates view that "any government could defeat terrorism if it ignored the 1949 Geneva convention that aims to protect civilians caught in war zones," and adds that U.S. Justice Department is considering whether to seek criminal charges against Colombo officials based on information filed by Attorney Bruce Fein.
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UN Officials complicit in aiding, abetting GoSL's Nazi-type crimes - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 May 2009, 11:14 GMT]
Pointing to a report in the French paper Le Monde, which quoted Vijay Nambiar, chief of Staff of UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, as telling UN representatives in Sri Lanka that the UN should “keep a low profile” and play a “sustaining role" that was "compatible with the government," Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law said Saturday that both the United Nations Organization itself and its highest level officials are guilty of aiding and abetting Nazi-type crimes against the Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka, in violation of international law. "Unless this Momentum is reversed and all these U.N. Officials fired, the United Nations Organization shall follow the League of Nations into the "ashcan" of History," Boyle said.
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Sri Lanka hunting media’s Tamil sources - RSF

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 23:47 GMT]
Apart from threatening to prosecute journalists who attempt to visit the northern areas captured from the Liberation Tigers, Sri Lanka’s military is trying to identify Tamil civilians who provided information to the foreign press by infiltrating paramilitaries into their military-run refugee camps, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) said Friday. While the Army general appointed in charge of resettling refugees says “all foreign journalists are working against his homeland,” the country’s police chief claims that several journalists, “mostly Sinhalese”, were on the payroll of the LTTE and were involved in the insurgency.
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UN concealed carnage to keep Sri Lanka goodwill – Le Monde

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 23:39 GMT]
The United Nations deliberately hid the number of Tamil civilians being killed during the Sri Lankan government offensive against the LTTE, according to a report in the French daily Le Monde. The report, translated by FRANCE 24, quotes several UN sources alleging that high-ranking UN officials, including Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, chose to keep silent about the high civilian death toll so as to avoid offending the Sri Lankan government and maintain UN operations in the country. A low figure was even leaked by the UN in mid-May, when it was known that the real toll was approaching 20,000 dead.
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Jaffna NGOs Federation wants probe into shortage of essential goods

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 22:52 GMT]
Federation of Jaffna Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) in its meeting held Thursday at Koayil Veethi office in Jaffna to discuss the current acute shortage of essential food items including wheat flour and sugar extended an urgent request to Jaffna Government Agent (GA) to investigate into the issue and identify the persons responsible for the shortage of essential food items in Jaffna peninsula. Wheat flour, sugar and other essential commodities are being sold 20 to 25 rupees higher than their normal price in the black market, the representatives of NGOs Federation said.
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Government buries 47 IDP bodies in 14 days in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 22:12 GMT]
Forty-seven bodies of members of internally displaced families from Vanni region due to the recent military operation by Sri Lanka Army and sheltered in the internment camps in Mannaar were buried in Mannaar general cemetery from May 13 to May 27 by Mannaar District Secretariat at State costs as their relatives failed to claim the bodies.
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Prof. S. Krishnarajah passes away in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 22:04 GMT]
Dean of the Faculty of Art in Jaffna University, Prof. S. Krishnarajah, admitted to a private hospital in Colombo recently passed away Friday, sources in Colombo said. Sixty-two-years old Prof. S. Krishnarajah has been serving in Jaffna University for the last 33 years.
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‘Still no access’ - UN, aid agencies

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 19:09 GMT]
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and international aid groups Friday protested Sri Lanka’s denial of access to hundreds of thousands of Tamils concentrated in militarized camps in the north and the homes from which the displaced had fled. Sri Lanka is still refusing to provide aid workers with full access despite an appeal by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, the UN said separately.
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Tamil family man reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 13:15 GMT]
A Tamil family man from Aiyankkea’ni in Batticaloa district has gone missing since 23 May around 7:30 p.m after leaving home to his sister’s house on his bicycle, according to the complaint lodged by his wife at Ea’raavoor police station. The family man had been arrested in a police cordon and search a month ago and released after being detained for a day, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Sinhala thugs destroy Tamil shops in Badulla

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 12:46 GMT]
Sinhala thugs broke open three shops owned by Tamils in Palakaduwa, a suburb in Badulla police division, and robbed the premises of valueables Wednesday night. The intruders attempted to break open two other shops but failed in their attempt and fled when neighbors rushed to the site, media reports said. Tension prevails among Tamil business community in Badulla town about their future.
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Sinhala thugs harass Tamil women in Ratnapura

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 11:18 GMT]
Sinhala hoodlums in Rakwana town in Ratnapura district are targeting Tamil women who return home after work in garment factories, and rob them of their gold jewelry and other valuable articles. Ten such incidents have taken place in the last three days, and ll victims are from the upcountry Tamils, media reports said.
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20,000 Tamil civilians massacred by Sri Lanka – The Times

[TamilNet, Friday, 29 May 2009, 00:54 GMT]
Evidence gathered by The Times newspaper has revealed that at least 20,000 Tamil people were killed on the Mullaitivu beach by Sri Lanka Army shelling. Aerial photographs, official documents, witness accounts and expert testimony collected by the newspaper “present clear evidence of an atrocity that comes close to matching Srebrenica, Darfur and other massacres of civilians,” the paper’s editorial says. Confidential UN documents acquired by The Times record nearly 7,000 civilian deaths in the ‘no-fire’ zone up to the end of April. UN sources said that the toll then surged, with an average of 1,000 civilians killed each day until May 19.
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Unprincipled, shameless, "Orwellian" UN resolution ever - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 23:31 GMT]
"This is one of the most unprincipled and shameless resolutions ever adopted by any body of the United Nations in the history of that now benighted Organization. It would be as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had congratulated the Nazi government for the "liberation" of the Jews in Poland after its illegal and genocidal invasion of that country in 1939," said Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, referring to the resolution passed at the United Nations Human Rights Council on the Sri Lanka war.
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Jaffna Municipal Council election to be held soon

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 20:30 GMT]
Plans are afoot to bring down Sinhalese government officials from South to conduct Jaffna Municipal Council elections, sources in Jaffna said. Efforts are underway to elect a Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) Mayor to Jaffna which was once held by Alfred Duraiappa, representing SLFP, the sources added.
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SLA-backed paramilitary men abduct Tamil civilian in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 17:06 GMT]
Paramilitary men operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) arriving in a black pick-up vehicle Thursday around 9:00 p.m at the house of a Tamil three-wheel driver abducted him, in Vaazhaichcheanai in Batticaloa district, according to a complaint lodged with Vaazhaichcheanai police. The relatives of the driver said that the paramilitary men had said in Sinhalese language that they had come from Pollanaruwa police station.
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Catholic priest reported missing, another dies of heart attack, in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 16:42 GMT]
Former principal of St. Patrick’s College, Jaffna, Rev. Fr. Francis Joseph, aged seventy, who had been serving in Vanni with six other priests in Puthumaaththa’lan is reported missing, according to the request made to ICRC by Jaffna Bishop House to find his whereabouts, Thursday. Meanwhile, one of the six priests, Rev. Fr. Mariampillai Thatheus Sarathjeevan, 41, died of heart attack while leaving Vanni with the last badge of civilians fleeing Vanni, Jaffna Bishop House sources said.
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Mass burial of IDPs in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:50 GMT]
Bodies of sixty elderly persons and six babies, members of displaced families from Vanni region due to military operation by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and sheltered transit centres in Vavuniyaa were buried in one burial grave in Poonthoaddam general cemetery in Vavuniyaa Sunday morning, media reports said.
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Armed men shoot Tamil youth in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:48 GMT]
A Tamil youth was critically injured when unidentified armed persons arrived in a three wheeler fired at him. They fled from the scene when the neighbors shouted for assistance. The incident took place Tuesday afternoon around 12:55 p.m. at New Chetty Street in Kotahena police division in Colombo district, according to Police Spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara. The injured has been identified as Satkunarajah Wimalan (26) of New Chetty Street.
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TNA MP Jeyananthamoorthy's secretary reported missing

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 15:32 GMT]
Thavarajasingham Subash, 23, secretary to S.Jeyananthamoorthy, Batticaloa district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian has been reported missing mysteriously since Tuesday early morning around 2:15 a.m after he arrived in Katunayake from Chennai airport in Tamilnadu. Katunayake Police took into custody on his arrival from Chennai. Later it was reported that he was released. However he failed to return home thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the police by his relatives, according to media reports.
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'Epidemic waiting to happen' in detention camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 12:04 GMT]
A disease outbreak in Tamil refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka is imminent, aid agency Christian Aid said Wednesday. Conditions in refugee camps remained desperately poor and there are 30 refugees living in five-person tents, the NGO said, as the overcrowded camps struggle to contend with the influx of civilians. Robin Greenwood, director of the charity's Asia programme said the camps are "an epidemic waiting to happen."
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SLA delays relocation of Vanni detainees in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Plans to relocate the Vanni detainees held in schools turned into internment camps in Jaffna peninsula stall due to the reluctance of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities to allow relocation activities to proceed as planned, Non-government Organizations sources in Jaffna said. SLA is particularly reluctant to establish permanent internment camps for the Vanni detainees in Chavakachcheari Thampu Thoaddam and Kodikaamam Raamaavil areas, the sources added.
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Jaffna traders required to bribe government officials in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 09:53 GMT]
Traders in Jaffna peninsula have to bribe government officials to expedite transport of goods from Colombo in lorries through A9 land route, representatives of Jaffna Traders Union (JTU) told the visiting delegation of Colombo Chamber of Commerce, Wednesday, in Jaffna. Despite wide publicity by Sri Lanka government that the A9 route is available for public use, transport of goods along this route has taken place only four times since its opening, sources in Jaffna said.
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NYT calls for investigation of war crimes in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 02:09 GMT]
Supporting UN High Commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay's, call for the investigation of war-crimes of both sides to the conflict, the Sri Lanka Government and the Liberation Tigers, the New York Times, in its Wednesday editorial said, "[T]he government claims it must screen out rebels hiding in the camps. But aid workers suspect other motives, including a desire to deny access to witnesses who may have seen abuses by government forces." The editorial pointed out that the Tamils were "long oppressed by the Sinhalese majority, and added, "[m]ost [Tamils] were driven to the guerrillas as a desperation move after decades of abuse. Until the government treats all of its citizens fairly, there is no chance for the peace that President Rajapaksa has promised his country."
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Access to Sri Lanka detention camps ‘not satisfactory’ - ICRC chief

[TamilNet, Thursday, 28 May 2009, 00:47 GMT]
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been barred from visiting internment camps in Sri Lanka to check on people held by the Colombo government, the head of the organisation has said. Jakob Kellenberger has asked the Sri Lankan government for access to all its camps, which are ringed by barbed wire and soldiers, to check on conditions of hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians. He pointed out the present situation is "not satisfactory," Swissinfo reported. The ICRC, which usually refrains from publicly criticizing governments, is mandated under the Geneva Conventions to aid victims of war, Canadian Press reported.
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5 Tamil fishermen reported missing in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 18:52 GMT]
Five Tamil fishermen went for fishing from Oaddamaavadi in Batticaloa district have been reported missing since May 14. They left in a trawler for deep fishing in Bay of Bengal but failed to return thereafter, according to complaints lodged with the Kalkudaa Police by their relatives.
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Tamil shop burnt down in Wattala

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 17:23 GMT]
A shop run by Tamil person located along Kalveti Road in Wattala in Colombo district was burnt down on Monday early morning by two unidentified persons who came in a motorbike. The shop was reduced to ashes, according to complaint lodged with the Wattala Police by the owner.
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Sinhalese's extremists demonstrate against Canada

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 14:56 GMT]
Hundreds of Sinhalese extremists from political parties and other organizations including Buddhist monks staged a protest demonstration Wednesday in front of the Canadian Embassy in Colombo, accusing the Canadian government of supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Acute shortage of essential food items in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 14:38 GMT]
Residents of Jaffna peninsula are experiencing an acute shortage of essential food commodities including wheat flour and sugar, sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Government Agent (GA), in a press release Tuesday night, said that arrangements are being made to get down wheat flour from Trincomalee and sugar from Colombo.
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Conditions in Jaffna for investment poor – Jaffna Traders

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 11:26 GMT]
"The conditions prevailing in Jaffna peninsula do not encourage new investments or fresh business ventures,” Jaffna Traders’ Union (JTU) representatives told the delegation from Colombo Chamber of Commerce that paid a visit to Jaffna Tuesday, sources in Jaffna said.
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JHU pays tribute to Russia for supporting war against LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 May 2009, 09:00 GMT]
Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU), the Buddhist monk political party of the ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) government of Sri Lanka paid tribute to Russia Tuesday for the support it extended to the Government of Sri Lanka by supplying arms and technical advice in defeating the LTTE and also for extending its support in the UN.
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“Glaring hypocrisy, blatant sophistry” Boyle slams Swiss UN Resolution

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 17:35 GMT]
Pointing out the twelfth operative paragraph of the Draft Resolution sponsored by Switzerland, that is currently pending before the U.N. Human Rights Council, Professor Boyle, expert in International Law and Professor at the University of Illinois College of Law, says this would be the same “as if the U.N. Human Rights Council had invited the Nazi government to investigate and prosecute itself for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes against the Jews instead of supporting the Nuremberg Charter and Tribunal."
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Sri Lanka accused of 'ethnic cleansing' of Tamil areas - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 12:43 GMT]
"Aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim Tamils have been driven out of areas in the north-east of the country by killings and kidnappings carried out by pro-government militias. They say the government has simultaneously encouraged members of the Sinhalese majority in the south to relocate to the vacated villages," Telegraph, UK, said, adding that according to an aid worker the recent killings in Trincomalee "were part of a strategy to drive out Tamils."
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Elderly man knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 10:12 GMT]
Unidentified persons arriving at the house of a 74-year-old man in Valikaamam Monday around 7:00 p.m forcibly took him away and knifed him to death. The victim's beheaded body was found dumped in a Saiva temple area 200 m away from his house, in a paddy field. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers who were informed by the residents of the area are the only persons who had visited the area.
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Detained TNA MP pays last respects to fellow MP Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 04:55 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Mullaiththeevu district parliamentarian Mr. Sathasivam Kanagaretnam, escorted by police officers of the Crime Intelligence Unit Saturday afternoon, paid his last respects to departed fellow parliamentarian Mr. Kanagasabai Pathmanathan who passed away in Mathurai in Tamil Nadu. Mr. Kanagaretnam was dressed in sarong and an old shirt, sources in Colombo said.
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SLA interrogates Tamil daily editor in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 04:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) civil administration office summoned Monday the editor of a popular Tamil daily in Jaffna for interrogation into a news item related to abduction of children for ransom, published in the front page of the daily, sources in Jaffna said. The daily, however, intimidated by SLA authorities in Palaali head quarters and SLA-backed paramilitaries, had published a refutation of the story published earlier.
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SLA seeks help to trace Liberation Tigers in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 03:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have sought the help of civil society organization representatives and government officers to trace the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants who had infiltrated along with the civilians fleeing war from Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. No one has surrendered themselves to the SLA despite the 48 hour grace period given to the LTTE combatants, the sources added.
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UN becomes battleground for maritime Great Game - paper

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 26 May 2009, 00:26 GMT]
"The strange line-up of the member countries of the United Nations Human Rights Council (HRC) for or against Sri Lanka at the special session of the body scheduled to take place in Geneva on Tuesday underscores the maritime Great Game unfolding in the Indian Ocean," says former Pakistani diplomat in the Tuesday edition of Deccan Herald, referring to the support by India, China, Russia, and Pakistan among others to a self-congratulatory resolution put forward by the Sri Lanka Government, and the competing resolution advanced by the Swiss Government.
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Elderly IDP deaths escalate - Coronor

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 14:19 GMT]
“More elders die in transit camps located for Vanni displaced persons located in Vavuniyaa due to lack of proper facilities. Hence I appeal to the authorities to send elders displaced from Vanni direct to Homes for the Elderly instead of IDP camps. This would prevent more deaths of elders in IDP camps,” said the Chettikulam Inquirer into Sudden Deaths, Mr.E. Sahul Hameed, media reports said.
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SLA bars upcountry Tamils from viewing Tamilnadu TV programmes

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 14:12 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Police have ordered Tamil residents in Hatton police division to dismantle dish antennas from their residences as a part of security measure, effectively barring them from viewing TV channels aired by several TV stations operated in Tamilnadu in India, sources in Hatton said.
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Tamil civilian reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 09:34 GMT]
A Tamil civilian residing in Kottawa in Colombo has gone missing since 19 May according to the complaint lodged with the police by his sister.
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Claims and scepticism sans evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 00:53 GMT]
The head of the LTTE’s Department of International Relations on Sunday announced that the LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression of the Sri Lankan state on 17 May. However, the LTTE’s Department for Diaspora Affairs (DDA) told TamilNet that it would not comment without explicit authorisation from the LTTE leadership. In the meantime, the Intelligence Department of the Tigers reiterated on Sunday that the LTTE leadership is safe and it will re-emerge when the right time comes.
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SLA restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas to continue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 20:54 GMT]
The restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas will not be relaxed as requested by the fisheries societies, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials said in a meeting held with the representatives of Vadmaraadchchi fisheries societies Sunday. The request to expedite the issue of travel ‘pass’ to Colombo by the representatives of the Saiva Organizations who took part in the meeting along with the school principals of the area was turned down by the SLA officials, sources in Vadamaraadchchi said.
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US Justice Dept. files "Motion to Dismiss" in IMF case

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Responding to the law suit filed in the District Court of District of Columbia requesting to obtain a declaratory judgment to force the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending IMF loan application, the lawyers representing the defendants, Timothy Geithner, Secretary of the Treasury, and Meg Lundsager, Executive Director of the IMF, filed a motion in the Court to dismiss the case on the grounds that the plaintiff has no standing, the court lacks jurisdiction, there is no private right of action to enforce "policy goals," and under federal law both defendants are immune from legal prosecution, Bruce Fein, counsel for the plaintiff said.
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Sri Lanka blocks TNA from meeting Ban Ki Moon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 11:36 GMT]
R. Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), in a press release issued today, said that after the Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry had made arrangements for a TNA delegation to meet UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon prior to his departure at the VVIP Lounge of the Bandaranaike International Airport, the Defense Ministry of Sri Lanka refused the delegation entry into the BIA Airport, denying the Tamil representatives from meeting the UN Secretary General. Meanwhile, Ranil Wickremasinghe, leader of Sri Lanka’s main opposition United National Party (UNP), met with the Ban Ki Moon at the Airport.
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Sri Lanka’s camps ‘most appalling’ in the world – Ban Ki-Moon

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 10:53 GMT]
"I have traveled around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scenes I have seen," UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told CNN after visiting Manik Farm, the most presentable of Sri Lanka’s squalid and dangerous internment camps for Tamils civilians. "I sympathize fully with all of the displaced persons," Mr. Ban said Saturday. The UN Chief has also promised international action regarding the heavy shelling of civilian populations during the recent fighting.
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Tamils in Malaysia demand justice for Sri Lanka’s genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Over 5,000 Tamil Malaysians gathered at one of the country's iconic Hindu temples Sunday to protest acts of 'genocide' against Tamils in Sri Lanka, AFP reported. The demonstration by one of the world's largest Tamil communities outside India and Sri Lanka, followed Colombo's declaration of victory over the Liberation Tigers last Monday, following an offensive in which thousands of Tamil civilians were slaughtered by what the United States has described as indiscriminate shelling of ‘safety zones’. Federal Territories deputy minister M. Saravanan, who attended, along with Tamil opposition leaders, said Malaysia should not support a Sri Lankan-sponsored UNHRC resolution.
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Sri Lanka Police questions TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 16:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr.S.Kanagaretnam, was taken for questioning by the Sri Lanka police from Chettikulam internment camp Thursday morning, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Kanagaratnam arrived with his family from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal area to Omanthai with IDPs when the military operation of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forced the IDPs from the Safety Zone.
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Sinhala hoodlums harrass Tamils in Negombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 15:51 GMT]
Tamil residents in Negombo are reported being harassed by Sinhala hoodlums during the 'Victory Celebration' held Friday to mark the defeat of LTTE in the war front. Sinhalese youths had visited Tamil houses to demand money under threat to help fund the celebration, and those who declined to give were harassed and in some cases assaulted, media sources said.
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Ban Ki Moon stresses freedom of movement, resettlement of IDPs

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 11:09 GMT]
United Nation Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, while visiting the largest internment camp in Vavuniyaa, Manik Farm, Saturday for three hours from 9:15 a.m., stressed the need for freedom of movement and immediate resettlement of the more than 300,000 Tamils held in camps. The IDPs also told Ban Ki Moon that they would want the U.N. to take full responsibility for the welfare of the refugees, sources accompanying Moon on his visit said. "The UN has failed in several measures in preventing egregious human rights violations by Sri Lanka against unarmed civilian Tamils during the last several months, and this is the last opportunity to take bold action to repair the damage to UN's reputation. UN should shed its rhetoric on sovereignty and assume full responsibility for the Tamil people," an aid worker told TamilNet after Moon's visit.
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Vanni civilians held back in Ki’linochchi in thousands

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 10:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continues to detain thousands of civilians in its internment camps in Ki’linochchi without sending them on to the camps in Vavuniyaa, sources in Vavuniyaa said. SLA, in its final assault on Mu’l’livaaikkaal, has herded thousands of persons including non-combatants who had been working in the political and judicial wings of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in vast overcrowded camps which lack basic facilities, the sources added.
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"Accessories after the fact to acts of Genocide"

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 02:00 GMT]
Condemning the sponsorship, by twelve states, of a self-praising resolution submitted to the United Nations by the Government of Sri Lanka, before the scheduled UN Human Rights Council emergency session scheduled for Monday, Professor Boyle, an expert in International Law said Friday that these states have become accessories after the fact to the numerous acts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that the Government of Sri Lanka has perpetrated upon the Tamils.
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5 Tamils arrested in Kalutara

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 20:51 GMT]
Five Tamil civilians were arrested in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Sri Lanka Army and police in Arapalakanda Estate in Kalutara police division Wednesday early morning for about three hours. Police said they are detained in the police station for further inquiry as they failed to establish their identity and justify their presence in the location.
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300,000 Tamils held in Nazi-style concentration camps, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 12:30 GMT]
"These Nazi-style concentration camps that the Government of Sri Lanka is now forcibly imposing on at least 300,000 completely innocent Tamil civilians constitute acts of genocide within the meaning of Article II(c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting party," Professor Boyle who is an expert international law and teaches at the University of Illinois College of Law said.
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'Timely action from Tamil Nadu expected'

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 11:02 GMT]
The Eezham Tamils are ever grateful to all political parties of Tamil Nadu that upheld their cause, irrespective of electoral politics and its outcome determined by national and state level equations. The Eezham Tamils are especially grateful to the two major political parties, the DMK and the AIDMK, for firmly voicing for the creation of Tamil Eelam as the ultimate solution to the crisis. It is now time that a resolution to this effect has to be enacted in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly to inspire course of action in India, international community and in the Tamil diaspora, said veteran liberation fighter Ki Pi Aravinthan in France, Sunday. This is a possible and affordable action Tamil Nadu can undertake immediately to guarantee the future of Eezham Tamils and to respect the thousands laying down their life upholding Tamil dignity, he said.
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US Congressional Rights Group urge investigation into Sri Lanka crimes

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 10:53 GMT]
Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission of the U.S. House of Representatives in a communication sent to President Obama said that the United States has to take concrete actions to to hold the Sri Lankan state accountable for its actions for rebuffing the international community, and urged the President to instruct the Department of Justice to look into the possible linkage of Sri Lanka officials to crimes committed during the prosecution of the war. The note mentioned Gotabaya Rajapakse, Basil Rajapakse, and Sarath Fonseka as possible perpetrators of war crimes.
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LTTE leadership safe: Tiger intelligence official

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 09:49 GMT]
Head of International Secretariat of the Intelligence wing of the LTTE, Mr. Arivazhakan, who contacted TamilNet Friday categorically denied the reports that the LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan has been killed. Mr. Arivazhakan urged the global Tamil community not to trust the "engineered rumours," being spread by the Government of Sri Lanka and its military establishment.
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Jaffna court denies appeal by person seeking protection to life

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Jaffna Magistrate Court, directed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), denied protection to a youth from Chaavakachcheari who had sought Thursday protection to his life due to death threats by SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, according to sources in Jaffna. Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) too had not entertained the appeal for protection to his life by the above youth Thursday, the sources added.
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South Africa calls for investigations into violations of Geneva Conventions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:41 GMT]
Noting that "[t]he military offensive conducted by the Sri Lankan government has exacerbated the humanitarian crisis in the north of the country and resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians and the displacement of many hundreds of thousands of citizens," South Africa's Deputy Foreign Minister Ehrahim Ebrahim in a press release issued today, urged the UN to "to urgently investigate possible violations of international human rights law and contraventions of the Geneva Convention," and called for "peaceful dialogue with all minorities to address their long standing grievances."
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US to block financial support until Sri Lanka addresses Rights situation

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:25 GMT]
In amendment 1169 to H.R. 2346, an Act making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2009, U.S. Senators propose to "prohibit certain forms of financial support to Sri Lanka," unless certification is made by the Secretary of State that "Sri Lanka has taken certain steps to address the humanitarian situation in areas affected by the conflict in Sri Lanka," the text in the amendment said. The amendement, however, allows financial support for Balance of Payment needs, thereby, appears to provide a loophole to permit the IMF loan to proceed if the loan was to be used to address deteriorating "Balance of Payment," conditions.
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ICRC suspends operations, UN calls for access

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
International aid agencies have called for greater access to the camps in which hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians are being held, even as the Sri Lankan government’s restrictions led to the ICRC suspending its operations. The UN and ICRC have expressed concern about the fate of people newly arriving at the camps, which are already over-stretched and over-crowded.
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Blake leaves Sri Lanka pondering war crimes

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:00 GMT]
Calling for increased access so the international community could make a decision on war crimes, the outgoing US Ambassador to Sri Lanka gave a final press conference on Wednesday before his departure from the country.
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Boycott Sri Lanka – Times newspaper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:58 GMT]
“We should boycott the callous Sri Lanka regime,” says the Time South Asia correspondent in an opinion in the newspaper today. Asking whether British shoppers and holidaymakers should “continue to support Sri Lanka's garment and tourist industries?” Jeremy Page answers: “Sadly, the answer must be no.”
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Sinhala hoodlums harass Tamil civilians in the name of victory celebration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Gangs of Sinhala youths holding Lion flags in hands in the name of victory against LTTE have been on the rampage, day and night, intimidating and harassing Tamil civilians in Colombo and its suburbs for the fourth day. Affected Tamil residents have complained to their respective police station. But the police have failed to take action to stop the harassment, civil sources lament.
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TNA parliamentarian Kanagasabai passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 07:08 GMT]
Pathmanathan Kanagasabai, Ampaarai district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) passed away Thursday early morning around 4:00 a.m. after a brief illness in Mathurai in Tamilnadu while he was staying with his friend. He was 64, media sources reported quoting fellow parliamentarian B.Ariyanenthiran.
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TNA MP missing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has sought the intervention of the Speaker of the Sri Lanka’s parliament to locate its parliamentarian Mr.S.Kanagaretnam who was trapped in Vanni during the recent military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Mr. Kanagaretnam was in contact until seven days ago with his fellow parliamentarians, and his whereabouts are unknown, TNA sources said.
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5 LTTE fighters killed in Batticaloa jungles

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 11:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka military shot and killed five Liberation Tigers fighters inside the jungles of Karadiyanaa'ru jungles in Batticaloa Wednesday morning, a LTTE political official in Batticaloa told TamilNet.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 06:08 GMT]
Terrorist Intelligence Unit of the Kandy police arrested a Tamil civilian in Senkadagala area Monday on a report that he had arranged accommodation for LTTE cadres to stay in Kandy area. Police sources said they took the man into custody on a statement made by LTTE suicide cadre arrested earlier and detained.
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Sri Lanka destroys evidence, prevents ICRC, UN access - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 04:20 GMT]
Noting that the slow genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka accelerated to more than 10,000 killed in the last few months, far exceeding the horrors of Srebrenica, Professor Boyle in conversation with Los Angeles KPFK radio host, Michael Slate, Tuesday, accused Sri Lanka Government of bulldozing and destroying evidence of massacres in the Safety Zone while preventing access to the Red Cross and UN agencies. Boyle added that the United States Government with spy satellites would be knowing exactly what Sri Lanka's actions are in the Safe Zone, and stand implicated along with UK, France, and India in allowing the genocide to happen.
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8 Tamil youths arrested in Talawakelle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 03:05 GMT]
Intelligence unit of the Talawakelle police arrested eight Tamil youths who were residents of Poo'nduloayaa in Talawakelle police division, Saturday. The youths earlier worked in Northern Province after tsunami disaster and returned home later. The arrested youths are now detained in Talawakelle police station further interrogation, sources said.
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Fears mount for safety of doctors arrested by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 02:34 GMT]
Whereabouts of three doctors, Medical Superintendent Dr. Shanmugarajah who was attending the wounded at the makeshift hospital at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal junior school, Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) doctors, Dr. Varatharajah and Dr Sathiyamoorthy, arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) after fleeing the Safety Zone Saturday, are still unknown, and several Rights groups feared for doctors' lives, sources in Colombo said.
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14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 00:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested 14 Tamil youths in searches conducted in Colombo city since Saturday, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, addressing the Parliament Tuesday, declared Wednesday as a national holiday to celebrate the victory over the Liberation Tigers and called on the people of the country to celebrate the occasion for a week, the sources added.
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EU must investigate Sri Lanka war crimes - Boston Globe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 11:30 GMT]
"The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been claiming a glorious total victory - and denying allegations from doctors on the scene that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate artillery fire and scorched-earth tactics," said Boston Globe in Tuesday's editorial, adding "the European Union must follow up on its call for an investigation of war crimes against civilians." The editorial also said that "the United Nations adopted a resolution in 2005 on the "responsibility to protect" populations that are not protected by their own governments. The massive killing and wounding of civilians on Sri Lanka represents exactly the sort of case that resolution was meant to address."
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War crime in the massacre of LTTE officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 01:52 GMT]
While rejecting Colombo's claim of the killing of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan and assuring his safety and well-being, LTTE's International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan Tuesday accused Colombo of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders B. Nadesan and S. Puleedevan. Mr. Pathmanathan said it is a crime against humanity that needs to be investigated. Meanwhile, informed sources told TamilNet that what happened in the early hours of Monday was a well-planned massacre of several unarmed civil officers of the LTTE with the aim of annihilating its political structure. At the orders of a 'top defence figure,' an international arrangement involving ICRC, European diplomats and a Colombo government diplomat to arrange safe exit to the civil officers was defied, the sources said.
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Sri Lanka lost confidence of Tamils: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Stating that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr. V. Pirapaharan is alive and well, Mr. Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE's international relations, told TamilNet Monday that it was very unfortunate that many of its senior members and leaders have either given up their lives or have been treacherously killed. "The Sri Lankan Government may have declared a military victory. But it does not realize that it is a hollow victory. It has completely lost the trust and confidence of the Tamils in Sri Lanka," he further said in an exclusive interview.
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'EU should consider justice, not investigations'

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 20:58 GMT]
The EU foreign ministers Monday called for the investigation of war crimes committed by ‘both sides’ in the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. Responding to the news, TamilNet political commentator in Colombo said that what happened and what is happening in Sri Lanka is a unique case in contemporary human history in which the war crimes are ‘multilateral’, involving the UN, India, China and the Co-Chairs, involving even the EU. “The investigations have to be comprehensive sparing ‘nobody’, but where on earth to find such a neutral body, he asked. Rather than giving importance to post mortem in which the winners always have a better say, the EU has to urgently prevent further war crimes by immediately recognizing the Tamil independence and sovereignty in the island”, he said.
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Jaffna University students suspend educational activities

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 18:19 GMT]
Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) said that it is suspending all educational activities for a week from Tuesday as the students are undergoing severe mental stress and grief on account of the carnage of innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni, in a statement to the media Tuesday. Outstation students are unable to know the fate of their parents, relatives and others who had been caught in the war in Vanni and this affects them so badly that they are unable to follow lectures, JUSU said.
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Lies, deceptions, hallmark of Sri Lanka war- Telegraph

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 11:14 GMT]
"Chinese weapons, Indian intelligence, Sinhala Armed personals and racist Sri Lankan leaders came together to perform one of the most cruel war that has cost the lives of many thousands innocents," says Richard Dixon, a columnist in London's Telegraph. While "Tamils all over the world are mourning the death of their loved ones back home," and "[b]irds have now stopped singing in a land called Vanni," Dixon writes, "[l]eaders of Sri Lanka and some responsible officers in the UN, should be questioned in international courts in order to find out if they were responsible for the deaths of innocent Tamils."
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SLA spree of massacre in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:43 GMT]
In a spree of massacre, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is killing the wounded civilians in large numbers in the so-called safety zone, according to a reliable telephone call from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Monday forenoon. There are still civilians hiding in the bunkers the phone call said.
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Colombo 'ended' the battle with a massacre

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:25 GMT]
Monday early hours around 3:00 a.m. Vanni local time, the LTTE Political Chief B. Nadesan and LTTE Peace Secretariat Director S. Puleedevan telephoned their contacts in Europe and informed them to tell the ICRC Head Office that only around 1,000 wounded cadres, civil officials of the LTTE and civilians remained in the so-called safety zone and there was no firing from the LTTE side. They urged the ICRC to evacuate the wounded. A few hours later, Colombo's Defence Ministry website claimed finding the dead bodies of Mr. Nadesan, Mr. Puleedevan, Mr. Ilango (Tamileelam Police Chief), and LTTE Leader V. Pirapaharan's son Mr. Charles Antony. The LTTE is yet to confirm, but initial reports indicate a determined massacre by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Ship on Mercy Mission crosses Suez Canal en route to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 22:23 GMT]
Mercy Mission ship, “Captain Ali” set sail from Fos-Sur-Mer, France on the 2nd leg of the mission, carrying approximately 884 metric tons of food, medicine, and other essential humanitarian relief items destined for the Tamil civilians in the Vanni area of Northern Sri Lanka displaced by the war just entered the Red Sea after traveling through the Suez Canal, a press release issued by the organizers of the mission said. The ship began the 1st leg of its journey from the Port of Ipswich, UK on 20 April 2009.
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Flaunting 'victory' to Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 16:51 GMT]
Sinhala mob carrying the Lion Flag of Sri Lanka, and shouting 'jeyawewa' (victory), menacingly hover around the Tamil suburbs in Colombo such as Ko'l'lup-piddi, Ve'l'la-vaththai, Bambalapiti, Dehiwela, Koddaagn-cheanai and Maddakku'li, news reports from Colombo said. Their vehicles in which they roam around, are also guarded by flag-carrying police and intelligence vehicles, the reports said. The Tamil pedestrians are humiliated and ridiculed by this gang and by the armed personnel at security points by being specifically addressed and told that their leader Pirapaharan has been captured and everything was over, the reports further said.
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Vanni detainees in Jaffna relocated to permanent camp

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 15:58 GMT]
The civilians fleeing war in Vanni detained in schools converted into Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Chaavakachcheari Hindu College and Kodikaamam Thirunaavukkararsu M. V. have been moved Saturday to the permanent SLA internment camp constructed in Raamaavil, Kachchaay in Kodikaamam, a press note by Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said.
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10 Tamil civilians arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 13:29 GMT]
Twenty five civilians including ten Tamils were arrested in cordon and search operation conducted in Gampaha town from Thursday evening to midnight by the police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA). The arrested are being detained in police station for further inquiry as they failed to establish their identity by providing national identity card, according to the Police.
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6 upcountry Tamils arrested in Talawakelle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 13:28 GMT]
Six upcountry Tamils were taken into custody Friday by Sri Lanka Police in Talawakelle in Kandy district. Police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said they were suspected to be supporters of LTTE and all were residents of Talawakelle.
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Tamils need to be heard - John Pilger

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 12:24 GMT]
"In order to conduct a slaughter, you ensure the pornography is unseen, illicit at best. You ban foreigners and their cameras from Tamil towns such as Mulliavaikal, which was bombarded recently by the Sri Lankan army, and you lie that the 75 people killed in the hospital were blown up quite wilfully by a Tamil suicide bomber. You then give reporters a ride into the jungle, providing what in the news business is called a dateline, which suggests an eyewitness account, and you encourage the gullible to disseminate only your version and its lies," says award winning documentary maker and popular journalist John Pilger in a recent report in the New Statesman on Sri Lanka war. "History teaches us that when no one listens, tragedy ensues. Sri Lanka’s Tamils face terrible suffering. They urgently need to be heard," adds the author.
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South African Tamils protest Sri Lanka gencide, block highway

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 11:18 GMT]
The South African Tamils along with human rights activists and peace loving citizens gathered in numbers Friday to support the call for immediate ceasefire from the Sri Lankan Government and humanitarian access to Tamil civilians in the conflict zone. The banners carried by the protesters accused the Sri Lanka Government of genocide, and the international community for inaction despite the large-scale killing of Tamil civilians within the safety zone. The event was organized by the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa (TCCSA).
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'Responsibility now with US'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 10:37 GMT]
The first act of Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi after the announcement of the election results was an appeal to the Indian Establishment re-elected to power to save the Eezham Tamils. However, the utmost responsibility lies with the Co-Chairs and especially with the US, says TamilNet’s political analyst in Colombo. The US has to either convince India or act alone to save the situation and save its own credibility. Failing, the White House is likely to emerge bearing the major responsibility for conning Tamils to their death and subjugation, and the IC tagged behind it may never be able to justify its credentials in implementing a world order it desires, he further said.
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25,000 civilians injured to death while IC watches: Soosai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sea Tiger Special Commander of the LTTE, Col. Soosai Sunday noon said that around 25,000 civilians injured in the artillery attack of Sri Lanka Army are dead and dying now without receiving medical attention. The LTTE has repeatedly requested the ICRC through Mr. Pathmanathan to evacuate the injured through Vadduvaakal or Iraddaivaaikkaal, but there was no IC response. Within a 2 square kilometre area, there are dead bodies everywhere while the remaining thousands are in bunkers amidst the use of every kind of weapon by Colombo's forces. The SLA is not even allowing the people to flee but prefers to fire at them, Soosai said.
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Dignity and respect for our people is all we ask – Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 08:22 GMT]
“Despite our plea to the world to save the thousands of people in Vanni from the clutches of death, the silence of the international community has only encouraged the Sri Lankan military to execute the war to its bitter end. In the past 24 hours, over 3000 civilians lie dead on the streets while another 25,000 are critically injured with no medical attention. To save the lives of our people is the need of the hour. Mindful of this, we have already announced to the world our position to silence our guns to save our people," Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE’s International Diplomatic Relations has said in an urgent statement issued Sunday.
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White House protest to continue into next week

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 02:31 GMT]
The protest rally which started this Monday, in front of the White House along the closed section of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., has been continuing for the last six days, and the organizers said, due to the unprecedented humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sri Lanka where the State's Army is slaughtering thousands of civilians, the organizers said, the protest will continue into the next week. Assembled American Tamils urged U.S. to act immediately to prevent a whole sale massacre of more than 150,000 civilians still holed up in the Safety Zone in Sri Lanka's north.
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Doctors quit safety zone, volunteer medics remain with injured

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 23:48 GMT]
Medical Superintendent Dr. Shanmugarajah who was attending the wounded at the makeshift hospital at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal junior school, his family, Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) doctors, Dr Varatharajah and Dr Sathiyamoorthy, and three other doctor,s have entered the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled checkpoint at Omanthai. Dr Varatharajah has been seriously wounded during his passage out of the Safety Zone, and reports from Vanni say, he has been air-lifted for medical treatment. His whereabouts are not known.
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SLA continues intense barrage of heavy weapons

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 23:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued intense barrage of heavy weapons into civilian congested area throughout Saturday night, killing and maiming hundreds of civilians, according to latest details from Vanni Sunday morning at 5:00 a.m. There has been no pause from continued cannon and heavy mortar fire. Thousands of wounded have not been treated and the victims are let to die, initial reports said Sunday morning.
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Muslim trader abducted in Cheddiku'lam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 12:44 GMT]
An unidentified armed eight member gang in civil dress abducted a Muslim trader with his motorbike on Thursday evening in Cheddiku'lam in Vavuniyaa district. The victim had been riding in his motorbike with a friend from Chitpiku'lam towards Maangku'lam at the time abduction.
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Tamil student from Malaysia reported missing in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 12:38 GMT]
A Tamil youth, Rajaratnam Rajasekaran, 21, resident of Vaiaravapuliyankulam in Vavuniyaa district has been reported missing since May 12. He left Vavuniyaa and arrived in Katunayake international airport on May 12 to fly back to Malaysia to continue his studies in a Malaysian university. Rajasekaran was reported missing after he reached Katunayake, according to complaints with the police by his parents.
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Stench of dead bodies permeate Vanni, wounded allowed to die without treatment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 10:26 GMT]
An uncounted number of dead bodies between 2,000 and 3,000 are lying all over the places in civilian congested area and the civilians are all struck by a heavy stench of dead bodies, said a volunteer doctor from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal. "Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has destroyed all medical facilities by targeted attacks, and the SLA was continuing inhuman and indiscriminate attacks on civilians providing only two options, death or surrender," he added. The volunteer doctor himself witnessed more than 100 deaths Saturday morning. All the government doctors and the top officials have fled the shelling. Civilians are in shock at the continuing carnage in Vanni.
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LTTE takes heed to Obama's call: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 09:17 GMT]
“The situation in Vanni has reached colossal proportions and what is happening there is unprecedented human carnage. At this juncture we are ready to anything that is necessary to save the Tamil people trapped in the unrelenting war that is waged on them. We heed the call by the US President and are prepared to take measures that will spare the life of our people,” said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE’s head of International Relations, in a statement issued Saturday. "The international community now has to act with fairness and openness and should take full responsibility for the people who are being targeted with no mercy or dignity," he further said.
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Mano Ganeshan urges government to publicize details of Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 07:58 GMT]
“The government of Sri Lanka should release all information about Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps without trying to keep it a secret,” Mano Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and the leader of Democratic Peoples’ Front (DPF) said in a press meet held in the residence of the leader of the opposition Friday under the title ‘Forum for Freedom’.
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'Our Holocaust and the impossibility of peace in Sri Lanka'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 04:17 GMT]
“It is self-evident that the close scrutiny of the international community, the pleas and pointed warnings by powerful states and the disgust of the world has not impressed a Sinhala state, polity and people drunk with racism,” the Tamil Guardian newspaper said this week. “It is inescapable that whatever the international community does, the Sinhala state will continue to pose an existential threat to the Tamil people, unless we are protected by our own borders and security forces.” The paper added, “[meanwhile] contrary to Sinhala expectations, Tamil militancy will remain central to Sri Lanka’s future. As the LTTE, which has transformed itself – yet again – for a new kind of war, bluntly put it last month: as long as the Tamils are oppressed, ‘Sri Lanka will never be able to live in peace’.”
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Extortion gang arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 03:57 GMT]
Mannaar Police Wednesday took into custody a gang of eight youths including a woman who had been involved in extorting money from businessmen in Mannaar. The suspects are from Trincomalee, Anuradhapura, Moothoor and E’raavur, police said.
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UN genocide expert wants ceasefire, UN investigators want war probes

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 03:26 GMT]
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide, underscoring the toll the clashes are taking on Tamil civilians, said Friday that “it is not too late” for the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to end the conflict. Francis Deng called for both sides to “pursue a reconciliatory and peaceful path with the ethnic Tamil population.” Three UN special investigators have now called for an independent inquiry into the conduct of the Sri Lankan conflict. Meanwhile, Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of Displaced Persons called on Colombo to allow the UN and other agencies “full and unfettered access to all civilians and detainees.”
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‘Tigers will regroup with a vengeance’ - FT

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 02:02 GMT]
“The Tamil cause will reignite from the embers of this war unless the Sinhala majority shows magnanimity and gives the Tamils control of their own lives,” the Financial Times warned Thursday in an editorial. Pointing out that Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s war “has only defeated the resourceful LTTE’s conventional capability,” the paper also warned that “[the Tigers] will regroup – and expand offshore – with a vengeance that will match the government’s vengefulness.”
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Bloodbath will not resolve the conflict: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 21:16 GMT]
"Colombo's approach to finish the war in 48 hours through a carnage and bloodbath of civilians will never resolve a conflict of decades. On the contrary it will only escalate the crisis to unforeseen heights. The Sinhala people have a duty and responsibility in stopping it, considering their own interest if not that of the Tamils," said LTTE's Head of International Relations, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, when contacted by TamilNet on the situation prevailing in Vanni.
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SLA shelling kills civilian, injures 4 on Mullaiththeevu sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 16:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) launched shells fell and exploded in a boat in which 12 persons from war torn Vanni were fleeing to Point Pedro Thursday night, killing a father while injuring his wife and two children and another woman, sources in Point Pedro said. The woman, admitted to Manthikai government hospital, was transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment, the sources added.
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Pathmanathan urges immediate action by IC to protect Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 13:40 GMT]
"If the International community fails to act now, in this most needy hour, it would go down in the history of mankind as the most inhumane, unconscionable failure by the International community, the UN and other powers from their responsibilities to protect innocent civilians wherever they may be subjected to genocide," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued Friday. "Consequences of inaction will reverberate for generations. Inaction by the International community will be construed as its approval of this crime against humanity."
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More than 100,000 civilians in safe zone, ICRC suspends Vanni missions

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 13:04 GMT]
"Unless an external humanitarian intervention is carried out without delay, it would be difficult to avert an inhuman catastrophe," said a volunteer doctor appointed by the LTTE to serve the civilians within the so-called safety zone, Friday afternoon. "The ICRC has abandoned its missions, there is no food, no proper access to potable water to tens of thousands of civilians who are forced to stay under the bunkers, surrounded by dead bodies and wounded civilians who are dying without medical help," the medics doctor told TamilNet through a satellite phone. The Sri Lankan forces are deploying superior fire power and advancing along the coastal line deploying cluster munitions and shells causing immediate fire.
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Champoor families return to shelters in Ki'liveddi transit camp

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:27 GMT]
231 members of 57 Tamil families, who were displaced from their traditional villages in Moothoor division in Trincomalee district in 2006 military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), were transported in 10 buses of the State Transport Board on Thursday via Vaakarai from Batticaloa district where they had been sheltered in welfare centres for resettlement. IDP families of Champoor and Chanthoasapuram in Moothoor east division have been sheltered in Ki'liveddi transit camp. This was in accordance of "their wish," rehabilitation officials said.
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Sri Lanka Police arrests 8 Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:22 GMT]
Eight Tamil civilians were arrested in Grandpass area in Colombo Wednesday night and were detained in police station for further interrogation in regard to the recovery of eighteen claymore mines from a motor workshop in the area, according to police sources.
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British Tamil contests seat for European Parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 11:20 GMT]
Ms. Janani (Jan) Jananayagam, a Sri Lankan born, and British, French educated young professional, who immigrated with her teacher parents to UK, has submitted her papers to contest for the June 4th elections to the European Parliament (MEP) as an independent candidate for London, campaign organizers in London said. She becomes the first Tamil to aspire for high-level political office in the UK. Tamil political observers in the UK say, the second generation, technology savvy Tamil, with fluency in both English and Tamil, can mobilize the support from the wider Tamil community currently vocal, and engaged in mass rallies and civil action, the immigrant communities, as well as appeal to the broader section of the British public to support her quest for the EU office.
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16 Tamil youths arrested in Matale

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 10:45 GMT]
Sixteen Tamil youths were taken into custody in a cordon and search operation conducted by the Matale Police on Wednesday night. They are residents of Rattota and had gone to attend a funeral held in Nalanda estate in Matale district.
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'Safety zone' in smoke, close-quarter fighting is on

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 05:39 GMT]
The entire safety zone area is in smoke since the early hours of Friday as shelling by the Sri Lanka Army was destroying all the structures within a narrow strip of coastal land which is densely populated with tens of thousands of people. 75% of the population remains under bunkers as close quarter fighting was heard. Hundreds of civilians are being killed and maimed in the carnage caused by the SLA, which attempts to enter the remaining part of the so-called safety zone before the election results are published in India.
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NYT highlights satellite evidence of Sri Lanka's criminal culpability

[TamilNet, Friday, 15 May 2009, 01:33 GMT]
Reproducing satellite imagery and analysis produced by the Washington D.C. based American Association of Advancement of Sciences (AAAS), New York Times in the Thursday edition said the images "show dozens of structures that appear to have been destroyed between last Wednesday and Sunday, and multiple craters that appear to reflect the impact of heavy weaponry," pointing to AAAS analysis. During the said period, local workers reported heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) killing more than 1200 refugees.
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9 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 20:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody nine Tamil youths in a search operation conducted from Thursday morning till evening in Fort and Pettah areas in Colombo city, sources in Colombo said. The youths arrested are from North, East and upcountry provinces, relatives of the arrestees said.
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Jaffna GA seeks NGOs’ help to feed Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 17:43 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) said that he was forced to seek the help of private and Non-government organizations to provide food and other necessities to the Vanni civilians held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camps in Jaffna, in a meeting held Tuesday at Jaffna Secretariat with the representatives of the above organizations and government departmental heads. Jaffna Traders’ Union representatives who participated in the meeting assured the GA that they would do their share in providing assistance to the detainees, Jaffna Secretariat sources said.
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SLA denies permission to Jaffna HRC to visit Vanni detainees

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 16:49 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna denied permission to the local officials of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Jaffna office to visit Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation Camp where more than 600 young men and women from Vanni are detained, sources in Jaffna said. The officials routinely visit the above camp to attend to matters related to human rights violation like torture. SLA said that only on permission from the Justice Ministry in Colombo the officials would be permitted to visit the said Rehabilitation camp, HRC Jaffna sources said.
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Tamil youth reported missing in Vaakarai

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 15:48 GMT]
A Tamil youth from Maangkea’ni in Vaakarai in Trincomalee district is reported missing since Wednesday after leaving home to his fishing hut in Maavadi, according to complaint lodged by his relatives with Maangkea’ni police.
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LTTE Political Head welcomes Obama's attention on Tamils' plight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 14:13 GMT]
"We thank and welcome the categorical calls by President Barack Obama for the Sri Lankan Government to take toward alleviating the humanitarian crisis," said B. Nadesan, the political head of the LTTE in a statement issued from Vanni Thursday. "The United Nations Organization and the Security Council has held back in their traditional humanitarian leadership role to take prudent measures and bring about a truce and safeguard Eelam Tamils. Now, the Eelam Tamils earnestly look forward to President Barack Obama to lead the humanitarian intervention," Mr. Nadesan said in his response to US President's statement on Wednesday.
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LTTE urges IC to save civilians in the name of humanity, SLA attacks kill 1700 in 48 hours

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 12:06 GMT]
The LTTE on Thursday called upon the International Community to protect the civilians from the ongoing carnage by taking whatever measure required. "The LTTE is ready to engage with the International Community in its actions to bring an end to the humanitarian crisis." The statement came as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued its indiscriminate barrage causing untold human tragedy. Initial estimate by the LTTE Peace Secretariat Thursday afternoon was 1,700 civilians killed and over 3,000 wounded within the last 48 hours. The catastrophic situation has been made worse by the acute shortage of food and medicine, the statement said. "Local doctors who are trying to work in these hospitals have decided to hand the hospitals over to the ICRC in the hope that under ICRC management the hospitals may be spared from bombardment."
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JU students held in SLA internment camps seek Jaffna HRC help

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 11:39 GMT]
Fourteen Jaffna University students from Vanni district detained in Kaithadi Sri Lanka Army (SLA) internment camp along with other civilians from Vanni have complained to Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) officials that their human rights have been violated by denial of permission to continue their studies in Jaffna University, Jaffna HRC sources said. HRC Jaffna has called for a detailed report on this issue from SLA Jaffna Commanding Officer, Jaffna Government Agent and the Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University.
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Britain diaspora Tamils continue protest demonstration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 05:18 GMT]
Diaspora Tamils in Britain continue their protest demonstration for the 38th day in Parliament Square in London Thursday against the unrelenting carnage of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka armed forces targeting makeshift medical centres, sources in London said. The protestors with black bands around their mouths held placards showing their demands. Meanwhile, the protestors engaged in hunger strike for more than 24 hours continue undeterred in an effort to draw the attention of the British government and the world, the sources added.
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Sinhalese youths vandalize Saiva temple in Upcountry

[TamilNet, Thursday, 14 May 2009, 04:53 GMT]
Gangs of Sinhalese youths smashed the Pi’l’laiyaar statue in front of Vaddav’lai Murukan temple and broke the wall around the temple in Hatton police division in upcountry Wednesday during the early hours, according to complaints made by the temple trustee board to Hatton police Wednesday morning. In a similar incident in Rakwana district the annual festival of Sri Muththumaari Amman temple had been suspended due to threats by Sinhalese youths.
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"Klerk risks repeating Netherland's criminality on Srebrenica genocide"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 23:06 GMT]
By dismissing the horrendous rights violations of Sri Lanka in the safety zone of Mullaiththeevu as "not applicable" to providing favorable tariff treatment to Sri Lankan textiles under the GSP Plus Program, Pieter de Klerk, Netherland's Acting Permanent Representative to the UN, is in danger of repeating Netherland Government's history of criminality on Srebrenica genocide again on the genocide currently taking place in Vanni, Sri Lanka, a legal scholar in the U.S. pointed out. Inner City Press which carried the Dutch Representative's statement, mused, "[i]f the killing of thousands of civilians, hundreds in the last weekend alone, does not implicate the EU's [European Union] notions of human rights, perhaps these notions are bankrupt."
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Police arrest 4 Tamils in Chilaw

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 21:00 GMT]
Munthal Police in Chilaw district Sunday arrested four Tamil civilians including two women in a search operation conducted on receipt of information at Kaddaikaadu village. The police team searched the house where they were staying. They are being detained in the police station for further interrogation, police sources said.
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Will Obama take full responsibility of Tamil homeland, ask Tamil circles

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 20:57 GMT]
As news reports quote US President Barack Obama saying Tamil Tigers to "free civilians," and Colombo government to stop indiscriminate shelling, Tamil circles in the US asked whether President Obama is prepared to take full responsibility of the Tamil homeland and whether he is prepared to give full assurance to the freedom and the aspirations of the Tamil people.
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Tamil worker shot dead in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 20:55 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons Tuesday morning shot dead a Tamil civilian at Sirimipiady in Puththa'lam police division. The dead is said to be watcher of a coconut estate in the area.
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“SL government conceals true picture of “Vanni safe zone”-UNP charges

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 20:49 GMT]
Dr.Jayalath Jayewardene, Deputy Secretary of the main United National Party (UNP) and parliamentarian made a scathing attack on the government led by President Mahinda Rajapakse that it is rejecting all statements made by the United Nations regarding the immense sufferings of Tamil people trapped in Vanni region without verifying the true picture. The government is committing blatant treachery by concealing the true situation in Vanni, he added at a press briefing held Tuesday in Colombo.
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SLA barrage inflicts carnage, makeshift hospital reports disaster

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 19:21 GMT]
"Looking at the hospital and hearing the civilians cry, you feel only disaster," a key medical staff at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal makeshift hospital told media Wednesday. More than 100 civilians, including many children, patients, a medical staff, voluntary doctor and an ICRC worker, were killed in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery attack that targeted the hospital premises which is a junior school and the surrounding area which comprises many tarpaulin huts. The hospital is struggling with few medical staff as the medical facility has become a prime target for the SLA which has targeted it for the third time within 5 days. Civilians are struggling with starvation and live under bunkers as bullets fired by the SLA from two coastal ends were whizzing across the so-called No Fire Zone, which has been made into a killing field by the SLA, which completely disregards Geneva Conventions.
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South Korean delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:28 GMT]
A five member delegation led by South Korean resident representative, Mr. Zong Min Hyeon visited Tuesday Jaffna Technical College where a large building complex is being constructed with South Korean government funds, sources in Jaffna said. The containers sent by the South Korean government which had remained unopened since their arrival in November 2008 were opened in the presence of the visiting South Korean delegation, the principal of Jaffna Technical College and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials, the sources said.
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TNA warns of more bloodshed in the coming days

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 12:20 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has pointed out that 3000 Tamils have been killed and more than 1000 have been wounded in the last 3 days in the Vanni region, in a press conference held in Colombo on Tuesday night. Tamil National Alliance leader MP R.Sampanthan states, “The Government of Sri Lanka is mass killing Tamil civilians after denying them food and medicine. This is the reality. More bloodshed can happen in the next few days. We appeal to the International community to immediately stop this systematic slaughtering of civilians.”
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61 Vanni elderly IDPs buried in one mass-pit in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 11:21 GMT]
Bodies of sixty one elderly Internally Displaced (IDPs) kept in the mortuary of the Vavuniyaa General Hospital were buried in a single mass-pit in general cemetery located in Poonthooddam Monday evening. All of those buried died due to natural causes in welfare centres where large numbers of IDPs who fled from the war from Vanni are sheltered.
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Police arrest 4 Tamils in Chilaapam

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 11:15 GMT]
Munthal Police in Chilaapam district Sunday arrested four Tamil civilians including two women during a search operation conducted on receipt of information on suspicious activities in Kaddaikaadu village. The four are being detained in the police station for further interrogation, police sources said.
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Tamil trader shot dead in Mukaththuvaaram

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 11:11 GMT]
Unidentified armed persons in army uniform shot dead a Tamil trader Kamalaeshan Yogeswararan, 32, Monday early morning at Kimbulawela in Mukaththuvaaram in Colombo police division. The armed gang entered the house, shot dead the owner, and fled from the scene when neighbours rushed to the site following cries for help by his relatives, sources said.
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SLA shells hospital again, several killed including doctor, ICRC worker

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 10:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells hit the makeshift hospital in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal East, killing at least 38 patients who were waiting for treatment at the hospital, a medical staff told TamilNet. "There are many more killed inside the hospital premises, but I can only confirm that 38 casualties that I have witnessed near the main theatre upto 2:53 p.m.," the medical staff told TamilNet. Many shells have hit the makeshift hospital premises across the road. Meanwhile, a patient who reached an administrative office put the casualty figures at 100 and said he had witnessed that an ICRC worker was killed. Meanwhile, LTTE's Director of Peace Secretarait S. Puleedevan when contacted by TamilNet said 39 female patients at a counselling aid center for mentally ill women were massacred by targeted SLA shelling in the morning. More than 40 patients were feared wounded, he said.
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Intervene in the name of humanity: Pathmathan calls on IC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 13 May 2009, 09:20 GMT]
"Every passing day is resulting in the loss of countless number of civilian lives and alienation of the entire Tamil community," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued on Wednesday, and called on the International Community for its urgent and immediate intervention, not based on territorial or geo-political ambitions, but based on basic human values. "It is our firm view that a cessation of all hostilities would be the only mechanism that would prevent further civilian carnage and we remain committed to an immediate and permanent ceasefire."
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US, UK want UN to facilitate 'safe evacuation' of civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 23:37 GMT]
The United States and Britain on Tuesday jointly called on the government of Sri Lanka and the Tamil Tigers to end fighting to allow a UN humanitarian team to visit the conflict zone to facilitate safe evacuation of civilians. However, the statement, which failed to stress ceasefire, was interpreted by Tamil circles as providing tacit approval for Colombo to continue its deployment of infantry support weapons. While asking the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to lay down their arms, the joint statement has urged Colombo to abide by its commitment of April 27 to end major combat operations and the use of heavy weapons.
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SLA conducts search operation in Polonnaruwa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 16:20 GMT]
Police and Sri Lanka Army Sunday evening conducted a cordon and search operation in Polonnaruwa town and took about fifty Tamil civilians including women for questioning. Except two, others were freed after preliminary inquiry. Two are being detained for further interrogation, police sources said.
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Vanni elderly IDPs die in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 16:11 GMT]
The number of deaths among elderly persons in Vavuniyaa IDP camp is on the increase. From May 1 till May 11, sixty-one elderly persons had died due to natural causes. Their bodies have been lying in the mortuary of the Vavuniyaa general hospital awaiting relatives to identify them, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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RSF condemn's Channel 4 journalists expulsion

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 16:05 GMT]
Referring to the expulsion of British Channel 4's three journalists from Sri Lanka for exposing "atrocious living conditions for [Tamil] civilians [in Vavuniyaa internment camps] and ill-treatment they have suffered" Reporters without Borders (RSF), the Paris-based media watchdog, said in a press release issued Monday that the reasons for expulsions are "unfounded and unacceptable" and that the expulsion is the "latest incident in a long list of serious press freedom violations connected with reporting of the war, including murders of journalists, arbitrary or abusive imprisonment, torture, ill-treatment, censorship and expulsions."
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SLA attacks hospital, 47 massacred

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 05:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells killing at least 47 civilians, patients and the Administrative Officer K. Tharmakulasingam Tuesday morning around 8:00 a.m. At least 55 patients sustained serious injuries in the attack on the makeshift hospital which was functioning at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal junior school. The attack came while around 2,000 wounded patients within the last 3 days were waiting for the ICRC to be transported in the ship. More than 2,600 civilians were killed within the past 3 days in Sri Lankan attacks in Vanni.
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US violates Geneva Convention by permitting Sri Lanka to commit slow-motion genocide - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 04:26 GMT]
Pointing to the statement issued by the U.S. Department of State that after an informal meeting at the United Nations that "[t]he United States is deeply concerned by the continued unacceptably high levels of civilian casualties," expert in International Law, Professor Francis A. Boyle said, the Obama administration is violating the 1948 convention for continuing to give "green light" to the Government of Sri Lanka to destroy the LTTE no matter what the cost to innocent Tamil civilians. Lawrence Christy, the head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Field Office on Monday put the death toll of civilians at more than 3,200 killed during the weekend.
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White House protest accuses Sri Lanka of civilian massacre

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 02:32 GMT]
More than two hundred American Tamils protested in front of the White House in the Lafayette Park Monday 9:00 a.m. till 4:00 p.m., accusing the Government of Sri Lanka for slaughtering more than 3000 Tamil civilians crowded into a 5 sq.km. area during Saturday night and Sunday with the use of heavy weapons including multi-barrel artillery directed into the Safety Zone. Holding banners displaying "Stop the Genocide," the protesters called on President Obama to lead an international effort to establish a ceasefire between the two adversaries, Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers.
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Tamil Diaspora agitates as civilian death toll rises

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 19:57 GMT]
Around 2000 Tamil Diaspora men, women and children staged a protest demonstration Sunday in Toronto, Canada against the genocide of Tamils in Vanni blocking all lanes of a downtown Toronto highway for several hours, sources in Toronto said. “The Tamil Diaspora will not give up. The Sri Lankan regime continues to unleash terror on our people who have been silenced by brute force and unimaginable atrocities. ‘Mother India’ and International community remain silent. But we, the Tamil Diaspora, will see to that Justice is done. Tamil Eelam will be freed,” a protestor said.
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UK: Sri Lanka belongs on UN Security Council agenda

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 19:19 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Minister David Miliband said Monday he is “appalled” by reports of mass civilian casualties in Sri Lanka. Saying that he believed “very very strongly” that the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka merits the attention of the United Nations Security Council, he noted: “the civilian catastrophe in the North East of Sri Lanka speaks for itself and the international humanitarian law to which we all sign up needs to be followed in spirit and in letter.” Speaking at the UN in New York, Miliband also suggested Sri Lanka should not qualify for the $1.9m IMF loan Colombo is seeking.
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Japan urged to act over Sri Lanka crisis

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 19:14 GMT]
Four international organisations - Human Rights Watch, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, International Crisis Group and Amnesty International - released a joint letter to the Japanese Prime Minister Monday, calling on Japan “to play a more active role in confronting the unfolding catastrophe in Sri Lanka.” The four organisations called on Japan “to support efforts for the [United Nations] Security Council to keep the situation in Sri Lanka under close and regular review and to consider the situation in Sri Lanka formally at the Security Council.” Meanwhile, American Tamils after a rally and a night vigil Friday in New York submitted a memorandum to the Japanese Ambassador to the United Nations.
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4 Tamil women arrested in Puththa’lam

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 14:22 GMT]
Puththa’lam police arrested Sunday four Tamil women from Vaakarai in Batticaloa district staying in a house in Va’n’naaththivillu in Puththa’lam district on information given by residents of the area. Police said that the women are being detained on orders from the Ministry of Defence.
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99 percent Norway Tamils aspire for Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 10:51 GMT]
In a secret ballot of universal suffrage, conducted by a Norwegian media simultaneously in 14 centres in the length and breath of the country among Eezham Tamils, 98.95 percent of the voters said that they aspire for the formation of an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the North and East of the island of Sri Lanka. The voter turn out was a high 89.8 percent in the capital city of Oslo and an average 80 percent for the country, Utrop biweekly that conducted the ballot said. The ballot gains significance not only in democratically and concretely revealing what the Tamils want, but also in telling that the so-called Oslo Declaration that speaks about internal self-determination is not up to their expectations, Tamil circles said. A couple of days before the ballot, Norwegian Minister Erik Solheim advocated a federal solution to the crisis.
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Pathmanathan calls for urgent international intervention

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 09:19 GMT]
Refuting the Sri Lankan propaganda that artillery and shelling against the Tamil civilians was carried out by the Tigers, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE's head of international relations on Monday urged the governments of the world to prevail upon the Sri Lankan Government to prevent it from causing a collective tragedy.
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Paramilitary group intimidates Tamil dailies in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 06:49 GMT]
The paramilitary group operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna threatened Jaffna Tamil dailies to refute news published related to the extortion through abduction of girl students in Jaffna peninsula, Colombo media organizations said. Meanwhile, SLA in Jaffna told the media that the particular news had been published though no one has complained to them or the police regarding the extortion.
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Grand response to Norway ballot: 80 percent turn out

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 03:41 GMT]
Around 80 percent of eligible voters among Eezham Tamils in the cities and other centres where a ballot was conducted to test the current validity of Vaddukkoaddai Resolution, turned out for the voting, Utrop news paper, which conducted the ballot, reported Sunday night. The voting took place on Sunday between 11:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m., simultaneously in 6 centres in the major cities and in 8 other centres in suburban and remote towns of Norway. People were seen standing in long queues to cast their votes on the gist of the Resolution, whether they like an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam or not. This is the first time the question is tested through universal suffrage, 33 years after its endorsement by the Eezham Tamils in the 1977 general elections in Sri Lanka. The results are awaited Monday noon.
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SLA continues to inflict carnage

[TamilNet, Monday, 11 May 2009, 01:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up relentless barrage of shelling using all sorts of heavy weapons on the so-called safety-zone (no-fire zone) in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal and Vadduvaakal areas where more than 130,000 civilians have sought refuge without adequate bunkers and shelters. Civilian casualties are mounting amidst lack of medicine and food due to limited or denied supplies into the area of 7 square kilometres. Lawrence Christy, the head of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Field Office on Monday put the death toll of civilians on Monday at more than 3,200 killed since Sunday evening up to Monday morning. He has called on the IC to immediately invoke the Responsibility to Protect (R2P) to the stop the genocide.
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Sonia says war is over while 1200 civilian bodies are counted in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 23:56 GMT]
Congress president Ms Sonia Gandhi, sharing a platform with the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on Sunday said: "Our government had done everything possible to bring an end to the hostilities and it was due to our resolute efforts that Sri Lanka announced conclusion of combat operations and people moved to safer places," PTI quoted Ms. Gandhi saying. Meanwhile, the same day has seen a massive massacre of civilians in the no-fire zone by the Sri Lanka Army using all kinds of heavy weapons and aerial bombing. Around 1200 bodies were counted so far and 1125 injured managed to reach the makeshift hospital.
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Tamil survivors bear phosphorous burns - report

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 23:24 GMT]
Tamil civilians who escaped the Sri Lankan military bombardment, treated by French doctors, included those with injuries from phosphorous bombs, AFP reported. Doctors at the French field hospital Cheddikulam, Vavuniya said that among those who were treated were those with white hands, possibly caused by burns from phosphorus- an incendiary weapon which is banned from use in civilian areas under an international convention. According to Peter Herby, head of the ICRC's (International Committee of the Red Cross) Arms Unit, there are specific rules on the use of white phosphorous that go beyond the general rules of war.
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Aid workers tell donors not to fund Sri Lanka, reports Channel-4's Walsh

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 21:14 GMT]
"This is a man-made humanitarian disaster, the aid worker explained. "I am in the strange position of just keep telling all our donors when they come here to NOT to give money,"" writes Channel-4's Nick Paton Walsh, quoting an aid worker inside an internment camp in Vavuniyaa. The Channel-4 crew was deported on the directions of Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse for reporting allegations of abuse, rape, and ill-treatment of Tamils held in internment camps.
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Ilanthirayan seriously wounded in SLA barrage

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 15:38 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Military Spokesman Irasiah Punitharooban alias Ilanthirayan (Marshall) sustained heavy injuries in the latest artillery barrage by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the early hours of Sunday, sources close to LTTE in Vanni told TamilNet.
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India should sue Sri Lanka in ICJ for massacre of 2000 Tamils - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 14:00 GMT]
"In light of the latest atrocity by the Government of Sri Lanka that overnight exterminated 2000 Tamils, at a minimum the Government of India must sue Sri Lanka for violating the 1948 Genocide Convention before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, request an Emergency Hearing by the World Court, and win an Order of Provisional Measures of Protection --the international equivalent of a temporary restraining order-- against the GOSL to cease and desist from committing all acts of genocide against the Tamils," said Professor Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet Sunday. "I stand ready to file this World Court Lawsuit immediately upon receipt of the appropriate authorization from the Government of India," Boyle further said.
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1200 bodies counted, hundreds seriously injured, aerial bombing continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 11:26 GMT]
Rescue workers within the Mullaiththeevu Safety Zone have counted more than 1200 bodies after the large scale slaughter Saturday night and Sunday morning by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) with the use of cluster ammunition, multi-barrel rocket launchers and cannons, sources from Vanni said. The workers fear that there may be additional bodies yet to be uncovered, and the numbers killed will likely rise. Rescue workers also said several hundreds were very seriously injured, and the critical shortage of medicine at the makeshift hospital in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal will lead to many more deaths. Meanwhile, Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Hospital staff said, until 3:00 p.m. the number of bodies brought to the hospital was 378, injured totaled 1122. The staffers added that 106 of the dead, and 251 of the injured were children.
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Rakwana Hindu Cultural Hall opening put off due to chauvinist opposition

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 09:15 GMT]
The ceremonial opening of the newly constructed Hindu Cultural Hall in Rakwana in Ratnapura district did not take place on Friday (Siththirai Pooranai) as scheduled, due to opposition by Sinhala extremist elements. Earlier the annual festival of Rakwana Sri Muththumaariamman Koayil which was scheduled to be held from April 28 till May 10 was stopped due to opposition by Buddhist extremists that the Thear festival falls on Vesak Day. Chauvinist elements in the area said that no festival of any other religion should take place on Vesak Day.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Puththa’lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 09:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police conducted several cordon and search operations since Thursday in Va’n’naaththivi’l’lu and Paalaavi in Puththa’lam district in which a Tamil civilian was taken into custody and hundreds of Tamil, Muslim and Sinhalese civilians were interrogated, sources in Puththa’lam said. Residents of the above places have been asked by the police to register themselves in their respective police stations immediately as these villages are located on the borders of Wilpattu sanctuary. Police sources said the measure has been taken to ensure that no strangers infiltrate these villages.
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LTTE urges IC to act in the international way

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 07:55 GMT]
"More than 2,000 innocent civilians have been killed in the last 24 hours. The wholesale bombardment by Sri Lankan planes and shelling on a densely populated, non combatant civilian safe zone is state terrorism and a war crime," said S. Pathmanathan, the LTTE head of international relations on Sunday. "The Tamil people are dismayed that the United Nations and the International Community have failed in their obligations to protect the endangered civilians. [...] We only ask for an impartial relief effort similar to those extended to other international conflict zones by the UN and the international community in the recent past," he further said.
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UN experts demand international scrutiny in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 03:26 GMT]
Four UN Human Rights Council experts on right to health, food, water, and sanitation, in a statement issued Friday, said that "[t]here is good reason to believe that thousands of civilians have been killed in the past three months alone, and yet the Sri Lankan Government has yet to account for the casualties, or to provide access to the war zone for journalists and humanitarian monitors of any type," and that "[s]hipments of food and medicine to the "no fire zone" have been grossly insufficient over the past month and the Government has reportedly delayed or denied timely shipment of life saving medicines as well as to chlorine tablets," and urged the U.N. to establish a commission to address the critical human rights situation, and demand full respect to human rights.
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2,000 civilians feared slaughtered in a single night

[TamilNet, Sunday, 10 May 2009, 02:55 GMT]
Indiscriminate barrage of shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on the 'safety zone' starting from Saturday night to Sunday morning slaughtered more than 2,000 civilians including large number of women and children, medical sources in Vanni said quoting the injured who managed to reach the makeshift hospital. Dead bodies are scattered everywhere and 814 wounded managed to reach the makeshift hospital up to 9:25 a.m., doctors said. Every kind of lethal weapon such as the internationally banned cluster shells and shells fired from Multi Barrel Rocket Launchers and Cannons were used turning the so-called safety zone into a killing field. The SLA usually chooses weekends for its massacres to minimise international attention.
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SLA artillery barrage hits 'safety zone' as ICRC ship leaves Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 19:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up heavy shelling into the safety zone Saturday around 7:00 a.m. Within an hour, more than 50 seriously wounded civilians were rushed to the makeshift hospital now functioning at a junior school in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, medical sources reported Saturday night. The SLA stepped up artillery and mortar barrage into the 8 square kilometer area where civilians numbering between 120,000 to 165,000 are starving without adequate humanitarian supplies amid congestion. Despite Sri Lanka's assurance to the international community heavy weapons are still targetted towards safety zone.
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Malnutrition in mothers triggers Jaundice, Hepatitis in newborns

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 18:09 GMT]
Lack of basic nutrients in food available to lactating mothers is causing severe cases of jaundice and hepatitis-A in the new borns and months old babies inside the safe-zone where an estimated 120,000-165,000 Tamil civilians are struggling to stay alive, medical sources within the safe zone said Saturday. Mothers have flocked to the temporary hospital relocated to junior school, crying and pleading with the doctors for milk-powder, but hospital stocks are completely depleted, according to Vanni medical sources.
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Sri Lanka arrests Channel-4 journalists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Three British TV Channel-4 journalists, Nick Paton-Walsh, the channel's Asian correspondent, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper, who were covering the Sri Lanka conflict in Trincomalee have been arrested and are being taken to Colombo, AP reported. Channel-4's first independently filmed recent exposure coverage of the conditions of the Tamil refugees who fled the war and being in the internment camps had irked Colombo. The blatant rights violations of the Sri Lanka state had disturbed the world at large for the cavaliar fashion the state was behaving towards the civilians.
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Vanni civilians in SLA detention centres to be settled in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 15:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Jaffna have decided to permanently settle the civilians from Vanni, now held in the SLA detention centres in Jaffna district, in three large detention centres to be located in Allaarai area in Kodikaamam and Kaithadi, in Thenmaraadchi, sources in Jaffna said. The SLA detention centres in Mirusuvil Roman Catholic Church premises and Kodikaamam Government Tamil Mixed School (GTMS) will continue to be maintained, the sources added.
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Tamil families to be evicted to settle injured Sinhala soldiers

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 14:42 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, leader of the Democratic Peoples Front and Colombo district parliamentarian in an urgent letter faxed to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, urged him to stop moves to oust sixty two Tamil families residing in Vavelkanthura GS division in Ratnapura district and to settle injured soldiers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Colombo said. The said Tamil families have owned and been living in their homes for the past seven decades, according to local sources.
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Sinhala gangs threaten Tamil traders in Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 14:24 GMT]
Sinhala gangs in Kandy are continuing to threaten Tamil traders and extorting money from them, according to Mr.S.Rajaratnam, Member of the Central Provincial Council. Police were provided with telephone numbers and bank details of the heads of the gangs, but the law-enforcement has not taken any action on the criminals.
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Colombo committing war crimes attacking hospitals – HRW

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 13:35 GMT]
Sri Lankan armed forces “have repeatedly struck hospitals in the northern Vanni region in indiscriminate artillery and aerial attacks”, Human Rights Watch said Saturday, warning that commanders responsible for such attacks may be prosecuted for war crimes. "While doctors and nurses struggle to save lives in overcrowded and underequipped facilities, Sri Lankan army attacks have hit one hospital after another," said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. HRW again called for the situation in Sri Lanka to be urgently taken up by a formal meeting of the UN Security Council and by a special session of the UN Human Rights Council.
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Extortion through abduction of children increases in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 07:22 GMT]
Officers of local UN organizations in Jaffna peninsula have complained to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high authorities in Jaffna of demands of extortion and intimidation that their school going children will be abducted, sources in Jaffna said. Though the said officers confirmed the demands and intimidation they refused to give additional information. The persons alleged to be the perpetrators are Sri Lanka Army (SLA) backed paramilitary men who move freely during SLA imposed curfew hours and around SLA camps in the peninsula, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
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4 Tamil youths missing, 1 abducted in Batticaloa in a day

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 07:03 GMT]
Four Tamil youths from Batticaloa district had gone missing Sunday 3 May in places around Batticaloa town while armed men in a white van abducted a young farmer on the same day in Vavu’natheevu, in Batticlaoa district, according to complaints registered with Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) in Batticaloa, by their relatives. Four of the youths who are friends had gone missing after leaving homes while unidentified armed men arriving in a white van had forcibly taken away the fifth youth from his home in Vavu’natheevu, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Gunmen shoot dead a Muslim, injure 10 in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 06:48 GMT]
Masked gunmen arriving in a van with T56 type rifles opened fire Friday around 2:00 p.m on a group of Muslims coming out of Maa’likaavaththai Mosque, killing one and injuring ten of them, sources in Colombo said.
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SLA removes young women to Thellippazhai SLA camp

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 05:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers took away nearly a hundred young women from Vanni held in Thenmaraadchchi SLA detention centres in buses to Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC), claiming that the young women had been given military training by Liberation Tigers, sources in Jaffna said. The young women, however, were brought back to the detention centres following the strong protest and agitation raised by the parents and family members of the young women, the sources added.
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Tamil Human Rights officer abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 09 May 2009, 04:51 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van, alleged to be Military Intelligence officers, Thursday night forcibly took away Stephen Sunthararaj, 39, the Project Manager of Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) in Colpetty in Colombo, near Colombo Town Hall, sources in Colombo said. Sunthararaj, who had been arrested by Colpetty police 12 February, was released Thursday morning by Colombo Magistrate Court found not guilty of any offence, the sources added.
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SLA steps up carnage on civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 20:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has continued heavy shelling with cluster-munitions on civilian targets in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal within the so-called safety zone throughout Thursday and Friday. Several civilians have been killed and many sustained injuries as Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) surveillance aircraft was providing coordinates of densely populated places for the SLA to target civilians. At least 242 civilians were registered as wounded on Friday alone. Medical sources reported that 45 of the wounded, including 15 children, had succumbed to injuries adding that scores were killed and that those killed on the spot were not brought to hospital.
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Rains expose callousness of mass imprisonment

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 16:05 GMT]
Heavy rains earlier this week flooded the internment camp created in the name of Ananda Coomaraswamy in Vavuniyaa where the last influx of captured civilians of Vanni are held in temporary tents. But, as 'war prisoners' they didn't have the freedom to move to dryer places, said an aid worker in Vavuniyaa, condemning the International Community and the UN for insisting on the capture of civilians but not taking adequate responsibility of them and their freedom of movement even in times of such a situation.
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SLA, Police arrest 75 Tamil civilians in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 15:51 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and Sri Lanka Police arrested seventy five Tamil youths who are residents of Jaffna, Batticaloa, Trincomalee and upcountry areas in cordon and search operations conducted during the last three days from dusk to dawn in Kotahena, Grandpass, Muhathuwaaram, Wellawatte, Bambalapitya and Kollupitty. Similar operation was also conducted in Negombo, Gampaha and Kalutara, media sources in Colombo said.
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MIA draws Oprah's attention to Sri Lanka bombing of safe zone

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 10:42 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam (MIA), after meeting the popular talk-show host Oprah Winfrey at a gala at Lincoln Center in celebration of the most influential people list the Time magazine produced, drew Oprah's attention to Sri Lanka Government's bombing of civilian camps inside the safe zone in MIA's face book.
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UN violating Charter obligation to promote, encourage human rights - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 08 May 2009, 00:45 GMT]
Dithering in the halls of the human rights apex body, the United Nations, culminating in the recent uncharacteristic pronouncement that the Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is "too-busy" to visit Sri Lanka, has prompted a legal scholar to point out that "where an individual such as the U.N. Secretary General has an obligation to act to prevent criminal activity and either refuses or fails to do so, that would render him "complicit" with the underlying criminal activity--in this case genocide." Prof. Francis Boyle said Thursday that "[t]he U.N. Secretary General must immediately travel to Sri Lanka and do all in his power " to prevent" the Government's genocide against the Tamils."
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Family man reported missing with Jaffna HRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 16:43 GMT]
An officer attached to Kodikaamam Agriculture Department is reported missing since 30 April while returning home from Nalloor in Jaffna, according to complaints registered with Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) office. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna continues to announce over loud speakers that all Vanni civilians not staying in the SLA detention centres should surrender themselves before 31 May and that the failure to do so will have serious consequences, sources in Jaffna said.
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Maathakal St. Thomas Church plundered

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 16:27 GMT]
Persons alleged to be Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers entering St. Thomas Roman Catholic Church in Maathakal, Jaffna, during curfew hours on a night last week, had broken the holy statues and other properties in an attempt to find gold jewelry beneath the statues, residents of Maathakal said. Christian organizations in Maathakal have brought this incident to the attention of SLN Northern region high command, sources in Maathakal said.
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Students boycott schools in Batticaloa against abduction of girl student

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 14:07 GMT]
Students of nearly 25 schools in and around Batticaloa town continued their boycott of schools for the ninth day Thursday in protest against the abduction of Satheskumar Thinusika, a grade 3 girl student of Batticaloa Koaddaimunai Junior School by a paramilitary group operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Batticaloa said. Meanwhile, parents alleged that the police have shot and killed three suspects in order to save the main perpetrators who hold high positions in the government, the sources added.
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London protesters want international action, not words, over Sri Lankan humanitarian crisis

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 11:26 GMT]
British Tamils demonstrating outside Parliament are demanding the UK government takes concrete action immediately “to end the humanitarian crisis engulfing the Tamils in Vanni and in the military-run concentration camps.” In a statement to media, Tamil students leading the protests said: “What is needed right now is action by the international community, not merely words of sympathy. Humanitarian intervention has taken place in many parts of the world to save people who have been subject to state violence, ethnic cleansing, and starvation by blockade. Powerful liberal states have acted to save populations being brutalized by their own states, despite the objections and obstructions of other powerful states. The Tamils of Sri Lanka are human beings too.”
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LTTE guarantees safety and security for ICRC

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 08:58 GMT]
Dispelling hints and accusations by certain sections that the LTTE has not guaranteed safe passage to the ICRC to bring in humanitarian relief such as food and medicine, the LTTE political head B. Nadesan in a letter dated 4th May, has given a written assurance that the LTTE reiterates its full commitment and support to the ICRC in its humanitarian and mandated activities. Nadesan requested to consider the letter as a necessary security guarantee. Nadesan was accusing that it was the Sri Lanka government and its forces that were blocking the activities of the ICRC by launching military manoeuvres. Even on Thursday, around 10 AM, Colombo’s forces were shelling towards the ICRC vehicles that had come to the shore to undertake transportation of the wounded civilians, and there were minor damages to the vehicles, LTTE officials said.
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Green light to rid Tigers while 50,000 lives at risk, Boyle faults US, UK

[TamilNet, Thursday, 07 May 2009, 04:33 GMT]
"US. UK, France and India appear to have given green light to Sri Lanka to get rid of the Tigers no matter what the cost is to the 50,000 lives of innocent Tamils at risk now. Let's get back to the need to change that green light to a red light, and let's solve the humanitarian crisis first, and then talk about some sort of solution," said Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, during an interview with Aljazeera network Wednesday. Eric Solheim, key architect of the 2002 peace process in Sri Lanka, and Nirj Deva, a Member of European Parliament and of Sri Lankan origin also participated in the discussions.
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Canadian academics support self-determination, ask direct US action

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 19:53 GMT]
Stressing on the recognition of the self-determination of Tamils as the basis for any solution to the crisis in the island of Sri Lanka, Canadian Academics for Tamil Rights in a press conference Wednesday in Toronto said that the proscription of the LTTE had affected the peace initiatives and Canada was a party to be blamed. “As an immediate remedy to the grave situation at the moment, the IC and UN should take food and medicine directly to Vanni and if not possible they should pressure the US to do it. It may look strange, but it is the only option if any one wants to save the lives of the people in Vanni”, was the opinion expressed in the press conference, citing the urgency.
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Critical medicine shortage, alarming number of casualties - Ambassador Rice

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 16:52 GMT]
Dr Rice, U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, in a press release issued early last week expressed deep concern at the "growing and grave humanitarian crisis," and pointed pointed to "serious allegations against both parties of violations of international humanitarian law." While indicating that shelling by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continues despite assuarances by Colombo, Ambassador Rice also expressed concern at the shortage of "critical medicines," and disappointment at the refusal by Sri Lanka to allow "UN humanitarian team into conflict zone to facilitate relief operations and safe evacuation of civilians."
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Deaths of elderly Vanni IDPs increase in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 13:44 GMT]
Death toll of elderly persons displaced from Vanni due to military operations and held in detention centres in Vavuniyaa is on the increase, sources in Vavuniyaa said. On Monday alone ten elderly persons died in detention centers located in Vavuniyaa and their bodies had been handed over to the Vavuniyaa general hospital, the sources added.
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Tamil teacher shot dead in Vavu’natheevu

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 11:49 GMT]
An unidentified armed man shot dead a Tamil teacher Wednesday morning at Kannankudaa Pi’l’laiyaaradi area in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district while he was cycling to his school located at Paavatkodichcheanai, sources in Batticaloa said.
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UNP also against Tamils: Mano Ganeshan

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 10:43 GMT]
Mano Ganeshan, Colombo district parliamentarian and the leader of Western People’s Front (WPF) condemned United National Party (UNP) Puththa’lam district parliamentarian, Palitharanga Bandara’s statement that heavy weapons should be used on the ‘safe zone’ to destroy the Liberation Tigers, in a media release Wednesday in Colombo. Palitharanga praised the Sri Lankan Armed Forces for their victories against the war on Tamils besides expressing views revealing racism in the press meet held Monday in the official residence of the Opposition Leader and this shows that UNP too is a political party that is against the Tamils,” Mano Ganeshan said in the press release.
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Minister Chandrasegaran condemns effort to tax plantation workers

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 08:59 GMT]
”Efforts to have deducted a day’s pay from innocent Tamil plantation workers to help people affected by war will only assist the government in its war against the Tamils,” Up-country Peoples’ Front (UPF) leader and Sri Lanka Minister, P. Chandrasegaran said in a press report, condemning demands made by certain trade unions and voluntary organizations on the plantation workers to give a day’s wage to help war affected people, sources in Colombo said.
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Injured Vanni children handed over to relatives in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 04:18 GMT]
Mannaar Magistrate Mr. A. Judson Monday ordered six injured children, who lost their parents in Vanni Sri Lanka armed force offensive and being warded in Mannaar general hospital for treatment, to be handed over to their close relatives.
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Tamil couple arrested in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 06 May 2009, 04:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested a Tamil couple in Ezhuthoor in Mannaar district claiming that a claymore mine and some explosives were recovered from a bare land next to their house, in a search operation conducted in the area on 27 April, sources in Mannaar said.
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‘State terror’ waging ‘racist war’ - Sonali Wickrematunge

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 18:57 GMT]
The UNESCO World Press Freedom Prize 2009 has been awarded posthumously to Sri Lankan journalist Lasantha Wickrematunge, assassinated by a government death-squad in January. Wickremetunga, long-standing editor of The Sunday Leader newspaper, was one of the few journalists who continued to criticise the militarist, hardline government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. In a statement marking the award, his wife, Sonali Wickrematunge, described the government’s military campaign in the north as a “racist war” in which future charges of genocide would not be surprising and pleaded for international action.
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Slow-motion genocide to exceed horrors of Srebrenica, warns Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 18:52 GMT]
Professor Boyle of University of Illinois College of Law, an international expert on Boznia and crimes of Genocide said Tuesday, "[s]ince the outset of this latest crisis in January, the GOSL has exterminated about 7000 Tamils in Vanni, certainly a "substantial part" of the Tamil population in Vanni and Sri Lanka. If not stopped now, the GOSL's toll of genocide against the Tamils could far exceed the recent horrors of Srebrenica." Prof. Boyle's call for urgent food drop to the civilians close to starvation in the Safe Zone, has gathered momentum, and international media are seeking his comment on the urgency of humanitarian support.
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SLA forcibly removes youths from its detention centres in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 17:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers have forcibly taken away young men and women among the Vanni civilians held in the SLA detention centres in Thenmaraadchi and Vadamaraadchi, according to NGO representatives who visited the detention centres. The family members who raised protest against the abduction of their children in Mirusuvil detention centre have been taken away from the centre for ‘interrogation’ by SLA soldiers, the sources added. SLA officials say that the youths taken away are to be placed in the SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC) located in Thellippazhai High Security Zone (HSZ).
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2 elderly women die of starvation in Jaffna SLA detention centres

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 16:59 GMT]
A 79-year-old woman detainee in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centre in Mirusuvil Roman Catholic Church and a 75-year-old woman in Kathadi Saiva Children Home SLA detention centre are reported dead due to starvation, sources in Jaffna. Jaffna magistrate court, being informed of the deaths, is awaiting post mortem examination reports from medical authorities for further legal action, the sources added.
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LTTE calls on IC to support Diaspora actions to deliver humanitarian aid

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 16:21 GMT]
Noting that the UN and the rest of the International Community has a moral obligation to support the initiative launched by the Tamil Diaspora to deliver humanitarian aid direct to the Tamil people in Vanni, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Political Head Quarters in a statement issued on Tuesday urged the International Community to extend "moral, political and logistical support to implement this initiative."
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Tamil IDP abducted in Moothoor

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 15:44 GMT]
Unidentified armed men entering Ki’liveddi Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) welfare centre in Moothoor division in Trincomalee district Saturday night forcibly took away a man in the centre amid protests by fellow IDPs, sources in Moothoor said. The IDPs, displaced due to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensives, have been waiting for resettlement in their own villages.
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TRO: Food shortage in Safe Zone, critical

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 12:55 GMT]
While the need of food for the estimated 165,000 people, as determined by the District Secretariat, is roughly 2500 MT a month, ships brought only 60 MT for the whole of April, and the 1100 MT announced by the Sri Lanka Government to be loaded in Trincomalee in ships, never materialized, said Lawrence Christy, head of Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) field office in the Safety Zone, in a report released 2nd May, adding that World Food Program is limited by the Government of Sri Lanka to send a quantity of food barely sufficient to keep alive 50,000 people, a number GoSL is willing to admit as the numbers holed up in the Safe Zone.
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Claymore attack kills youth in Buttala

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 12:43 GMT]
Unidentified men launched a Claymore attack Tuesday morning on a tractor belonging to Pelawathe Sugar Factory in Weliyara village in Buttala in Monaragala district, killing a youth and seriously injuring another man, sources in Puththa’lam said. Meanwhile, Monoragala police arrested two Tamil youths in Monoragala town and have detained them for interrogation, the sources added.
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3 alleged suspects of Thinusika killing found shot dead: Police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 05:44 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police officials in Batticaloa said they have located Tuesday morning three bullet-riddled dead bodies of men who were alleged suspects of involvement in the abduction and murder of 8-year-old Thinusika Satheeskumar Saturday.
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Police arrest 8 Tamils in Polonaruwa

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 05:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka police arrested Saturday night eight Tamil civilians including two women in a cordon and search operation conducted in Kaduruwela area in Polanaruwa district in North Central Province, sources in Polanaruwa said. Most of the arrested are from Batticaloa, Ka’luvaangnchchikkudi, Nawalapitiya and Hatton, employed in the rice mills in the area searched.
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'Drop food now if the concern is humanitarian': Vanni civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 05 May 2009, 01:01 GMT]
“If the Colombo government is starving us, the world should know who is keeping us hostages. If the world’s concern is ‘purely humanitarian’ it should act this very minute to give us our means to keep the body and soul together”, is the voice of the civilian victims of Colombo’s starvation weapon, reported hospital sources in Vanni. Even the meagre food stock of the hospital staff depleted they said. Last Thursday, UN humanitarian chief, John Holmes, acknowledging the situation, said the food supply was barely enough only for a day. Five days have gone, and none coming with only statements of humanitarian concerns, has acted on it. Meanwhile, no more food shipments to Vanni is said to be the decision in Colombo.
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Sri Lanka’s conflict has ancient roots – UK minister, Bishop

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 22:25 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s ethnic conflict is ““obviously … a quarrel that has ancient roots. It is also an extremely violent quarrel, with appalling things being done by both sides,” Britain’s Foreign Office minister Lord Malloch-Brown said Monday. He was agreeing in the House of Lords with the Bishop of Portsmouth who objected to the President of Sri Lanka describing the island’s conflict as part of the “war on terror,” the website Religious Intelligence reported.
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Ocampo urged to investigate Sri Lanka's war crimes

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 22:12 GMT]
Bruce Fein, counsel for a US-based Tamil activist group, in a letter sent to Chief Prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC) Hon. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, and made public Monday, urged him to open investigations for war crimes, crimes against humanity and war crimes against four high-level officials of the Sri Lanka Government. Fein said he had sent copies of the Model Indictment for Genocide currently being reviewed at the U.S. Department of Justice, to Ocampo's office.
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India obligated to bring Sri Lanka's genocide to UN Security Council - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Pointing to India's Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh's statement that the lack of peace and stability in Sri Lanka can also" affect security situation in our country [India]", as reported in the Press Trust of India Monday, Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at University of Illinois College of Law said that "[i]n light of this latest statement by the Prime Minister of India, the Government of India must immediately bring the Government of Sri Lanka's genocide against the Tamils to the attention of the United Nations Security Council for remedial action," as allowed by the Article 35(1) of UN charter.
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160 Tamils arrested in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 18:08 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and police took into custody Monday 160 Tamils in Chammaanththu’rai in Ampaa’rai district in a large scale joint cordon and search operation, sources in Ampaa’rai said. Though Sinhalese and Muslim civilians were subjected to interrogation during the search only Tamils have been arrested and detained in the police stations in Ampaa’rai district, the sources added.
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Police arrest 6 Tamil youths in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 17:27 GMT]
Police and Sri Lanka Army in a cordon and search operation conducted in the Katunayake high security zone on Saturday night arrested six Tamil youths who are residents of east and upcountry area. Police said they were detained in police station as they failed to prove their identity and justify their stay in the location.
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Colombo SLHRC restricts its Jaffna office functions

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 14:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) Colombo Head Office Secretary, Ms. Chandra Ellawela, has instructed Jaffna office not to admit anyone seeking protection to their lives into the office but to get the assistance of the police to check them and not to take them to Court in HRC vehicles but in private vehicles, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, it has been decided to instruct persons seeking protection to their lives to do so in one of the five Magistrate Courts in Jaffna peninsula, in a high level meeting between Jaffna Additional Magistrate, T. Wicknarajah and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander, according to directions released by the Additional Magistrate, the sources added.
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Candlelight vigil for Vanni victims held in Mauritius

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 11:41 GMT]
Amnesty International Mauritius Branch held a candlelight vigil adopting the theme “Let’s all light a candle for Vanni” in Rose Hill in Mauritius 30 April in which the Mayor of Rose Hill, many MPs of the Mauritius National Assembly, the leader of the opposition, representatives of the National Movement Against Tamil Genocide (MATG) and other NGOS participated. A petition was circulated, calling the Government of Mauritius to intervene and make official representations in international forums to stop the war, alleviate the suffering of the Tamil civilians caught in the war and lobby for proper humanitarian aid to reach the war-affected zones.
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76 Vanni civilians taken to SLA Thellippazhai Rehabilitation Centre

[TamilNet, Monday, 04 May 2009, 06:10 GMT]
Seventy-six Vanni civilians held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna peninsula have been forcibly taken by SLA to Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation centre, according to complaints made by the persons’ relatives in the detention centres to NGOs in Jaffna. Meanwhile, Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, in a press notification Sunday, said that the 76 Vanni civilans have volunteered to be placed in Thellippazhai SLA Rehabilitation Centre, sources in Jaffna said.
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World Press Freedom Day observed in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 16:15 GMT]
“It is of great importance that the World Press Freedom Day is celebrated in Jaffna peninsula where press freedom is completely restricted,” Chief guest of the event, C. V. K. Sivagnanam, the president of Jaffna peninsula NGOs Federation, said in the event organized by North Ceylon Journalists’ Association (NCJA) Sunday around 10:30 a. m in Jaffna University Media Training Centre, chaired by NCJA President, V. Kathirkamathamby. The portraits of the slain journalists of Jaffna peninsula and Tharmaratnam Sivaram, Tharaki, from Batticaloa and late senior journalists were unveiled in the NCJA office in the Media Training Centre at the beginning of the event, sources in Jaffna said. Veteran media photographer, Changkarakambar Kahiravelu, 76, was honoured for his continuing dedicated service to the media for the past 45 years, in the event.
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Colombo builds up for imminent massacre

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 13:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) during the weekend has reportedly been engaged in heavy deployment of its troops poised for a major onslaught, reports from Vanni said citing sources close to the LTTE on Sunday. All kinds of heavy weapons, including prohibited ones, are ready for deployment on the 'No Fire Zone', the sources said. Meanwhile, denying the use of heavy weapons Sri Lanka's president and Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa said Saturday that he can't help for the world not believing in him. On Saturday, several artillery shells fired by the SLA on the only remaining makeshift hospital in the 'safety zone' killed at least 64 patients and attendees including a volunteer doctor and wounded 87.
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Japan’s aid for Tamils’ rehabilitation will not reach them – TNA tells Yasuhi Akashi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
”Japan’s 480 million aid to Sri Lanka government to rehabilitate displaced Tamils will only help the government’s aims to segregate the traditional home lands of the Tamils converting Vanni into a military zone”, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Suresh Premachandran told Japanese Ambassador, Yasushi Akashi when the TNA delegation led by Iraa. Sampanthan, TNA parliamentary group’s leader, met the Ambassador Saturday, TNA sources said. Yasushi Akashi, in response said that the Sri Lanka government which was elected by the people of Sri Lanka has pledged to him that the displaced Tamils will be gradually resettled and was told by Iraa. Sampanthan that Sri Lanka government will never keep to its pledge, the sources added.
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Children faint from hunger, starvation deaths reported in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 07:56 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan on Sunday blamed the Sri Lankan government for deliberately carrying out "horrendous act of genocide" by denying food and humanitarian access to the civilian population. Mr. Nadesan pointed out the imminent danger of starvation escalating exponentially and urged the International Community not to fail in its duty to ensure humanitarian access to the civilian population under siege by the Sri Lankan military. Meanwhile, health officials in Vanni report that several children faint from hunger within the so-called safety zone every day. Deliberate denial of food by Colombo, especially milk powder for children, have caused severe malnutrition and starvation as local media reported at least 9 starvation deaths in recent days.
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Sinhalese colonization of Tamil village in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 04:37 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Eastern Province parliamentarians accused the government of colonizing traditional Tamil villages in the border area between the districts of Batticaloa and Ampaa’rai districts with Sinhalese families, sources in Batticaloa said. Encroachment by Sinhalese families of paddy fields of Tamils in Keviliyaamadu village in Paddippazhai Divisional Secretariat in Batticaloa district takes place with government assistance, they further said.
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RSF campaigns for release of three women journalists

[TamilNet, Sunday, 03 May 2009, 01:38 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Saturday said it is mounting a campaign for the release of three women journalists, Iranian-American journalist Roxana Saberi, who has been sentenced to eight years in prison in Iran on a charge of spying for the United States, and two American journalists employed by California-based Current TV, Euna Lee and Laura Ling, who have been held in Pyongyang since 17 March. In the 2009 report released earlier in the year the RSF said in Sri Lanka, "[m]urders, physical assaults, kidnappings, threats and censorship are the lot of Sri Lanka's journalists. Top government officials, including the defence minister, are directly implicated in the serious press freedom violations that accompanied the military offensive against the Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels."
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Tamil Nadu activists attack Indian Army trucks

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 18:06 GMT]
Activists belonging to the pro-Tamil nationalist Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam (PDK) attacked a convoy of military trucks of the Indian Army allegedly transporting weapons to Sri Lanka. Five trucks were damaged in the attack. Mortar shells were found in the trucks, sources in Chennai said.
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Jaffna DDC meeting postponed again

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 18:00 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) K. Ganesh informed that the Jaffna District Development Committee (DDC) meeting scheduled to take place 5 May has been postponed indefinitely. This is the second time the DDC meeting is postponed during the current year. The DDC, comprised of Sri Lanka Minister, Douglas Devananda, Governor of Northern Provincial Council and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, Mavai Senathirajah, is responsible for the planning and implementation of development projects of Jaffna district.
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LTTE urges UK, French Foreign ministers to continue initiatives

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 17:59 GMT]
The LTTE’s Head of the Political Division on Saturday appreciated the attempts of the UK and French foreign ministers for visiting Colombo to address the dire humanitarian crisis faced by the Tamil people. In his letter to the ministers, the LTTE political head clarified the situation of IDPs in LTTE control areas in Vanni and invited international monitors to assess the civilian situation. Further, he concurred with the Foreign Ministers’ assessment of the situation by stating that ‘Should the Sri Lankan regime be permitted to continue with its ultimate objective of imposing a ‘final solution’ through military means, we have no doubt that it will destabilize the region’.
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Gotabaya's "malice borne of intolerance" cause for incarceration, says Vithyatharan's petition

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 16:27 GMT]
In a Fundamental Rights petition filed with the Supreme Court in Sri Lanka, Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, present editor of the newspapers Sudar Oli and Uthayan, states that he was "victimized as a result of the views and opinions expressed in some of his articles published in the aforesaid newspapers, Sudar Oli and Uthayan, " and adds that Gotabaya's "displeasure and intolerance" towards his articles that criticize the Government, and Gotabaya's "malice borne of intolerance," were reasons for his incarceration.
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Paramilitary kills kidnapped girl in Batticaloa after ransom demand

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 11:56 GMT]
Dead body of the 8-year-old Thinusika Satheeskumar, the girl reported missing since Tuesday after going to her school, was recovered inside an abandoned well in the city Saturday morning. The victims' relatives have alleged that the killers were paramilitary operatives who have been demanding 3 million rupees in ransom. Thinusika is the daughter of Satheeskumar Santhirarajah who was abducted two years ago allegedly by Karuna Group paramilitary men demanding ransom. He was reportedly slain in Welikande even after a part of the ransom was paid. Now, a former PLOTE paramilitary operative is alleged to be the man behind the abduction and murder of the girl.
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Obama expresses concern for Tissainayagam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 11:01 GMT]
In a statement issued by the White House in honor of World Press Freedom Day, President Barack Obama expressed his concern for Sunday Times Journalist J.S Tissainayagam and said his case was "emblematic of the hundreds of journalists who face intimidation, censorship, and arbitrary arrest." Tissainayagam and journalists like him are "guilty of nothing more than a passion for truth and a tenacious belief that a free society depends on an informed citizenry," said President Obama in his statement.
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SLA massacres patients with targeted shelling, 64 killed in hospital

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 08:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Saturday attacked the only remaining makeshift hospital twice, killing 64 patients and attending relatives, and causing injuries to 87. Two artillery shells fired by the SLA hit the hospital at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal around 9:00 a.m. killing 23 and maiming 34 and later several shells were fired at 10:30 a.m., killing 41 and maiming 53. The attack has taken place, after the Sri Lankan military was provided with the exact coordinates of the hospital premises three days back through the ICRC, and as Sri Lanka Air Force Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) was monitoring the hospital area. The massacre is calculated to coerce the civilians said a rescue worker citing leaflets air dropped Friday with Mahinda Rajapaksa's message asking civilians to come to the SLA side.
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Displaced Muslim youth from Mullaiththeevu missing in Puththa'lam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 02 May 2009, 06:44 GMT]
A Muslim youth who was displaced from Mullaiththeevu in 1990 and sheltered in a welfare centre at Kallimara Aalangkudaa in Puththa'lam district has been reported missing since April 16, according to a complaint lodged with Puththa’lam Police by his relatives.
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17 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo on May Day

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 17:52 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) and police took into custody 17 Tamil youths in a joint search operation conducted on May Day in Colombo 7, Bambalapitiya, Wellawathe, Watala and Negombo, subjecting hundreds of people going along the streets to severe interrogation, sources in Colombo said. The main political parties did not conduct May Day processions within Colombo city, the sources said.
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SLA steps up attacks, civilian casualties mount amidst starvation, congested life

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 16:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up artillery, mortar and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) fire on Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, causing panic among civilians in a heavily congested village of Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Friday from 9:30 a.m. Friday. Many civilians were killed as the shelling has continued for hours throughout the evening. Medical staff at the makeshift hospital were only able to report the deaths of those who succumbed to the injuries. 110 wounded civilians were admitted up to 4:30 p.m. at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal hospital which came under attack on previous two days. 27 of the wounded have succumbed to their injuries. Many more, killed in the SLA barrage were buried or burnt by their kith and kin.
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TNA parliamentarians condemn disappearance of students in Eastern Province

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 16:12 GMT]
“How could the government say that normalcy has been restored to Eastern Province and that civil administration takes place when many students in Batticaloa, Ampaa’rai and Trincomalee have gone missing?” Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Batticaloa parliamentarians asked, in a joint report which called on the government to take action to have the abducted students released at the earliest, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Family man knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 15:26 GMT]
Unidentified persons knifed to death a family man in Thurkkaapuram, a village close to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai Thursday night during curfew hours, sources in Jaffna said. The victim had been sleeping outside his house and his family members saw his body Friday early morning and informed Thellippazhai police.
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Hurdles remain on IMF Sri Lanka loan

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 03:51 GMT]
While the mandate of the IMF is to assist member countries facing Balance of Payment crisis, regardless of the military or human right situation, the loan to Sri Lanka can be stopped if the law suit filed by the Tamil diaspora is successful or if the members of the Executive Committee vocally campaigned against the loan, congressional sources said.
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Miliband, Kouchner make progress in grasping the problem

[TamilNet, Friday, 01 May 2009, 02:15 GMT]
“What was positive about the visit of the foreign ministers of Britain and France to Colombo was the two showing much progress in grasping the nature of the crisis in the island”, said Tamil political circles in the diaspora, responding to a joint statement of the ministers, David Miliband and Bernard Kouchner Thursday. But how the belated realisation is going to be translated into timely action – first to come out of the shackles they were tricked putting onto themselves, and then to handle the Frankenstein monster before it is too late, is what really matters and is an acid test for the claimed changes if any in paradigm”, the diaspora circles said. Echoing a White House statement last week, pointing out slipping possibilities for reconciliation and a unified Sri Lanka, Miliband and Kouchner said Thursday that “chances of any kind of political settlement recede”.
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