Colombo uses firebombs setting ablaze civilian targets in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2009, 11:30 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) have increasingly deployed incendiary bombs in several forms in recent attacks on Vanni civilians. A petroleum-derived liquid mixture is found used in SLAF bombardments. The same kind of bomb is also used in artillery and mortar barrage in addition to artillery-fired flying fireballs that ignite the bombed target. Recently, the makeshift hospital at Udaaiyaarkaddu was attacked with such bombs, as documented by a video, filmed from a building in the hospital.
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Eezham Tamil immolates himself to death in front of UN office in Geneva

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2009, 16:17 GMT]
A 26-year-old diaspora Eezham Tamil from UK has self-immolated himself to death in front of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) in Switzerland Thursday night around 8:20 p.m., according to police spokesman Eric Grandgean. The man has identified himself as Murukathasan in a letter left behind by him 10 meters away from the scene, the Police officer said when contacted by a Tamil journalist in Switzerland on Friday. The copy of the letter in English and Tamil, received by Tamil journalists, with the identical name, said: "I believe the flames over my body, heart and soul will help the world community to have a deep human look over the great sufferings of the Sri Lankan Tamils.
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Herding people by terror: Intense shelling, dead bodies on roadside in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 February 2009, 13:50 GMT]
More than 150 civilians were feared killed Thursday alone and around 90 in the preceding two days in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling in Mullaiththeevu district. Most of the casualties are reported along the sides of two roads through which the civilians are forced to flee in yet another mass exodus to a new 'safety zone' unilaterally announced by Colombo. Dead bodies were lying along the roadside from Theavipuram to Puthukkudiyiruppu and the fleeing civilians were forced to bury their dead along the roadside amid intense shelling, initial reports from Vanni said. The new 'safety zone' declared by Colombo is nothing but an assembling ground to herd 300,000 civilians in a small stretch of land along the lagoon and the sea coast, north of Mullaiththeevu.
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Singapore Tamils protest newspaper misreporting

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2009, 13:57 GMT]
Singapore Tamils have protested misreporting of a news in the headlines of the country's Tamil daily Tamil Murasu last Thursday, which read that the LTTE had claimed they would even attack Tamil Nadu, media circles in Singapore said.
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Tigers deny firing at civilians, accuse SLA, urge for international monitors

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 01:15 GMT]
Categorically denying reports by the Sri Lankan military officials in Colombo that the Tigers had fired at the fleeing civilians in Vanni, Puthukkudiyiruppu Divisional Political Head of the LTTE, C. Ilamparithy told TamilNet Wednesday that Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commando teams had entered the 'safety zone' in Udaiyaarkaddu and Chuthanthirapuram and had opened fire killing civilians and causing injuries to many in their attempt to forcibly move the civilians into the hands of the SLA. "Sri Lankan military machinery, which has relentlessly killed and maimed thousands of civilians during the past four weeks, is now engaged in a propaganda drive to divert the mounting pressure on the Colombo government by the International Community," Mr. Ilamparithy charged.
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80 killed, 200 wounded, carnage continues inside 'safe zone'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 19:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued indiscriminate barrage of artillery shelling on the 'safety zone' killing more than 80 civilians and causing injuries to 200. Most of the casualties were reported along the roads. Every single shell fired by the SLA was exploding in densely populated civilian area and people were forced to stay inside bunkers. However, as people feared ending up in the hands of the SLA which is close to Chuthanthirapuram, they were fleeing in thousands further into LTTE territory amid shelling, facing deaths and injuries on their way, said TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. According to eyewitness reports, 40 dead bodies of civilians, including children and women, were seen along the 2.5 km stretch of Paranthan Puthukkudiyiruppu Road between Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram.
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CNN edits out Genocide charges against Sri Lanka, complains M.I.A

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2009, 04:54 GMT]
Oscar and Grammy award nominee, Eezham born music phenom, Maya Arulpragasam, uses "her fame to shed light on a growing international conflict" CNN says in its website. During an interview with CNN's Kareen Wynter, Friday, pointing an accusing finger at the Government of Sri Lanka for killing Tamil civilians, Maya says, "Tamils who are a bunch of people in Sri Lanka, are being wiped out; I am one of those people who made it out. My school got bombed, people in my village are getting killed," and adds that she needs music to get all this information out. Reliable sources told TamilNet that the singer accused CNN for editing out her references to Sri Lanka's Genocide, and for attempting to associate her music with violence.
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Tigers seize SLA arms storage in PTK

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 16:02 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) this week seized an arms storage from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), sources close to LTTE told TamilNet Friday. Hundreds of SLA crack commandos were drawn into Mannaka'ndal and Keappaapulavu 'boxes' and were cut off from their rear supplies during a pre-emptive strike by the Tiger forces, resulting in the loss of more than one thousand SLA soldiers since February 01. An arms storage, which was full of weapons as the SLA was in full preparation to launch its 'final assault' on PTK was seized by the Tiger commandos engaged in the preemptive strike.
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SLA attacks 'safety zone' using short-range mortars, gunfire, claiming lives

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 20:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Thursday shell-attacked saftey zone in torrents not allowing people to come out of bunkers throughout the day in Chuthanthirapuram and Iruddumadu civilian refuges. Two of the sixteen dead bodies of civilians brought to hospital had gunfire injuries, according to medical sources. More than 6,000 shells exploded inside the safe zone, reported TamilNet correspondent amidst shelling audible throughout reporting. The SLA has deployed several short and medium range mortars to fire shells on Chunthanthirapuram and Iruddumadu.
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India legally obliged to prevent GoSL's genocide against Tamils- Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 05:02 GMT]
Emphasizing that under Common Article 1 to the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949, India has the obligation "to respect and to ensure respect" for these Conventions "in all circumstances," Professor Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a communiqué sent to TamilNet says, "India must demand that the United States government prosecute Rajapakse immediately for violating the U.S. Genocide Convention Implementation Act as well as the U.S. War Crimes Act," and appeals to the Tamils worldwide and people of good faith and goodwill to mobilize behind the legal agenda set forth above [in the communique] and to pressure the Governments of India and the United States to fulfill their solemn obligations under the Genocide Convention and the Four Geneva Conventions of 1949."
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Gotabaya should be prosecuted for Genocide, war crimes – Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 22:47 GMT]
Commenting on the interview to the BBC and to the Sky TV by Sri Lanka’s Defence Secretary, Professor Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, told TamilNet that “the deliberate targeting of Hospitals and Civilians by the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) violates the Geneva Conventions and is thus a war crime,” and that “as a United States Citizen, Defense Secretary Rajapakse, should be prosecuted by the United States government for violating the US Genocide Convention Implementation Act and the US War Crimes Act.”
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‘For whom the Co-chairs strive,’ asks Tamil parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 21:33 GMT]
The statement of the Co-chairs released Tuesday is “regrettably based on wrong premises and aims at disastrous ends,” Jaffna district parliamentarian S. Kajendren told TamilNet. "It sounds as though the Co-directors of the current war are at a last bid attempt to save Sri Lanka, one of the worst genocidal states of our times, before it collapses under its own burden of militarization, ethnic chauvinism and human rights violations. Their approach would have been different if they really care for the lives and dignity of civilians and if they have any respect for the democratic right of the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils,” he told TamilNet while issuing a statement responding to Co-chairs' stand.
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SLAF personnel being trained in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 18:13 GMT]
Eight pilots of the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) are presently undergoing training at the Indian Air Force base at Thaamparam (Tambaram) near Chennai in Tamil Nadu, highly placed sources told TamilNet. News of this training spread like wildfire when the Sri Lankan Airforce personnel were taken Monday to the Chealaiyoor (Selaiyur) police-station for visa verification purposes. "People of Tamil Nadu need no further proof that this war of decimating Tamils in Sri Lanka is being undertaken at India's insistence and instructions. This confirms our fears that Indian troops have also been sent to fight there," a veteran Tamil activist told TamilNet.
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Obama greetings disregard Tamil aspirations - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 15:36 GMT]
While Eezham Tamils all over the world observe a Black Day on the occasion of Sri Lankan Independence Day on February 4, US President Barack Obama's greetings to the Sri Lankan President that hint integrity of Sri Lanka is viewed by Tamil circles as hurting the democratic aspirations of Tamils, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) pariamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy told TamilNet.
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The pawns of states and super states: A poetic picture of Tamil agony

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 13:48 GMT]
A Tamil academic and folklorist S. Jeyasankar aptly brings out the plight of Eezham Tamils in a recent verse of him in English. The poem found in his website is reproduced by TamilNet.
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PTK hospital, legitimate military target - Gotabhaya

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 05:14 GMT]
"No hospital should operate outside the Safety Zone...everything beyond the safety is a legitimate target," Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabaya Rajapakse tells the Skynews, admitting to the culpability of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital. In another interview with the BBC, a clearly irate Rajapakse ridicules Lasantha Wickrematunge as an editor of a "tabloid," and queries reporter Chris Morris as to why the media is interested in "one man" when there are thousands of killings and murders."
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'IC should act before it is too late'

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 21:26 GMT]
Colombo is now blackmailing the IC that any effort to stop the war at this juncture would boomerang in the south, destabilizing the system and disappointing the greed of those who want to eat the cake in full and have invested for that purpose in the island. It now doesn’t hide its intention of committing genocide of civilians along with its attempt to crush the LTTE in the next few days, leaving the consequences to be tackled later. Sonia Establishment’s haste is everyone's knowledge. Some powers think that by immediately dumping money for 'development' in the ‘conquered land’, Tamils can be appeased and the investors can find an outlet for the economic recession. But no one is prepared for a political solution, reflects a reader on an article appeared in TamilNet Monday.
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More than 5,000 shells fired on 'safety zone', casualties uncountable

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 16:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells throughout the whole day on Monday from all directions into civilian refuges. At least one hundred civilians could have been killed or maimed in the indiscriminate barrage. The casualties are uncountable as the whole population is forced to reside inside the bunkers throughout the whole day, reports TamilNet correspondent. "Monday was the worst day of SLA shelling so far within the safety zone."
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SLA fires MBRL rockets on IDP camp, several feared dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) rockets exploded inside a refugee camp of the Internally Displaced People Monday night around 10:00 p.m. killing several IDPs, initial reports said. The camp, located in Chuthanthirapuram is on fire. No one is able to access the camp to gather more details as shelling continues to target the roads. TamilNet correspondent has witnessed several artillery-fired flying fireballs coming from SLA positions into the safety zone. The shells cause immediate fire.
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Focusing on demand for positive change in IC outlook urged

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 11:30 GMT]
It is a war concurrently waged by Colombo government and Sonia Congress of India on the national aspirations of Eezham Tamils and in the process committing genocide on them. The perverted international vantage of the war and the milieu facilitated the war are a result of the Bush Syndrome. Obama has come but there is no US effort to arrest the hangover, and the British duplicity on the issue also continues. It is time the world has to look at the crisis in its true perspective as a national liberation struggle and stop discussing it as a ‘terrorist’ threat or minority issue, seeking solutions within the rotten state and polity of Sri Lanka, writes a senior Tamil scholar.
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