British FO sabotaging Tamil national question condemned

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 03:13 GMT]
A statement released by the British Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs on Wednesday, totally ignoring the national basis of the decades old Tamil struggle and treating the humanitarian crisis of civilians as an outcome of terrorism is strongly condemned by Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian S. Gajendran, who added: The preaching of the modern "corporate religion of greed" to Tamils seems to be "submit yourself to thy genocidal killers."
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Sri Lankan fighter jet reported missing in Northern frontier

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 15:55 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) MIG fighter jet was shot in the skies over Vanni on Wednesday, according to initial reports from journalists outside Sri Lanka, who cited a highly placed source in Vanni Sri Lankan Forces Headquarters (Vanni SF-HQ). The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials were not available to comment on the reports.
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IC urged to act on humanitarian grounds to safeguard civilians

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 21 January 2009, 12:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has cornered civilians in overcrowded areas in the suburbs of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) town, according to sources in Vanni. While artillery shells exploding in densely populated makeshift settlements have caused several civilian casualties, civilians are fleeing from indiscriminate bombardment from air and ground are forced to seek shelters throughout the day, civil sources from Vanni said. IDPs' representatives express fear that those who fall into the hands of SLA units are likely to be forcibly transported under close military supervision to detention centre style camps at locations isolated from mainstream communities, as evidenced in Mannaar and in areas north of the recently SLA-occupied Elephant Pass.
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Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.
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'Lives lost yielding nothing to Colombo'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
"It is not a question of whether Tamil Eelam will become independent. Rather, it is a question of how many lives, on both sides of the Tamil Eelam border, the Sinhala regime(s) are prepared to waste in the process," writes a reader, Mr. Poulson, in response to TamilNet's call for opinion last week. "The Sinhala polity is not interested in a ceasefire and nor are the strategic partners. Hence it must be forced upon them," he writes further in his situation analysis.
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Mannaar police detains 6 fishermen, 1 civilian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Six fishermen from Mannar were arrested by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) on Naachchikkudaa seas and are being detained by Detention Order (DO). A seventh youth was arrested by Mannaar police in a search conducted in his house Wednesday when a sticker of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Forest Department was found in the house, the police claimed.The fishermen are from Mannaar Thoadave’li, Joseph Vaz Nakar.
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Vanni civilians under deadly siege

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 17:50 GMT]
"There are no words to describe the plight of the civilians who say that they prefer to face death on the spot rather than succumbing to serious injuries or ending up in the hands of the invading Sri Lankan forces, which many of them regard as genocidal military and fear that their young men and women would be 'filtered' away, tortured or killed by it," reports TamilNet correspondent from an outskirt of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) Sunday evening amid artillery fire.
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9000 British Tamils gather in protest against war on Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 14:45 GMT]
More than 9000 British Tamils gathered Saturday in front of No. 10 Downing Street in London participating in a mass vigil from 3:00 p.m till 7:00 p.m, urging British Prime Minister Gordon Brown to exert pressure on the governments of Sri Lanka and India to call for an immediate ceasefire in Sri Lanka. This event marks the third of the ‘Awareness Campaign’ organized by the Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) in United Kingdom.
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Artillery barrage kills several civilians, dozens wounded within 24 hours

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 14:27 GMT]
At least 18 civilians have been confirmed killed within the last 24 hours till 3:00 p.m. Sunday in several villages of Mullaiththeevu district and the outer suburbs of Ki'linochchi district to the east of A9 highway. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has stepped up artillery barrage continuously throughout the period, causing deaths and injuries to several. Dead bodies have been spotted in many places and transportation of wounded has been completely blocked due to the relentless artillery barrage. At least 42 civilians were wounded Sunday alone, according to available data. Medical authorities in Puthukkudiyiruppu express fear that the casualty figure could be much higher than what has been reported.
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Sri Lankan shelling kills 4 civilians, children among 11 wounded

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 02:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells claimed the lives of four civilians in Puthukkudiyiruppu and Visuvamadu on Saturday, according to medical sources. Four children were among the wounded.
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Tamil Nadu CPI, BJP leaders slam Delhi’s inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 22:13 GMT]
The Tamil Nadu State Secretary of the Communist Party of India (CPI), D Pandian charged Saturday that it was not enough to merely condemn the genocide in Sri Lanka, but instead one should be prepared to embrace a martyr's death. He was speaking about VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan’s fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s war. The senior CPI leader added that if India was capable of sending the Chandrayaan to the moon, it could at least do some lip-service to save the lives of Tamils by telling to the Government of Sri Lanka that it will not hesitate to interfere."
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Ramdoss exhorts Karunanidhi to urgent action in stopping Sri Lanka war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 21:08 GMT]
Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK) leader Dr S Ramadoss, who visited VCK leader Thol Thirumavalavan, now in his fourth day of a fast-unto-death over the humanitarian crisis imposed on Tamil civilians by Sri Lanka’s punitive bombardments, exhorted Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi to act urgently to invoke Indian intervention to stop the war. Emphatically refuting Mr. Karunanidhi's statement that the VCK leader had “unilaterally decided” to stage a protest fast without consulting the rest of the Tamil Nadu polity, Dr. Ramadoss said Thol Thirumavalavan, whose health is detoriarating, had consulted other leaders several times in the recent weeks.
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Menon restated India’s support for war – Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 16:46 GMT]
Indian Foreign Secretary Shivshankar Menon, who met with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday “reaffirmed India’s cooperation with Sri Lanka in the attempts to eliminate terrorism from Sri Lanka and the region, and observed that at present the relations between India and Sri Lanka have never been so close, so warm and so deep,” the Colombo government said in a statement. President Rajapakse met Mr. Menon in Kandy, the ancient seat of Sinhala power, rather than in Colombo.
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Catholic priests appeal to UN to intervene in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 January 2009, 06:55 GMT]
Catholic priests and other religious leaders in Vanni, in an urgent letter appealed to the UN Secretary General, Ban Ki Moon, to "take immediate steps to stop the senseless war and put an end to the untold sufferings of the innocent civilians," and said that the "root of the on going war is the Structural Injustice, a vehement denial of equality and dignity of the Sri Lanka Tamils..."
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5 civilians killed, 7 injured in Sri Lankan artillery attack

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 15:39 GMT]
Sri Lankan artillery attack on overcrowded Kaiveali and Koampaavil, and also on Visuvamadu, from where civilians were fleeing Friday, killed five civilians, including a 14-year-old girl, and caused injuries to a 8-year-old boy and six others, according to the reports from Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital.
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Jaffna District Secretariat urges help from NGOs to assist uprooted civilians

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 14:36 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent (GA) and Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretary have requested the help of International and local Non Government Organizations (NGOs) and humanitarian organizations in Jaffna to supply urgent requisites other than food to the civilians who have been brought to Thenmaraadchi by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) from areas earlier held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Pa’lai, Pachchilaippa’li, Iyakkachchi and Vadamaraadchi East. 1796 persons belonging to 627 families have been brought by Sri Lanka Army to Kodikaamam till Thursday evening, according to the figures from the District Secretariat. More families have been brought Thursday night and on Friday.
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Jaffna Bishop urges SL President to stop bombardment

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 14:35 GMT]
Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam has urged the Sri Lankan President and Commander-in-Chief of the Lankan armed forces to stop all shelling and aerial bombings at civilian places in Vanni, in an urgent letter sent to President Mahinda Rajapakse Monday, before the latest mass exodus towards Puthukkudiyiruppu. "It is the duty of the Government to open a safe corridor for the safety of the civilians. Please stop all shelling and aerial bombings at civilian places," the Bishop said in his letter titled "Humble but urgent request to stop shelling on civilian places in Vanni."
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Humanitarian tragedy in Vanni enters deadlier phase

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 12:33 GMT]
Indiscriminate artillery, multi-barrel and mortar fire by the Sri Lanka Army from all the corners of shrinking territory centering Puthukkudiyiruppu town, its suburbs and adjoining jungles in the Mullaiththeevu district, which is overcrowded with civilians, has worsened the humanitarian tragedy that has been unfolding in Vanni during the last 4 days. There are deaths and injuries caused to the civilians fleeing the onslaught of the SLA. Medical authorities said the situation was beyond control Friday noon and the hospitals have come under attack and ambulances were not operating. Access route from Vadamaraadchi East has been cut off by the SLA that has entered Chu'ndikku'lam area.
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"Which norms of liberal democracy preclude IC attending to exodus, genocide?" asks IDP activist

[TamilNet, Friday, 16 January 2009, 03:52 GMT]
The LTTE doesn't obstruct or instruct the civilians of Vanni of what direction they have to take in fleeing the current phase of war. But, a large section of the civilians have considered that their security, even now, lies in the LTTE held areas in the eye of war, and are spontaneously moving towards that direction. "Allowing the war to continue, leaving Tamil civilians in the hands of the preying Sinhala army, which we dread, demonstrates only the cruelty of the few minds that determine the course of the war from outside of the island and how international norms evolved through civilisation have become a joke," said P. Kanakalingam, the president of Vanni People's Welfare Organisation (VPWO), on Thursday.
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Land mine blast injures civilian in Vadamaraadchi north

[TamilNet, Thursday, 15 January 2009, 17:50 GMT]
A family man on his way to E’luthumadduvaa’l from Chu’ndikku’lam in Vadamaraadchi north sustained serious injury stepping on a land mine sown along the foot track he was walking along, sources in Jaffna said. The injured family man was rushed to Chaavakachcheari hospital first and then transferred to Jaffna Teaching Hospital for further treatment.
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