"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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“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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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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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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Prof. Boyle: hold Emergency Meeting of UNSC to stop Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 12 May 2009, 23:20 GMT]
Pointing out that, under the current circumstances, the Provisional Rules of Procedure of the United Nation's Security Council (UNSC) provide at least three ways to convene a formal meeting of the Security Council in order to terminate the Genocide against Tamils by the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), Prof. Francis A. Boyle, professor of International Law at the Illinois University College of Law, says, failure of the Secretary General, Governments of the United States, U.K, France, and India to hold a UNSC Emergency meeting indicates that they are all quietly supporting the GoSL genocide against the Tamils from behind the scenes, despite their crocodile tears in public.
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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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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