Co-Chairs: LTTE surrender will save Vanni civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 16:53 GMT]
The Tokyo Co-Chairs (Norway, Japan, US and EU) Tuesday called on the Tamil Tigers to lay down their arms surrender to the Sri Lankan government if the civilians of Vanni are to be spared further death and suffering. The Co-Chairs said they would (thereafter) ensure an “inclusive dialogue” that will lead to lasting peace.
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Hunger strike against killings of Tamil in Vanni continues, in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 05:35 GMT]
More than a hundred persons including women, men, children and priests led by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, continued the hunger strike at Paasaiyoor St. Antony’s Church Monday, calling for the immediate stop of the killings of innocent Tamils in Vanni by the government of Sri Lanka, sources in Jaffna said. The participants in the hunger strike kept praying for the safety of the people in Vanni as artillery barrage and aerial bombings continued in Vanni, killing and maiming men, women and children, the sources added. The hunger strike began at 9:00 a.m and ended at 3:00 p.m.
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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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US Senators express concern on humanitarian situation in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 February 2009, 04:08 GMT]
United States Senator and Foreign Relations Committee Chairman John Kerry (D - Mass.) and Ranking Committee Minority Member, Senator Richard Lugar, in a press release issued today expressed concern "about the deteriorating humanitarian situation" in Vanni, and urged both parties to provide humanitarian access. The senior Senators condemned the "repeated shelling of a hospital," and added they are deeply troubled by Colombo's threat to expel foreign diplomats, and the brazen assassination of Lasantha Wickrematunge.
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SLAF bombers attack Vanni, deploy cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 23:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers carried out four sorties of indiscriminate bombardment, also deploying cluster bombs, from Monday morning till 2:00 p.m. at Theavipuram and Puthukkudiyiruppu.
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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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Nurse killed in Udaiyaarkaddu hospital, ICRC staff wounded in PTK

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells on both the hospitals in Vanni again on Monday. A nurse who was attending a wounded patient at Udaiyaarkaddu makeshift hospital (Ki'linochchi hospital) was killed when 3 shells hit the hospital. 10 civilians, including ICRC/SLRC staff stationed in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), were wounded, according to a civilian source. Hospital authorities were unreachable to verify the details.
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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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Sri Lanka HRC key officials visit Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 15:12 GMT]
A high profile team of Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (HRC) Colombo arrived Friday in Jaffna where they met Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers and the magistrates in Jaffna and discussed matters related to the interests of persons placed in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison and the civilians brought to Jaffna peninsula by the SLA and placed in detention camps, sources in Jaffna said. The team flew back to Colombo Sunday.
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Explosive laden lorry discovered in Trincomalee town

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Sri Lanaka armed forces in Trincomalee town have been put on red alert Monday following the discovery of a lorry alleged to have been loaded with explosives near the residence of a police official of Trincomalee Harbour Police. Sri Lanaka armed forces suspect that LTTE cadres had brought the explosive laden vehicle to commit a crime in the east port town, according to media sources in Colombo quoting Police Headquarters.
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SLA shells PTK hospital, 9 killed, 15 wounded

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 02:14 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelled Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital Sunday night killing nine civilians, including patients and their family members in the ward. More than 15 civilians were injured. The indiscriminate attack on the hospital has caused panic and tension among the hundreds of wounded civilians at the hospital. The shelling has come despite repeated calls from the medical authorities not to fire shells on the civilian medical facility and within a few hours of a public statement from the ICRC, which said it was shocked by the shelling on hospital twice in recent days. Meanwhile, a source at Vavuniyaa District Secretariat told TamilNet Monday that it was a premeditated massacre as the military was given instructions by the SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa to isolate hospitals from civilian access by artillery barrage.
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Shelling hits hospital, ICRC shocked

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 19:39 GMT]
The International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), in a statement issued from Colombo Sunday expressed shock at the shelling of Puthukkudiyiruppu Hospital a second time in a week, and said "wounded and sick people, medical personnel and medical facilities are all protected by international humanitarian law. Under no circumstance may they be directly attacked," pointing an accusing finger at the Government of Sri Lanka and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) without mentioning either by name.
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Expressing concern is not enough, countries should intervene - CJPCD Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 14:53 GMT]
“Mere expression of concern by the countries of the world is not enough; immediate intervention to urge Sri Lanka government to stop its killing and maiming of the innocent Tamils in Vanni is the need of the hour,” the Commission for Justice and Peace of Catholic Diocese (CJPCD) said in its message released at the end of the fifth day hunger strike in protest against the continuing Sri Lanka government’s artillery barrage and aerial strikes on the Tamils in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said.
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'Tigers in pitched battle against genocidal military' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 13:48 GMT]
"The defensive formations of the Liberation Tigers are courageously facing the Sri Lanka Army, which has been engaged by Colombo in a genocidal war against Tamils," said S. Puleedevan from LTTE's Political office in Vanni Sunday evening. The offensive units of the SLA had massed near Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) in full strength, with tanks and all preparedness in their hurry to capture PTK in the next one or two days, but are now pushed back beyond their forward lines, he said. The fighting, which began in the early hours of Sunday was still continuing.
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Eelam Tamils protest against war in Vanni, in Norway, Germany

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 07:25 GMT]
Norwegian Tamils, spurred by the brutal attacks by the Sri Lanaka armed forces killing and maiming many innocent Tamils in Vanni, gathered unannounced in front Norwegian Parliament Saturday between 1:00 p.m and 3:00 p.m, voicing that each hour delay in stopping the war will increase the number of people killed in Vanni, sources in Oslo said. Meanwhile, Hundreds of Berlin Tamils engaged in a similar spontaneous demonstration in front of the Indian High Commission in Berlin Friday around 11:00 a.m demanding the Indian Government to immediately stop its assistance to Sri Lanka in killing the Tamils in Vanni, sources in Berlin said.
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Tigers launch preemptive strike in PTK

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 07:05 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) forces Sunday morning launched a preemptive strike on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive units that were prepared for an all out assault on Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK). The SLA has suffered heavy casualties, initial reports from Vanni said.
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Jaffna University students call off boycott temporarily

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 22:24 GMT]
Jaffna University students who had been boycotting lectures in protest against the killing of innocent Tamils in Vanni since Monday have decided to call of the boycott temporarily from Sunday, Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) said in its report Saturday. The university administration which had been forced to stall by the students will resume it activities Monday, the report further said.
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British Tamils stage largest ever march protesting genocide, mandating Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 21:50 GMT]
More than one hundred thousand British Tamils marched through central London Saturday condemning Sri Lanka’s war against their people and calling for an independent Tamil Eelam. The unprecedented response on one of the coldest days this year turned out to be the largest ever gathering of the British Tamil community. It seems almost half of the Eezham Tamil community in Britain joined the march Saturday. While the turnout reflected the anger and outrage over the genocide committed on Tamils by Colombo and its international abettors, significant focus of the march was the demand for the recognition of Eezham Tamil sovereignty in the island of Sri Lanka. It was actually a mandate, the organizers said.
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Only 26 respond to Rajapaksa's 48-hour ultimatum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 12:11 GMT]
In the last 48-hours, only 26 civilians have crossed through Oamanthai into Sri Lankan government controlled area, District Secretariat sources in Vavuniyaa said Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military sources put the number of civilians who crossed Oamanthai at 65. In the meantime, the representatives of the Internally Displaced People in Vanni have expressed fear that many hundreds of civilians are going to perish within the next few hours as a Sri Lankan military official in Colombo said the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) would go on an "all out operation" to "eliminate the remaining Tigers" after the lapse of 48-hour ultimatum.
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'UN subtly abets Colombo's genocide' - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 10:28 GMT]
The United Nations, which has not asserted its international authority and responsibility with the Colombo government in directly taking charge of the affected civilians of Vanni, has no moral or humanitarian grounds to urge the civilians to submit themselves against their will into the hands of those who commit genocide on them, said Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy on Saturday. "Hitherto, the UN and the International Community have only demonstrated their miserable failure in making the Colombo government to observe human rights. What is their guarantee now for the security and dignity of civilians, other than untrustworthy assurance of Mahinda Rajapaksa," asked the MP who charged the UN for playing in the hands of a genocidal government.
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