Students 'gherao' Indian Army headquarters at Chennai

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 17:44 GMT]
Members of the Confederation of All Students were arrested by the Tamil Nadu State Police when they attempted to surround the South Zone Regiment Headquarters ATNKNK of the Indian Army at Chennai Wednesday morning to mark their protest against "Indian terrorism that supplies weaponry for the genocide of Tamils." Wearing black shirts to mark their anger and mourn their dying Tamil brethren, the students raised slogans condemning the Indian Government and Army for extending military help to Sri Lanka which had resulted in the ruthless killing of innocent civilians.
Full story >>

SLA instructs Jaffna GA to open more detention camps

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 17:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and high government officials have instructed Jaffna Government Agent (GA), K. Ganesh, to open new detention camps in Jaffna peninsula for people brought from Vanni where an intensive war is being unleashed on the people in Vanni, Jaffna Secretariat sources said. Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) had been held in a state of readiness Tuesday and Wednesday to treat the injured among the civilians brought to Jaffna peninsula by the SLA, the sources added.
Full story >>

French Tamils demonstrate against killings in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 14:08 GMT]
Several hundred French Tamils who gathered in front of the French Parliament Tuesday around 3:00 p.m to demonstrate in protest against the genocide of Tamils in Vanni in Sri Lanka were sent back by the French police even after obtaining official permission protest demonstration, sources in Paris said. The protestors, however, went ahead and started the demonstration in La Chapelle area where the crowd swelled to around 4000 persons, according to protesters.
Full story >>

Jaffna Catholic community appeals to stop killing of Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 14:03 GMT]
“We are deeply grieved of the silence of the International Community and the world humanitarian agencies disregarding the great human tragedy that continues in Vanni in Sri Lanka. Will this silence be broken only after the total annihilation of the Tamils in Vanni?”, said the memorandum sent by the Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna (CJPCD) at the end of the first day of the protest fast launched Wednesday morning in front of St. Mary’s Church, Jaffna led by Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, Jaffna Bishop, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Hospitals, ambulances hit by shelling, hundreds killed - ICRC

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 10:20 GMT]
"Hundreds of people have been killed and scores of wounded are overwhelming understaffed and ill-equipped medical facilities in Sri Lanka's northern Vanni region," said the ICRC. hospitals and ambulances have been hit by shelling and several aid workers have been injured while evacuating the wounded. "The violence is preventing the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from operating in the region," said Jacques de Maio, ICRC head of operations for South Asia in Geneva.
Full story >>

Protest fast in Jaffna against Vanni killings, displacements

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 09:19 GMT]
More than 400 persons including Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, former Bishop of Church of South India, Catholic priests and nuns took part Wednesday morning in a protest fast, urging Sri Lanka government to stop the artillery barrage and aerial bombardment on Vanni civilians and to bring an end to their continuing displacements, sources in Jaffna said. The protest held in front of St. Mary’s Church in Jaffna began around 9:00 a.m. Meanwhile, a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commander, who unexpectedly came and sat for about 15 minutes along with the protestors, told that Buddhist Sinhala Chauvinists are the primary cause of the current problem before leaving, the sources added.
Full story >>

Tamil leaders label Pranab visit futile

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 07:32 GMT]
Frontline leaders in Tamil Nadu, including Dr.S.Ramadoss, Vaiko and Thirumavalavan have expressed their disappointment that Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee never pressed for an immediate ceasefire when he met Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa during his emergency visit to Colombo Tuesday night.
Full story >>

Norwegian Tamils appeal for urgent action from Norway

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 17:47 GMT]
Nearly four hundred Norwegian Tamils gathered Tuesday between 7:30 a.m and 10.00 a.m in front of Norwegian Foreign Ministry in Oslo and appealed to Norway to condemn the Sri Lanka government's killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni, sources in Oslo said.
Full story >>

SLA soldiers attack fishermen in Poonakari sea

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 16:43 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers posted along the coast of Poonakari and Kalmunai attacked indiscriminately the fishermen who had gone to fish there from Kurnakar area on the opposite coast of Jaffna lagoon, Kurunakar Fisheries Society sources said. Meanwhile, SLA banned fishing in the seas of the areas mentioned above as a measure strengthening the coastal security as Poonakari has been made the SLA commanding base for the Vanni mainland, sources in Jaffna said.
Full story >>

Jaffna Catholic priests protest against Vanni killings, displacements

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 13:05 GMT]
Members and bishops from Jaffna Catholic diocese led by Jaffna Bishop, Rt. Rev. Thomas Saundaranayagam, will launch a protest fast from Wednesday in St. Mary’s Church also known as ‘Periya Koayil’ in Jaffna, urging Sri Lanka government to stop artillery and aerial bombardment on Vanni civilians, and to bring an end to their continuing displacements, according to an announcement issued from Bishop’s House. The protest fast will begin at 9:00 a.m Wednesday and end at 3:00 p.m, and will continue on a rotational basis.
Full story >>

No humanitarian supplies from UN, WFP, say TRO officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 11:34 GMT]
The World Food Programme (WFP) officials responsible for the food supply to civilians in Vanni and UN officials who were in the Chunthanthirapuram food station, the only station for delivering food supplies, are yet to resume humanitarian supplies to the thousands of civilians who are without any supplies, a Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) official told TamilNet from Chuthanthirapuram. The WFP and UN officials fled the 'safety zone' after the artillery barrage by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Now, they are staying in Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), according to the instructions by the SLA, the TRO officials further said.
Full story >>

Students in Chennai protest against alleged Indian military aid to Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 07:00 GMT]
Tamil Nadu Police arrested a group of students in front of Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Tuesday while they were attempting to protest against what they alleged as an attempt by the Indian Government to export battle-tanks to the Sri Lankan military, reacting to reports and photographs that have appeared in a largest selling Tamil daily (Erode edition of Dianthanthi). Meanwhle, Tamil political leaders in Tamil Nadu, when contacted by TamilNet said that they were investigating the veracity of the claim that tanks photographed at Erode were destined for the Colombo government.
Full story >>

Artillery barrage continues on 'safety zone', no sign of external help

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 06:27 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was continuing artillery barrage on civilian 'safety zone' despite the repeated calls to cease artillery fire by the medical authorities that are struggling to provide medical help, according to latest reports from Udaiyaarkaddu hospital on Tuesday. There is no sign of external medical teams or supplies coming in as requested by the hospital.
Full story >>

Targeting civilians in safety zone, premeditated war crime of Colombo - Nadesan

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 20:12 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan, Monday night told TamilNet that Colombo has committed a grave war crime by asking civilians and their facilities, including the ICRC, to move inside a 'safety zone,' without any shelter or infrastructure support and then by subjecting them to inhumane artillery barrage, killing hundreds and causing injuries to more than one thousand.
Full story >>

'Biased UN official misleads humanity, safely sitting in Colombo' - Vanni journalist

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
The UN spokesman in Colombo, Gordon Weiss, reported by AFP put the number of dead civilians inside safety zone on Monday only at ten, adding that he could not say who was responsible for the civilian casualties. “ We don’t know where the firing came from”, AFP quoted him saying. The UN, which has a universal franchise to intervene on behalf of civilians trapped in war has not only forfeited all its rights, including the right to monitor what is happening, to the genocidal government of Colombo, but also comes out with blatant lies aimed at protecting the perpetrator of war crime, accused Mr. Ravi, a journalist in Vanni.
Full story >>

More than 1,000 wounded, Mullai RDHS urges IC to send medical teams

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 16:27 GMT]
The Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Mullaiththeeev district, Dr. T. Varatharajah in an urgent appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), ICRC, the United Nations and the International Community has urged to send medical supplies and medical teams to the district to assist its medical staff.
Full story >>

More than 300 civilians feared killed, people bleed to death on streets

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 15:30 GMT]
In a scene of carnage of untold proportion on civilian targets hit by hundreds of Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells, more than 300 people have died and several hundreds are bleeding to death within the last 24 hours, amidst pouring rain inside the 'saftey zone' declared by the Colombo government. Houses and vehicles burn for a stretch of three km between Va’l’lipunam Kaa’li temple and Moongkilaa’ru towards Paranthan road, reports from Vanni said on Monday. Unattended bodies and injured people unable to move are lying around everywhere, while a remaining doctor fled and helpless ICRC officials virtually cried at the scene from their bunkers, TamilNet correspondent said.
Full story >>

Does IC know no human dignity of civilians, asks a doctor in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 11:36 GMT]
"The world is silently witnessing one of the worst massacres of helpless civilians in contemporary times. These civilians know no crime other than not knowing where to go. While the genocidal military of the Colombo government is on the killing spree, India and the international community sadistically expect the civilians to come running out into the hands of their killers. Either way they expect them to perish," a doctor, while attending casualties at the Udaiyaarkaddu hospital, said on Monday.
Full story >>

100 civilians feared killed, countless wounded, artillery barrage on 'saftey zone'

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 09:06 GMT]
More than one hundred civilians were killed and hundreds of wounded patients were helpless without medical attendance as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) was continuously engaged in one of the most inhumane artillery barrage on civilian populated 'safety zone' in Udaiyaarkaddu Monday morning. All the civilians were remaining under the bunkers for more than 5 hours, according to initial reports from the medical sources in Udaiyaarkaddu. The makeshift hospital at Udaiyaarkaddu was on total disarray as 10 patients were killed and four ambulances damaged. The doctors have called for the ICRC, which is also helpless under the bunkers, the reports said.
Full story >>

Jaffna students protest against SLA artillery barrage on Vanni IDPs

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 08:47 GMT]
All educational and administrative activities of the University of Jaffna came to a complete halt Monday as its students launched their boycott of lectures in protest against the indiscriminate and deadly attacks unleashed by the government of Sri Lanka on the Tamil people in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. A larger number of policemen and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were deployed in and around the university premises.
Full story >>