School girl killed in Vaddakkachchi in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 11:08 GMT]
A 6-year-old child was killed and a male was injured Monday around 11:45 a.m. when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells targeted Hudson Road (Ira'naimadu Vaddakkachchi Road), according to initial details from Tamileelam police officials in Vanni. The killed girl was on her way back home from Vaddakkachchi school as the school closed earlier due to artillery barrage.
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Quick IDP action averts carnage from Cluster bombs

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 December 2008, 01:33 GMT]
“Three bombs exploded first time. Second time, when the bomber returned after 5 minutes from the opposite direction, there were 3 more blasts. But, the third time, bombs exploded with a parachute effect, like an auto explosion,”  said the head of the camp of the Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) that came under indiscriminate attack by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) in the early hours of Saturday. Many children fled into the jungle during the five-minute window before the aircraft returned for the second attack. If not for the fast action of Ketheeswaran, the head of the settlement, and Pulendran, an intrepid IDP, in escorting and moving IDPs away from the refugee camp, the cluster bombs would have wrought havoc killing many, according to the refugees who escaped. TamilNet interviewed both Ketheeswaran and Pulendran, and several wounded civilians for this feature.
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Churn in Tamil Nadu reopens spectre of R2P - Prof. David

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 23:48 GMT]
Contrasting  the relatively slow changing and stable U.S. foreign policy to Pandora’s Box of unpredictable possibilities of India’s foreign policy towards Sri Lanka, Prof David in an op-ed column in Sri Lanka’s weekly Lakbima, asserts that “if  TN [Tamil Nadu] boils over not all the protestations of sovereign rights by the Sinhala state will count for a farthing; it will be R2P in its most rough manifestation.” Even ruling out outright military intervention, Prof David says, the new administration in India may take a tough line including using trade as a weapon, harass the Sri Lankan State, or turn a blind-eye to LTTE military activities.
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SLN arrests 26 persons in Northern seas seeking refuge in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 20:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) arrested 26 persons, including a 6-months-old infant, who were trying to escape on boats on their way to Tamil Nadu seeking refuge. Civilians took the perilous journey to escape continuing artillery barrage and bombings of civilian settlements in Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) territories in Vanni. When the arrested refugees were produced before the Point Pedro magistrate Sunday, the Magistrate ordered the refugees to be placed in the Rehabilitation Camp.
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Colombo's cluster bomb attack on civilians in Vanni challenges international norms

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 November 2008, 02:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers that attacked the hamlet of Internally Displaced Persons bordering Piramanthanaa'ru and Uzhavanoor in the early hours of Saturday have deployed Russian made OFAB-500 cluster bombs in their indiscriminate attack that killed three civilians, including a child, eyewitnesses told TamilNet's Vanni correspondent on Saturday. Seven children were among the wounded. Colombo's use of cluster bomb comes as more than 100 countries are scheduled to meet in Oslo on Wednesday to sign a treaty banning the use of cluster bombs.
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International media, human rights watchdogs lopsided - Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2008, 20:39 GMT]
"The Colombo government is embarked upon a killing spree of children and women in refugee camps who are already victims of war, displacement, cyclone and floods. This act of 'state terrorism' is in what way less deplorable than the Mumbai killings, for failing to attract condemnation and action from the International Community," asks Padmini Sithamparanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP for Jaffna.
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SLAF bombs refugee camp in 'secure zone' in Vanni, children among victims

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 November 2008, 08:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked a refugee camp of Internally Displaced People bordering Piramanthanaa'ru and Uzhavaoor (Tharmapuram) in Ki'linochchi district in the early hours of Saturday around 1:35 a.m. Medical authorities at Tharmapuram said three persons were killed. Two, a 5-year-old child and an 80-year-old man, died at the hospital. At least 18 wounded civilians, including 7 children and 7 females, were admitted at the hospital following the indiscriminate bombardment on IDP settlement. Medical authorities described the bombardment as "terrible mid-night aerial attack on refugee camp". SLAF bombs refugee camp in Vanni, children among killed, wounded
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Kungchupparanthan: first debacle of SLA in battle for Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 22:55 GMT]
Several decomposed corpses of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were still lying within the no-man area between the SLA and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) frontiers in Kugnchupparanthan no man zone, informed sources revealed on Friday. The SLA soldiers had maneuvered deep into LTTE trap, according to the source, which said it was the first debacle of the SLA in the battle for Ki'linochchi. At least 75 SLA soldiers were confirmed dead so far, the source said adding more than 160 of the soldiers, who managed to reach back to their barracks, had been injured. The LTTE, which earlier said 43 SLA soldiers were killed and 70 wounded, is yet to release further updates.
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US development aims integrating East with Sinhala provinces

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 19:04 GMT]
Based on their firm conviction that development disparity is the root cause of the conflict in Sri Lanka, the United States Embassy in Sri Lanka is busy in recent times in promoting a number ‘development’ programmes, especially in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka, funded by United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Launching a new programme, Connecting Regional Economies (CORE) two months ago, the US aim ‘at the provincial and community level’ is to ‘focus on improving supply chain and market linkages between producers, processors, and the end markets in five districts of the Eastern, North Central and Uva Provinces’, read a press release from the US embassy in Colombo.
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Floods kill 6 people in Vanni, thousands displaced

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 17:21 GMT]
At least four people were reportedly killed and two more feared dead in the floods caused by storms coupled with torrential monsoon rain during the past 6 days in Vanni. The sluice gates of Visuvamadu tank were opened as the raising water level posed great danger to the wall of the dam that has been shaken already by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) attacks. Also the sluice gates of two other tanks, Udaiyaarkadduk-ku'lam and Kalmaduk-ku'lam, were opened. Hundreds of volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organiation (TRO) and the Tamileelam Police personnel were seen evacuating civilians and in arranging immediate accommodation in public places.
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SLAF attacks Paranthan

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 14:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Kfir bombers attacked Paranthan, a key junction north of Ki'linochchi on Thursday and Friday, dropping bombs on shops and offices. Latest air attack was reported at 3:30 p.m. Friday. Meanwhile, artillery barrage that targeted Paranthan and Ki'linochchi suburbs continued despite pouring rain and floods during the past five days, according to farmers who fled the low-lying cultivation lands in the region.
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Vaiko addresses 40,000 at London Remembrance Day event

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 November 2008, 03:09 GMT]
Over 40,000 expatriate Tamils participated in the Remembrance Day ceremony in London on Thursday, a record turnout for the usually well-attended annual event. Vaiko, leader of the MDMK party in Tamil Nadu delivered the keynote address at the ExCel centre, London’s largest auditorium, whilst, earlier, the 2008 Heroes’ Day speech by LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan was heard by attendees as it was broadcast live via satellite from Vanni to Diaspora centres around the world.
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Vanni MP condemns Mumbai killings

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 20:08 GMT]
The deliberate and indiscriminate killing and injuring of hundreds of civilians and foreign tourists in Mumbai by armed men shocks the civilized world and is beyond all justification, said Selvam Adaikalanathan, Tamil National Alliance MP for Vanni, on Thursday.
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Faultline of Sri Lanka’s conflict now clear - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 19:50 GMT]
Pointing out that it is as Sinhalese have become more and more confident of winning the war that overt racism against Tamils has become blatant, the Tamil Guardian newspaper this week said “what is qualitatively different between the late nineties and now is the clarity of the ethnic faultline in Sri Lanka.” The paper, published Wednesday, argued “Since independence the island’s core problem has been Sinhala domination and … persecution, of the Tamils. In the global liberal bubble of the nineties, this fundamental truth was subsumed amidst the logics of underdevelopment, resource wars and so on.”
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India is our friend, we are not against any country, remove the hindrance of ban: Pirapaharan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 November 2008, 12:31 GMT]
While conveying his love and gratitude to the people and leaders of Tamil Nadu and leaders of India who have grasped the heartbeat of Eezham Tamils and have come forward with timely support, the LTTE leader V.Pirapaharan in his Hero’s Day speech on Thursday requested them to voice firmly for Tamil Eelam and to undertake conducive measures to remove the ban, a great hindrance to amicable relationship between India and the LTTE. “At no stage did we ever consider India as an enemy force. Our people always consider India as our friend. They have great expectations that the Indian super power will take a positive stand on our national question”, he said. The LTTE leader also requested the world powers to remove the ban on it, citing that the LTTE never schemed any act against any country and the Tamil struggle is not against the geopolitical, national or economic interests of any country.
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Relief supplies from Tamil Nadu still not reached Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 05:25 GMT]
Emergency relief supplies, sent by the efforts of Tamil Nadu people and their government, received in 100 containers in Colombo 11 days ago, have not reached Vanni due to the sabotage by the Sri Lankan military, a top government official, who did not wished to be named, told TamilNet. Severe flooding has cut off Vanni on Wednesday. However, contradicting to the ground reports, the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu Kalaignar M. Karunanidhi was made to believe that the supplies were reaching the affected civilians unhindered.
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Vanni irrigation bunds close to breach, threaten 10,000 IDPs

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 26 November 2008, 05:03 GMT]
Increasing water levels due to non-stop rain the past five days, and the earth bunds critically weakened to withstand water pressure in several irrigation tanks, including Visuvamadu and Udaiyaarkaddu in Vanni, are posing increasing danger to populated neighborhoods and closeby temporary shelters of internally displaced, civil society sources in Vanni said. More than 10,000 IDPs are being relocated throughout Vanni due to the threat posed by flood waters, according to local officials.
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Thousands of IDPs stranded by floods in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 18:50 GMT]
Floods are flowing over most of the roads and civilians who had sought refuge in open lands and in temporary huts in low-lying areas were forced to seek shelter in schools, temples, churches and public buildings in Vanni. Patients from Ki’linochchi and Mullaiththeevu district hospitals in need of urgent treatment in Vavniyaa hospital cannot be transported as the trunk roads in Vanni remain submerged in water.
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Rain, floods add to Vanni IDPs woes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 November 2008, 12:30 GMT]
Continuous torrential rain for four days in several areas of Vanni has caused floods, destroying temporary huts of war-displaced civilians and disrupting transport on several roads of densely populated Northeastern region of Vanni. Several hundred volunteers of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation and other local NGO were struggling to assist the displaced civilians to find shelter in various schools, churches, temples and other public places as thousands of civilians, forced to vacate their houses due to the Sri Lankan military offensive into Vanni, were deprived of proper shelter by the blockade imposed by the Sri Lankan government.
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Colombo 'commissions' education for structural war on Tamils

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 November 2008, 13:28 GMT]
Beginning from curriculum, school textbooks, teachers, educational administrators and resources to the destruction of the existing educational infrastructure in the guise of war, the structural violence committed by the Sri Lankan state against Tamils has been condemned by the Trincomalee MP, Mr. Thurairetnasingam in a parliamentary debate on Friday. “An ethnicity can be devastated by the destruction of its education, and that’s what this government is bent on doing in the North and East”, said the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, while exposing the short term and long term ‘conspiracies’ of the Colombo government in ruining the education of Tamils.
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