Without truth, reconciliation not possible - paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 February 2012, 12:23 GMT]
Francis Harrison, former BBC foreign correspondent whose book of accounts of survivors from Sri Lanka’s civil war is to be published this summer, says in an article in the Dawn, that there are "signs that the international community is gearing up for action to hold Sri Lanka accountable for alleged war crimes committed by its forces at the end of the brutal civil war against the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009," and adds that "Tamil survivors also want the truth acknowledged before they can move on with their shattered lives. Without the truth, reconciliation and forgiveness are simply not possible and the grievances that led to conflict in the first place remain dangerously unresolved."
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Colombo-backed gang threatens resettled Tamil families in Mannaar

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 January 2012, 02:59 GMT]
A gang of more than one hundred fifty Sinhalese who were brought to Channaar village in Mannaar district on Sunday by a government minister had threatened resettled Tamil families to leave the village immediately to give room for the majority community. The intimidation of Tamil families who have suffered in the conflict and relatives of the killed LTTE cadres had been engineered by Minister Rischard Bathiudeen and Maanthai West Divisional Secretary with the blessing of the Colombo government, according to reports emerging from the area.
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SLA soldier shoots dead traveller on Poonakari Road

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2011, 14:29 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Army soldier, manning a check post on Poonakari Road, shot and killed a traveller on motorbike Thursday around 7:00 a.m. after demanding the traveller to hand over his motorbike, sources in Poonakari told TamilNet. The SLA soldier was reportedly killed in friendly-fire when he later confronted fellow soldiers, the sources further said. Tension prevailed in the area and the road remained closed for hours. Although the dead body of the SLA soldier was sent to Jaffna hospital and transferred to Palaali military hospital, the information or identity of the slain traveller is yet to be made public. SL military officials are yet to reveal details of the episode and journalists were blocked from reaching the site.
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SLA assaults, threatens activists who protest against sand mining in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 December 2011, 10:55 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Mu'rakkoddaagn-cheanai camp in Batticaloa district have summoned civil activists from Chantha'na-madu river basin to their camp, intimidating them and issuing death threats to some of the activists for having protested against illegal sand mining carried out by TMVP paramilitary operated by the SLA. The villagers, intimidated by the soldiers not to protest against the sand mining, revealed that two activists, 30-year-old Muthupillai Nadesan, the second ‘vanniyanaar’ (temple administrator) of Chiththaa'ndi Murukan temple and 28-year-old Velautham Ruban, were severely assaulted by the SLA soldiers and were issued death threats on December 18.
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Tragedy of US policy on Sri Lanka's war crimes

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 December 2011, 00:02 GMT]
The Obama Administration has repeatedly affirmed its commitment to human rights and dignity and rule of law and has largely delivered on its promise -- most notably in the context of the Arab Spring, commented Tamil legal activists in the United States. Tragically, they observed, the US administration has failed dismally in the case of Sri Lanka, with catastrophic consequences (a) to the many tens of thousands of Tamil civilians killed whom the US knowingly failed to protect, under Blake architected policy on Sri Lanka, during and after the war; (b) to the credibility of US commitment to universal human rights, democracy and rule of law, and to justice and national reconciliation in Sri Lanka; and (c) to the integrity of international human rights and humanitarian law.
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‘ICG report fails to cover genocide-intended sexual violence’

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 December 2011, 05:42 GMT]
The International Crisis Group report titled ‘Sri Lanka: Women’s Insecurity in the North and East’ that was released on Tuesday touched upon problems faced by the Eezham Tamil women in their homelands at the hands of the occupying Sri Lankan military apparatus. While the report has been welcomed by some for its revelations, Eezham Tamil civil society activists in the homeland, academics and feminists came down heavily on the report for studying the gender problem in isolation without addressing either the national question of the Eezham Tamils or the process of structural genocide, which necessarily includes use of sexual violence, which is being carried out by the Sinhala majoritarian state to crush the Eezham Tamil nation. They also questioned the motives and practical effectiveness of such reports that seek to push the principal contradictions under the carpet.
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SLA steps up harassment on University students in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 December 2011, 12:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army deployed hundreds of soldiers around the University of Jaffna Thursday evening harassing the students by checking everyone at the two main entries to the University throughout the evening and night. The latest move comes following the death threats issued to 8 named student activists and three lecturers of the Jaffna University. The students who were at the office of the Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) were questioned by the SLA forcing them to leave the site. Checking was carried out at the entry to Balasingham male hostel, situated 300 meters away from the University and the SL military personnel were deployed on all the four sides of the University premises.
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TNA demands internationally mandated mechanism for war-crimes accountability

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 December 2011, 15:30 GMT]
Rajavarothayam Sampanthan, parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance, in a forceful articulation of the stand of the TNA on the report from the Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC) said that the report “categorically fails to effectively and meaningfully deal with issues of accountability, and added that “the findings of the LLRC offend the dignity of these victims [deposed before the LLRC]," according to a report appearing in the Hindu. In a previous statement nominated TNA MP, and attorney, M.A. Sumanthiran told Sunday Leader that "the Commission has severely contradicted itself by concluding that the civilians had not been deliberately targeted by the security forces in the final stages of the war."
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LLRC, a farcical attempt at accountability: paper

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 December 2011, 16:59 GMT]
Noting that the "LLRC has for too long been the international community's fig leaf, used by governments across the world, including the US and the UK, to stall calls for accountability and a credible investigation into allegations of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide," the Tamil Guardian in its analysis of the report, points out that the report exposes the lack of mandate and the will to investigate international crimes the world was expecting to see, and asserts that "International law is uncompromising in this regard - responsibility for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide goes to the very top. In the case of Sri Lanka, the defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the then head of the army, General Sarath Fonseka, and the commander in chief - the president - Mahinda Rajapaksa are principally answerable."
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JVP dissidents protest against Jaffna abductions of HR activists

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 December 2011, 20:45 GMT]
Around 200 people, who were brought from South by the JVP dissident group, “Movement for People’s Struggle” staged a protest in Jaffna Saturday in front of Jaffna Bus Stand, demanding the release of Lalith Veeraraj, the Jaffna district organisor of the group and his friend Kugan Murugananthan. Sri Lanka soldiers and policemen equaling the number of the protestors were deployed at the site of the protest between 12:30 and 1:30 p.m. Meanwhile, the motorbike of the abductees has been recovered two days earlier, along the borders of SL military High Security Zone in Achchuveali surrounding the Palaali military base.
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LLRC has failed, IC should call for International Investigation: HRW

[TamilNet, Saturday, 17 December 2011, 04:19 GMT]
“The serious shortcomings of the 388-page report, which was posted on a government website on December 16, 2011, highlight the need for an international investigative mechanism into the conflict as recommended by the United Nations Secretary-General’s Panel of Experts in April,” said New York based Human Rights Watch Saturday. The LLRC report disregards the worst abuses by the SL government forces, rehashes long-standing recommendations, and fails to advance accountability for victims of Sri Lanka’s civil armed conflict, the HRW further said.
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Missing persons' parents stage protest amidst harassment by SL military in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 10 December 2011, 10:12 GMT]
For the first time in Jaffna, kept under the iron fist of occupying SL military, parents and relatives of the missing persons, braved SL army barriers and harassment by the occupying soldiers and riot police and staged a protest in front of Jaffna Bus stand on Wold Human Rights Day seeking global attention on the plight of those reported missing since the end of Vanni war in 2009. The SL military and police blocked the organisers from Colombo, the Civil Monitoring Commttee of missing persons, at Veampadi in Jaffna, for hours blocking them from reaching the site of the protest. The protestors managed to intuitively stage the rally without the organisers, political observers in Jaffna said. In the meantime, a JVP dissident group member, Lalith Weeraraj, who was on his way to the protest site has been reported missing at Aavarangkaal. The SL Police attacked reporters covering the protest.
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Tension prevails as SLA terrorizes Tamils confronting Sinhala thugs in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 07 December 2011, 02:44 GMT]
Scores of Tamils, including women and children, were injured and terrorized by the occupying Sinhala army at Ira'naimadu junction in Ki'linochchi on Tuesday night between 8:00 and 10:30 p.m., following 4 Sinhala thugs were confronted by the local people. Four Sinhala men from South who came to a Tamil shop at Ira'naimadu junction on Tuesday night threatened the shopkeeper and attacked him. When the people of the locality retaliated, the Sinhala men escaped into an SL military camp. Around 30 Sinhala soldiers who came in support of the thugs indiscriminately attacked the people of the locality and all people passing by the junction. The attack continued for nearly two hours.
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Solheim hijacks thrust of Norway report

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 22 November 2011, 03:39 GMT]
Norwegian minister Erik Solheim, while speaking in Oslo 11 November at the release of the report evaluating Norway’s failed peace process in Sri Lanka, tried to hijack the philosophical thrust of the findings of the report and this brought him into confrontation with the evaluation team leader, Gunnar M. Sørbø. Mr. Erik Solheim tried to defend the main criticism in the report and the stand of Sørbø that Norway should have quit the peace process to signal the world of the impending dangers. Arguing that nobody expected a military solution succeeding, Solheim painted the picture of a star-crossed and epic-style tragedy that everyone has to be now contended with in a philosophical way, and said that the stand of Sørbø was ‘arrogant’. Solheim’s speech made Sørbø to remind that the issue was of life and death and Norway should have had contingencies ready.
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Sri Lanka massacre, 5 times Srebrenica, 80 times My Lai, says German paper

[TamilNet, Friday, 11 November 2011, 11:55 GMT]
Referring to the Channel-4 documentary Sri Lanka's Killing Fields, journalists, Dirk Maxeiner and Michael Miersch, in an opinion column that appeared in German newspaper Die Welt said that the massacre of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka by the State military is five times the killings from Srebrenica genocide, and 80 times the numbers killed in the Mai Lai massacre. "Colombo successfully covered up the killings by sending away the UN observers on the grounds that the State will not be able to ensure their safety, and then began the mass murder," Die Welt said on 03 November.
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Sinhalese forcibly take over paddy lands of Tamils in Thennaimaravadi

[TamilNet, Sunday, 06 November 2011, 03:38 GMT]
Some resettled Tamil farmers in Thennaimaravadi village were taken aback in the weekend to see their paddy lands they prepared for sowing for the forthcoming Maha cultivation had been sown by Sinhalese encroachers at the instance of the Sri Lanka Army stationed in the area. They fear this is a part of a covert plan by Colombo government to forcibly take over paddy lands in the traditional Tamil village Thennaimaravadi, located at the narrow boundary between Mullaiththeevu and Trincomalee districts that links the Northern and Eastern territories of the country of Eezham Tamils.
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Blake wooed genocidal Sri Lanka Army to help Afghan war

[TamilNet, Friday, 07 October 2011, 09:30 GMT]
Within months of a war masterminded to end in the genocide of Eezham Tamils, the US Asst Secretary of State Robert Blake wooed the genocidal Sri Lanka Army’s help in the US-led war in Afghanistan, reveals a Wikileaks document. In a meeting that took place in Colombo on 8th December 2009 with SL Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, “Blake raised the possibility of Sri Lanka contributing to U.S.-led coalition operations in Afghanistan, noting that would be a significant step in support of improving military-to-military engagement,” briefs a classified cable of the US embassy in Colombo. Citing Muslim sentiments and ire of Islamic organizations, Gotabhaya avoided committing on any direct involvement, but he came out with an alternative for Sri Lanka providing covert training assistance in Afghanistan through NGOs and Private Military Companies.
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SL military collects details on ex-LTTE members in Jaffna, Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 06 October 2011, 13:22 GMT]
Occupying Sri Lanka Army soldiers in Jaffna and Vanni have again started collecting details of former LTTE members. The SLA, using new forms from Colombo, is registering details of ex-Tiger members who had left the movement several years ago and of those who were detained and released by the SLA after the genocidal onslaught on Vanni in 2009. The SLA has been registering the details of former LTTE members since it seized the control of Jaffna peninsula from the Tigers in 1996. The SL military also registered the details of the LTTE members whom it took into its custody in 2009. The SLA is now collecting data on the whereabouts and details on what the former LTTE members are doing now. Even the identities of the dead ones are being verified, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA encroaches 100 acres of farmland in Ki'linochchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 04 October 2011, 17:20 GMT]
The occupying Sri Lanka Army in Vanni has forcibly taken over about one hundred acres of farmland situated between the villages Shanthapuram and Kanakaampikaik-ku'lam 5 km southeast of Ki'linochchi town. Earlier, the farmland was the livelihood of hundreds of people under a poverty alleviation scheme under the civil administration of the LTTE. A church and a well used by the residents of Shaanthapuram and Ira'naimaduk-ku'lam are also located in the land militarised by the occupying SL military. The SL military says it wants to exhibit military hardware seized from the Tigers in the farmland, which is situated near Ira'naimadu.
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Colombo accused of "buying" influence in UN

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 September 2011, 03:15 GMT]
Screening of Sri Lanka's rebuttal to widely circulated Channel-4 video that raised accusations of war-crimes by Sri Lanka, was allowed inside the United Nations auditorium by an official who was an ex-landlord of Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative Palitha Kohona, Inner City Press, an independent news agency that covers United Nations, reported. ICP disclosed that Giampaolo Pioli, President of the UN Correspondents' Association, had "collected money as rent from Kohona for years," the ICP report said.
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