'Parliament proposes, Rammell dismisses'

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 March 2009, 07:47 GMT]
It was the fourth occasion in recent times the British parliament was discussing Sri Lanka. Members cutting across party lines came hard on the Colombo government for nearly one and a half hours on Tuesday, for its attacks on civilians, failure in heeding international calls for ceasefire, humanitarian abuses and blockade of international monitoring. Many members demanded UN action, suspension of Sri Lanka from the Commonwealth and pressure on India to act in stopping the war. However, Bill Rammell, the British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs came out only with rhetorical assurances, sounded negative to substantial demands and accused the LTTE for preventing people from leaving.
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Saiva delegation visits IDP detention camps in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 17:39 GMT]
A five member Saiva delegation group led by Nallai Aatheenam Chief Priest, Srila Siri Somansunthara Parmaachchaariya Suvaamika’l, visited the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Koappaay and Kurunakar Tuesday where it gave goods to the detained Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who had fled the war in Vanni to Jaffna peninsula, sources in Jaffna said. This is the first visit to the SLA detention centres in Jaffna by a Saiva organization and the members of the group expressed concern that many needs of the IDPs remain unfulfilled.
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SLN misappropriates outboard motors of Vanni IDPs in Vadamaraadchi

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) personnel in Vadamaraadchi are forcibly confiscating the boats with outboard motors in which civilians flee the war in Vanni to Vadamaraadchi from areas like Mullaiththeevu, fisheries society sources in Vadamaraadchi complained. Some SLN officials who had taken away the outboard motors in their vehicles had tried to sell them in the black market, the sources alleged.
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TRO reports detail struggle for survival

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 March 2009, 02:01 GMT]
In a series of reports Lawrence Christy, planning director at the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) details the travails of daily life of the civilians caught in the war, amidst the artillery fire of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). "From the first shell no one knows how to escape. Before second shell falls all will be in the bunkers. Like parent rabbits and their kids scurrying to a hole when they saw a vulture parents dragging and lifting their children and hurry into the bunkers," Christy says in the 11th March report.
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SLA shelling kills 102 civilians within 3 days inside 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 March 2009, 05:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery shelling killed 46 civilians Friday inside the safety zone in the besieged pocket in Mullaiththeevu. SLA-fired shells hit 6 tarpaulin shelters of the IDPs in Maaththa'lan Friday, killing 16 civilians. Meanwhile 4 civilians were killed around 11:00 a.m., 300 meters near the coastal spot, where the ICRC was transporting wounded civilians. On Thursday, 39 civilians including 11 children were killed and at least 17 civilians were reported killed inside the safety zone on Wednesday.
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SLN obstructs resettlement of IDPs in Allaippiddi in the islet of Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 20 March 2009, 15:46 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which hold the islets of Jaffna in its control is delaying permission for IDP resettlement in Allaippiddi besides not allowing demining in the coasts of Allaippiddi, according to Jaffna Secretariat officials who had forwarded the applications of 48 Allaippiddi families staying in refugee camps in Jaffna town to SLN officials. Recently, Minister Douglas Devnanda, along with his government, had made much publicity in resettling Allaippiddi IDPs, sources in Jaffna said.
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UN withheld civilian casualty figures to protect Sri Lankan state - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Publishing two leaked documents by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN, in an exclusive report on Wednesday revealed that the United Nations office had its own estimates of casualty figures. The UN had internal documentation for 9,924 civilian casualties including 2,683 killings and 7,241 injuries since 20 January to 07 March 2009. "Now it appears that unlike in other conflicts from Darfur to Gaza, the UN withheld the Sri Lanka figures, in effect protecting the Sri Lankan government from criticism," the Inner City Press reported Wednesday. The report comes as the Sri Lankan government was trying to discredit TamilNet figures, fearing that the UN-referred casualty figures were based on TamilNet coverage.
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Court recommendation on moving HSZ in Valikaamam ignored

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 17:12 GMT]
The committee appointed by Supreme Court to consider its recommendation to expedite resettlement of displaced residents from the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Thellippazhai met Sunday in Palaali SLA head quarters headed by President of the committee, Jaffna High Court magistrate, R. T. Vicknarajah, to discuss the recommendation. The committee, however, decided on certain other measures related to the issue Sunday, ignoring the recommendation of the Court, attendees of the meeting said. Meanwhile, the committee’s announcement that demining work in the said HSZ has begun is refuted by the District Coordinating Committee (DCC) in Jaffna District Secretariat, the sources added.
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3 more SLA detention centres for Vanni IDPs opened in Thenmaraadchi

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 15:23 GMT]
Three additional Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres have been opened in Thenmaraadchi to detain the civilians fleeing war in Vanni, namely Kodikaamam Govt Tamil Mixed School (GTMS), Jaffna University Chiththa Aayurveatha College hostel in Kaithadi and Saiva Children Home of Jaffna Saiva Maha Chapai in Kaithadi, sources in Jaffna said. Meanwhile, the temporary school erected with UNICEF funds in a private land near the SLA detention centre in Kodikaamam GTMS for the children in the detention centre was officially inaugurated Thursday morning, the sources added.
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Hillary, Menon discuss Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 19:26 GMT]
US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton and visiting Indian Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon met for 45 minutes in Washington, Monday. “A discussion of one regional issue, in particular, was Sri Lanka -- the importance of trying to find a way to make sure that whatever happens in the armed conflict, that there is a political settlement in the future that both the US and India can help create, and participate in", reports Rediff News Tuesday, citing Administrative sources in Washington.
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Shelling amidst mini-cyclone and lashing rains, thousands stranded

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A lashing rain that started Sunday night became a mini-cyclone Monday severely causing misery to the already suffering civilians in the 'safe zone' in Mullaiththeevu. Amidst this catastrophe they were inhumanely attacked by the Sri Lanka Army shelling in which 71 civilians were killed within the last 36 hours, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. The mini-cyclone blew away the temporary tarpaulin tents and the low land adjacent to sea coast where the people were herded became heavily flooded causing at least 20,000 families stranded. A person who witnessed shell hit killings told TamilNet correspondent with frustration that he was 'unfortunate to survive'.
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'Evacuation enforced is negation of territoriality'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 10:49 GMT]
While concern is mounting up beyond limits on the plight of civilians facing sanctions and attack by Colombo, a new concern looming large about their future is the possible prodding or pressed evacuation coming from ‘strategic partners’, to see them ending up in the hands of the Sri Lankan state. The 'evacuation' move, and not protection of them in their own land, is seen as negation of the territoriality of Tamils and is understood as signalling Colombo to continue the war against Tamils, their national aspirations and against their fighting force, diaspora Tamil circles observed.
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IDPs threatened by malnutrition - RDHS

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 19:07 GMT]
Dr. Santhiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi district on Saturday people do not have vegetables or fruits to eat and severe malnutrition is going to be the result if they are not provided with nutritious food. He also said 50% of the children admitted at the hospital were coming with the history of watery diarrhoea which could have been caused by the food pattern.
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IDPs in Jaffna SLA detention camps require help

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:33 GMT]
Financial and relief assistance given to civilians fleeing war in Vanni and held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Government and Non-government organizations are inadequate, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Hindu Maha Sabai (JHMS) has extended an appeal to the Saiva institutions and humanitarian organizations in Jaffna peninsula to donate funds to provide the additional needs of the detainees in the camps, according to a media report signed by JHMS Secretary, S. Sakthikireepan.
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Sri Lankan attacks kill 208 civilians within 72 hours

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 12:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery-fitted cluster shells hit several IDP settlements within the 'safety zone', claiming the lives of at least 53 civilians Saturday until 3:00 p.m. Around 112 civilians sustained injuries. On Friday, 86 civilians were killed and more than 100 civilians were wounded. Dead bodies were not brought to the hospital as shelling continued. Thousands of civilians within the 'safety zone' were forced to remain inside the bunkers. 69 civilians were killed on Thursday in the indiscriminate shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardments. More than 330 civilians have been wounded within the last 3 days.
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Acid test for international actors

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 02:36 GMT]
It is clear that the Colombo government is waging a direct war on unarmed civilians with the intention of intimidation and subjugation of them. The hard truth is that for chauvinistic Colombo war with Eezham Tamil civilians is more important than its war with the Tigers. The war with the LTTE is only a part of the agenda aimed at making the Tamils orphans first. India and the Co-Chairs countries have a direct responsibility in perpetrating the present war leading to the genocide of Tamils. They cannot dodge their responsibility accusing the LTTE or saying it is internal affair of Sri Lanka and citing Russia and China possibly vetoing a move in the UN. Their immediate responsibility now is providing food and medicine at the doorstep of the civilians, unconditionally, even if it is going to be against the wishes of Colombo, writes an IDP activist in Vanni.
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SLA fires cluster shells near hospital, scores wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 07:05 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army has fired shells in the close vicinity of the makeshift-hospital at Maaththa'lan causing injuries to several civilians. A cluster shell that exploded 500 meters from hospital caused injuries to 37 civilians in tightly populated IDP area, according to medical sources. So far, 126 civilians were rushed to hospital on Thursday.
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SLA shells hospital environs, 13 killed including 4 children

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 13:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army fired artillery shells targeting the environs of Maa'ththa'lan makeshift-hospital within the 'safety zone' from 5:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Tuesday. The shells hit the IDP settlement, located 200 meters near the hospital, claiming the lives of 13 Tamil civilians. Four of them were children, including a 1-year-old baby. 56 civilians have sustained injuries, according to medical sources. Two children below the age of 10 were reported missing. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force fighter bombers were seen bombing north of the 'safety zone' twice Tuesday morning.
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Skin rash breaks among children in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 05:22 GMT]
A skin rash that is said to be infected through organisms living in sandy places is spreading fast among the children of the people crowded into the ‘safe zone’ located between Mullaiththeevu sea and lagoon, sources in Vanni said.
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Vanni IDPs starving due to acute shortage of food

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 05:04 GMT]
The plight of people herded into the narrow strip of ‘safe zone’ assigned by the Sri Lanka government is growing worse with each day as vegetables, food items, milk powder for babies have become so scarce that they are starving, TamilNet correspondent reported Tuesday from Vanni. Liquid cash is not available as many are unable to withdraw from their savings in the banks, most of them gone out of function due to continuing indiscriminate attacks by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery barrage and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombings.
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