SLA uses A9 route to Jaffna after 18 years

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 22:51 GMT]
A detachment of around 600 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrived in a convoy of buses Monday evening in Jaffna town along the A9 Jaffna-Kandy land route from Vavuniyaa town after a period of nearly eighteen years, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA shelling kills 122 within 3 days in Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 22:36 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells have claimed the lives of more than 45 Tamil civilians Monday within the 'safety zone' at Mu'l'livaaykkaal, Valaignarmadam, Pokka'nai, Maaththa'lan and the adjoining Ira'naippaalai. On Sunday, around 37 civilians were killed and the day before around 40 were reported killed in SLA barrage and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardment.
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Unitary Ceylon was an error: British Politician

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 15:45 GMT]
A Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, Dr. Rachel Joyce, apologised Sunday for the error of Colonial Britain in making a unitary Ceylon out of two nations, the Tamils and the Sinhalese. “The Tamil people have lived on the island currently called Sri Lanka for millennia - in their own contiguous, distinct, geographical territory. They lay claim only to the territory they have historically lived in. In fact, the 3 million Tamils of the island constituted a self governing nation until invaded and occupied by Colonial powers – in particular Britain, who amalgamated them with the Sinhala nation purely for convenience. In retrospect, this cultural naivety was a mistake that has caused problems since independence,” she said in a meeting held at Harrow, where Bruce Fein, a constitutional expert from the United States was the guest speaker.
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SLN imposes ban on fishing in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 14:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) imposed new restrictions in Jaffna peninsula banning fishing in seas of the islets as well as in Jaffna lagoon on Tuesdays and Thursdays, fisheries society sources in Jaffna said. SLN has warned that fishermen attempting to go fishing on these two days will be shot at and their boats confiscated, the sources added.
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'Sri Lanka: A Besieged Society' - Sivasegaram

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 20:22 GMT]
The Indian establishment, pretending neutrality, backed overtly and covertly the Sri Lankan government, politically as well as militarily, using Chinese and Pakistani interests in Sri Lanka as a pretext, writes Professor S. Sivasegaram, a well-known academic and Marxist writer. “International concern on human rights violations, threat to the media, the state of lawlessness including killings and abductions, and other issues have been mere formalities and have never been translated into action.[…] Foreign governments and international organisations to demand that the LTTE should ‘release’ the people under its wings is wrong, without simultaneously insisting that the Sri Lankan government ends all attacks on civilians and ensures the safety of civilians wherever they are.”
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New Delhi's stratagem seeking 'pause'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 22:13 GMT]
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday asked Colombo to 'seize the opportunity' provided by LTTE’s ceasefire offer to bring about a ‘pause’ in hostilities and work for safe passage for 'trapped' civilians. Meanwhile, political observers in Tamil Nadu commented on the move a tactic to nullify their calls for a permanent ceasefire. Vaiko, the General Secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (MDMK) courted arrest with 300 other activists for waging black flags in protest against Mr. Mukherjee, who was on a visit to Thooththukkudi (Tutucorin).
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Chickenpox spreads among civilians in Mirusuvil detention camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 17:52 GMT]
Chicken pox infection is spreading fast among more the 1600 civilians held in Mirusuvil Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camp in Thenmaraadchi due to lack of basic hygienic facilities, lack of drinking water and people being crowded together, representatives of humanitarian organizations visiting the camp said. SLA soldiers do not allow patients in need of treatment even though their illness is severe, the sources said.
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Ghost of Bush wishes 'fight to the end'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 12:56 GMT]
The lessons of history are that actually there is nothing called ethnicities winning and losing. It is always forces of oppression and liberation losing and winning. ‘Fight to the end’ is vantage of the vultures hovering above for the spoils of both losers as well as winners. If ‘fight to the end’ is thrust upon peoples then they can’t help it. They have to fight it until the interests of those who orchestrate it are affected to the contrary or civilized world prevail upon those international belligerents. "Let us hope in the civilized world," writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
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UN nods ‘fight to the finish’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 04:04 GMT]
The position taken by UN Security Council Friday indicating no go beyond ‘hearing’, and the considerate briefing of John Holmes largely endorsing and trusting Colombo’s agenda and assurances for civilians, are read between the lines by international political observers as a ‘knowing wink’ at Colombo to pursue its offensive. Alternatively, the UN stance either paves way for intervention by interested powers outside of the UN or perhaps reveals an actuality that the UN can be shaken not when people face genocide, but only when ground realities endanger the Sri Lankan state, observers said.
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Indiscriminate felling of Palmyra palms by SLA in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 18:24 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been engaged in felling thousands of Palmyra palms mostly in private lands in the SLA occupied High Security Zone (HSZ) using the trunks to construct additional sentry posts along Vadamaraadchi coasts, in the last three days, sources from Vadamaraadchi said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Vadamaraadchi north has been conducting war rehearsals during Wednesday and Thursday nights firing artillery shells towards the sea using illumination, local residents said.
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Slave camp suspected in Ki'linochchi hospital building

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 17:34 GMT]
A slave camp consisting male and female members 'chosen' from the fleeing civilians by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is reportedly setup in the abandoned Ki'lnochchi hospital building, reported TamilNet correspondent in Vanni, citing unverified information reaching Mullaiththeevu from males who escaped from the camp. According to the sources, men are kept at the downstairs for forced labour and women kept in the upstairs for abuse by the SLA soldiers who are on temporary leave.
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Downed SLAF aircraft was engaged in carpet-bombing

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 16:41 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jet exploded Friday was engaged in carpet-bombing civilian pockets at Aananthapuram and Chemma'nku'ndu, according to civilians fleeing towards 'safe zone' Friday evening. As the declared 'safe zone' along the Mullaiththeevu coast is a barren stretch and is congested beyond further accommodation, many civilians preferred to stay back in pockets, considered suitable for survival at least with shade and potable water. Around 60 civilians reportedly died in the carpet bombing and intense artillery and mortar barrage Friday alone.
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SLAF jet exploded over Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 10:41 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bomber was shot down in Mullaiththeevu on Friday at 11:25 a.m., civilians sources in Ira'naippaalai told TamilNet. Several civilians saw the jet explode in mid-air as it was beginning an attack run towards an unidentified locality. A huge plume of smoke followed after the flaming debris fell to earth, they said. The LTTE is yet to comment on the attack. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) spokesman Wing commander Janaka Nanayakara has denied the report that one of their aircraft was shot down in Vanni.
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12 Tamil youths arrested in upcountry

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 08:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police Friday morning took into custody twelve Tamil youths in a joint search operation conducted in Hatton, Bogawanthalawa, Kottagala and Nuwereliya areas where Tamils live in large numbers, according to complaints lodged with Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan by the youths’ relatives.
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Britain legally obliged to prevent Genocide in Sri Lanka: Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 20:27 GMT]
Since the British Foreign Minister has now publicly admitted on behalf of his Government that Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is "quite prepared to go ahead with acts of genocide," then under Article I of the Genocide Convention, the British government has a legal obligation "to prevent" this expected genocide of the Tamils by GoSL, said Professor Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet.
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Family man seeks protection with Chunnaakam police

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 17:56 GMT]
A family man from Aavarangkaal East in Puththoor sought protection to his life with Chunnaakam police due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, Thursday. He had managed to escape arrest by SLA during a cordon and search conducted in his village after which his wife had tried to commit suicide, he told the police. His wife had later been taken into custody by the SLA and detained while his son who was arrested by SLA had been released as he was a school going student, he said in his statement to the police.
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Lankan-ness Vs the Tamilness: thoughts of A.J. Canagaratne

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 16:48 GMT]
Is it possible in today's context to be both a Tamil and a Sri Lankan? I think it is, provided our leaders are statesmen enough to treat all communities as equal and guarantee this equality both in practice and constitutionally. Only time will tell whether the Sinhala political leadership can stop playing games of one-upmanship and indulging in political manoeuvring. It's high time they stop being fixated on a unitary state and think along the lines of a fully federal set-up to preserve the unity of this country, wrote AJ in 2005, a year before his demise, reviewing a publication ‘ Being a Tamil and Sri Lankan by Professor K. Sivathamby.
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Sampanthan on CID grilling: Unwarranted interference in freedom of thought

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 06:48 GMT]
Senior Politician and the Parliamentary Group Leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan on Wednesday described the so-called 'investigation' by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) as "unwarranted interference in my freedom of thought," in a letter addressed to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa. Mr. Sampanthan further said that there is "clearly a malicious effort" to create an environment hostile to him, the objective of which is to "suppress the truth." He was questioned by the CID on a statement at a media conference at the Sri Lankan Parliamentary complex on 17th February 2009 pertaining to the position of Tamil civilians in the war zone in the Mullaiththeevu District, and the Tamil civilians who had crossed into Sri Lanka Army controlled territory.
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Sri Lanka war crimes under U.S. spotlight

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 06:12 GMT]
The uncontradicted testimony of Dr. Anna Neistat, Human Rights Watch, in Tuesday's U.S. Foreign Relations Subcommittee Hearings of Sri Lanka concluded that the "Sri Lankan Armed Forces are guilty of war crimes, including the indiscriminate shelling of areas packed with displaced Tamil civilians and of hospitals; the use of imprecise multi-barrel rocket launchers; acute or complete restrictions on humanitarian aid; the operation of militarily controlled “concentration camps” for Tamil civilians without freedom of movement or communications or adequate medical or other assistance," said Bruce Fein, in a letter sent to the Subcommittee following the Hearings.
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Prominent Tamil Editor abducted in Colombo, later claimed 'arrested'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 05:08 GMT]
Armed persons and men in police uniform who arrived in three white vans Thursday morning abducted Nadesapillai Vithyatharan, 51, the prominent editor of Jaffna-based Uthayan daily and Colombo-based Chudaroli, eyewitnesses told TamilNet. The abduction comes six days after Mr. Vithyatharan was grilled by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). The TID had questioned him Sunday for six hours on news and views that appeared in his papers on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks on civilians in Vanni and about his interactions with the officials of the Tigers in the past. Police spokesman Gunasekara, who first said that the editor was abducted by unidentified men, hours later claimed that he had been arrested.
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