Sub-postmaster from Thenmaraadchi reported missing with HRC Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 15:24 GMT]
Family members of the sub-postmaster of Vidaththalpa’lai in Mirusuvil, Thenmaraadchi registered a complaint with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna that Satkunathasan Kulathasan, 32, the sub-postmaster of Viddaththalpa’lai post-office, has gone missing after going to bed Monday around midnight. Vidaththalpa’lai is an area in Thenmaraadchi which is under complete control of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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'Their imagination is stuck at the 13th amendment'

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 11:50 GMT]
"All the authoritarians of the world joined hands shamelessly to abet the repulsive Colombo regime in crushing the democratic aspirations of a people to liberate their nation. When the authoritarians gleefully claim success they seem to have forgotten that there is now no excuse of the LTTE for them in coming out with a political solution proving their credentials of liberal democracy, if they practise that at all. But they seem to be having no vision at all other than poking their greedy fingers into the hot pie and their imagination of political solution is stuck at the 20 years old ‘Rajeev Rot’, the 13th amendment," said a Tamil political commentator in Colombo.
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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.
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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.
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Massacre escapees at Vavuniyaa hospital under strict surveillance

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 04:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened fire and massacred 7 civilians, including two children of a group of refugees who ended in the hands of the SLA in Murasumoaddai village in Ki'linochchi district on January 10, three days before the mass exodus of civilians towards Puthukkudiyiruppu. On the same day, the SLA blamed the Tigers for the killing of the 7 civilians. However, civilians who have been isolated into various detention camps run by the military, have revealed that the SLA soldiers had opened fire on them.
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Samaraweera to raise Colombo's rights violations with U.S.

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 04:13 GMT]
Asserting that Mahinda Rajapakse regime is “the darkest, the most brutal and the most ruthless,” that has ruled Sri Lanka, Mangala Samaraweera, the convenor SLFP (M), in an interview published in this weekend Sunday Leader, said that he will “seek an appointment with the US State Department and the incoming Secretary of State, Hilary Clinton,” to offer evidence related to human rights violations committed by “Gotabaya [Rajapakse] and Basil Rajapakse as well as Sarath Fonseka…The US must deal with these people. They have an obligation to deal with them.”
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SLA shelling kills 22 civilians, wounds 60, targets humanitarian supply centre

[TamilNet, Sunday, 25 January 2009, 19:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has continued artillery shelling on densely populated 'safety zone,' in Chuthanthirapuram, Udaiyaarkaddu and Thearaavil in Visuvamadu throughout Sunday, at least twice attacking the vicinity of the supply centre, located at Chuthanthirapuram playground, the only centre in Vanni where humanitarian supplies brought in by the UN World Food Programme are distributed. Two shells exploded in the premises, killing five members of a single family of Mr. Jegatheeswaran, owner of a saloon displaced from Visuvamadu. Five more civilians, including children and women, were also killed. Body parts were scattered across the locality and not all of them could be identified, according to medical sources. At least 13 civilians were wounded at the site.
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12 civilians killed, 87 wounded, SLA continues artillery attack on 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2009, 14:00 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued artillery shelling on Udaiyaarkaddu on Saturday killing at least 7 civilians. At least 87 civilians have been wounded in the indiscriminate shelling up to 5:25 p.m. Shells exploded inside the hospital premises of Udaiyaarkaddu. At least 60 shells exploded behind the hospital premises (Udaiyaarkaddu school) around 3:45 p.m. Four civilians were killed on the spot.
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Delhi students on hunger strike to protest Colombo's war

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2009, 13:33 GMT]
Students from different universities and colleges in New Delhi, joined by lawyers, teachers and human rights activists held a one day hunger strike Saturday expressing solidarity with Tamil people in Vanni, and protesting against the "onslaught on Tamil people in a unilateral war declared by the Sri Lanka military with a tacit understanding of the Indian Government," organizers of the event said.
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Fleeing civilian youths misused to fabricate SLA propaganda

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2009, 13:07 GMT]
Six Tamil youths who recently moved from the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) controlled area to Vavuniyaa were arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers, taken to a nearby army camp where they were given LTTE military uniforms and were forced to give video and voice cuts saying that they were LTTE cadres, who were fed up with the Tiger hierarchy and decided to hand over themselves to the SLA, legal sources in Vavuniya said. Vavuniyaa Magistrate has instructed the Police to approach the families of the youth through Government officials and to initiate family re-union.
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Intent of Genocide provable in Sri Lanka - Fein

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2009, 11:54 GMT]
Bruce Fein, former U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General and currently counsel for the US-based group Tamils Against Genocide, addressing a select gathering of media persons and intellectuals organized by the Max Foundation in Chennai Friday, told the audience that there is enough evidence to criminally convict U.S. citizen Gotabaya Rajapakse and U.S. Green card holder Lt.Gen. Sarath Fonseka in the U.S. Federal Courts for "intent to commit Genocide" in Sri Lanka, sources from Chennai said.
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‘Stop killing innocent Tamils in Vanni immediately’ - Jaffna University students

[TamilNet, Saturday, 24 January 2009, 11:10 GMT]
“The indiscriminate killings of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombings should be stopped at once and all members of Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) will boycott lectures Monday to give weight to our demands. Our union seeks the support of the people of Jaffna peninsula in our struggle,” JUSU said in a media announcement Saturday. JUSU intends to expand the struggle by bringing the activities of Jaffna University administration to a halt to achieve the demands, the release further said.
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'Safety zone' shelled again, 5 civilians killed, 83 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 16:53 GMT]
Five civilians, including a10-year-old girl and a 56-year-old Saiva priest, were killed and 83 civilians wounded Friday when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells targeted 'safe zone' areas such as Iruddumadu in Udaiyaarkaddu and Va'l'lipunam in Mullaiththeevu district at least four times, according to medical sources in the region. More than 20 of the wounded people were children. More than 20 of the wounded victims are children.
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Obama declares end to "War on Terror" - Washington Post

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 16:47 GMT]
Effectively declaring an end to Bush's "War on Terror," the U.S. President Barack Obama, by signing an executive order in the Oval Office Thursday, signaled to the world that the "reach of the U.S. Government in battling its enemies will not be limitless," and halted the notion that "a president can circumvent long-standing U.S. laws simply by declaring war," Washington Post said Friday.
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India, Co-Chairs backing war: Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 16:29 GMT]
Sri Lanka said Friday its military offensive against the Tamil Tigers was supported by India and the Co-Chairs to the donor community – US, EU, Norway and Japan. Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said the Co-Chairs and Sri Lanka had a common objective of a speedy solution to the conflict. Meanwhile, Japan’s special envoy Yashushi Akashi, was quoted by the Defence Ministry as “expressing satisfaction at the efforts by the Sri Lanka Government to safeguard the civilian population in the north.” Almost a hundred civilians died this week in the military’s deliberate shelling of populated areas, including a ‘safe zone’ Colombo announced.
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Artillery barrage continues, 3 killed, 33 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 13:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells continued to target Tamil refugees in temporary settlements of Mullaiththeevu district Friday. Three civilians were killed around 10:00 a.m. and 33 were wounded.
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Reaping what they sowed: former US diplomats write to SL President

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 12:01 GMT]
Six former US ambassadors served in Colombo since 1989 have written a letter in their personal capacity to Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa, expressing their deep concern about internal threats destabilizing ‘democracy’ in Sri Lanka. They were particularly upset over the assassination of the Editor of Sunday Leader, Mr. Lasantha Wickrematunge. "The civilized world has to appreciate these diplomats voicing for a bold, sane and humane journalist," said a political commentator based in Colombo, adding however that their letter is an "open confession of the reactionary premises taken by them and by their government in the last two decades, which in fact externally contributed to the destruction of the substance of democracy in the island, retaining only a brittle shell that is crumbling now."
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LTTE releases Sri Lankan Prisoner of War

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 03:27 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) on Thursday handed over a Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldier, who was captured by the Tigers in December in Ki'laali Forward Defence Line. The soldier was undergoing treatment at Puthukkudiyiruppu hospital at the time of his release.
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Stop calling genocide a war on terrorism

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 02:55 GMT]
India and the so-called international community continue to demonstrate with adamancy and arrogance that they have no interest in stopping the genocide of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka but they would rather abet it in the name of war on terrorism. The people of Tamil Nadu and the Tamil diaspora all over the world should realize that these elements are not going to listen to pleading, but will respond only when their interests are at stake. It is time that demonstrations are to be directed against them with a clear message that their strategic and economic interests will definitely be at stake by losing popular trust if they continue to play the malevolent game with the lives of Tamils, says the gist of a volume of opinion mails received by TamilNet.
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Germany calls for Ceasefire between GoSL, LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 01:51 GMT]
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier called Thursday for an immediately negotiated ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), stating that the ceasefire should enable aid deliveries and medical care for the civilians in the disputed areas.
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