300,000 Tamils held in Nazi-style concentration camps, says Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 12:30 GMT]
"These Nazi-style concentration camps that the Government of Sri Lanka is now forcibly imposing on at least 300,000 completely innocent Tamil civilians constitute acts of genocide within the meaning of Article II(c) of the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which Sri Lanka is a contracting party," Professor Boyle who is an expert international law and teaches at the University of Illinois College of Law said.
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'Timely action from Tamil Nadu expected'

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 11:02 GMT]
The Eezham Tamils are ever grateful to all political parties of Tamil Nadu that upheld their cause, irrespective of electoral politics and its outcome determined by national and state level equations. The Eezham Tamils are especially grateful to the two major political parties, the DMK and the AIDMK, for firmly voicing for the creation of Tamil Eelam as the ultimate solution to the crisis. It is now time that a resolution to this effect has to be enacted in the Tamil Nadu State Assembly to inspire course of action in India, international community and in the Tamil diaspora, said veteran liberation fighter Ki Pi Aravinthan in France, Sunday. This is a possible and affordable action Tamil Nadu can undertake immediately to guarantee the future of Eezham Tamils and to respect the thousands laying down their life upholding Tamil dignity, he said.
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LTTE leadership safe: Tiger intelligence official

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 May 2009, 09:49 GMT]
Head of International Secretariat of the Intelligence wing of the LTTE, Mr. Arivazhakan, who contacted TamilNet Friday categorically denied the reports that the LTTE leader Mr. Velupillai Pirapaharan has been killed. Mr. Arivazhakan urged the global Tamil community not to trust the "engineered rumours," being spread by the Government of Sri Lanka and its military establishment.
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IC, India shouldn’t impose 'inclusion' on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 18:23 GMT]
The International Community and India will be contributing to a grave disaster by imposing or enforcing ‘inclusive polity’ on an unwilling Sri Lankan state said the TamilNet political commentator in Colombo Thursday adding that secession is the best option for the island. He cited the events of this week when passions of ‘exclusiveness’ were decisively demonstrated in its goriest possible way by the Sri Lankan state in celebrating ‘victory,’ completely insensitive to the killing, massacres and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Tamils who are supposed to be its citizens. He also cited the way a dead human being was desecrated whether the identity of the person was another one of the dupe of Colombo or not.
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Jaffna court denies appeal by person seeking protection to life

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Jaffna Magistrate Court, directed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), denied protection to a youth from Chaavakachcheari who had sought Thursday protection to his life due to death threats by SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, according to sources in Jaffna. Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) too had not entertained the appeal for protection to his life by the above youth Thursday, the sources added.
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ICRC suspends operations, UN calls for access

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 10:02 GMT]
International aid agencies have called for greater access to the camps in which hundreds of thousands of Tamil civilians are being held, even as the Sri Lankan government’s restrictions led to the ICRC suspending its operations. The UN and ICRC have expressed concern about the fate of people newly arriving at the camps, which are already over-stretched and over-crowded.
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Boycott Sri Lanka – Times newspaper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:58 GMT]
“We should boycott the callous Sri Lanka regime,” says the Time South Asia correspondent in an opinion in the newspaper today. Asking whether British shoppers and holidaymakers should “continue to support Sri Lanka's garment and tourist industries?” Jeremy Page answers: “Sadly, the answer must be no.”
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Sinhala hoodlums harass Tamil civilians in the name of victory celebration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Gangs of Sinhala youths holding Lion flags in hands in the name of victory against LTTE have been on the rampage, day and night, intimidating and harassing Tamil civilians in Colombo and its suburbs for the fourth day. Affected Tamil residents have complained to their respective police station. But the police have failed to take action to stop the harassment, civil sources lament.
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TNA parliamentarian Kanagasabai passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 07:08 GMT]
Pathmanathan Kanagasabai, Ampaarai district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) passed away Thursday early morning around 4:00 a.m. after a brief illness in Mathurai in Tamilnadu while he was staying with his friend. He was 64, media sources reported quoting fellow parliamentarian B.Ariyanenthiran.
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TNA MP missing in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 12:22 GMT]
The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has sought the intervention of the Speaker of the Sri Lanka’s parliament to locate its parliamentarian Mr.S.Kanagaretnam who was trapped in Vanni during the recent military operation launched by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA). Mr. Kanagaretnam was in contact until seven days ago with his fellow parliamentarians, and his whereabouts are unknown, TNA sources said.
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5 LTTE fighters killed in Batticaloa jungles

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 11:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka military shot and killed five Liberation Tigers fighters inside the jungles of Karadiyanaa'ru jungles in Batticaloa Wednesday morning, a LTTE political official in Batticaloa told TamilNet.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 06:08 GMT]
Terrorist Intelligence Unit of the Kandy police arrested a Tamil civilian in Senkadagala area Monday on a report that he had arranged accommodation for LTTE cadres to stay in Kandy area. Police sources said they took the man into custody on a statement made by LTTE suicide cadre arrested earlier and detained.
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Sri Lanka destroys evidence, prevents ICRC, UN access - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 04:20 GMT]
Noting that the slow genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka accelerated to more than 10,000 killed in the last few months, far exceeding the horrors of Srebrenica, Professor Boyle in conversation with Los Angeles KPFK radio host, Michael Slate, Tuesday, accused Sri Lanka Government of bulldozing and destroying evidence of massacres in the Safety Zone while preventing access to the Red Cross and UN agencies. Boyle added that the United States Government with spy satellites would be knowing exactly what Sri Lanka's actions are in the Safe Zone, and stand implicated along with UK, France, and India in allowing the genocide to happen.
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8 Tamil youths arrested in Talawakelle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 03:05 GMT]
Intelligence unit of the Talawakelle police arrested eight Tamil youths who were residents of Poo'nduloayaa in Talawakelle police division, Saturday. The youths earlier worked in Northern Province after tsunami disaster and returned home later. The arrested youths are now detained in Talawakelle police station further interrogation, sources said.
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14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 00:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested 14 Tamil youths in searches conducted in Colombo city since Saturday, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, addressing the Parliament Tuesday, declared Wednesday as a national holiday to celebrate the victory over the Liberation Tigers and called on the people of the country to celebrate the occasion for a week, the sources added.
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EU must investigate Sri Lanka war crimes - Boston Globe

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 11:30 GMT]
"The government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has been claiming a glorious total victory - and denying allegations from doctors on the scene that tens of thousands of innocent civilians have been the victims of indiscriminate artillery fire and scorched-earth tactics," said Boston Globe in Tuesday's editorial, adding "the European Union must follow up on its call for an investigation of war crimes against civilians." The editorial also said that "the United Nations adopted a resolution in 2005 on the "responsibility to protect" populations that are not protected by their own governments. The massive killing and wounding of civilians on Sri Lanka represents exactly the sort of case that resolution was meant to address."
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IC has to check militarization and Sinhalicisation of rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 06:59 GMT]
Serious concerns are raised in the Tamil diaspora circles at the IC’s attempts to pour in rehabilitation aid through Colombo’s rehabilitation structure, which is completely militarized and Sinhalicised. This will only serve Colombo’s next agenda of ‘structural genocide’ of Tamils, the diaspora circles said. While rehabilitation is the immediate need, there will be an irredeemable danger if the IC is embarked upon it without recognition of Tamil status in the island and without involving Tamil hands, they said. Ideally, the IC should at least now exercise its authority to completely take over the camps and do the work with the direction and participation of the people for whom they give the aid, they further said.
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Karunanidhi should bargain exit of habitually biased

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 02:04 GMT]
It is a well-known fact that certain elements, belonging to a clan operating from Nehru’s time bringing in disasters to India’s foreign policy, were responsible for the second time in India committing war crimes on Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. In forming the next government, chief minister Karunanidhi should use all his bargaining power to see that these elements never play a role again in Tamil affairs, said a Tamil journalist in Chennai. This is more important than bargaining ministerial portfolios, considering national interests of India and peace of the Tamil people, he said.
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War crime in the massacre of LTTE officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 01:52 GMT]
While rejecting Colombo's claim of the killing of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan and assuring his safety and well-being, LTTE's International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan Tuesday accused Colombo of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders B. Nadesan and S. Puleedevan. Mr. Pathmanathan said it is a crime against humanity that needs to be investigated. Meanwhile, informed sources told TamilNet that what happened in the early hours of Monday was a well-planned massacre of several unarmed civil officers of the LTTE with the aim of annihilating its political structure. At the orders of a 'top defence figure,' an international arrangement involving ICRC, European diplomats and a Colombo government diplomat to arrange safe exit to the civil officers was defied, the sources said.
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Sri Lanka lost confidence of Tamils: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Stating that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr. V. Pirapaharan is alive and well, Mr. Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE's international relations, told TamilNet Monday that it was very unfortunate that many of its senior members and leaders have either given up their lives or have been treacherously killed. "The Sri Lankan Government may have declared a military victory. But it does not realize that it is a hollow victory. It has completely lost the trust and confidence of the Tamils in Sri Lanka," he further said in an exclusive interview.
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