'EU should consider justice, not investigations'

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 20:58 GMT]
The EU foreign ministers Monday called for the investigation of war crimes committed by ‘both sides’ in the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. Responding to the news, TamilNet political commentator in Colombo said that what happened and what is happening in Sri Lanka is a unique case in contemporary human history in which the war crimes are ‘multilateral’, involving the UN, India, China and the Co-Chairs, involving even the EU. “The investigations have to be comprehensive sparing ‘nobody’, but where on earth to find such a neutral body, he asked. Rather than giving importance to post mortem in which the winners always have a better say, the EU has to urgently prevent further war crimes by immediately recognizing the Tamil independence and sovereignty in the island”, he said.
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Jaffna University students suspend educational activities

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 18:19 GMT]
Jaffna University Student Union (JUSU) said that it is suspending all educational activities for a week from Tuesday as the students are undergoing severe mental stress and grief on account of the carnage of innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni, in a statement to the media Tuesday. Outstation students are unable to know the fate of their parents, relatives and others who had been caught in the war in Vanni and this affects them so badly that they are unable to follow lectures, JUSU said.
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Lies, deceptions, hallmark of Sri Lanka war- Telegraph

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 11:14 GMT]
"Chinese weapons, Indian intelligence, Sinhala Armed personals and racist Sri Lankan leaders came together to perform one of the most cruel war that has cost the lives of many thousands innocents," says Richard Dixon, a columnist in London's Telegraph. While "Tamils all over the world are mourning the death of their loved ones back home," and "[b]irds have now stopped singing in a land called Vanni," Dixon writes, "[l]eaders of Sri Lanka and some responsible officers in the UN, should be questioned in international courts in order to find out if they were responsible for the deaths of innocent Tamils."
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SLA spree of massacre in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:43 GMT]
In a spree of massacre, the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is killing the wounded civilians in large numbers in the so-called safety zone, according to a reliable telephone call from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Monday forenoon. There are still civilians hiding in the bunkers the phone call said.
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Mahinda’s accounts crime

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:33 GMT]
Before his murderous assault on the so-called safety zone, Mahinda Rajapaksa has always been maintaining that the number of civilians there was only 70,000. But after the first bout of the capture of civilians last month, until Thursday, 247,908 civilians from the safety zone were registered in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa, Pulmoaddai, Mannaar and Jaffna. After the first bout, the Sri Lanka president was saying that only 15 to 20 thousand were remaining in the safety zone. Sunday evening Colombo’s militarised civil administration head of internment camps, Chandrasiri admitted more than 80,000 crossing after the latest onslaught. According to aid officials, some more thousands are still remaining.
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Colombo 'ended' the battle with a massacre

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:25 GMT]
Monday early hours around 3:00 a.m. Vanni local time, the LTTE Political Chief B. Nadesan and LTTE Peace Secretariat Director S. Puleedevan telephoned their contacts in Europe and informed them to tell the ICRC Head Office that only around 1,000 wounded cadres, civil officials of the LTTE and civilians remained in the so-called safety zone and there was no firing from the LTTE side. They urged the ICRC to evacuate the wounded. A few hours later, Colombo's Defence Ministry website claimed finding the dead bodies of Mr. Nadesan, Mr. Puleedevan, Mr. Ilango (Tamileelam Police Chief), and LTTE Leader V. Pirapaharan's son Mr. Charles Antony. The LTTE is yet to confirm, but initial reports indicate a determined massacre by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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Ship on Mercy Mission crosses Suez Canal en route to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 22:23 GMT]
Mercy Mission ship, “Captain Ali” set sail from Fos-Sur-Mer, France on the 2nd leg of the mission, carrying approximately 884 metric tons of food, medicine, and other essential humanitarian relief items destined for the Tamil civilians in the Vanni area of Northern Sri Lanka displaced by the war just entered the Red Sea after traveling through the Suez Canal, a press release issued by the organizers of the mission said. The ship began the 1st leg of its journey from the Port of Ipswich, UK on 20 April 2009.
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'Long live human dignity; shame on international community'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 18:37 GMT]
While the so-called international community is "exposed of its shameful conning," thousands of Tamil civilians and combatants are laying down their lives to "uphold Tamil dignity, and human dignity," says a Tamil academic in Colombo. Those who blame the LTTE for bringing in the disaster know well that Colombo always had the option to negotiate or to come out with a political solution convincing Tamils not to continue the conflict. But Colombo’s aim is not power sharing but genocide and subjugation of Tamils by forcing war on them. "The only way now for the IC to come out of the colossus shame is direct intervention and recognition of the justification for Tamil Eelam," the academic said.
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Flaunting 'victory' to Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 16:51 GMT]
Sinhala mob carrying the Lion Flag of Sri Lanka, and shouting 'jeyawewa' (victory), menacingly hover around the Tamil suburbs in Colombo such as Ko'l'lup-piddi, Ve'l'la-vaththai, Bambalapiti, Dehiwela, Koddaagn-cheanai and Maddakku'li, news reports from Colombo said. Their vehicles in which they roam around, are also guarded by flag-carrying police and intelligence vehicles, the reports said. The Tamil pedestrians are humiliated and ridiculed by this gang and by the armed personnel at security points by being specifically addressed and told that their leader Pirapaharan has been captured and everything was over, the reports further said.
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10 Tamil civilians arrested in Gampaha

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 13:29 GMT]
Twenty five civilians including ten Tamils were arrested in cordon and search operation conducted in Gampaha town from Thursday evening to midnight by the police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA). The arrested are being detained in police station for further inquiry as they failed to establish their identity by providing national identity card, according to the Police.
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6 upcountry Tamils arrested in Talawakelle

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 13:28 GMT]
Six upcountry Tamils were taken into custody Friday by Sri Lanka Police in Talawakelle in Kandy district. Police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara said they were suspected to be supporters of LTTE and all were residents of Talawakelle.
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Tamils need to be heard - John Pilger

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 12:24 GMT]
"In order to conduct a slaughter, you ensure the pornography is unseen, illicit at best. You ban foreigners and their cameras from Tamil towns such as Mulliavaikal, which was bombarded recently by the Sri Lankan army, and you lie that the 75 people killed in the hospital were blown up quite wilfully by a Tamil suicide bomber. You then give reporters a ride into the jungle, providing what in the news business is called a dateline, which suggests an eyewitness account, and you encourage the gullible to disseminate only your version and its lies," says award winning documentary maker and popular journalist John Pilger in a recent report in the New Statesman on Sri Lanka war. "History teaches us that when no one listens, tragedy ensues. Sri Lanka’s Tamils face terrible suffering. They urgently need to be heard," adds the author.
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South African Tamils protest Sri Lanka gencide, block highway

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 11:18 GMT]
The South African Tamils along with human rights activists and peace loving citizens gathered in numbers Friday to support the call for immediate ceasefire from the Sri Lankan Government and humanitarian access to Tamil civilians in the conflict zone. The banners carried by the protesters accused the Sri Lanka Government of genocide, and the international community for inaction despite the large-scale killing of Tamil civilians within the safety zone. The event was organized by the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of South Africa (TCCSA).
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'Responsibility now with US'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 10:37 GMT]
The first act of Tamil Nadu chief minister Karunanidhi after the announcement of the election results was an appeal to the Indian Establishment re-elected to power to save the Eezham Tamils. However, the utmost responsibility lies with the Co-Chairs and especially with the US, says TamilNet’s political analyst in Colombo. The US has to either convince India or act alone to save the situation and save its own credibility. Failing, the White House is likely to emerge bearing the major responsibility for conning Tamils to their death and subjugation, and the IC tagged behind it may never be able to justify its credentials in implementing a world order it desires, he further said.
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25,000 civilians injured to death while IC watches: Soosai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Sea Tiger Special Commander of the LTTE, Col. Soosai Sunday noon said that around 25,000 civilians injured in the artillery attack of Sri Lanka Army are dead and dying now without receiving medical attention. The LTTE has repeatedly requested the ICRC through Mr. Pathmanathan to evacuate the injured through Vadduvaakal or Iraddaivaaikkaal, but there was no IC response. Within a 2 square kilometre area, there are dead bodies everywhere while the remaining thousands are in bunkers amidst the use of every kind of weapon by Colombo's forces. The SLA is not even allowing the people to flee but prefers to fire at them, Soosai said.
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Dignity and respect for our people is all we ask – Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 08:22 GMT]
“Despite our plea to the world to save the thousands of people in Vanni from the clutches of death, the silence of the international community has only encouraged the Sri Lankan military to execute the war to its bitter end. In the past 24 hours, over 3000 civilians lie dead on the streets while another 25,000 are critically injured with no medical attention. To save the lives of our people is the need of the hour. Mindful of this, we have already announced to the world our position to silence our guns to save our people," Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE’s International Diplomatic Relations has said in an urgent statement issued Sunday.
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White House protest to continue into next week

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 02:31 GMT]
The protest rally which started this Monday, in front of the White House along the closed section of Pennsylvania Avenue in Washington D.C., has been continuing for the last six days, and the organizers said, due to the unprecedented humanitarian disaster unfolding in Sri Lanka where the State's Army is slaughtering thousands of civilians, the organizers said, the protest will continue into the next week. Assembled American Tamils urged U.S. to act immediately to prevent a whole sale massacre of more than 150,000 civilians still holed up in the Safety Zone in Sri Lanka's north.
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Tamil student from Malaysia reported missing in Katunayake

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 12:38 GMT]
A Tamil youth, Rajaratnam Rajasekaran, 21, resident of Vaiaravapuliyankulam in Vavuniyaa district has been reported missing since May 12. He left Vavuniyaa and arrived in Katunayake international airport on May 12 to fly back to Malaysia to continue his studies in a Malaysian university. Rajasekaran was reported missing after he reached Katunayake, according to complaints with the police by his parents.
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Stench of dead bodies permeate Vanni, wounded allowed to die without treatment

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 10:26 GMT]
An uncounted number of dead bodies between 2,000 and 3,000 are lying all over the places in civilian congested area and the civilians are all struck by a heavy stench of dead bodies, said a volunteer doctor from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal. "Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has destroyed all medical facilities by targeted attacks, and the SLA was continuing inhuman and indiscriminate attacks on civilians providing only two options, death or surrender," he added. The volunteer doctor himself witnessed more than 100 deaths Saturday morning. All the government doctors and the top officials have fled the shelling. Civilians are in shock at the continuing carnage in Vanni.
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LTTE takes heed to Obama's call: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 16 May 2009, 09:17 GMT]
“The situation in Vanni has reached colossal proportions and what is happening there is unprecedented human carnage. At this juncture we are ready to anything that is necessary to save the Tamil people trapped in the unrelenting war that is waged on them. We heed the call by the US President and are prepared to take measures that will spare the life of our people,” said Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the LTTE’s head of International Relations, in a statement issued Saturday. "The international community now has to act with fairness and openness and should take full responsibility for the people who are being targeted with no mercy or dignity," he further said.
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