British MPs urge World Governments to act immediately

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 11:54 GMT]
In a press release issued Sunday, the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) said that the "final onslaught" in the safe zone by the Sri Lanka Government will result in "carnage if unimaginable magnitude," and appealed to "Her Majesty's Government, NGOs, and Governments around the world, to act immediately to prevent this devastation."
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Sri Lanka continues air strikes violating own announcement - Puleedevan

[TamilNet, Monday, 27 April 2009, 07:45 GMT]
Two Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter bombers continued to bomb civilian targets in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal after the announcement by the Sri Lankan forces that it would not deploy heavy weapons or carry out air attacks as pressure mounted from the International Community. LTTE's Director of Peace Seceratariat, S. Puleedevan, when contacted by TamilNet told that SLAF bombers were attacking civilian targets at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal at 12:50 p.m. and again at 1:10 p.m. despite the announcement to cease such attacks. He blamed Colombo for "attempting to deceive the International Community, including the people of Tamil Nadu," with the announcement.
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Several civilians killed, 200 wounded within 5 hours as SLA launches onslaught

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 22:59 GMT]
Several civilians were killed and more than 200, wounded in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling and gunfire, have been admitted at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal hospital in the early hours of Monday as the SLA opened fire from its positions attempting to advance further into the densely populated so-called safety zone (No Fire Zone) from 3:30 a.m. Monday. Heavy exchange of gunfire continued and civilians were forced to stay inside the bunkers as rounds were whizzing over them. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers carried out two sorties of air raids in the morning, according to latest reports from Vanni. The aggression by the SLA comes a few hours after Sri Lanka rejected LTTE announced unilateral ceasefire.
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World awaits right action from Obama: UK hunger striker of 20 days

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 19:56 GMT]
In a faint voice barely audible, 28-year-old Parameswaran, on the 20th day of his hunger strike in London said Sunday the world is waiting for right action from the US president. “White house said stop shelling and warned Sri Lanka that a military end of the conflict will end a unified Sri Lanka. But Colombo is air attacking. We are waiting for right action. 10,000 civilians died in three months. Thousands and thousands are suffering in the hands of the Sri Lankan military and in the refugee camps - the barbed wire camps, without international monitoring. This is clearly, without any doubt genocide… I condemn all nations for not condemning. I strongly condemn the Indian government for supporting the war in Sri Lanka”, Parameswaran said.
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”Break the silence” – diaspora Tamils urge Norway

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 18:03 GMT]
More than 500 diaspora Tamils in Oslo staged a demonstration with their mouths bound in white bands as a symbol of the silence maintained by the Norwegian government in the face of the unfolding genocide of innocent Tamils in Vanni, in front of Norwegian Parliament Sunday from 2:00 p.m till 3:30 p.m, urging Norway to break its damaging silence and to actively engage in finding a justified solution to the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka, sources in Oslo said. The demonstrators appealed to Norway to thrust aside its silence maintained so far and to act before it is too late.
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Inaction may cause 10,000 casualties: SOS appeal to powers

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 16:55 GMT]
"On behalf of over 160,000 civilians still in the area, we are making this final appeal to the the international community to stop the slaughter of Tamil civilians in the so-called safe zone," appealed Lawrance Christy, head of the field office of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in a SOS message to the UN, US, India, EU, UK, Russia and China adding that "You are our only hope." If the expected offensive goes forward, there will be more than 10,000 casualties as the area is densely populated and there is no cover from bombs, shells, and bullets, he said. "As we write this appeal there is a build up of Sri Lanka armed forces in the areas surrounding the so-called safe zone and an offensive via land, sea, and air is only a few hours away."
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Western Province elections endorse Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 16:37 GMT]
Mahinda Rajapaksa’s UPFA, standing on the electioneering platform of eliminating ‘Tamil Terrorism’ secured Sunday clear majority of 64.7 percent in the elections for the Provincial Council of the Western Province. Rajapaksa’s victory is a clear mandate given to him by the Sinhala ethnic majority to go ahead with the genocide of Tamils; is well timed for him to convince the IC of his ‘democratic’ necessity to proceed with the final onslaught on Tamil civilians in the safety zone and sets clear the way for his long-term genocidal agenda and denial of any political solution, political observers in Colombo said. Meanwhile, the elections also clearly evidence that the ethnic crisis in the island can never be resolved within the Sri Lankan state system or through mandate of the majority Sinhalese, for anyone who wants to see an end to the conflict, they pointed out.
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2 Tamil youths fasting in Paris admitted to hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 15:03 GMT]
French medical authorities Sunday took two of the four Tamil youths, Rajkumar and Varunan, observing fast unto death for the last 19 days in Paris in the Tamil diaspora demonstration against the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, for immediate medical treatment as their physical state had deteriorated, sources in Paris said. The other two youths continue their fast until they are given a positive response from the French Government for the demands for which the Tamil diaspora in France has been demonstrating for the 21st day, the sources added. The diaspora Tamils in France are converging in their thousands at the place near the Wall for Peace monument where the fast is being observed, on learning of the situation of the fasting youths.
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‘Bush-league’ editorial urges pinpoint strikes at LTTE leadership

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 14:56 GMT]
Criticizing the policies and efforts of Obama, Hillary Clinton and Eric Solheim, the Washington Times in an editorial Sunday said that the Obama administration should not allow the Tigers to ‘snatch victory from the jaws of defeat’ but should help Colombo ‘by providing military and intelligence support for pinpoint strikes against the terrorist leadership’. Reflecting chauvinistic passion and imitating the style and line of Colombo’s newspapers, the editorial said: "Obama administration should mind its own business. The Sri Lankans are winning; we should let them finish the job". Commenting on the editorial, a political commentator in Colombo said: "Had Bush minded his own business, Tamils would have sorted out the crisis by now and Washington Times wouldn’t have had the occasion to tax itself so emotionally."
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UN abetted genocide aiming to seal liberation: NGO official in safe zone

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 13:39 GMT]
"UN is trying to close the chapter with the death of hundreds of thousands of our people. UN is encouraging the genocidal onslaught for the sake of safeguarding the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lankan state. It has let the people and their aspirations to die,” writes Lawrance Christy, the planning director of Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) which serves the people inside the so-called safety zone. "UN has sadly failed in its mandate to uphold the aspirations of a people who are oppressed grossly and consistently for the last 60 years. The intermittent physical attacks on Tamils now has culminated in extensive massacre by military onslaught,” he writes giving a firsthand, eyewitness account of the massacre and human tragedy in the safety zone since Monday.
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IC caused disaster of epic proportion: Anita Pratap

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 11:07 GMT]
“Lacking independent assessments, journalists repeat Sri Lankan claims that this is the end game, this is Prabhakaran's last stand. Judging from the past, I doubt it”, writes former CNN Bureau Chief in New Delhi, Anita Pratab, in the 03 May issue of The Week. “Nowhere in the world has a government been continuously bombing its own civilians for over a year. This is a crime Israeli, American and NATO forces are not guilty of. Nowhere else in the world is a war being waged without outsiders and independent witnesses, not in Iraq, not in Afghanistan, not in Gaza. But in Sri Lanka”, she writes.
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LTTE announces unilateral ceasefire

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 10:38 GMT]
"In the face of an unprecedented humanitarian crisis and in response to the calls made by the UN, EU, the governments of the USA, India and others, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has announced an unilateral ceasefire. All of LTTE’s offensive military operations will cease with immediate effect," said a press statement issued by the Political Head Quarters of the LTTE Sunday. "We have taken into account the recent declarations by the G8 nations, the Whitehouse, Indian Ministers and the EU and other members of international community. We are in full agreement that the humanitarian crisis can only be overcome by declaration of an immediate ceasefire," the statement said calling upon the international community to pressure the Sri Lankan Government to reciprocate it.
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Fast unto death, protest demonstration, continue in London

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 09:54 GMT]
Parameswaran Subramaniyam continued his fast unto death undettered for the 19th day Saturday placing five demands including an immediate stop of the inhuman killings of innocent Tamils in Vanni by Sri Lanka armed forces, sources in London said. “I will be happy to lay down my life for the sake of Tamil people,” Parameswaran said. His tent flaps remained closed Saturday due to foul weather and hundreds of people were seen waiting patiently in a long queue to convey their wishes and support to Parameswaran.
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STF commandos arrest 10 Tamils in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 07:20 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos and police took into custody ten Tamils including two married women in joint cordon and search conducted Saturday early morning in Chinnaththoadam area in Thirukkoayil in Ampaa’rai district, according to their relatives. The arrestees are being detained in Thirukkoayil police station.
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Paramilitary men shoot dead 3 Tamils, a Muslim in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Sunday, 26 April 2009, 06:54 GMT]
Paramilitary men operating with Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shot and killed Saturday around 8:45 two Tamil civilians including the President of the Nochchiku’lam Peace Committee and a Muslim civilian in Kantha’laay police division in Trincomalee district, sources in Trincomalee said. Meanwhile, paramilitary men gunned down a Tamil civilian Saturday around 9:00 p.m at Shaanthipuram in Kantha’laay police division, the sources added.a
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Independent Tamil Eelam only solution, we will fight to attain it: Jayalalitha

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 22:13 GMT]
A separate Tamil Eelam is the only solution that will permanently put an end to the problems of the Tamil people in the island of Sri Lanka, said Tamil Nadu former Chief Minister and principal Leader of the Opposition, Ms. Jayalalitha at a election rally in Salem city Saturday. In a powerful, moving speech, she resolved to fight to attain independent Eelam.
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Colombo wanted to hide forced displacement of Tamils - Vithiyatharan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 20:53 GMT]
”The real reason for my arrest was to prevent me from publishing news on the forced displacement of Tamils, its impacts and about the significance of Tamils’ representation in Western Provincial Council elections,” Nadesapillai Vithiyatharan, the Chief Editor of the Tamil daily Sudaroli, who was ‘abducted’ and later claimed as ‘arrested’ by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), said, after being released by Colombo Magistrate Court Friday, in a media report Friday in Colombo. “I was abducted on the final day of submission of nominations to the Western Provincial Council Election, Vithiyatharan said in the report.
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Starvation: Colombo deploys the worst genocidal weapon

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 18:29 GMT]
No food shipment was sent to the safety zone after 02 April. Even the earlier supplies were pathetically inadequate. The World Food Programme (WFP) shipment that already set sailing with 1,500 MT food items and was scheduled to arrive in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal has been diverted to Jaffna in the last minute by the Colombo government, citing ‘security reasons’, civil officials inside the zone told TamilNet Saturday. People starve beyond imagination, subsisting just on fish and prawns caught amidst high risk of SLA attack and eating them semi-raw, roasted in fire, as there is no cooking oil.
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Outrageous response of UN to humanitarian crisis: Diaspora scientist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Children as young as 12 are forcefully recruited and given with guns to fight on the front line alongside LTTE, Guardian.co.uk reported Saturday, 9.49 GMT, citing Gordon Weiss, UN spokesman in Sri Lanka. “Whom are they guarding”, Tamil circles asked. “It is outrageous that the UN which has no means to stop Colombo’s genocide or immediately take responsibility of the captured and even reluctant to talk about the high casualty but only ‘leaks out’ figures, to raise this matter at this juncture in an imbalanced way, when Colombo is bombarding the remaining civilians in the so-called safety zone”, said Thomas Aloysius, senior scientist in Bergan, Norway. “If what the UN official says is true, it is deplorable, but aren’t they too responsible for the tragedy by their inaction in prevailing upon Colombo to stop the war. The LTTE always ask for ceasefire”, he asked.
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10 Tamils arrested in Badulla

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 12:27 GMT]
Ten Tamil civilians were taken into custody in several estates surrounding Passara in Badulla district during a cordon and search operation conducted on Thursday from morning till evening. Police said the arrested were detained in police stations and being interrogated as they failed to prove their identity and justify the reason for their presence in the location.
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