Tamil labourer shot dead in Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 17:49 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen breaking into the house of a Tamil labourer at 6th Mile post in Chaampaltheevu in Uppuve’li police division in Trincomalee district Wednesday night shot and killed him, sources in Trincomalee said.
Full story >>

Intention of Sri Lankan state is extermination of Tamils - TNA

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 16:04 GMT]
"The Sri Lankan State's actions establish beyond a shadow of doubt, that the real intention of the Sri Lankan State is the progressive extermination of the Tamil people," said the statement published by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in India on Friday. "The fact that the Sri Lankan State and its Armed forces despite the widest possible international outcry that the safety of Tamil civilians is paramount, have not been deterred even to the slightest degree, in the pursuit of their military attacks in Tamil civilian populated areas, without any regard whatever, for the safety of Tamil civilians, is indicative of the deep hostility that the Sri Lankan State and its Armed forces bear towards the Tamil people," the statement issued by the TNA further said.
Full story >>

UN should authorize decisive measures to halt mass atrocities- Center for R2P

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 11:31 GMT]
Pointing out that UN Security Council's adoption of "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine in 2005 obligates the Council to "act preventively to protect peoples from genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and ethnic cleansing, rather than waiting until atrocities have already occurred," the Global Center for R2P, in a letter to the UN Security Council sent Wednesday said, "the Council must be prepared to bluntly characterize the violence in Sri Lanka as mass atrocity crimes; to demand that the government of Sri Lanka grant access to the conflict zone to humanitarian groups and to the media, both of whom it has barred until now; to dispatch a special envoy to the region, and/or to consider the imposition of sanctions. And ultimately, it must help facilitate a durable political solution to the fighting."
Full story >>

AFP puts spin on TamilNet report

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 11:04 GMT]
A TamilNet news report citing political observers in Colombo that appeared Thursday became a ‘view of the LTTE’ for the Agence France-Presse (AFP). Since its inception, TamilNet has been an independent news agency committed to reporting news with a Tamil perspective. However, it has become an objectionable practice with a section of the international media, including AFP, to refer to TamilNet as a pro-rebel, pro-LTTE etc. medium. But, Friday’s reporting by AFP has gone a step further by treating TamilNet report as LTTE’s belief or opinion. TamilNet does not such reporting as just oversight.
Full story >>

LTTE envisages ceasefire, political solution ending armed conflict

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 10:32 GMT]
"LTTE’s armed struggle is the historical product of injustice against the Tamil Nation in the island, and if the International Community could achieve a just political solution to the conflict, the need for an armed struggle would cease to exist," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued on Friday. Mr. Pathmanathan further said: "We assure the International Community that the LTTE is ready to participate in political negotiations and fight to meet the political aspirations of the Tamil Nation at the negotiating table, through political means, if an immediate and permanent ceasefire is ensured and the human sufferings of the Tamil people are addressed."
Full story >>

India asks for extension of 'pause' in hostilities

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 08:39 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka must extend pause in hostilities to prevent further casualties and enable trapped civilians to leave the area to secure locations, said India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday. "Continuation of precipitate military actions leading to further civilian casualties at this time would be totally unacceptable," it further said. The statement came after India's National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon meeting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members Wednesday and Thursday. Mr. Mukherjee's statement ended by India reminding Government of Sri Lanka and 'others' concerned that 'Tamils are citizens of Sri Lanka'.
Full story >>

Colombo householders asked to register particulars with police

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 07:43 GMT]
All householders in Colombo have been instructed by Sri Lanka Defence Ministry to register their particulars at the nearest police station and that failure to do so may result in punitive measures, according to announcement made over loud speaker in Sinhalese and Tamil from a long white bus bearing the Sri Lanka government insignia, Thursday night and Friday morning. Letting a person live in the house without informing the police is a punishable offence, it was announced.
Full story >>

White van armed men abduct Tamil trader in Ampaa’rai

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 07:25 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving in a white van Wednesday night forcibly took away a young Tamil trader from Akkaraipattu in Ampaa’rai district as he was on his way to his shop, according to a complaint made by his wife to Akkaraipattu police.
Full story >>

Omarikka’lappu / Umarikka’lappu

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 02:07 GMT]
The backwaters locality of Omari / Umari herb (Salicornia indica)
Full story >>

Colombo, India and IC conspire three-pronged attack: Canadian Tamil artist

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 00:01 GMT]
The coercion of the Canadian government withdrawing the release of a statement just because the Canadian Tamil demonstrators refused to lower the Tamil national flag, considered as pro-LTTE flag by the government, is a part of the international conspiracy to break down the Eezham Tamil liberation struggle by isolating and dealing with the three components of the struggle, i.e., the LTTE, the TNA and the diaspora, said Varnarameshwaran, a Canadian Tamil Music Director. "The conspiracy is to abet Colombo to eliminate the LTTE leadership at whatever civilian cost, India to handle the TNA and the governments of the so-called international community to intimidate the diaspora. It is a three-pronged attack," he said.
Full story >>

US says humanitarian situation dire, asks GoSL, LTTE to stop hostilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 23:44 GMT]
In one of the strongly worded press releases United States Department of State called upon the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) to immediately stop hostilities, and to respect the right of free movement of civilians in Mullaiththeevu area. The release further noted that "[a] durable and lasting peace will only achieved through a political solution that addresses legitimate aspiration of Sri Lankan communities. Adding further killing will "stain any eventual peace," the release urged GoSL to employ diplomacy to permit a peaceful outcome of the conflict.
Full story >>

UN and IC signal civilian carnage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 19:14 GMT]
The observation of UN official Holmes, that a ceasefire is not possible and the LTTE is preventing the civilians from leaving, followed by the chorus of British and French foreign ministers coming out with the same accusation on the LTTE in strong words, signal UN and IC assenting to a civilian carnage in the so-called safety zone, political observers in Colombo said. They also cited Rajapaksa’s visit to Ki’linochchi and unconfirmed reports on the withdrawal of even pro-government media from the battlefront as final preparations for Colombo’s onslaught.
Full story >>

Onslaught of civilians continues, more than 57 killed, 300 wounded Thursday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 17:36 GMT]
While Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Ki'linochchi to boost the morale of his forces, shelling and cannon fire by his troops in Mullaiththeevu district killed more than 57 civilians within the so-called safety zone on Thursday, according to TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. Nearly 1,500 shell explosions were registered by the correspondent as fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Thursday and around 600 of them hit the safety zone while about 150 cannon shots hit the coastline.
Full story >>

Sinhalese goons seriously injure 11 upcountry Tamils in Moneragala

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 16:37 GMT]
Sinhalese men armed with guns and swords descending on Tamil rubber plantation workers in Monaragala district fired at random on the workers sheds, seriously wounding eleven of them on Tuesday and Wednesday, Monaragala police who had arrested two Sinhalese youths involved in the incident, said. The wounded Tamil estate workers are admitted to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) in Monaragala government hospital.
Full story >>

Holmes needs more homework: Diaspora refugee worker

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 15:06 GMT]
It is unfortunate that UN, the apex body meant to protect the weaker sections of humanity, is on the contrary exploiting the misery of Eezham Tamil civilians to abet the aims of their sworn oppressors, said K.Suthahar, an information counsellor of a refugee reception centre in Norway. "Top UN official John Holmes, would do better by convincing his organisation to first demonstrate that to what extent it can practically defy the genocidal agenda of the Sri Lankan state and in what ways it can protect the concerned civilians particularly, and the Tamil people in general. The first step is to take full responsibility of the civilians who are already in the concentration camps of Colombo. But the UN is unable even to free its own local workers in Colombo’s camps," he said.
Full story >>

'Permanent ceasefire and not a humanitarian pause': APPG-T

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 13:02 GMT]
"We want an immediate and permanent ceasefire and not a humanitarian pause," said Virendra Sharma MP, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) in a statement issued on Wednesday.
Full story >>

SLA, SLAF intensify offensive targeting safety zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 03:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified its offensive targeting to bifurcate so-called saftey zone Thursday at 6:50 a.m. with fire support provided by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter gunships attempting to break the defensive bunds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) for the fourth day. The SLA and the SLAF were deploying maximum fire power in the fighting. SLAF bombers began attacking the bunds at 7:40 a.m. Civilian settlements in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal were being targeted by long-range artillery and cannons.
Full story >>

French Tamil organizations to meet for discussions

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 22:22 GMT]
The Eezham Tamil organizations in France plan to meet Saturday for discussions on current situation and to take decisions on the future course of the liberation struggle of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, said Ki Pi Aravinthan one of the organizers of the event to TamilNet.
Full story >>

SLA offensive on civilian zone continues

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 19:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive units are continuously engaged in an offensive push, targeting Iraddai-vaaykkaal junction from Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) Mullaiththeevu road, amidst heavy resistance by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), according to latest reports from Vanni. Stiff fighting was heard near Iraddai-vaaykkaal junction, close to the entrance of the so-called safety zone. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked the area at least 6 times in the morning and helicopter gunships were seen firing rockets in the evening as Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells that hit Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal rocked the safety zone. As dead civilians were buried where they were attacked, only 83 wounded civilians managed to reach the hospital at Puthumaaththa'lan upto 5:00 p.m., according to medical sources.
Full story >>

Sri Lanka, 'Obama's first problem from hell,' ICP says

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 11:49 GMT]
Inner City Press journalists, in a web discussion, say that the imminent "blood bath" of Tamil civilians in the "safe zone" in Mullaiththeevu coast as the first "problem from hell" for Obama administration, and ask why the world has not heard yet any voice on Sri Lanka from Samantha Power, author of a well acclaimed book on genocide and the senior director of Multi-lateral Affairs at the U.S's National Security Council (NSC) where she will have a direct hand in formulating U.S. policy on the United Nations, G-8, and other global forums.
Full story >>