Mediaperson killed in SLA shell attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:10 GMT]
TamilNet sadly shares the news of the killing of an independent media person Friday, in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shell attack inside the 'safe zone' in Vanni. He was long helping TamilNet’s independent Vanni correspondent and even just before his killing, he had assisted our main correspondent in covering a story. He was killed hit by an SLA shell while in his cottage in the 'safe zone'.
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Tamil family man abducted in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:07 GMT]
Unidentified gunmen in a white van forcibly abducted Saturday around 12:30 p.m a Tamil family man who was riding on his bicycle along Ka'n'nangkudaa Veethi in Koththiyaapulam area in Vavu’natheevu police division in Batticaloa district, according to a complaint lodged with Vavu’natheevu police.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil woman in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit men shot and killed Friday around 8:00 p.m a Tamil woman, the mother of two children, in her house at Kaakkaachivaddai village in Vellaave’li police division in Batticaloa district. A 14-year-old Tamil girl was raped by a policeman Sunday while a Tamil woman social activist was strangled to death Monday, in Viveakaananthapuram, the neighbuoring village of Kaakkaachivaddai, where the mother of two children was shot and killed by SLA Friday night, sources in Batticaloa said. The killing being the third consecutive incident of violence perpetrated on Tamil women by Sri Lanka armed forces in Vellaave’li police division within a week has created tension and fear among the Tamils of the area.
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California Democrats seek Referendum to resolve Sri Lanka conflict

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
The Santa Clara County Democratic Party Central Committee, Thursday, passed a resolution asking "U.S. Congress and the Federal Administration to immediately persuade the government of Sri Lanka and the UN to conduct a UN monitored referendum in the Tamil region of Sri Lanka to determine if the people wish the autonomy or the complete independence." The organizers of the resolution said they will be mounting a campaign to urge other Democratic party branches in different counties to adopt similar resolutions to raise Sri Lanka as a key policy issue within the Democratic Party.
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Commonwealth ministers’ silence, Colombo’s membership questioned

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 20:21 GMT]
The Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) on Thursday condemned the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) for not reviewing the situation in Sri Lanka in its meeting in London, Wednesday. CMAG, a body of nine ministers, is mandated to check persistent violations of the ‘Fundamental Values and Principles of the Commonwealth,’ including democracy and human rights. Contrary to the norm that limits each country to two-consecutive sittings, Sri Lanka is currently serving its third consecutive two-year term. Sri Lanka‘s membership has become particularly controversial as its own credentials as a guardian of these values become increasingly questionable, read a statement from CHRI.
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Press Freedom Group calls for unconditional release of Tissanayagam

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 19:31 GMT]
In a press release issued to mark the first anniversary of incarceration of Tamil journalist on unsubstantiated terrorism charges, the International Press Freedom Mission, a group of international media watchdogs including Article 19, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), and Reporters Without Borders (RSF), is “calling for the unconditional release of Tissainayagam, who has been subjected to arbitrary court adjournments and is suffering ill health.” First anniversary of arrest and imprisonment of Tissanayagam fell on 7th March.
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Human chain demonstration in Norway

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 16:11 GMT]
More than 700 Norwegian Tamils stood in line with joined hands forming long human chains Thursday around 5:00 p.m staring from the Oslo Central Railway Station up to National Theatre along both sides of Karl Johans Street protesting against attempts to force out Tamil civilians from their birth places to Sri Lanka Army concentration camps in government controlled areas outside Vanni. The demonstration organized by Norwegian Tamils’ Forum (NTF) ended around 6:00 p.m.
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Silent prayer, fast for Vanni Tamils in Jaffna University concludes

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Thousands of persons including students, lecturers, faculty heads, employees and Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University took part Friday between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 a.m in final day of the silent prayer and fast conducted daily since 9 February for the sake of the suffering Tamils in Vanni due to the war waged on them by the Government of Sri Lanka.
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‘True friends’ coordinate prodding civilians into barbed wires

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 13:50 GMT]
Colombo plans to open two routes to prod Tamil civilians chose to stay under the protection of the LTTE into its barbed-wire internment camps, according to news reports, Friday. One route will be leading to north towards Chalai and the other towards south through Mullaiththeevu, the reports indicated. Meanwhile, India is likely to establish a field military hospital at Pulmoaddai, in the coast south of Mullaiththeevu to treat evacuated civilians Bernama.com reported, quoting Xinhua news agency.
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3 SLA soldiers injured in LTTE attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched an attack Thursday around 9:15 p.m on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Kommaanththu’rai 6th mile post area in Ea’raavoor police division, injuring three of them, LTTE in Batticaloa said.
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Police arrest 3 Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 10:19 GMT]
Police arrested three Tamils including two women Wednesday in a house at Athurugiruya in Colombo district suspected to be supporters of Liberation Tigers, according to police spokesman Ranjit Gunasekara. The three arrested are being detained in the police station and interrogated by the Terrorist Intelligence Division of Sri Lanka police.
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Doctors warn severe shortage of medicines in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 07:56 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lankan and its armed forces have systematically blocked medical supplies, causing several patients to die at the hospital and inflicted slow death of patients dependent on medications. The makeshift-hospital at Puthumaaththa'lan is struggling to cope with the situation. On Thursday, Dr. Saththiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) of Ki'linochchi district, in his situation report, said medicines for four months have not arrived in Vanni.
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Japan accused of aiding Sri Lanka's war against Tamils

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 06:00 GMT]
U.S. Tamils plan to protest in front of Japanese Embassy located at 2520 Massachusetts Ave, Washington D.C. Friday urging Japan to stop funding Sri Lanka's war against Tamils, and appealed to Tamils world-wide to boycott Japanese goods, organizers of the protest said. Japan is the top contributor in aid to Sri Lanka, providing $350m a year of the nearly $1 billion Sri Lanka receives in bilateral/multilateral aid, loans from aid agencies and other countries.
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Forced starvation constitutes an act of Genocide - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 04:53 GMT]
Commenting on recent reports that Colombo is withholding food supplies forcing into starvation the more than 300,000 Tamil civilians trapped in the war-zone, Prof. Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet said, "[I]n the context of longstanding Sri Lankan genocide against the Tamils, this recent GOSL atrocity also constitutes an act of genocide as defined, prohibited and criminalized by Genocide Convention Article II (c):"Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."
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Nanthikkadal

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 02:40 GMT]
The sea / lagoon of conches (Turbinella pyrum)
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Acid test for international actors

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 02:36 GMT]
It is clear that the Colombo government is waging a direct war on unarmed civilians with the intention of intimidation and subjugation of them. The hard truth is that for chauvinistic Colombo war with Eezham Tamil civilians is more important than its war with the Tigers. The war with the LTTE is only a part of the agenda aimed at making the Tamils orphans first. India and the Co-Chairs countries have a direct responsibility in perpetrating the present war leading to the genocide of Tamils. They cannot dodge their responsibility accusing the LTTE or saying it is internal affair of Sri Lanka and citing Russia and China possibly vetoing a move in the UN. Their immediate responsibility now is providing food and medicine at the doorstep of the civilians, unconditionally, even if it is going to be against the wishes of Colombo, writes an IDP activist in Vanni.
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Media activists in Colombo fear reprisals, keep away from protest

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 01:12 GMT]
Around 25 media persons, mostly leftist oriented, took part in a demonstration Thursday noon at Colpetty junction in Colombo, protesting against the manner in which Vithyatharan, the editor of ‘Sudaroli’ Tamil newspaper was 'arrested' by the Sri Lankan Police. Many media activists and journalists kept away from demonstration fearing reprisals by the Colombo government, concerned activists told TamilNet. Colombo Crime Division police personnel, disguised as media men, took photographs of the protesters, according to the participants in the protest.
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2 Tamil youths arrested in Uppuve'li

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Uppuve'li Police took two Tamil youths into custody in Trincomalee district during a cordon and search operation conducted on Wednesday evening. Police said both were residents of Jaffna and had been staying in the area without identity card. They also failed to justify their presence in the location, the police said.
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Police arrest owner of Poobalasingam Book Depot in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 21:10 GMT]
Prevention of Terrorism branch police arrested the owner of Poobalasingam Book Depot, Sritharasing, for sending Tamil Nadu ‘Ananda Vikadan’ weekly magazine to Ratmalana Air port to be sent to Jaffna branch of Poobalsingam Book Depot when the police at Ratmalana air port found articles and photos in ‘Ananda Vikadan’ in favour of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Sritharasing’s relatives in Colombo said.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil youth in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 March 2009, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed a Tamil youth Thursday around 8:45 p.m on Punnaikkudaa Veethi near Ear’aavoor Public Market in Ea’raavoor police division and claimed that the youth was a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) pistol group. SLA also claimed to have recovered a pistol and a hand grenade from the youth killed.
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