Sri Lankan commandos sexually abuse 14-year-old Tamil girl in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 13:53 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos in Vellaave'li police division in Batticaloa are alleged to have sexually abused a 14-year-old Tamil girl in front of her mother during a cordon and search conducted Sunday early morning in Vallaave’li, sources in Batticaloa said. The medical officer who examined the girl admitted to Batticaloa Teaching Hospital confirmed that she had been sexually abused. The STF commandos, having ordered all the men in the area to go to a temple, interrogated the women who were left alone in the houses collecting particulars about members of the family besides sexually abusing them.
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Colombo killed 700 children in 2 months - LTTE Radio

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 11:36 GMT]
Voice of Tigers, the official radio of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam on Sunday said Sri Lankan armed forces have killed 2,018 Tamil civilians in January and February in Vanni and that 700 of the victims were children. The VoT has been airing a program, "Bridging the beloved" (U'ravup Paalam), where civilians have been providing details of their missing family members and whereabouts of the remaining members in the hope of locating their missed ones.
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Britain trying to dodge obligations to prevent Genocide of Tamils - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 04:05 GMT]
Commenting on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's statement in the British Parliament that "a failed [UN] resolution- one that faces a veto- is worse than no resolution at all," Prof Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law, said that "Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950" allows a vetoed resolution to be turned over to United Nations General Assembly for action. "The General Assembly can and must do the same with respect to the genocidal plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka [...] Britain is simply trying to dodge its own obligation under Article I of the Genocide Convention "to prevent" the genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka," Prof Boyle added.
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'Sri Lanka: A Besieged Society' - Sivasegaram

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 20:22 GMT]
The Indian establishment, pretending neutrality, backed overtly and covertly the Sri Lankan government, politically as well as militarily, using Chinese and Pakistani interests in Sri Lanka as a pretext, writes Professor S. Sivasegaram, a well-known academic and Marxist writer. “International concern on human rights violations, threat to the media, the state of lawlessness including killings and abductions, and other issues have been mere formalities and have never been translated into action.[…] Foreign governments and international organisations to demand that the LTTE should ‘release’ the people under its wings is wrong, without simultaneously insisting that the Sri Lankan government ends all attacks on civilians and ensures the safety of civilians wherever they are.”
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CCD Police interrogates senior Tamil journalists in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 11:04 GMT]
Colombo Crime Division police in Demattagoda interrogated Saturday and Sunday the President of Sri Lankan Tamil Media Alliance (SLTMA), Vice President and Secretary in connection with Chudaroli Editor Vithyatharan who was ‘abducted’ first and later claimed ‘arrested’ and now detained at the Crime Division of the police in Demattagoda, media circles in Colombo said. Some Tamil journalists working for the English media too have been subjected to similar interrogation, the sources added.
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New Delhi's stratagem seeking 'pause'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 22:13 GMT]
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday asked Colombo to 'seize the opportunity' provided by LTTE’s ceasefire offer to bring about a ‘pause’ in hostilities and work for safe passage for 'trapped' civilians. Meanwhile, political observers in Tamil Nadu commented on the move a tactic to nullify their calls for a permanent ceasefire. Vaiko, the General Secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (MDMK) courted arrest with 300 other activists for waging black flags in protest against Mr. Mukherjee, who was on a visit to Thooththukkudi (Tutucorin).
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Cordon, search operation in Trincomalee stepped up

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 21:04 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police and the Sri Lanka Army have stepped up its patrolling and cordon and search operations in the Trincomalee town and its suburbs, where Tamils live in majority. On Friday the police took about five Tamil youths into custody in the Uppuveli Police division alleging that they were strangers to the locality and subjected them for severe interrogation.
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Chennai journalists demand Vithyatharan's immediate release

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 19:34 GMT]
Over a hundred journalists held a demonstration in Chennai near the State Guest House on Saturday to condemn the increasing attacks on the media in Sri Lanka and the recent abduction and arrest of well-known Tamil newspaper editor Nadesapillai Vithyatharan. The participants were from the Chennai Press Club, the Madras Union of Journalists, The Madras Reporters' Guild, and 'Journalists against Fascism'.
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Ghost of Bush wishes 'fight to the end'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 12:56 GMT]
The lessons of history are that actually there is nothing called ethnicities winning and losing. It is always forces of oppression and liberation losing and winning. ‘Fight to the end’ is vantage of the vultures hovering above for the spoils of both losers as well as winners. If ‘fight to the end’ is thrust upon peoples then they can’t help it. They have to fight it until the interests of those who orchestrate it are affected to the contrary or civilized world prevail upon those international belligerents. "Let us hope in the civilized world," writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
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TNA MP's secretary abducted in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 12:20 GMT]
A group of 10 armed men, including a female, who arrived in a white van abducted Sellathurai Sabanathan, a 50-year-old secretary of Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian Kanagaratnam Sathasivam. The abduction has taken place Saturday around 3:30 p.m. at the residence of the victim at Vairavappu'liyangku'lam.
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UN nods ‘fight to the finish’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 04:04 GMT]
The position taken by UN Security Council Friday indicating no go beyond ‘hearing’, and the considerate briefing of John Holmes largely endorsing and trusting Colombo’s agenda and assurances for civilians, are read between the lines by international political observers as a ‘knowing wink’ at Colombo to pursue its offensive. Alternatively, the UN stance either paves way for intervention by interested powers outside of the UN or perhaps reveals an actuality that the UN can be shaken not when people face genocide, but only when ground realities endanger the Sri Lankan state, observers said.
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Newborn babies bereft of milk, humanitarian situation worsens in Vanni

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 02:13 GMT]
Due to acute malnutrition and continued blockade of food thousands of mothers of newborn babies have gone barren to feed babies in besieged Mullaiththeevu. The substitute of powdered milk is also not available, seriously affecting thousands of babies reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni.
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Slave camp suspected in Ki'linochchi hospital building

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 17:34 GMT]
A slave camp consisting male and female members 'chosen' from the fleeing civilians by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is reportedly setup in the abandoned Ki'lnochchi hospital building, reported TamilNet correspondent in Vanni, citing unverified information reaching Mullaiththeevu from males who escaped from the camp. According to the sources, men are kept at the downstairs for forced labour and women kept in the upstairs for abuse by the SLA soldiers who are on temporary leave.
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SLAF jet exploded over Mullaiththeevu

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 10:41 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bomber was shot down in Mullaiththeevu on Friday at 11:25 a.m., civilians sources in Ira'naippaalai told TamilNet. Several civilians saw the jet explode in mid-air as it was beginning an attack run towards an unidentified locality. A huge plume of smoke followed after the flaming debris fell to earth, they said. The LTTE is yet to comment on the attack. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) spokesman Wing commander Janaka Nanayakara has denied the report that one of their aircraft was shot down in Vanni.
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12 Tamil youths arrested in upcountry

[TamilNet, Friday, 27 February 2009, 08:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police Friday morning took into custody twelve Tamil youths in a joint search operation conducted in Hatton, Bogawanthalawa, Kottagala and Nuwereliya areas where Tamils live in large numbers, according to complaints lodged with Deputy Minister, P. Rathakrishnan by the youths’ relatives.
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RSF seeks guarantee of Vithyatharan's safety

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 21:51 GMT]
Expressing extreme shock at today's forcible arrest of Vithyatharan, the editor of Sudar Oli, a Colombo-based Tamil daily, the Reporters without Borders (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, sought gurantee of safety of the arrested Editor from Sri Lanka's Media minister, Mr. Laxman Yapa, a press release issued by RSF said.
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Stop war, negotiate interim government for Tamils: Fourth International

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 20:41 GMT]
"We, the undersigned leaders of workers' parties, demand that the government of Sri Lanka stop attacks that can destroy thousands of Tamils and agree to a ceasefire with the LTTE to start discussions in order to install an interim government for the Tamil homeland," said a resolution passed Wednesday at the International Committee of the Fourth International, consisting over 50 political parties and organisations, spread throughout the five continents of the world. Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarante of the NSSP of Sri Lanka mooted the resolution, which was unanimously accepted.
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Britain legally obliged to prevent Genocide in Sri Lanka: Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 20:27 GMT]
Since the British Foreign Minister has now publicly admitted on behalf of his Government that Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) is "quite prepared to go ahead with acts of genocide," then under Article I of the Genocide Convention, the British government has a legal obligation "to prevent" this expected genocide of the Tamils by GoSL, said Professor Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet.
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TMVP person recovered dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 17:10 GMT]
Vaazhaichcheanai police recovered Thursday around 10:00 a.m the body of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMV) person in charge of Vaakaneari, from Ottuveli in their division in a decomposed state, informed by the public. The victim had died due to the injury caused by being hit with a stone, Vaazhaichcheanai district medical officer, Dr. Atchuthan, who performed the post mortem examination said.
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Vithyatharan attacked by 'abductors' inside white-van

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 17:06 GMT]
The wife of Chudaroli (Sudar Oli) Editor who was 'abducted' first and later claimed 'arrested' by the Sri Lankan Police, told media Thursday night that her husband had been attacked on his head and heels inside the white-van by the abductors. Meanwhile, Vithyatharan was dumped at Demattagoda by the abductors, Police told Mrs. Kala Vithytharan Thursday evening. However, Vithyatharan is detained at the Crime Division of the Police in Demattagoda where his wife visited him with their three children with police permission.
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