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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Only 2.2% of humanitarian supplies reached Vanni in February - RDHS

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 01:41 GMT]
Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthy, the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) of Ki'linochchi district, in a situation report issued on Thursday said that only 109.71MT of food had been received for the month of February 2009 through the ships with the help of the ICRC. The real requirement per month, according to the RDHS is 4950 MT. "Consequently people are threatened with starvation unless the food condition is urgently rectified," the doctor said in his situation report adding: "Particularly children, women, elders and those who are seriously ill become vulnerable to the onslaught of starvation."
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Humanitarian stocks completely depleted - Rev. Anton Rock

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
“That there is nothing to eat for the next meal is the only certainty for us and we wait with the hope, praying that someone would come to ensure our safety,” Rev. Anton Rock who has sought refuge in Valaignarmadam in Mullaiththeevu with his parish members and other priests, displaced from Vaddakkadchi in Ki'linochchi, said in an interview given to the last monthly issue of the magazine ‘Paathukaavalan’ (Catholic Guardian) published in Jaffna by the District Catholic Diocese. “Burying the dead, dressing the wounds of the injured and wiping the tears of our fellow beings are our daily routine other than praying to God in the hope of someone will come to ensure our safety.”
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2 children with their mother reported missing from Mannaar hospital

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 18:32 GMT]
A young mother and her two children, injured in Vanni and admitted to Mannaar general hospital by the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) are reported missing from the hospital, which is under strict security measures of the government, since Friday afternoon, according to a complaint lodged with Mannaar police.
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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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Eyewitness account on Vavuniyaa internment camps

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 February 2009, 11:14 GMT]
"Now, what is happening here is genocide in many forms. Needless to say scattering people all over to unknown and unfamiliar places will ultimately lead to a weak population and result in damages done to our culture, education, and relationships. I can foresee a maimed Tamil generation with no hope in the future. The international community can make statements. But none will pay heed. For me the future looks dark and gloomy," reveals a letter written by a professional eyewitness, who visited the barbed-wired internment camps and hospital in Vavuniyaa couple of days ago.
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SL Police arrests Tamil youth in Kandy

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 2009, 02:48 GMT]
The Kandy Police Tuesday arrested a Tamil youth and have detained him in the police station for further inquiry by the Terrorist Intelligence Division (TID). The Kandy Police said he was taken into custody on a report by the Colombo Terrorist Intelligence Unit that he had been a member of the LTTE intelligence wing.
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Colombo orders all health workers to immediately leave Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 06:57 GMT]
Health ministry officials in Colombo issued Tuesday a 'final warning' to the 8 doctors and around one thousand medical and health workers of Mullaiththeevu and Ki'linochchi districts, now serving more than 250,000 civilians in the besieged Mullaiththeevu district, to immediately leave the LTTE controlled territory, according to the sources at the District Secretariat in Vavuniyaa. The move comes after military officials warned the medical staff of dire consequences.
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Hospital attacked, 7 killed, dozens wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 09:42 GMT]
The only remaining hospital in Udaiyaarkaddu within the so-called safe zone has again come under heavy shelling by the Sri Lanka Army on Thursday. At least 7 civilians were killed and 27 wounded in the close vicinity of the makeshift hospital functioning at a school. 2 ambulances were destroyed and the medical store of the hospital has been completely destroyed. The attack comes a day after US Foreign Secretary Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urging the warring parties not to fire out of or into the safe zone and in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital or any other medical structure.
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Nurse killed in Udaiyaarkaddu hospital, ICRC staff wounded in PTK

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 February 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells on both the hospitals in Vanni again on Monday. A nurse who was attending a wounded patient at Udaiyaarkaddu makeshift hospital (Ki'linochchi hospital) was killed when 3 shells hit the hospital. 10 civilians, including ICRC/SLRC staff stationed in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK), were wounded, according to a civilian source. Hospital authorities were unreachable to verify the details.
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'Vision' of a Sinhala sociologist

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:22 GMT]
"This victory should not be lost in the peace. [….] The mono-ethnic nature of the North should be dismantled. [….] 'Defence Colonies' defence settlements should be established all over the North. Retired husband and wife ex-employees of the armed forces should be settled in such strategic settlements. Like in mainland China, and earlier in Korea, Armed Forces owned industries should be established in these areas for both defence and civilian production. Our forces should be further strengthened to deter any future attempts,” writes engineer turned Sinhala sociologist Dr. Susanta Goonatilake in Sunday Times, dated, January 18. His article is a specimen to understand the vision of a section of Sinhala elite on the political process to follow Colombo’s victory.
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Colombo's war crimes turn to rape of the fleeing - Jaffna MP

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 28 January 2009, 11:45 GMT]
Civilians who have been caught by the Sri Lanka Army recently in Vadamaraadchi East in Jaffna and from Murasumoaddai in Ki'linochchi district, who are confined to the 'detention camps' run by the Sri Lankan military, have complained to their relatives that the Sri Lankan soldiers have taken several women into their custody and were sexually abusing them, said Jaffna district parliamentarian S. Gajendran on Wednesday. Those who continue to justify and abet the on going war against Tamils and those who directly or indirectly advocate surrender of Tamil civilians to their adversaries are a party to war crimes, he further said.
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300,000 civilians face hunger, Colombo, abettors re-enact African scene in South Asia

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 27 January 2009, 16:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has instructed UN and World Food Programme officials to keep away from 'safety zone,' which has been subjected to continuous inhuman artillery barrage, denying civilians any meaningful space of refuge, said the latest reports from the offices of the Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Ki'linochchi and Mullaiththeevu. 300,000 Tamils are denied of even drinking water and are facing hunger, the reports say. "Completely given up by the International Community, the civilians are left to face the fate at the hands of their genocidal killers. Indications are that they would rather choose to die starving rather than getting caught by Colombo's army of predators," said a medical staff at Udaiyaarkaddu hospital.
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Massacre escapees at Vavuniyaa hospital under strict surveillance

[TamilNet, Monday, 26 January 2009, 04:18 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) opened fire and massacred 7 civilians, including two children of a group of refugees who ended in the hands of the SLA in Murasumoaddai village in Ki'linochchi district on January 10, three days before the mass exodus of civilians towards Puthukkudiyiruppu. On the same day, the SLA blamed the Tigers for the killing of the 7 civilians. However, civilians who have been isolated into various detention camps run by the military, have revealed that the SLA soldiers had opened fire on them.
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'Safety zone' shelled again, 5 civilians killed, 83 wounded

[TamilNet, Friday, 23 January 2009, 16:53 GMT]
Five civilians, including a10-year-old girl and a 56-year-old Saiva priest, were killed and 83 civilians wounded Friday when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery shells targeted 'safe zone' areas such as Iruddumadu in Udaiyaarkaddu and Va'l'lipunam in Mullaiththeevu district at least four times, according to medical sources in the region. More than 20 of the wounded people were children. More than 20 of the wounded victims are children.
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Ki'linochchi resident arrested in Bandarawela

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 13:55 GMT]
A 27-year old native of Ki'linochchi was arrested in Poonagala estate in Bandarawela district by the Sri Lankan police. Police said they arrested the youth on suspicion that he was working for the Liberation Tigers in 2003.
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British FO sabotaging Tamil national question condemned

[TamilNet, Thursday, 22 January 2009, 03:13 GMT]
A statement released by the British Secretary of State for Foreign & Commonwealth Affairs on Wednesday, totally ignoring the national basis of the decades old Tamil struggle and treating the humanitarian crisis of civilians as an outcome of terrorism is strongly condemned by Jaffna district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian S. Gajendran, who added: The preaching of the modern "corporate religion of greed" to Tamils seems to be "submit yourself to thy genocidal killers."
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Unprecedented civilian carnage in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 18:44 GMT]
Fifteen civilians including 5 children were killed and 29 seriously injured in the relentless artillery barrage that Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) kept pounding the internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Visuvamadu, Udaiyaarkaddu, Chuthanthirapuram and Maa'nikkapuram areas in Mullaiththeevu district Tuesday, sources in Vanni said. SLA continued its artillery barrage on the IDP settlements Monday from 11:00 a.m till 12:30 p.m in Chuthanthirapuram and Theavipuram areas in Vanni killing two IDPs and seriously injuring nine including children.
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'Lives lost yielding nothing to Colombo'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 20 January 2009, 17:59 GMT]
"It is not a question of whether Tamil Eelam will become independent. Rather, it is a question of how many lives, on both sides of the Tamil Eelam border, the Sinhala regime(s) are prepared to waste in the process," writes a reader, Mr. Poulson, in response to TamilNet's call for opinion last week. "The Sinhala polity is not interested in a ceasefire and nor are the strategic partners. Hence it must be forced upon them," he writes further in his situation analysis.
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Vanni civilians under deadly siege

[TamilNet, Sunday, 18 January 2009, 17:50 GMT]
"There are no words to describe the plight of the civilians who say that they prefer to face death on the spot rather than succumbing to serious injuries or ending up in the hands of the invading Sri Lankan forces, which many of them regard as genocidal military and fear that their young men and women would be 'filtered' away, tortured or killed by it," reports TamilNet correspondent from an outskirt of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) Sunday evening amid artillery fire.
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