Father of victim in Channel 4 photo identifies son as LTTE member

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 16:15 GMT]
The father of a victim in the photos released by Channel- 4 in mid May identified one of them as his son as a member of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), arrested by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Mu'l'livaaykkaal between 18 and 19 May 2009. The father told TamilNet that the LTTE combatants could not have been arrested in April 2009 as it was reported earlier as he had met his son on 11 May in 2009. A mother and her daughter have earlier identified another victim in the photo as 40-year-old Thuraichamy Harikrishanan, a native of Vavuniyaa, an ex-member of LTTE. Meanwhile, close relatives living in the diaspora of another LTTE member also claimed the same person as their relative. Efforts are under way to clarify the identity of the victim, a Tamil group working on genocide documentation told TamilNet Friday.
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Protests against controversial IIFA event draw attention on Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 03 June 2010, 01:15 GMT]
As protests gathered momentum in Tamil Nadu and Mumbai, with the support of South Indian Film Chamber of Commerce (SIFCC), against holding International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) Awards weekend in Colombo, big stars from the Indian film industry have decided to avoid participation, media reports from Mumbai said. Hindustan Times reported that the event was turning out to be IIFAs most controversial, even before it has been held. The protests in South India have also brought media attention in New Delhi. The NDTV has timed a documentary, titled ‘Blood on Water,’ accommodating Tamil perspectives and an Indian doctor who was part of an Indian paramedic team present in Vavuniyaa last year, during the final phase of the war in Vanni, has spoken out on the scale of the slaughter as "massive casualties" among the civilian population.
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STF, Police arrest 4 Tamils in Puththalam, Pottuvil

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 02 June 2010, 15:37 GMT]
Two Tamil civilians were taken into custody by the Special Task Force (STF) at Arugam Bay in Pottuvil Tuesday. The police said that the two are suspected to have links with the LTTE. The arrested were handed over to the Terrorist Investigations Unit (TID) and are being interrogated, according to the Police.
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SLA hastens to destroy skeletal remains of victims killed in Vanni

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 16:18 GMT]
Following the disclosure of five male corpses in a toilet pit in Ki’linochchi Monday Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has ordered all skeletal remains of persons assassinated or killed in war lying visibly in Mullaiththeevu district in Vanni, an officer of a humanitarian de-mining organization who had personally seen some skeletal remains along the roads in Mullaiththeevu and the frantic efforts of SLA soldiers to burn them without any trace told TamilNet Tuesday. Colombo has sent in a team of Sinhalese officers from Vavuniyaa to survey the areas and evaluate the extent of de-mining that has to be done, with the assistance of SLA, sources in Vavuniyaa said.
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'Freedom Flotilla symbolises new dimension of humanitarian struggle'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 12:48 GMT]
A project manager of the Vanni Mission ship of the Tamil diaspora has said the courage displayed by the organisers and activists of the Freedom Flotilla and the sacrifices made by the activists have brought a new dimension to the global humanitarian struggle, exclusively revealing to TamilNet how Tamil Nadu government was 'forced' to act in delivering the aid carried by the Tamil mission last year. S. Noel, the France based project manger of the Tamil diaspora project said humanitarian activists world over should not hesitate to initiate similar actions in future if the humanity is serious about changing the attitude of oppressors, who cause untold sufferings to innocent children in besieged situations of genocidal proportion, and urged Tamil diaspora to express solidarity with those affected in the tragedy.
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UN Security Council calls for impartial probe in Israeli ship raid

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 06:58 GMT]
The UN Security Council has called for an impartial inquiry “conforming to international standards” into Israel's raid on a flotilla of Gaza-bound aid ships, the BBC reported Tuesday morning. A Presidential statement by the UNSC said the inquiry should be "prompt, impartial, credible and transparent". Agreement on it was reached after hours of discussion as the council deliberated through the night. It comes within a day of the Israeli military action which resulted in at least ten deaths of pro-Palestinian activists who launched a six-ship convoy to deliver aid to the Hamas-controlled region. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also called for a full investigation, telling reporters in Kampala, Uganda: "It is vital that there is a full investigation to determine exactly how this bloodshed took place. I believe Israel must urgently provide a full explanation."
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SLA permits conditional worship in St. Mary’s Church in Valikaamam North HSZ

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 01 June 2010, 04:58 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) authorities in Palaali Military Head Quarters Sunday handed over Oddakappulam St. Mary’s Church located within Valikaamam SLA High Security Zone (HSZ) to the parish priests of the church to conduct services. The permission is given on condition that the devotees should go through the SLA check post to the church in the morning and return in the evening while no one will be allowed to live permanently in the area. There were more SLA officers in the Sunday event held in the said church than civilians, one of the Catholic priests participant said.
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5 male corpses exhumed from toilet pit in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 11:43 GMT]
Five male bodies estimated to be between 20 to 35 years of age, in highly decomposed state and packed securely in five separate bags were exhumed from the toilet pit of a house in Ka'neasapuram in Ki’linochchi under the supervision of Vavuniyaa Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) Dr. P. Sritharan and in the presence of Ki’linochchi magistrate Monday morning, sources in Ki’linochchi said. Some of the bodies had clothes with Tiger stripes, some in Lamb Black uniforms used by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and some in ordinary civilian dress, the sources added.
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UN Rights chief renews call for Sri Lanka war-crimes probe

[TamilNet, Monday, 31 May 2010, 10:41 GMT]
The United Nations human rights chief, Navaneetham Pillay Monday reiterated her call for an "independent international probe" into Sri Lanka Government's final offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam during the final months of the war in 2009. While noting the appointment of "post-war reconciliation commission" by Colombo, Navi Pillay said, "based on previous experience and new information, I remain convinced that such objectives [looking into alleged human rights violations, and provide justice to victims] would be better served by establishing an independent international accountability mechanism that would enjoy public confidence, both in Sri Lanka and elsewhere," AFP reported.
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Sinhala names given to junctions in Mullaiththeevu district by SLA

[TamilNet, Sunday, 30 May 2010, 09:59 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forces that occupy Vanni after the recent war have put up new name boards in Sinhala language only with new Sinhala names for many road junctions and streets in Mullaiththeevu district. SLA, besides erecting special camps and High Security Zones in strategic places in Mullaiththeevu, is engaged in changing the entire district like any other typical Sinhalese area in the country, sources in Vanni said. The photos here were taken a few weeks ago and the SLA soldiers posted at the junctions explained what the Sinhala names mean and why they had been chosen.
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Tamil civilian arrested in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 18:20 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police arrested a Tamil civilian from his house at Kaddukku'lam in Pulmoaddai village in Trincomalee district Friday and took him for interrogation.
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US awaits Sri Lanka action, despite rights groups’ warning

[TamilNet, Saturday, 29 May 2010, 12:26 GMT]
The United States will be “watching closely” Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s newly established ‘reconciliation commission’ to see if it lives up to Colombo’s claims, the State Department’s Assistant Secretary for South and Central Asian Affairs, Robert Blake, said Friday. Shortly after US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton described as holding “promise” the body Sri Lanka has set up to investigate war crimes – and which international human rights groups have dismissed as a sham - Mr. Blake said “they’ve now just begun this process … It’s up to them now to prove that they will be able to take on all of these responsibilities.”
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4 SLA soldiers killed by lightning during preparation for 'War Victory Day' in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 09:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka government failed to reveal the deaths of four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and others injured by lightning at Galle Face Green in Colombo while decorating the area for the War Victory Day celebrations, on 17, 18 April, two days prior to the event, sources in Colombo said. Though the government had concealed this incident from the public so as not to spoil the sprit of the first annual victory celebrations over Liberation Tigers, news of it had leaked through the employees of government and private offices and other establishments in Galle Face, the sources added. Tamil National Alliance and the other opposition parties had requested the government to cancell the celebration while the people was suffering but the government did celebrate the event.
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Sri Lankan massacre highlights failings of IC: Amnesty International

[TamilNet, Friday, 28 May 2010, 08:34 GMT]
The Sri lankan Governments lack accountability for “one of the worst human rights crises of recent times” and the complicity of global powers and the United Nations in protecting the Sri Lankan Government highlights a failure of the international instruments of justice said Amnesty International Asia Pacific director, Sam Zafiri in an interview with Austrlian media this week. Singling out China and India as part of a “Coalition of governments” that chose not only to ignore the Rajapaksa Governments targeting of Tamil civilians, but who “passed a [U.N] resolution congratulating the Sri Lankan Government” amid attempts to block “efforts at seeking justice”, Zafiri also accused the Australian Government of violating its human rights obligations by refusing to accept Tamil refugees.
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Limestone in Valikaamam HSZ sent to Galle in South

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 16:58 GMT]
Thousands of Southern Sinhalese labourers are engaged in excavating lime stone in the Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) High Security Zone (HSZ) in Valikaamam North where its residents had been evicted by SLA, Jaffna MP, Appathurai Vinayagamoorthy accused in a press meet held in Jaffna Thursday. The excavated limestone is taken to the cement factories in Galle in ships and via A9 road, he further said. Government which does not permit the evicted residents of Valikaamam North to resettle in their own places has freely allowed thousands of Sinhalese labourers to work within the HSZ.
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IIFA showbiz event blamed for promoting ‘paradise of genocide’

[TamilNet, Thursday, 27 May 2010, 16:24 GMT]
As Tamils world over mark one-year of Indian abetted genocidal war against Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, the Hindi film industry known as Bollywood and the major Indian conglomerate of trade unions, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI) are joining hands with Rajapaksa regime in Colombo in staging 11th International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards weekend during the first week of June in Colombo. The FICCI, the largest and oldest business conglomerate of India is the flagship organiser of the business event named FICCI-IIFA Global Business Forum, where hundreds of CEOs and business heads from India would be signing various investment contracts and tie-ups in the island on the second day of the celebrity and corporate event.
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Is the U.N. complicit in Sri Lankan war crimes, Arbour asks

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 02:44 GMT]
Asserting that "the organization's [United Nation's] abandonment of national staff in a conflict zone and its failure to speak up more forcefully about abuses made it "close to complicit" in [Sri Lanka] government atrocities," Louis Arbor, president of the NGO International Crisis Group (ICG) and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "called for an internal review of the U.N.'s conduct during Sri Lanka's bloody 2009 civil war," the popular Foreign Policy magazine reported.
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Boston Globe: Probe War Crimes in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 25 May 2010, 02:35 GMT]
Noting that "outside world has received credible accounts of war crimes perpetrated on a large scale by Sri Lanka security forces as well as by the Tigers," during the military offensives by Colombo in the early months of 2009, Boston Globe, in Monday's editorial said that "President Obama, who has drawn criticism for soft-pedaling human rights concerns in Africa, the Middle East, and elsewhere, should insist that Sri Lanka’s government be held accountable for shelling civilians and hospitals and murdering fighters who surrendered on the battlefield."
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SLA plundered vehicle spare parts in Vanni sold in Anuradhapura

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 May 2010, 19:57 GMT]
Anuradhapura has turned into the main ‘spare parts sales town’ in Sri Lanka as the spare parts of vehicles abandoned in Mu’l’livaaikkaal in Vanni, plundered by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), are being taken to Anuradahapura along A9 road in trucks and vehicles which bring goods to North, according to Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian. He further alleged that the spare parts of the vehicles of Vanni civilians systematically plundered by SLA soldiers immediately after the war are kept hidden in bunkers with the collaboration of their officers and that the parts are gradually passed on to Southern Sinhalese and Muslim traders to be sold in Anuradhapura.
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Uprooted civilians from Vadamaraadchi East refused permission to resettle

[TamilNet, Monday, 24 May 2010, 05:54 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Jaffna Commander and Jaffna Government Agent (GA) who met the uprooted civilians from Vadamaraadchi East still held in Thenmaraadchi interim refugee camps told them Sunday that they cannot be resettled in their own places immediately, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which controls Vadamaraadchi is reluctant to allow resettlement of the original residents, mainly fishermen, as they do not want to hinder the Sinhalese fishermen who now monopolize the deep seas with their trawlers from Naakarkoayil to Mullaiththeevu where most of the fish are caught in Jaffna peninsula, fisheries society representatives in Vadamaraadchi said.
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