Vanni civilians in Jaffna SLA detention centres lack basic facilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 16:19 GMT]
Jaffna Government Agent requested immediate assistance from the local Non-government organizations (NGOs) in Jaffna to help meet the basic needs of the civilians from Vanni placed in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna, in a meeting held with the representatives of local and international NGOs, due to government’s failure to offer any assistance, local NGO representatives said.
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Deliberations to get UN approval for Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 13:59 GMT]
Statement diplomacy and behind the screen deliberations of Colombo, India, and the International Community are heading for tacit UN approval for the Tamil genocide in the island of Sri Lanka, news reports indicate. The stand taken by the UN Security Council, and also echoed by the US state department Wednesday, welcoming the capture and detention of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Army is the first step of direct approval for the genocide, Tamil circles said. All this time they were indirectly approving the killing of civilians by shelling and starvation to lead to their capture. By twisting the ethnic-oriented humanitarian situation as an issue of ‘terrorism’, the UN is approving the genocide, the Tamil circles said.
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Demonising Tamil struggle without citing solutions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 11:40 GMT]
What the Sinhala government is now trying to do to the Tamil people is nothing new. Exactly the same thing was done in Vietnam by the US army, writes Indian journalist T.G. Jacob from Kerala. “Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are there all over Europe and their number in India is growing. All these factors make the situation even more highly volatile, which in all possibility will create new polarizations. The short term military defeat of LTTE cannot at all prevent the Tamil issue from becoming an international one and change to guerilla war within the island. That is why the Sri Lankan political leadership is talking of ‘protected’ villages. Actually this is exactly what is happening now. The Sri Lankan government through all its barbarity and outrageous double talk is immensely facilitating this process”, he writes.
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SLA shelling on church kills 14, Caritas-HUDEC Vanni director wounded

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 05:40 GMT]
Rev. Fr. T. R. Vasanthaseelan, the director of Human Development Centre (HUDEC) of Caritas Jaffna, the social arm of the Catholic Church in the Jaffna Diocese, was seriously wounded Thursday morning around 7:30 a.m. when Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired shells on Our Lady of Roses Church in Valaignarmadam for the second day. 14 civilians who had taken refuge at the church were killed. The shelling on the church, which is the main centre for people seeking refuge in Valaignarmadam, comes a day after Rev. Fr. James Pathinathar was wounded in a similar attack. The SLA has attacked the church despite repeated calls from Jaffna Diocese not to target the church where 17 priests and 22 nuns were continuing to serve their congregations.
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US questioned for lack in response to match the catastrophe

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 20:16 GMT]
While talking about rebuilding the society afterwards, US efforts right now are not matching the emergency of the situation described as a catastrophe by the ICRC, was a question of journalist, Mr. Arshad, put to US spokesman Robert Wood, when he came out with a statement on Sri Lanka, during the daily press conference of the State Department Wednesday. The spokesman agreed but placed the blame on the defiance of the parties to the conflict to the calls of the international community. Another question was on the US presumption that the conflict is coming to an end by Sri Lankan military action. “Is it not quite conceivable that the level of violence that is now occurring will simply sow the seeds for continuing or renewed conflict”, Arshad asked Wood. While agreeing that violence is at an unacceptable level, Wood said that he couldn’t make that kind of judgement.
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India unhappy of civilian killings, sees LTTE as "barbaric"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 19:58 GMT]
A special meeting on the situation in Sri Lanka was convened at the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Wednesday night. At the end of the urgent meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: "We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. These killings must stop." PTI also reported citing Mr. Pranab Mukherje that India asked LTTE to stop "barbaric" attempt to hold civilians hostage.
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Major part of civilians seek refuge with LTTE, while US, India deliberate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 17:55 GMT]
Contrary to Colombo’s propaganda, major part of the civilians who escaped capture by Sri Lanka Army are moving towards the LTTE side from Valaignar Madam to Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, in large numbers, Tiger officials told TamilNet Wednesday. LTTE’s Political Division official C. Ilamparithi said almost 200,000 civilians are still in the LTTE area. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister has convened an emergency meeting of ministers and officials to discuss Sri Lankan situation, BBC reported Wednesday. Same day, the US government has urged Colombo to allow international observers to the battlefront and UN access to all points of civilian movement, said a State Department spokesman in a press conference. Unless there are significant changes and swift action from the side of the US, positive developments can hardly take place, Tamil circles commented.
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"Inner well springs" of Tamil struggle can't be destroyed, says South African Minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 17:36 GMT]
South Africa's deputy minister for Communications, Radhakrishna Padayachie, has reiterated calls for bilateral talks between the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to establish a permanent peace. The African National Council (ANC) Member of Parliament, citing a "common conviction in the right to people for self determination" as the basis of continued relationship between his party and the LTTE, rejected suggestions that the LTTE can be defeated, and added that a political solution that addressed the "resolution of the minority question" was the only possible way forward.
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Thousands of civilians under SLA custody in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) is said to be holding civilians from Vanni in Iyakkachchi without permitting them to enter Jaffna, since Monday, according to reliable sources in Jaffna. So far, only 4,325 civilians who were brought to Point Pedro in fishing boats by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) have been placed in the SLA 'detention centres' in Thenmaraadchi, according to Divisional Secretariat sources there. Several thousands of civilians were caught by the SLA on Tuesday when it advanced its troops into the 'safety zone'. Exact number of civilians in SLA custody is not known. The SLA has been accused for separating females, males and elderly and for subjecting the separated for 'filtering' before placing them in separate internment camps.
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Stalling, obfuscation mirror UN's actions before Srebrenica genocide

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 16:19 GMT]
"This same type of deliberate stalling, delaying and obfuscation by United Nations Officials preceded and occurred during the course of the genocidal massacre at Srebrenica. Of course these UN Officials were then (and are still today) acting at the behest of the Permanent Members of the Security Council, who supported Serbia taking over the Srebrenica "safe-haven" as designated by the Security Council, no matter what the cost to the innocent civilians seeking refugee there," said Prof. Francis Boyle, professor of International Law at the University of Illinois College of Law, in a note sent to TamilNet, commenting on the denial at the United Nations to have Security Council hearings on the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka.
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SLA fire hampers ICRC evacuation of seriously wounded civilians from Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 10:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) started cannon fire from Manthuvil in Puthukkudiyiruppu across Nanthikkadal lagoon towards the coastal stretch of Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal Wednesday afternoon as local ICRC workers were providing coordinates to the ICRC ship to come close to the shore to transport the severely wounded from the makeshift hospital, according to latest reports from the medical sources in Vanni.
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SLA shells Church in Valaignarmadam, Fr. James Pathinathar wounded

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 08:07 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up artillery and mortar barrage on Valaignarmadam Wednesday killing and maiming civilians who have sought refuge at several locations. Rev Father James Pathinathar, a prominent Catholic priest was injured in SLA shelling that hit the Church in Valaignarmadam Wednesday noon, initial reports said.
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Colombo blocks WFP supply ship scheduled to reach Vanni Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 17:29 GMT]
Sri Lankan authorities have put off the departure of a ship with WFP supplies scheduled to reach Vanni on Tuesday despite the local civil officials in Vanni indicated the coordinates for the new landing point, Vavuniyaa District Secretariat officials told TamilNet Tuesday evening. Starvation-stricken civilians have long been waiting for humanitarian supplies to arrive and the officials urged the WFP to impress upon the government of Sri Lanka not to delay the humanitarian supply ship, the sources further said.
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Contradicting figures raise fears of disappearances

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 15:05 GMT]
While the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) claimed Monday that 30,000 civilians had reached territory under its control from the so-called safety zone, civil officials in Vavuniyaa and in Jaffna reported Tuesday that only 8,500 have arrived in the districts. However, SLA officers in Jaffna gave contradicting figures ranging between 5,000 and 12,000 in the custody of the army in Vanni, waiting to be evacuated. Meanwhile, over 1,000 civilian casualties were reported from reliable sources in Vanni Monday. In addition a large number of injured were also in the custody of the SLA. Unconfirmed reports put the casualty figure much higher. It seems at least one in ten suffered either death or injury in the SLA's operation to capture the civilians on Monday.
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'Empty statements of IC evoke fury in the diaspora': Oslo hunger striker

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 14:57 GMT]
The whole concept of peace facilitation will become a mockery and no peace facilitation will hereafter be seen with credibility in the world, if Norway fails in its ‘responsibility’ in stopping civilian tragedy in Sri Lanka, said 51 years old Sri Navaratnam, the leader of Norway Tamil Sangam (association), who commenced an indefinite fast in Oslo, Monday, demanding Norway bringing out immediate ceasefire, negotiations between LTTE and GoSL, not sending civilians to camps but resettling them and Norway recognizing the self-determination of Eezham Tamils. Mr. Navaratnam was furious of empty statements coming from IC and said such statements without action only infuriate the already traumatised people.
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South African group condemns Sri Lanka for killing Tamil civilians

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 14:02 GMT]
South Africa based Solidarity Group for Peace and Justice in Sri Lanka, which comprises of members from African National Congress (ANC), Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU), South African Communist Party (SACP) and Tamil activist groups, on Tuesday condemned the Government of Sri Lanka for the killing of thousands of Tamil civilians by Sri Lankan armed forces. "The pursuit of a military solution not in favour of a viable political framework addressing the legitimate grievances of the Tamil people and their aspirations for self determination remains the fundamental barrier between permanent peace amid an unfolding humanitarian disaster," the statement further said.
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Perfect opportunity for US to prove credentials: ICG, Asia Director

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 12:44 GMT]
"Barack Obama's administration has said it is committed to the principals of international law and humanitarian protection. Sri Lanka is the perfect opportunity for the new U.S. president to show that this is not empty rhetoric," says an article by Robert Templer of the International Crisis Group. "Urgent, determined, and united international action is necessary to ensure the safety of the innocent -- by the United Nations Security Council, other multilateral organizations, and individual countries that have relations with Sri Lanka, including India and Japan. Only international supervision, unhindered by the government, can provide the necessary level of protection," writes the author, reflecting the changing and opportunistic perspectives of the IC, but elusive on the crux of the crisis – the Tamil national aspirations.
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Tamils blockade London's Parliament Square

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 12:15 GMT]
Thousands gathered around Parameswaran Subramaniyan's tent early Monday morning demanding the British Government to take immediate action against the carnage of Tamils in Sri Lanka to avoid another Tamil life being forsaken at Parliament Square in London, according to sources in London. Parameswaran, 28, on his 14th day of hunger strike, reiterated his calls to the British Government to impose for urgent ceasefire in Sri Lanka. Doctors by his side reported that his condition is critically weak. Dr Arundkumar Velauthapillai said "His condition is deteriorating rapidly. He is not taking enough water but he is stable for now."
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Schools closed down for a week in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 10:42 GMT]
Directed by the Ministry of Education, Northern Province Education Ministry Secretary instructed Jaffna Education Officials to postpone the start of the second term of all schools in the peninsula Tuesday for a week so that they could be used to lodge the civilians fleeing war in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said. Government officials, directed by their superiors to be ready to receive Vanni civilians in their thousands, had dispatched a large number of buses to bring them to the peninsula Monday. But so far no one has been brought to Jaffna peninsula, the sources added.
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TNA MP in Vanni fears mass slaughter amidst starvation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 21 April 2009, 10:33 GMT]
The Tamil Natonal Alliance (TNA) MP for Vanni, Sathasivam Kanagaratnam, who talked to TamilNet correspondent in Vanni on Monday blamed the Sri Lankan military for planning to cause a mass slaughter of civilians as Colombo announced a 24-hour ultimatum of surrender to the LTTE. Colombo has warned of concerted attacks into the so-called 'safety zone' starting from Tuesday noon. "The remaining area in the south of safe zone is full of civilians as many more have fled in recent days," Mr. Kanagratnam said fearing an unprecedented civilian carnage.
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