AFP puts spin on TamilNet report

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 11:04 GMT]
A TamilNet news report citing political observers in Colombo that appeared Thursday became a ‘view of the LTTE’ for the Agence France-Presse (AFP). Since its inception, TamilNet has been an independent news agency committed to reporting news with a Tamil perspective. However, it has become an objectionable practice with a section of the international media, including AFP, to refer to TamilNet as a pro-rebel, pro-LTTE etc. medium. But, Friday’s reporting by AFP has gone a step further by treating TamilNet report as LTTE’s belief or opinion. TamilNet does not such reporting as just oversight.
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LTTE envisages ceasefire, political solution ending armed conflict

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 10:32 GMT]
"LTTE’s armed struggle is the historical product of injustice against the Tamil Nation in the island, and if the International Community could achieve a just political solution to the conflict, the need for an armed struggle would cease to exist," said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in a statement issued on Friday. Mr. Pathmanathan further said: "We assure the International Community that the LTTE is ready to participate in political negotiations and fight to meet the political aspirations of the Tamil Nation at the negotiating table, through political means, if an immediate and permanent ceasefire is ensured and the human sufferings of the Tamil people are addressed."
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India asks for extension of 'pause' in hostilities

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 08:39 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka must extend pause in hostilities to prevent further casualties and enable trapped civilians to leave the area to secure locations, said India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Friday. "Continuation of precipitate military actions leading to further civilian casualties at this time would be totally unacceptable," it further said. The statement came after India's National Security Advisor M. K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon meeting Tamil National Alliance (TNA) members Wednesday and Thursday. Mr. Mukherjee's statement ended by India reminding Government of Sri Lanka and 'others' concerned that 'Tamils are citizens of Sri Lanka'.
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Colombo, India and IC conspire three-pronged attack: Canadian Tamil artist

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 April 2009, 00:01 GMT]
The coercion of the Canadian government withdrawing the release of a statement just because the Canadian Tamil demonstrators refused to lower the Tamil national flag, considered as pro-LTTE flag by the government, is a part of the international conspiracy to break down the Eezham Tamil liberation struggle by isolating and dealing with the three components of the struggle, i.e., the LTTE, the TNA and the diaspora, said Varnarameshwaran, a Canadian Tamil Music Director. "The conspiracy is to abet Colombo to eliminate the LTTE leadership at whatever civilian cost, India to handle the TNA and the governments of the so-called international community to intimidate the diaspora. It is a three-pronged attack," he said.
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US says humanitarian situation dire, asks GoSL, LTTE to stop hostilities

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 23:44 GMT]
In one of the strongly worded press releases United States Department of State called upon the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) to immediately stop hostilities, and to respect the right of free movement of civilians in Mullaiththeevu area. The release further noted that "[a] durable and lasting peace will only achieved through a political solution that addresses legitimate aspiration of Sri Lankan communities. Adding further killing will "stain any eventual peace," the release urged GoSL to employ diplomacy to permit a peaceful outcome of the conflict.
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UN and IC signal civilian carnage

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 19:14 GMT]
The observation of UN official Holmes, that a ceasefire is not possible and the LTTE is preventing the civilians from leaving, followed by the chorus of British and French foreign ministers coming out with the same accusation on the LTTE in strong words, signal UN and IC assenting to a civilian carnage in the so-called safety zone, political observers in Colombo said. They also cited Rajapaksa’s visit to Ki’linochchi and unconfirmed reports on the withdrawal of even pro-government media from the battlefront as final preparations for Colombo’s onslaught.
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Onslaught of civilians continues, more than 57 killed, 300 wounded Thursday

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 17:36 GMT]
While Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa visited Ki'linochchi to boost the morale of his forces, shelling and cannon fire by his troops in Mullaiththeevu district killed more than 57 civilians within the so-called safety zone on Thursday, according to TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. Nearly 1,500 shell explosions were registered by the correspondent as fired by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Thursday and around 600 of them hit the safety zone while about 150 cannon shots hit the coastline.
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Holmes needs more homework: Diaspora refugee worker

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 15:06 GMT]
It is unfortunate that UN, the apex body meant to protect the weaker sections of humanity, is on the contrary exploiting the misery of Eezham Tamil civilians to abet the aims of their sworn oppressors, said K.Suthahar, an information counsellor of a refugee reception centre in Norway. "Top UN official John Holmes, would do better by convincing his organisation to first demonstrate that to what extent it can practically defy the genocidal agenda of the Sri Lankan state and in what ways it can protect the concerned civilians particularly, and the Tamil people in general. The first step is to take full responsibility of the civilians who are already in the concentration camps of Colombo. But the UN is unable even to free its own local workers in Colombo’s camps," he said.
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'Permanent ceasefire and not a humanitarian pause': APPG-T

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 13:02 GMT]
"We want an immediate and permanent ceasefire and not a humanitarian pause," said Virendra Sharma MP, the chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for Tamils (APPG-T) in a statement issued on Wednesday.
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Norway urges attention on precarious situation for civilians in conflict zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 12:03 GMT]
"All attention must now be directed towards the precarious situation for the civilians trapped in the conflict zone, and to end the fighting without further bloodshed," said a press statement issued by the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Colombo on Thursday, stating that Norway strongly condemned and regretted the incident in Oslo where the Sri Lankan Embassy building was subjected to a mob attack on 12 April 2009.
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SLA, SLAF intensify offensive targeting safety zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 16 April 2009, 03:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified its offensive targeting to bifurcate so-called saftey zone Thursday at 6:50 a.m. with fire support provided by Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) helicopter gunships attempting to break the defensive bunds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) for the fourth day. The SLA and the SLAF were deploying maximum fire power in the fighting. SLAF bombers began attacking the bunds at 7:40 a.m. Civilian settlements in Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal were being targeted by long-range artillery and cannons.
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SLA offensive on civilian zone continues

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 19:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) offensive units are continuously engaged in an offensive push, targeting Iraddai-vaaykkaal junction from Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) Mullaiththeevu road, amidst heavy resistance by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), according to latest reports from Vanni. Stiff fighting was heard near Iraddai-vaaykkaal junction, close to the entrance of the so-called safety zone. Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombers attacked the area at least 6 times in the morning and helicopter gunships were seen firing rockets in the evening as Multi Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells that hit Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal rocked the safety zone. As dead civilians were buried where they were attacked, only 83 wounded civilians managed to reach the hospital at Puthumaaththa'lan upto 5:00 p.m., according to medical sources.
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Sri Lanka, 'Obama's first problem from hell,' ICP says

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 11:49 GMT]
Inner City Press journalists, in a web discussion, say that the imminent "blood bath" of Tamil civilians in the "safe zone" in Mullaiththeevu coast as the first "problem from hell" for Obama administration, and ask why the world has not heard yet any voice on Sri Lanka from Samantha Power, author of a well acclaimed book on genocide and the senior director of Multi-lateral Affairs at the U.S's National Security Council (NSC) where she will have a direct hand in formulating U.S. policy on the United Nations, G-8, and other global forums.
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Diaspora Tamils fast against genocide of Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 05:47 GMT]
Thousands of diaspora Tamils of all ages took part in the hunger strike protest demonstrations launched by Tamil youths in France, Germany, Denmark, Switzerland and Britain against the unceasing atrocious attacks by Sri Lanka armed forces on innocent Tamil civilians in Vanni. Similar protest demonstrations organized by Tamil Youths Organization (TYO) continue in many other countries in an effort to draw the attention of the International Community to the carnage of Tamils in Vanni that continues unchecked.
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Unprecedented carnage, SLA turns firepower on civilian zone

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 05:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Wednesday morning turned its artillery, mortar, 40 mm cannon, Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) and gunfire ranging from 50 caliber machine guns to LMG fire into the so-called safety zone, causing a carnage within a short period of time between 7:40 and 10:40 a.m. killing and maiming hundreds of civilians, according to the latest update by TamilNet correspondent in Vanni reporting from the area under attack. Civilians were struggling to transport the wounded to the hospital and many of the injured were lying along the roadside as gunfire and artillery barrage by the SLA continues. "It is impossible to assess casualty details, but at least 180 civilians are feared killed within 3 hours in the area between Mu'l'livaaykkaal to Pokka'nai."
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Last chance for Congress Establishment

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 15 April 2009, 02:26 GMT]
"The Indian Establishment has an arrogant way of reminding that it is the Eezham Tamils who will be needing India and not vice versa. But it is time to tell that they also will need us," writes a political analyst in Colombo. “There is an increasing tendency among Eezham Tamils today to rely more on the West for solutions and the blame squarely falls especially on the present Indian Establishment. Observers feel that in recent times the mounting anger of Eezham Tamils are more directed at perpetrators and abetters of the war than at Colombo, for it is always expected what the irredeemably chauvinistic state will do. If not for the abetters, the Tamils would have handled it on their own. In the Tamil mind, India tops the list of perpetrators and abetters”, writes the political analyst in Colombo who regularly contributes to TamilNet.
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Mass human tragedy possible any moment in 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 23:53 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) on Tuesday night launched a full scale ground offensive attempting to break the last earth bund of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) situated close to the safety zone on Puthukkudiyiruppu - Mullaiththeevu Road, TamilNet correspondent in Vanni reported Wednesday early hours, Sri Lankan time. When the Co-Chairs countries have asked for the extension of ceasefire, Colombo's defiance and ferocious attack on the civilian safety zone are widely seen by political observers as efforts to fulfil the agenda of India, which is scheduled to receive TNA, Wednesday.
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US should intervene directly with GoSL, LTTE to protect civilians - Professor Boyle

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 16:42 GMT]
With Norway's ouster as a third-party engaging with the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), the role of the United States in having direct access with the Liberation Tigers has become critical to negotiating a ceasefire and bring relief to the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians caught in the war. Ambassador Lunstead points out that legal restrictions imposed by US domestic laws do not prevent the U.S. taking that role, and Professor Boyle further asserts that Geneva Conventions of 1949 makes it an obligation for the U.S. to intervene directly with both the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE in order to protect these innocent Tamil civilians.
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IC should engage LTTE directly - Diaspora activist

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 15:38 GMT]
"Discredited and wrongly applied policies shouldn’t be a hindrance to the International Community in upholding a humanitarian cause. The IC, especially the US should find ways of engaging the LTTE directly in resolving the humanitarian tragedy resulting from the war waged by the Colombo government," said Shan Thavaraja, Switzerland based diaspora and human rights activist, on Tuesday. Striping Norway of its peace negotiation role, reportedly for mediating on behalf of US, was a scheming act of Colombo to keep the IC at bay. Colombo is planning for massive genocide and imprisonment of civilians in the forthcoming days. IC negotiating directly with LTTE only can pre-empt Colombo, he said.
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SLA alleged of forcing fleeing Tamils to strip and walk naked

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 14 April 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) personnel at the check posts in Jaffna, Vavuniyaa and elsewhere in Vanni subject both men and women coming from Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) held areas into SLA controlled areas to naked body checking before entering the check post, according to information given by the women held in the SLA detention centres to women representatives of Non-governmental Organizations in Jaffna. Though there are women SLA personnel at the check posts the women, irrespective of their age, have to undress at a distance from the check posts and walk naked to the check post where they are subjected to body check, the NGO representatives who visited the SLA detention centre in Jaffna said.
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