SLA harass Tamil resettled civilians in Batticaloa district

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 06:13 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are subjecting the resettled civilians in Koa’ralaippattu South Divisional Secretariat area in Batticaloa district to undue harassment and restrictions accusing them of helping Liberation Tiger combatants who had infiltrated into the area, the civilians said. SLA soldiers intimidate them aimng to to expel them when they have to attend to their seasonal agricultural work, they added.
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British celebrities, MPs endorse Mercy Mission to Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 05:34 GMT]
A global appeal event for the "Mercy Mission," a ship carrying relief and medical supplies to Vanni, was held Tuesday at the Royal Horseguards, UK, attended by several British Members of Parliament, celebrities to raise awareness of the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka to the public, organizers of the event said. The event was sponsored by "Act Now" and several Tamil charities. A petition addressed to the President of Sri Lanka was signed by the attending MPs and other celebrities, and the organizers said that the petition will be circulated to political leaders and other celebrities in US, Europe, Canada and Australia before the petition is sent to Colombo.
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SLA fired artillery shells create havoc inside safety zone

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 04:46 GMT]
Lawrence Christy, planning director at the Tamils Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) details the human toll due to indiscriminate firing of artillery shells by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) into the demarcated safety zone where more than 200,000 Tamil civilans have taken refuge. United Nations leaked document listed the number of killed as 2683 and wounded as 7241 between January 20 and March 7. Hundreds have been killed and injured in the last three weeks.
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SL High Commission in UK differentiates Tamil students from Sri Lankans

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 02:20 GMT]
“We are also being informed by Sri Lankan diaspora [in UK] that Tamil students in schools, attended by their children, have made presentations titled ‘Stop Tamil Genocide’ during their citizenship class,” complained a recent letter signed by Sri Lanka’s Deputy High Commissioner, Sumith Nakandala, sent to head teachers of schools in Britain. Responding to the letter, the Chairman of British Tamils Forum (BTF) said: “British MPs and even a minister have recently expressed apprehension in British Parliament over impending genocide of Tamils at the hands of the Sri Lankan government and its armed forces. But the Sri Lankan High Commission is attempting to bully the democratic rights of the school students in London learning and voicing against the genocide in Sri Lanka.”
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US envisioning 'post-conflict' period puzzles Tamil circles

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 April 2009, 11:09 GMT]
“The international community has started planning for the post-conflict period”, said a letter written a week ago by US Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton to US Congress members who had shown concern to the humanitarian situation in the island of Sri Lanka. “I emphasized that the Sri Lanka Army should not fire into the areas where civilians are trapped in the conflict zone. I urged President Rajapaksa to devise a political solution to the ongoing conflict”, the letter further said. On the contrary, as civilian killings are only intensified by Colombo and as there are no signs of recognising the long-standing basic Tamil aspiration of self-determination, Tamil circles wonder what is meant by ‘post-conflict’ and by ‘political solution'.
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LTTE Political Wing responds to John Holmes' briefing

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 April 2009, 08:36 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Wing on Tuesday released the contents of a letter it recently sent to the UN, where it reiterated that an immediate ceasefire is urgent for the humanitarian aid and relief to reach the affected people. Stating that "no pressure is being exerted on the Government of Sri Lanka to bring an immediate end to the shelling that is slaughtering Tamil civilians in their thousands," the letter charged that "even while the Sri Lankan government is an active member of the United Nations, the UN is unable to rein in its own member state from killing civilians in thousands."
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SLA fires cluster shells, 45 civilians killed, 120 wounded Tuesday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 17:48 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling killed 43 civilians throughout the day on Tuesday. 13 civilians, including 9 members of 2 families, were slain in Ampalavanpokka'nai and Valaignarmadam area in the morning. 3 of the killed were children. Four civilians were killed hit by gunfire. 120 civilians were wounded throughout the day, according to medical and aid workers in the safety zone.
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SLA attacks kill 88 Tamils, including 21 children on Monday

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 16:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling on Monday claimed the lives of 70 civilians as Fifty Caliber gunfire from the SLA positions across the lagoon also killed 18 civilians on the road, which links the makeshift hospital with IDP settlements. 21 of the slain victims and 31 of 156 wounded civilians were children. 63 tarpaulin huts were destroyed in SLA attacks. TamilNet correspondent witnessed that four children were orphaned as they lost both their parents and siblings. The civilians were struggling to take their wounded to the hospital as the entire stretch of the road has come under 50 Caliber machine gun fire. Four civilians, including a worker of the fishing union that arranges boats to transport the patients from the coastal point Thidal to the ICRC ship, were wounded in SLA gunfire.
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Resettled Tamils in Moothoor east live in fear

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 15:40 GMT]
Resettled Tamil families in Moothoor east and Tamil villages in Serunuwara division in Trincomalee district are living in terror following the killings of three Tamil farmers of Paarathipuram, Thangkanakar and Poonakar. Tamil civilians in this area fear that these killings had taken place in revenge of the killing of Sinhala farmers in Serunuwara by some unidentified men last week, sources in Moothoor said.
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Case filed to block US vote on IMF loan to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 04:00 GMT]
Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), a US-based activist group, filed a complaint against Secretary of the US Treasury, Timothy Geithner, and the US Executive Director at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Meg Lundsager, in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia to obtain a "declaratory judgment that a failure of the United States to oppose Sri Lanka’s pending $1.9 billion IMF loan application would constitute a violation of 22 U.S.C. 262d," Monday at 6:00 p.m. Filing can be accessed by refering to Docket No: 09-0598, according to Bruce Fein, counsel for TAG.
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Apply adequate pressure on Colombo for ceasefire and negotiations: LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 31 March 2009, 01:09 GMT]
The LTTE is not a movement believing that war is the only means to achieve the aspirations of the people it represents. But, political solution needs an environment conducive to it. The IC can play a positive role by adequately pressurizing Colombo for ceasefire and by promoting negotiations between GoSL and the LTTE as equal partners with due recognition, said Selvaraja Pathmanathan, the LTTE plenipotentiary for international relations, in an interview to TamilNet on Monday. On the issue of civilians, Mr. Pathmanathan said they have already asked the IC, what international instruments now hold GoSL accountable for the denial of basic rights of the people already moved and presently living in the internment camps.
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2 Tamils in Moothoor shot dead

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 16:40 GMT]
Unidentified armed men shot and killed Saturday night two Tamil civilians in front of Paarathipuram Viththiyaalayam in Moothoor in Trincomalee district. One of them was brought by the armed men from Thanganakar to Paarathipuram where both men were handcuffed behind their backs and shot to death, sources in Moothoor said.
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SLA attacks kill 53 civilians inside 'safety zone' Sunday

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 14:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued artillery, mortar and long-distance gunfire throughout Sunday killing at least 53 civilians and causing injuries to around 119. At least 17 civilians were killed in Maaththa'lan, 18 in Pokka'nai, 15 in Valaignarmadam and 3 in Pachchaip-pulmoaddai, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. Meanwhile, around 1,192 civilians including 275 children, belonging to 298 families have lost their shelters within last 5 days as their tarpaulin huts were completely destroyed in SLA attacks.
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ILO delegation visits Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 14:26 GMT]
A three-member delegation of International Labour Organization (ILO) visited Jaffna last week and participated in a meeting, related to the rehabilitation of persons whom SLA claims to have surrendered themselves to it, held in Jaffna District Secretariat with Additional Government Agent, S. Sivasamy, under the auspices of the government of Sri Lanka. Local NGO representatives who were invited to participate later said that the conference was but another attempt of the government to raise funds for maintaining the SLA detention centres in which the civilians fleeing war in Vanni are being held.
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Tamil journalists applaud “Women of Courage” award to Srinithy Nandasekaran

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 11:46 GMT]
Magistrate Srinithy Nandasekaran, who had served earlier in the courts of Vavuniyaa, Jaffna, and Oorkaavattu'rai (Kayts), and currently a Magistrate in the Colombo Juvenile Court, was recognized as a South Asia Regional Finalist for the US Secretary of State's Women of Courage Award by the U.S. Ambassador Blake in Colombo on 24th March. Commenting on the award, a senior journalist said: "Ms Nandasekaran took strong, legally admissible steps to reign in on the Sri Lankan military's attempts to encroach into basic freedom of movement and rights of Jaffna residents. She ruled that the military cannot wear black masks during duty, and was a staunch critic of the road blocks the military forces set up that created hardship to the normal life of civilians."
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Arundhati Roy: "Colossal humanitarian tragedy"

[TamilNet, Monday, 30 March 2009, 00:52 GMT]
Pointing an accusing finger at the Indian Government for silence on the unfolding tragedy in Sri Lanka, Arundhati Roy, writer and activisit, in an article appearing in Times of India says, "while the killing continues, while tens of thousands of people are being barricaded into concentration camps, while more than 200,000 face starvation, and a genocide waits to happen, there is dead silence from this great country [India]. It’s a colossal humanitarian tragedy. The world must step in. Now. Before it’s too late."
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Elderly detainee in SLA detention centre dies in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 09:01 GMT]
An elderly civilian held in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centre in Mirusuvil in Thenmaraadchi died Saturday night in Jaffna Teaching Hospital (JTH) due to delayed medical treatment, sources in Jaffna said. Regional Health Service sources said that there is an acute scarcity for ambulances to transport patients in need of urgent treatment from the SLA detention centres to hospitals. Besides, SLA soldiers do not permit the civilians held in the detention centres to go out for early treatment when they are infected and sick and the life of the elderly man may have been saved had he had proper treatment in time, the sources added.
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7th SLA detention centre opened in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 05:49 GMT]
In addition to the existing six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres in Jaffna district SLA has established another in Kaithadi in Thenmaraadchi where there are already four centres, to detain civilians fleeing war in Vanni. Saturday alone more than 200 families arrived in Thenmaraadchi and were placed in temporary makeshift sheds erected in the building complex of Palmyra Development Board (PDB) in Kaithadi, Thenmaraadchi Divisional Secretariat officials said.
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'Global order' experiments with body and mind of Vanni civilians

[TamilNet, Sunday, 29 March 2009, 01:17 GMT]
To what extent human beings can survive under extreme conditions was a Nazi research on the ‘dispensable Jews’ of the concentration camps, to find out the levels of extremity the human body and mind can withstand. Academic and professional circles raise an alarm that the Colombo government and the abetting powers, in experimenting political cum military effectiveness of their local and global order through a no-witness genocidal war, are probably at such a research with the Eezham Tamils. "Whether a humanitarian catastrophe faced by them is deliberately ignored by the international community and whether the instruments of humanitarian intervention have given up Vanni people for good," ask Dr. J. Sivamanoharan and S. Edmond Reginold, professionals of mental health working in Vanni.
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179 civilians including 76 children killed within 3 days inside 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 March 2009, 20:34 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) attacks have claimed the lives of 179 civilians within the three days of Thursday, Friday and Saturday, according to the casualty figures collected by TamilNet correspondent in Vanni. At least 76 of the slain victims were children below the age of 15. At least 16 pregnant mothers were among the slain. More than 109 children below the age of 15 have sustained injuries. Around 45% of the thousands of shells fired by the SLA have hit the safety zone. Meanwhile, a foreign staff of the ICRC, who came in the ship on Saturday to transport the wounded civilian had a narrow escape when the ship was hit by long distance gunfire by the SLA damaging a window of the ship. On Friday, a local ICRC worker, P. Satheeskumar, was reportedly injured in SLA shelling.
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