RSF repeats war-crimes complaint against Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 22:50 GMT]
Reminding Colombo to to fulfill its international obligations to let journalists into the Vanni conflict area where "a major humanitarian crisis in unfolding," Asia-Pacific Desk at Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Friday said, "[t]he death of at least two journalists in the so-called "no-fire" area tends to support allegations that the Sri Lankan security forces are responsible for war crimes against civilians," and that the [Sri Lanka] government is violating UN Security Council resolution 1738 about protecting journalists in war zones."
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Co-chairs call the fighting futile, stress humanitarian pause

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 12:12 GMT]
During a conference call Friday morning among the co-chairs, Norway, U.S., EU and Japan, "the members expressed urgent concern for the safety of more than 100,000 people trapped by the conflict," and "stressed the importance of a humanitarian pause and of ensuring that adequate supplies of food, water and medicine reach the civilians in the zone," a release issued by the U.S. in the U.S. Colombo embassy website said. Assistant Secretary Boucher and the other Co-Chair representatives discussed how to best end the futile fighting without further bloodshed.
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SLA conducts search operation in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 08:03 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army conducted a cordon and search operation covering Second Cross Street in Vavuniyaa town Wednesday from morning till afternoon. The SLA took all occupants leaving a single person in their residents, business places and other institutions near the Soosai Pillaiyar Kulam junction for inquiry where they were subjected to severe interrogation.
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Stop Shelling ‘No-Fire Zone,' HRW tells Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 03:17 GMT]
"The Sri Lanka Government should stop firing heavy artillery into the "no-fire-zone" in the northern Vanni" which has caused "skyrocketing casualties" to civilians, said Human Rights Watch (HRW), a New York-based rights group, in a press release issued Thursday. Calling the 'no-fire-zone' one of the most dangerous place in the world, the HRW also accused the United Nations Security Council of "quibling over protocol when it should be acting to bring an end to this ghastly loss of life."
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Tamil hunger strikers' condition deteriorates in London

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 02:36 GMT]
Two British Tamils, 21-year-old Sivatharsan Sivakumaravel and 28-year-old Parameswarn Subramaniyan, who are on a hunger strike in the Parliament Square since 10:00 p.m. Monday, have refused to consume any food or water until there is a ceasefire in Sri Lanka. The hunger strikers have also demanded that food and medical aid should be allowed to reach the civilians immediately with international monitoring committees and to allow "Mercy Mission," the diaspora organised ship carrying humanitarian supplies.
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US Tamil groups meet with State Department on Sri Lanka crisis

[TamilNet, Friday, 10 April 2009, 02:17 GMT]
A group of American Tamils representing different diaspora organizations met with US Assistant Secretary of State Richard Boucher, and US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake, (via video link) on 8th April in Washington, D.C., to discuss the current humanitarian crisis Tamils face in Sri Lanka. The Tamil groups pressed for an immediate ceasefire and pointed out that no durable political solution is possible without the participation of the LTTE, and told the State Department officials that "...[N]egotiations should not preclude separation as a solution, and that confederation with power sharing at the center may be a viable alternative to total separation."
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In the name of its civilization IC is answerable

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 20:11 GMT]
"If the refusal of the Sri Lankan state to mend its ways and the violence it perpetrated have made the Tamil youth of the 1970s to get into militancy, it is the stubbornness of the International Community in not rectifying its blunder of perpetrating a genocidal war against Tamils in Sri Lanka that has now made the diaspora youth to take to streets defying procedures," writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi. "The older generation which initially raised eyebrows at the outcome of the youth initiative that defied community elders and formalities, has subsequently started appreciating the spontaneous spirit in the youth in taking up community responsibility at a time of emergency. It is the duty of the community elders to take the message to the ruling circles of the IC that its venture in the island without a viable roadmap and responsibilities had led to the crisis.
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Nadesan denies LTTE 'threat' to Sonia and her children

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 12:39 GMT]
Political Head of the LTTE, B. Nadesan rubbished reports in a section of the English media in India that there was a Tamil Tiger threat to top politicians including Congress chief Sonia Gandhi. According to reliable media sources in India, B Nadesan had categorically denied Thursday that there was an LTTE threat to Indian leaders.
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Tamil protesters bring traffic to a halt in Australia

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 April 2009, 20:00 GMT]
More than 4,000 Australian Tamils converged in the cities of Melbourne and Sydney Wednesday, causing police to block Elizabeth Street and bringing evening peak hour traffic to a standstill. The rally which was organised overnight, called on the Australian government to use their diplomatic powers to pressure Sri Lanka into entering a ceasefire.
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I can't cause miracles: Erik Solheim

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 21:16 GMT]
"I can understand the level of desperation among the Tamils in Norway. But, I can't cause miracles," said Erik Solheim, the Norwegian international development minister and the topmost representative of the Norwegian facilitation to the peace process in the island of Sri Lanka, on Tuesday. Responding to Mr. Erik Solheim, Mr. Ki Pi Aravinthan, a veteran former Tamil militant of the 1970's and a well-known Tamil writer in France said that Solheim may not be able to perform miracles, but at least he should have refrained himself from committing knowing blunders. "Diplomacy may be the art of the possible, but a liberation struggle is to make impossible, possible. Norway failed in grasping the point," he said.
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Colombo uses chemical weapons: LTTE

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 20:08 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army extensively used chemical weapons on LTTE combatants at Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) during the weekend, according to Lawrence, a senior commander of the LTTE, who personally encountered the attack and escaped, LTTE sources told TamilNet Tuesday. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan Defence Ministry has claimed that it has killed hundreds of Tiger combatants including senior commanders in PTK last weekend. The use of chemical weapons were the suspicion of many who have seen the photographs released by the SL Defence Ministry, but now the accusation comes from the LTTE. The Tiger sources neither confirmed the type of the chemical weapon nor said anything on the casualties claimed by Colombo.
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No more excuses in waging the war - Protestors in Oslo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 08:09 GMT]
"Colombo, which wages a brutal war, and its main war-partner, the Indian Establishment, which sets the agenda and the International Community that viciously abets the war, have no more justification or excuses in continuing the war," said T. Raju, a young Tamil diaspora activist who talked to media while hundreds of Norwegian Tamils gathered Tuesday in front of the Norwegian Parliament in Oslo to protest against the Sri Lankan war. "Only a few hundred LTTE cadres remain in Vanni was the estimation of Colombo’s military, a few weeks ago. Colombo claimed that nearly 500 LTTE cadres were killed this weekend. Therefore any further war only means open genocide of people," he said.
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Threat of starvation haunts "Safe Zone" families

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 00:56 GMT]
Subasan, a 24-year-old fisherman originally from Muzhangkaavil in Naachchikkuda, displaced at least 29 times to date and now wounded in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling inside the so-called safe zone, told TamilNet correspondent in Vanni Sunday, that his family is traumatized by the daily hardships, and that his family faces starvation due to shortage of food. Subasan said his family lead a reasonably comfortable life from his earnings from fishing. His dire economic situation has forced his pregnant wife to now sell their tarpaulin sheet for Rs.1,400 to take care of him.
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SLA intensifies attacks on Safe Zone, 71 civilians killed, 143 wounded

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2009, 15:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA), which has been blaming that the Tigers were using civilians as 'human shields' on Sunday contradicted its claims saying that main LTTE fighting formations were inside a territory outside the safe zone, besieged by the SLA and claimed that the area has now been brought under its control, causing heavy casualties to the LTTE. Meanwhile, the SLA has stepped up attacks on civilians inside the safety zone from 8:30 p.m. Saturday, according to the latest reports from the civilian safe zone. At least 71 civilians were killed and 143 sustained injuries and the doctors at Puthumaaththa'lan makeshift hospital were struggling to save a one month old baby, seriously wounded in SLA shelling.
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Recognize our freedom: Vanni civilian leader

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 April 2009, 07:39 GMT]
How can a people trust a government that has instructed them to get into a safety zone and then kills, maims and starve them continuously for months now, asks Pararajasingam Kanagalingam, president of the Vanni People Welfare Organization (VPWO), in a recorded affidavit on the civil situation of Vanni sent to TamilNet Wednesday. “ Right to live is the most fundamental right guaranteed by the UN. But, even after assurances, people are killed here everyday by government forces. Is it a government that can’t guarantee the fundamental right? If the government can’t care for us it should leave us free. What is wrong if the Tamils think of self-determination? Even now the people of Vanni are firm in this aspiration for freedom”, said Mr. Kanagalingam.
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David Miliband calls for 'humanitarian' ceasefire

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 17:29 GMT]
British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday renewed his call for an "urgent humanitarian ceasefire" to "allow the remaining civilians to leave the conflict area" and sought unhindered access for humanitarian agencies to the civilians displaced by the fighting, including those, whom he referred as "still trapped" in the conflict area. Mr. Miliband's call comes a day after LTTE's Political Head B. Nadesan conveying the Tiger stance to the Norwegian International Development Minister Erik Solheim that the attacks by the Sri Lankan forces on Tamil people aimed at total subjugation of the Tamil nation, and that only an immediate ceasefire could put an end to the humanitarian catastrophe caused by the Sri Lankan aggression and pave the way for a negotiated settlement to the conflict.
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Erik Solheim discusses Vanni civilians plight with LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 02 April 2009, 07:27 GMT]
Erik Solheim, the Norwegian minister for international development and the topmost representative of the Norwegian facilitator discussed Wednesday evenng the plight of the civilians in Vanni with B. Nadesan, the head of the political wing of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE). Revealing the details of the phone conversation that lasted for 30 minutes, S. Puleedevan, the director of LTTE's Peace Secretariat told TamilNet that Mr. Solheim conveyed the recent developments in the International arena regarding the Tamil conflict, especially with regards to the latest briefings at the UN Security Council. Solheim was briefed on the grave humanitarian catastrophe caused by the military aggression of the Sri Lankan armed forces, Puleedevan said.
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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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SLA soldier killed, another injured in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 April 2009, 12:44 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched a hand grenade attack on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Tuesday around 10:45 p.m near Vaazhaichcheanai bus stand in Vaazhaichcheanai police division in Batticaloa district, killing a soldier and injuring another, Batticaloa district LTTE sources said.
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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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