EU Parliament passes significant resolution

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 March 2009, 21:43 GMT]
The EU Parliament Thursday passed a resolution, with a large majority, calling for immediate ceasefire between the Sri Lanka Army and Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam in order to allow the civilian population to leave the combat zone. Condemning all acts of violence against civilians in the safe zone and expressing serious concern for the plight of the people in the refugee camps run by the Sri Lankan government, the EU Parliament demanded full and unhindered access to international and national humanitarian organisations, as well as journalists to the combat zone and to the refugee camps.
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'Belated and wanting musings from India'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 08:29 GMT]
While the Establishment in New Delhi is frantic in its attempt to eliminate the liberation force of Eezham Tamils but at the same time by hook or crook insinuate itself into the Tamil masses in order to show a semblance of success before the elections, a section of Indian academics and writers come out with belated and wanting musings urging India to work for a federal solution, writes a political analyst from Colombo. "Some of them may have good intentions, but they fail to see the sharp divide and limited option – genocide or Tamileelam – created by the Indian abetted war. Whatever they now write could serve as a lead to the next government, if there will be changes, but time is over for the present Establishment to achieve anything meaningfully," the analyst says further.
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Silent prayer, fast for Vanni Tamils in Jaffna University concludes

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Thousands of persons including students, lecturers, faculty heads, employees and Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University took part Friday between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 a.m in final day of the silent prayer and fast conducted daily since 9 February for the sake of the suffering Tamils in Vanni due to the war waged on them by the Government of Sri Lanka.
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‘True friends’ coordinate prodding civilians into barbed wires

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 13:50 GMT]
Colombo plans to open two routes to prod Tamil civilians chose to stay under the protection of the LTTE into its barbed-wire internment camps, according to news reports, Friday. One route will be leading to north towards Chalai and the other towards south through Mullaiththeevu, the reports indicated. Meanwhile, India is likely to establish a field military hospital at Pulmoaddai, in the coast south of Mullaiththeevu to treat evacuated civilians Bernama.com reported, quoting Xinhua news agency.
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U.S. Tamil group urges Pacific Command not to abet Colombo's war on Tamils

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 March 2009, 01:53 GMT]
Citing "credible reports" from Colombo, a U.S. based activist group, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL), on Monday said the U.S. Pacific Command (PACOM) was planning to lead an evacuation of nearly 200,000 Tamil civilians in Vanni. The plan would only serve to "exacerbate the crisis for these civilians and support ethnic cleansing in this region," the statement said and added: "Instead of an evacuation, the 'safe zones' these civilians are currently in should be strengthened, with full access for aid workers, journalists and human rights monitors."
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Unitary Ceylon was an error: British Politician

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 15:45 GMT]
A Conservative Party politician in the United Kingdom, Dr. Rachel Joyce, apologised Sunday for the error of Colonial Britain in making a unitary Ceylon out of two nations, the Tamils and the Sinhalese. “The Tamil people have lived on the island currently called Sri Lanka for millennia - in their own contiguous, distinct, geographical territory. They lay claim only to the territory they have historically lived in. In fact, the 3 million Tamils of the island constituted a self governing nation until invaded and occupied by Colonial powers – in particular Britain, who amalgamated them with the Sinhala nation purely for convenience. In retrospect, this cultural naivety was a mistake that has caused problems since independence,” she said in a meeting held at Harrow, where Bruce Fein, a constitutional expert from the United States was the guest speaker.
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Britain trying to dodge obligations to prevent Genocide of Tamils - Prof. Boyle

[TamilNet, Monday, 02 March 2009, 04:05 GMT]
Commenting on British Foreign Secretary David Miliband's statement in the British Parliament that "a failed [UN] resolution- one that faces a veto- is worse than no resolution at all," Prof Boyle, an expert in international law and a professor at University of Illinois College of Law, said that "Uniting for Peace Resolution of 1950" allows a vetoed resolution to be turned over to United Nations General Assembly for action. "The General Assembly can and must do the same with respect to the genocidal plight of the Tamils in Sri Lanka [...] Britain is simply trying to dodge its own obligation under Article I of the Genocide Convention "to prevent" the genocide against the Tamils by Sri Lanka," Prof Boyle added.
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'Sri Lanka: A Besieged Society' - Sivasegaram

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 March 2009, 20:22 GMT]
The Indian establishment, pretending neutrality, backed overtly and covertly the Sri Lankan government, politically as well as militarily, using Chinese and Pakistani interests in Sri Lanka as a pretext, writes Professor S. Sivasegaram, a well-known academic and Marxist writer. “International concern on human rights violations, threat to the media, the state of lawlessness including killings and abductions, and other issues have been mere formalities and have never been translated into action.[…] Foreign governments and international organisations to demand that the LTTE should ‘release’ the people under its wings is wrong, without simultaneously insisting that the Sri Lankan government ends all attacks on civilians and ensures the safety of civilians wherever they are.”
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New Delhi's stratagem seeking 'pause'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 22:13 GMT]
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee Saturday asked Colombo to 'seize the opportunity' provided by LTTE’s ceasefire offer to bring about a ‘pause’ in hostilities and work for safe passage for 'trapped' civilians. Meanwhile, political observers in Tamil Nadu commented on the move a tactic to nullify their calls for a permanent ceasefire. Vaiko, the General Secretary of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhakam (MDMK) courted arrest with 300 other activists for waging black flags in protest against Mr. Mukherjee, who was on a visit to Thooththukkudi (Tutucorin).
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Ghost of Bush wishes 'fight to the end'

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 12:56 GMT]
The lessons of history are that actually there is nothing called ethnicities winning and losing. It is always forces of oppression and liberation losing and winning. ‘Fight to the end’ is vantage of the vultures hovering above for the spoils of both losers as well as winners. If ‘fight to the end’ is thrust upon peoples then they can’t help it. They have to fight it until the interests of those who orchestrate it are affected to the contrary or civilized world prevail upon those international belligerents. "Let us hope in the civilized world," writes Opinion Columnist Chivanadi.
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UN nods ‘fight to the finish’

[TamilNet, Saturday, 28 February 2009, 04:04 GMT]
The position taken by UN Security Council Friday indicating no go beyond ‘hearing’, and the considerate briefing of John Holmes largely endorsing and trusting Colombo’s agenda and assurances for civilians, are read between the lines by international political observers as a ‘knowing wink’ at Colombo to pursue its offensive. Alternatively, the UN stance either paves way for intervention by interested powers outside of the UN or perhaps reveals an actuality that the UN can be shaken not when people face genocide, but only when ground realities endanger the Sri Lankan state, observers said.
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Stop war, negotiate interim government for Tamils: Fourth International

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 20:41 GMT]
"We, the undersigned leaders of workers' parties, demand that the government of Sri Lanka stop attacks that can destroy thousands of Tamils and agree to a ceasefire with the LTTE to start discussions in order to install an interim government for the Tamil homeland," said a resolution passed Wednesday at the International Committee of the Fourth International, consisting over 50 political parties and organisations, spread throughout the five continents of the world. Dr. Vickramabahu Karunarante of the NSSP of Sri Lanka mooted the resolution, which was unanimously accepted.
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Revise policies on Tamil struggle: Karen Parker tells U.S. Senate

[TamilNet, Thursday, 26 February 2009, 00:55 GMT]
The twenty-six year old armed conflict between the armed forces of the government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has reached a phase that can only be called genocide-like and catastrophic for the Tamil people in the north and east of the island, said human rights expert Karen Parker, Wednesday to the subcommittee of the US Senate, hearing on the situation in the island of Sri Lanka. Describing the war waged by Colombo as illegal military operations, using illegal weapons or legal weapons in an illegal manner without any international monitoring, she urged the US government to call for an immediate ceasefire and address it most forcefully to the Rajapaksa administration.
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Acts of genocide possible – British Foreign Secretary

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 February 2009, 13:53 GMT]
Britain’s Foreign Secretary, David Miliband, agreed Tuesday with parliamentarians who said that the Sri Lankan government is “quite prepared to go ahead with acts of genocide.” Responding to Mr. Elfyn Llwyd, MP, Mr. Miliband said “the resolution of [a] terrorist problem cannot be achieved at the expense of the rights of minority communities in Sri Lanka, and that is what we are trying to work on.” Britain was encouraging Sri Lanka’s government to work with London’s newly appointed Special Envoy to Sri Lanka, former defence minister and Secretary of State for Scotland, Des Browne, the Foreign Secretary said.
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Norwegian Tamils demonstrate in front of Norway parliament

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 24 February 2009, 17:57 GMT]
Hundreds of Norwegian Tamils including many youngsters gathered in front of Norwegian parliament Monday around 1:00 p.m where they urged Norway government to help bring about a ceasefire immediately to stop the genocide of Tamils in Vanni. Tamil Youth Organization (TYO) which organized the above demonstration in which members of Norway political parties addressed the gathering submitted a memorandum to Norwegian parliament.
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Statement diplomacy of EU

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2009, 15:26 GMT]
Significantly deviating from its earlier position of justifying war on 'terrorism', the EU Council Conclusions on Sri Lanka, Monday, stressed the need for Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the LTTE to comply with ‘provisions of international humanitarian law and principles of the laws of war’, treating them as equal parties engaged in war. Taking this stance, the EU called for an immediate Ceasefire. The EU also reiterated its intention to send a Troika as soon as possible. However, the rest of the EU conclusions are the usual rhetoric, ending with the never implemented GSP+investigation on Sri Lanka, political observers said.
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Ceasefire, solution first; laying down arms irrelevant: LTTE appeals to Co-chairs, UN

[TamilNet, Monday, 23 February 2009, 03:58 GMT]
Urging International Community to effect a ceasefire and initiate a political solution as a priority than insisting LTTE to lay down arms, the Political Head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE), B. Nadesan, made an appeal Sunday to the heads of the Co-chairs countries saying that "when a permanent political solution is reached for the Tamil people, with the support and the guarantee of the international community, the situation will arise where there will be no need for the arms of the LTTE."
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U.S. rally exposing Colombo's genocide draws 7000

[TamilNet, Saturday, 21 February 2009, 04:17 GMT]
Nearly seven thousand U.S. and Canadian Tamils filled the Ellipse at the southern perimeter to the White House, as a show of solidarity with the more than 250,000 Tamil civilians undergoing daily aerial bombardment and artillery attacks herded within a 100 sq.mile area in Vanni. The rally, organized jointly by the US-based activist group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) and several local organizations, drew a record crowd, dewarfing the "hurriedly arranged" counter-rally organized by supporters of Colombo, an AFP report said.
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Sri Lankan government rejects ceasefire call by TNA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 February 2009, 15:11 GMT]
Sri Lanka Ministry of Defence spokesman Minister Keheliya Rambukwella said Wednesday that his government was not prepared to stop the war as requested by the parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan, in a press meet in Colombo on Tuesday. "There is no need to stop the war against the LTTE when they are loosing the war," Rambukwella said. The statement of Sampanthan in the Tuesday press meet in the parliamentary complex that people in Vanni are being killed by the Sri Lankan armed forces is not true, he further said.
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India mistaken on arms and talks - experts

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2009, 19:43 GMT]
Indian Home Minister P Chidambaram’s call for the LTTE to surrender arms was not in keeping with international practice on conflict resolution, but an endorsement of the Sri Lankan government’s hardline position, scholars of conflict and peace said Monday. They pointed a number of successful peace processes, including those with the ANC, IRA and Nepal’s Maoists had proceeded without making arms surrender a precondition for talks. There had also been several peace processes involving the LTTE without this precondition, a scholar of Sri Lanka’s conflict pointed out. The Indian government was in effect supporting the Rajapakse government’s efforts to avoid negotiations on a lasting settlement by making talks conditional on a demand unacceptable to any party to a conflict, some academics opined.
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