RSF accuses Colombo of "War Crimes"

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2009, 17:36 GMT]
In an unprecedented move, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued today, expressed "revulsion at the death of Tamil journalist" Sathyamurthy in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) bombardment, and accused Colombo of committing war crimes, asserting "Army air strikes and artillery fire on areas where there are tens of thousands of civilians, including Tamil journalists, are war crimes." Sathyamoorthy was killed inside the "Safe Zone" demarcated by Sri Lanka late last week. Several hundreds Tamil refugees herded into the safe zone by the Government of Sri Lanka have been killed by targeted artillery and air-attacks inside the safe zone.
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Verbal shows fail to save lives in Vanni

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 February 2009, 15:09 GMT]
“War is also theirs, peace is also theirs; therefore the solution also should be theirs. Why don’t they come out with that and end the suffering?” asked a sulking school teacher in Vanni, frustrated at the diplomatic games and dilly-dallying of world powers in protecting the life and dignity of civilians, neither by themselves nor allowing the UN to do it. But the solution some of the powers envisage in what they call the ‘post-LTTE era’ goes back to the concentration camps of the Nazi times.
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US Congresswoman calls for ceasefire negotiations

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 February 2009, 19:28 GMT]
Democratic Congresswoman Nital M Lowey, of 18th District of New York, and Chairwoman of the powerful State and Foreign Operations Appropriations Subcommittee expressed concern on the continued violence and the resulting "humanitarian disaster, including massive civilian casualties and the displacement of approximately 250,000 innocent civilians," called on Sri Lanka and the LTTE to negotiate a ceasefire immediately, in statement issued this week.
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Sri Lanka rejects Britain’s appointing of Special Envoy

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2009, 20:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka swiftly rejected as “an intrusion into internal affairs” Britain’s appointment Thursday of a Special Envoy to help settle the island’s protracted conflict. Sri Lanka's Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama was quoted by the AFP as saying that the British move was tantamount to "an intrusion into Sri Lanka's internal affairs" and was "disrespectful to the country's statehood. Earlier Thursday, the British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a parliamentary committee that he had asked former defence secretary, Des Browne, to be an envoy for Sri Lanka.
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Silent prayer, fast observed in Jaffna University, for the suffering Tamils in Vanni

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2009, 16:03 GMT]
“The people in Vanni are undergoing unprecedented suffering and pain without any food, medicine, clothes and places to seek shelter, in the unrelenting attacks on them and we urge the concerned parties and the International Community to help stop the war on the Tamils immediately,” Jaffna University Students Union (JUSU) said in a media report Thursday.
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British ex-defence secretary appointed special envoy to Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2009, 15:44 GMT]
Britain named a special envoy to Sri Lanka on Thursday to help bring about a political solution to the island’s long-running conflict and to ease hardships to Tamil civilians trapped in the Vanni warzone, UK press reports said. "I've asked Des Browne, our former defence secretary, to be an envoy for Sri Lanka," British Prime Minister Gordon Brown told a parliamentary committee. Brown said the priorities were to achieve a ceasefire and to get a political settlement, Reuters reported. Meanwhile, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Robert Blake was quoted by the Washington Post as saying the Sri Lankan military’s capture of the Vanni region – which he expects within weeks – will not end the LTTE’s armed struggle and that Colombo must reach a political settlement with the Tamils.
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Sri Lanka engaged in deliberate, systematic act of genocide - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 11:15 GMT]
The Tamil homeland is witnessing one of the worst human tragedies of the 21st century said the Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in a statement issued in Tamil on Wednesday. More than one-thousand civilians have been killed and four-thousand are struggling to recover from the injuries amid continuous artillery barrage, air attacks and cluster bombing by the Sinhala state, the LTTE statement said. The LTTE statement categorically denied the Sri Lankan claim that a Tiger human bomb had recently attacked civilians.
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World socialists condemn war as Co-chairs’ machination

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 11 February 2009, 02:32 GMT]
The Co-Chairs have not been helpless, passive bystanders, but active participants who bear political responsibility for the Sri Lankan government's war and the humanitarian disaster now unfolding in northern Sri Lanka, writes K.Ratnayake, tracing the history of Co-chairs involvement in the island, in an article ‘The end of the Sri Lankan Peace Process’, appeared in World Socialist Web Site, Monday.
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East Timor President urges ceasefire, offers mediation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 February 2009, 04:00 GMT]
"There will be no long term peace in Sri Lanka if this war is prosecuted by either side to the bitter end," said the President of Timor Leste (East Timor) Jose Ramos-Horta, on Monday, offering his preparedness "to assist in any way that might contribute to a peaceful settlement." Recollecting the experience of East Timor, the Nobel Laureate expressed his fear of immense destruction a civil war can generate and said: " The people already traumatised should not be forced to remain or move against their will." He urged the LTTE to seek a political settlement through dialouge.
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Jayalalitha cancels birthday celebrations for Eelam Tamils

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 18:05 GMT]
Jayalalitha, the principal opposition leader and former Chief Minister in Tamil Nadu announced Sunday her decision to cancel her birthday celebrations on 24 February in view of the massive and tragic killings of Tamils in Sri Lanka for the past six months.
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3000 Tamils protest in Canberra

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 16:50 GMT]
More than 3000 Tamils from Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra attended a rally at the Lawns of the Parliament House in the Australian capital Canberra on the 5th of February 2009 to raise the deteriorating humanitarian crisis in Vanni, calling the Australian Government to stop the genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka. The rally was organized by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations (AFTA), an umbrella organization representing the Tamil Australians.
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Diaspora Tamil dies in self-immolation urging Obama to stop Colombo's war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 February 2009, 08:42 GMT]
27-year-old Eezham Tamil, Raja, living in Malaysia for 3 years set fire on himself and died Friday leaving a note in his diary saying “I am burning myself to death resting my hopes on global Tamils to save the Eezham Tamils. I plead American President Barack Obama to bring in a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.” This is the first act of self-immolation committed by a person of the Eezham Tamil diaspora. Three people in Tamil Nadu have already died by self-immolation in support of Eezham Tamils.
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Congress cadre immolates himself to death protesting party inaction

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 February 2009, 19:17 GMT]
Congress functionary Sirkazhi (Cheerkaazhi) Ravichandran, a 47-year-old father of two children, immolated himself Saturday to protest his party's inaction on the Eelam Tamils issue. He succumbed to hundred percent burn injuries and died a short while later at 3:45 p.m. Two days earlier, he had an altercation with the Union Minister Mani Shanker Aiyar blaming the Congress party for failing to stop the war in Sri Lanka. He had also told a couple of his friends about his decision in order to bring about a change in the attitude of the Congress.
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Minister, members come hard on Colombo in British Parliament

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 08:04 GMT]
The situation in Sri Lanka is nothing short of shocking. Any attempts, including by representatives of the Sri Lanka government to defend the shelling of the [Puthukkudiyiruppu] hospital are frankly unacceptable. Such attacks are serious violations of international humanitarian law, said Bill Rummell, Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office, in the British Parliament on Thursday. “The statement made by the Sri Lankan Government on Tuesday—that civilians should move out of the conflict area because they could no longer guarantee their safety—was extraordinarily worrying. […] The call for a temporary no-fire period by the [British] Foreign Secretary and Hillary Clinton this week should be acted upon immediately," he said.
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Emergency session of Canadian parliament discusses ceasefire, political solution

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 February 2009, 08:00 GMT]
Amidst demonstration and vigil of thousands of Canadian Eezham Tamils outside, and against the backdrop of Canadian government’s call for ceasefire coupled with 3 million dollars aid to the affected, the Canadian parliament had an emergency debate on the crisis in the island of Sri Lanka Wednesday that lasted four and a half hours. Cutting across party lines members were vocal in stressing the need for immediate ceasefire and federal perspectives of political solution. The balance of the debate was heavily against the Colombo government.
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IC abandons hope in liberal peace, seeks to live with Sinhala chauvinism - paper

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 15:53 GMT]
The Co-Chairs statement this week marks the final collapse of the international liberal project in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Guardian newspaper’s editorial said this week. “The international actors who swaggered up in 2001 to make liberal peace in Sri Lanka never had the stomach to take on the Sinhala state's chauvinism. Instead they long pretended it doesn't exist, even as the signs were all around. Now, when it's in their faces, they simply bow to its ferocity - and ask the Tamils to do the same,” the paper said.
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Sri Lanka rejects Co-Chairs’ call for surrender negotiations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 10:56 GMT]
The Sri Lankan government has rejected the call by the Co-Chairs (US, EU, Japan and Norway) for the Tamil Tigers to negotiate terms of surrender with Colombo. Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the BBC that the government would accept only "unconditional surrender".
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India's top lawyers condemn Sri Lanka's genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 10:45 GMT]
India's Supreme Court Bar Association based in New Delhi has condmned the genocide on the tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Government and the Security Forces. In an excutive meeting held Wednesday, the association also called upon the Goverment of India and UN to take steps to ensure ceasefire.
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Tamil Nadu, Puducherry shut down sends strong signals to State, Central Governments

[TamilNet, Thursday, 05 February 2009, 10:37 GMT]
In the face of severe threats from the State Government, the people of Tamil Nadu projected their unified voice of support for the Eelam Tamils by making the Wednesday general strike a grand success. More than 90 percent of the shops and commercial establishments throughout the state downed their shutters as a mark of solidarity. Although the umbrella front, Ilangkaith Thamizhar Paathukaappu Pearavai, which was recently formed to protect the Eezham Tamils, had announced the boycott, it was the spontaneous participation of the people of Tamil Nadu of all walks of life, made it a big success. Since the strike coincided with Sri Lanka's 61st independence day, the Sinhalese lion flag and Mahinda Rajapakse's effigy were burnt in several places.
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Australian Tamils mark February 04 as Black Day

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 04 February 2009, 16:31 GMT]
Upto 5000 Tamils rallied during peak hour traffic through Sydney City, Australia on Wednesday 4 February to urge the Australian government to support international calls for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka as well as highlight the need for an independent Tamil homeland in response to continued acts of genocide by the Sri Lankan army upon Tamil civilians. "For 61 years the Tamils have lived without peace, justice or freedom," says Lakshmi Kathir, a high school student. "Today maybe Sri Lanka's Independence Day, but for the Tamils it is the day we lost our liberty," she added.
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