Claims and scepticism sans evidence

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 May 2009, 00:53 GMT]
The head of the LTTE’s Department of International Relations on Sunday announced that the LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan attained martyrdom fighting the military oppression of the Sri Lankan state on 17 May. However, the LTTE’s Department for Diaspora Affairs (DDA) told TamilNet that it would not comment without explicit authorisation from the LTTE leadership. In the meantime, the Intelligence Department of the Tigers reiterated on Sunday that the LTTE leadership is safe and it will re-emerge when the right time comes.
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SLA restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas to continue

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 20:54 GMT]
The restriction on fishing on Vadamaraadchchi seas will not be relaxed as requested by the fisheries societies, Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officials said in a meeting held with the representatives of Vadmaraadchchi fisheries societies Sunday. The request to expedite the issue of travel ‘pass’ to Colombo by the representatives of the Saiva Organizations who took part in the meeting along with the school principals of the area was turned down by the SLA officials, sources in Vadamaraadchchi said.
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Demonstrate the politics of war

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 20:32 GMT]
The Tamil national cause cannot afford to be deviated and exploited by others through questions such as whether the LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan is alive or not or whether the armed struggle has to be continued or not. The Tamil diaspora, the only section of the Eezham Tamil community that has the freedom and means to come out with authentic voice, has a historic responsibility in telling the world what they aspire for in no uncertain terms, and in seeing their righteous cause not hijacked by their enemies.
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Tamils in Malaysia demand justice for Sri Lanka’s genocide

[TamilNet, Sunday, 24 May 2009, 10:50 GMT]
Over 5,000 Tamil Malaysians gathered at one of the country's iconic Hindu temples Sunday to protest acts of 'genocide' against Tamils in Sri Lanka, AFP reported. The demonstration by one of the world's largest Tamil communities outside India and Sri Lanka, followed Colombo's declaration of victory over the Liberation Tigers last Monday, following an offensive in which thousands of Tamil civilians were slaughtered by what the United States has described as indiscriminate shelling of ‘safety zones’. Federal Territories deputy minister M. Saravanan, who attended, along with Tamil opposition leaders, said Malaysia should not support a Sri Lankan-sponsored UNHRC resolution.
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Sri Lanka Police questions TNA MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 23 May 2009, 16:29 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian, Mr.S.Kanagaretnam, was taken for questioning by the Sri Lanka police from Chettikulam internment camp Thursday morning, sources in Vavuniyaa said. Kanagaratnam arrived with his family from Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal area to Omanthai with IDPs when the military operation of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) forced the IDPs from the Safety Zone.
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IC, India shouldn’t impose 'inclusion' on Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 18:23 GMT]
The International Community and India will be contributing to a grave disaster by imposing or enforcing ‘inclusive polity’ on an unwilling Sri Lankan state said the TamilNet political commentator in Colombo Thursday adding that secession is the best option for the island. He cited the events of this week when passions of ‘exclusiveness’ were decisively demonstrated in its goriest possible way by the Sri Lankan state in celebrating ‘victory,’ completely insensitive to the killing, massacres and incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Tamils who are supposed to be its citizens. He also cited the way a dead human being was desecrated whether the identity of the person was another one of the dupe of Colombo or not.
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Jaffna court denies appeal by person seeking protection to life

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 15:17 GMT]
Jaffna Magistrate Court, directed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), denied protection to a youth from Chaavakachcheari who had sought Thursday protection to his life due to death threats by SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, according to sources in Jaffna. Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC) too had not entertained the appeal for protection to his life by the above youth Thursday, the sources added.
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Sinhala hoodlums harass Tamil civilians in the name of victory celebration

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 09:04 GMT]
Gangs of Sinhala youths holding Lion flags in hands in the name of victory against LTTE have been on the rampage, day and night, intimidating and harassing Tamil civilians in Colombo and its suburbs for the fourth day. Affected Tamil residents have complained to their respective police station. But the police have failed to take action to stop the harassment, civil sources lament.
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TNA parliamentarian Kanagasabai passes away

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 May 2009, 07:08 GMT]
Pathmanathan Kanagasabai, Ampaarai district parliamentarian of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) passed away Thursday early morning around 4:00 a.m. after a brief illness in Mathurai in Tamilnadu while he was staying with his friend. He was 64, media sources reported quoting fellow parliamentarian B.Ariyanenthiran.
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Fears mount for safety of doctors arrested by SLA

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 02:34 GMT]
Whereabouts of three doctors, Medical Superintendent Dr. Shanmugarajah who was attending the wounded at the makeshift hospital at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal junior school, Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) doctors, Dr. Varatharajah and Dr Sathiyamoorthy, arrested by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) after fleeing the Safety Zone Saturday, are still unknown, and several Rights groups feared for doctors' lives, sources in Colombo said.
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14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 20 May 2009, 00:09 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested 14 Tamil youths in searches conducted in Colombo city since Saturday, sources in Colombo said. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, addressing the Parliament Tuesday, declared Wednesday as a national holiday to celebrate the victory over the Liberation Tigers and called on the people of the country to celebrate the occasion for a week, the sources added.
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IC has to check militarization and Sinhalicisation of rehabilitation

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 06:59 GMT]
Serious concerns are raised in the Tamil diaspora circles at the IC’s attempts to pour in rehabilitation aid through Colombo’s rehabilitation structure, which is completely militarized and Sinhalicised. This will only serve Colombo’s next agenda of ‘structural genocide’ of Tamils, the diaspora circles said. While rehabilitation is the immediate need, there will be an irredeemable danger if the IC is embarked upon it without recognition of Tamil status in the island and without involving Tamil hands, they said. Ideally, the IC should at least now exercise its authority to completely take over the camps and do the work with the direction and participation of the people for whom they give the aid, they further said.
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Karunanidhi should bargain exit of habitually biased

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 02:04 GMT]
It is a well-known fact that certain elements, belonging to a clan operating from Nehru’s time bringing in disasters to India’s foreign policy, were responsible for the second time in India committing war crimes on Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka. In forming the next government, chief minister Karunanidhi should use all his bargaining power to see that these elements never play a role again in Tamil affairs, said a Tamil journalist in Chennai. This is more important than bargaining ministerial portfolios, considering national interests of India and peace of the Tamil people, he said.
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War crime in the massacre of LTTE officials

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 19 May 2009, 01:52 GMT]
While rejecting Colombo's claim of the killing of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan and assuring his safety and well-being, LTTE's International Relations Head S. Pathmanathan Tuesday accused Colombo of treachery in the killing of the political wing leaders B. Nadesan and S. Puleedevan. Mr. Pathmanathan said it is a crime against humanity that needs to be investigated. Meanwhile, informed sources told TamilNet that what happened in the early hours of Monday was a well-planned massacre of several unarmed civil officers of the LTTE with the aim of annihilating its political structure. At the orders of a 'top defence figure,' an international arrangement involving ICRC, European diplomats and a Colombo government diplomat to arrange safe exit to the civil officers was defied, the sources said.
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Sri Lanka lost confidence of Tamils: Pathmanathan

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 21:36 GMT]
Stating that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Mr. V. Pirapaharan is alive and well, Mr. Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the head of LTTE's international relations, told TamilNet Monday that it was very unfortunate that many of its senior members and leaders have either given up their lives or have been treacherously killed. "The Sri Lankan Government may have declared a military victory. But it does not realize that it is a hollow victory. It has completely lost the trust and confidence of the Tamils in Sri Lanka," he further said in an exclusive interview.
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'EU should consider justice, not investigations'

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 20:58 GMT]
The EU foreign ministers Monday called for the investigation of war crimes committed by ‘both sides’ in the killing of civilians in Sri Lanka. Responding to the news, TamilNet political commentator in Colombo said that what happened and what is happening in Sri Lanka is a unique case in contemporary human history in which the war crimes are ‘multilateral’, involving the UN, India, China and the Co-Chairs, involving even the EU. “The investigations have to be comprehensive sparing ‘nobody’, but where on earth to find such a neutral body, he asked. Rather than giving importance to post mortem in which the winners always have a better say, the EU has to urgently prevent further war crimes by immediately recognizing the Tamil independence and sovereignty in the island”, he said.
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Mahinda’s accounts crime

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:33 GMT]
Before his murderous assault on the so-called safety zone, Mahinda Rajapaksa has always been maintaining that the number of civilians there was only 70,000. But after the first bout of the capture of civilians last month, until Thursday, 247,908 civilians from the safety zone were registered in the internment camps of Vavuniyaa, Pulmoaddai, Mannaar and Jaffna. After the first bout, the Sri Lanka president was saying that only 15 to 20 thousand were remaining in the safety zone. Sunday evening Colombo’s militarised civil administration head of internment camps, Chandrasiri admitted more than 80,000 crossing after the latest onslaught. According to aid officials, some more thousands are still remaining.
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Colombo 'ended' the battle with a massacre

[TamilNet, Monday, 18 May 2009, 07:25 GMT]
Monday early hours around 3:00 a.m. Vanni local time, the LTTE Political Chief B. Nadesan and LTTE Peace Secretariat Director S. Puleedevan telephoned their contacts in Europe and informed them to tell the ICRC Head Office that only around 1,000 wounded cadres, civil officials of the LTTE and civilians remained in the so-called safety zone and there was no firing from the LTTE side. They urged the ICRC to evacuate the wounded. A few hours later, Colombo's Defence Ministry website claimed finding the dead bodies of Mr. Nadesan, Mr. Puleedevan, Mr. Ilango (Tamileelam Police Chief), and LTTE Leader V. Pirapaharan's son Mr. Charles Antony. The LTTE is yet to confirm, but initial reports indicate a determined massacre by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA).
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'Long live human dignity; shame on international community'

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 18:37 GMT]
While the so-called international community is "exposed of its shameful conning," thousands of Tamil civilians and combatants are laying down their lives to "uphold Tamil dignity, and human dignity," says a Tamil academic in Colombo. Those who blame the LTTE for bringing in the disaster know well that Colombo always had the option to negotiate or to come out with a political solution convincing Tamils not to continue the conflict. But Colombo’s aim is not power sharing but genocide and subjugation of Tamils by forcing war on them. "The only way now for the IC to come out of the colossus shame is direct intervention and recognition of the justification for Tamil Eelam," the academic said.
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Flaunting 'victory' to Tamils in Colombo

[TamilNet, Sunday, 17 May 2009, 16:51 GMT]
Sinhala mob carrying the Lion Flag of Sri Lanka, and shouting 'jeyawewa' (victory), menacingly hover around the Tamil suburbs in Colombo such as Ko'l'lup-piddi, Ve'l'la-vaththai, Bambalapiti, Dehiwela, Koddaagn-cheanai and Maddakku'li, news reports from Colombo said. Their vehicles in which they roam around, are also guarded by flag-carrying police and intelligence vehicles, the reports said. The Tamil pedestrians are humiliated and ridiculed by this gang and by the armed personnel at security points by being specifically addressed and told that their leader Pirapaharan has been captured and everything was over, the reports further said.
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