Colombo wanted to hide forced displacement of Tamils - Vithiyatharan

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 20:53 GMT]
”The real reason for my arrest was to prevent me from publishing news on the forced displacement of Tamils, its impacts and about the significance of Tamils’ representation in Western Provincial Council elections,” Nadesapillai Vithiyatharan, the Chief Editor of the Tamil daily Sudaroli, who was ‘abducted’ and later claimed as ‘arrested’ by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID), said, after being released by Colombo Magistrate Court Friday, in a media report Friday in Colombo. “I was abducted on the final day of submission of nominations to the Western Provincial Council Election, Vithiyatharan said in the report.
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Starvation: Colombo deploys the worst genocidal weapon

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 18:29 GMT]
No food shipment was sent to the safety zone after 02 April. Even the earlier supplies were pathetically inadequate. The World Food Programme (WFP) shipment that already set sailing with 1,500 MT food items and was scheduled to arrive in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal has been diverted to Jaffna in the last minute by the Colombo government, citing ‘security reasons’, civil officials inside the zone told TamilNet Saturday. People starve beyond imagination, subsisting just on fish and prawns caught amidst high risk of SLA attack and eating them semi-raw, roasted in fire, as there is no cooking oil.
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Nadesan denies UN accusation

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 17:48 GMT]
LTTE Political Head B. Nadesan on Saturday categorically denied recruitment and arming children as young as 12 to fight alongside the Tigers as alleged by news reports citing the UN Colombo Spokesman Gordon Weiss.
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Outrageous response of UN to humanitarian crisis: Diaspora scientist

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 14:33 GMT]
Children as young as 12 are forcefully recruited and given with guns to fight on the front line alongside LTTE, Guardian.co.uk reported Saturday, 9.49 GMT, citing Gordon Weiss, UN spokesman in Sri Lanka. “Whom are they guarding”, Tamil circles asked. “It is outrageous that the UN which has no means to stop Colombo’s genocide or immediately take responsibility of the captured and even reluctant to talk about the high casualty but only ‘leaks out’ figures, to raise this matter at this juncture in an imbalanced way, when Colombo is bombarding the remaining civilians in the so-called safety zone”, said Thomas Aloysius, senior scientist in Bergan, Norway. “If what the UN official says is true, it is deplorable, but aren’t they too responsible for the tragedy by their inaction in prevailing upon Colombo to stop the war. The LTTE always ask for ceasefire”, he asked.
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Sri Lanka intensifies bombardment, 'safe zone' bombed 25 times Saturday

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 09:21 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) unloaded bombs in four sorties on Saturday, intensifying bombardments in the northern and southern parts of Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal inside the safety zone. The bombers hit several locations, 4 times around 10:15 a.m., 12 times at 2:00 p.m. 4 times around 4:15 p.m. and an hour later five times, bringing to total 25, the number of times the SLAF hit targets inside the "Safe Zone" where tens of thousands of civilians have sought refuge. The attacks intensified a day after Indian diplomats visited Colombo and discussed the war with the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
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Physical capture and incarceration of people: latest ways of neo-colonialism

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 06:01 GMT]
"The pundits of political science may have to revise the connotations of the word neo-colonialism as indirect ways of imperialism only operating through economy. The experiment that is taking place with the Tamil question in the island of Sri Lanka indicates that powers of today are bold enough to orchestrate physical capture of people in brutal ways without worrying about casualty and the imprisonment of the remaining indefinitely, in order to achieve their geopolitical goals," writes a regular political commentator to TamilNet. "The manipulations at the UN, open defiance in recognizing the obvious ethnic nature of the crisis, and the outrageous statement diplomacy empty of action in saving the oppressed, but signalling Colombo’s genocide, are clear evidences for the new trends of neo-colonialism, encountered by the world of freedom-loving people," the commentator writes.
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Another carnage imminent as the two Indian mandarins return

[TamilNet, Saturday, 25 April 2009, 03:27 GMT]
In lines of precedence with Colombo, which escalates war immediately following consultations with India, another carnage is anticipated with the return of the two Indian mandarins, Menon and Narayanan, from Sri Lanka on Friday, Tamil circles in Colombo said. Earlier, on Thursday, the Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee accused the LTTE of "barbaric" attempts. Meanwhile, US State Department Friday asked the LTTE to consider surrendering to a 'third party'. Diplomatic and military preparations are set for another bout of Colombo's genocidal onslaught, observers said.
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Tamil woman arrested in Kandy

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 21:04 GMT]
A Tamil woman arrested on Wednesday in Kandy by the police in a cordon and search operation has been detained under the detention order served by the Defense Ministry for further inquiry, police said.
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Rajapaksa appoints notorious commander to head IDP resettlement

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 17:32 GMT]
Sri Lankan President and C-in-C of the armed forces Mahinda Rajapaksa on Friday appointed Chief-of-Staff of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Maj. Gen. G.A. Chandrasiri as the Competent Authority Officer in charge of resettlement of Tamils from Vanni in alleged barbed-wire 'internment camps' and 'villages' in the North. Maj. Gen. Chandrasiri was the former chief of the SLA in Jaffna, under whose command Jaffna witnessed hundreds of forced disappearances, extra-judicial killings and other human rights violations in the period from 2006 to 2008. Meanwhile, Colombo has started to seek funds to 'resettle' and 'rehabilitate' civilians who have been captured from the LTTE controlled area.
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'Ostriches can never be right'

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 11:46 GMT]
It is as obvious as one’s palm that the crisis in Sri Lanka is ethnic. It is not just a story of today or yesterday. In contemporary politics it is dated back to 1931, ever since universal suffrage was introduced, paving way for ethnic majority rule. Sinhalese historians believing in Mahavamsa may trace it back to more than 2000 years. Contemporary history of the island is nothing but an ethnic bloodbath. But in the ‘most compassionate’ Mahinda Rajapaksa’s time, it is no more ethnic but only terrorist. People say he has been successful in convincing the international community so. The recent stand taken by UN and certain countries reducing the crisis to a humanitarian issue caused by ‘terrorism’, make observers only dumb-founded. Might, may be the supreme right, but however mighty, ostriches can never be right, said, a political analyst in Colombo on Friday.
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Yaazhtheavi extension to Thaa'ndikku'lam cancelled last minute

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 11:45 GMT]
The extension of Yaazhtheavi express train from Vavuniyaa to Thaa'ndikku'lam with effect from Thursday was cancelled last minute due to security reasons. Sri Lanka Railways inaugural event was arranged by the Transport Minister Mr. Dallas Alahaperuma. Thaandikku'lam is located about 3 km north of Vavuniyaa. Yaazhtheavi currently runs between Colombo and Vavuniyaa.
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Colombo uses starvation, denial of medicine as weapons of war: LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 11:26 GMT]
The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) has been systematically limiting, delaying and blocking humanitarian supplies to the civilian population of Vanni committing a serious crime of war said a statement issued by the Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Friday. Questioning why the International Community has failed to demand the Sri Lankan government to allow humanitarian supplies reaching the civilians of Vanni, the LTTE statement issued in Tamil said it was condemning Colombo in strongest terms for using starvation as a weapon of war against civilians and for violating the Geneva Conventions.
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Vithiyatharan released

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 09:38 GMT]
The Chief Editor of the Tamil daily Sudaroli, Nadesapillai Vithiyatharan, who was 'abducted' and later claimed as 'arrested' by the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Divison on February 26, was released Friday by the Colombo Magistrate Court after the charges against him were dropped.
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Civilian casualties top 20,000 in Vanni: Leaked UN document

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 09:31 GMT]
A new document originating from the UN and circulated among the diplomatic missions in Colombo this week has put the figures of the civilians killed in Vanni since January as at least 6,432 and 13,946 wounded, according to a news report by the Associated Press Friday. "The casualties were reported as 'verified data' in the document," the AP said. The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) has been firing thousands of artillery and mortar shells, including internationally banned cluster munitions and chemical warheads, into the so-called no-fire zone or 'safety zone' killing and maiming thousands of Tamil civilians, constituting a grave war crime and crime against humanity.
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'Bountiful in killing shells, but no means for food packets'

[TamilNet, Friday, 24 April 2009, 00:37 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which was able to fire thousands of shells per day into the so-called safety zone to capture the civilians, doesn't have enough means to feed them when they are captured, said a District Secretariat official in Vavuniyaa. The SLA, which is still keeping the civilians inside the militarized zone, north of Oamanthai, for its screening, has asked the Tamil people of Vavuniyaa through loudspeaker announcements, to donate cooked-food packets to supply the captured civilians, the official speaking in condition of anonymity told TamilNet Thursday. So far, no civil official is able to confirm the arrival of the new batch of civilians into the internment camps of Vavuniyaa town this week.
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Deliberations to get UN approval for Tamil genocide

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 13:59 GMT]
Statement diplomacy and behind the screen deliberations of Colombo, India, and the International Community are heading for tacit UN approval for the Tamil genocide in the island of Sri Lanka, news reports indicate. The stand taken by the UN Security Council, and also echoed by the US state department Wednesday, welcoming the capture and detention of tens of thousands of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lanka Army is the first step of direct approval for the genocide, Tamil circles said. All this time they were indirectly approving the killing of civilians by shelling and starvation to lead to their capture. By twisting the ethnic-oriented humanitarian situation as an issue of ‘terrorism’, the UN is approving the genocide, the Tamil circles said.
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Demonising Tamil struggle without citing solutions

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 April 2009, 11:40 GMT]
What the Sinhala government is now trying to do to the Tamil people is nothing new. Exactly the same thing was done in Vietnam by the US army, writes Indian journalist T.G. Jacob from Kerala. “Sri Lankan Tamil refugees are there all over Europe and their number in India is growing. All these factors make the situation even more highly volatile, which in all possibility will create new polarizations. The short term military defeat of LTTE cannot at all prevent the Tamil issue from becoming an international one and change to guerilla war within the island. That is why the Sri Lankan political leadership is talking of ‘protected’ villages. Actually this is exactly what is happening now. The Sri Lankan government through all its barbarity and outrageous double talk is immensely facilitating this process”, he writes.
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India unhappy of civilian killings, sees LTTE as "barbaric"

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 19:58 GMT]
A special meeting on the situation in Sri Lanka was convened at the residence of Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi Wednesday night. At the end of the urgent meeting Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee was quoted by the Press Trust of India as saying: "We are very unhappy at the continued killing of innocent Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. These killings must stop." PTI also reported citing Mr. Pranab Mukherje that India asked LTTE to stop "barbaric" attempt to hold civilians hostage.
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Major part of civilians seek refuge with LTTE, while US, India deliberate

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 17:55 GMT]
Contrary to Colombo’s propaganda, major part of the civilians who escaped capture by Sri Lanka Army are moving towards the LTTE side from Valaignar Madam to Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, in large numbers, Tiger officials told TamilNet Wednesday. LTTE’s Political Division official C. Ilamparithi said almost 200,000 civilians are still in the LTTE area. Meanwhile, Indian Prime Minister has convened an emergency meeting of ministers and officials to discuss Sri Lankan situation, BBC reported Wednesday. Same day, the US government has urged Colombo to allow international observers to the battlefront and UN access to all points of civilian movement, said a State Department spokesman in a press conference. Unless there are significant changes and swift action from the side of the US, positive developments can hardly take place, Tamil circles commented.
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Nambiar reluctant to brief UN Security Council on Sri Lanka humanitarian situation

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 22 April 2009, 11:08 GMT]
Ban Ki-moon's chief of staff, Vijay Nambiar, who was sent to Sri Lanka as the United Nations envoy to report on the humanitarian catastrophe unfolding in the beaches of Mullaiththeevu has expressed reluctance to have "even a closed door briefing" on the crisis, Inner City Press reported Tuesday. Nambiar's refusal to brief is likely have been influenced by Indian officials during Nambiar's stop-over in India after his three day visit to Sri Lanka, political sources in Colombo said.
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