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.
Full story >>

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."
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

14 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 10:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody 14 Tamil youths in a search operation conducted in Wellawathe, a suburb of Colombo city, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by the youths’ relatives. The arrested youths are from Jaffna, the police said.
Full story >>

RSF: Colombo blocking investigations into Lasantha murder

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 09:22 GMT]
Reporters sans frontiers (RSF), a Paris-based media watchdog, in a press release issued Wednesday, accused the Government of Sri Lanka authorities for "blocking investigations into the murder of Sunday Leader editor Lasantha Wickrematunga," and urged Sri Lanka's President Rajapaksa to "assign members of the criminal investigation police to the case and to formally request the help of international experts in solving the murder." Sri Lanka was ranked 165th out of 173 countries in the Reporters Without Borders 2008 press freedom index, the lowest ranking of any democratic country, the release added.
Full story >>

Abductors release TNA MP's brother Raveendran

[TamilNet, Thursday, 09 April 2009, 05:14 GMT]
Selvarajah Raveendran, a lecturer of Jaffna University and the brother of Jaffna District TNA MP S. Kajendran was released Wednesday night around 9:30 p.m. at Wellawatte in Colombo, media sources in Colombo said.
Full story >>

SLAF to fly passengers between Colombo, Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 08 April 2009, 17:45 GMT]
Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) will be operating passenger flights between Ratmalana in Colombo and Palaali military airport in Jaffna in future in place of private air travel firms which had been denied permission by the Defence Ministry to operate the service, according to an announcement made by Sri Lanka government, sources in Jaffna said. Minister of Social Services, Douglas Devananda, informed that passengers can book their travel tickets at his ministry office in Colombo and his Eelam Peoples’ Democratic Party (EPDP) office located in Srithar Theatre in Jaffna.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

'It is not the way for post-conflict ambitions,' say London protestors

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 16:33 GMT]
“The spontaneous demonstrations that are taking place in world capitals are a result of the failure of deliberations between community elders and the ruling circles of the International Community," said 17-year-old M. Kavitha who got injured in police charging during the protest in London on Tuesday. "The younger generation of the diaspora, disillusioned over the elder’s faith in the IC governments, has taken to the streets now,” she said commenting on the continued agitation taking place outside the Houses of Parliament in London since Monday by angry Eezham Tamil protestors demanding Britain to act immediately to bring in ceasefire in Sri Lanka. The protestors defied normal British procedures of getting prior permission in staging their demonstration.
Full story >>

Colombo turns firepower onto 'safety zone'

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 09:51 GMT]
Civilians inside the so-called safety zone have been forced to remain under bunkers as Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up shelling and long-distance gunfire since Monday morning. Those who move on the road have come under long-distance gunfire by the SLA. Meanwhile, Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) fighter jets were seen flying over the safety zone and carrying out air attacks. Local humanitarian activists in Vanni said that this is the last opportunity for the civilised world to uphold human values by taking immediate action of protecting the civilians from falling into the hands of an 'avowed genocidal government'.
Full story >>

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.
Full story >>

24 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 07 April 2009, 03:17 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested 24 Tamil youths Saturday and Sunday in the suburbs of Colombo city, according to complaints made to Deputy Minister P. Rathakrishnan by the youths’ relatives. Meanwhile, security measures in Colombo have been strengthened on the assumption that Liberation Tigers may launch attacks in Colombo during the forth coming New Year celebrations, police spokesman Ranjith Gunasekara said.
Full story >>

Jaffna youth reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 April 2009, 15:31 GMT]
A Tamil youth returning from an Arab country had gone missing since 20 February in front of Fort Railway Station as he was about to travel to Trincomalee to board the ship to Jaffna from Trincomalee harbour, according to a complaint made to Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office by his wife.
Full story >>

Expo flight to Jaffna from Colombo cancelled

[TamilNet, Monday, 06 April 2009, 10:35 GMT]
The second flight of Expo Travels to Jaffna from Ratmalana in Colombo Monday has been suddenly cancelled for reasons not known, sources in Colombo said. Jaffna bound passengers travelling from Expo Travels office on Colombo Vivekananda Road to Ratmalana airport had to return to their homes disappointed, the sources added.
Full story >>

Tamil woman abducted in Wattala

[TamilNet, Sunday, 05 April 2009, 14:49 GMT]
A 26 year-old married Tamil woman was abducted Thursday afternoon in Mabola area, Wattala in Colombo district by a group of unidentified men who came in a three-wheeler while she was having a conversation with her co-employees at a bus halt, according to the complaint lodged by her husband S.Thevamanoharan with the Wattala police on Friday.
Full story >>

Sinhalese mob attacks Tamil demonstrators in Melbourne

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 April 2009, 14:55 GMT]
A group of around 50 Sinhala expatriates, some of them allegedly inebriated, attacked a car-rally demonstration organised by the Eezham Tamil diaspora in Melbourne Saturday noon protesting genocide of their kith and kin in the island of Sri Lanka and demanding immediate end of the war waged by Colombo government. A few Eezham Tamils were injured and their cars were damaged in the attack. One of the attackers also reportedly got injured in the melee.
Full story >>

Muslim youth abducted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Saturday, 04 April 2009, 09:50 GMT]
A 27 year-old Muslim youth, a three-wheeler driver by profession, was abducted in Colombo Thursday morning by a group of men who followed his three-wheeler in a white van, according to the complaint lodged by his pregnant wife with the police and human rights groups in Colombo. One of the abductors had accomapnied the Muslim youth in the three-wheeler when the others in the white van abducted him.
Full story >>

Sirasa TV reporter assaulted in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 2009, 15:22 GMT]
Unidentified persons assaulted Maharajah Organization Ltd. Sirasa TV reporter Susantha Abeyaratne Friday morning, according to complaints lodged with Kiribathgoda police. Managing Director of Maharajah Organization Ltd. said that Susantha Abeyaratne was attacked when he went to cover a protest relating to an incident in a school.
Full story >>

Mullai RDHS denies reports of suspension

[TamilNet, Friday, 03 April 2009, 11:57 GMT]
Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) for Mullaiththeevu district, Dr. Thurairaja Varadaraja categorically denied the stories filed in a number of websites stating that he has been suspended from services by the health ministry in Colombo.
Full story >>