Maddakka'lappu / Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
The muddy lagoon / backwaters
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Socialist Resistance voices for Eezham Tamils

[TamilNet, Thursday, 19 March 2009, 02:17 GMT]
“The socialist and labour movement stand against repression and genocide. We stand in solidarity with the Tamil people in the face of its suffering at the hands of the Sri Lankan government”, said Duncan Chapel, member of the Socialist Resistance steering committee, Tuesday, greeting 25,000 strong Tamil demonstration outside of the European Commission. Supporting the demands for sending food and medicine, withdrawal of Sri Lanka military from Tamil homeland and lifting the ban on LTTE, “the legalization of the LTTE has to be the first step towards Tamil peace, freedom and self-determination”, he said.
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Uthayn editor Vithiyatharan detained for 3 more months

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 19:12 GMT]
Colombo Pettah Court majistrate, Jegan Balapitiya, extended Wednesday the detention period of Uthayan editor Vithiyatharan for 3 more months when he was produced before him by Prevention of Crime Branch police, sources in Colombo said. The police requested the court for the extension of detention of Vithiyatharan on the directions of Gothabaya Rajapakse, Defence Secretary and the brother of President Rajapakse, the sources added.
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UN withheld civilian casualty figures to protect Sri Lankan state - report

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Publishing two leaked documents by the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN, in an exclusive report on Wednesday revealed that the United Nations office had its own estimates of casualty figures. The UN had internal documentation for 9,924 civilian casualties including 2,683 killings and 7,241 injuries since 20 January to 07 March 2009. "Now it appears that unlike in other conflicts from Darfur to Gaza, the UN withheld the Sri Lanka figures, in effect protecting the Sri Lankan government from criticism," the Inner City Press reported Wednesday. The report comes as the Sri Lankan government was trying to discredit TamilNet figures, fearing that the UN-referred casualty figures were based on TamilNet coverage.
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India’s help significant in defeating Tigers - Sri Lanka minister

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 18 March 2009, 09:28 GMT]
Nimal Sripala de Silva, a cabinet minister in Sri Lanka parliament, said that India’s great assistance helped Sri Lanka Army (SLA) to defeat the Liberation Tigers and that the people of Sri Lanka should be grateful to India, while responding to the strong accusation against allowing Indian Medical team into Sri Lanka by Anurakumara Tissanayake, the parliamentary group leader of Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) party, during the proceedings of the House of Representatives when it met Tuesday around 9:30, sources in Colombo said.
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23 Tamils arrested in Wellawatte

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 22:41 GMT]
The Bambalapitya Police in cordon and search operations conducted in Wellawatte in Colombo on Sunday night arrested 23 Tamil civilians, majority of them are residents of North, East and Central provinces. They had been staying in lodges and with their relatives at that time of arrest, police said.
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Rally in New York urges UN, US to intervene to stop genocide

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 19:23 GMT]
More than 200 expatriate Tamils protested in front of the Office of the United States Mission to the United Nations Monday, urging the United States and United Nations stop Sri Lanka military from firing into the ‘safe zone’ on the Tamil civilians. Demonstrators shouted slogans calling upon US Ambassador to the United Nations, Dr. Susan Rice, to ensure that refugees fleeing the war zone are given shelter and basic facilities, and not confined to internment camps without any freedom to lead a normal life.
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604 SLA killed in 3 days - LTTE media

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 17:53 GMT]
The Voice of Tigers, the radio broadcast of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in its evening broadcast on Tuesday said that 604 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed in heavy fighting in Puthukkudiyiruppu. Several hundred soldiers were wounded in the fighting, according to the VoT.
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'Safe zone' under encircling fire, 137 killed in 3 days, ICRC worker wounded

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 12:48 GMT]
137 people have died and more than 200 injured since Saturday night in Sri Lanka Army shelling and gunfire inside the 'safe zone' of Vanni. At least 18 of them have died hit by long-range gunfire coming from SLA attacking the civilian zone. Meanwhile, massive bunker buster bombs numbering around 50 dropped by the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) on the fringes of the 'safe zone' on Tuesday caused untold panic among the civilians.
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ICRC transports 440 wounded to Indian military hospital in Pulmoaddai

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 11:18 GMT]
The makeshift-hospital in Puthumaaththa'lan on Monday said 440 patients were taken on board in the ICRC ship "Green Ocean." Meanwhile, sources in Colombo said the ICRC was instructed to transport the patients to the hospital run by Indian paramedics in Pulmoaddai. In the meantime, doctors at the hospital who were on duty on Monday were not able to treat patients as the no medicines at the hospital. A shipment of humanitarian supplies was expected on Tuesday, the officials in Vanni told TamilNet Monday.
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North, East residents in Colombo asked again to register with police

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 March 2009, 06:39 GMT]
Sri Lanka Police issued an ultimatum Monday to all residents of North and East provinces currently staying in Colombo district without registering their particulars at their local police stations, to do so before Tuesday. They would be charged in court if they fail to do so before the deadline, according to Police Spokesman, Ranjit Gunasekara.
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Cruelty of disinformation

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 14:29 GMT]
TamilNet Sunday published news and photographs on the plight of pregnant mothers, newborn babies and babies in the wombs affected by the inhuman shelling and bombing by the Colombo government on the 'safe zone' declared for civilians. This information on hard truth has stirred Colombo's disinformation agencies to discredit TamilNet by bringing in trivial matters such as the camera time-settings of the photographs taken in the makeshift-hospital.
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5 Tamil youths arrested in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 16 March 2009, 06:32 GMT]
Sri Lanka police took into custody Monday five Tamil youths who were walking along the streets in Colombo Fort and Petta areas, relatives of the youths said. Many Tamils on the streets were checked and interrogated by the police who also checked their vehicles, in this operation.
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Gotabaya comments on "media freedom"

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 13:30 GMT]
"Mentioning the editor's [Vidyadaran's] name provoked a surprising response," says Amos Roberts, reporter for Australia's Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) program Dateline, in his 25 minute report from Sri Lanka, referring to the spontaneous display of anger by Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse who had ordered Vidyadaran's arrest and accused Vidyadaran of "terrorism" saying, "he is involved in recent air attacks and I am telling you if you try to give coverup for that person you have blood in your hands [...] I am telling you he is a terrorist. He is responsible for co-ordinating air-attacks in Colombo." Gotabaya Rajapakse is a citizen of the United States.
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Nadesan urges UN to investigate Colombo's War Crimes

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 08:19 GMT]
B. Nadesan, the political head of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Sunday said the Tigers had "plenty of evidences" to document that the Sri Lankan government of Mahinda Rajapaksa was "intentionally directing attacks against civilians," committing war crimes and crimes against humanity when asked to comment on the recent statement issued by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The UN High Commissioner had warned that the actions by the warring parties could amount to war crimes.
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Civilian casualties mount as intense bombing and shelling continues

[TamilNet, Sunday, 15 March 2009, 01:45 GMT]
69 civilians were killed, including 19 children, and scores wounded within the safe zone in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardments Saturday in Mullaiththeevu. The SLAF bombers have been attacking the zone continuously for the 5th day, despite the call from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Friday to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa that the SLA "should not fire into the civilian areas of the conflict zone."
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Ask people their choice - LTTE

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 18:04 GMT]
Have those who advocate evacuation ever cared to ask the concerned civilians whether they want to leave? What will they do if people refuse evacuation? Will they allow them to be killed, asked Yogaratnam Yogi, LTTE military advisor in Vanni in a speech given by him to the LTTE broadcast, Voice of Tigers, Thursday. Why are the governments reluctant to ask our people whether they want to live under the Sri Lanka government or under their own government? They don’t ask because they know the answer. Our request to the world is to pose this question to the people and make decisions rather than attempting through murder and denial of food, in the belief of forcing the people to accept the Sri Lankan regime, Yogi said.
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Colombo-Vavuniyaa train service stops with Madawachchi

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 14:13 GMT]
Vavuniyaa bound Yaazh Theavi (Yarl Devi) train service from Colombo has been curtailed up to Madawachchi due to 'security reasons' with effect from Thursday until further notice, media reports said. Railway Department, however, has not given the reason for the suspension of service, according to media reports.
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"Terrorists" likely perpetrated attacks on journalists, says Sri Lanka's Ambassador

[TamilNet, Saturday, 14 March 2009, 11:08 GMT]
In a meeting with a officials of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), a New York-based media watchdog, Jaliya Wickramasuriya, Sri Lanka's Ambassador to the U.S. in responding to CPJ's accusation that "[t]here has been impunity for those who attack journalists in Sri Lanka, and there have been attempts to intimidate and silence critics of the government," denied there was any crisis of press freedom in Sri Lanka, and asserted that Sri Lanka's "image has been distorted. It has been called a place of violence, a place where journalists are threatened. But this image is not accurate," and added that "attacks on journalists may have been perpetrated by "terrorists" seeking to embarrass the government."
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UN lopsided in calling for evacuation - TNA MP

[TamilNet, Friday, 13 March 2009, 17:21 GMT]
Calling for the evacuation of civilians and making them to end up in the hands of their killers, is taking side with one of the parties to the conflict and amounts to another one of the war crimes, perhaps the most serious one of them when comes from a world body of human rights, said Jaffna MP, Kajendran, responding to a statement from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Friday. The High Commissioner, Ms. Navi Pillai called on both the Sri Lankan Government and the LTTE to immediately suspend hostilities in order to allow the evacuation of the entire civilian population by land or sea, a press release from the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) said. She didn’t say anything on where should they be evacuated or on who would be responsible for them thereafter.
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