22 Tamils arrested in Colombo, BMICH declared HSZ

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 16:50 GMT]
More than twenty Tamil civilians were arrested in cordon and search operations conducted by the police and armed forces in several parts of Colombo since Friday, in preparation to the Independence Day celebration that falls on February 4. About five thousand police personnel drawn from outstations, have been deployed in the Colombo city to step up security. All vehicles entering the Colombo city are stopped and checked by the police, police sources said.
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Expressing concern is not enough, countries should intervene - CJPCD Jaffna

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 14:53 GMT]
“Mere expression of concern by the countries of the world is not enough; immediate intervention to urge Sri Lanka government to stop its killing and maiming of the innocent Tamils in Vanni is the need of the hour,” the Commission for Justice and Peace of Catholic Diocese (CJPCD) said in its message released at the end of the fifth day hunger strike in protest against the continuing Sri Lanka government’s artillery barrage and aerial strikes on the Tamils in Vanni, sources in Jaffna said.
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Sri Lanka warns interfering Westerners

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 14:47 GMT]
Sri Lanka’s hardline government warned Sunday that Western ambassadors, news agencies and INGOs of "dire consequences" if they attempt to give the LTTE a second breath of life. "They will be chased away (if they try) to give a second wind to the LTTE terrorists at a time the security forces, at heavy cost, are dealing them the final death blow," Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa told The Sunday Island.
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'Tigers in pitched battle against genocidal military' - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 01 February 2009, 13:48 GMT]
"The defensive formations of the Liberation Tigers are courageously facing the Sri Lanka Army, which has been engaged by Colombo in a genocidal war against Tamils," said S. Puleedevan from LTTE's Political office in Vanni Sunday evening. The offensive units of the SLA had massed near Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) in full strength, with tanks and all preparedness in their hurry to capture PTK in the next one or two days, but are now pushed back beyond their forward lines, he said. The fighting, which began in the early hours of Sunday was still continuing.
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British Tamils stage largest ever march protesting genocide, mandating Tamil Eelam

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 21:50 GMT]
More than one hundred thousand British Tamils marched through central London Saturday condemning Sri Lanka’s war against their people and calling for an independent Tamil Eelam. The unprecedented response on one of the coldest days this year turned out to be the largest ever gathering of the British Tamil community. It seems almost half of the Eezham Tamil community in Britain joined the march Saturday. While the turnout reflected the anger and outrage over the genocide committed on Tamils by Colombo and its international abettors, significant focus of the march was the demand for the recognition of Eezham Tamil sovereignty in the island of Sri Lanka. It was actually a mandate, the organizers said.
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Tamil activists besiege Tanjore Air Force base

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 13:44 GMT]
More than a 1000 Tamil activists belonging to various political organizations and social movements laid siege to the Tanjore Air Force base Saturday morning violating prohibitive orders. The activists led by Periyar Dravidar Kazhagam President Kolathur T.S.Mani and Thamil Desiya Pothuvudamai Katchi (Tamil National Communist Party) General Secretary P. Maniarasan were protesting against the air-force base at Thanjavur being used by the Indian Army to supply lethal and non-lethal weaponry to Sri Lanka in its genocidal war on the Tamils.
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Only 26 respond to Rajapaksa's 48-hour ultimatum

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 12:11 GMT]
In the last 48-hours, only 26 civilians have crossed through Oamanthai into Sri Lankan government controlled area, District Secretariat sources in Vavuniyaa said Saturday evening. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan military sources put the number of civilians who crossed Oamanthai at 65. In the meantime, the representatives of the Internally Displaced People in Vanni have expressed fear that many hundreds of civilians are going to perish within the next few hours as a Sri Lankan military official in Colombo said the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) would go on an "all out operation" to "eliminate the remaining Tigers" after the lapse of 48-hour ultimatum.
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'UN subtly abets Colombo's genocide' - MP

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 10:28 GMT]
The United Nations, which has not asserted its international authority and responsibility with the Colombo government in directly taking charge of the affected civilians of Vanni, has no moral or humanitarian grounds to urge the civilians to submit themselves against their will into the hands of those who commit genocide on them, said Batticaloa parliamentarian S. Jeyananthamoorthy on Saturday. "Hitherto, the UN and the International Community have only demonstrated their miserable failure in making the Colombo government to observe human rights. What is their guarantee now for the security and dignity of civilians, other than untrustworthy assurance of Mahinda Rajapaksa," asked the MP who charged the UN for playing in the hands of a genocidal government.
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Umbrella front announces February 4 statewide bandh in Tamil Nadu

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 09:34 GMT]
Demanding a permanent ceasefire in Sri Lanka and the withdrawal of all Indian military aid to Colombo, leaders of the umbrella front in Tamil Nadu, Ilangkaith Thamizhar Paathukaappu Pearavai, which was recently formed to protect the Eezham Tamils, announced Saturday that they would mark the Sri Lankan Independence Day on February 4 as a day of protest. A state-wide bandh and a black-flag procession have been announced.
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SLA shelling continues on 'safety zone', Colombo refuses international call for ceasefire

[TamilNet, Saturday, 31 January 2009, 08:37 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) continued artillery shelling Saturday on civilian targets in Chuthanthirapuram. Eight wounded civilians have been rushed to Udaiyaarkaddu hospital and a mother has succumbed to injuries, according to initial reports from the medical sources. The shelling continues as Colombo refused International call for ceasefire. On Friday, the shelling destroyed Vanni head office of the Human Development Centre (HUDEC) of Caritas Jaffna, the social arm of the Catholic Church in the Jaffna Diocese.
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Train service to Vavuniyaa suspended until further notice

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 23:20 GMT]
Passenger train service between Colombo and Vavuniyaa has been suspended from Thursday until further notice as a security measure. The service will be run upto Madawachchi, Railway Department said.
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Tamils held in prisonlike SLA detention centres - CJPCD

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 16:23 GMT]
“Considering the plight of the 2000 Tamils who had fled war and are detained in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention centres, a justifiable fear arises as to what would happen to those who come to these detention centres which are like prisons; youths detained in these centres are said to have gone missing,” Commission for Justice and Peace of the Catholic Diocese of Jaffna (CJPCD) said in its appeal sent on its third day of the protest fast observed in Jaffna, against the killing of Tamils in the Vanni, sources in Jaffna said.
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'Vision' of a Sinhala sociologist

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 13:22 GMT]
"This victory should not be lost in the peace. [….] The mono-ethnic nature of the North should be dismantled. [….] 'Defence Colonies' defence settlements should be established all over the North. Retired husband and wife ex-employees of the armed forces should be settled in such strategic settlements. Like in mainland China, and earlier in Korea, Armed Forces owned industries should be established in these areas for both defence and civilian production. Our forces should be further strengthened to deter any future attempts,” writes engineer turned Sinhala sociologist Dr. Susanta Goonatilake in Sunday Times, dated, January 18. His article is a specimen to understand the vision of a section of Sinhala elite on the political process to follow Colombo’s victory.
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Nadesan regrets misinformation of Colombo UN office

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 12:54 GMT]
A 'security officer' of UN Colombo office, who was only pressing for the transfer of the families of local UN staff, didn't cooperate with the ICRC causing the delay in the transfer of wounded civilians from Vanni. The altercation led to the misinformation by the UN staff of Colombo office that the LTTE initially refused permission for the transfer of civilian patients, LTTE Poltical Head B. Nadesan told TamilNet Friday when he was contacted on the allegation appeared in a section of international media to the extent that LTTE committed a war crime.
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Only international-sponsored ceasefire can lead to the end of conflict - LTTE

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 09:14 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) Political Head B. Nadesan Friday blamed Colombo for stepped up genocidal artillery attacks on civilian targets Friday after committing a war crime of issuing ultimatum to civilians to move against their will into the hands of the genocidal military. Most of the civilians are continuously forced to live inside the bunkers and civilian casualties were mounting in Udaiyaarkaddu, Thearaavil and other areas, Mr. Nadesan charged. Only a permanent ceasefire mooted by the International Community and negotiations followed by it would resolve the conflict as envisaged by the Tamil people and the LTTE, Mr. Nadesan said.
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India's devastating 'play with fire' in the island of Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 07:11 GMT]
The Indian game that doesn't enjoy any popular support from any quarter concerned, can only be autocratic and will prove to be devastative to the entire island. The present Indian Establishment is incapable of doing anything constructively new, other than destroying Tamil safeguards. India is not only heading for maintaining perpetual trouble in Sri Lanka, but also is inviting turmoil to a part of its own country. The Co-chair countries need to immediately neutralize the disastrous Indian adventure that is totally bereft of public support, by stopping the war, by not insisting on a solution based on a united Sri Lanka and by de-proscribing the LTTE, which is looked upon as the vanguard by most of the Eezham Tamils, writes a political analyst in Vanni.
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4 Indian military experts wounded in Vanni

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 07:01 GMT]
Four Indian military experts, assisting the Sri Lankan military, were wounded this week in Vanni and are undergoing treatment in Colombo, reliable sources told TamilNet Friday. The story, first broke by the Australia based Global Tamil Vision (GTV) on Thursday, had said the wounded were Indian soldiers who were undergoing treatment at a military hospital in Colombo. Although TamilNet was able to confirm through reliable sources on Friday that there are at least 4 Indian military experts undergoing treatment, specific details were not obtainable due to the prevailing threat on the right to know information in the island.
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Tamil family man reported missing in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 30 January 2009, 06:58 GMT]
A Tamil family man from Kimbulawela in Colombo is reported missing since 16 January on his way home after leaving his video rental shop around 8:30 p.m, according to a complaint lodged with Mukaththuvaaram police by his father.
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British Foreign Office calls for 'Humanitarian Ceasefire'

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2009, 17:24 GMT]
The British Foreign Secretary David Miliband on Thursday urged the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) to agree on immediate 'Humanitarian Ceasefire'. Mr. Miliband said in his statement that "military advances by the Sri Lankan Government against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have come at a severe humanitarian cost." Humanitarian corridors must now be set up and respected by both sides so that civilians have the opportunity to move away from the conflict area and humanitarian assistance can be safely delivered, he said.
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Pull back Indian military help to Lanka: Thirumavalavan

[TamilNet, Thursday, 29 January 2009, 16:06 GMT]
Taking part in a students' demonstration of the Murpokku Maanavar Kazhagam (Progressive Students Organization) held opposite Memorial Hall in Chennai Thursday, VCK President Thol. Thirumavalavan demanded the Indian Government to immediately take back all military help extended to Sri Lanka and blamed New Delhi for supplying sophisticated weaponry to exterminate the Tamil people in Vanni.
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