Colombo's shelling carnage of flood-hit civilians, 25 children killed

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 March 2009, 02:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intensified indiscriminate shelling on the 'safe zone' throughout Monday, continuing into Tuesday morning to the time of this reporting, killing 74 civilians and injuring more than 100, TamilNet correspondent reported from Vanni. 25 of the victims killed were children. "The inhuman shelling deliberately targeted all the areas of the 'safe zone' where civilians are already victims of flood and a mini-cyclone that hit them Monday." All lethal ammunitions such as artillery-fired cluster shells, fire-shells and Multi-Barrel Rocket Launcher (MBRL) shells were used in the SLA attack.
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SLA cut downs use of A9 route to Jaffna due to security risks

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 15:56 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had earlier announced the opening of A9 land route to Jaffna has now limited its turns of transporting soldiers to 3 days in a week due to clashes breaking along the road and security risks, SLA sources in Jaffna said. Information on the days of transport is not disclosed and the convoy of busses takes the soldiers on vacation from Palaali to Vavuniyaa and back on unannounced days, three times a week.
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LTTE breaks through SLA lines amidst casualties

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 14:53 GMT]
The Sri Lanka Army divisions surrounding Puthukkudiyiruppu face the threat of attack from behind their lines as LTTE fighters managed to break through their lines despite suffering casualties on Sunday, reports from Jaffna said quoting Sri Lankan military sources of anonymity. In the meantime, Sri Lankan defence sources in Colombo claimed recovery of more than 100 bodies of LTTE fighters. The Voice of Tigers, the official radio of the LTTE has claimed that more than 450 SLA soldiers were killed and around 1,000 injured in the first four days of the month in the clashes in Puthukkudiyiruppu alone and more than 100 SLA dead and 450 injured on Sunday.
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Shelling amidst mini-cyclone and lashing rains, thousands stranded

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 13:43 GMT]
A lashing rain that started Sunday night became a mini-cyclone Monday severely causing misery to the already suffering civilians in the 'safe zone' in Mullaiththeevu. Amidst this catastrophe they were inhumanely attacked by the Sri Lanka Army shelling in which 71 civilians were killed within the last 36 hours, reports TamilNet correspondent from Vanni. The mini-cyclone blew away the temporary tarpaulin tents and the low land adjacent to sea coast where the people were herded became heavily flooded causing at least 20,000 families stranded. A person who witnessed shell hit killings told TamilNet correspondent with frustration that he was 'unfortunate to survive'.
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'Evacuation enforced is negation of territoriality'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 10:49 GMT]
While concern is mounting up beyond limits on the plight of civilians facing sanctions and attack by Colombo, a new concern looming large about their future is the possible prodding or pressed evacuation coming from ‘strategic partners’, to see them ending up in the hands of the Sri Lankan state. The 'evacuation' move, and not protection of them in their own land, is seen as negation of the territoriality of Tamils and is understood as signalling Colombo to continue the war against Tamils, their national aspirations and against their fighting force, diaspora Tamil circles observed.
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'Belated and wanting musings from India'

[TamilNet, Monday, 09 March 2009, 08:29 GMT]
While the Establishment in New Delhi is frantic in its attempt to eliminate the liberation force of Eezham Tamils but at the same time by hook or crook insinuate itself into the Tamil masses in order to show a semblance of success before the elections, a section of Indian academics and writers come out with belated and wanting musings urging India to work for a federal solution, writes a political analyst from Colombo. "Some of them may have good intentions, but they fail to see the sharp divide and limited option – genocide or Tamileelam – created by the Indian abetted war. Whatever they now write could serve as a lead to the next government, if there will be changes, but time is over for the present Establishment to achieve anything meaningfully," the analyst says further.
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British Tamils pay tribute to ‘hero’ Varnakulasingham

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 17:46 GMT]
Ten thousand British Tamil expatriates paid tribute Saturday at the funeral of Murugathasan Varnakulasingham, 26, who self-immolated in front of the United Nations in Geneva in protest at the international inaction amid the mass killings of Tamils by the Sri Lankan military. "This man died not for himself but for us," the British Tamil Councillors and Associates group said, according to a BBC report. Mr Varnakulasingham’s family have said they were proud of his actions.
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Heavy fighting reported in Vanni

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 16:19 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) launched heavy artillery barrage and mortar fire Saturday midnight on Sri Lanka Amy (SLA) soldiers of its 55th Division stationed in Chaalai, Chu’ndikku'lam and some areas of Puthukkudiyiruppu, killing and seriously injuring considerable number of soldiers, according to an SLA source in Thenmaraadchi.
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SLA arrests 12 youths in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Sunday, 08 March 2009, 11:10 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested 12 youths Sunday morning in a search operation conducted in Cheddiku’lam and Poovarasangku’lam in Vavuniyaa district. The fate of seven of the arrested youths is not known as only five of them are detained in Vavuniyaa police station, the relatives of the youths said.
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Indian High Commissioner rebuffs memorandum of Mauritian demonstrators

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 21:45 GMT]
The Indian High Commissioner in Mauritius rebuffed a memorandum of thousands of Mauritian Tamil demonstrators Friday, requesting India to stop the war against Tamils in Sri Lanka. The representatives of the demonstrators were seeking to submit the memorandum in person to the High Commissioner who is a Tamil and they had informed the High Commission of their request five days in advance. On Friday, Third Secretary Ms Menon and the Deputy High Commissioner who received them, turned down their request. Angered at the contempt, the demonstrators chose to burn the memorandum outside the High Commission. The Vice Prime Minister of Mauritius and the Justice Minister were active participants of the emotion-charged demonstration, organized by National Movement Against Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka, reports Koomaran Chetty from Mauritius.
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IDPs in Jaffna SLA detention camps require help

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:33 GMT]
Financial and relief assistance given to civilians fleeing war in Vanni and held in the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) detention camps in Jaffna district by Sri Lanka Government and Non-government organizations are inadequate, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Jaffna Hindu Maha Sabai (JHMS) has extended an appeal to the Saiva institutions and humanitarian organizations in Jaffna peninsula to donate funds to provide the additional needs of the detainees in the camps, according to a media report signed by JHMS Secretary, S. Sakthikireepan.
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Mediaperson killed in SLA shell attack

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:10 GMT]
TamilNet sadly shares the news of the killing of an independent media person Friday, in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shell attack inside the 'safe zone' in Vanni. He was long helping TamilNet’s independent Vanni correspondent and even just before his killing, he had assisted our main correspondent in covering a story. He was killed hit by an SLA shell while in his cottage in the 'safe zone'.
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SLA shoots dead Tamil woman in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 17:01 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Unit men shot and killed Friday around 8:00 p.m a Tamil woman, the mother of two children, in her house at Kaakkaachivaddai village in Vellaave’li police division in Batticaloa district. A 14-year-old Tamil girl was raped by a policeman Sunday while a Tamil woman social activist was strangled to death Monday, in Viveakaananthapuram, the neighbuoring village of Kaakkaachivaddai, where the mother of two children was shot and killed by SLA Friday night, sources in Batticaloa said. The killing being the third consecutive incident of violence perpetrated on Tamil women by Sri Lanka armed forces in Vellaave’li police division within a week has created tension and fear among the Tamils of the area.
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California Democrats seek Referendum to resolve Sri Lanka conflict

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
The Santa Clara County Democratic Party Central Committee, Thursday, passed a resolution asking "U.S. Congress and the Federal Administration to immediately persuade the government of Sri Lanka and the UN to conduct a UN monitored referendum in the Tamil region of Sri Lanka to determine if the people wish the autonomy or the complete independence." The organizers of the resolution said they will be mounting a campaign to urge other Democratic party branches in different counties to adopt similar resolutions to raise Sri Lanka as a key policy issue within the Democratic Party.
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Sri Lankan attacks kill 208 civilians within 72 hours

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 12:33 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) fired artillery-fitted cluster shells hit several IDP settlements within the 'safety zone', claiming the lives of at least 53 civilians Saturday until 3:00 p.m. Around 112 civilians sustained injuries. On Friday, 86 civilians were killed and more than 100 civilians were wounded. Dead bodies were not brought to the hospital as shelling continued. Thousands of civilians within the 'safety zone' were forced to remain inside the bunkers. 69 civilians were killed on Thursday in the indiscriminate shelling and Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombardments. More than 330 civilians have been wounded within the last 3 days.
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Toddy tapper knifed to death in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 07 March 2009, 05:42 GMT]
Residents of Punnaalaikkadduvan, located close to Valikaamam Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Front Defence Line (FDL), who found Friday morning in their village a toddy tapper seriously injured with knife cuts to his throat rushed him to Jaffna Teaching Hospital. The injured man succumbed to his wounds at the hospital, sources in Jaffna said.
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Silent prayer, fast for Vanni Tamils in Jaffna University concludes

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 14:54 GMT]
Thousands of persons including students, lecturers, faculty heads, employees and Vice-chancellor of Jaffna University took part Friday between 11:00 a.m and 12:00 a.m in final day of the silent prayer and fast conducted daily since 9 February for the sake of the suffering Tamils in Vanni due to the war waged on them by the Government of Sri Lanka.
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3 shot dead, 3 injured on Point Pedro Sea

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 13:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in Point Pedro is alleged of opening fire on civilians fleeing from Puthu Maaththa’lan in Mullaiththeevu towards Vadamaraadchi on a boat Thursday killing three and seriously injuring three including a one-year-old boy, sources in Point Pedro said. SLN handed over the arrested civilians to Point Pedro police Friday evening while the bodies of the civilians killed are kept in Point Pedro Base Hospital mortuary.
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3 SLA soldiers injured in LTTE attack in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 12:10 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) combatants launched an attack Thursday around 9:15 p.m on Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers at Kommaanththu’rai 6th mile post area in Ea’raavoor police division, injuring three of them, LTTE in Batticaloa said.
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93,877 displaced 19 years ago yet to be resettled in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 06 March 2009, 08:10 GMT]
Nearly 93,877 civilians belonging to 27,601 families displaced due to war from various parts of Jaffna peninsula 19 years ago still languish in refugee camps while most of them are living with their relatives or friends, a statistical report of Jaffna Secretariat said. 73,672 persons of 21,591 families were displaced before 31 December 2005 and 20,205 persons of 6,010 families were displaced after the A9 land route to Jaffna peninsula was closed by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in 2006, according to the report.
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