ரோஸ்

[The week]
10 May 2009

India helping Lanka militarily
http://tinyurl.com/cjn59j
EXCLUSIVEINTERVIEW/B. NADESAN, LTTE POLITICAL HEAD
By Kavitha Muralidharan

The LTTE is left with only a few leaders to hold fort in the face of
the ongoing Sri Lankan military assault. B. Nadesan is one of them. A
close aide of LTTE chief V. Prabhakaran, he became head of the
outfit's political wing after his predecessor Tamilchelvan was killed
by the Sri Lankan military in November 2007. Nadesan claims to be in
Mullaitivu in Sri Lanka. Excerpts from an interview with him:

How would you describe the current situation? LTTE seems to be facing
defeat.
Militarily weakening the LTTE with the help of some great powers
around the globe is not going to bring peace and stability to this
island. Our liberation struggle will continue until the political
aspirations of our people are met. Right now, Eelam Tamils are amid an
accelerated genocidal war of the Sri Lankan state. This is also a
continuation of the various forms of years-long uprooting of Tamils
from their homeland.

Media reports suggest Prabhakaran is suffering from 'mental illness'
and that his son Charles Antony has been injured in the war. It is
also reported that LTTE's senior leaders have been killed in the war.
Are they true?
This war is being fought at different levels. Sections of the media
play a major role in silencing the humanitarian concerns the people of
India has for Tamils of Eelam. News from the battlefront, too, is
carried giving credibility to all sorts of rumours that begin at the
Sri Lanka Army websites about our leader Prabhakaran and Charles
Antony.

Full text is at
http://week.manoramaonline.com/cgi-bin/MMOnline.dll/portal/ep/theWeekContent.do?BV_ID=@@@&contentType=EDITORIAL&sectionName=TheWeek%20COVER%20STORY&programId=1073755753&contentId=5431452
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[BBC]
13:12 GMT, Saturday, 2 May 2009 14:12 UK

Hospital 'hit by Sri Lankan army'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8030605.stm
The Sri Lankan army has killed 91 people at a makeshift hospital
inside a civilian safe zone in the last two days, two doctors have
told the BBC.

The doctors said bombardments from the army had killed 64 people on
Saturday, including patients, their relatives and bystanders in
Mullivaikal.

About 87 people were injured. Another 27 people reportedly died on
Friday.

The army has denied bombing the hospital, saying that Tamil Tiger
rebels carried out suicide attacks.

A spokesman for the Sri Lankan army said that although soldiers had
heard explosions in the area, they had not fired any shells.

The army had not used heavy weapons for some days, he said, since the
government announced on Monday that it was halting its use of heavy
weapons in the conflict zone.

Full Text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8030605.stm

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[The New York Times]

Sri Lanka Accused of Shelling Hospital
Published: May 2, 2009
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/world/asia/03lanka.html?ref=global-home

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Artillery strikes on a field hospital killed 64
people and wounded 87 on Friday and Saturday, according to a report on
a pro-rebel Web site that accused the government of the shelling. The
government immediately dismissed the report, and said several loud
blasts heard by soldiers in the area could have been rebels
mishandling explosives.

The government has barred journalists and most aid workers from the
conflict area, and independent verification of either report was not
possible.

Such charges and countercharges have accompanied the 25-year conflict
between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam; each side has been accused of endangering and killing civilians
in battle.

But now, with the government forces saying victory over the rebels is
in sight, international concerns over civilian casualties have
increased.

full text is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/03/world/asia/03lanka.html?ref=global-home

[Al Jazeera]

Sri Lanka denies shelling hospital
Saturday, May 02, 2009
19:46 Mecca time, 16:46 GMT
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952154223320669.html
Sri Lanka's military has denied that it shelled a makeshift hospital
in a Tamil Tiger-held conflict zone in the northeast of the country,
in which a hospital official said at least 67 people died.

Unconfirmed reports by TamilNet, a pro-Tamil website, said that the
hospital was hit by artillery shells fired by government forces on
Saturday.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, Sri Lanka's military spokesman, said that
the claims were the latest in a series of "exaggerated stories" by
those sympathetic to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

"There is no shelling taking place; we have never shelled this place
and it happened in an area where the LTTE [are in control]," he told
Al Jazeera.

"They must take the full responsibility for the people who were killed
or injured."

Full Text is at
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/200952154223320669.html
----
[Canadian Broadcasting Corporation]
64 dead in Sri Lanka after shelling of makeshift hospital: reports
Army denies accusations, suggests rebel misfire
Saturday, May 2, 2009 | 1:02 PM ET
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/02/sri-lanka-hospital495.html
Sri Lankan forces fired artillery shells into rebel-held territory and
hit a makeshift hospital on Saturday, killing 64 civilians, according
to government officials in the region and a Tamil-linked website.

Two shells hit the medical centre Saturday morning, Tamilnet.com
reported, killing 23 and wounding 34. Later that morning, several more
shells were fired at the hospital, killing 41 and injuring 53,
according to the website.

Full Text is at
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2009/05/02/sri-lanka-hospital495.html

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[The Gazette]
The tragedy of Sri Lanka

"Why does no one care?" Denesta Davidlambert speaks in a soft singsong
as her delicate fingers busily assemble brochures at a community
centre for South Asian women.

By MARIAN SCOTT, The GazetteMay 2, 2009 8:46 AM
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/tragedy+Lanka/1556702/story.html
The petite Sri Lankan refugee's voice is gentle, but her words unveil
a world of suffering and brutality.

Davidlambert, 37, came to Montreal four years ago from Trincomalee, a
port on Sri Lanka's east coast.

Travel guides extol the city's white beaches and deep-water harbour,
which has attracted seafarers like Marco Polo since ancient times.

But the images seared into Davidlambert's memory are far less
picturesque.

She sees the faces of her two brothers, Anton, 21, and George, 16,
abducted 19 years ago by government soldiers.

"We are Catholic and Tamil," she says, carefully threading red ribbon
through printed sheets of loose leaf paper.

full text is at
http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/tragedy+Lanka/1556702/story.html
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[Newsweek]
SRI LANKA
How To Keep The Peace
By Jeremy Kahn | NEWSWEEK
Published May 2, 2009
From the magazine issue dated May 18, 2009
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195730
As Sri Lanka's military all but vanquished the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last month, the 25-year ethnic conflict finally
seemed to be over. But unless President Mahinda Rajapaksa gives Tamils
real autonomy, it's only a matter of time before violence flares
again.

Many Tamils would be ready for a deal with Colombo. Few of them backed
the LTTE's calls for independence or its vicious tactics. But they
want greater political autonomy, as well as respect for their
religion, language and customs—and Rajapaksa is offering few
compromises. He's failed to enact promises to devolve power to the
country's provinces and has installed loyalists in Tamil areas. And
his harsh treatment of Tamils fleeing the battle—human-rights groups
say the military shelled civilians being used as shields by the LTTE
and interned refugees in camps—have only aggravated the sense of
alienation among Tamils.

Full Text is at
http://www.newsweek.com/id/195730
----
[Foreign Policy]
"Falling Down on the Job",
Gareth Evans in Foreign Policy
ForeignPolicy.com - The Argument

1 May 2009

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/01/falling_down_on_the_job

As the whole world watches the continuing calamity in Sri Lanka, with
thousands of civilians dead and tens of thousands more at risk as
government forces try to quash the last of the insurgent Tamil Tigers,
the United Nations Security Council remains mired in debates over
whether or not to even discuss the issue, with a minority of member-
states obstructing any collective action in response to the crisis, or
even an official review.

As the Sri Lankan army continues its assault on what is left of the
separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), tens of thousands
of civilians remain trapped inside a shrinking conflict zone, at risk
not only from the fighting but from starvation and lack of water and
medical attention. Despite the government's April 27 announcement that
the military had been ordered to cease using air attacks, artillery,
and other heavy weapons against remaining LTTE-held areas, such
attacks have carried on with increased intensity.

The trapped civilians are not the only ones at risk. More than 170,000
who have managed to escape the worst of the fighting remain imprisoned
in desperately overcrowded camps and medical centers. Scores are
reported to have died after fleeing the conflict zone, and the
military has been overwhelmed by the number of civilians flooding into
reception areas.

Full Text is at

http://experts.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2009/05/01/falling_down_on_the_job