ரோஸ்

யாருக்கு மாப்பிள்ளை யாரோ? அவர் எங்கே பொறந்திருக்காரோ?

2010-07-10T12:27:00.000-07:00

வவுத்தெரிச்சலை எப்படியெல்லாம் தீத்துக்கிறாங்கோ!!

செம்மழி மாடுநாடு: இணை மாடுநாடு:இலசவ அனுமதி

2010-06-05T06:23:00.000-07:00

செம்மழி மாடுநாடு: இணை மாடுநாடு:இலசவ அனுமதி
கௌரவ டாக்டரு, தமிழரிஞரு பட்டம், குஞ்சம், வால்களுக்கும் இலவசவிடுமுறைப்பயணச்சீட்டுகளுக்கும் இன்றே நாடுக
"சாதா-ரண மகாநாடு என்று கேட்டு வாங்காதீர்கள்; இணையமகாநாடு என்று கேட்டுவாங்குங்கள்.
கிடைக்குமிடங்கள்: UNFITT Stalls & Branches"

தமிழிலே ஒழுங்காக டைப்பூ அடிக்கத்தெரியாத குடும்பபிச்சிநேச்சை வளக்கத் துடிக்கும் பிச்சிநேச்சுமான் மரை மாடெல்லாம் தமிழ் எழுத்துக்குத் தலைவன்யா.

இந்தியத்திரைப்படவிழாவினை ஓராண்டுக் கொலையின் வெற்றிவிழாவாக இராஜபக்ச அரசு நடத்திக் களிக்கிறது. தமிழ்நாடு அரசும் அதனிடம் தனிப்பட்ட சலூகைகள் பெற நினைக்கும் கம்பியூட்டர்வியாபாரமண்டிகளும் விருதுகள் பெற அலையும் தமிழறியாதஞர்களும் தமிழ்நாட்டிலே ஈழத்தமிழர்களின் ஓராண்டு மடிவினையும் முத்துக்குமரன் போன்றவர்களின் எரிதலையும் காத்திருந்து கொண்டாடி மகிழ எடுக்கும் விழா. இதிலே கலந்துகொள்ளும் இணைய அரிஞர்கள், சவாடால்விளம்பரப்பேர்வழிகள், தந்தைக்குப் பெயர் வாங்கிக் கொடுக்கும் தனையர்கள் இவர்களை மறுப்பீர்.

இதைப்போல போசுக்கா ஆசைப்படுகிரீர்கள்?
http://tweetphoto.com/25675858

நாயைக் குளிக்கவச்சு நடுவீட்டிலை இருத்திவெச்சாலும்....

2010-04-23T19:25:00.000-07:00

நாயைக் குளிக்கவச்சு நடுவீட்டிலை இருத்திவெச்சாலும்....
http://sify.com/news/nine-decisions-that-helped-lanka-beat-ltte-imagegallery-international-kexv2Lbdede.html

Rajapaksa decided that he would consciously go out of his way to keep New Delhi aligned to Colombo's military objectives in its battle with the LTTE. He did not want a repeat of Operation Vadamarachchi. During the course of the three and half years of war between 2005 and 2009, there were several instances where India could have forced Lanka to stop the operations, he says.

'We did not allow such a situation to arise because we kept New Delhi briefed properly. We realised that the UPA government headed by Dr Manmohan Singh was a coalition government and so the Congress party was sensitive to the concerns of its coalition partner, primarily the DMK. We realised the sensitivity of the issue with regard to civilian causalities in Tamil Nadu. So President Rajapaksa ensured that he briefed the Indian leadership. We also ensured that our line communications were open at all times. From our side Basil Rajapaksa (Senior Advisor to the President and Member of Parliament), Lalith Weeratunga (Permanent Secretary to the President) and myself interacted extensively with MK Narayanan (former National Security Advisor, India and now Governor of West Bengal), Shiv Shankar Menon (former Foreign Secretary, India and now National Security Advisor) and Vijay Singh (former Defence Secretary and now Member, Union Public Service Commission). Between the six of us we had continuous dialogues. Whenever there was a sensitive issue, we met and discussed and resolved it. This helped the SLAF to continue its military operations absolutely unhindered,' he says.

'A day before the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) supremo and Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi went on a fast on April 27, 2009 at the Anna Memorial in Chennai protesting against the SLAF offensive against the LTTE, Menon called me on my cell phone at 4.30 pm. The Indian team wanted to visit Colombo for urgent talks. I went straight to the President's office and got his sanction and called Menon back within five minutes. Within six hours of Karunanidhi going on fast we could defuse the crisis in Tamil Nadu by issuing a statement announcing the end of combat operations and shelling inside the â€˜No Fire Zone', which led to the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister ending his fast. This was a classic example of quiet, corrective diplomacy between two officially designated government teams, Gotabaya reveals'

'The manner in which President Rajapaksa tackled India was a key factor of our military success. We knew that only India influences us militarily. India is a huge power in our neighbourhood and our proximity to Tamil Nadu with 60 million Tamils sensitive to what's going on in Sri Lanka made the situation extremely complex for us. We knew that while other countries could or would resort to economic sanctions, only India had the power to militarily influence the course of our war operations. So it is to the credit of President Rajapaksa that he was successful in keeping New Delhi aligned with Colombo's military objectives,' he adds.

ஏண்டா! ஆண்டாளுக்கு போண்டா கொடுக்க மறுத்த ஜோலியத்த போளிகளா!!

2009-09-12T06:54:00.000-07:00

http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=30219
http://tinyurl.com/nk2ua2
http://www.deccanchronicle.com/chennai/india-denies-visa-us-rights-activist-081

Al Jazeera: Tamil Tigers confirm leader's death

2009-05-24T07:48:00.000-07:00

அல் ஜஸீரா தமிழீழவிடுதலைப்புலிகளின் சார்பில் பத்மநாதன் தங்கள் தலைவர் இறந்ததை உறுதிப்படுத்தியிருப்பதாகச் செய்தி வெளியிட்டிருக்கிறது.
Tamil Tigers confirm leader's death
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/05/2009524124042406562.html

You were never my leader, but today you are, and ever will be
==================

International Crisis Group on "Crisis in Sri Lanka"
http://www.crisisgroup.org/home/index.cfm?id=6070&l=1

[Times Online]
Tigers begged me to broker surrender
Marie Colvin
24 May 2009
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6350563.ece

செயற்கைக்கோள் மூட்டுகிறது

2009-05-21T15:19:00.000-07:00

[Times]
May 22, 2009
Satellite images of Sri Lanka conflict used in war crimes inquiry
Jeremy Page
http://tinyurl.com/r3q7vq

http://twitter.com/rosemayr

who is behind Global Tamil News?

2009-05-21T09:31:00.000-07:00

who is behind Global Tamil News? Where it comes from? It is on 1and1 server. However who runs it? Is it in a way backed by sri lankan government?

http://twitter.com/rosemayr

He never was my leader; he is, and ever will be

2009-05-18T12:52:00.000-07:00

He never was my leader;
he is, and
ever will be.

Channel 4 News : Exclusive: Tamil Tigers interview

2009-05-17T08:57:00.000-07:00

Exclusive: Tamil Tigers interview
Updated on 17 May 2009
By Channel 4 News

A key Tamil Tiger leader has spoken exclusively to Channel 4 News, saying their chief is still alive and they want a political solution. Alex Thomson reports.
http://tinyurl.com/pn7hxx

ஒபாமா: ஸ்ரீலங்கா & ஈழம்

2009-05-13T14:55:00.000-07:00

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

செய்திகளும் கருத்துகளும் 13 மே 2009, புதன் - I

2009-05-13T04:10:00.000-07:00

for frequent updates at twitter
http://twitter.com/rosemayr

# [CNN] May 13th, 2009 Another Red Cross worker killed in Sri Lanka Posted: 06:11 AM ET http://tinyurl.com/rcd2o23 minutes ago from web

# [NPR] Sri Lanka's Military Mission: Find Tamil Tigers Leader by Philip Reeves MAy 13, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/q324uf8 minutes ago from web

# [Al Jezeera] Wednesday, May 13, 2009 Sri Lanka war hospital 'hit again' http://tinyurl.com/qs4a84 1 hour ago from web

# [BBC] ICRC worker killed in N Sri Lanka By Charles Haviland 09:50 GMT, Wednesday, 13 May 2009 10:50 UK http://tinyurl.com/ql6elo 1 hour ago from web

# [Reuters] S.Lanka rupee down on IMF loan doubt, bourse down Tue May 12, 2009 1:07pm BST http://tinyurl.com/o7b9ja 1 hour ago from web

# [Toronto Sun] A bloodbath in Sri Lanka By LORRIE GOLDSTEIN 13 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/r675s7 1 hour ago from web

# [Indopia] SA Tamils protest alleged atrocities on community in Sri Lanka May 13 http://tinyurl.com/otrb6f 2 hours ago from web

# [ForExTV] U.N. Concerned Over Children's Plight In Sri Lanka 05/13/09 05:07 am (EST) http://tinyurl.com/rebdvg 2 hours ago from web

# [AP] Doctor: Sri Lanka hospital shelled, 15 killed 13 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/ood99y 2 hours ago from web

# [inner city press] On Sri Lanka, Uganda Says Urgent, Dutch Dodge EU Tariffs and Rights Matthew Russell Lee May 12 http://tinyurl.com/ryf9gc 2 hours ago from web

செய்திகளும் அலசல்களும் 12 மே 2009

2009-05-12T17:03:00.001-07:00

# [BBC] UK, US plea over Sri Lanka crisis 23:24 GMT, Tuesday, 12 May
2009 00:24 UK http://bit.ly/IZTYC18 minutes ago from web

# [HRW] Sri Lanka: Satellite Images, Witnesses Show Shelling Continues
May 12, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/odwhj720 minutes ago from web

# [the independent] Forty-nine killed after hospital attacked in Sri
Lanka Ravi Nessman Wednesday,13 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/pzmxql32
minutes ago from web

# [the independent] Mary Dejevsky:Foreign policy should not be
dictated by exiles living here Wednesday,13 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/ppeds734
minutes ago from web

# [the independent] Andrew Buncombe: Two Asian conflicts,two different
responses from the West Wednesday,13 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/r4yz4q39
minutes ago from web

# [guardian] Eyewitness Sri Lanka: Vany Kumar, from the no-fire zone
in Sri Lanka Tuesday 12 May 2009 21.56 BST http://tinyurl.com/pvpmgp42
minutes ago from web

# [Time] Sri Lanka Puts Obama to the Test — And He's Failing By Romesh
Ratnesar Tuesday, May. 12, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/pjxvqbabout 2 hours
ago from web

# [Guardian] 'Hundreds dead' on bloodiest day of Sri Lankan battle..
Gethin Chamberlain Sunday 10 May 2009 13.15 BST http://tinyurl.com/q4mz3n2:26
PM May 10th from web

ஹிண்டியாதீயமீடியாமாபியா சொல்ல மறைந்த சேதிகள்

2009-05-10T10:01:00.000-07:00

for frequent updates of eelam news & views:
http://twitter.com/rosemayr
=======================

• [Channel 4] Blog: Crossing the line in Sri Lanka 10 May 2009 Nick Paton Walsh http://tinyurl.com/o2h2ns8 minutes ago from web

The Hindu
Over 150 held for bid to show black flag to Sonia Gandhi
Chennai (PTI): Over 150 people including Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran and popular Tamil cinema Director Barathirajaa were arrested when they tried to show black flags to Congress President Sonia Gandhi during her visit here on Sunday.
....

Similarly, 29 women owing allegiance to the movement 'Women against Genocide in Sri Lanka' were arrested when they tried to show black flags to Ms. Gandhi.

------

• [RFI] The lying Bastrad 378 civilians killed in attack but army denies responsibility http://tinyurl.com/qqzl4y http://tinyurl.com/ojf6hf31 minutes ago from web

• [SBS TV Australia]-Dateline Culture Clash http://bit.ly/EYj5H 2 hours ago from web

• [Channel 4] Correspondent expelled from Sri Lanka 09 May 2009 http://tinyurl.com/qzouff 5 hours ago from web

• [YouTube] ERODE EVKS ASKING WHO IS MUTHUKUMARAN?? http://bit.ly/qCFqB 6 hours ago from web

• [bbc] 06:56 GMT, Sunday, 10 May 2009 07:56 UK Sri Lankan shelling 'kills 257' http://bit.ly/H2Bek 6 hours ago from web

----

----

• [AP] S.Lanka shelling kills 2000 civilians: rebels ‎3 minutes ago‎ http://tinyurl.com/ohsgdu 6 hours ago from web

----
Top LTTE commander killed in battle

Press Trust of India, Sunday May 10, 2009, Colombo
----

• At UN, Obama's Magic Rice on the Speakers List, Sri Lanka Below the Basement May 8 http://www.innercitypress.com/unsc1obama050809.html 8:00 PM May 8th from web

• On Sri Lanka,UN Split on Visit by Ban, Russia Lends an Ear,Monday Not Council May 8 http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may8srilanka050809.html 7:58 PM May 8th from web

• [AlterNet] After deprivation, Sri Lanka's displaced nurture hopes of going home 08 May 2009 18:18:00 GMT http://tinyurl.com/ooq5yg 1:48 PM May 8th from web

• [BBC] The plight of Sri Lankan refugees 7 may, 2009 - 11:43 GMT http://tinyurl.com/ozpbvj 10:50 AM May 8th from web

சிதம்பரம் தேங்கா சொதப்பியதா?

2009-05-09T16:39:00.000-07:00

செய்திகளும் பின்னடப்பும் மே 5 & 6

2009-05-06T17:17:00.000-07:00

[inner city press] On Sri Lanka, UN Says Responsibility to Protect is a "Concept" Only, Video Not Seen May 6 http://tinyurl.com/dfeqyq11 minutes ago from web
[UN News Center] Sri Lanka’s displaced now numbers over 192,000, UN reports http://tinyurl.com/de9wxr14 minutes ago from web
[anarkismo.net] The Struggle for Tamil Eelam Thursday May 07, 2009 00:49 José Antonio Gutiérrez D. http://www.anarkismo.net/ar...15 minutes ago from web
[Poli Gazette] The Conflict in Sri Lanka: A Cornered Tiger Is Still Deadly May 7th, 2009 | Michael van der Galien http://tinyurl.com/dfa4ab18 minutes ago from web
[Calcutta telegraph] Sonia setback to TN front http://tinyurl.com/d8xmg430 minutes ago from web
[National Post] The bloodshed in Sri Lanka: A Sinhalese perspective http://tinyurl.com/cly6tq34 minutes ago from web
[Radio Australia News] UN chief invited to see Sri Lankan refugee camps first-hand http://tinyurl.com/djtqnhabout 8 hours ago from web
[The Washington Post] Sri Lanka invites U.N.'s Ban, rebels allege starvation http://tinyurl.com/cjywfgabout 10 hours ago from web
[Al Jazeera] Wednesday, May 06, 2009 http://tinyurl.com/dzys6t http://tinyurl.com/clrgh2 http://tinyurl.com/cp4uaeabout 11 hours ago from web
[Al Jazeera] Refugees flee Sri Lanka "safe zone" - 06 May 09 http://bit.ly/eeRQjabout 12 hours ago from web
[inner city press] On Sri Lanka, UN Responsibility to Protect Cited, Abuse of IDPs Surfaces http://tinyurl.com/czopc4about 12 hours ago from web
[Christians Today] - |talking on stupid claims| Columnist accuses Christians for Sri Lanka war http://tinyurl.com/cvspbkabout 12 hours ago from web
[CPJ] World leaders note Sri Lankan press abuses http://tinyurl.com/cn3nr7about 12 hours ago from web
[The statemean] AIADMK has the edge http://tinyurl.com/coyke8about 12 hours ago from web
[IndLaw] Madras HC PIl filed over pro Eelam VCD http://tinyurl.com/cqn2p7about 12 hours ago from web
[AFP] Sri Lanka president invites UN chief to island http://tinyurl.com/c3lzvaabout 12 hours ago from web
[merinews] Concentration camps for Sri Lankan Tamils? http://bit.ly/lWHUKabout 12 hours ago from web
[UPI] Why the Sri Lankan government won't listen - Jehan Perera http://tinyurl.com/dddou2about 12 hours ago from web
[BBC] New Sri Lanka heavy weapons row http://bit.ly/19hmiIabout 12 hours ago from web
utter crap Prabhakaran has Malayali roots, say kin in Kerala http://tinyurl.com/c5wa6uabout 12 hours ago from web
[AP] Sonia Gandhi cancels poll rallies in Tamil south http://tinyurl.com/c3bbceabout 12 hours ago from web
[inner city press] On Sri Lanka, UN's Ban Declines To Call for Cease-Fire, Double Standard Unexplained http://tinyurl.com/d3wpdp6:01 PM May 5th from web
/Hundreds of Christians who are living in refugee camps do not have anything, including their Bibles./ http://tinyurl.com/cvhdx6 big issue!!3:53 PM May 5th from web
http://tinyurl.com/d5fylo2:43 PM May 5th from web
http://tinyurl.com/c6f5er2:43 PM May 5th from web
[Channel 4] Grim scenes at Sri Lankan camps http://tinyurl.com/dd5tqp2:41 PM May 5th from web
[BBC] old Tamil Tigers 'days from defeat' http://tinyurl.com/c3tufu2:27 PM May 5th from web
[Wall Street Journal] an erratic letter The Real Roots of Sri Lanka's Crisis http://online.wsj.com/artic...2:26 PM May 5th from web
[AP_PR-Inside] IMF urged to link Sri Lanka loan to rights http://tinyurl.com/ctl5ft1:34 PM May 5th from web
[skynewswire] The Indian Embassy in London Faces Delays in Visa Processing Due to Protests http://tinyurl.com/cyjvhv1:31 PM May 5th from web
[Reporters without Frontiers] Open letter to IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn about loan to Sri Lanka http://tinyurl.com/c89rrs1:23 PM May 5th from web
[socialistworker online] Sri Lankan state’s terror assault on Tamils goes on http://tinyurl.com/dlzq9o1:20 PM May 5th from web
[New York Times] Sri Lankans Find Death on a Voyage to Safety http://tinyurl.com/d4p4dk1:19 PM May 5th from web
[NDP of canada] New Democrats launch petition to stop violence in Sri Lanka http://www.ndp.ca/srilanka http://tinyurl.com/ckbqvb12:01 PM May 5th from web
[AP] Sri Lanka says rebel leader trapped http://tinyurl.com/c3o65t11:57 AM May 5th from web
[Toronto Star] Opinion A new political road map for Tamils http://www.thestar.com/arti...10:18 AM May 5th from web
[inner city press] As UN Accused of Spying in Sri Lanka, Satellite Photo Withholding Continues http://tinyurl.com/colm3t9:48 AM May 5th from web
[inner city press] Russia Chides UN on NATO, Ban and Japan, Sri Lanka Not on Agenda http://www.innercitypress.c...9:47 AM May 5th from web
[reliefweb] sri lankan Foreign Minister rejects Canada’s ceasefire call http://tinyurl.com/dcpdks9:45 AM May 5th from web
[Wall Street Journal] http://s.wsj.net/media/0504...9:43 AM May 5th from web

அல் ஜசீராவின் ஆறாம் திகதி மே வீடியோ

2009-05-06T05:49:00.000-07:00

[Al Jazeera]
Refugees flee Sri Lanka "safe zone" - 06 May 09
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixWd9P5_0wY

New testimony by a group of Sri Lankan refugees appears to counter government claims that it has stopped shelling its so-called safe zone in the north of the island.

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports from Colombo

-----------
[al jazeera]

Sri Lanka's continuing bloodshed
http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/rizkhan/2009/05/20095562211958337.html

தம்பியை நம்பி யார்? வில்லன் நம்பியார்

2009-05-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

தம்பி உள்ளவன் ஐநாவிலும் நாக்கைப் பிரட்டுவான்.
தம்பியை நம்பி யார்? வில்லன் நம்பியார்
On Sri Lanka, UN's Ban Declines To Call for Cease-Fire, Double Standard Unexplained

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN

http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may3srilanka050509.html
The temporary or one-time envoy Ban Ki-moon did send, his chief of staff Vijay Nambiar, has a brother Satish Nambiar who was quoted that week by the Sri Lankan army that

"Sri Lankan Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka has displayed the qualities of a great military leader nations are blessed with from time to time... Resurrected from the grave as it were after the attack on him some years back, he has displayed a single-mindedness of purpose in pursuing his goal of decimating the LTTE. Needless to say, he has been able to achieve his objective because of the full support and encouragement provided by the political establishment led by President Rajapaksa... As someone who was briefly involved with the peace process in Sri Lanka in 2002-2003, I have already acknowledged the outstanding performance of the SL security forces and the efforts of General Fonseka, a person I met on a number of occasions during my visits to Sri Lanka during 2002-2003 and developed great respect for, both as an individual and as a soldier."

While perhaps Vijay Nambair -- who refused to speak with the Press after his brief visit to Colombo -- and his sibling Satish are not as close as the three brother who run Sri Lanka, still the above highlights the need for the UN to send another envoy, and fast, among other actions. Watch this site.

ஸ்ரீலங்காவில் இருப்பது ஜாதி பிரச்சனை மட்டுமே: காணொளி

2009-05-05T13:42:00.000-07:00

பத்திரிக்கையாளர் மூவி நந்தினிக்கும் அவரின் குளறுபடி இடுகைகளுக்கும்

2009-05-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

மூவி நந்தினி தன்னுடைய பதிவிலே இப்படியாக இன்று எழுதியிருக்கின்றார்.

/நண்பர் ஜூலியன், உங்களுக்கு என்மேல் அப்படியன்ன பகையோ தெரியவில்லை…தொடர்ந்து நான் செய்ததற்கு, செய்யாததற்கு நீங்களாக அர்த்தம் கற்பித்து எழுதிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறீர்கள். நேற்று உங்களுடைய பதிவிற்கு ஒரு பின்னூட்டம் இட்டேன்.

“நண்பரே, என்னுடைய பதிவு நீக்கப்பட்டிருக்கிறது. பின்னூட்டம் போடவும் முடியவில்லை. இதற்கும் எனக்கும் எந்த தொடர்பும் இல்லை. நடுவில் இரண்டு நாட்களாக இணைய இணைப்பு வேறு இல்லை. பின்னூட்டத்தை அனுமதிப்பதில் தாமதம் ஏற்பட்டிருக்கலாம். ஒரே ஒரு பின்னூட்டத்தை தவிர எனக்கு வந்த எல்லா பின்னூட்டங்களையும் தான் அனுமதித்திருக்கிறேன். உங்களுடைய கருத்திலிருந்து வேறுபடுகிறேன் என்பதற்காக என்னை தனிப்பட்ட முறையில் ஏன் தாக்குகிறீர்கள்?”/

மூவி நந்தினி,
இப்படியான எந்தப்பின்னூட்டத்தினையும் நான் இப்பதிவிலே பெறவேயில்லை. நீங்கள் வேறெங்கேனும் இட்டிருந்தால், அதற்கு நான் ஒன்றும் செய்யமுடியாது. ஆனால், இப்பதிவிலே இது மாதிரியான எப்பின்னூட்டமும் வரவில்லை. பொய் சொல்லாதீர்கள். நம்பமறுப்பீர்களானால், அடுத்த பதிவிலே என் ஜிமெயில் கணக்கின் கடந்த சிலநாட்களின் ஒவ்வொரு அஞ்சலையினையும் படமெடுத்துப் போடத்தயாராகவிருக்கின்றேன். பார்க்கின்றவர்களே தீர்மானித்துக்கொள்ளட்டும். உங்களுடன் எனக்கு ஏதும் பிரச்சனையில்லை. ஆனால், நீங்கள் எழுதிய பின்னூட்டத்தினை விடாது வேறொரு அம்மணியின் பின்னூட்டத்தினை விட்டிருந்தீர்கள். பின்னால், என்னுடைய இவ்விடுகை வந்த பின்னால், எல்லாப்பின்னூட்டத்தினையும் அனுமதித்திருக்கின்றீர்கள். அதிலும் யாமின் பின்னூட்டம் முதலாவதாகவிருக்கின்றது. அப்படியானால், அதற்கு முன்னால் அதுவரை அனுமதிக்கப்பட்டிருந்த அம்மாளின் பின்னூட்டம் என்னவாயிற்று?

shame on YOU! பொய்களை அடுத்தடுத்து முகத்திலேயறைந்தாற்போல சொல்லாதீர்கள். ஒரு பாரதப்பத்திரிக்கையாளருக்கு அவசியமோ என்னவோ, ஓர் நேர்மையான சமூகநீதி நெறி பற்றி பந்தி பந்தியாக, வண்டி வண்டியாகப் பத்தியெழுதும் பத்திரிகையாளருக்கு முறையானதல்ல. நேற்று மாதவராஜ் என்கிற பொய்யுடமைவாதியுங்கூட அவருடைய திரிஷா, ஜோதிகா இடுகைக்கு இட்ட பின்னூட்டத்தினை அனுமதிக்கவில்லை. ஆனால், அவருடைய ஜால்ராகளின் பின்னூட்டங்களை விட்டிருந்தார். கலை, கவிதை இவற்றினை விமர்சிக்கும் பொதுவுடமைவாதிகள் ஈழத்தமிழர்களின் நிலையை மட்டும் அப்படியே மறுப்பதன் காரணத்தினை மூன்று வரிகளிலே கேட்டிருயிருந்தேன். அவரால் விடமுடியவில்லை. கேவலம். இப்படியான சமூகநீதிகேட்கும் ஆசாமிகள் வெறுப்பினை ஏற்றுகின்றார்கள்; ஏமாற்றத்தினை விதைக்கிறார்கள் - குறிப்பாக நமக்கு உவப்பான அரசியல்சார் தத்துவங்களைக் கொண்டவர்கள் என்று எண்ணும்போது.

ஆனந்தவிகடனைப் பற்றி நான் எதுவும் எழுதவில்லை - வந்த நீங்கள் ஆனந்தவிகடனிலே தொழில் புரிவதாக வந்த ஒரு பின்னூட்டத்தினை அனுமதித்தது தவிர. எதற்காக உங்கள் புதிய பதிவிலே ஏதோ நான் ஆனந்தவிகடனை உங்களுடன் சேர்த்து இழுப்பதாக எழுதுகின்றீர்கள்? "என்னைத்தான் தாக்குகிறீர்கள் என்றால் தொடர்புள்ளதாகக் கூறிக்கொண்டு அவர்களை ஏன் தாக்குகிறீர்கள்? என்னுடைய பதிவுக்கான எதிர்வினை என்பது போய் முழுக்க முழுக்க என்னைப்பற்றிய தனிப்பட்ட தாக்குதலில் நீங்களும் உங்கள் பதிவுக்கு பின்னூட்டமிடும் சிலரும் இறங்கியிருக்கிறீர்கள்." வாசிப்பதனைப் புரிந்துகொள்ளும் பதிவர்களுக்கு அது புரியாதென்றா எண்ணுகின்றீர்கள்?

உங்கள் இணைய இணைப்பினைச் சார்ந்த சிக்கல்களைப் புரிந்துகொள்ளமுடிகின்றது. தொழில்நுட்பம் சார்ந்த சிக்கல்களையும் புரிந்துகொள்ளமுடிகின்றது. ஆனால், யாமின் பின்னூட்டத்துக்குப் பின்னால் வந்த ஒரு பின்னூட்டம் ஒரு முழுநாள் நின்று மறைந்து பின்னால், யாமின் பின்னூட்டம் முதலாவதாகத் தோன்றியதற்கும் இணைய இணைப்புக்கும் என்ன சம்பந்தமிருக்கமுடியும்? தனியே நீங்கள் தீர்மானிக்கும் செயலல்லவா அது?

மேலும் கீழேயுள்ளதுதான் நேற்று இவ்விடுகைக்கு வந்த பின்னூட்டம்

/இறுதியாக… நன்றி!

மே 2, 2009

நான் வலைத்தளத்தில் எழுத ஆரம்பித்தது எனக்காக மட்டுமே. எந்வொரு ஊடகத்திலும் குறிப்பிட்ட அந்த ஊடகத்தின் கருத்துக்கும் சட்ட திட்டங்களுக்கும் கட்டுப்பட்டே எழுத வேண்டி இருக்கிறது. அது இங்கே இருக்காது என்பதாலேயே தொடர்ந்தேன். தமிழ்மணமும் ஒரு ஊடக நிறுவனமே என்பது எனக்கு இப்போதுதான் தெரிந்தது. குறைந்தபட்சம் முன் அறிவிப்பை கொடுத்துவிட்டாவது என்னுடைய பதிவை நீக்கியிருக்கலாம். எனினும் என்னை நட்சத்திர பதிவராக தேர்ந்தெடுத்தமைக்கு நான் நிறைவான நன்றியைத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறேன்./

இதற்கான பின்னூட்டமாகவே நான் பதிலளித்திருந்தேன் - அதுவும் மிகவும் தெளிவாக முகப்பிலே, "இது மூவி நந்தினி இட்ட பின்னூட்டமென்றால் மட்டுமே என் கீழ்கண்ட பதில்" என்று அறுத்துறுத்துச் சொல்லியிருந்தேன். வேறேதும் அநாமதேயமென்றால், 'விட்டுப்போ' என்று சொல்லியிருந்தேன். அதை நீங்கள் வாசிக்கவில்லையா?

சரி மேலேயுள்ளது நீங்கள் இட்ட பின்னூட்டமில்லை என்றே கொள்வோம். அப்படியானால், உங்கள் "இறுதியாக… நன்றி!" இடுகையிலே நீங்கள் எழுதியதைப் பாருங்கள்.

/இறுதியாக… நன்றி!
மே 2, 2009

நான் வலைத்தளத்தில் எழுத ஆரம்பித்தது எனக்காக மட்டுமே. எந்வொரு ஊடகத்திலும் குறிப்பிட்ட அந்த ஊடகத்தின் கருத்துக்கும் சட்ட திட்டங்களுக்கும் கட்டுப்பட்டே எழுத வேண்டி இருக்கிறது. அது இங்கே இருக்காது என்பதாலேயே தொடர்ந்தேன். தமிழ்மணமும் ஒரு ஊடக நிறுவனமே என்பது எனக்கு இப்போதுதான் தெரிந்தது. குறைந்தபட்சம் முன் அறிவிப்பை கொடுத்துவிட்டாவது என்னுடைய பதிவை நீக்கியிருக்கலாம். எனினும் என்னை நட்சத்திர பதிவராக தேர்ந்தெடுத்தமைக்கு நான் நிறைவான நன்றியைத் தெரிவித்துக் கொள்கிறேன்./

யாரோ அநாமதேயமேதான் எடுத்து என் இடுகையிலே போட்டதென்றுகூட வைத்துக்கொள்வோம். ஆனால், மேற்கூறிய உங்கள் இடுகைக்கும் என் இவ்விடுகையிலே வந்த பின்னூட்டத்துக்கும் என்ன வேறுபாடு? அதே அநாமதேயமா உங்கள் பதிவிலும் இடுகை போடுகின்றார் என்று சொல்ல வருகின்றீர்கள்? உங்கள் சொந்தக்கருத்துத்தானே அது?

உங்களுடன் எனக்கேதும் பிரச்சனையில்லை; உங்களை உங்கள் நட்சத்திரத்தேர்வு தமிழ்மணத்திலே தோன்றும் வரைக்கும் யாரென்றும் தெரியாது. எதற்காக நான் உங்களுடன் நான் சண்டைக்கு நிற்கவேண்டும்? ஈழத்திலே பிரணாப் முகர்ஜி & சிதம்பரம் இவர்களின் கூற்றின் விதி வழியே இந்திய இராணுவ உதவியோடு குழந்தைகளும் கிழடுகளும் இறைச்சிக்கடைமாடுகள்போலச் செத்து விழுகின்றார்கள். இந்நிலையிலே இதைப் பற்றிக் கேள்வி ஒன்றுகூடக் கேட்க வக்கில்லாது, ஷோபா சக்தியின் தன்வயமான மாட்டுக்கருத்தினை மேலேற்றி முன்வைக்கும் உங்களைப் போன்ற மானுடம்சாறும்பாரதப்பத்திரிக்கைப்பிம்பங்களுடன் வம்பிழுத்துத்தானா இந்நிலையிலே நான் ஏதும் வெட்டிவிழுத்திச் சாதித்துவிடமுடியும்? பொய்யை முகத்திலே அறைந்ததுமாதிரியாகச் சொல்லாதீர்கள்.

இப்போது புதிதாக ஒரு பொய்யை இன்னொரு படையாகச் சொன்னதை, செய்ததை அல்லது செய்யாததைக் காத்துக்கொள்ள மேலே போர்த்துகின்றீர்கள். நீங்கள் சொல்லும் உங்கள் பின்னூட்டம் எதையும் நான் பெறவில்லை. அனுப்பியதாகப் பொய் சொல்லாதீர்கள். இப்பதிவு சம்பந்தப்பட்டு என் ஜிமெயிலுக்கு வந்த பின்னூட்டங்களை அனுப்பியவர்களின் அஞ்சல் தலைப்பகுதியை இங்கே இணைத்திருக்கின்றேன். வந்த அஞ்சல்களின் எண்ணிகையையும் இங்கே தோன்றியிருக்கும் பின்னூட்டங்களின் எண்ணிக்கையையும் கணக்கெடுத்துக்கொண்டு, உங்கள் வராத பின்னூட்டம் அனுமதிக்கப்படவில்லையா என்று சொல்லுங்கள்.

உங்களை எனக்குத் தெரியாது; நீங்கள் யாரென்பதிலும் எனக்கு ஈடுபாடில்லை. இங்கே பின்னூட்டும் அநாநிகள் யாரென்றும் எனக்குத் தெரியாது. உங்கள் பதிவிலே பூனை தமிழ்மணத்தினைக் குறை சொல்லி எழுதும் பின்னூட்டங்களை அனுமதிப்பதுபோலவேதான், நானும் எனக்கு வரும் பின்னூட்டங்களை "நாயே பேயே உங்காத்த போயி..." என்றில்லாதபோது அனுமதிக்கிறேன். இடாத பின்னூட்டங்களுக்கே அனுமதிக்கவில்லை என்று அலறோ அலறென்று அலறும் பதிவர்களிடையே வந்த பின்னூட்டங்களை விடாது நான் தப்பமுடியுமென்று எண்ணுகின்றீர்களா?

உங்களை விட, கடந்த ஆறுமாதங்களிலே ஆத்திரம் காட்டமும் காத்திரமுமாகக் கொள்ள, கொல்ல இத்தனை நாள் இணையத்தூடாக இலக்கியம், திரைப்படம் பேசிப் பழகியும், இன்று ஈழத்தமிழர்பற்றி மூச்சே விடாது இளையராஜா, ஈரானியத்திரைப்படம் பேசும் இரக்கமற்ற மனிதாபினச்சுனையற்ற எத்தனையோ அசல் தற்றணிக்கைமைதுனக்குட்டையமிழ்எருமைமாட்டுநாகரீகநண்பர்கள் இருக்கின்றார்கள். எதற்காக அவர்களை விட்டுவிட்டு, உங்களின் கழுத்தைப் பிடித்து நான் நெரிக்கவேண்டும்?

கடைசியாக, மாற்றுக்கருத்துகளை மாற்றுக்கருத்துகளாலே எதிர்கொள்ளவேண்டுமென்று எழுதியிருக்கின்றீர்கள். சாகசவீரர்கள் ஷோபா சக்தி, அ. மார்க்ஸ், சி. புஸ்பராஜா அப்படித்தான் எதிர்கொண்டார்களா என்பது பற்றி தனி இடுகைகள் மூன்று எழுதுவது ஒன்றும் கடினமானதல்ல. ஆனால், நடைமுறையை அறிந்துகொள்ளாது இணையத்திலே இலக்கியமும் பாதுகாப்புடனிருந்து கொண்டு பத்திரிகை மனிதநேயமும் பேசும் போலிகளையும் போராளிகளையும் கண்டு அலுத்துப்போய்விட்டது. அதனாலே உங்களின் பதிவிலேயான என் பின்னூட்டம் அவை பற்றியதல்ல; ஆனால், ஸ்ரீலங்கா அரசு இன்று தமக்கான தலையாட்டித்தமிழ்த்தலைமைகளைத் தேடும் நிலையிலே மாற்றுக்கருத்துகள் என்ற பெயரிலே நீங்கள் சுட்டும் ஆட்கள் (இருப்பவர்கள் & இறந்தவர்கள்) யாரென்று தமிழகத்தின் காகிதப்போராளிகள், அவரவர்க்கு அவரரது பொய்யுடமைவாதிகள், இணைய இளையராஜாவின் இட்டலிப்பானைகள் அறிந்து கொள்ளப் பதிவு செய்வது அவசியம். நேற்றுவரை ஈழத்தமிழர்கள் தொப்புட்கொடியுறவுகளே இல்லையென்று ஈழத்தமிழர்மீது காழ்ப்பினைக் கொட்டிய மண்ணிறஇந்தியநாட்சிகள் சிலர் இன்று ஈழம் எடுத்துக்கொடுக்கவேண்டுமென்று புரவலர்பேச்சினைப் பேசும்போது சுட்டிக்காட்டவேண்டும்.

I may be a stupid, but not an inborn moron.
we are powerless, but not brain dead yet.

You should be ashamed of yourself for lying on our faces

செய்திகளும் பின்னான பார்வைகளும் 2 மே 2009 சனிக்கிழமை - 2

2009-05-02T18:34:00.000-07:00

[Al Jazeera]
2 May 2009

Interview: Both sides of the Sri Lankan conflict
http://tinyurl.com/ddkr59

What is happening in Sri Lanka's war zone is practically impossible to
verify because independent observers and journalists have little or no
access to the area.

In an attempt to gain some clarity, Al Jazeera's Imran Garda spoke to
Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a spokesman for the Sri Lankan military,
and Thileepan Parthipan, a representative from the separatist
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Video can be seen at
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ahy3AK8jczY

Related Video from Channel 4
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid1184614595?bctid=21901227001
http://tinyurl.com/clt4lx

[BBC] (Audio)
22:26 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 23:26 UK
Minister responds to Sri Lanka damage images
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8030254.stm

---------

[David Miliband Blog]

Tuesday 28 April, 2009

Going to Sri Lanka
http://blogs.fco.gov.uk/roller/miliband/entry/going_to_sri_lanka
Thank you to those who commented on my last blog on Sri Lanka, from
Britain and around the world. As the comments show, the roots of the
current crisis are very deep: Tamils who feel this is the last chapter
in decades of repression, others who feel that LTTE terrorism is an
open and shut case for government crackdown. I recognise that - but
there is also a simple fact: innocent lives are at stake now.

I am going to be in Sri Lanka on Wednesday with the French foreign
minister. We can think of no better way to highlight our concerns with
the short term civilian situation, which UN chief John Holmes
described yesterday as dire. We will be pressing the case on the
government of Sri Lanka to live up to the case made by the UNSC
President on Friday to the press and repeating that the LTTE should
facilitate exit from the conflict zone. There are the civilians in the
conflict zone; but as the comments bring out, there are also the
conditions outside the zone for anything up to 200,000 IDPs.

Britain has pledged more money the Prime Minister announced an extra
£2.5 million on Sunday and France a field hospital, but without
political will to allow aid workers to do their work there will be
further suffering that will compound rather than resolve the
fundamental conflict.

from
http://tinyurl.com/cbnvvf
-----
[BBC] - Audio

An interview with the Rajiva Wijesinghe (first 10 min)
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p002t9py/Newshour_27_04_2009/
-----

[The Independant]

'75 die' as Sri Lanka forces are accused of shelling hospital
Government noose tightens around rebel Tamil Tiger enclave amid
growing fears for trapped civilians
By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent
Sunday, 3 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dk2uou
Fears were growing last night for scores of Sri Lankan civilians after
it was reported that more than 75 people had been killed in the last
two days by a government bombardment of a makeshift hospital in the
country's war zone.

Government health officials working in the clinic, located in the tiny
patch of land still held by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)
rebel forces, have claimed that patients, visitors and their relatives
were among the dead. They said around another 100 civilians were
injured. The military has denied the reports and the government has
said the accounts of the health officials cannot be trusted.
Photographs, apparently taken by the health officials, show the
intensive care unit of the hospital, set up in a school classroom,
with two bodies lying on the floor.

Speaking last night from the clinic in the town of Mulliavaikal, one
of the officials, Dr T Varatharajah, told The Independent on Sunday:
"There were two attacks today. Sixty-four people were killed and 87
injured. Yesterday there was one attack. Nine people were killed and
15 injured." The doctor said the clinic was located less than a mile
from the front line and that he had no doubt the shelling had come
from government troops. He added: "There are other civilians outside
of the hospital who were also killed." He was unable to provide the
numbers.

full text is at
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/75-die-as-sri-lanka-forces-are-accused-of-shelling-hospital-1678113.html
-----

[Inner City Press]
On Sri Lanka, UN Dodges on Satellite Cover-Up and Arrest of Staff, UN
TV
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may1srilanka050209.html

UNITED NATIONS, May 2 -- As in Sri Lanka death and disappearances
continued last week, in New York the UN Secretariat dodged questions
after question on the topic, apparently wishing that the government
would just “finish the job,” as one UN official put it to Inner City
Press. At the UN's noon media briefing on Monday, April 27, Inner City
Press asked the first question of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's
spokesperson Michele Montas:

Inner City Press: On Sri Lanka, I wanted to know in light of the
Secretary-General’s announcement last week that there will be a
mission into the conflict zone by a humanitarian assessment, is that
going forward or has it, as some of the reports have it, been blocked
by the Government?

Spokesperson Monas: This is what John Holmes is trying to arrange.

Inner City Press: Currently, it was announced that it had been agreed
to. Was it then un-agreed to?

Spokesperson Montas: It was agreed to. We don’t know where things are
at this point. Mr. Holmes is there and he is the only one who has the
answer to your question.

Inner City Press: And just also on Sri Lanka, I learned, and maybe you
won’t know this off hand, but that in late 2008 two UN staff members
were arrested by the Government. It now seems or I have been told and
the UN didn’t say anything publicly, but some think they’re still
being held. One is a UNHCR protection officer in Vavuniya; and the
other one is a UNOPS driver; both arrested by the...[inaudible].

Spokesperson: I don’t have that information. We can certainly have it
for you. All I can say is that right now we have 13 staff members who
are in the zone of conflict; and that is really all I have.

full text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/un1may1srilanka050209.html

------
The Sunday Times, sl:
Mani Ratnam’s ‘Raavan’ can turn a new chapter in Tourism shooting in srilanka
http://tinyurl.com/ckosv4

செய்திகளும் பின்னான பார்வைகளும் 2 மே 2009 சனிக்கிழமை - 1

2009-05-02T11:54:00.000-07:00

[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
-----

[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

-----
[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

-----
[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
-----

[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

The Capitalist TIME thinks MIA is an influential bourgeois

2009-05-01T19:45:00.000-07:00

[CNN]
Producer, DJ, singer, fashion designer. Sri Lankan (sick & sucks) pop star M.I.A. has global influence across many genres. That put her on this year's TIME 100

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1894780_1894784,00.html

Also
[Time]
M.I.A.
By Spike Jonze

42 out of 105

It's funny to think of M.I.A. as influential, because I don't think she ever set out to be influential. The great thing about her is that she doesn't have some global plan. She just has things she cares about and is interested in, from all over the world. She hears huge beats from Angola. She finds a DJ doing amazing stuff in Baltimore. She hears about Aboriginal kids rapping in Australia and thinks nothing of getting on a plane to convince them to do a verse on her song. She reacts to whatever's in front of her: "Those are booming Indian drums," "That is a dope producer," "Those kids are making sick beats."

And she has great taste. Anyone can hear all this stuff, but to be able to curate it, you have to have taste, and Maya Arulpragasam, 33, has it.

Full Text is at
http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,1894410_1893836_1894427,00.html

பாரதப்பத்திரிக்கையாளர் மு. வி. நந்தினி விடாத பின்னூட்டம்

2009-05-01T08:08:00.000-07:00

மு. வி. நந்தினி என்ற பாரதப்பத்திரிக்கையாளரின் "இலங்கை தமிழர் பிரச்சினையில் இந்திய தமிழர்களின் சாகச மனோநிலை" என்ற இடுகைக்கு அவரின் பதிவிலே பின்னூட்ட அனுமதியில்லை. இந்திய பப்பராசிகளிடம் இதை எதிர்பார்க்காமலிருக்கமுடியுமா? அதனாலே, அவரின் "(நட்சத்திரப்பதிவராக எழுதமுடியவில்லை என்பதற்காக) மன்னிப்பு கோருகிறேன்" என்ற பதிவிலே இட்ட யாம் இட்ட பின்னூட்டம். தோன்றவில்லை.

அதனாலே இங்கே அவரின் இடுகையும் யாமின் பின்னூட்டமும்:

“குடிக்கத் தண்ணி வேணும்“ என்று இறைஞ்சிய அந்தப் பெரியவரின் முகம் இன்னும் எனக்கு நினைவிலிருக்கிறது. வேகு நேரம் முன்வாசல் கதவுகளைத் தட்டிக்கொண்டிருந்தவருக்கு அந்த வீட்டினர் வேண்டா வெறுப்பாக தண்ணீர் கொடுத்ததற்கும் அவர் சென்று பின் ‘வீட்டை நோட்டம் வீட்டுப்போய் திருட வருவார்கள்‘ என தகவல் சொன்னதற்கும் காரணம் இருந்தது. அவர் இலங்கை தமிழர் என்பதுதான்
அந்தக்காரணம். சணல் பையை தோல்களில் மாட்டி நிராதரவாதிக்கான அத்தனை தகுதியோடும் முகாமில் அரசாங்கம் தரும் அரிசியை வாங்கக் கிளம்பிக்கொண்டிருந்த இலங்கை தமிழனை ‘திருடன்‘ என முத்திரையிட்டது இந்திய(?) தமிழன்..100 சதவீதம் சுத்த தமிழ் ரத்தத்தில் பிறந்த தமிழன்! இது நானே நேரில் கண்டது. இலங்கை அகதிகளாக இங்கே தஞ்சம் புகுந்திருக்கும் தமிழர்கள் குறித்தான கண்ணோட்டம்
இப்படித்தான் இருக்கிறது. பல்வேறு ஊடகங்களில் தாங்கள் இம்மண்ணில் பட்ட அவமானங்களை அவமதிப்புகளை அகதி முகாமில் இருக்கும் தமிழர்கள் பதிவு செய்திருக்கிறார்கள். அகதி முகாம்களில் இல்லாது தனியாக வீடு எடுத்து தங்கியிருக்கும் சற்றே வசதி படைத்த இலங்கை தமிழர்கள் மீது இந்த கண்ணோட்டம் இல்லை. இலங்கை போரால் மாய்பவர்களும், மாய்வதை மறுத்து அகதியாகவாவது பிழைத்துக்
கொள்ளலாம் என திருட்டுப் படகு ஏறுபவர்களும் யார்? விமானத்தில் பறக்க காசில்லாதவர்கள், வறியவர்கள். பொருளாதார பின்புலம் மிக்கவர்கள் வெளிநாடுகளுக்குப் பயணப்பட்டு கடைநிலை மக்களாகவேனும் வாழ்க்கையை நடத்துகிற சூழல் வாய்த்திருக்கிறது, சில ஆண்டுகள் உழைத்தால் வசதிகள், மதிப்புகளும் தேடிவருகின்றன. ஆனால் வறியவர்களின் நிலை என்ன? உறவுகளையும் உடைமைகளையும் இழந்து
ஏதுமற்றமற்றவர்களாக இறுதிவரை போரிட்டு உங்களுக்கு தனி ஈழம் பெற்றுத்தருவார்கள் நீங்கள் தமிழர் என்று சொல்லிக்கொண்டு, இந்தியாவிலும் புலம் பெயர்ந்த இடங்களிலும் கேக் வெட்டிக் கொண்டாடுவீர்கள்? இலங்கை தமிழருக்கு ஆதரவு என்ற பெயரில் விடுதலைப் புலிகளுக்கு புழக்கடை வழியாக பண உதவி செய்துகொண்டு புலம்பெயர் நாடுகளில் வாழம் எத்தனைப் பேர் தங்கள் வாரிசுகளை
ஆயுதம் தூக்கிப் போராட அனுப்பி வைப்பீர்கள்? வாய்க்கிழிய வீர வசனம் பேசுகிற இந்திய தமிழர்களாகிய நீங்கள், திருட்டுப் படகு ஏறிப்போய் இலங்கை ராணுவத்துடன் நேருக்கு நேர் போரிட வேண்டியதுதானே? இவ்வளவு பேசுகிற நீங்கள் அகதிகளாக இந்தியாவுக்கு வரும் இலங்கைத் தமிழரை எப்படி நடத்துகிறீர்கள்? போர்ச்சூழலில் கணவனை இழந்து கைம்பெண்களாகவும் பெற்றோரை இழந்து
அநாதைகளாய் நிற்கும் குழந்தைகளை நீங்கள் நினைத்துப்பார்த்ததுண்டா? குறைந்தபட்சம் அகதி முகாம்களுக்காவது சென்றதுண்டா? இலங்கையில் நடந்துகொண்டிருக்கும் போர் நூற்றாண்டை எட்டினாலும்கூட பரவாயில்லை என்னும் தோணியில் வெளிப்படும் சிலரின் கருத்துகள் ஆழ்மன வன்மைத்தான் காட்டுகின்றன. இதற்கு தமிழ் இன உணர்வு என முலாம் பூசுவது வறியர்களை சுரண்டிப் பிழைக்கும் ஈனச்
செயலன்றி வேறில்லை. 37 முத்துக்குமாரர்களின் தற்கொலைக்கு காரணமானதும் இதுதான். சிங்கள அரசியல்வாதிகள்தான் இனவெறியர்களாக தமிழர்களை கொன்று குவிக்கிறார்கள் எனில் தமிழன் இன்னொரு தமிழனை கொல்வதை எந்த வகையில் சேர்ப்பது

? அப்பாவித் தமிழர்களை கேடயமாகப் பயன்படுத்துவதும், மீறிச் செல்பவர்களை இரக்கமில்லாமல் சுட்டுக்கொல்வதும் இன சுத்திகரிப்புச் செயலா? இதையெல்லாம் மறைத்துவிட்டு நீங்கள் யாருக்காக போரை நிறுத்து என்று கூவிக்கொண்டிருக்கிறீர்கள்? தமிழ் ஊடகங்களில் இத்தகைய வமர்சனங்கள் வெளிவற வாய்ப்பே இல்லை. புலிகள் ஆதரவு இணைய தளங்கள் கொடுக்கும் செய்திதான் இவர்களுடைய
செய்தி மூலங்கள். பிறகு எப்படி நியாயமான செய்திகள் தெரிய வரும்? ‘நேற்று நடந்த சண்டையில் 50 புலிகள் இறந்துவிட்டனர்‘ என்கிற செய்தி பலரை தூக்கி வாரிப்போடுகிறது. உடனே செய்தி வெளியிட்ட ஊடகத்திடம் எப்படி நீங்கள் இந்த செய்தியை வெளியிடலாம் என்கிறார்கள். சமீபத்தில் புலிகள் ஆயுதங்களை கீழே போட்டு அமைதிப்பேச்சுக்கு வரவேண்டும் என்று அமெரிக்கா விட்டிருந்த
அறிக்கையை வெளியிட்டதற்காக குறிப்பிட்ட அந்த ஊடகத்திற்கு தமிழகத்தின் மூத்த புலிகள் ஆதரவாளரிடமிருந்து தொலைபேசி அழைப்பு போயிருக்கிறது. இந்த ஆதரவாளர்களின் நிலையெல்லாம் புலிகள் பலியாகிறார்களே என்கிற கரிசனம் அல்ல.. புலிகள் இல்லையென்றால் ஒட்டுமொத்த போராட்டமே இல்லை, புலிகள் எந்த நிலையிலும் தங்கள் நிலையை விட்டு கீழிறங்கி வரக்கூடாது என்று இவர்களாக
கட்டமைக்கும் ஹீரோயிசம்தான் பின்னணி காரணங்கள். இலங்கையில் ஆயுதம் தாங்கிய போராட்டம் 1970க்கு முன்பிருந்தே நடந்துகொண்டிருக்கிறது. 1970களுக்குப் பிறகு பெரிய அளவில் பரவியது என ஈழப்போராட்த்தின் முன்னோடிகளில் ஒருவரான, மறைந்த சி.புஷ்பராஜா பதிவு செய்திருக்கிறார். சக போராளிக்குழுக்களை எப்படி திட்டமிட்டு விடுதலைப் புலிகள் அழித்தார்கள் என்பதையும்
சி.புஷ்பராஜா தன்னுடைய ஈழப்போராட்டத்தில் எனது சாட்சியம் என்ற நூலில் விரிவாகவே பேசியிருக்கிறார்.

என்னுடைய நோக்கம் விடுதலைப் புலிகளை விமர்சிப்பதல்ல, அதற்கான நேரமும் இதுவல்ல என்று எனக்குத் தெரியும். வெறுமனே போர் நிறுத்தத்தை மட்டுமே எத்தனை காலத்துக்கு பேசுவீர்கள் என்ற ஆதங்கத்தின் அடிப்படையிலே நிரந்தர அமைதிக்கான வழிகள் குறித்து பேசுங்கள் என எழுதினேன். உலகில் நடக்கும் எந்தவொரு போராட்டத்தையும் மற்றொரு போராட்டத்துடன் ஒப்பிட முடியாது. நேளாப
சூழலுடன் இலங்கை சூழலை ஒப்பிடவில்லை. அதிலிருந்து கற்க விஷயங்கள் உண்டு என்பதையே வலியுறுத்துகிறேன். புதிய புத்தகம் பேசுது இதழுக்கு அளித்த நேர்காணலில் அ.மார்க்ஸ் இதை தெளிவாக சொல்லியிருக்கிறார். கீற்றுவில் வெளியான அவருடைய நேர்காணலைப் படிக்க இங்கே சொடுக்கவும்.ஈழத்தமிழர் போராட்டத்தையும் இன்னல்களையும் மலிவான அரசியலுக்காகப் பயன்படுத்தும் தமிழக
அரசியல்வாதிகளைப்போல சாகச மனநிலையில் அணுகும் பெருங்கும்பல்கள் தமிழகத்திலும் புலம்பெயர்ந்த இடங்களில் இருக்கிறது என்ற ஷோபா சக்தியின் கூற்றை இங்கே நினைவுபடுத்துகிறேன்

. உங்கள் சாகச மனோநிலைக்கு இன்னும் பல அப்பாவிகளை பலியாக்க விரும்புகிறீர்கள். ஈழத்தமிழர்களின் அடிப்படை மனிதாபிமான பிரச்சினைகளை ஏன் பார்க்க மறுக்கிறீர்கள்? இனப்படுகொலையைவிட இதுதான் கொடியது!

இறுதியாக…எனக்கும் போதாமைகள் இருக்கலாம். ஆனால் அடிப்படைக்கூட தெரியாமல் எழுத எப்போதும் நான் முயற்சித்தது கிடையாது. தெரியாத விஷயங்களை எழுதுவதும் கிடையாது. தமிழனாக அல்லது இலங்கை தமிழனாக பிறந்து வாழந்தால் மட்டுமே இலங்கை தமிழர் பிரச்சினை குறித்து பேச தகுதியாக நீங்கள் வரையறுத்து வைத்திருக்கலாம். ஆனால் பேசுவது மனிதாபிமான அடிப்படையில். அதற்கு மனிதன்
என்பதைவிட வேறு எந்த தகுதிகளும் தேவையில்லை!

.............
நீங்கள் உங்களுடைய இலங்கைத்தமிழர் (ஈழத்தமிழரைச் சொல்கிறீர்களோ?) பற்றிய இடுகையிலே பின்னூட்டத்தினை அனுமதிப்பதாகத் தெரியவில்லை.

சி. புஸ்பராஜா, அ. மார்க்ஸ். ஷோபா சக்தி இவர்களைமட்டும் தேர்ந்தெடுத்து உசாத்துணை தரும் உங்களைப் போன்றவர்களிடம் இப்படியான செயற்பாட்டினை எதிர்பார்க்கவேண்டியதுதான்.

நீங்கள் சுட்டியவர்களின் சாகசங்கள் பற்றி உங்களைவிட அதிகம் அறிந்தவர்கள் என்ற அளவிலே நாங்கள் பட்டியலிடலாம். என்ன செய்வீர்கள்? புலி ஆதரவாளர்கள் என்று ஓரங்கட்டிப் பட்டியலிடுவீர்கள். தமிழ்ச்செல்வன், மாதவராஜ் போன்ற பல பொய்யுடமைவாதிகளைப் பார்த்தாகிவிட்டது. எல்லோருக்கும் தமக்குச் சிக்கல் வராதவரைக்கும் வசதிக்குப் பொதுவுடமையும் மனிதாபிமானமும்
தேவைப்படுகிறது. இவ்வகையிலே நடைமுறைக்குத் தப்பித்துக்கொண்டு, சுற்றியிருப்பவர்களிடையே பெரிய மனிதாபிமானப்போர்வார்ப்புண்ணாக்கு என்று பெயரெடுப்பதற்கு இப்படியான 'இலங்கைத்தமிழர்கள்' (ஸ்ரீலங்கா தமிழர்களோ?) பற்றிய பதிவுகள் சிலருக்கு அவசியமே.

இன்னமும் எழுதலாம். எதற்கு? அலுத்துவிட்டது. சோனியா அம்மையாருக்கும் நந்தினி அம்மையாருக்கும் பெரிய வேறுபாடில்லை; இருவருக்கும் 'மனிதாபிமானமும்' 'விலங்குப்பண்பெதிர்ப்பும்' பொங்கி, பொங்கற்பானையிலிருந்து வழிந்தோடுகிறது.

எதற்கும் அ. மார்க்ஸ் பற்றி திரேதா(தாரகா?) எழூதி கீற்றிலே வந்த கட்டுரையையும் படித்துவிடுங்களே? இந்தியப்பத்திரிகையாளர்களைப் பற்றி எமக்குப் பெரிதும் மதிப்பில்லை. அதனாலே, இத்தோடு நிறுத்திவிடுகிறோம்.

இப்பின்னூட்டம் அனுமதிக்கப்படுமென்ற நம்பிக்கையில்லை. ஆனால், பதிவுலகிலே இதனைப் பார்வைக்குக் கொண்டு செல்வது அத்துணை கடினமில்லை என்பதை உணர்வீர்களென்று நிச்சயமாக நம்புகிறோம்.

செய்திகளும் பார்வைகளும்: 1 மே 2009 வெள்ளி - 1

2009-05-01T05:58:00.000-07:00

SRI LANKA: Nationalists call for the use of choppers and machetes

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
AHRC-STM-091-2009
[Asian Human Rights Commission]
April 30, 2009

A Statement by the Asian Human Rights Commission

SRI LANKA: Nationalists call for the use of choppers and machetes
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1999/
"We may have to take choppers and machetes, we will have to attack
with choppers those who jump over the boundaries," chanted a group of
people from Hela Urumaya, (a Sinhala heritage party), gathered in
front of the British High Commission to protest the visits of the
British Foreign Secretary, David Milliband and his French counterpart,
Bernard Kouchner. The Swedish Foreign Minister, Carl Bildt, was denied
a visa to join the delegation. Photographs of the protest show
Buddhist monks seated in front of the slogan chanting crowd. Meanwhile
a large poster exhibited the photographs of David Milliband, Hilary
Clinton, American Secretary of State and Erik Solheim the Norwegian
minister for the Environment and Development with the slogan: Wanted
for Aiding and Abetting Terrorism.

The purpose of the visit of the British and French foreign secretaries
was to inspect the humanitarian situation of the civilians trapped in
the no-fire zone where the LTTE and the government forces are engaged
in fierce battles. The concerns expressed by these foreign politicians
was on behalf of the civilians whose numbers are estimated to be
around 80,000 to 140,000 including women, children and the elderly.
The call for humanitarian concern has been portrayed in the media and
by extremist racist elements as an attempt to extend a lifeline to the
LTTE. One of the placards read: 'Gordon Brown would you give a
humanitarian lifeline to Osama Bin laden?'

Full Text is at
http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2009statements/1999/
-----

[Guardian]
IMF under pressure to delay Sri Lanka's $1.9bn aid loan
• Calls for ceasefire against Tamil Tigers rejected
• Military offensive is humanitarian - Rajapaksa

Peter Beaumont The Guardian, Friday 1 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/c5ynm8

The International Monetary Fund came under growing pressure yesterday
to delay a $1.9bn (£1.3bn) emergency loan to Sri Lanka, as Colombo
emphatically rejected British and French calls for a ceasefire in its
campaign against the Tamil Tigers.

A day after David Miliband, the foreign secretary, and his French
counterpart Bernard Kouchner called for a truce on a visit to the
country, President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that he "did not need
lectures from western representatives".

Despite clear evidence of suffering among the tens of thousands of
civilians who remain trapped with the Tamil Tigers in an increasingly
small pocket of land, Rajapaksa described the military offensive in
the country's north as a "humanitarian operation".

Full Text is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/01/imf-aid-sri-lanka-tamil-tigers
-----

[ReliefWeb]

Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 4
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA)

Date: 30 Apr 2009

Full_Report (pdf* format)
http://tinyurl.com/dd3tuf
This report covers the period from 29 to 30 April 2009. The next
report will be issued on or around 01 May.

I. Highlights

- British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Affairs
Minister Bernard Kouchner have concluded their visit on the Island.
They met Government officials and visited Vavuniya.

- The British Under-Secretary of State for International Development
told the British House of Commons during a debate on Sri Lanka that
the UK will call for an early investigation as to whether crimes have
been committed against civilians during the current crisis.

- The Emergency Relief Coordinator (ERC), John Holmes, has expressed
his concern over the plight of an estimated 50,000 people trapped in
the conflict zone. "These people are not only in danger from the
shelling and the shooting, but they are suffering extensively due to
shortages of medical supplies, food and water," Mr. Holmes told
journalists after returning from a two day mission to Sri Lanka.

- During his meetings with the Government the ERC stressed the need
for a humanitarian pause to enable access for UN humanitarian staff to
the combat zone to assess the conditions and needs of the civilians
and to provide assistance. However, Government officials rejected the
request.

- The ERC called on the Government to exercise restraint in the
conflict zone, particularly the use of heavy weapons which they had
said earlier in the week that they would not use. He added that it is
vital that the LTTE release the civilians who they are holding against
their will and allow them to leave the conflict zone.

- In addition to the importance of meeting the immediate material
humanitarian needs of over 170,000 displaced in camps and hospitals,
the ERC also cited the need to address issues such as family
reunification in the IDP camps, removal of the military presence from
the camps, freedom of movement for the IDPs and planning for the early
return to their home areas as demining is completed.

- The UNHCR Representative has welcomed the first Government organized
return of IDPs to Musali in Mannar district, after they had been
displaced for approximately two years. UNHCR has expressed that they
"hope that IDP return to other areas in Northern Sri Lanka will soon
also be possible."

full Text is at
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MUMA-7RM2HX?OpenDocument

Full Report is at
http://tinyurl.com/dd3tuf
------
[Reuters] (Embedded Army Excursion)
WITNESS: A fleeting glimpse of Sri Lanka's hidden war zone
Fri May 1, 2009 3:27am BST
David Gray

David Gray is an Australian photographer who has covered everything
from earthquakes, to wars, to major sports events across the Asia-
Pacific region. He won Australia's top press photography award last
year with his portfolio of 10 images from the Sichuan earthquake in
China, the Olympic Games, Tibet and daily life in China. Based in
Beijing, he has been on assignment in Sri Lanka for the past few
weeks.

PUTUMATTALAN, Sri Lanka (Reuters) - Getting to the frontline of the
Sri Lankan army's war with the Tamil Tigers entailed a hair-rising
helicopter trip over the jungle and a bone-jarring ride past scorched
homes to the war zone.

Foreign journalists and aid groups have generally been kept away from
the area where government troops have battled the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for months.

On those rare occasions when the government permits a trip to the
front, the hazardous journey there and back takes just one day. Yet,
as I found out, it could be a world away

Full Text is at
http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKTRE54004720090501
----
[BBC]
07:10 GMT, Friday, 1 May 2009 08:10 UK
Sri Lankan Army Website Hacked
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8028288.stm
The website of the Sri Lankan army has been attacked by suspected
Tamil Tiger hackers, government officials said.

Material on the site - www.army.lk - was removed and replaced with
graphic photographs of what were said to be civilian victims of the
civil war.

The army website is now being restored by technicians.

The government and Tamil Tigers are engaged in a fierce propaganda war
as the conflict in the north-east rages in a small stretch of land

Full Text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8028288.stm

Also Read
[பதிவு]
30/04/2009, 16:01 [ஆசிரியர்]
தமிழ் தேசிய ஊடகங்களை குறிவைத்து அழிக்கும் கூட்டுச்சதி
http://www.pathivu.com/news/1595/54//d,view.aspx
-----

[KBC] (old)
Terror on the Tamils
15-02-09
http://tinyurl.com/dazv3s
Video is at
http://www.kbcchannel.tv/index.php?option=com_hwdvideoshare&task=viewvideo&Itemid=125&video_id=50
-----

[Relief Web]
UNHCR sends emergency team as first group of civilians returns to Sri
Lanka’s north
Source: United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

Date: 01 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/cpgyf2

This is a summary of what was said by the UNHCR spokesperson at
today's Palais des Nations press briefing in Geneva. Further
information can be found on the UNHCR websites, www.unhcr.org and
www.unhcr.fr, which should also be checked for regular media updates
on non-briefing days.

A second team of UNHCR emergency experts is scheduled to arrive today
in Sri Lanka. The team of four includes specialists on community
services, protection and other essential field functions. They follow
the earlier deployment of five UNHCR experts to Sri Lanka's north in
February and March.

About 171,000 internally displaced people (IDPs) have fled the
conflict zone, mostly during the last 10 days. They are accommodated
in 38 sites in four districts of the north and east of the country.
UNHCR and its partners have mounted a massive humanitarian operation
in support of the Government to assist these displaced people.

While thousands of displaced people continue to arrive to Vavuniya,
Jaffna and Trincomalee, others are returning to their homes in the
first Government organised return operation in northern Sri Lanka for
years. The area to where they are returning, Musali in Mannar
district, was for a long time the frontline in the fighting between
Government forces and LTTE rebels.

Full Text is at
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/PSLG-7RMFFM?OpenDocument
-----

[AFP]
Sri Lanka urges civilians to flee war zone
By RAVI NESSMAN – 1 May 2009
http://tinyurl.com/dhotos
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Sri Lanka's government dropped leaflets
across the northern war zone Friday urging civilians to flee the
fighting amid accusations the military pounded the area with artillery
shells that killed at least 10 civilians.

Government forces have cornered the Tamil Tiger rebels in a 3-mile (5
kilometer) -long strip along the northeast coast and appear poised to
end the quarter-century civil war.

However, international pressure has grown for a cease-fire to protect
tens of thousands of ethnic Tamil civilians trapped in the area. The
government accuses the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam rebels of
holding the civilians hostage.

In a brief leaflet dropped by aircraft on the area, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa appealed to the civilians to flee across the front lines,
according to the government.

"Your suffering is prolonged by this action of the LTTE who are
holding you as a human shield for their own safety and security," the
leaflet said. "I appeal to every one of you to come over to the
cleared areas."

Full Text is at
http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gVoaDFmbCYS-Usz9ACDRIengj21QD97TDPT80
-----

[Global Post]
In peace, Sri Lankans still disappear
Even in areas government forces have controlled since 2007, Tamil
civilians continue to go missing.
By Maura R. O'Connor — Special to GlobalPost
Published: May 1, 2009 07:12 ET
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1311840
BATTICALOA, Sri Lanka (Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting) — When the
Venkatesans recall how many of their family members have disappeared,
the husband and wife look down at their hands and begin counting
fingers. Four of their relations are missing, each abducted in the
night by unmarked white vans. Three were taken in the last four
months.

For any other family around the world, this number would be shocking.
But for an ethnic Tamil family in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, it is
unremarkable. For decades the region’s civilians have been traumatized
by widespread disappearances, and they believe the majority of them
are perpetrated by government security forces or government-backed
paramilitary groups.

“We are powerless and don’t know what to do,” said Mrs. Venkatesan
(the name has been changed at her request). Her only son was abducted
last year and held in a prison for 11 months without charge. The 27-
year-old said the police tortured him by beating the bottom of his
feet. “When you are 40 years old, you will never walk again,” he said
they told him. Last December he was released without explanation,
narrowly escaping becoming another finger to count on his mother’s
hand.

Full Text is at
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1311840
-----

[Global Post]
East offers glimpse of post-war Sri Lanka
Civilians still suffer from fear two years since conflict ended.
By Maura R. O'Connor — Special to GlobalPost
Published: May 1, 2009 07:08 ET
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1312517
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting) — As the Sri
Lankan government enters its final battle with the Liberation Tigers
of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the country's north, little attention is
being paid to the Eastern Province.

The government won control of this territory nearly two years ago,
after a long military battle, and has since touted the region as a
political and humanitarian success story.

The East has in fact become the government’s blueprint for future
plans in the North. “The people of the Northern Province must have the
opportunity to enjoy the fruits of democracy and development that the
people of the Eastern Province are enjoying today,” Secretary of
Foreign Affairs Palitha T.B. Kohona said last month.

During a talk at the Mt. Lavinia Hotel, a colonial-era behemoth rising
above the Indian Ocean outside of Colombo, the capital, Kohona
portrayed the East as a community which has “started to sense and feel
the true spirit of freedom, absence of fear and the joy of living that
was not theirs during the last three decades.”

Many residents of the Eastern Province would not recognize this
description of their homeland. Their daily lives remain wracked with
fears of violence, abductions, rape, illegal taxation and ongoing
oppression by government security forces and government-supported
paramilitary groups, such as the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal
(TMVP).

“This is almost worse than before,” said one resident of Trincomalee,
referring to the period until mid-2007 when the East was under the
control of the LTTE. “We are not living, we are still surviving. We
know anytime, anything can happen to us.”

Full Text is at
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1312517
-----

[Global Post]
Tamil civilians endured horror
As Tamils flee Sri Lanka's conflict zone, details of their situation
emerge.
By Maura R. O'Connor — Special to GlobalPost
Published: April 24, 2009 08:40 ET
Updated: April 30, 2009 19:25 ET
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1208598

This week an estimated 100,000 ethnic Tamils fled from the no-fire
zone turned battlefield between Sri Lanka's government and the
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the country's northern
Vanni region.

This dramatic mass exodus comes after civilians survived for four
months on a 17 kilometer (10.5 mile) strip of land abutting the Indian
Ocean. There the civilians were reportedly kept hostage at gunpoint
and used as a human shield by the LTTE, while being shelled repeatedly
by military forces.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
4,500 civilians were killed in the last three months.

The war is not over for the civilians who still remain trapped in the
combat zone. Estimates of the exact number vary wildly: A government
source said Thursday that there were no more than 15,000 people, while
aid agencies estimate that at least 50,000 remained. A Sri Lankan
medical doctor still in the combat zone said he believes 200,000 were
stuck there.

Full text is at
http://www.globalpost.com/print/1208598
-----

[Express Buzz]
Tragedy accompanies Tamils to safety
P V Krishna Rao
First Published : 01 May 2009 03:14:35 PM IST
http://tinyurl.com/cas33f
KAKINADA: It was a nightmare,’’ says Mary Joseph Beny (55) of
Malletivu in Sri Lanka, one of the party comprising three families
that fled the island on April 20 and fetched up at Uppada in East
Godavari district only last night.

Sitting in the Government General Hospital here by the bedside of her
traumatised daughter, Potima (25), she recalls the tragic and
agonising journey of the three families comprising 22 people, half of
whom, including children, perished to dehydration and hunger on the
“fibre’’ boat. Racked with sobs, she says the bodies -- including
those of her husband, three sons, a daughter and a four-year-old
grandson -- had to be thrown into the sea.

Two others, Kaladevi (70) and Santa (33), are undergoing treatment.
Full Text is at
http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/story.aspx?Title=Tragedy+accompanies+Tamils+to+safety&artid=ldVRha/G1aM=&SectionID=e7uPP4%7CpSiw=&MainSectionID=oHSKVfNWYm0=&SectionName=EH8HilNJ2uYAot5nzqumeA==&SEO=
-----

[AM640 Toronto Radio]
John Oaklay Show - Canada (Audio)
30 April 2009
Debate BANDULA JAYASEKARA, Sri Lankan Consulate General in Toronto &
MANJULA SELAVARAJAH
http://www.640toronto.com/HostsandShows/JohnOakley/Audio.aspx
(Temporary Link)
-----

[Livenews.com.au]
Tamil protesters causes chaos in Sydney CBD
Friday, 1 May 2009 7:12 PM
Olivia Suzanski
http://www.livenews.com.au/news/tamil-protesters-causes-chaos-in-sydney-cbd/2009/5/1/204860
There is traffic chaos in Sydney's CBD tonight as Tamil Tiger
supporters protest.

Tamil protesters are stepping up their campaign for the federal
government to take action in Sri Lanka, blocking traffic in George
street, between Park and Bathurst streets.

The protesters want the government to to support a ceasefire in the
civil war in the north of the Indian Ocean island nation.

Protester Adrian Francis has told 2GB's Ross Greenwood they are not
going to budge until the Australian government enters talks with the
Sri Lankan government.

"We haven't had any affirmative action from anybody, from any
government officials. We haven't had anything."

text is at
http://www.livenews.com.au/news/tamil-protesters-causes-chaos-in-sydney-cbd/2009/5/1/204860
-----
[Toronto Star]
Tamil protest tiny price for freedom
May 01, 2009 04:30 AM

Rosie DiManno
http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/627146
An officer pinches the bridge of his nose, rubs his temples.

Gets to hurtin' the head, these raucous street-level demonstrations,
bullhorns blaring in the ears, and there's been five days of it,
already.

It was the noise that local law enforcement addressed first, Wednesday
night into yesterday morning, disabling the generator and sound system
that had so resoundingly amplified a protest by Toronto-area Tamils
along a stretch of elegant University Ave.

Hospitals had complained. Courthouse officials had complained. Nearby
residents had complained. That cacophony of objections must have
registered with higher decibels than the griping of motorists
attempting to navigate traffic snarls.

Since the demonstrators assembled Sunday evening, shortly thereafter
forcing the closure of University between Queen and Dundas, appeals by
the public to city officials had fallen on deaf ears.

Full Text is at
http://www.thestar.com/News/Columnist/article/627146

Briefing by Holmes at Security Council on 30th April 2009: leaked Copy by Inner City Press

2009-04-30T18:24:00.000-07:00

Briefing by Holmes at Security Council on 30th April 2009: leaked Copy by Inner City Press
http://www.innercitypress.com/holmes043009.pdf

[Reuters]
U.N. council sees no need to punish Sri Lanka
Fri May 1, 2009 6:48am IST
By Louis Charbonneau
U.N. council sees no need to punish Sri Lanka
http://in.reuters.com/article/southAsiaNews/idINIndia-39358620090501?pageNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0&sp=true

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The members of the U.N. Security Council
agree there is no point in punishing Sri Lanka by withholding a $1.9
billion International Monetary Fund loan or other steps, the council's
president said on Thursday.

full text is at
http://tinyurl.com/c6nm26

United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs
(OCHA): Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Reports No.3 & No. 4
April 27 & 28
http://tinyurl.com/d86e8m

April 29 & 30
http://tinyurl.com/dd3tuf

More Relevant Reports at
http://tinyurl.com/c6h3an

செய்திகளும் பார்வைகளும் 30 April 2009 Thursday அ

2009-04-30T16:10:00.000-07:00

[New York Times]
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30thu3.html
Editorial
Published: April 29, 2009
Army troops in Sri Lanka are closing in on a dwindling band of Tamil
Tiger separatists who are outgunned on an ever-narrowing battlefield.
It would be a relief if this 25-year fight finally ends. In the
meantime, tens of thousands of terrified civilians are trapped in the
conflict zone — a strip of land about four miles long — and are
running out of food and water. They must be allowed to leave.

Human rights groups have accused both the minority Tamils, who
pioneered suicide bombing as a weapon of war and are widely classified
as terrorists, and Sri Lanka’s government of gross violations. After
several failed attempts at peace talks, the army began this latest
offensive. In recent months, as authorities sensed potential victory,
the attacks have gotten ever more fierce. The United Nations estimates
that more than 6,000 people have been killed and nearly 14,000 wounded
just since the end of January.

While there are no good guys in this fight, the government must do all
that it can to avoid harming civilians in a war zone. You know
officials have something to hide when they bar aid groups and
journalists from the war zone, as Sri Lanka has done since last year.

full text is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/30/opinion/30thu3.html
-----

[Winnepeg Free Press]
Arrests at Tamil demonstration outside U.S. Consulate in Toronto
THE CANADIAN PRESS
http://tinyurl.com/dz6gqo
29/04/2009 11:00 PM
TORONTO - Police say several people have been taken into custody at a
protest by Sri Lankan Tamils and their supporters outside the U.S.
Consulate in Toronto.

A Toronto police spokesman says nine people were arrested late this
afternoon, but he couldn't provide details on what charges they may be
facing. The demonstration began on Sunday night and shut down part of
University Avenue, a busy downtown thoroughfare.

The demonstrators are demanding U.S. President Barack Obama intervene
to stop what they call a continuing genocide in Sri Lanka.

full text is at
http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/canada/breakingnews/Arrests-at-Tamil...
-----

[Worl Socialist website]
Imperialist hypocrisy over the Sri Lankan war
30 April 2009
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/pers-a30.shtml

The human tragedy unfolding in northern Sri Lanka has become the
occasion for an outpouring of hypocritical concern, on the part of the
major powers, for the plight of an estimated 50,000 civilians trapped
in fighting between the army and the separatist Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Over the past week, the US, the European Union (EU) and the UN
Security Council have called on the Sri Lankan government for a
ceasefire, dispatching their emissaries, UN humanitarian chief John
Holmes, British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign
Minister Bernard Kouchner, to Colombo.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected the appeals for a
temporary halt to the fighting and for a UN humanitarian team to visit
the war zone, insisting that the LTTE, now confined to a tiny pocket
of territory, must unconditionally surrender or be annihilated. Even
the government’s pledge this week to stop using heavy weapons was
broken within hours of its announcement. As a result, hundreds of men,
women and children have been killed in the past week.

full text is at
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/apr2009/pers-a30.shtml
-----

[Inner City Press]
Sri Lanka Disputes UN's Lack of Access, EU's Tariff Investigation as
"Hype"
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- The capture of the UN by Sri Lanka became
clear Wednesday in back to back interviews with the UN's top
humanitarian John Holmes, followed by Sri Lanka's Ambassador
Palihakkara. Inner City Press asked John Holmes about Sri Lanka's
arrest of UN staff, and cut off of pay to doctors in the conflict
zone. Holmes said he wasn't aware of the arrests, and that the
doctors, according to the government, might be "under pressure from
the LTTE." Video here, from Minute 27:28. Holmes nevertheless
complained for the record about Sri Lanka reneging on its promise to
UN envoy Vijay Nambiar to allow a humanitarian assessment team into
the conflict zone.

Sri Lanka's Permanent Representative to the UN Palihakkara, on the
other hand, told Inner City Press that lack of access to the zone was
the UN's fault. "They have to go on the ship" of the ICRC, he said,
"security experts first." Palihakkara also dismissed the European
Union's complaints about the exclusion of the foreign minister of
Sweden, the next EU president. It is "a bit over-exaggerated,"
Palihakkara said, stating that the minister of Sweden has been
"invited in May. "Everything about Sri Lanka is a bit hype now," he
said.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/ocha8srilanka042909.html
Related Video
http://webcast.un.org/ramgen/ondemand/pressconference/2009/pc090429pm...
-----

[Inner City Press]
Sri Lanka Damage Satellite Photos Withheld by UNITAR, IOM Staff
Detained
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 29 -- A UN agency produced satellite photographs
of damage to the conflict zone in Sri Lanka, but unlike in the Gaza
conflict did not release them to the public. The UN Institute for
Training and Research has a program known as UNOSAT which produced the
attached April 19 photographic report on "Satellite Detected Damages
and IDP Shelter Movement in CSZ, Mulattivu District, Sri Lanka."
Unlike UNITAR's January 10, 2009 report on Gaza, however, the Sri
Lanka report was not released by the UN, but rather was leaked.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/iom1unitar042909.html
Full Copy of Satellite Image_Report
http://www.innercitypress.com/UNOSAT19April09.pdf
-----

[ReliefWeb]
Sri Lanka: Vanni Emergency OCHA Situation Report No. 3
Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs (OCHA)

Date: 29 Apr 2009

Full_Report (pdf format)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&sho...

This report covers the period from 27 to 28 April 2009. The next
report will be issued on or around 30 April.

I. Highlights

British Foreign Secretary David Miliband and French Foreign Minister
Bernard Kouchner arrived in Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009 and visited the
Kataragama model village and Cheddikulam hospital in Vavuniya. They
called on the Government to end its military operations and allow
humanitarian aid to be delivered to the conflict zone.
The Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs committed US$ 3.15 million
in humanitarian assistance for Sri Lanka on 29 April 2009. In a press
release, he restated his view that the safety and protection of
civilians must be the absolute priority for all sides engaged in
fighting in northern Sri Lanka. Australia also urged that a UN
humanitarian team in Sri Lanka be given access to the conflict zone.
The High Commissioner for Refugees issued a statement warning that
"conditions at the IDP sites have reached breaking point, placing
severe strains on the humanitarian services available."
Humanitarian agencies on the ground report that a total of 4,500 tents
have been erected in Menik Farm Zone 2.
ICRC reports that it evacuated 520 people from the conflict zone by
boat on 29 April, bringing the total number of people evacuated by
ICRC to almost 12,000 since 11 February 2009.
Another UNHCR humanitarian flight, carrying 103 metric tons of aid,
arrived early today in Colombo.
No new arrivals from Omanthai entry/exit point were reported in the
last 24 hours.

II. Access & Security
Sri Lankan security forces continue their operations in the conflict
zone and captured the Rektavaikkal junction on 28 April. Two aerial
bombardments on the "no fire zone" were reported on 28 April.
ICRC has carried out an additional evacuation of 520 people from the
conflict zone to Pulmoddai (Trincomalee District) on 29 April.

III. Situation Overview
No new arrivals from Omanthai entry/exit point were reported in the
last 24 hours. During the period 27 October 2008 to 29 April 2009
171,184 persons have crossed to the government controlled areas from
the conflict zone, according to Government figures. This represents an
increase of 9,419 IDPs since the last report (Sitrep No.2) on 28 April
2009. More than 100,000 people have left the conflict zone since 20
April 2009
The number of people accommodated in temporary camps is 169,280. This
includes: 152,671(1) in Vavuniya, 52(2) in Mannar, 11,089(3) in Jaffna
and 5,468 in Trincomalee. In addition, 1,904(4) IDPs are in hospitals
in various districts(5) as of 27 April 2009 (this figure includes
injured and care givers).
More than 50,000 civilians are believed to be trapped in the conflict
zone.
As overcrowding of the existing IDP camps continues to be an issue of
concern, a new IDP site, "Va/Komarasankulam School", has been created
in Vavuniya and 2,385 IDPs from "Va/Rambakulam Ladies College
(Convent)" were transferred to the camp.
In response to the request by humanitarian agencies to allow freedom
of movement of IDPs and release vulnerable populations from the IDP
camps, the Government authorities have released 111 elderly IDPs from
Menik Farm camp (Semi permanent site) and Vavuniya Sivapirakasa Ladies
College while 10 elderly IDPs were released from camps in Jaffna
district. Since the beginning of the year, Government authorities have
released a total of 1,252 individuals from camps.

Text is from
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/KERN-7RL2DV?OpenDocument

[New York Times]
Sri Lanka Rejects “Lectures” from Western Countries on Truce With
Rebels
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: April 30, 2009

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01lanka.html?ref=asia
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — One of the highest-level European delegations to
visit this war-torn country in years has failed to persuade the Sri
Lankan government to declare a temporary truce with ethnic Tamil
rebels.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa emphatically rejected the appeal Thursday
and told Western governments to stop lecturing him, news agencies
reported.

“The government is not ready to enter into any kind of cease-fire with
the terrorists,” he said. “It is my duty to protect the people of this
country. I don’t need lectures from Western representatives,” he said
in a speech distributed by his office and quoted by the agencies.

“They’re not willing,” David Miliband, Britain’s foreign secretary,
said in an interview after talks Wednesday with Mr. Rajapaksa and
other officials. “The furthest the government has gone is to commit to
no heavy weaponry and to minimize what they call collateral damage,
mainly the damage to civilians.”

The delegation, which also included Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner
of France, paid a one-day visit as intense fighting raged near tens of
thousands of civilians who were being held as human shields by Tamil
rebels.

full text is at
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01lanka.html?ref=asia
Also see
[BBC]
Sri Lanka rejects West 'lectures'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8026639.stm

-----

[Himal Southasian] (connected to Akilan Kadirgamar)
Burning trump
May 2009
By: Cynthia Stephen

As elections to the Lok Sabha go forward, the plight of the Tamils of
Sri Lanka remains conspicuously in the background in electioneering in
Tamil Nadu.
http://www.himalmag.com/Burning-trump_nw2909.html
The police will try to lay my body to rest. Don’t allow them to do
that! Capture my dead body, don’t bury it, and use it as a trump card
to sharpen your struggle!” said K Muthukumar in a four-page written
statement in Tamil that he left at the site of his public self-
immolation in Madras on 29 January. Muthukumar, a young journalist,
was protesting the inaction of the Tamil Nadu government in the
ongoing humanitarian tragedy in Sri Lanka, as the Colombo military
continued to pound the area controlled by the Tigers. All the while,
over 100,000 civilians are thought to have been herded together by the
LTTE into a tiny, 20-sq-km ‘No-fire zone’ in the Vanni (see
accompanying story, “And the war continues”). In the end, Muthukumar’s
exhortations went unheeded. The students and youths to whom his final
remarks were primarily addressed were eventually persuaded otherwise
by local political leaders. Just two days after Muthukumar’s death,
the last rites were performed on his body, and he was given a martyr’s
funeral.

Timing has been a significant factor in the lead-up to the Lok Sabha
elections, slated for 13 May in Tamil Nadu. Just as the violence in
Sri Lanka had the potential to affect the state polls, Muthukumar’s
self-immolation and the subsequent public anger had carried the
possibility of bringing the humanitarian tragedy in the LTTE-
controlled areas of Sri Lanka to the forefront of the national
electoral battle. The ground reality, however, turned out to be rather
different. “Muthukumar’s death started a fire, but this has been
doused by the politicians,” says Bala, a longtime political observer
and cartoonist with Kumudam, a popular Tamil magazine. “So while the
issue is uppermost in the minds of a number of educated urban youth,
it has been more or less pushed out of sight in the general
discourse.”

full text is at
http://www.himalmag.com/Burning-trump_nw2909.html
-----
[Himasal Southasian]
Anthropology revisited
The politics of war zone writing

By Darini Rajasingham Senanayake
http://www.himalmag.com/Anthropology-revisited_fnw15.html

On 24 April 2005 Dharmaratnam Sivaram, (‘Taraki’) editorial board
member of the pro-Tamil website Tamilnet, was found shot dead from
gunshot wounds to the head several hours after four unidentified
persons had abducted him from a restaurant opposite a Police station
in Colombo. His murder, which followed weeks of threats, is as yet
“unsolved.”

Four years after his death, it is instructive to revisit his politics
and draw lessons from a life lived amidst violence. Mark Whitaker’s
Learning Politics from Sivaram: The Life and Death of a Revolutionary
Tamil Journalist (Pluto Press, 2006) is an extended and moving act of
mourning and meditation for Sivaram, and arguably the best and
brightest of a generation of youth lost in Sri Lanka’s interminable
post-colonial conflicts. Here is a fine grained, powerful, reflection
on war, violence, nationalism and their diminishing returns – not only
in Sri Lanka. For those who start reading the book knowing the tragic
end of its (anti) hero, this biography of the “life and death of a
revolutionary Tamil journalist” is a celebration of a life lived to
the full (if not always wisely).

Learning Politics from Sivaram is many things: biography, ethnography,
and intellectual history. At one level, the narrative constitutes an
extended ethnographic encounter, initially between a Princeton
Anthropology graduate student and his informant, Sivaram, then a
radical student of politics and philosophy, in Batticaloa, the
picturesque, battle-scarred coastal town on Sri Lanka’s east coast;
their friendship begins with a chance meeting on the steps of the
Batticaloa library. On another level, the book is an ethnography of
Tamil nationalism and its riposte to post-colonial Sinhala
nationalism, violence and displacement. It also touches on Diaspora
identity politics and the transnational networks that shaped and were
shaped by Sivaram. Learning Politics is also about idealism and
disillusionment, violence and anti-violence, among a lost generation
of youth.

full text is at
http://www.himalmag.com/Anthropology-revisited_fnw15.html
-----

[Reuters Alternet]
UN blocking release of Sri Lanka satellite images? 30 Apr 2009
11:50:00 GMT

Written by: Andrew Stroehlein
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/03/30-115006-1.htm

Fresh satellite images of the war zone in northeast Sri Lanka are
available, but the UN agency charged with analysing them is not making
them public. The images contain evidence of severe damage from heavy
artillery and possibly air strikes, suggesting indiscriminate attacks
in areas of high civilian concentration, which could be classed as war
crimes carried out by the government of Sri Lanka.

The photos were taken on 19 April, and UNOSAT produced its analysis in
a ten-page PDF file on 26 April.

Initially that file -- including both images and analysis -- was
publicly available. Human Rights Watch even linked to it in their 27
April press release on Sri Lanka, which called for an international
commission of inquiry into violations of the laws of war by government
forces and the rebel LTTE (Tamil Tigers).

full text is at
http://www.alertnet.org/db/blogs/3159/2009/03/30-115006-1.htm
-----

[Dissident Island Radio]
a very short interview with Raj about London Tamil protest
http://www.dissidentisland.org/ShowArchive/2009-04-17.html
http://www.archive.org/download/DissidentIslandRadio-17April2009-Pict...
http://tinyurl.com/cwlnxf (Audio)
-----
[Edinbarough evening News]
30 April 2009
Protest at Tiger clashes
PROTESTERS will gather at the Scottish Parliament today in opposition
to the Sri Lankan government's offensive against the Tamil Tigers.
Campaigners will call for an immediate ceasefire when they gather at
Holyrood from 11am to 4pm.

Clashes between security forces and the Tamil Tigers have intensified
over recent weeks as the government bids to end nearly 30 years of
conflict.
http://news.scotsman.com/world/Protest-at-Tiger-clashes.5221121.jp

[Indy Media]
Parliament Square Hunger Striker Taken to Hospital
| 30.04.2009 14:33
It's been touch and go this week as 28 year old hunger striker
Parameswarn Subramaniyan's situation has gotten worse. Fearing that he
could die, Mr. Subramaniyan has since agreed to end his hunger strike
and talks are currently going on inside Parliament between the Foreign
Secretary and the Tamil community.

Twenty four days into his hunger strike for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka
between the government and the Tamil Tigers, 28 year old student
Parameswarn Subramaniyan from London has decided to start taking
liquids and food again. He started his hunger strike and has not eaten
solid food since Tuesday 7 April. This change came as the Foreign
Secretary David Miliband agreed to one of the five conditions put to
him by the Tamil protesters who have been occupying Parliament Square
since Monday 6 April. Their protest started in response to claims that
the Sri Lankan government has used chemical weapons against civilians
in Tamil areas of the country. Over this month, the fighting has
escalated with many casualties and hundred of thousands of civilians
trapped without food or water.

Mr. Subramaniyan has lost family in the conflict and vowed to forego
food and water until a ceasefire was declared or until death. At
first, he also refused to take water. Following fears of organ
failure, he agreed to take water. An ambulance and doctors have been
on stand by and a tent has been set up for him to rest in. Over the
last few days, Mr. Subramaniyan’s condition has deteriorated
considerably and there were fears that he would not be able to hold
out for much longer.

full text and photo at
http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2009/04/429000.html
-----
[World Food Program]
WFP Assists 190,000 Sri Lankans Fleeing War Zone
30 April 2009

WFP is now feeding nearly 190,000 internally displaced persons in the
northern Vavuniya and Jaffna districts. An estimated 120,000 of these
IDPs arrived over the last ten days after escaping the conflict zone
in Mallaitivu.

by Heather Sutliff
http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-assists-190000-srilankas-fleeing-war-zone

COLOMBO – WFP ramped up its assistance to after receiving a request
from the Government of Sri Lanka to support its efforts in meeting the
basic needs of this massive influx of IDPs. The IDPs are being
assisted in more than 40 transit centres and 'welfare villages' set up
in Vavuniya and Jaffna.

“WFP has enough resources to provide food to the IDPs in the short-
term, but this is a very dynamic situation and to maintain much needed
food assistance we are appealing for funds from the international
community now,” said Adnan Khan, WFP Representative and Country
Director in Sri Lanka.

Full Text is at
http://www.wfp.org/stories/wfp-assists-190000-srilankas-fleeing-war-zone
-----

[Inner City Press]
As Sri Lanka Descends to UN Basement, Underground Envoy Talk

Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 30 -- In the run up to the Security Council's
third “informal interactive dialogue” on Sri Lanka, slated for 5 p.m.
Thursday in the UN basement, sources tell Inner City Press that a move
is afoot to try to formally appoint a Special Envoy to Sri Lanka.
Mexico, which passes the body's Presidency to Russia on Friday, is
said to be looking to cap its schizophrenic month atop the Council by
finally having an outcome, or output: an envoy.

Vijay Nambiar's trip on behalf of Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is
now widely viewed as a failure, even as buying more time for Colombo
to continue its assault and siege on the conflict zone. Nambair,
according to Ban, won a commitment by President Mahinda Rajapaksa to
allow a UN humanitarian assessment team into the No Fire Zone. This
commitment, if it was ever sincere, was immediately rescinded.
Nambiar, a otherwise affable and approachable UN official, has yet to
take a single Press question on what was in fact committed in Colombo.

Full Text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc7srilanka043009.html
-----

[AlterNet-World Vision]
"Help child survivors of war... Help heal my country," pleads aid
agency chief
30 Apr 2009 15:57:00 GMT
Source: World Vision - Asia Pacific
Website: http://wvasiapacific.org/

International community urged not to lose once-in-a-generation
opportunity to help heal Sri Lanka
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvaspro/124110836175.htm

Aid agency World Vision is urging the international community to seize
a once-in-a-generation opportunity to help Sri Lanka by pledging
millions of dollars to meet the critical needs of at least 60,000
child survivors of war.

Suresh Bartlett, National Director of World Vision Lanka, who recently
returned from visiting camps in the North, said he was deeply troubled
about the impact of the war on children and was worried that the
global financial crisis and swine flu were taking the world's
attention away from meeting their urgent needs.

"There are almost 200,000 survivors in the camps in the North who have
survived a most brutal experience after being trapped in a conflict
zone for weeks. At least 60,000 children are among them.

Full Text is at
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/fromthefield/wvaspro/124110836175.htm
Also related link
http://wvasiapacific.org/sri-lanka-conflict/
-----

[The New Zealand Herald]
Sri Lanka stance earns plaudits
4:00AM Friday May 01, 2009
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569680

Sri Lanka's honorary consul-general in Wellington, Aruna
Abeygoonesekera, has congratulated the Maori Party for blocking a
parliamentary motion even though the Maori Party leans towards the
Tamil Tigers.

A motion moved by Progressives leader Jim Anderton called on both Sri
Lankan Government forces and the Tamil Tigers to show restraint in the
present conflict so that civilians could escape from danger.

full text is at
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10569680
-----

[ISRIA]
Singapore: MFA Press Statement: Singapore’s Humanitarian Assistance to
Sri Lanka
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_115.htm
Singapore is deeply concerned over the serious humanitarian situation
in northern Sri Lanka.

The United Nations (UN), its related agencies and the international
media have reported on mounting civilian casualties and the
humanitarian emergency conditions in the conflict zone as well as in
the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) camps.

In view of the urgent humanitarian situation and in response to the
humanitarian action plan mounted by the UN, the Singapore Government
will contribute US,000 to the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF),
which is one of the aid agencies involved in the humanitarian relief
efforts in Sri Lanka. This contribution will go towards meeting
critical needs such as the provision of safe water, sanitation
facilities and basic hygiene items to thousands of civilians displaced
by the conflict.

full text is at
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_115.htm
-----

[ISRIA]
UN: Daily Press Briefing (dated 29 April 2009)

The following is a near-verbatim transcript of today’s noon briefing
by Farhan Haq, Associate Spokesperson for the Secretary-General, and
Enrique Yeves, Spokesperson for the President of the General Assembly.

Briefing by the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General

Good afternoon.

** Sri Lanka –- Humanitarian Update
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_52.htm
As you are aware, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian
Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, John Holmes, has just
returned from Sri Lanka and he is to brief in this room at 3 p.m.
about his trip and the current situation in that country.

As of today, more than 171,000 people have crossed out of the conflict
zone in Sri Lanka, including almost 3,000 wounded and caregivers in
hospitals. There have been no new arrivals at the Omanthai screening
point in the last 24 hours and the Government informs the United
Nations that none are in transit.

The UN believes that 50,000 people remain in the conflict zone. The
situation in the camps, while improving due to the efforts of all aid
providers, remains less than optimal. One of the most serious concerns
is congestion in the camps. Shelter in the camps remains inadequate,
and there is urgent need for the allocation of more land by the
Government of Sri Lanka in which to house the displaced. Furthermore,
options need to be pursued to allow more people to be accommodated
with host families.

Health facilities continue to be overwhelmed and more capacity is
needed. Water and sanitation remain key concerns, with some areas
having only one toilet for 140 people. Although all internally
displaced persons have drinking water, there is inadequate water for
other purposes. And also psychological trauma is a serious issue.

Full Text is at
http://www.isria.info/en/30_April_2009_52.htm
-----

[Press TV]
Sri Lanka scolds West for 'lectures' on Tamils
Thu, 30 Apr 2009 15:39:29 GMT
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=93112&sectionid=351020406
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa tells Western countries to stop
lecturing him about a ceasefire with the Tamil Tigers.

"It is my duty to protect the people of this country. I don't need
lectures from Western representatives," Rajapaksa said in a speech on
Thursday.

Rajapaksa's remarks come after visiting British Foreign Secretary
David Miliband and his French counterpart Bernard Kouchner failed to
secure a truce between Sri Lankan forces and the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels.

Colombo has dismissed a Western-backed ceasefire with the Tigers,
calling it a 'joke' as the rebels are near a final defeat.

Full Text is at
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=93112&sectionid=351020406
-----

[The Economist]

Sri Lanka's humanitarian crisis
Exodus of misery

Apr 30th 2009 | COLOMBO AND PUTUMATTALAN
The war grinds to a close, leaving a human catastrophe in its wake
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13579685

WITH loudhailers hitched to the tallest palmyrah trees, Tamil-speaking
soldiers of the Sri Lanka army had for weeks been urging civilians
inside a dwindling strip of territory held by the rebel Tamil Tigers
to break through their cordon and flee. But since April 20th, when the
army burst an embankment at Putumattalan, the authorities have been
overwhelmed by the thousands pouring out. The Tigers’ defences were
less to keep the army out than to fence the civilians in.

The government had expected an exodus far smaller than the one which
came, bringing 114,520 civilians in the next nine days. Since January
an estimated 190,000 have fled. The UN’s assessment that there were
originally around 250,000 trapped civilians, dismissed as exaggerated
by the government, now looks roughly right.

Full Text is at
http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displaystory.cfm?story_id=13579685
-----

[National Post]

Police chief talks about decision to shift Tamil protest to sidewalk
Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:25 AM by Melissa Leong
http://tinyurl.com/dka7ba

Police were able to move protesters who have occupied University
Avenue for most of the week, to the sidewalk, reopening traffic on the
thoroughfare between Dundas and Queen streets.

As many as thousands of Tamil Canadians have been demonstrating
peacefully in front of the U.S. Consulate since Sunday.

But yesterday police arrested 15 individuals, charging them with
mischief and breach of peace, when the group tried to block the
traffic at Dundas Street and University Avenue. Last night, police
"dismantled their sound system" with the permission of protesters,
removing the speakers that have broadcast their chorus.

Full Text is at
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/30/p...

Related News
[National Post]
Verbatim: Chief Bill Blair defends police response to Tamil protest
Posted: April 29, 2009, 7:26 PM by Rob Roberts
http://tinyurl.com/cp8cfv
The Tamil demonstrations that have shut University Avenue since Sunday
became heated today, when officers tried to push protesters back
behind police barricades. Nine people were arrested, and one woman
reportedly injured. But the occupation of the area outside the U.S.
Consulate is expected to continue tomorrow, and Police Chief Bill
Blair today defended the city’s unwillingness to end the protest:

full text is at
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/29/v...

Also
Toronto cleans up from Tamil protest
Posted: April 30, 2009, 11:08 AM by Peter Kuitenbrouwer
http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/toronto/archive/2009/04/30/t...
-----
[BBC]
16:39 GMT, Thursday, 30 April 2009 17:39 UK
Sri Lanka denies IMF loan delay
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8027634.stm

Sri Lanka has denied reports that a proposed loan from the
International Monetary Fund (IMF) is being delayed by the US,
officials say.

American officials said the move was aimed at putting pressure on
Colombo to do more to help civilians caught up in the fighting in the
north.

But a senior Sri Lankan official says the talks are on schedule.

Sri Lanka has been holding talks with the IMF for a loan of nearly a
$2bn to weather the global economic crisis.

Full Text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8027634.stm
-----

[London Free Press]

SRI LANKA: The London priest is haunted by the fact his fellow
countrymen are being killed
Priest prays for a ceasefire
Joe Matyas

April 30, 2009
http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=263832&x=articles&s=societe
As a young seminarian in Sri Lanka, Francis Jeyaseelan had to sleep
under his bed at times.

"We did it whenever there was shelling," said the Roman Catholic
priest, known as Father Francis at St. George's parish in London.

Born and raised in a Tamil family in Sri Lanka, Rev. Jeyaseelan, now
39, was a member of a linguistic and cultural minority within the
country.

"I was a minority within a minority," he joked yesterday. "I was a
Christian within an ethnic minority that's primarily Hindu."

And he grew up learning what it meant to be a Tamil.

Full Text is at
http://lfpress.ca/cgi-bin/publish.cgi?p=263832&x=articles&s=societe
------

[CounterCurrents]
Sri Lanka: Humanitarian Disaster In Making
By Bobby Ramakant
30 April, 2009
Citizen News Service (CNS)
http://www.countercurrents.org/ramakant300409.htm

Activists expressed their deep anguish and concern on unabated mass
killings in Sri Lanka which is, as they underlined, "no short of a
humanitarian disaster in northern Sri Lanka".

"We also protest the covert provision of economic and military aid to
Sri Lanka by Indian government which has, certainly, deeply aggravated
the situation in Sri Lanka" said Dr Sandeep Pandey, Ramon Magsaysay
Awardee (2002) and Convener of National Alliance of People's Movements
(NAPM).

The Sri Lankan government’s indiscriminate military actions have
exacted an appalling toll on the civilian Tamil population. Unless
India does its part to negotiate an immediate ceasefire, civilian
casualties will continue to escalate, tarnishing India’s claim to be a
morally responsible regional ‘spiritual’ power.

"Indeed, we have watched with growing dismay the Indian government’s
effective complicity with the Sri Lankan government’s ongoing efforts
to brutalize the Tamil minority. There is considerable evidence that,
while publicly calling for a "political solution", the Indian
government has covertly supplied military equipment and training to
Sri Lanka through the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and other
Indian intelligence outfits. Decades ago, sending in the Indian Peace
Keeping Force (IPKF) to Sri Lanka had exacerbated the situation and
questions India’s claim of being a harbinger of ‘peace’ in the region"
said Gurudayal Singh Sheetal, Leader of Prakritik Manav Kendrit
Andolan, Punjab.

Full Text is at
http://www.countercurrents.org/ramakant300409.htm
-----

[Guardian]
Tamil student calls off Parliament Square hunger strike
Man who stopped eating to draw attention to Sri Lanka conflict ends
protest after letter from David Miliband
Sam Jones
Thursday 30 April 2009 18.46 BST
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/tamil-hunger-strike-sri-l...

A Tamil who has been on a three-week hunger strike in Parliament
Square called off his protest today after the foreign secretary wrote
to him explaining the "strenuous efforts" the British government was
making to secure a ceasefire in Sri Lanka.

Parameswaram Subramaniam, a 28-year-old student, stopped eating on 6
April to draw attention to the plight of the Tamil civilians caught in
the fighting between government troops and Tamil Tigers in the north
of the island. He is understood to have lost 10 members of his family
in the conflict, including his mother and many brothers and sisters.

The protester had said he would starve himself to death unless five
conditions were met: the declaration of an immediate and permanent
ceasefire; the provision of food and medical aid to the civilians
caught in the "safe zone" between the two sides; a meeting between the
UN, the British government and Tamil representatives; a reversal of
the UK's decision to classify the Tamil Tigers as terrorist group; and
a UN-backed referendum on an independent Tamil state in Sri Lanka.

Full Text is at
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/30/tamil-hunger-strike-sri-l...
-----

[Daily Mail - UK]
David Miliband accused of spat with Sri Lankan defence secretary over
civilian safety

By Michael Lea
Last updated at 6:35 PM on 30th April 2009
http://tinyurl.com/djamcr
David Miliband was involved in an argument with Sri Lanka's defence
secretary over the safety of civilians in rebel-held enclaves, it was
claimed today.

The pair apparently clashed while Mr Miliband was being given a high-
level briefing on the situation during his visit to the country this
week.

The Foreign Office denied that discussions, which also involved
Britain's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Peter Hayes, had ended in a
'stand up row'.

But one official who had been at the meeting said there had been a
'free and frank and clear exchange of views' - diplomatic speak for a
spat.

According to a report posted on the official Sri Lankan Defence
Ministry website, the meeting became tetchy when the Foreign Secretary
said that civilians were being caught up in artillery raids.

Full Text is at
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1175775/David-Miliband-accuse...
=====

news & views: april 28 (collected from tamil groups)

2009-04-28T04:01:00.000-07:00

செய்திகளும் பார்வைகளும்.

[Inner City Press]
In Sri Lanka, Access UN Claimed Nambiar Won Is Denied, Arrested Staff
UNspoken For, IMF Loan and UK
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News
Analysis
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc4srilanka042709.html

UNITED NATIONS, April 27 -- While Sri Lanka's government's claim it
had not been using heavily artillery is called into question by its
own subsequent admission, the United Nations' statements are also
questionable. On April 22, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said that
his envoy Vijay Nambiar had gotten a commitment from President Mahinda
Rajapaksa to allow a humanitarian assessment team into the conflict
zone. Five days later, Ban's Spokesperson acknowledged that what was
presented as a commitment has not been implemented:

full text is at
http://www.innercitypress.com/sc4srilanka042709.html
----
[BBC]
09:49 GMT, Tuesday, 28 April 2009 10:49 UK
Sweden's FM denied Sri Lanka visa
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8022190.stm

Sri Lanka has refused an entry visa for Sweden's Foreign Minister Carl
Bildt.

Mr Bildt was to have taken part in a European diplomatic mission. He
is recalling Sweden's top diplomat in Sri Lanka for consultation.

The UK's David Miliband and France's Bernard Kouchner will still go on
the mission, which is expected to push for a truce between the army
and rebels.

Sri Lanka's foreign ministry said this was not a snub and it could
only cope with so many high-level delegations.

full text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8022190.stm
----
[Willamette Week]
Sri Lanka Civil War: What Medical Teams International Is Doing and How
You Can Help
5:59 PM April 27th, 2009 by Megan Brescini
http://tinyurl.com/cqvxrb

After more than 25 years of fighting, the civil war in Sri Lanka is
predicted to end within months. Yet the situation may get far worse
first as the UN reports some 50,000 civilians are pinned between the
Tamil Tiger rebels and Sri Lanka’s army in a less than four-mile
stretch of coastline still held by the Tigers.

Medical Teams International is predicting the worst while preparing
for it. The Portland-based group has rushed $3.3 million of emergency
health supplies to Sri Lanka, with the capacity to care for 80,000
people displaced by the fighting. MTI has also shipped emergency
surgical kits, water, beds, and additional supplies. MTI’s staff will
be following those supplies to Sri Lanka soon, says Joe DiCarlo,
director of international programs for Medical Teams International.

Want to help? Send donations marked Sri Lanka War Relief to Medical
Teams International at P.O. Box 10, Portland, Ore. 97207-0010. Or go
online to contribute at www.medicalteams.org.
-----
[Boston.com]

Refugees in Sri Lanka
April 27, 2009

It has been just over a month since the last time the Sri Lankan
conflict was featured here. In that time, government forces have put
further pressure on the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE),
and hundreds of thousands of civilians in the north of the country
have been trapped in a war zone. Press coverage is still very limited,
and conflicting stories are the norm, with LTTE representatives
claiming the ethnic Tamil civilians are staying willingly, fearful of
government forces, and the Sri Lankan government claiming the
civilians are being held against their will by the LTTE. According to
the UN, over 6,500 civilians have been killed, thousands more injured,
and a stream of over 100,000 refugees has recently left the LTTE
stronghold, and the Sri Lankan government has halted the use of heavy-
caliber weaponry. (31 photos total)

pictures are at
http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/refugees_in_sri_lanka.html
-----

[Times Online]:
April 28, 2009
British aid for war refugees may be used to fund 'concentration camps'
http://tinyurl.com/ce8u56
Jeremy Page, South Asia Correspondent

Millions of pounds of British aid are being channelled by the Sri
Lankan Government into controversial internment camps where it plans
to hold and screen up to 200,000 civilians fleeing the conflict with
the Tamil Tigers.

Britain has donated 5,000 tents – worth £500,000 – and more emergency
aid worth millions of pounds could follow soon, according to Mike
Foster, Minister for International Development, who visited Sri Lanka
yesterday.

Mr Foster visited two camps and met Sri Lankan officials to urge them
to call a ceasefire and allow aid agencies to help tens of thousands
of civilians still stuck on the front line or on their way to the
camps.

full text is at
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article6182602.ece
-----
[Vancouver Sun]
Sri Lanka blocks access to civilians in war zone: UN
http://tinyurl.com/dnld32
By Amal Jayasinghe, Reuters
April 27, 2009 1:11 PM

COLOMBO - Sri Lanka is refusing humanitarian access to its war zone
where some 50,000 people are believed trapped, a top UN diplomat said
on Monday, while welcoming a government move to slow down its military
offensive.

The UN's humanitarian chief John Holmes failed to secure agreement
with President Mahinda Rajapakse in talks here Monday to send a
humanitarian mission to the shrinking conflict area on the island's
northeast coast.

"We don't have agreement on this," Holmes told reporters here after
talks with Rajapakse, referring to a request by United Nations
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to get a UN team to the conflict area.
"I am disappointed about this."

full text is at
http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Lanka+blocks+access+civilians+zone/1538102/story.html
-----
[CNW GROUP]

http://www.newswire.ca/en/releases/archive/April2009/27/c5257.html

International community has failed Tamils in Sri Lanka

TORONTO, April 27 /CNW/ - The Canadian Tamil Congress is urging
Canadian
parliamentarians to take immediate and strong actions against Sri
Lanka to
prevent a civilian bloodbath. The United Nations estimates that over
6500
civilians have been killed, and 14,000 injured over the past three
months.
"So far there have been only statements issued by the most
powerful
bodies in the world, the UN, the EU, the G8, and Western government,
but there
has been no follow through in terms of action," said David
Poopalapillai,
National Spokesperson for the Canadian Tamil Congress. "The
international
community has failed the Tamils in Sri Lanka by not fulfilling its
obligation
to protect civilians caught in this armed conflict."
On Sunday, April 26, 2009, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam
(LTTE)
announced that it would heed the calls by Canada, the UN, the G8, the
European
Union, the USA, India, and other Western governments and unilaterally
announced an immediate ceasefire. The LTTE has suspended offensive
military
operations effective immediately. Unfortunately, the Government of Sri
Lanka
(GoSL) has rejected the ceasefire offer and is determined to pursue
its
military assault to kill tens of thousands of innocent civilians under
the
pretext of "wiping out the Tigers".
In a strongly worded letter addressed to the Prime Minister of
Canada,
Dr. Sri Ranjan, President of the Canadian Tamil Congress stated,
"Tamil
Canadians are fearful that in the next 24 to 48 hours a civilian
bloodbath
will ensue if the GoSL does not reciprocate the LTTE's offer to a
ceasefire."
Calling for immediate and strong action by the Canadian government Dr.
Sri
Ranjan stated, "Canada must force the GoSL to reciprocate the
immediate
ceasefire by cutting all diplomatic and economic relations with Sri
Lanka."
The Canadian Tamil Congress calls upon Canadian parliamentarians
to step
up to the plate and take action on the Sri Lankan conflict
immediately. Sri
Lanka must be economically and politically isolated in order to compel
the
GoSL to negotiate a political resolution to the armed conflict that
respects
the legitimate aspirations of the Tamil people.

For further information: Canadian Tamil Congress, (416) 240-0078
-----
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/EGUA-7RHLLF?OpenDocument

Sri Lanka: WHO situation report, 27 Apr 2009
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)

Date: 27 Apr 2009

Full_Report (pdf* format)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=EGUA-7RHLLF&file=Full_Report.pdf

Highlights

- As on 20 April the Government initiated operations in the "No Fire
Zone" at the coast of Mullativu. The government troops have invaded
the LTTE controlled area, only 8 Sq Km is still remaining under LTTE
control with an estimated number of 15,000 -20,000 civilians still
trapped.

- 100, 265 civilians have escaped during from the LTTE controlled
area. Majority of these IDPs are currently screened and registered by
the GOSL in the Vanni.

- Approximately 70,836 IDPs are in the government controlled areas in
Vavuniya, and 10,100 in Jaffna district. UN agencies INGOs and NGOs
assist government to provide basic facilities like shelter, food,
health care, water supply and sanitation facilities.

- Wounded civilians have been evacuated to Vavuniya Hospital, Pulmudai
field Hospital and Padaviya hospital by the SL army using ships,
helicopters and ambulances. In addition ICRC has evacuated IDPs by
ship.

- All the Schools in Vavuniya have been closed to provide
accommodation for IDPs and with the increasing number of new IDPs,
other public buildings will be used for the same purpose.

- Ministry of Health is providing comprehensive curative and
preventive health services for the IDPs by expanding capacity of main
and small hospitals in the area and through mobile health teams,
through already overstretched health services in the district with the
support of WHO and other agencies.

Health assessment & situation update

General Information

Internally Displaced People

According to the government sources with the initiation of Government
Operations Mission "about 72 hours ago in the No Fire Zone in
Mullativu, the government troops have rescued about 100,265 civilians
from the grip of LTTE .About 15,000 - 20,000 people are still trapped
with in 8 Sq Km in the eastern costal belt in Mullativu district.
Majority of the IDPs rescued by forces are still undergoing
registration and other search activities in Vanni. The total number of
IDPs in Vavuniya is 70,836 as of 22nd of April 2009. They are housed
in 15 centers. Another one opened today afternoon at Poovarasankulam
School of which details are not yet available. The intention of the
government is to bring all the IDPs to Vavuniya.

In addition 10,100 IDPs have moved to Jaffna peninsula from Vanni and
located in four welfare centers in Kopay, Gurunagar, Mirisuvil and
Kodikamam in Jaffna district. The injured people are being evacuated
to Vavuniya hospital by the SL Army using helicopters , ambulances and
other modes of transport and over 6500 patients have been transferred
from the un-cleared areas by sea with the help of the ICRC; to
Pulmudai field Hospital and to newly upgraded Padaviya base Hospital.
Some of the Critical patients are being transferred to GH
Anuradhapura, National Hospital in Colombo for tertiary care and
chronic cases are transferred to GH Vavuniya, GH Mannar and few other
institutions in order to increase bed space for new patients.

Full_Report (pdf* format)
http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=EGUA-7RHLLF&file=Full_Report.pdf
-----
UNHCR airlifts almost 3,000 tents to Colombo for displaced Sri Lankans

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, April 26 (UNHCR) – A UNHCR emergency airlift
carrying humanitarian aid for tens of thousands of people displaced by
fighting in north-eastern Sri Lanka began Monday morning with the
arrival in Colombo of a plane carrying 2,850 family-size tents from
the refugee agency's stockpiles in Dubai.

The Boeing 747 cargo plane, the first of two scheduled flights to
deliver more than 200 tonnes of UNHCR tents landed in Colombo at 10:45
a.m. local time. "The family tents will be used in the north of the
country to help shelter thousands of people uprooted in recent
fighting between government forces and Tamil rebels," a UNHCR press
statement said.

In addition to the airlift, UNHCR is ramping up its already sizeable
humanitarian operations in Sri Lanka by dispatching a second emergency
team to augment the agency's 120 existing staff in seven offices
around the island nation.

High Commissioner António Guterres also approved the immediate release
of an extra US$2 million for UNHCR's Sri Lanka operations helping
internally displaced people. The additional funds will provide
shelter, protection and other aid for civilians fleeing the conflict
zone in the north.

According to the government, more than 150,000 displaced people are
staying in some 38 displacement sites around the towns of Vavuniya,
Jaffna and Trincomalee. Large numbers are believed to be on the move.

Overcrowding at the camps is becoming a major worry. In one location,
Menik Farm, eight to 10 people are sharing shelters normally designed
for four or five. Many IDPs, or internally displaced people, in the
camps have no shelter from the sweltering heat.

The government has agreed to provide public buildings and more land to
accommodate new arrivals in Mannar and Trincomalee, Jaffna and
Vavuniya. In Trincomalee, according to the government, an area of
approximately 100 acres has been identified for a site to accommodate
up to 20,000 people. As soon as the site is ready, UNHCR will assist
with emergency shelter support and the distribution of non-food items.

Aid workers also cite growing problems of malnourishment, lack of
transport to move the sick to hospitals, and a shortage of medical
personnel. Some of the displaced have not eaten for days.

UNHCR, which has worked in Sri Lanka since 1987, is spearheading
efforts to provide shelter to people displaced by the conflict. It is
also coordinating distribution of non-food items and monitoring
security of the displaced.

http://www.unhcr.org/news/NEWS/49f5b7194.html
-----
[ISRIA]
Sri Lanka: Sir John Holmes visits welfare camps
http://www.isria.info/en/27_April_2009_239.htm
The Under Secretary General of the UN Sir John Holmes visited the IDP
Welfare Camps (Menik Farm) in Vauniya today promised to donate 10
million US Dollars through UN agencies to facilitate civilians
shortly.

Sir.Jhon Holmes satisfied with the humanitarian mission and the
facilities given by the Government of Sri Lanka to Internal Displaces
People in Vavuniya who fled from the LTTE clutches.

Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services Rishard
Bathiyudeen also accompanied the UN envoy to visit IDP camps.

Sir Holmes called on Minister of Foreign Affaires in this morning and
scheduled to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa.
-----
[Guardian]
Silence over Sri Lanka
Why do those in the international community who expressed outrage over
Gaza stay silent while Tamils die?
Geoffrey Alderman
Monday 27 April 2009 11.00 BST
http://tinyurl.com/dxrwob

In Sri Lanka a bloody conflict is reaching its bloody conclusion. Some
30 years ago, the Tamil population that inhabits the north and east of
the island began an insurrection against the government, establishing
for this purpose an organisation known as the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam. The ultimate aim of the Tamil Tigers was to establish an
independent Tamil state, thus partitioning the island. The means
chosen to bring this about was to create terror and mayhem throughout
the island, and, if necessary, beyond it. Not content with common-or-
garden political assassinations and random murders, the Tamil Tigers
pioneered the use of the suicide bomb and the suicide belt. Banned and
proscribed as a terrorist organisation by more than 30 countries,
including the US and the European Union, the Tigers are said to have
been responsible for more suicide attacks than Hamas, Islamic Jihad
and al-Qaida combined.

Now the endgame is in sight. Using methods pioneered by the British
army in its successful campaign against the Boer insurgency more than
a century ago, the Sri Lankan army has systematically removed
civilians from the war zone while simultaneously refusing to heed
international calls for a ceasefire because of the inevitable loss of
civilian lives in coastal strips that remain under Tiger control. War
crimes have undoubtedly been committed by the Tigers. They may well
have been committed also by the Sri Lankan military.

full text at
http://tinyurl.com/dxrwob
----
[Reuters - Alternet]
All hospitals are really struggling - MSF doctor in Sri Lanka
27 Apr 2009 11:36:00 GMT
Written by: MSF in Asia
MSF surgeon Paul McMaster

This blog is by Paul McMaster, a surgeon working with Medecins Sans
Frontieres at Vavuniya hospital in northern Sri Lanka which is
treating civilians from the conflict zone.

Medical staff are still working round the clock and the situation is
changing day to day.

The number of patients admitted requiring emergency surgery has
dropped quite sharply before the weekend. On April 23 we had 44
patients, the first day the figure was below 100 since last Sunday. On
April 24, we only had 18.

I have had no indication that fewer casualties are coming from the
north, but because we have a backlog they are now trying to divert
patients to other hospitals.

full text is at
http://tinyurl.com/dc4bob
-----
Monday, Apr 27, 2009 , India
Speaking to NDTV, External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukerjee says
India has sent a strong message directly to the Sri Lankan president,
on the need for a ceasefire, and would take appropriate decisions if
the response from Sri Lanka was not satisfactory.

http://www.ndtv.com/news/videos/video_player.php?id=1091853

===

The Hill Times, April 27th, 2009
NEWS STORY
By Cynthia Münster
Conservative, Liberal and Bloc MPs met Tamils behind scenes
Minister of State for Americas Peter Kent met Tamils and says he
would
have attended massive rally on the Hill, but was with PM.

http://tinyurl.com/djcehw
--------------------------

Protest against Indian English TV Channels

2009-04-26T07:05:00.001-07:00

Indian TV channels such as NDTV, IBNLive and TimesNowTV fully present Government of Sri Lanka Propaganda without any reservation.

When it comes to Tamilnadu, these North Indian dominated channels and their anchors often bring anti-Tamil Chennai media and political 'personnel' who have insignificant care for the welfare of Tamilnadu voters to represent tamilnadu; classic examples are N. ram, Cho Ramasamy and Subramania swamy. Also, if you comment on their sites on Tamilnadu related issues, they never allow pro-Tamilnadu point of view nor show Tamil sentiments.

More than anything, these anchors themselves take side with anti-Tamil voices when they moderate any program related to Tamilnadu. A classic example is the NDTV debate on Tamilnadu election moderated by Mr. Viram Chandra on 25 April 2009. Mr. Viram Chandra not only showed his an ignorance of Tamilnadu politics and sentiments, but presented the version of events given by Government of Sri Lanka together with Ram, Cho and Swamy. He behaved like a participant rather than a moderator. It is utter shame for the journalistic integrity.

1. Show your displeasure to these media through emails and banners in your English blogs

2. Protest in front of these media stations whenever you can

3. Expose them in the International Arena.

Send your protest mails on the typical taking-a-side attitude of NDTV while presenting sri lankan news & views and about Mr. Chandra's unprofessional biased conduct as a moderator during the debate on Tamilnadu Politics
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/new/NDTV-Show-Special.aspx?ID=83

இன்றைக்குப் புடுங்கியவை - 26 04 2009 - 1

2009-04-26T05:16:00.000-07:00

அம்மணிகள் இருவரின் அரைவேக்காட்டுத்தனம்: NDTV நிகழ்ச்சியே எவ்வளவோ மேல்
Sunrise TV

------------------------

Korean Times
04-26-2009 17:28

Eliminating Honest Journalism

By Tom Plate

It seems that quality journalism is becoming more conspicuous than ever by its absence. But the causes are complex.

Sometimes governments are the fault. In Sri Lanka, convulsing in civil war, independent journalists have not been permitted near the fierce zones of conflict between government forces and beleaguered clusters of minority Tamils.

Many are deported. Earlier this month, Jeremy Page, of The Times of the U.K., was kicked out and put on a plane back to England. That was nothing. In January, editor and Sri Lankan government critic Lasantha Wickrematunga penned and published his own fatalistic obituary, writing: ``When finally I am killed, it will be the government that kills me." Three days later, he was murdered, and arrests have been made yet.

Thus, no one has a clear idea of whether Tamil civilians are being held as human body-shields by what is left of the anti-government terrorists among them, or are huddled in fear of possible ethnic cleansing by the government. No one knows much ― except that the crisis is ``nothing short of catastrophic," simply says the International Red Cross.

full text is at
http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/opinon/2009/04/137_43845.html

The Times of Hindia: India upset with China over Sri Lanka crisis

2009-04-25T17:37:00.000-07:00

The Times of Hindia
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India-upset-with-China-over-Sri-Lanka-crisis/articleshow/4449209.cms
India upset with China over Sri Lanka crisis
26 Apr 2009, 0312 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: China's declaration of support for the Sri Lankan
government against the LTTE, apart from sticking out like a sore thumb
in the eyes of the world, has further fuelled India's mortal distrust
of its largest and most powerful neighbour. While India has a much
more nuanced position over the issue owing to its domestic
compulsions, an unfettered China is supporting Colombo and, in the
process, authenticating India's fear about Beijing extending its
influence in the Indian Ocean.

According to government sources, Beijing's support to Colombo cannot
be viewed in isolation because it follows a series of initiatives
aimed at influencing the Sri Lankan government. These include selling
huge quantities of arms to Colombo last year and boosting aid almost
five times to $1 billion. In fact, China is now the largest donor to
Lanka. Its Jian-7 fighter jets, anti-aircraft guns and JY-11 3D air
surveillance radars played a key role in the Sri Lankan military
successes.

full text is at
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India-upset-with-China-over-Sri-Lanka-crisis/articleshow/4449209.cms

News: Guardian - The Observer: Tamil hunger striker 'could die in a week' Options

2009-04-25T17:23:00.000-07:00

Guardian, UK
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/apr/26/tamil-protest-hunger-strike-sri-lanka

Tamil hunger striker 'could die in a week'
Oliver Shah
The Observer,
Sunday 26 April 2009

A Tamil student on hunger strike outside Parliament Square may have
only a week to live, the doctor looking after him warned yesterday.

Prarameswaren Subramaniam, 28, has refused food for 20 days in protest
at the Sri Lankan government's continuing military assault on Tamil
separatists. Speaking from the makeshift camp opposite Westminster, Dr
Sellappah Nallanathar, of St Peter's Hospital, Surrey, said that his
vital organs would begin to fail if he maintained his fast for another
week.

"It's going to be difficult," he added. "I'm asking him to take small
sips of water and it's the water that is keeping him going. Even with
the water this morning, we had to try a few times before he would take
it. If he doesn't want to [take food] we can't force him. He's
determined to carry on."

இணைப்புகள் சில

2009-04-25T11:38:00.000-07:00

Daily Star
Bangadesh
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Editorial
The endgame in Sri Lanka
Rajapakse must act with sensitivity toward Tamils
THE enormity of the humanitarian tragedy now unfolding in Sri Lanka can only be imagined. In the last three months, as Sri Lanka's military has systematically pounded away at LTTE positions, as many as 6,500 Tamil civilians have lost their lives in the fighting. That is what a United Nations report reveals, confirming the grave predicament tens of thousands of Tamils have been in with the extent of the fighting shooting up to unprecedented levels of ferocity. It is now fairly obvious that Velupillai Prabhakaran's Tigers are on the verge of defeat and have nowhere to go. His fiefdom today shrunken to a mere strip of territory, Prabhakaran is either on the run or, as some think, already dead.
full text is at
http://www.thedailystar.net/newDesign/news-details.php?nid=85587
------------------------------------------------
Bangkok Post
EDITORIAL

Time is running out in Sri Lanka
Published: 26/04/2009 at 12:00 AM
Newspaper section: NewsA strident international call has been raised for a ceasefire in Sri Lanka to allow civilians trapped inside the combat zone to flee the fighting or at least allow in food and other aid.
full text is at
http://www.bangkokpost.com/opinion/opinion/15684/time-is-running-out-in-sri-lanka
-------------------------------------------------
Sri Lanka’s war is not an ‘internal matter’
By Bob Rae , The Ottawa Citizen
April 24, 2009
http://www.ottawacitizen.com/news/Lanka+internal+matter/1531647/story.html
=================
one more rambling bra man rants
Prabhakaran’s follies
http://tinyurl.com/dy92qx
==================
The DMK is on a wrong wicket
M. S. S. Pandian
April 3, 2009
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/election2009/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=35108&Itemid=1§ionid=97&secid=73
=========================
Ruling combine is sleepless over Lanka
M.C. Rajan
April 23, 2009
http://indiatoday.intoday.in/election2009/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=38292&Itemid=1§ionid=90&secid=88

ஈழத்திலே கொல்லப்பட்டவர்கள், காயமடைந்தவர்கள் பற்றிக் கசிந்த ஐநா தரவு

2009-04-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

தை இருபது முதல் மூன்று மாதகாலத்திலே ஈழத்திலே கொல்லப்பட்டவர்கள், காயமடைந்தவர்கள் பற்றிக் கசிந்த ஐநா தரவு.

பெரிதாகக் காண, ஒவ்வொரு படத்தின் மேலேயும் சொடுக்கவும்.

ஆட்டுவித்தால் யாரொருவர் ஆடாதாரோ கண்ணா

2009-04-25T09:01:00.001-07:00

பாட்டும் நானே பாவமும் நானே

http:// usembassycolombo. blogspot.com /2009/04/ white-house-statement-on-situation-in.html

Friday, April 24, 2009
White House Statement on the Situation in Sri Lanka
THE WHITE HOUSE

Office of the Press Secretary

______________________________________________________________________________
For immediate release April 24, 2009

Statement on Continuing Conflict in Sri Lanka

The United States is deeply concerned about the plight of innocent
civilians caught up in the conflict between the Government of Sri
Lanka and the Tamil Tigers, and the mounting death toll. We call on
both sides to stop fighting immediately and allow civilians to safely
leave the combat zone.

We call upon the Government of Sri Lanka to stop shelling the ⿿safe
zone⿿ and blocking international aid groups and media from accessing
those civilians who have managed to escape. International aid workers
should have access to all sites where internally displaced persons are
being registered and sheltered. The United States is working with
international partners to attempt to care for those civilians who can
be reached.

We call on both sides to strictly adhere to their obligations under
international humanitarian law. We are very concerned about reports of
violations, and take these allegations very seriously.

It would compound the current tragedy if the military end of the
conflict only breeds further enmity and ends hopes for reconciliation
and a unified Sri Lanka in the future.
Posted by US Embassy Colombo at 11:46 PM

hindians, if you happy and feel it clap your hands..crap your pants

2009-04-25T06:52:00.000-07:00

[FORBES]
Travel
World's Most Dangerous Countries
Zack O'Malley Greenburg, 03.04.09, 06:30 PM EST
Avoid visiting these places if you value your safety.
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/most-dangerous-countries-lifestyle-travel_dangerous_countries.html

1. Somalia
2. Afghanistan
3. Iraq
4. Democratic Republic of Congo
5. Pakistan
6. Gaza, Palestinian Territories
7. Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka's development has been stalled by a civil war that has flared up sporadically since 1983. The separatist Tamil Tigers continue to agitate for an independent state in the island nation's north. With the rebels' northern headquarters overrun by government troops and their leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, in hiding, some think the conflict is finally coming to an end. But iJet warns that the Tigers have resorted to guerrilla tactics and suicide attacks in the past and may do so again.

http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/most-dangerous-countries-lifestyle-travel_dangerous_countries_slide_10.html?thisSpeed=30000
------------------------------------------
[Al Jazeera]
Tamils take to the streets in London
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZGoEAmZaJM
("Hindia runs the show; Mahinda Rajapakse is in the hand of Hindia")
The deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka has led to widespread protests. But in London, the demands for action have been loudest as the warning of a final assault on Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger fighters brings 2,500 Tamils to the streets of London demanding an end to the fighting. Al Jazeera's Mark Seddon reports.

------------------------------------------
Boston Globe editorial
The agony in Sri Lanka
April 25, 2009

ONE OF THE WORLD'S longest, bloodiest conflicts is coming to a gruesome conclusion on the island nation of Sri Lanka. The United Nations estimates that some 6,500 civilians have died and 14,000 have been injured in the government's merciless offensive against the Tamil Tigers in the northeast of the country. The Obama administration and other governments, particularly India and China, should pressure both the Sri Lankan government and the Tigers to halt the fighting and permit trapped civilians to escape.

......

The Tigers may be crushed in the next few days. But the anger and alienation of the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka is more acute than ever. The ultimate solution for Sri Lanka's communal conflict can only be political, not military. If the Tamil populace sees no hope for autonomy within Sri Lanka, it may come to demand a separate state - after all, the secessionist goal of the Tigers.

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/editorials/articles/2009/04/25/the_agony_in_sri_lanka/
------------------------------------------

Sri Lankan civilians trapped in 'no fire zone' - 25 Apr 09
As the Sri Lankan government confronts the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), between 15,000 and 50,000 civilians are estimated to be trapped in the conflict zone - a four square kilometre pocket of land in the northeast.

Some civilians are now in about 40 overcrowded camps after fleeing LTTE-held areas. Thousands more have fled to the frontline coastal village of Puttumattalan, which until earlier this week, was in the so-called "no fire zone".

Al Jazeera's David Chater reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VWYO32-ikfI

------------------------------------------
Sri Lanka fighting traps civilians in no-fire zone - 21 Apr 09

Thousands of civilians remain trapped in fighting between Sri Lanka's military and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Many civilians fleeing a northern no-fire zone have sought refuge at a temporary field hospital.

But as Al Jazeera's Imran Khan reports, the makeshift facility lacks many of the things that might qualify it as a temporary field hospital, including blood reserves, antibiotics and essential medical items.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWxgiv8JBls

-----------------------------------------------------

Civilians in danger amid Sri Lanka battle - 22 Apr 09
The UN has called for a truce to allow civilians to leave a strip of land where the Sri Lankan army is battling Tamil Tiger fighters.

The says it has killed 43 rebels in the last three days and that it has pushed deep into the last piece of Tamil Tiger-held territory. Civilians have told our correspondent that rebel fighters fired on them as they fled the conflict zone.

Harry Fawcett reports.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LzXt2NuwbY8

------------------------------------------

Crappy progaganda piece & shameless bantering by the AlJazeera reporter taken for a ride

Sri Lankan civilians 'escape' rebel stronghold - 22 Apr 09
Sri Lanka's government has restricted access to the conflict zone where it is fighting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), making it impossible to verify claims of casualties made by both sides.

But in an Al Jazeera exclusive, David Chater went on patrol with the Sri Lankan navy as it rescued civilians fleeing heavy fighting off the country's northeastern coast.

He reports on what has been described as a "humanitarian disaster" from the government's side of the battlefront.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Benod38M9hk

-------------------------------------------
Interview with Singer Santhan currently staying inside so called safe-zone in Sri Lanka
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kd27OZkN6bQ

-------------------------------------------

Our Man Flint talking in Nov 2008: Asia's Beast Journalist A_wart from the 168th worst country for the media freakdom

"Hindu Editor claims LTTE defeated in South India"
http://www. youtube.com/ watch?v=aIODgWrIULk
(Last year; Asia's Beast Journalist award @ Bandaranayake Memorial Hall)
------------------------------------------

Washington Lobbyists Cash In On War in Sri Lanka

2009-04-24T10:42:00.000-07:00

காப்பார்'ச் மகசீன்

[Harper's Magazine]
Washington Lobbyists Cash In On War in Sri Lanka
By Ken Silverstein

April 24, 11:28 AM, 2009

It’s hard to know who is more responsible for the bloodshed in Sri
Lanka, the government or the Tamil Tigers, but it’s clear that huge
numbers of civilians are being killed in the crossfire. “The United
Nations asserts that at least 4,500 civilians have been killed since
January as the government has sought to decisively end a bloody
rebellion that has lasted for a quarter-century,” said a Washington
Post op-ed on Wednesday. “The army is said to be preparing a final
assault that, according to U.N. Emergency Relief Coordinator John
Holmes, could produce a ‘bloodbath.”‘

full text at
http://harpers.org/archive/2009/04/hbc-90004852

innercitypress, hufftington Post, telegraph

2009-04-22T15:59:00.000-07:00

UN's and Ban's Backing-Down to Sri Lanka Questioned by NGOs, IMF Delay Praised
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April 22

http://www.innercitypress.com/ngos1srilanka042209.html

On Sri Lanka in UN Basement, Rice of US Speaks, Libya Offers Money, and China Support
Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis
UNITED NATIONS, April 22
http://www.innercitypress.com/bansri9lanka042209.html

Lies and Deceptions! Comical Alis of Sri Lanka
Monday, April 20, 2009, 08:20 PM GMT
http://my.telegraph.co.uk/chandradavid/blog/2009/04/20/lies_and_deceptions_comical_alis_of_sri_lanka

This Time We Can't Say "We Didn't Know": The Deadly Cost of International Inaction in Sri LankaNimmi Gowrinathan, 04.22.2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/nimmi-gowrinathan/this-time-we-cant-say-we_b_190152.html

MF Mukharji rants
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Saat748U3-M

Academy Award for the Worst Supporting Actor Goes

2009-02-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

....Here again to the joker of GodDamn City!!
[Sri Lanka Broadcasting Coorporation]
Certain Tamil Nadu political parties are engaged in fund raising activities for the LTTE.
24-Feb-2009
The Tamil Nadu Branch leader of the Bharathiya Jantha Party Dr. Subramaniam Swamy says certain Tamil political parties in Tamil Nadu are providing financial aid to the LTTE. Dr. Subramaniam Swamy participating in the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation’s “Dasa Desin” programme through telephone, further said the LTTE these political parties raise funds through unscrupulous activities such as drug racketeering. He pointed out however, only a handful of person in the Tamil Nadu state are extending support to the LTTE.

http://www. slbc.lk/he_news.asp?newsid=4397

Indian Media should learn from this Arab Media

2009-02-22T19:32:00.001-08:00

2009-02-21T04:01:00.001-08:00

ஆம் தலைவர்களே! தமிழகத்தின் தலைவிதியை உங்களால் மாற்ற முடியும்

2009-02-17T17:47:00.000-08:00

ஆம் தலைவர்களே! தமிழகத்தின் தலைவிதியை உங்களால் மாற்ற முடியும்

மாற்றம்நம்பி

இன்று தெற்காசியத் தமிழர் அரசியல் நெருக்கடியான காலகட்டத்தில் இருக்கிறது. இலங்கையில் கடந்த 25 ஆண்டு காலமாக நடைபெற்று வரும் தமிழீழப் விடுதலைப் போர் மிகவும் நெருக்கடியான காலகட்டத்தில் இருக்கிறது. அது தமிழகத்தில் ஏற்படுத்திக் கொண்டிருக்கும் அதிர்வலைகள் தமிழ்நாட்டு அரசியலையும் நெருக்கடிக் குள்ளாக்கியிருக்கிறது.

கடந்த நூற்றண்டின் தமிழக அரசியல், சமூக மாற்றத்தை காங்கிரஸ், திராவிடர், பொது உடமை இயக்கங்கள் தீர்மானித்தன. கடந்த நூற்றாண்டில் முதல் 65 ஆண்டுகளில் தமிழகத்தின் தேர்தல் அரசியலை பெரும்பாலும் காங்கிரஸ் ஆக்கிரமித்திருந்தது. அடுத்த 40 ஆண்டுகளாக திராவிடர் இயக்கத்திலிருந்து உருவான கட்சிகள் ஆட்சியதிகாரத்தில் இருந்து வருகின்றன. திராவிட இயக்கத்தின் உள்ளிருந்து உருவான கட்சிகள் தம் கொள்கைகளிலிருந்தும், நோக்கத்திலிருந்தும் பெருமளவு நீர்த்துப் போயுள்ளதை பெருங்கட்சிகளான தி.மு.க.வும், அ.தி.மு.கவும் ஈழத்தமிழர் பிரச்சினையில் மேற்கொண்டிருக்கும் நிலைப்பாடுகளை தெளிவாக புலப்படுத்துகின்றன. ஒரு காலத்தில் ஈழ விடுதலைப் போருக்கு ஆதரவாக நின்ற எம்.ஜி.ஆர். தோற்றுவித்த அ.தி.மு.க கட்சியின் தலைமை இன்று “ஈழத்தமிழர்கள் என்பவர்களே இல்லை” என்றும், “போரில் சாதரண மக்கள் சாவது சகஜம்” என்றும் கூறும் இரக்கமற்ற ஜெயலலிதாவின் இறுக்கப்பிடிக்குள் இருக்கிறது. எம்.ஜி.ஆரின். இரத்தத்தின் இரத்தமான உடன் பிறப்புகள் ஜெயலலிதாவின் காலடியிலும், அவருடைய காரின் சக்கரத்தடியிலும் பணிந்துக் கிடக்கின்றனர்.

தமிழரின் வீரதீரப் பிரதாபங்களை, அருமைப் பெருமைகளை, வாய் ஓயாமால் பேசியும், கை ஓயாமல் எழுதியும் வருகின்ற தி.மு.க.வின் தலைவர் கருணாநிதி குறுகியகால அரசியல் ஆதாயத்திற்காக ஈழத்தமிழர் மீதான ஒடுக்குமுறைக்கு துணைபோகும் இந்திய அரசுக்கு அடிபணிந்து செயலிழந்து கிடக்கிறார். அக்கட்சியின் அடுத்த தலைமுறைத் தலைவர்கள் என அடையாளம் காட்டப்பட்டிருக்கும் தி.மு.க. தலைவரின் வாரிசுகளான மு.க. ஸ்டாலின், மு.க.அழகிரி, கனிமொழி கருணாநிதி, தயாநிதி மாறன் போன்றவர்களோ இப்பிரச்சினைப் பற்றி ஒரு கருத்தை வெளியிடும் திராணிகூட இல்லாமல் கட்சியையும், அரசியல் அதிகாரத்தையும் குடும்பத்துக்குள் பங்குபிரித்துக் கொள்ளும் முயற்சியில் மூழ்கிக் கிடக்கிறார்கள்.

திராவிடக் கட்சிகளிடம் அதிகாரத்தை இழந்த காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி என்னென்ன பெயரில் வந்தாலும், எத்தனைத் தலைமைகள் மாறியபோதும் மீண்டு எழ இயலவில்லை. அக்கட்சி அதற்கான காரணங்களை ஆய்ந்தறியும் திறனின்றி ஒரு புறம் இந்திரா காந்தி குடும்பத்துக்குக் காவடி தூக்கிக்கொண்டும், இன்னொரு புறம் ஏதாவதொரு திராவிடக் கட்சியின் முதுகிலேறி சவாரி செய்துகொண்டுமே கடந்த 40 ஆண்டுகளாக தன் இருப்பை தக்க வைத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது. தொண்டர்களைவிடத் தலைவர்களை அதிகமாகக் கொண்ட ,தமிழகத்தில் அந்நியமாகிப்போன காங்கிரஸ் கட்சி டெல்லியில் பெற்றுள்ள அதிகார மமதையின் காரணமாகத் தமிழர்களுக்கு இன்னுமொரு வரலாற்றுத் துரோகத்தை இழைத்துக் கொண்டிருக்கிறது.

முழுக்கட்டுரையை வாசிப்பதற்கு இங்கே செல்லுங்கள்
http://www.keetru.com/literature/essays/matramnambi.php

don't confuse me

2009-02-15T06:57:00.000-08:00

போனகிழமைச்செய்திகளிலே
1. சூசை கொல்லப்பட்டார் (தைமாதத்திலே)
2. பிரபாகரன் தன் பிள்ளைகளைப் போருக்கு அனுப்புவானா? (ரயாகரனின் 11 வயது மகன்கூட எல்லாரும் எல்லாமே பெறும் மக்கள்போராட்டத்திலே இரண்டாவது குடிமகானாகப் போராடுகிறார் என்பதை ஞாபகத்திலே கொள்ளவேண்டும்)
3. பிரபாகரன் மலேசியா/தாய்லாந்து/கேரளா/ஐரோப்பா தப்பியோட்டம்

இங்கே அடுத்தடுத்த வரிகளிலேயான நகைச்சுவை
According to them, after the battle became more intense, Prabhakaran sent his wife and youngest son, who is 10, to safer, undisclosed location.

Prabhakaran has two other children - a daughter Dhuwraha in her 20's and another son Balachandran who is in his teens.

excuse me.
1. how many children does Pirapakaran (or as the Indian educated english media mafia forces to write, 'Prabhakaran') have?
2. does 10 yr old mean teen age?

Prabhakaran living among civilians in Sri Lanka: report

The Hindustan Times

Sutirtho Patranobis, Hindustan Times
Colombo, February 15, 2009

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) V Prabhakaran is still holed up inside rebel-controlled areas in the north-east of the country, two surrendered LTTE suicide cadres have claimed.

They further added that Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony, is now in the forefront of the battle against the Sri Lankan armed forces.

The two cadres, part of the suicide squad called Black Tigers, claimed that Anthony was commanding the remaining LTTE personnel along with top LTTE leaders like Banu and Lakshman.

It is rare for Black Tigers to be caught alive; instances of surrender are even rarer. But the Sri Lankan army (SLA) claimed that the two Black Tigers, both in their '20s, surrendered at a place called Therumurukandy in the north-eastern district of Mullaitivu on January 28. The duo surrendered after failing in their attempts to bomb the bund of the Iranamadu Tank which if succeeded could have caused immense disaster, the Sunday Observer said.

According to them, after the battle became more intense, Prabhakaran sent his wife and youngest son, who is 10, to safer, undisclosed location.

Prabhakaran has two other children - a daughter Dhuwraha in her 20's and another son Balachandran who is in his teens.

Anthony, according reports, returned from Ireland in 2006 with a degree in aeronautical engineering and is heading the air wing and computer unit of LTTE, according to the reports. He is also believed to have played a key role in building the LTTE air wing.

The two cadres told the military that Anthony and LTTE Sea Tiger chief Soosai had briefed them on the mission to bomb the bund. It was planned to be an underwater demolition on January 20. But the duo, fed up with the 'behaviour' of the group's leadership, decided to surrender, the newspaper said quoting the suicide cadres.
[snipped]

full text is at
http://tinyurl.com/c3su7s

மாலனும் நான்முகனும் கேளாத புண்டரீகக்கதை

2009-02-13T05:09:00.000-08:00

சொல்லப்படாத கதை.

remeber liberating iraq?

`How many more boys have to die?'

Sri Lankan army's gains against Tamil rebels too dearly bought, some soldiers' families say

Feb 13, 2009 04:30 AM

Rick Westhead
South Asia bureau

Kuliyapitiya, Sri Lanka–In a parking lot off the main street of this town in Sri Lanka's lush "coconut triangle," a recruiting drive is taking place.

Standing next to a red school bus emblazoned with military posters and with loudspeakers mounted in the windows, three army commandos chat with a group of young men who seem impressed by the soldiers' camouflage uniforms, special forces badges and high-cut leather boots.

Posters around this town a three-hour drive north of Colombo show pictures of local youths who have enlisted and ask residents to donate blood. Radio ads encourage people to "join the winning side."

It's understandable why the army has focused on Kuliyapitiya. Smaller farming communities such as this one, where job prospects are scarce, have been especially fertile ground for Sri Lanka's military in its decades-long civil war against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

"It used to be that kids grew up wanting to be doctors and lawyers; now they want to join the army," said Chandana Bulathsinhala, who works for an opposition member of parliament here.

The recruitment has come at a cost. This area of 150,000 has buried 5,000 soldiers over the past few years, Bulathsinhala said. In recent months, there have been as many as three funerals a week.

Sitting on a sagging mattress in her cramped clay-tiled roof home, a cat curled up next to her, Kusuma Gunawardana wiped away tears as she talked about her son.

Two weeks ago, the 24-year-old soldier disappeared near Elephant Pass, a key access point to the Jaffna peninsula in the north. The police came to tell Gunawardana her tall, thin boy had vanished in a firefight against the Tigers.

"There's been nothing since then. No offers of help, nothing," she sobbed. "I want to know what's happened to him. I want to end this feeling."

Steps from Gunawardana's front door, a poster pays tribute to Alimanka, a local commando who died during fighting in Jaffna. "Brother, you have not died. You bloom as a flower among us."

Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said 3,700 Sri Lankan soldiers have been killed since July 2006.

The families of fallen soldiers keep receiving their paycheques – Gunawardana still gets about $220 a month – until a time when they would have reached age 55.

Families also get a lump-sum payment worth about $820. That figure is doubled if the soldier was married, Nanayakkara said.

But it's small solace to Gunawardana. "This government is to blame as well," she said. "How many more boys have to die? It would have been better to have him living and not go in the military, even if we had to go and beg."

The difference between Colombo and towns like Kuliyapitiya is striking. In Sri Lanka's oceanside capital, the war is celebrated.

Last weekend, at a cultural fair called Deyata Kirula, hundreds of thousands of spectators packed a fairground to see signs of Sri Lanka's progress.

The most popular exhibits were the military ones. Crowds crushed around a recently captured Tamil Tigers submarine. Children sat on anti-aircraft guns and next to grenade launchers as grinning parents snapped photos. At one exhibit, a soldier showed a pair of Buddhist monks how to work an AK-47 rifle.

But for many families, the wounds will never heal.

[snipped]

full text is at
http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/586944

7 upcountry Tamil youths arrested in Kandy

2009-02-12T12:25:00.001-08:00

7 upcountry Tamil youths arrested in Kandy
[TamilNet, Thursday, 12 February 2009, 19:49 GMT]
Seven Tamil youths were arrested in cordon and search operation conducted in Kandy town Tuesday by the Sri Lanka Police, sources in Kandy said. The operation was conducted by the Kandy police to ensure protection of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse who was scheduled to address a provincial council election meeting in Getambe in Kandy district the same evening.

The arrested are residents of Hatton, Hewaheta, Thigana and Kandy.

Police said they were taken in for questioning as their behavior in the busy bazaar area created suspicion and also they failed to prove their identity and justify their presence in the location.

The arrested are being detained in the Kandy police station and are being interrogated, police sources said.

wordmint: nonகடவுள்

2009-02-12T10:18:00.000-08:00

http://www.youtube.com/user/TROKilinochchi

நோம் ஸோம்ஸ்கியின் 'போகிறபோக்கிலே போடடா" கருத்தை

2009-02-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

I revere this guy. Yet he has to learn more about the ongoing tamil issue (that he agrees not knowing much). However this interview originally appeared in Sri Lanka Guardian. You can not read some right questions that were supposed to be asked, and can see some silly questions that were implanted to get a reply

"Professor Chomsky On Sri Lanka And American Affairs"

By Eric Bailey

12 February, 2009
Sri Lanka Guardian

Sri Lanka Guardian's Washington correspondent Eric Bailey interviews Noam Chomsky

As the Sri Lankan Civil War's military aspect slowly but surely draws to a close, questions about Sri Lanka's future are becoming more and more pressing. What should happen to former rebels, especially those who may have committed war crimes? What will be the fate of the Tamils in Sri Lanka as a people and will their rights be protected? While no one can answer these questions before events occur, we can hope to expose Sri Lanka to the best minds available in the relevant political and social fields, and the most diverse advice available.

Appearing for the first time in Sri Lankan media, MIT's linguistics Professor Noam Chomsky has given the Sri Lanka Guardian an exclusive interview to discuss the events unfolding in Sri Lanka, as well as in his home country, the United States. Professor Chomsky has gained fame worldwide for his political activism and has been an outspoken critic of United States Foreign policy over the years. He is a self-described anarchist, but is probably most famous for his strong stances in support of suffering peoples, such as those in Palestine and Somalia. Now we hope to apply his years of experience and insight to Sri Lanka to help the nation make the transition from a house divided to a united and peaceful country.

Here is full text of Interview;

Eric: Can you still hear me alright?

Chomsky: Yes I can hear you.

Eric: Ok, great. I'd like to talk with you about several world events, but especially starting with Sri Lanka because that's where this newspaper is from.

Chomsky: Yeah.

Eric: You may have been hearing some news about their civil war that has picked up in the last year.

Chomsky: Yes, yes I've been following.

Eric: Yes, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, have been fighting for an independent country for over a quarter century now, but have been facing defeat after defeat for the past few years, especially in the last year when they lost their capital city of Kilinochchi and several other key bases. In fact just yesterday their last major naval base fell. Could you please tell me a little about your views of Sri Lanka and how it's handling the separatist problem?

Chomsky: Well, I don't feel that I have a profound enough knowledge of the details to offer a confident opinion, but it is clear that there is a problem of Tamil Rights and now that the military aspect of the conflict seems to be coming to an end what would be necessary, and humane, and best for everyone concerned, is to arrive at some kind of political solution that gives a recognition to the valid claims for some form of autonomy or self determination within the Sri Lankan state. To work that out you'd have to know more than I do.

Eric: Do you feel that an independent state for the Tamils is a viable option or do you feel that it is in the best interests of the island to remain as one independent nation, or one united nation, rather?

Chomsky: I think the idea of a single state is a bad option in much of the world and in fact parts of the world, like parts of Europe, for example, are moving towards more federal arrangements. So take, say, Spain. In Spain, Catalonia by now has a high degree of autonomy within the Spanish state. The Basque Country also has a high degree of autonomy and the same will increasingly be true of other regions. In England, Wales and Scotland in the United Kingdom are moving towards a form of autonomy and self determination and I think there are similar developments throughout Europe and they're mixed with a lot of pros and cons, but by and large I think it is a generally healthy development. I mean, the people have different interests, different cultural backgrounds, different concerns, and there should be special arrangements to allow them to pursue their special interests and concerns in harmony with others. Some form of federalism I suppose is a good outcome in multinational, multicultural, systems, especially where there is a fair amount of geographical separation. You know, it just depends on local circumstances, the kinds of accommodations that are possible. Without a really deep knowledge of these matters would be just too presumptuous for an outsider to offer opinions.

Eric: I understand that. I would like to talk a little bit about how Sri Lanka is going to be dealing with reconstruction, basically, after the LTTE is finally defeated, which most military analysts are saying should occur in the next month or two. What do you feel should be the fate of the tens of thousands of rebels who have fought over the decades-

Chomsky: I'm sorry, say it again. What do I think, in terms of what?

Eric: What do you think should be the fate of the tens of thousands of people who have fought with the LTTE over the decades, including lower level soldiers all the way up to leading officers?

Chomsky: I understand. Well the general approach, I think, should be, the general presumption should be that there will be a form of amnesty. It's probably not a bad idea to establish some kind of truce commission without punitive powers, but with investigatory powers, that would bring to light atrocities and crimes committed on all sides, as a step towards reconciliation and living together.

Eric: Yes, the war crimes and atrocities is actually going to be a hot issue in Sri Lanka, given that so many top rebel leaders are accused of (ordering) several massacres and that this is the group that actually invented the suicide bomber, or at least the suicide belt, as far as I understand it.

Chomsky: Yeah, well there are plenty of crimes on all sides, undoubtedly, and there should be- You know, it's not easy. A lot of people have suffered and it's hard for them to face that their side too is guilty of crimes, but it is quite important for that to take place. It has been moderately successful in other places; in South Africa, in El Salvador, in Guatemala. It doesn't overcome the problems, but it leads to a basis for a degree of reconciliation and a basis for living together in some constructive fashion.

Eric: Alright, I understand that. In regards to the very top leadership of the LTTE, do you think it might be more healthy or harmful for Sri Lanka to create its own Nuremburg trials to try these top Tiger leaders?

Chomsky: I frankly doubt it because the Nuremburg trials, if they were serious, would have to avoid the profound immorality of the actual Nuremburg trials. Remember, the actual Nuremburg trials were trials of the defeated, not of the victors. In fact, the principle of the Nuremburg trials was that if the Allies had committed some crime, it wasn't a crime. So, for example, the German war criminals were not accused of bombing urban, civilian targets because the Allies did more of it than the Nazis did, and Nazi war criminals like submarine commander Dönitz was able to bring as defense witnesses, American and British counterparts who testified that they had done the same things so these automatically became non-crimes. In other words, a war crime is defined as something you did and we didn't do and that turns the trial into a sham. It has been a sham since. The Chief Justice at Nuremburg, Chief Robert Jackson, the American Chief Prosecutor, he made very strong statements at Nuremburg, admonishing the judges there that, as he put it, "we are handing the defendants a poison chalice and if we sip from it (meaning if we carry out crimes like theirs) then we must be subject to the same punishment." Of course, nothing like that has happened or is even conceivable. Jackson said, "If we don't do this it means that the trial was a farce." Well we haven't done it so that means the trial was a farce, even though the guilty were maybe the most guilty criminals in modern history. So a Trial modeled on Nuremburg would not be a good thing at all. It would simply be a trial of the defeated and that only engenders further hatred, anger, and promises an ugly conflict. An honest trial, which tries everyone, might be conceivable, but my guess is that it's probably not a good idea, just as it wasn't carried out in the countries that I mentioned.

[snipped]

full text is at
http://www.countercurrents.org/bailey120209.htm

"ஸோவேஸ், அவனுகளை முடிச்சிடு" - "யெஸ் பாஸ்"

2009-02-09T17:30:00.000-08:00

read the lines in red (UK Ambassador Sawers' irresponsible comments) http://www.innercitypress.com/unsc2srilanka020909.html also read http://www.innercitypress.com/unsc3srilanka020909.html In UN Council, Japan Works on Sri Lanka Issue, "Ongoing Engagement" of UN, Says Official Coomaraswamy Byline: Matthew Russell Lee of Inner City Press at the UN: News Analysis UNITED NATIONS, February 9, updated -- Whether and how Sri Lanka will be presented in the UN Security Council is an issue currently being "mediated" by this month's Council president, Ambassador Yukio Takasu of Japan, he confirmed on the record to Inner City Press on Monday. Video here from Minute from Minute 1:46. In Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's closed-door briefing to the Council on Monday afternoon, Sri Lanka came up, UK Ambassador John Sawers confirmed after the meeting (see below). Meanwhile, senior UN official Radhika Coomaraswamy told Inner City Press that while Sri Lanka is "a new place for them" at the UN, "there is now an ongoing engagement." Video here, from Minute 48:56. Last week, Inner City Press exclusively reported that Security Council member Mexico had on February 3 asked that the Council get a briefing about Sri Lanka, and that Russia had blocked it, saying that Sri Lanka is not on the Council's agenda. Click here for that February 5 story, which was picked up in Sri Lanka's Sunday Times which in turn reported that "a senior Foreign Ministry official in Colombo said that what Mexico had suggested was at an informal meeting... However, H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka's Permanent representative to the UN in New York, would meet the Mexican representative and brief him 'adequately' on the situation in Sri Lanka, he said. 'Ambassador Palihakkara will handle the situation. We are confident the issue will not come up at the Security Council,' the official said. The UN-based Inner City Press reported that this month's Council president, Yukio Takasu, had said he would engage the two sides -- Mexico and Russia -- in bilateral consultations on the issue." Because of the pressure being brought to bear on Mexico and others, Inner City Press on Monday sought further confirmation that the issue is "live" in the Council. Even the Permanent Representative of a north African country not on the Council told Inner City Press he was aware of the discussions in the Council. Another Council member said that beyond Russia, others of the Permanent Five members -- the UK, France, US and China -- are against having a briefing. On camera, Inner City Press asked Ambassador Takasu to confirm Mexico's request and where things stand. "I cannot confirm who said what," Takasu replied, "but this issue has been the matter of consultations I have accepted to take. And I am talking to the people among themselves, but no decision is made yet." Video here from Minute from Minute 1:46. Amb. Takasu with the President of the UN General Assembly, outcome on Sri Lanka not shown Inner City Press asked, is the upsurge in fighting in Sri Lanka an appropriate issue for consideration by the Council, given the effect on civilians? Ambassador Takasu said "among Council members there are different views. There is the strong view that is interested in hearing about the humanitarian situation in that country. But at the same time some other members are saying that it is purely an internal matter, that the Council has no agenda yet. That is why they are putting myself in consultations to come up with a common understanding." Video here, from Minute 2:19. There are other Council members who are supportive of Mexico's request. But it is the position of the Permanent Five that is dispositive in the Council. Last week, when Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador John Sawers -- who did not participate in Monday's Council session, instead squiring Lord Mark Malloch Brown around to meetings -- why he was not proposing to discuss the impact on civilians of the government operations against the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka in the Council, while proposing a new Presidential Statement on Sudan's impact while fighting the Justice and Equality Movement, Sawers replied: "Well, the situation in Sri Lanka is entirely different. We do have concerns about the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka. We have urged the government of Sri Lanka to have everything in count to bring an end to the hostilities so that humanitarian relief can be extended to the civilians.... The Tamil Tigers are a proscribed organization and the government of Sri Lanka has long been blighted by the activities of the Tamil Tigers. We want these to be brought to an end." So it appears to some that since the UK and many others want the Tamil Tigers "brought to an end," they are looking the other way on a level of civilian casualties not seen in many of the other situations which they talk about at length in the Security Council. Update: now it's said that the UK Mission to the UN's position is that if a formal request were made for a Council briefing on Sri Lanka, the UK would not oppose it, even, would be supportive. But they will not make the request: over-worked, apparently, or delegating to Mexico on the issue.Further update: following Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's closed-door briefing to the Council on Monday afternoon, Inner City Press asked UK Ambassador Sawers, "Did Sri Lanka come up?" Sawers answered, "Yes," and then left. Watch this site. In the Sri Lankan press, following Inner City Press' exclusive report on Mexico's request and Russia's negative response, there has been discussion of why Mexico and Russia are interested. Click here for some discussion. Of the latter, it must be noted that Russia often opposes new items being brought before the Council, on the theory that some of their "internal" conflicts could then make an appearance. The UN and the Security Council should strive to be objective, as regards consideration of humanitarian suffering, and not only focus where Permanent Five members want to. To request a briefing on Sri Lanka is not to support the Tamil Tigers. Many of those countries which expressed concern about Gaza at the same time criticize Hamas, for example. Russia, as Inner City Press has reported here, raised in the Council the issue of the Coalition's killing of civilians in Afghanistan, and that was not seen as support for Al Qaeda or the Taliban. Then again, Afghanistan was already on the Security Council's agenda...

இதுக்கென்ன சொல்லும் இந்தூ

2009-02-09T13:08:00.000-08:00

BBC suspends Sri Lanka FM reports
17:44 GMT, Monday, 9 February 2009

The BBC World Service is to stop providing radio news to Sri Lanka's state broadcaster because of what it calls "deliberate interference".

A statement said FM broadcasts to the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation would be suspended from Tuesday.

The BBC said many of its news reports in Sinhala, Tamil and English had been blocked or only partially broadcast.

The SLBC chairman admitted censoring BBC programming, saying he had a duty to do so at a time of war.

The BBC says it will maintain its services in Sinhala, Tamil and English on short wave radio and online. BBC news reports in English are to continue on the Sri Lankan commercial radio broadcaster, MBC.

The BBC move follows allegations that press freedoms are being eroded in Sri Lanka as fighting intensifies between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Media rights groups accuse the Sri Lankan authorities of cracking down on dissent. The government denies the charge.

full text is at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7879743.stm

இதுக்குத்தானா ஆசைப்பட்டாய் பாவகுமாரா?

2009-02-09T06:58:00.000-08:00

One time rebel leader of Sri Lanka to join SLFP
Monday, February 9, 2009, 14:19 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Feb 09, Colombo: One time area leader of the LTTE rebel outfit and founder of the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) party parliamentarian Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman says he will join Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) in near future.

[snipped]

Finally he said that Eastern Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan will be alone in TMVP following his crossover as a large number of party supporters are getting ready to join with SLFP.

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full text is at
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_09/February9141953RA.html

What the main st(r)eam nationalist Sri lankan & Patriogothic Indian media may not tell you

2009-02-06T04:25:00.000-08:00

The Truth Here Is One-Sided (& fully blinded as well)

Sri Lanka’s journalists are under pressure from their government to toe the official line

SUNANDA DESHPRIYA
Journalist

Not allowed to speak Journalists protesting after senior scribe Wikramatunga’s death
Photo: AP

SRI LANKA is among the most dangerous places in the world for a journalist. During the last three years, the media has come under unprecedented pressure. Journalists have been killed, abducted, assaulted, arrested and labelled as traitors. Media institutions were forced to close down, set on fire, and branded anti-national.

Since 2006, 18 journalists and media workers have been killed. The majority of journalists killed had been Jaffna-based Tamils. The most recent case was last month, when Lasantha Wikramatunga, editor of the Sunday Leader, was killed in broad daylight. Last month saw increased pressure on the Sri Lankan media. On January 6, petrol bombs had been hurled at the popular television and radio station MTV/MBC network. Two days later, a gang had entered the station and set it on fire after destroying the control room. Two days later, Wikramatunga was killed.

Within a week, Keheliya Rambukwela, the spokesperson for national security, named both Sunday Leader and MBC as media institutions that didn’t heed government advice on reporting defence-related matters. Media activists who spoke out against these attacks received death threats, and gangs visited their homes. Two weeks later, Upali Tennakoon, Editor of the Rivira Sinhala Weekly, was attacked. He survived as his wife covered him with her body.

On January 10, the website Lankadissent.com voluntarily closed its operations. In its last editorial it said, “A lesson learnt, that needs no repeats to learn. This ‘compassionate Sinhala Buddhist land’ does not tolerate ‘dissent’. Those who would not want to learn that living, would have to learn that in death. We, who live, would come back when ‘dissent’ comes back as a democratic right, accepted and enjoyed in a modern land of compassion. Till then, goodbye!” In the wake of these attacks, at least 11 senior journalists left the country, seven of them for India. Since the beginning of 2006, more than 30 journalists have left the country.

In his first address to the nation in December 2005, President Mahinda Rajapaksa made it clear that the media had to take its side against the war with the LTTE. The government has not left any room for ambiguity. The message to the messenger was clear: there was one truth in the war against terror and that was, the one that came from the official Media Center for National Security (MCNS) and like institutions.

In 2006, the government requested for media self-censorship. In a letter to the media, the Ministry of Defence appealed: “Please be advised that any news gathered by your institution through your own sources with regard to national security and defence should be subjected to clarification and confirmation from the MCNS in order to ensure that correct information is published, telecast or broadcast.”

Finally, in October 2007, the government put out a gazette prohibiting news reporting on proposed military operations. It was illegal to report material “which pertains to any proposed operations or military activity as well as plans to buy equipment for security forces or the police.” Under the terms of those regulations, editors could be jailed for up to five years. But due to strong opposition, the government backed down.

The systematic silencing of the Tamil media has been a grave indicator of the deteriorating space for freedom of expression. Tamil journalists, especially in the north and east, have been subjected to intimidation and harassment on a daily basis by security forces and armed groups. Certain Tamil newspapers, particularly in the east, have been set on fire and distributors prevented from selling them. Newspaper offices have been looted, burnt, vandalised and bombed.

Since 2006, the Tamil-populated Jaffna peninsula has become a nightmare for journalists, human rights activists and civilians in general. Murders, kidnappings, threats and censorship have made Jaffna one of the world’s most dangerous places for journalists to work. At least 11 media workers, including three journalists, have been killed in the Northern Province since May 2006. Three media workers are missing, including a journalist.

OVER THE past three years, army officers have summoned Jaffna-based Tamil media chiefs several times to order censorship of certain events such as the speeches made by LTTE leader V Prabakaran, the students’ strike, kidnappings, and other matters the army would prefer not reported. This puts the Tamil media in an impossible situation, because the LTTE demands they cover such topics. More than 20 journalists have been arrested all over Sri Lanka, the majority of them Tamils. Four Tamil women journalists were taken into custody under emergency regulations. All were branded LTTE supporters and suicide bombers. Well-known Tamil journalist J Tissainayagam, trainee journalist, V Walarmathi, and her husband, V Jasiharan, were arrested and charged under the Prevention of Terrorism Act.

[snipped]
Deshpriya is a Sri Lankan journalist living in exile in Chennai

From Tehelka Magazine, Vol 6, Issue 6, Dated Feb 14, 2009
http://www.tehelka.com/story_main41.asp?filename=Ne140209the_thruth.asp

STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY ON THE SITUATION IN SRI LANKA

2009-02-03T15:44:00.001-08:00

STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATRICK LEAHY
ON
THE SITUATION IN SRI LANKA
February 3, 2009
Mr. LEAHY. The ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka that has waxed and waned for decades costing the lives of tens of thousands of people has exploded into a full scale war and it is civilians who are bearing the brunt of the carnage.
The origins of the conflict arise from decades of the Sinhalese majority’s systematic discrimination against the Tamil minority, and its denial of the Tamils’ meaningful participation in the political process. The Sri Lankan army is almost exclusively Sinhalese. Successive Sinhalese-dominated governments have failed to effectively address these longstanding injustices.
Over the years, peaceful demonstrations by Tamils have been met with violence by Sinhalese extremists, which has in turn fostered violent extremism on the Tamil side.
In recent weeks, as the Sri Lankan army has seized control of most of the northern strongholds of the Tamil Tigers, or LTTE as they are otherwise known, the situation has gone from dire to the verge of catastrophe for the estimated 250,000 vulnerable civilians who are trapped in a so-called “safe zone.”
The LTTE has a history of suicide bombings and other indiscriminate attacks against civilians, using civilians as shields, and preventing civilians under their control from escaping to government areas. Several hundred local staff of the United Nations and international humanitarian organizations are reportedly trapped because the LTTE refuses to allow them to leave. The LTTE has been designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States.
For its part, the Sri Lankan army insists it is targeting the LTTE, not civilians. But the army has also acted in ways that have blurred any meaningful distinction between itself and the LTTE. It has reportedly shelled areas populated by civilians, including hospitals, causing hundreds of casualties, summarily executed suspected LTTE sympathizers, and detained those who have fled LTTE areas, including women and children, in militarized camps where they are exposed to great hardship and danger.
The United Nations says a compound sheltering UN national staff inside the safety zone was shelled on January 24 and 25, killing at least nine civilians and wounding more than 20. On January 26, another artillery attack reportedly narrowly missed UN local staff working in the safety zone, but caused dozens of civilian deaths. The International Committee of the Red Cross has said that “[h]undreds of patients need emergency treatment and evacuation to [a] hospital in the government-controlled area.”

In the past two days, another hospital was reportedly shelled multiple times, resulting in more civilian deaths and injuries.

Human Rights Watch reports that since last September, when the Sri Lankan government ordered the withdrawal of most UN and nongovernmental humanitarian organizations, as well as journalists, from the conflicted area, a grave humanitarian crisis has developed with acute shortages of food, shelter, medicine, and other humanitarian supplies.

The Sri Lankan government has a duty to respect the rights and protect the safety of all Sri Lankan citizens, whatever their ethnic origin or political views. Instead, the government has embarked on a strategy to defeat the LTTE militarily and in doing so has shown disregard for the laws of war. Rather than protecting the Tamil people, the government has often contributed to their suffering. Its strategy has been to cordon off the area and blame everything, including its own violations, on the LTTE.

Since 1984, successive peace talks have failed, as both the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government have reneged on their agreements, and the government has failed to provide the vision and leadership necessary to build a multi-ethnic consensus. Both sides’ extreme ethnic nationalist agendas have caused widespread human suffering. Both sides are accountable.

I have no sympathy for the LTTE, which has brought misery upon the Tamil people it professes to represent. But while the LTTE has been severely weakened, it is unlikely to disappear, and the cycle of violence may continue.

It is imperative that the government and the LTTE agree to an immediate ceasefire to avoid further loss of life, permit access to UN monitors and humanitarian organizations, and permit civilians to leave for areas of safety. The Obama administration, the British, Indian and other concerned governments, should be publicly urging the same.

Over the longer term, if lasting peace is to come to Sri Lanka, the government must effectively address, in negotiations which include all the main Tamil and Muslim parties, the core issues that have fueled the conflict including laws and policies that unfairly discriminate against Sri Lanka’s minorities.

There is a related issue that needs to be mentioned, and that is the imprisonment for the past ten months of J.S. Tissainayagam, a journalist, and N. Jashiharan, a publisher, and his wife, V. Valamathy. They were arrested for articles critical of the government, and are being held in violation of their right to freedom of expression. Another of Sri Lankan’s most respected journalists, Lasantha Wickrematunga, was gunned down in broad daylight a few weeks ago. According to Navi Pillay, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, “[t]he killing of . . . Wickrematunge . . . was the latest blow to the free expression of dissent in Sri Lanka. The searing article he wrote prophesying his own murder is an extraordinary indictment of a system corrupted by more than two decades of bloody internal conflict.” The High Commissioner noted that there have not been any prosecutions of political killings, disappearances and other violations committed in recent years. That in itself speaks volumes about the Sri Lankan government’s credibility.

For many years, the United States and Sri Lanka have enjoyed good relations. A close friend of mine, James Spain, was our Ambassador there years ago. He often told me of his deep affection for the Sri Lankan people, and of the country’s extraordinary natural beauty.

When the tsunami crashed ashore in December 2004, a member of my staff was on the island. The American people responded generously to help Sri Lanka rebuild.

It has therefore been difficult for me to watch the conflict intensify, the LTTE abuse civilians and fail to live up to its commitments, and the government threaten to expel foreign diplomats, aid agencies and journalists, and refuse appeals to permit independent observers and aid workers access to areas where Tamil civilians are trapped. And as reputable, courageous journalists have been arrested on transparently political charges or assassinated.

The Sri Lanka government will one day want the respect and support of the United States. The same can be said of the LTTE, if and when it renounces violence and becomes a legitimate political party. How they respond to today’s humanitarian appeals will weigh heavily on how the United States responds when that day comes.

Piece of Shit Business

2009-02-02T17:53:00.000-08:00

கழித்து விட்ட இந்த மலன்களை என்ன செய்வது? இவர்களுக்குத் தேர்தல்தான் முக்கியம்!

The Times of India

Cong feels Lanka situation will not affect its TN alliance
3 Feb 2009, 0318 hrs IST, TNN

NEW DELHI: Congress is hopeful that barring a sudden and sharp deterioration in the humanitarian situation, the Sri Lankan offensive against LTTE will not rock the party's Tamil Nadu alliance too hard ahead of general elections due to get underway in April.

Congress is of the view that the LTTE storm has been "hamdled" by foreign minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Colombo and the subsequent window offered to civilians to reach safe zones. LTTE's reluctance to allow movement of civilians has not gone down well with public opinion, feels the party.

Given the near-certainty that the Tigers are not likely to stage a recovery as they have in the past, Congress's assessment is that DMK chief M Karunanidhi will not break with UPA. The shrewd politico is expected to reflect concern over the woes of civilians but stop short of adopting any formal position seeking an Indian intervention to halt the Lankan offensive.

[snipped]

full test is at
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/Cong_feels_Lanka_situation_will_not_affect_its_TN_alliance/articleshow/4066818.cms

Activist warns of Sri Lanka "massacres"

2009-02-01T22:22:00.000-08:00

Activist warns of Sri Lanka "massacres"

Swiss Tamils meet integration challenges The defeat of the Tamil Tiger rebels at the hands of the Sri Lankan military could well lead to reprisal massacres, warns a Swiss human rights expert.
Sri Lankan troops are battling to finish one of Asia's longest wars, having won a series of major battles and swiftly encircled the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the northeast of the Indian Ocean island.

Sri Lanka's president urged the rebels on Friday to allow the estimated 250,000 civilians trapped in the northern war zone to flee to safety following reports of heavy casualties among non-combatants stuck in the shrinking territory.

"The human right most under threat at the moment is life itself. After a conflict lasting over 30 years and atrocities committed on all sides, a military defeat of the Tigers would open the door to the settling of scores and massacres," Adrien-Claude Zoller, director of the non-governmental organisation (NGO) Geneva for Human Rights, told swissinfo.

Zoller recently returned from the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo, where he had been giving human rights courses to civil society NGOs.

Human rights groups have accused the rebels of holding civilians hostage and accused the military of launching heavy attacks in areas filled with civilians, including a government-declared "safe zone" in the north.

full text is at
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/front/Activist_warns_of_Sri_Lanka_massacres.html?siteSect=108&sid=10266130&cKey=1233499785000&ty=st

Sri Lanka: helping families keep in touch across the front line

2009-02-01T09:34:00.000-08:00

அகிலச்செஞ்சிலுவைச்சங்கத்தின் செவ்வி

http://www.icrc.org/web/eng/siteeng0.nsf/html/sri-lanka-interview-300109

30-01-2009 Interview
Sri Lanka: helping families keep in touch across the front line
The conflict in northern Sri Lanka has affected some 200,000 civilians in the Vanni. The majority have fled their homes, while others are at risk of displacement in this volatile situation. Many have not been able to talk to their families in recent days and weeks. Monica Zanarelli, the ICRC’s deputy head of operations for South Asia, explains the organization's efforts to re-establish family links in an extremely volatile situation.

Monica Zanarelli, ICRC’s deputy head of operations for South Asia
Monica Zanarelli, ICRC’s deputy head of operations for South Asia Has the fighting forced people to move away from their homes?

Over 2,000 Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) have reached the region of Vavuniya. Approximately the same number have arrived in the Jaffna Peninsula. These areas are controlled by the government, and displaced persons are living at permanent sites under the control of civil and military authorities. Due to security concerns, their movements are restricted and family visits are limited. Government authorities are expecting the number of IDPs coming from the Vanni region to increase by tens of thousands in the coming weeks.

What are their needs concerning the re-establishment of family links (RFL)?

Ever since people started moving from and within the Vanni, the ICRC has been assessing their needs in this respect. Until now, telecommunications and the postal service have worked well throughout Sri Lanka and most people were able to communicate with their families abroad or in other areas of the country. However, due to increased restrictions on movement, the ICRC expects people to need considerably more help in restoring or maintaining contact with their relatives in the coming days and weeks.

Today, communication is extremely limited for families staying in the LTTE-controlled area of the Vanni. The ICRC, Red Cross Societies and Red Crescent Societies are getting more and more requests from worried family members living abroad. Many have not heard from their loved ones for weeks or even months, and they cannot contact them.
Can the ICRC currently locate people displaced in the Vanni?

Massive displacements in the Vanni make it impossible for the ICRC to locate individuals at this stage. The intense fighting is making it very dangerous for our teams and those of the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society (SLRCS) to move about.

The SLRCS and the ICRC are currently setting up priorities. The two organizations will first seek to reunite unaccompanied children with their families and transfer bodies across front lines, with the aim of returning them to their families.

What is the situation in government-controlled areas?

The situation is different for those who left the LTTE-controlled area and moved to the government-controlled side. The SLRCS and the ICRC have access to sites in this zone and are hoping to establish a permanent presence in these camps so as to help restore contact between people in the camps and their relatives elsewhere in Sri Lanka and abroad. We will be using "Safe and Well" messages for this, together with telephone calls.

Given the current situation, are there limits on what the ICRC and the SLRCS can do to help families stay in touch?

At this stage, the Family Links Network is unable to collect Red Cross Messages and individual tracing requests for people living in the Vanni.

However, the SLRCS and the ICRC are currently in a position to accept Red Cross Messages and individual tracing requests for people originally from the Vanni who have moved to other areas controlled by the Government of Sri Lanka.

Why is M J Akbar of the Times of India so pro-GoSL?

2009-02-01T08:18:00.000-08:00

எம் ஜே அக்பர் ஸ்ரீலங்கா காலியிலே வசதியாகத் தங்கிக்கொண்டு ஸ்ரீலங்கா அரசுக்கு ஆதரவாகக் கட்டுரை எழுதுகிறாரா?

கூடவே நாகார்ஜுனனின் கட்டுரைப்பின்னூட்டத்தினையும் வாசிக்கவேண்டும்.

விடுதலைப்புலிகள் பிரச்சாரம் என்பது நீண்டகாலமாக இருப்பதுதான். தமிழகத்தின் தமிழ்-ஊடகங்கள் பல இதை விரும்பி ஏற்றன, ஏற்கின்றன என்பது சரியே. அதை ஊடுருவிக்காண்பது எளிது. அதேவேளை பத்திரிகைக்காரனாக இருந்தவன் என்ற நிலையில் எனக்குக் கிடைக்கும் செய்திகளை வைத்துப் பார்க்கும்போது இலங்கை அரசின் ஒருதலையான பிரச்சாரத்தை விரும்பி ஏற்று இந்திய-தமிழ் ஊடகங்கள் பல பலியாகிவிட்டன என்று தெரிகிறது. எடுத்துக்காட்டாக, சென்னை ஆங்கில ஏடொன்றின் ஆசிரியர் குழு கூட்டங்களில் சென்னையில் உள்ள இலங்கைத்தூதர் பங்கேற்று வருகிறார் என அறிந்தேன். டில்லி ஆங்கில-ஹிந்தி ஏடுகளின் நிருபர்கள் சிலர் ஸ்ரீலங்கன் ஏர்லைன்ஸின் சலுகைகளை ஏற்று, கொழும்பு சென்று காலி-கண்டி சுற்றுலாவை அனுபவித்திருப்பதாகவும் அறிந்தேன். இதை நேரில் பார்த்து அதிர்ச்சியடைந்தவர்களே என்னிடம் தெரிவிக்கிறார்கள். தூரத்திலிருக்கும் என்னைவிட உங்களுக்கு இன்னும் அதிகம் தெரிய வாய்ப்புண்டு.

V.V.Ganeshananthan (வாசுகி. வி. கணேசானந்தன்) பற்றி டிசேயின் குறிப்பிலே வாசிக்கவும்
அலைந்துழல் வாழ்க்கையும், இட‌ம்பெய‌ர‌ ம‌றுக்கும் ம‌ன‌ங்க‌ளும்

Does this mean, some journalists and authors are welcome to Sri Lanka for providing or have provided pro-GoSL views?

MJ Akbar
Hatred can also become a need
1 Feb 2009, 0048 hrs IST, M J Akbar

Mukherjee, foreign minister of a party that had once trained, armed and financed the LTTE, placed India's interest above politics, ignored any potential anger-lament from the DMK, agreed that Prabhakaran was a terrorist, negotiated a commitment on civilians trapped by the war, and went home.

Paradoxically, Colombo has been able to succeed militarily and diplomatically precisely because it has overcome its obsession with India as an enemy. Hatred is also a form of dependence. Enmity becomes the sole definition of your identity. Colombo has reason for continued suspicion of Delhi. The UPA alliance is heavily dependent on the DMK, to begin with. But it has exchanged past bitterness for commonsense, refused to let animosity interfere with trade, benefited from the ensuing economic partnership and created a sustainable and equitable relationship with Delhi.

[snipped]

The end of the war against the LTTE has to become the beginning of a peace process with the Tamil people of Sri Lanka. Delhi can be credible partner in the management of peace, precisely because it has shown the respect for Sri Lanka's territorial integrity and independence that must be the foundation of any relationship. Lifting any siege needs partnership.

[snapped]

full text is at
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Opinion/Columnists/M_J_Akbar_Hatred_can_also_become_a_need/articleshow/4058233.cms

-----------------

Now go and read this one

Head to Galle!
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090111/Magazine/sundaytimesplus_04.html

Tickets are selling out fast for the year’s most exciting literary event- the Galle Literary Festival to be held from January 28 to Feb 1 at the Fort, Galle. The impressive array of local and foreign authors attending includes Germaine Greer, Colin Thubron, Pico Iyer, Anne Ranasinghe, V.V.Ganeshananthan, M.J. Akbar, Moses Isegawa, Romesh Gunesekera, Vivimarie Vanderpoorten and the event promises some stimulating exchanges and discussion amidst a whole host of complementary events.

For more details and to book your tickets online, see the GLF website: www.galleliteraryfestival.com. Tickets are also available at Barefoot.

The Sunday Times is the print media sponsor of the festival once again.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090111/Magazine/sundaytimesplus_04.html

இவருக்கு நல்ல காலமில்லே

2009-01-31T15:10:00.000-08:00

from my friend sam

இந்தாளு லூசா? இந்த மாரி ரெண்டு தபா பேசினா நாளைக்கே உள்ளாற தள்ளிறபோறானுக

How India can resolve the Sri Lankan crisis

Tuesday, 21 October , 2008, 20:22
Last Updated: Thursday, 23 October , 2008, 10:18

Colonel (retd) Dr Anil Athale is a Chhatrapati Shivaji Chair Fellow of the United Services Institute and co-ordinator of INPAD, a Pune based think-tank. He is also the author of ‘Nuclear Menace: the Satyagraha Approach’ (Pub 1997).

There is no purely military solution to problems of insurgency. The only known successful ‘military’ solution to such problems in world history is to be found in the US, namely the genocide of the native Red Indians.

Most civilised nations would balk at such an approach, but short of that, a purely military solution to problems of ethnic minorities will and have always failed. It is, therefore, a little surprising that many have begun to write the epitaph of LTTE and the cause of Tamil Eelam.

It must be clearly understood that the LTTE or V Prabhakaran are not the reason for the turmoil in Sri Lanka, but products of an ideology and circumstances. As long as the cause and the conditions that caused the Tamil revolt exist, peace will be elusive, notwithstanding the claims of an imminent military victory.

India must make Sri Lanka see reason
As some one associated with the Sri Lankan conflict since 1988, I am dismayed at the repeated mistakes on part of all the principal actors in this sordid, blood soaked drama.

On its part the LTTE is being obdurate in sticking to the demand of ‘independence’ that can never become a reality since India does not support it. On the Sri Lankan government’s part, the notion of national unity and integrity is equated with ‘unitary’ form of government, and a federal structure is considered an anathema. This has further legitimised the hard line position of the LTTE.

And finally India, a country that has a major stake in peace in Sri Lanka, has been shy of forcing the Lankan government to move in direction of federalism and autonomy for Tamil areas. Thus in this tragedy, there are only villains and no heroes.

full text is at
http://sify.com/news/fullstory.php?id=14781933

முடியலடா சாமியோவ்

2009-01-30T23:41:00.000-08:00

* Sri Lanka President suitable for Nobel Peace Award, says Minister
Saturday, January 31, 2009, 6:03 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jan 31, Colombo: Sri Lanka Minister of Construction and Engineering Services Rajitha Senarathna says President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is on the verge of wiping out the world's most ruthless terrorist organization and bringing peace is apt for the Nobel Peace Prize in future.

In an interview with Dinamina, the state owned Sinhala daily, the Minister expressed hope that the Nobel awards committee and the international community would soon focus attention to this matter.

The Minister also pointed out that the Wall Street Journal recently said that the US President Barak Obama had lessons to learn from Sri Lanka President on combating terrorism.
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_09/January3160346KA.html

Suicide turns a seed

2009-01-30T15:09:00.000-08:00

நியூஸ் ருடே
Suicide turns a seed

Tamilnadu is on the boil. The death of a Tamil youth Muthukumaran, said to be a case of self-immolation over the Lankan issue, has inflamed the already edgy passions, and today the mood among the political parties that have anchored themselves on the ‘Tamil cause’ was one of anger, which can snowball into something more dangerous.

The irascible section of the student community and the advocates groups have also jumped into the churning cauldron. Tamil bloggers, whose numbers have swelled in recent times, were also adding to the passion with their white-hot emotions.

full text is at
http://newstodaynet.com/newsindex.php?id=14403%20&%20section=7

பிரணாப்பு மொய்ஜிங்கோ, இத சொல்லறது நாங்க இல்லீங்கோ. குஷால் பெரேராவுங்கோ

2009-01-30T05:53:00.000-08:00

அன்பழகப்பேராசிறியர் நேத்திக்கு இலங்கையிலே எல்லாம் இன்பமயம் அப்படீன்னு பிரணாப்பு மொய்ஜீ சொல்லிருக்கறதா சட்டைச்சப்பையிலே சொல்லீருக்காரு. பிரணாப்பு மொய்ஜிங்கோ, புறநானூத்து மெய்யருங்கோ, இதெ பாருங்கோங்கோ இத சொல்லறது நாங்க இல்லீங்கோ. குஷால் பெரேராவுங்கோ. அட்றா குஜாலுங்கோ

Winning the war and losing the future for the Sinhala South
By Kusal Perera

"Wars, conflict, it's all a business.
One murder makes a villain.
Millions, a hero. Numbers sanctify." - Charlie Chaplin

It's all now a talk of living in a country free of "terrorism". The Separatist Tigers are almost eliminated. Driven to the forests of Mullaitivu and restricted to lick their wounds, till they are completely annihilated as promised by the Defence head. Ruthless and merciless as no other armed organization on this planet earth, the LTTE had to be cornered, tamed and eliminated politically, long before. That not done in a pragmatic manner, we are told "a full scale war" is the only option "within our unitary State". The hard and rigid position of claiming a non-compromising unitary State in a Sinhala dominated country, perhaps left no other option but a war for the majority psyche that believes it owns this plot of marooned land.

Yet, at what cost ? In rupees and cents, the total is huge. It was 130 billion rupees in 2007 plus a supplementary budget that enhanced the defence allocation by another 15 per cent, half way through the year. In 2008 it was 166 billion plus another supplementary budget allocation of 28 billion, making it a staggering 194 billion rupees for the war, with 177 billion budgeted for 2009, for now. Cost of war is not only the allocated annual defence budgets. It is also the cost of rebuilding and replacing the massive destruction caused to buildings, roads, bridges, rail tracks, electricity pylons and other infrastructure, after the war. How many billions more would we need for that ? That in rupees or dollars is not the total lost in this war. Add the productive cost of a society, how ever meagre that may be, that was and is being lost over the years due to war.

full text is at
http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/01/winning_the_war_and_losing_the.html

MIA in interviewed by Tavis Smiley of PBS

2009-01-30T05:51:00.000-08:00

If she wants she can make a difference in Oscar, like Marlon Brando for Native Indians and Vannessa Redgrave for Palastine

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/video/flv/generic.html?s=tavi08s1ddeq6f6

சொன்னாங்க.....

2009-01-28T08:49:00.000-08:00

forwarded mail from my friend Sam

சொன்னாங்க.....

இலங்கை பிரச்சினையில் இந்திய அரசு இரட்டை வேடம்: சரத்குமார்

இந்திய அரசுன்னாலும் ரெட்டைவேஷம்; உங்களுக்கு இது எத்தனையாவது வேஷம்?

ஜனவரி 30ம் தேதி சென்னை மெரினா காந்திசிலை அருகில் கருப்பு கொடி கட்டி, டாக்டர் ராமதாஸ் தலைமையில் தா.பாண்டியன், திருமா, நெடுமாறன், வைகோ உள்ளிட்ட அத்துனை தமிழினத்தலைவர்களும் மவுனவிரதம் - பதிவர் பாலபாரதி செய்தி

ஏதோ தமிழ்நாட்டின் உணவுப்பஞ்சத்துக்கு ஒரு நாள் தீர்வு வந்தாலாச்சும் சரி

பிரணாப் முகர்ஜியின் பயணத்தால் பயனில்லை: மருத்துவர் இராமதாஸ்

அத்தானே! உங்க பசப்பு பாராயணத்தாலமட்டுந்தேன் தமிழருக்கு பயன் பனியா கொட்டுது

ஈழ பிரச்சினை - கருணாநிதியை கும்முவது தீர்வாகாது - பதிவர் முத்து தமிழினி

..அப்படின்னு கட்சி பாசத்துல கருணாநிதியை கொஞ்சுறது அசலான தீர்ப்பாகாது

கனடாவில் சிறிலங்கா துணைத் தூதரகத்தினை முற்றுகையிட்ட தமிழர்கள் - பதிவர் எல்லாளன்

தண்ணி வெடி வெடிக்காமலே போச்சு; முற்றுகை என்ன கோட்டை விட்டுச்சா?

முன்னாள் ஜனாதிபதி வெங்கட்ராமன் காலமானார் - இட்லிவடைஜீ

அங்கே அப்டிக். இங்கே டவுண்டிக். ஆயி போரவருக்கு அடுத்தாபல வாழ எல ஏந்த போரவரு யாரு?

ஈழத்தமிழரை தின்னும் இந்திய தேசியத்தை முறியடிப்போம் ம க இ - பதிவர் கலகம்

பேருக்கேப்ப கலக்குறீங்க. மொதல்ல இந்தியதமிழரை நன்னும் இந்திய தேசியத்தை மொகம் குடுக்க பாருங்க. ஈழத்தமிழர் தின்னப்படுவதை இன்னொரு நாளைக்குப் பாத்துக்கலாம். சே வர வர கலகமா கழகமா அறிக்கை விடுதுன்னே தெரியரதில்ல

சோ ராமசாமியை எதை வைத்து உதைக்கலாம்., துடைப்பம் கொண்டு? - பதிவர் முரளி

மொதலுல பலப்பம் வெச்சுக்கிட்டு கிறுக்கலாமான்னு பாருங்க. கிழிக்க முடிஞ்சா தொடைப்பம் ஆர்டர் பண்ணிடலாம்

புலிகளின் தலைவரை பிடிக்க இந்தியா கங்கணம் - பருத்தித்துறை கடலிற்கு அண்மையாக இந்தியாவின் இரு யுத்தகப்பல் தரித்து நிற்கிறது!! - பதிவர் நங்கூரம்

நங்கூரமே சொல்றாப்ப நம்பித்தான் சாகணும்

உலகின் வேகமான மனிதர் பிரணாப் முகர்ஜி !- பதிவர் லோஷன்

மூச்சை விடாம பிடிச்சுக்கிட்டே ஓடினாரோ என்னமோ!
பேசாம பிராணாயாம மூக்குஜீன்னே பேரை மாத்திடலாமா?
ஆனா என்ன? சிவ்சங்கர்ஜிதான் சிம்பளா கெலிச்சாரு

Karunanidhi better person to visit Sri Lanka: Jayalalithaa

Because I am the Godmother. People come to me. I do not go to them

கார்த்தி சிதம்பரத்திடம் கேளுங்கள் - சஞ்செய் காந்தி

அப்படியாச்சும் அவரு அட்ரெசு இல்லாத அட்டை காங்கிரசுல ஒரு அடுத்த வாரிசுன்னு நீங்க ஒத்துக்கிட்டா போதுங்க. ஒங்க மளிகைகடபில்லு மனைவிடான்சுகொலுசுன்னு ஏதாச்சும் கேளுங்க. இருந்தா கொடுத்துட்டு போராரு. அதுசரி, தமிழ்நாட்டுகாங்கிரசுல நீங்க எந்த gang rust?

Tamilnadu Bloggers are stupids and cowards

2009-01-27T13:53:00.000-08:00

Twitter Tamil Brahmas are more brave than pro-eelam tamil bloggers

CNN-IBN: Should India do something positive in supporting the Sri Lanka government in their fight against the LTTE?

Cho Ramaswamy: Yes. We should support them though of course we cannot openly supply them with weaponry and all. We must everything that is possible within certain limits to help the Sri Lankan army to finish off the LTTE. The LTTE will survive as a pure and simple terrorist group but they must lose their military strength. It is in India's interest also and it is in the interest of the Sri Lankan Tamils also.

Appeal for hospital in Sri Lanka North struggling to deal with scores of civilian casualties

2009-01-26T15:10:00.000-08:00

Appeal for hospital in Sri Lanka North struggling to deal with scores of civilian casualties
January 26, 2009 at 1:50 pm · ~ News

The Regional Director of Health Services (RDHS) in Mullaithivu, the embattled district in the North of Sri Lanka has urgently appealed for medical assistance today Monday January 26th, as approximately 300 people have been killed in intense artillery barrage.

Dr.T.Varatharajah, the Physician in charge in Mullaithivu has appealed to the Government of Sri Lanka, ICRC, the UN, and the international community for medical supplies and medical teams to be sent to the District to assist the 9 physicians currently serving there.

Full text of letter by the RDHS is as follows:

26 January 2009

Human Catastrophe & Medical Emergency in the Vanni

Heavy fighting and continuous multi-barrel artillery shelling has resulted in more than 300 internally displaced persons being killed and over 1000 hundred injured in Suthanthirapuram, Udaiyaarkaddu, and Vallipuram in the Mullaitivu District.

We are making an URGENT APPEAL to the Government of Sri Lanka, ICRC, the UN, and the international community for medical supplies and medical teams to be sent to the District to assist our staff. We currently only have 9 MMBS Doctors.

The nature of the injuries and the number of the injuries is such that if these medical supplies do not arrive in the next 24 hours many of the injured will die.

Needs:

1) Blood Bags
2) Blood Transfusion sets
3) IV Fluids
- Hartmanns
- N.Saline
- Haemaceal
- Dextrose
-Gelafusin
4) IV giving set
5) IV Cannulas of different size
6) Antibiotics
IV - Benzyl pennicillin
- Ampicillin
- Cloxacillin
-Cepazolin
-Ceftriaxone
-Metranidazole
- Gentamycin
-Tazosin
Oral -Amoxicillin
-Cloxacillin
-Cephalexin
- Metranidazole
-Augmentin
Dressings
-Gauze
-Bandage
-Cotten
-Analgesics
V - Morphine
- Pethadine
-Fentanil
Oral - Paracetamol
-Ibuprufen
-oral morphine
-Panadine forte
- Indocid
Anaesthatic Drugs
-Ketamine
-Propofol
-Thiopental
-Suxamethonium
-atrcurium, Rocuronium,Pancuronium
-Neostigmine
-atropine
-Hydrocortisone
-Maxalon,Ondensetron,phenargan
Local anasthatics -lignocaine
-lignocaine with adrenaline
ETT Tubes
Urinary catheters, Bags
Intercostal drainage tube
-Surgical Stuff
-Surgical blade
-Suture meterials
-Vicryl 1.0,2.0,3.0,0.0
Nylon
Proline 2.0,3.0,4.0,5.0
Catgut 0.0,1.0,2.0,3.0
Silk
Suturing needles
Miscalanious
anti malarials

Signed:
Dr.T.Varatharajah

RDHS
Mullaitivu

Email: mullaitivurdhs@gmail.com

பத்திரிகைச்சுதந்திரம் வெருட்டுதலுக்கு உள்ளே

2009-01-23T01:46:00.001-08:00

ஹிந்து ஆசிரியர் தலையங்கம், "பிபிசி ஒரு புலிகளின் குரல். அதனாலேயே ஸ்ரீலங்காவிலே அதன் பிராந்தியமொழிச்சேவைகள் முழுமையாகத் தடைசெய்யப்படவேண்டும். இதனை உலகநாடுகள் புரிந்து கொள்ளவேண்டும்" என்று விரைவிலே எழுதப்பட்டாலும் ஆச்சரியப்படுவதற்கில்லை - பிபிசி தரும் இச்செய்தியைப் பார்த்தால்.

Sri Lanka journalism 'under threat'

The issue of Sri Lankan press freedom has triggered protests around the world

By Saroj Pathirana
BBC Sinhala service

A spate of attacks on reporters, threats from unidentified groups and the murder of a leading newspaper editor are all jeopardising the future of journalism in Sri Lanka.

Many bright young students say they fear taking up journalism as a career choice in the island nation and a number of experienced journalists have already left the country because of threats to their lives.

The Paris-based Reporters Without Borders (RSF) group has called on the authorities to take steps to end the prevailing climate of fear caused by "government cronies increasing their pressure".

The government has also been criticised by the International Press Freedom Mission, which in a report on Wednesday condemned its "inaction and failure" to take attacks against reporters seriously.

full text at
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7842975.stm

also read
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7846361.stm

மியாவ்!

2009-01-22T20:29:00.000-08:00

Forwarded mail

மியாவ்!

Have you ever wonder why the Tamil TB (Tweeting Brahmas)community on net is in praise of ARR, but says nothing about MIA after the success of Slumdog Millionaire @ GG? Slam dunk! Read this. You may understand the reason behind it. Unlike many of the insensitive Tamil TB community on Net, she is sympathetic to the suffering endured by the Sri Lankan Tamilians, and she is one of them.

Defeating terrorism must not be at cost of civilian killings - MIA
by Mathangi "Maya" Arulpragasam

While there is no room in the world for terrorist organizations, their defeat cannot come at the expense of thousands of innocent civilian lives.

The greatest failing of the Bush administration’s “war on terror” is not its inability to meet its prime objectives (e.g. capturing Osama Bin Laden, eradicating the threat of WMDS in Iraq, and removing Al Qaeda from Afghanistan). Rather, it is that America has given credibility to the act and the notion of pursuing terrorists at all costs.

The Bush administration has decided to ignore the very tenets of democracy (the U.S. constitution, Geneva convention, among others) in pursuit of winning the “war on terror.” In doing so, it sent a very clear message to the rest of the world: all bets are off where terrorism is involved.

Today, we can clearly see the ripple effect. In Sri Lanka, my home country, the Colombo government has massacred hundreds of thousands of civilians in order to eliminate the threat posed by a small yet defiant group widely known as the Tamil Tigers (also known as the LTTE or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam). Make no mistake, the LTTE have engaged in reprehensible terrorist activities that have needlessly taken the lives of both civilians and heads of state. The LTTE’s use of child soldiers and suicide bombers is unconscionable, and has rightly been condemned by the international community. But now the eyeglass must turn to the Colombo government as the conflict enters its 25th year. The war has resulted in what many humanitarian groups are now calling genocide. And sadly, for the Tamil people, time is running out.

Just last month, the New York-based Genocide Prevention Project released a report that listed Sri Lanka among the top eight “red alert” countries currently experiencing genocide conflicts. And Human Rights Watch estimates that between 230,000 to 300,000 Tamil people have been trapped in the Vanni conflict zone by the government, denied food and basic living essentials.

Unfortunately, the truth of the matter is that no one knows how severe the crisis is because the Sri Lankan government has barred foreign media from reporting on the subject and severely limited the presence of humanitarian organizations. And worse, as demonstrated by the recent murder of Lasantha Wickramatunga, a Sri Lankan journalist critical of the war against the LTTE, those that question the government are putting their lives in jeopardy.

Yet other than the UN’s slap-on-the-wrist gesture of stripping Sri Lanka of its seat on the Human Rights Council in May of 2008, the World has remained silent about this emerging humanitarian crisis. What is even more disconcerting is that the global mainstream media has largely ignored the Tamil civilian causalities, and has actually praised the Sri Lankan government for “running an effective military campaign.” Additionally, somewhere along the way the media has managed to portray every Tamil as a Tamil Tiger, including myself.

Also read
http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/01/02/lady-tamil-tiger-gives-pop-culture-a-bang/
http://www.desihits.com/blog/article/65279exclusive-interview-mia-20090112

Full text is at
http://transcurrents.com/tc/2009/01/defeating_terrorism_must_not_b.html

Compliance Issues with HR 2764 of the 110th US Congress – the Case against US Embassy in Colombo and the US State Department.

2009-01-22T08:54:00.000-08:00

Compliance Issues with HR 2764 of the 110th US Congress – the Case against US Embassy in Colombo and the US State Department.

By: Tom Webber
Courtesy: TCNR - January 21, 2009

http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=61&id=5671

Tamil Diaspora just watches helplessly as the Tamil genocide in the North of Sri Lanka continues unabatedly. Hundreds of thousands of Tamils are made to wander in the open to avoid bombing from air and ground without food, medicine and proper protection. Daily, one hears about a steady stream of civilian casualties caused by aerial bombardment. Tamil civilians are constantly abused by the armed forces of Sri Lanka in the name of fighting terrorism. Repeatedly Tamils had said they did not want to belong to a nation that had their second class citizenry stamped in the Constitution and imposed with its military. How clearer could they be? Neglected even when a tsunami of a great magnitude devastated their areas and now being cowed down by an imposing military aided by all militaristic nations near and far, the Tamils of Northern Sri Lanka now face extinction. If they were animals they would been granted the status of endangered species many years ago. The white van abductions, media suppression, corruption and fanning of chauvinism go unabated in the Southern Lanka.

More critical is the tragedy of the internally displaced and the ghettoing of Tamil areas in a manner similar to Gaza in the North. .The affected populace is helplessly crying for help. Now that their own fighting force is marginalized so are their pleas for help. The US, by its own bragging, a champion of human rights, is simply not only watching this genocide, but aiding in the deliberate killing of Tamils by the Sri Lankan Government. The overarching theme of fighting terrorism and a perceived need to claim to the world that the US is not just against the Islamic Fundamentalist terror, the machines of defense apparatus are vey keen on seeing to it that the LTTE is eliminated. The formula based, US approach of categorizing terrorists of recent past, now politically challenged by Mr. Obama and Ms. Hillary Clinton and the vigor of fighting the so called terrorists that ensued even by illegal means was the hall mark of the defense establishment. The two-faced nature of US foreign policy, if ever there was a coherent and overt one, emphasizing on one hand, human rights and on the other hand covertly approving such abuses by “ friendly governments” will not definitely subscribe to the necessary moral standards required of a Nation claiming to have a Perfect Union. The eagerness to fight a winning war against so called terrorists by the defense establishment is enhanced now that their war against real terrorists is a losing one. The weakness in this approach is the lack of efforts in building up alternatives to LTTE through grass roots support from affected Tamil populace. Because of biased media, the policy makers cannot see through the fact that, in the Tamil mind, there is no allegiance to the welfare of Tamils by the Sri Lankan government and they had thrown their lot with LTTE. Thus, it is inevitable that a workable peace process could be implemented only through working with the LTTE..

Unlike India, which also grossly aids in this genocide, again in the name of being even keeled about separatists within and outside its borders, the US has legislation that would stop its machinery from aiding the Sri Lankan Government (SLG). India does not heed to the cries of the Tamil Nadu Government who have told the Central Government in unequivocal terms that no help should be provided to SLG. The democracy in India is heavily tilted towards the corrupt powerful with vested interests and it would be difficult for this group to see the success of a grass roots fighting force. The anti-Tamil US-India nexus is primarily driven by the US Embassy, now, largely ignoring the HR 2764 of 2008 and is covert. Sri Lanka observers see a couple of phenomena that would subscribe to the hypothesis of possible covert operations by US resulting in heightened levels of human rights crisis in the Isalnd, in the name of fighting terrorism.

The silence over Mr. Gothabaya Rajapakse’s high-handed approach in all matters of SLG, the repeated appearance of US Commanders in the Island against the spirit of the HR 2764, the treatment of Tamil suspects in Guantanamo style by Sri Lankan military and the constant ignoring by the US Embassy in Sri Lanka as the genocide proceeds would easily point out to a collusion in the Sri Lankan case. The media support for this operation derived through such mechanisms as University Teachers for Human Rights (UTHR), a sabbatical for Hindu Reporters Nirupama Subramaniam in Harvard are also seen as the multi-pronged approach in demonizing the Tamil struggle in Sri Lanka. The efforts of the US in recruiting Indian media help is obvious for everybody to see. The likes of N. Ram of Hindu, Subramaniam Swamy and Cho Ramasamy, supported covertly, continue to portray Tamil struggle as terroristic and nothing more. Not withstanding the real ground truth, these media men would have everybody believe that, the Rajapakse Regime is so caring of Tamils and Tamil rights in the Isalnd. One could easily see the chicanery of N. Ram of Hindu by the award of Sri Lanka Ratna and of the Best Asia Journalist award in 2008 by the SLG which now stands accused of repressing the media and of killing Mr. Lasantha Wickremathunge, the Editor of Sunday Leader.

It is not far fetched to see that the Rapajapkse’s acts of impunity could have been aided by possible US assurances given behind the scenes. The Indian assurances come in the wake of US assurances. Ambassador Blake’s comments in the case of the recent killing of Mr. Lasantha Wickrematunge came very late in the timeline after his near silence on even worse abuses through the white van abduction issues, civilian killings in the North and the human rights and humanitarian crisis in Vanni. The US Embassy in Colombo has not been proactive in ensuring clauses of HR 2764.

It may be good to review the Relevant clauses of the HR 2764 at this juncture. They are: SEC. 699G. (a) None of the funds appropriated by this Act under the heading `Foreign Military Financing Program' may be made available for assistance for Sri Lanka, no defense export license may be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Sri Lanka pursuant to the authorities contained in this Act or any other Act, unless the Secretary of State certifies to the Committee on Appropriations that—

(1) the Sri Lankan military is suspending and the Sri Lankan Government is bringing to justice members of the military who have been credibly alleged to have committed gross violations of human rights or international humanitarian law, including complicity in the recruitment of child soldiers;
(2) the Sri Lankan Government is providing access to humanitarian organizations and journalists throughout the country consistent with international humanitarian law; and

(3) the Sri Lankan Government has agreed to the establishment of a field presence of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in Sri Lanka with sufficient staff and mandate to conduct full and unfettered monitoring throughout the country and to publicize its findings. (b) Subsection(a) shall not apply to technology or equipment made available for the limited purposes of maritime and air surveillance and communications.

How did, despite House Resolution (HR) 2764, a US Army Commander show up on the Northern war front of Sri Lanka with the Sri Lankan military brass in December of 2008 ignoring restrictions imposed under Section 699G? Why did not Major General of Pacific Command Tom Conant visit and assess the humanitarian crisis in the North inflicted by military operations by Sri Lanka? He and his colleagues, in contravention to HR 2764 met with army personnel and politicians, now that there is proof that the SLG itself has engaged child soldiers. General Conant met with former rebels who have been accused of recruiting child soldiers. Is this not contravention of Section 699G?

Why is Ambassador Blake very silent about the white van abductions in Colombo and in the Northern part of the Island in public? Why has not the US Ambassador pushed for the reforms expected in HR 2764? What did the State Department do between September 24th when Secretary Boucher expressed concerns about humanitarian crisis and now, through which time there is hardly any movement on the issue? A statement from Ambassador Blake from Colombo would have done more good for HR 2764 compliance than the Statement from Wsahington did not have courage like Ambassador Weerth of Germany to speak against the killing of Mr. Weerathunge. Consistently. The Ambassador had been beating up on the Tamil side, indicating his propensity towards non-compliance with HR 2764.

An example of being in collusion with the Sri Lankan genocide by the small officialdom of the US Embassy is clear by the statement from Deputy Spokesman Robert Wood on attacks on media and the killing of Mr. Lasantha. Wickrematunge. There was no reference to the Vanni humanitarian crisis nor was there any reference to the prior killing of other journalists. This cry from the US State Department is definitely hypocritical. While maintaining silence when scores of civilians continue to get killed and left without any means to mend for themselves in the North to worry only about happenings in Colombo is the utmost crime of this officialdom. It is in this act of imbalance, you see the collusion between the dark and irrational elements of the US defense establishment, the US Embassy in Colombo and the Rajapakse regime.

The basic questions to the US State Department and the Defense Establishment in light of compliying with HR 2764 are:

What have you done regarding implementing House Resolution HR 2764?
Why is the US silent about the Tamil Genocide and why is it aiding and abetting a government engaged in such genocide and human rights violations?
What has the US done to listen to the opinions of ordinary Tamil folks affected by the war?
Now that Kilinochchi is a liberated area and out of LTTE control what is the delay in a visit by US Embassy official to assess the humanitarian crisis there?
Why was the US Embassy always silent about the crisis in Vanni?
Why no help was offered by the US Embassy for war affected people in Vanni? Why was no help from USAID offered in this case?
What is the stance regarding the war affected populace in the North?
If LTTE is a terrorist organization, why is the delay in declaring Sri Lanka a rogue Nation now evidence is available indicating that it qualifies for it?
If HR 2764 prohibits the export of cluster bombs, would not that use by GSL be requested to be stopped?
What us the position of the State Department regarding the use of cluster bombs now that the evidence of such use by GSL is available?
The reforms expected in HR 2764 of Sri Lanka have never taken place. In fact the violations have increased. Repeatedly, the Tamil Diaspora and human rights organizations have indicated that the Sri Lankan crisis is another Darfur. It is sad that the US small officialdom in Colombo, duped by a host government bent on genocide of its minority, faisl to perceive the gravity of the situation. Perhaps, one should live through such terrible conditions in the open, without food and medicine, constantly made to wander and bombed from air to get a sense of this tragedy. I challenge reporters and opinion writers from the foreign media, including the Sinhalese media to reside with the suffering population at least for a week and then report.

ஸ்ரீலங்காவுக்கு உல்லாசப்பயணிகள் வருகை

2009-01-21T06:46:00.000-08:00

ஸ்ரீலங்காவுக்கு ஏராளமான உல்லாசப்பயணிகள் போர் உக்கிரமான காலகட்டத்திலே வருகின்றார்கள் என்று தெரிகின்றது. இதனால், ஸ்ரீலங்காவின் வருமானம் மிகவும் அதிகரித்து வருகின்றது. இவர்கள் ஸ்ரீலங்காவின் வளர்ச்சிக்கு மிகவும் உதவி அளிக்கின்றதற்காக ஸ்ரீலங்கா அரசும் அதிபரும் அவரின் ஆலோசகர்களும் தானைத்தளகர்த்தரும் நன்றி தெரிவித்துக்கொள்கின்றனர்.

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090118/images/Pillayan.jpg
http://thayakam.free.fr/gallery/news/special/2009/jan/koolippadai.jpg
http://flickr.com/photos/21709881@N02/2238792624

===================================
Tourists shun war-hit Sri Lanka
Posted By: The Asia File at Jan 21, 2009 at 11:13:25 [General]

Conflict, economy, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Sri Lanka, Tourism, war

A while ago I wrote how one Sri Lankan investor told me that the ongoing conflict between the government and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) was actually beneficial to his portfolio because the "violence discount" accorded to the country allowed him to pick up assets on the cheap.

Unfortunately, the violence has intensified over the last few months as the government has squeezed the LTTE forces back into the northern tip of the country. And this escalation has started to negatively impact the economy, with tourism , one of Sri Lanka's key industries, severely affected.

Although the reporting restrictions put in place by the government have ensured scant international coverage, tourists have still been scared away in large numbers.

The latest figures from Sri Lanka's tourism board showed that arrivals were down 11pc in 2008 to their lowest level since 2002, when a truce between the LTTE and the government fell apart. Officials believe that 2009 will be just as bad and are forecasting a further 10pc drop in tourists.

full text is at
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/asia_file/blog/2009/01/21/tourists_shun_warhit_sri_lanka

மச்சான் பேரு மன்மோகன் வைச்சான் பாரு

2009-01-20T17:25:00.000-08:00

இதுக்குத்தானா ஆசைப்பட்டாய் மண்மோகசிங்?
நேற்றுக்கு டமில்நாட்டுதலைவரை ஜோக்கர் என்றான்
மன்மோகன்சிங்கு பேசவில்லை

இன்னிக்கு மாமி சோனியா மச்சானையே ஜோக்கர் என்கிறான் ஒருத்தன் பாரு
பிரணாப்பு போவாரு சிவ்ஷங்கர் போவாரு
போனாலும் உம்பேரு ரிப்பேரு.

ஏபிசி நீ யோசி எல்லாம் ஒன் கைராசி
நீ ரோசி
எஞ்சாய்.

http://www.lankaweb.com/news/items09/210109-8.html

OPEN LETTER TO INDIA
MOTHER AND SON INDIA DISTROYED MY MOTHER LANKA
By Stanley Perera from Melbourne
My dear all Indians,

Your Prime Minister (at the time) Indira Gandhi and South Indian Tamil Nadu State Chief minister (at the time) M.G.Ramachandran to-gether created a Terrorist group known as LTTE only to carryout Terrorist activities in a foreign country Sri Lanka. Indira provided ten million dollars to LTTE while Ramachandran provided them with military and guerrilla warfare training in South India. India also provided the Terrorist group with necessary arms and equipment, men women and children to conduct Terrorist activities in Sri Lanka.

In the present day Tamil Nadu State Chief Minister Muthuveloo Karunanidi, his daughter Kanimozi, Vaiko, Nedumaran and South Indian film industry openly supporting LTTE in providing fuel,food and medicine, safe haven in South India to the terrorists escaping from the battle field and all othe necessary equipment to continue the terrorist activities against Sri Lanka government. These activities are happening in the past three decades.

As a result through India sponsored terrorism a colossal amount of damage has been done to the public property and valuable assets with over 70,000 people being massacred to death. To-day thousands and thousands of Sri Lankan mothers are lamenting on the loss of their sons. Thousands and thousands of Sri Lankan wives are lamenting on the loss of their husbands. Thousands and thousands of Sri Lankan children are lamenting on the loss of their fathers. Over a period of thirty years the entire Sri Lankan nation is going through a process of mental torture. EXPRESSING IN SHORT AND SIMPLE YOU FILTHY INDIANS DESTROYED MY MOTHER LANKA.

2500 years old Sri Lanka’s history the South Indians invaded my mother Lanka many a time and destroyed the civilisation. So Sri Lankans consider Indians as their one and only enemy. In the past and present Indians remain to be the destructors of my Mother Lanka.

FORTUNATELY TO MY MOTHER LANKA PAKISTAN AND CHINA STOOD BY SRI LANKA IN THE HEIGHTS OF THE MADE IN INDIA TERRORIST ACTIVITIES. THEREFORE, I MUST SAY THAT PAKISTAN AND CHINA ARE THE FRIENDS IN DEED WHILE FILTHY INDIANS REMAINED UN-CHANGED AS SRI LANKA’S ONE AND ONLY ENEMY.

INDIA TOOK THE VIEW THAT THEY CAN POINT THEIR FINGER AT NEIGHBOURING PAKISTAN ON THE MOOMBAI TERRORIST ATTACK NOT KNOWING THAT THEY ARE LIVING IN A GLASS HOUSE. YOU INDIANS MUST LEARN TO LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY WITH YOUR NEIGHBOURS. IF YOU ARE EVIL TO OTHER YOU EXPECT EVIL FROM OTHERS. UNFORTUNATELY INNOCENT CIVILIAN HAVE TO FOR THE SINS OF FILTHY INDIAN POLITICIANS.

Yours faithfully,

Stanley Perera

Melbourne, Australia.

வைசூரி மகமாயி ஜெய்ஜெக்கம்மா

2009-01-18T07:45:00.000-08:00

forwarded by an e-mail

எவனுக்கெல்லாம் புரிகிறது, இந்த வைசூரிமகமாயி ஜெய்ஜெக்கம்மாவுக்குப் புரியறதா தெரியலியே?

ஸ்ரீலங்கா ராணுவம் ஸ்ரீலங்கா தமிழர் நட்புசக்தியென ஜெய்ஜெக்கம்மா சொல்லறதா ஸ்ரீலங்கா பேச்சுப்பீரங்கி ஹிந்து செய்தி தமிழ்நாட்டுல வெளியிடுகிறதே. தமிழ்மக்கள் என்னான்னா கலைஞரை திட்டிக்கிட்டிருக்காங்க. அந்த வைசூரி மகமாயியைப் பத்தி ஒரு வார்த்தை சொல்லி ஆர்ப்பாட்டம் பண்ண பயம். அட அந்த அம்மாத்தான் விடுங்க. கூருகெட்ட காங்கிரசு சுண்டெலிங்க விடுர அறிக்கையைக் கண்டாலே காததூரம் ஓடறியளே, என்ன வீரமைய்யா உங்க வீரம்? திருமாவளவனும் தா. பாண்டியரும் ஈழத்தமிழருக்கு உயிரைக் கொடுக்கவும் வீரமரணமாகவும் தயாரா இருக்கிறதுக்கு முன்னாடி இந்த தமிழ்நாட்டுக்கண்ணைக் கொத்திட்டு போவுதே இந்த வைசூரி மகமாயி, காங்கிரசு சுண்டெலிங்க அதுங்க நாக்கை பிடிங்கிக்கிட்டு நாண்டுகிட்டு சாவுர மாதிரி ஏதாச்சும் பப்ளிக்குல துணிவா கேளுங்கையா. கொலைகாரன் ராஜபக்சவ அப்புறம் பாத்துக்கலாம்.

Green Left
Sri Lanka: Genocide against Tamils

Tony Iltis
17 January 2009

The January 14 announcement by the Sri Lankan government that its forces had completed the capture of the Jaffna Peninsular, effectively bringing all of the historic Tamil nation in Sri Lanka’s north-east under military occupation, was a grim reminder that the Israeli assault on the Gaza ghetto is not the only holocaust at the start of the new year.

The Tamil people have been fighting for independence from Sri Lanka since 1983 when an island-wide pogrom (the most violent of several that had regularly occurred since 1956) convinced Tamils that they would not attain equality or security under the Sinhala-chauvinist state that has ruled Sri Lanka since independence in 1948.

Sinhala is the first language of 74% of Sri Lankans. Most of the remainder are Tamil-speaking. Tamils form the majority in the north and east of the island (Tamil Eelam).

While the government has declared that the group leading the armed resistance, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), is finished as a military force, this is not the first time their demise has been announced. However, it has undoubtedly suffered a serious setback as a result of the sustained military offensive by the Sri Lankan Army (SLA).

As has been the case throughout the conflict, Tamil civilians have born the brunt of the SLA’s assault.

Regardless of the fate of the LTTE, Tamil resistance is likely to continue for as long as Tamils are ruled by a militaristic, ethnically and religiously exclusive state that rejects their right to exist as a people in their own homeland.

full text can be seen at
http://www.greenleft.org.au/2009/779/40161

இளிச்சவாய் இந்தியா

2009-01-17T12:33:00.000-08:00

இளிச்சவாய் இந்தியா.
கொழும்புக்கடைத்தெருவில் மேனன் அய்யா
பிள்ளையை அமெரீக்கா பிடிச்சூக் கொள்ளும்

Menon Means MeNone

US Pacific Command team meets EP Chief Minister

From Sinniah Gurunathan, Trinco corr.
A delegation from the US Pacific Command led by Major General Thomas L.Conant met the EP Chief Minister Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan at the latter's office in the Eastern Provincial Secretariat on Friday evening.

full test is at
http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090118/News/sundaytimesnews_11.html

'கருணாநிதி அப்படியொன்றும் கெட்டவரல்லர்" - ஜெயலலிதா

2009-01-17T09:07:00.000-08:00

FatLady Shrinking & Bitching Again
ஈழத்தமிழர்களின் நிலை பற்றிய புரிந்துணர்விலும் அவர்களுக்காகச் செயற்படுகின்ற திறமையிலும் முதலமைச்சர் திருக்குவளை முத்துவேல் கருணாநிதி அவர்கள் மேலானவர் என்பதைத் தமிழகமக்கள் உணர்வதற்காகவே தான் எப்போதாவது ஒருமுறை சோ, ராம் & ஏனைய தாய்மாமன்மார் ஆலோசனையோடு அறிக்கை விடுவதாக முன்னாள் மாண்புமிகு முதலையமைச்சர் ஜெயலலிதா ஜெயராம் இத்தால் சொல்லாமற் சொல்லுகிறார்.

புலிகளால் ஈழத்தமிழ்மக்கள் உடல்நிறை குறைவது பற்றிய ஆராய்ச்சிக்கு, தான் பதவிக்கு வந்தால் நிதி ஒதுக்கிக்கொள்வேன் என்பதையும் மறைமுகமாகச் சொல்லியிருக்கின்றார் என்றும் தெரிகிறது.

"Dear Jadey, It ain't over 'til the fat lady sings.
Those Valkyries in Vanni are not slow moving jewellary chariots,
body full of hanging lifeless halloween twinkling tingles."

The Hindu
Saturday, January 17, 2009 : 1735 Hrs

LTTE using Tamils as 'human shields': Jayalalithaa

Chennai (PTI): Accusing the LTTE of using Tamils as "human shields" in the ongoing war with Lankan army, AIADMK Chief Jayalalithaa on Saturday demanded that the Tamils caught in the crossfire should be allowed to go to safer places.

"If they (LTTE) allow the Tamils to go to a safer place, then there will not be any civilian loss," she said here, when asked on the Sri Lankan Tamils issue.

full text is at
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/004200901171758.htm