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31-03-2006 Moderate turnout at LG polls Manjula FERNANDO COLOMBO: Yesterday's mini poll recorded a voter turnout of around 55 per cent, making it one of the lowest attended elections in Sri Lanka in recent times. The polls monitors and the Police Election Secretariat rated the yesterday's poll was free of major incidents. As announced by the Elections Department last evening, the overall voter turnout at the poll was less than 55 per cent. In contrast, more than 72 per cent of registered voters turned up at polling booths for the November 2005 Presidential Election. Yesterday's election was held to select 3,624 members for 266 local bodies in 19 districts. Despite the overall slow turnout some districts in the central province recorded a high percentage of balloting with over 65 per cent in Nuwara Eliya. Ampara district recorded a 60 per cent turn out. Colombo district recorded a turnout of around 55 per cent, though the election was not held in the most populous Colombo Municipal Council area. There were over 25,000 candidates in the fray, including 5,272 candidates from independent groups. All the main parties including the UPFA, UNP, JVP and JHU contested the polls. They contested for 12 Municipal Councils, 34 Urban Councils and 220 pradeshiya sabhas. A total of 11,033,363 voters, including 199,615 postal voters, were eligible to participate in the poll. Postal voting was conducted on March 20 and 21. The election was held from 7.00 a.m. to 4.00 p.m. at 8,829 centres islandwide excluding some areas in the North and East. The elections to 22 local bodies including Colombo and Gampaha Municipal Councils were withheld due to pending court cases, some against the rejection of nomination papers of political parties by the returning officers. Over 100,000 police offices were deployed to provide security in and around all polling stations. The Police Elections Secretariat in Colombo coordinated the security arrangements. The counting of postal votes began around 7.00 p.m. and the others at around 8.00 p.m. The complete electoral results will be announced today via radio and television. Preference votes will be announced over the next two days. The newly elected local councils will begin functioning next month. Source-Daily News 31-03-2006 The Lorenzo Natali Prize and the Sri Lanka’s little soldiers by Namini Wijedasa Two weeks ago, I won the European Commission’s Lorenzo Natali Prize for Journalism, awarded to print and online writers for outstanding reporting on human rights and democracy. It hadn’t been an easy race to finish. Among those who competed were journalists from top international publications like The Guardian, United Kingdom, and The Hindu, India. Their entries covered high-profile topics of fundamental, domestic and global importance. For instance, a contender from Lebanon wrote on the fate of Lebanese prisoners in Syrian jails. An Argentine investigative reporter exposed how Doe Run – a prominent North American company that deals in lead and metals – was poisoning the blood of children in an underprivileged Peruvian village. A South African journalist delved into Nigeria’s oil wars, a story that is still stealing world headlines. The UK reporter traced the personal histories of Chechen gunmen who, in 2004, had staged a school hostage in Beslan leaving 331 people (mostly children) dead.[More] Tamil Canadians and the Human Rights Watch Report by D.B.S. Jeyaraj The largest concentration of Sri Lankan Tamils outside Sri Lanka is in Canada. More than 250,000 Tamils live in Canada now. Of these more than 200,000 Tamils are in the Greater Toronto area. Toronto is the largest “Sri Lankan Tamil” City in the Global Tamil Diaspora. The Tamil population here is larger than those in North - Eastern cities and towns like Jaffna, Batticaloa, Vavuniya, Trincomalee etc.(More) 25-03-2006 Sri Lanka sailors feared dead in rebel sea blast - Navy COLOMBO
(Reuters) - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels
blew up their own trawler and sank an approaching Sri Lankan patrol
boat on Saturday, leaving eight sailors presumed dead just weeks ahead
of crunch peace talks, the Navy said(More) 24-03-2006 LTTE violated CFA 31 times since Geneva talks Uditha Kumarasinghe and Rajmi Manatunga COLOMBO: The LTTE has violated the Ceasefire Agreement on 31 occasions following the February Geneva talks, Cabinet Spokesman Minister Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said yesterday. The Government has already lodged its complaints with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on the truce violations as well as the recruitment of child soldiers and other human rights violations committed by the LTTE, the Minister told the weekly Cabinet press briefing yesterday. The Minister said the Government is conducting itself strictly based on the Joint Statement it signed with the LTTE in Geneva. "We hope that the LTTE will also stop recruitment of child soldiers and other human rights violations," the Minister said. He said in a situation where a new approach is charted and necessary atmosphere created to resume peace negotiations, the Government as well as the Security Forces are acting with patience and in a responsible manner. Responding to a question, Minister Yapa said there is no doubt there will be another round of talks. "Therefore as a responsible Government we are patiently watching all these developments. The Government has informed the SLMM about all these CFA violations and the shooting incidents. However, we believe there will be a halt to these violations on the part of the LTTE." The Government views these incidents with serious concern. The Peace Secretariat, Government Peace Mission and facilitators will take these issues at the next round of talks, he said. The Minister said the Government is not ready to comment on various statements made by the LTTE with regard to various issues. The Peace Secretariat, Norwegian Truce Monitors and the Government Peace Mission will definitely take up these issues officially. He reiterated that the Government was working on the basis of the Joint Statement signed between the two parties and was doing its best to implement it. Source-Daily News 23-03-2006 LTTE proxies in armed vehicle robberies remanded BATTICALOA: Policemen swiftly moved in and arrested five LTTE proxies involved in a spate of armed robberies of vehicles while all five of them, disguised as 'military personnel' tried to rob one more vehicle on the highway in the Kattankudy area in Batticaloa. Those five suspects in military type uniforms who were also provided two T-56 weapons, two magazines containing 58 rounds of live ammunition,one pistol, one hand grenade by the LTTE, told the Police during interrogations that the LTTE wanted them to rob vehicles from the Batticaloa area and smuggle them into the un-cleared areas. They further admitted to having robbed one lorry, four vans, one motorcycle and a few more valuables earlier from the Kattandudy area and taken them into un-cleared areas on the orders of the LTTE.[More] 23-03-2006 LTTE gunmen flee after firing on troops JAFFNA: Troops on a duty point in the Manalkadu area about 32 km northeast of Jaffna were compelled to open retaliatory fire last afternoon at about 12.45 p.m. on fleeing LTTE men who have directed fire on the troops from a distant place, the Army said yesterday. The troops retaliated and immediately pursued those gunmen and recovered one T-56 weapon left behind by those fleeing LTTE men. One of the gunmen was arrested after an immediate cordon and search operation launched by the troops. However, LTTE firing failed to hit its target or caused any damages or injuries. The Sri Lanka Monitoring
Mission was immediately informed of the latest LTTE firing on the troops.
Jaffna Police are investigating. 22-03-2006 India clawing back to Sri Lanka's North East MR Narayan Swamy (IANS) India is slowly, patiently and with a clear agenda finding its way back into Sri Lanka's North East, after having almost washed its hands off the Tamil scene following Rajiv Gandhi's assassination 15 years ago. In just a year after Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran declared in Trincomalee that the "North East is very close to India's heart", New Delhi is making its presence felt again in a troubled region where it once enjoyed tremendous goodwill. Unlike in the 1980s when it was accused of covertly arming Tamil guerrillas, India is maintaining a safe distance from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which New Delhi outlawed in 1992 on charges of killing Gandhi.[More] Defiant
Jo Becker promises to further investigate LTTE abuses of human rights Here is her exclusive interview with the Asian Tribune. Question:You have been the common target of the LTTE in the past too. Are you surprised by the latest attack launched by the LTTE after you presented the report on LTTE extortion? Jo Becker: I’m not surprised. The LTTE typically denies reports of its abuses and frequently tries to discredit the source of any criticism, whether it is an international human rights organization like Human Rights Watch, or even a UN agency like UNICEF, which has meticulously documented cases of child recruitment by the LTTE. [More] 21-03-2006 Sri Lanka navy denies Tiger rebel claim of attack on villages COLOMBO
(AFP)
- Sri Lanka's navy has denied a charge by Tamil Tigers that it fired
indiscriminately at rebel-held villages in the northeast, saying the
incident was a retaliatory strike "From 11:00 am on Monday, Sri Lanka navy continued its attack with artillery from large naval boats along the coast," the LTTE said in a statement on Tuesday.[More] 21-03-2006 Two
more children abducted According to the complainant, S. Thawamani, three armed LTTE men had abducted her sixteen-year-old son Seenithambi Thangaraja and another eighteen-year-old youth Sinnayah Rameshwaram on 12 March 2006. However, the complainant initially has not dared to make a complaint due to reprisal by the LTTE. Incident was reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Source:- Island 20-03-2006 Twenty families seek military protection Twenty families of Wakaneri village in Batticaloa surrendered to army seeking protection from the LTTE who have reportedly threatened the residents to join the terrorists for battle training. These families have reached Meeyankulama Army camp in Valachchenai last Friday and claimed that the Tigers threatened them with death if they did not join the LTTE. According to military sources a group of 50 armed cadres who stormed the Wakaneri village on Friday night had gone on a house to house campaign demanding the residents to join the LTTE and get a combat training. The villagers who fail to follow these conditions would be severely dealt with, the rebels have warned. A series of abductions of youth and villagers in the LTTE controlled areas in Batticaloa have been reported up to now and the abductees are believed to have been compelled to undergo weaponry training, to be recruited as fresh cadres in future. Source-Daily Mirror 20-03-2006 LTTE abducts two teens BATTICALOA: Valaichchenai police are investigating the abduction of two children by the LTTE on March 12 around 4.30 p.m. This is following a complaint by a mother in Kiran, Batticaloa on March 17. According to S. Thawamani, three armed LTTE men had abducted her son Seenithambi Thangaraja, 16, and Sinnayah Rameshwaran, 18, on March 12, a Defence Ministry release said. The woman did not make a complaint earlier due to reprisal of LTTE abductors. The incident was reported to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM). Meanwhile, some villagers at Vakaneri in the Batticaloa district who left their residences in fear of LTTE threat and harassment reached the Meeiyankulam army detachment on the Polonnaruwa-Batticaloa main supply route seeking protection from the troops last Friday around 9 a.m. The villagers had told the troops that armed LTTE men stormed their village and threatened the villagers forcing them to join the LTTE. The SLMM has been informed. Source-Daily News 19-03-2006 Plantation sector warmly welcomes President
President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday pledged a better life for the estate community through by the uplift of living standards and by improving basic facilities such as roads, transport, health and education in the estate sector. President Rajapakse in his first one to one meeting with the estate community in Hatton and Dickoya assured that all the problems faced by them will be resolved soon. The estate community accorded a rousing welcome to President Rajapakse, the first president to visit them in recent years. They expressed their satisfaction and urged the President handle their problems once they were forwarded to him. President Rajapakse on the invitation extended by the Ceylon Workers Congress leader Arumugan Thondaman and Saumyamurthi Thondaman Foundation inaugurated the Praja Shakthi programme aimed at empowering women and youth in the estates in the upcountry.[More] 19-03-2006 New Tamil group backs allegations against Tigers First came the Human Rights Watch report this week claiming Toronto's Tamil community was being intimidated and extorted by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a group fighting for independence in Sri Lanka and designated as terrorists by the United Nations. Then came the outrage by prominent local Tamils, denying such accusations. Yesterday came the denial of the denials by a new advocacy group called the Canadian Democratic League, an organization that says it has roughly 100 members and wants to speak out against the Tamil Tigers, as the LTTE is known. The Canadian Democratic League says the LTTE does not speak for all Tamils and they're tired of being silenced in their support for a peaceful means for Tamil independence.[More] 19-03-2006 New
Canadian govt urged to ban LTTE In a letter to Canada’s Foreign, Public Safety and Justice Ministers, the association said: "We have previously taken up the question of bringing the UN designated international terrorist group known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and their known front organizations within the purview of Canada’s Anti-Terrorism Laws. Unfortunately, the previous Canadian governments led by the Liberal Party abandoned their international obligations and principles, to curry favour with the pro-LTTE`A0groups merely to have the Tamil Diaspora’s electoral support for their party’s candidates in the Greater Toronto Area.[More] 18-03-2006 Police Agency urged to counter extortion The Canadian Government should investigate claims of extertion and intimidation within Toronto's Tamil Community. The New York based Human Rights Organisation alleged that the guerilla group the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam is engaged is an aggressive fund raising effort in Toronto to prepare for a "final war" against the Sri Lankan government .[More] TORONTO TAMILS TOLD : DONATE OR BE " DEALT WITH " [More] 17-03-2006 US taking note of LTTE fundraising report Washington, Mar 16: The Bush administration has said it is taking seriously a Human Rights Watch report which documents the LTTE's fundraising outside Sri Lanka a also methods involved in the "collection". "We have designated the LTTE a long time ago as a foreign terrorist organisation and this was in part because of its activities outside of Sri Lanka raising funds," a senior US administration official said. Washington is concerned about the report, released by the New Yorkbased group, especially as it pertains to fundraising among the community in the US. "US law prohibits the LTTE from collecting money in the United States and it is illegal for American citizens to provide money to the LTTE," the official said. "Our law enforcement Agencies are aware of this and are on the lookout for these kinds of activity." According to the official, the US has called upon the LTTE to renounce "terrorist methods" in word and deed and stop practices such as recruiting child soldiers. "We urge it to participate sincerely in the peace process," the official added. Source- Central Chronicle.com 17-03-2006 Canadian newspapers demand ban on LTTE CANADA: Two top Canadian newspapers called on Prime Minister Stephen Harper Wednesday to outlaw the LTTE as terrorists after a human rights report accused the Sri Lankan separatist group of extortion abroad. The National Post and The Globe and Mail said in editorials the new Prime Minister must keep his recent election promise to ban the group. "The Tigers belong in that special category of hell reserved for the likes of Al-Qaeda and Hamas, the activities of which rightly are illegal in Canada," wrote the National Post.[More]
Canadian papers ask govt to designate LTTE as terrorist organisation Toronto: Canada's two prominent newspapers have asked the new Conservative government to designate Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam as a terrorist organisation since the outfit is "illegally collecting money" from country's large Tamil diaspora. "Their brutal campaign is being financed in large part by expatriate Tamil thugs living in Canada who are extorting fellow Canadians into paying thousands of dollars to support the final war," The Globe and Mail newspaper said. The new government
should move quickly to fulfil one of its election promises: designating
the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, it said in an editorial.[More] 16-03-2006 TERROR CANVASS TAMIL TIGERS IN CITY FORCING CITIZENS TO COUGH UP SAYS RIGHTS GROP Members of the Tamil Community in Toronto are being pressured to hand over thousands of dollers to Tamil Tiger causes under threat of intimidation and violence. Source:- Toronto Sun News [More] 16-03-2006 Tigers threaten Local Tamils:- Report Sri Lankans in Canada face extortion, threats says rights Grouups. Report shows Tigers pressure immigrants. Sri Lankan Tamil living in Canada face extortion and threats from Tamil Tigers raising cash for attacks in their home land, says a news report. Source:- The Canadian Press[More] 15-03-2006 FUNDING THE "FINAL WAR "LTTE INTIMITATION AND EXTORTION IN THE TAMIL DIASPORA - HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Ninety percent
of people, even if they don’t support the LTTE, theyare scared. The
killing doesn’t just happen back home in Sri Lanka. It happens in Paris,
in Canada. They burned the library,1 they broke the legs of DBS Jeyaraj.
They tried to stop the CTBC radio from organizing. A journalist was
killed in Paris. The threat is not only in Sri Lanka. It’s everywhere,
all over the world. As Sri Lankan Tamils established themselves in Canada, the United Kingdom (U.K.) and other Western countries, the Tamil community became a significant source of financial and political support for the LTTE in its struggle to establish an independent state, “Tamil Eelam,” for the Tamil minority in Sri Lanka’s North and East. While many members of the Tamil diaspora willingly and actively support the LTTE, others have been subject to intimidation, extortion, and physical violence as the LTTE seeks to suppress criticism of its human rights abuses and to ensure a steady flow of income. Journalists and activists in the Tamil diaspora who openly criticize the LTTE or are perceived to be anti-LTTE have been subject to severe beatings, death threats, smear campaigns, and fabricated criminal charges. In 2005, the LTTE detained two British Tamils for several weeks in Sri Lanka in order to gain control over a Hindu temple in London. Such incidents have created a culture of fear within the Tamil community, stifling dissent and discouraging individuals from organizing activities that are not sanctioned by the LTTE. [Full Story] 15-03-2006 LTTE will agree to nothing short of separation, says Anandasangaree
A: You can’t give everything that the LTTE wants, of course. When something reasonable is offered they will have to accept it. And this is not only reasonable, but nothing more is possible either. So what is the maximum we can give - even India will support it because it comes close to their structure, where the powers are devolved to the states. And that is how everyone must look at it.[More] 14-03-2006 Sri Lanka rebels threaten to pull out of peace talks COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels repeated threats to pull out of next month's peace talks unless Colombo delivers on a promise to disarm rival militants. Anton Balasingham, chief negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), said Monday that the talks scheduled from April 19 in Geneva were in danger following attacks in the country's east. The LTTE had on Sunday accused Colombo and its paramilitary units of launching a second assault against them since their last round of talks in Switzerland last month. [More] 14-03-2006 Suspected Tamil Tigers abduct four people in Sri Lanka east COLOMBO - Suspected Tamil Tiger rebels in eastern Sri Lanka abducted four people, including three teenagers, the military said on Tuesday. Assailants traveling in a van grabbed two 15-year-old students in Valaichchenai town in Batticaloa district on Monday, military spokesman Brig. Sudhir Samarasinghe said. Later Monday, two more people - a 15-year-old student and a 25-year-old man - were abducted in two seperate incidents in Batticaloa town, he said. All four of the victims were Tamils, and Tamil Tiger rebels were suspected in all three abductions, Samarasinghe said. There was no independent confirmation of the report and the rebels could not immediately be reached for their comment. Tamil Tigers have been known to target fellow Tamils suspected of cooperating with the government or being part of a faction of militants who broke away from the Tamil Tigers in 2004. Source-Khaleej Times 13-03-2006 17-year old Dhanu, the Rajiv Gandhi Assassin
Until a few hours earlier on that fateful day she did not even know who her victim was going to be; she was manipulated to carry out a foul deed on the orders of the bunkered boss to whom death, destruction and desolation are intrinsic parts of his nature; together they make him whole leaving no room for human considerations and compassion let alone political indepth and the visions needed for good leadership. All that Dhanu
was impacted on to do was to carry out orders as if that was primary
to the misdirected ideal that was placed like a powerful chip in her
mind. She would never have had time even to think as to why she should
carry out that particular mission and why a former Indian Prime Minister
had to be bombed out at the cost of her life. and indeed several others.
She could not have asked from her manipulators as to why Gandhi should
be killed. In fact, it appears that she hardly knew of Rajiv Gandhi.[More]
SOLUTION TO THE ETHNIC PROBLEM IS IN THE HANDS OF THE JVP- V. Anandasangaree It is with mixed feeling that I read your statement, released on the eve of the Peace Talks in Geneva. I am pleased with the boldness with which you have expressed your views relating to the Dictatorial regime illegally established by the LTTE in parts of the Northern and Eastern Provinces but disappointed a little with some others. I am indeed happy about your conceding that the people who have suffered the most in the war have been those in the North and East. I am in full agreement with you that a large number of Tamils from these areas, ran away due to the erosion of democratic rights and settled either in other parts of Sri Lanka or migrated to foreign countries. To add to your views, interference with the fundamental rights of the people and large scale Human Rights violations can also be attributed for this exodus.[More] 11-03-2006 Tigers taking more children: UNICEF By Uditha Jayasinghe The LTTE is apparently continuing with more child recruitment the United Nations Children’s Fund said yesterday while disclosing that more than 1300 fresh recruits have been drafted since the end of January. However UNICEF dismissed media reports based on some shocking revelations by two child soldiers said to have made a daring escape from the clutches of the LTTE because “this particular information cannot be verified”. “We cannot verify this information as reported in the media. UNICEF has been monitoring under age recruitment of reported cases. According to our database, since January 31 the number was 1,358. UNICEF continues to advocate the release of these children”, UNICEF Communications Officer Junko Mitani told the Daily Mirror. Moreover UNICEF and the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission will continue to collaborate in monitoring the situation, sharing information and discussing the plight of children especially in vulnerable situations.[More] 10-03-2006 “Envision humanity” - Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole
In an annual Prize Giving Day speech at Jaffna St. John’s College, Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole drew on “spirit of The Johnian” in laying out a humanitarian treatise of education. He called on the youth to be empowered by education, envisioning the humanity in all and be able to feel and cry for each other. “Whether we will ever accomplish an egalitarian Sri Lanka where all can live happily and securely is in your hands, in the hands of you, the youth of our country. You must be empowered by education that aims to teach you your rights and responsibilities in the new world order. Our time, the age of my generation, is seeing the setting of the sun upon us. Tomorrow’s dawn would usher in your time when you lead us,” Prof. Ratnajeevan Hoole said.[More] 08-03-2006 LTTE has lost faith in Geneva talks PK Balachandran The LTTE has said that the talks with the Sri Lankan government, held in Geneva on February 22 and 23, offer no hope of peace. Asked by newsmen in Kilinochchi on Tuesday whether the Geneva parleys offered any hope for the people, LTTE's political leader SP Tamilsevlan shot back: " When we ourselves have no hope, how can the people have?" Tamilselvan was returning home after an extended tour of Europe following the talks in Geneva.The LTTE's political commissar said that since the Geneva talks the government had not only been issuing contradictory statements but acting in bad faith. The government had begun to say that the 2002 Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) was amended in Geneva while in fact its delegation had accepted the CFA in toto, as demanded by the LTTE. And LTTE cadres were killed in Eastern Sri Lanka in violation of the CFA. Asked what action the LTTE proposed to take in this context, Tamilselvan said that a decision would be taken after discussions with the outfit's supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran. He added that he had already spoken to the Norwegian Ambassador about it. Asked to comment on the Janatha Vimukthi Permuna's call for strengthening of the Sri Lankan armed forces on the grounds that the LTTE could not be trusted, Tamilselvan said that war would only make things "simpler" for the LTTE. "We had given them a good opportunity to work for peace. If they grasp it they can bring peace," he said. Source-Hindustan Times Norway played a neutral role - Brattskar Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar stressed that Norway played a neutral role in the peace process in response to the statement made by Tamil United Liberation Front leader V.Anandasangaree criticising Norway for having met with the LTTE in Oslo. The statement released by the Norwegian Embassy in response to the TULF chief Anandasangaree: Norwegian Ambassador Hans Brattskar stressed yesterday how important it is for Norway, as the facilitator, to have close contacts with the parties to the peace process in Sri Lanka. It was therefore his hope that representatives of both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE would visit Norway and maintain contacts with the Norwegian Government.[More] 06-03-2006 Norway should be neutral - TULF Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) President V. Anandasangaree has criticised Norway, saying the country should not mar its neutral role as a facilitator by entertaining the LTTE team in Oslo after their presence in Geneva. "What is puzzling me is can the umpire in a cricket match entertain one team during the tea interval ?," the TULF chief asked. Anandasangaree making his observations on the aftermath of the talks in Geneva between the Government and the LTTE states that the visit of the LTTE team to Oslo after talks in Geneva creates a lot of suspicion in the minds of the people.[More] 07-03-2006 Language barrier V.S. SAMBANDAN
WHAT'S in a language? Everything, as far as Sri Lanka is concerned. Fifty years after Ceylon (as it was then called) opted for Sinhala as the main official language, the course of the island-nation has been charted along linguistic lines. South Asia's 19-million-strong paradise island has battled the language issue ever since. Consequently, despite a statutory reversal of the "Sinhala Only" position 17 years ago, the Tamil-speaking minorities have to contend with a daily linguistic angst. It is not just in the manner in which the Tamil-speaking citizens have to carry out their dealings with the various state apparatuses; the language issue has touched the very psyche of Sri Lanka.[More] | 31-03-2006 Recruiters
Of Child Soldiers Targeted For Prosecution A second breakthrough
came on Wednesday with the arrest of former Liberian President Charles
Taylor, who will be prosecuted by a U.N.-sponsored tribunal on Sierra
Leone, for war crimes, including recruiting child soldiers. The tribunal
has reportedly asked the ICC to host the trial in the Netherlands. He also said that
"brutal leaders who brutalise their people, who get engaged in
organising wars, recruiting boys and girls and turning them into child
soldiers, will pay a price".[More] 24-03-2006 Sri Lanka Tigers abducting fewer children - UN Children are still being kidnapped by Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers to train as fighters, the U.N. children's agency UNICEF says, but the abductions appear to be less frequent four years into a ceasefire. The number of children taken by the Tigers has fallen every year since a 2002 ceasefire halted two decades of civil war, UNICEF senior programme co-ordinator Yasmin Ali Haque said, but child recruitment was still continuing at an unacceptable level. "Most of them are forcible," she told Reuters in an interview late on Wednesday in UNICEF's Colombo office. "Children going home from school are apprehended. They're sat behind a motorcycle and then they're off. They're gone."[More] 23-03-2006 Film explores broken Tamil lives
Rajani was assassinated at the age of 35 in the northern town of Jaffna in broad daylight in 1989, after she published a book about human rights abuses in the north of war-torn Sri Lanka. No More Tears Sister, screened from 22 March, follows her life and work as narrated by her sisters, husband and two surviving daughters. Rajani, a university professor, was one of the founding members of a group called Jaffna University Teachers for Human Rights. The group chronicled rights abuses committed by all sides involved in the civil war. Her life and death marked a turning point in the Tamil separatist struggle.[More] 23-03-2006 Suspicious fishing trawler in Navy net Ranil Wijayapala POINT PEDRO: Naval troops in the Northern seas arrested a fishing trawler believed to be engaged in a clandestine LTTE operation on Wednesday night in the sea off Point Pedro, a Navy Spokesman told the Daily News yesterday. "The sailors detected this multi-day fishing trawler 20 miles East of Point Pedro around 8.30 p.m. and an initial check proved that the trawler was not engaged in fishing," the spokesman added. There had been five fishermen on board the multi day fishing craft. One of them admitted being a member of the LTTE, the spokesman said. Out of the five fishermen, four were from Trincomalee and one from Iranativu. "We also detected some LTTE passes which can be used to enter the LTTE controlled areas," he added. Those on board tried to prevent the fishing craft being taken to the Kankesanthurai harbour for further investigations, wilfully trying to sink the fishing craft.[More] 22-03-2006 Boys abducted to be suicide bombers tell of escape from rebels ASIF
FUARD Yesterday, as he
extended a six-month state of emergency in the country, Rantasiri Wickremanayake,
the prime minister, said: "Last month, the killings and attempted
killings came down. We want this trend to continue and so we need to
extend the state of emergency." [More] 22-03-2006 LTTE hijacks asylum protest by Dushy Ranetunge The Action Group of Tamil Asylum Seekers (AGTAS) in the U.K, an LTTE front organisation that operates out of a P O Box in Southall, a google e-mail account and a mobile phone number, organised a demonstration at Trafalgar Square on Sunday, 19 March from 12.00 pm till about 2.00pm. 500-700 protestors attended the demonstration. The LTTE support network and several LTTE front organisations worked overtime to ensure the turnout, to impress the British authorities. Simon Hughes MP, of the Liberal Democratic Party addressed the gathering. Simon Hughes is lobbied for the LTTE by Eliza Mann and Deidre McConnel-Kirubakaran of the husband and wife LTTE human rights front, known as the TCHR. Mr Kirubakaran was at the event and so was AC Shanthan a prominent LTTE leader in London.[More] 21-03-2006 Tiger recruitment alleged in Trinco By Amadoru Amarajeewa Trincomalee suburbs residents complain that during the last few days the LTTE had abducted youths and under-aged children. It was reported that LTTE cadres had forcibly taken away 30 students from Alantheniya in China Bay. Eight of them were from Ambulawilpuram. Tigers had allegedly appointed groups in Trincomalee for the supply of under-aged children and youths. Large-scale recruitment have been done in Salli and Saambalthivu areas in Uppuvali police areas, residents claimed. 21-03-2006 Tigers fire at Jaffna FDL The LTTE continued to fire live ammunition towards security forces in Jaffna on Sunday in violation of the Ceasefire Agreement, in a bid to provoke the troops. Military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said the latest reported was from Eluthumadduval in Jaffna, where some LTTE caders in un-cleared areas fired at least 20 to 25 rounds of live ammunition over the Eluthumadduval Forward Defence Line (FDL) on Sunday night. “The LTTE firing over the FDL followed immediately after the sound of an explosion from un-cleared areas. No damages were caused,” he said and added that the SLMM was informed of this ceasefire violation. It was only last Saturday, a group of Tigers under training in the seas off the Norway Point in Trincomalee directed a few rounds of small arms fire at the naval detachment. Naval observations confirmed that 15 LTTErs with their weapons after arriving on the beach carried out the firing. After the firing they fled into the jungles. Source:- Daily Mirror 20-03-2006 SLMM downplays Muttur attack The SLMM yesterday downplayed an alleged LTTE attack what the military described as a gross violation of the cease-fire agreement. The Military in a statement charged that armed LTTE cadres opened fire on a craft in the seas off Muttur and another Naval craft that carried SLMM officials on Friday. Describing the attack as 'just a storm in a tea cup' SLMM chief Hagrup Haukland told the Daily Mirror that the story was blown out of proportion. Though it was claimed that the gun shots were not aimed at any specific target, the military said the LTTE had fired in the direction of the naval detachment at Norway point. 'SLMM officials on board a naval craft immediately proceeded towards the location where the Tamil Tigers were directing fire, but the SLMM boat came under a rain of LTTE bullets in the mid sea,' the statement said. Military spokesman Prasad Samarasighe said he could not understand why the SLMM did not see the attack as a violation of the ceasefire agreement. Source- LNP.com Lord urges UK govt to crack down on LTTE By Sujeeva
Nivunhella in London In an interview with the Sunday Island, Lord Naseby said that although the LTTE is proscribed in the UK, there are still illegal meetings taking place, illegal collection of funds, money laundering and there exists a highly dubious charity called "White Pigeon". "The British government needs to exert pressure to halt these illegal happenings," he said.[More] 19-03-2006 Danish TV exposes Tiger fund raising By Marisa de Silva in Copenhagen Two Tamil youth living in Denmark appearing on the Danish national television channel DR TV last Sunday, spoke out against the LTTE’s fund raising activities there, claiming the group would often obtain funds forcibly by means of intimidation, coercion, and outright threats. At the interview last week a Sri Lankan Tamil Vathaanan Kumarathurai, working as a software engineer in Aalborg said “They call us traitors and claim that we are working against our own people”. In addition to the two Kumarathurai brothers, yet another Tamil citizen of Denmark, who preferred to remain anonymous citing security concerns said, “I and my family received threats back in Sri Lanka, so I can’t speak openly. I think the LTTE is using this situation to extort money from Tamils, especially because there is no room for opposition. The LTTE is trying to be a part of all occasions where Tamils congregate in Denmark”.[More] 18-03-2006 LTTE Cyber Unit Declares War Against Human Rights Watch The Oslo based cyber terrorist Nadarajah Sethurupan who runs the LTTE websites Nitharsanam.com and Neruppu.org has declared open war against the New York based international non-governmental organisation (NGO) Human Rights Watch for publishing their report on LTTE intimidation and extortion in the Tamil Diaspora. In his news in Tamil filed in the Nitharsanam.com eadlined ‘Action against Washington based human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch by world Tamils’ the reporter has appealed to the LTTE supporters to protest to the Human Rights Watch and demand an apology for publishing the report.[More] 17-03-2006 Sinhalas see Rajapaksa as peacemaker: Survey PK Balachandran An overwhelming majority of Sinhalas, the dominant community in Sri Lanka, think that President Mahinda Rajapaksa is committed to a negotiated settlement of the ethnic conflict, and that he has the strength to bring it about, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). Eighty-seven per cent said that Rajapaksa had the strength to take the peace process forward and 80% said that he was committed to finding peace through talks. The survey, conducted by Pradeep Peiris, head of the Social Indicators section of the CPA, found 95 per cent were of the view that the government and the LTTE should go in for a negotiated settlement, instead of letting the current stalemate continue indefinitely.[More] 17-03-2006 Human Rights Watch Replies to the Canadian Tamil Congress During our investigation of intimidation and extortion in the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora, Human Rights Watch interviewed several dozen members of the Tamil community in Canada and the United Kingdom, including business owners, professionals, activists, journalists and other individuals. Their accounts were credible and consistent. Their personal experiences, as well as information they relayed from their colleagues, neighbors and relatives indicated a widespread and systematic campaign by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to obtain funds from Tamils in the West.[More] 16-03-2006 Fundraisers Ask Toronto Tamils to Finance Civil War in Sri Lanka TORONTO
- It's akin to extortion. Aggressive fundraisers have been going door
to door in Toronto, demanding Tamil Canadians help finance the civil
war in Sri Lanka. 16-03-2006 UK-Lanka deal to curb Tiger fund raising LONDON: The British Government will come forward to curb illegal fund raising from the Sri Lankan Tamil diaspora in the United Kingdom, it emerged yesterday. The British Minister of State for the Home Department Tony McNully has agreed on the importance of sharing information in this regard and outlined practical measures to Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera when they met in London yesterday. They also agreed on further cooperation between UK and Sri Lanka in combating terrorism financing. Immigration related issues were also discussed. The LTTE's extortion of the Tamil diaspora in the UK was exposed in a Human Rights Watch report released on Tuesday.[More] 15-03-2006 Saved from war, for now Despite the war of words that has erupted between the Sri Lankan Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) following the Geneva talks, the danger of a real war - at the brink of which Sri Lanka was teetering just a few weeks ago - has receded, at least for now. Each side, propelled by its own political compulsions, has projected the February 22-23 interaction as a victory. The Government, which went to the Swiss Capital hoping to press for amendments to the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement in order to curb the LTTE's free run in the North-East, returned saying that it had achieved this.[More] 14-03-2006 Rebel child recruitment casts shadow over Sri Lanka peace talks COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka accused Tamil Tiger rebels of conscripting more child soldiers, heightening uncertainty over peace talks scheduled for next month. The defence ministry accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) of abducting two schoolboys in the restive eastern district of Batticaloa on Monday despite pledges to end the internationally-condemned practice. "Despite all assurances given by the LTTE, their abduction and conscription spree continues," a ministry statement said Tuesday, adding that Scandinavian truce monitors had been informed about the latest abductions.[More] 15-03-2006 The Anandasangari proposal Veerasingham Anandasangari is an outstanding Sri Lankan politician of this era. He had not been prevented by threats, bombs and guns to stand by his political beliefs although only a few or none are there to support him. Anandasangari, one time school teacher in his ascetic white garb, unarmed, speaks out for nonviolence, democracy and democratic rights of the Tamil people, defying fearful odd. [More] 15-03-2006 International community should come forward to censure LTTE and its agents for preventing Professor Hoole taking up his appointment as the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University - Eluvankarayan LTTE propaganda machinery is up in arms against the appointment of Professor Ratnajeevan Hoole as the new Vice Chancellor of the University of Jaffna. LTTE’s agents in Sri Lankan Parliament, the Tamil National Alliance MPs, and the pro-LTTE websites like Nitharsanam and Sangathi in concert with Jaffna based newspapers such as Sudaroli and Uthayan have launched a virulent campaign to prevent Professor Hoole taking up his appointment.[More] 14-03-2006 Drop in LTTE child recruitment
It said 1,465 children were recruited in 2002 while the figure dropped to 570 last year.However it said there was confusion over the number of children released by the LTTE largely due to some being re-recruited and the lack of records to prove the numbers who had escaped from the camps. It said child recruitment by other para-military groups in the North-East also added to the confusion. “Some 616 children were released by the LTTE in 2004 and 208 last year,” the report said. According to the UNICEF, 1,384 children who are registered on the UNICEF database are currently serving as underage recruits. It said 36 children were recruited in January 2006 with three releases reported during that month. Source-Daily
Mirror 13-03-2006 IGP says Balasingham admitted they were terrorists By Sunil Jayasiri Accusing the LTTE of committing most of the killings in the country starting with that of former Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappa, IGP Chandra Fernando yesterday said LTTE Chief negotiator Anton Balasingham had directly and categorically told him in Geneva that they were a terrorist out-fit. Referring to the LTTE’s demand for the immediate disarming of other armed groups in the country, the Police Chief said that as a terrorist armed organization, the LTTE had no right to demand the disarming of another armed group. “It is a ridiculous suggestion. A terrorist group cannot demand other armed groups be disarmed, and they do not have any right to make such a demand,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mirror.[More] 12-03-2006 Malice
aforethought of the LTTE - D. Sitharthan Sitharthan, in his statement has blamed that it has become a habit for LTTE to portray and maliciously blame all other Tamil parties time and again as traitors, fifth columns or collaborators, whenever there is a failure or military defeats on their part or any other organization which refuses to play second fiddle to them. While describing the advent of the word "Paramilitary", he said, "In the CFA (Cease-fire Agreement) document of Feb 2002, the term "Paramilitary" was tossed in by the Norwegian and LTTE, and endorsed by the then Sri Lankan government." He clarified that the term "Paramilitary" used in the CFA has been misunderstood and often misinterpreted. Since CFA, pro-LTTE medias use this term with malice aforethought to justify the killings by the LTTE.[More] The EPRLF is a political party that has been functioning among the Tamil people for over twenty five years and is engaged in the struggle for the attainment of a just and lasting solution to realise the political aspirations of the Tamil speaking people of Sri Lanka within the frame work of a united Sri Lanka. Press Release We, of the Eelam
Peoples Liberation Front (EPRLF) wish to express our vehement objection
to the reference made to the EPRLF by Mr. Anton Balasingham, the chief
negotiator of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in his opening
address at the peace Talks in Geneva on 22 February 2006, labelling
us as a ‘paramilitary group’. We further note with deep revulsion a
document published by the Sunday Leader, a newspaper in Sri Lanka, purported
to have been submitted by the LTTE, in which two of the leaders of the
EPRLF are shown as ‘paramilitaries’.This false and despicable method
adopted by the LTTE is a blatant attempt by it to tarnish all the Tamil
parties that are not supportive of its nefarious and undemocratic activities
to establish hegemony.
[Full
story] 08-03-2006 Child
soldier escapes from Tamil rebel camp, surrenders to Sri Lankan police The youth, now 15, was recruited into the Tigers along with three of his friends last July and taken to a camp near the eastern city of Batticaloa, where he claims dozens more underage combatants are being trained, military spokesman Brig. Sudhir Samarasinghe said.[More] 07-03-2006 OBSTACLES TO PEACE IN SRI LANKA Rohini Hensman For some people, the February 2006 peace talks between the government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Geneva came literally as a last-minute reprieve from a death sentence; in fact, the reprieve came too late for victims of the undeclared war over the previous two months. We must be grateful that full-scale war was averted, but also remember that this has happened before. Every time there is a breathing space, there is renewed hope that a durable peace will follow, and every time that opportunity has been allowed to slip away. If the same thing is not to happen yet again at the next round of talks in April, it is necessary to identify the obstacles to peace and ensure that they are removed, one by one, until only Prabakaran and his supporters are left. All our experience up to the present confirms that they will be the hardest obstacles to remove, but if all others are cleared out of the way, they too will have no choice but to jump on the bandwagon or be cleared away themselves. So let us identify these obstacles.[More]
Tamils want their kids to be child soldiers – LTTE by Dushy
Ranetunge The great minds of the LTTE, who claim to be the sole representatives of the Tamil people, had mobilised their combined intellectual forces, and formulated their response to the most serious issue faced by the organisation. It’s an issue that might lead them to The Hague, charged with war crimes. The LTTE response was that the Tamil people, because of their economic and social circumstances, hand over their children to the LTTE voluntarily. Their position was that the LTTE was merely doing social service and that the Sri Lankan government is indirectly responsible because of the neglect of Tamil children.[More] 06-03-2006 Tigers
abduct teenager Subsequent Police investigations further confirmed that teenager had been abducted by two LTTE cadres. Source-Island 10-03-2006 Lanka rebels 'violating ceasefire' COLOMBO: Sri Lanka's military yesterday accused the Tamil Tiger rebels of violating their fragile four-year-old ceasefire after soldiers uncovered hauls of ammunition and weapons in the country's north. The caches, including three grenade launchers, 13 live magazines for T-56 rifles and some hand grenades, were discovered in Karaweddi and Tellippalai, predominantly Tamil but government-controlled districts of Jaffna Peninsula on Tuesday and Wednesday, military spokesman Brig Sudhir Samarasinghe said. The weapons and ammunition most likely belong to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, Samarasinghe said, adding that this amounted to a clear violation of the 2002 ceasefire that halted nearly two decades of civil war in Sri Lanka. Under the Norwegian-brokered truce, the rebels are barred from carrying or transporting weapons to or through government-controlled areas. Independent truce monitors warned that the rebels may have breached the agreement. "We are checking on the details, but if the weapons were found in areas under the control of the Sri Lankan army then it is a violation of the cease-fire," said Helen Olafsdottir, a spokeswoman for a European cease-fire monitoring team. Separately yesterday, unknown gunmen shot dead a 21-year-old Tamil, Govinda Vijayarasa, as he travelled in a public bus in Batticaloa district in eastern Sri Lanka, Samarasinghe said. Source-Gulf Daily News Child suicide cadres tell horrifying tale
At a rare face-to-face meeting with the media in Colombo last evening the two teenagers aged 15 and 17 -- unaware of the threat they face by going public -- recalled how they were forcibly taken away by a group of armed LTTE cadres in Trincomalee and held captive for nearly one week before they hatched up a plan and made their getaway on Tuesday. Surrounded by Navy personnel outside the Colombo Navy headquarters the two teenagers, who were visibly exhausted after their ordeal at the hands of the LTTE, revealed there were more than 100 youth including those as young as 12 and 13 receiving weapons training at a camp identified as ‘Three Two Base’ which houses one of the main rebel training facilities in Trincomalee.[More]
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Q:
In your recent letter to the JVP, you maintain that if the JVP doesn’t
agree to offer a Federal solution to the LTTE, they will be pushing
the Tamil people back into the clutches of the LTTE. But the LTTE rejected
a Federal option mooted by the UNP at the last elections?
Dhanu
alias Anbu alias Kalaivani was hardly in her teens when she was embedded
into the Tiger cadres. This photograph was taken moments before she
blew herself up as a suicide bomber along with the intended victim,
Rajiv Gandhi and several others. At this time she was not even 17 years
old, brainwashed to become a demon of destruction. 
By
T. Vehkan
The
language issue torments Sri Lankan society as parity between the two
official languages has not gone beyond signposts. 
A
controversial film about the life and assassination of human rights
worker Rajani Thiranagama from northern Sri Lanka is being screened
in London as a part of the Human Rights Watch film festival. 
Cases
of child recruitment by the LTTE have shown a drop in the four years
since the signing of the Ceasefire Agreement, according to statistics
released by the UNICEF.
Two
young would be suicide cadres who made a daring escape from the clutches
of the LTTE yesterday revealed a tale of continuing child abductions
carried out by the rebels despite an assurance to the contrary given
to the international community at the Geneva talks.![[More]](Toronto-Star.gif){kind=link}
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