Tamil political prisoners’ fast continues for the 4th day
[TamilNet, Friday, 31 July 2009, 17:12 GMT]
The fast unto death by Tamil political prisoners in Welikada prison that began Tuesday continues for the fourth day. About two hundred Tamil political prisoners arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and being held under detention on Defence Ministry orders without being produced in court or without any indictment against them are participating the fast, prison sources said.
Initially they had placed two demands - to discharge them from the prison immediately or to frame charges against them and produce in court.
Now they have added another demand that if they are indicted the case against them should be heard in their respective district magistrate’s court and not in Colombo or elsewhere.
Relatives of the prisoners told media that they have informed about the fast to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC), Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) and other human rights organizations and activists in the country.
Meanwhile the Deputy Minister of Justice, Mr. V. Puthirasigamany, told media that he will meet the fasting prisoners in Welikada on Monday or Tuesday and take up the matter with the Defence Secretary 10 August.
However he said he has not received any written communication from the Tamil political prisoners so far in this regard.
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
fredag 31. juli 2009
79.3 percent of Jaffna MC Tamil people show no interest in JMC election...!!!
31 percent voters of Jaffna Municipal Council limit displaced
[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 03:18 GMT]
11.6 percent of the voters eligible to cast their votes in the elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) are detained in several camps for internally displaced in Jaffna district, and 20.9 percent IDPs are living elsewhere out of the district in several parts of Sri Lanka. About 71.8 percent are currently living within the JMC limit, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The election to the JMC is scheduled to be held on August 8 along with Vavuniyaa Urban Council.
View from Jaffna: Pre-election poll
The survey was conducted from July 22 to July 24.
44.7 percent of voters have not decided to which party they should vote and 22.3 percent refuse to comment on the issue. 42.9 percent say that they have no interest in Sri Lanka’s politics but 13.4 show some interest in the country’s politics.79.3 percent show no interest in JMC election.
38.3 percent say that there is no change in their economy for the last one year. However 24.9 say slight improvement is noted.
Only 19 percent voters attend party political meetings and 79 percent do not attend party propaganda meeting.
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
[TamilNet, Saturday, 01 August 2009, 03:18 GMT]
11.6 percent of the voters eligible to cast their votes in the elections to the Jaffna Municipal Council (JMC) are detained in several camps for internally displaced in Jaffna district, and 20.9 percent IDPs are living elsewhere out of the district in several parts of Sri Lanka. About 71.8 percent are currently living within the JMC limit, according to a survey conducted by the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). The election to the JMC is scheduled to be held on August 8 along with Vavuniyaa Urban Council.
View from Jaffna: Pre-election poll
The survey was conducted from July 22 to July 24.
44.7 percent of voters have not decided to which party they should vote and 22.3 percent refuse to comment on the issue. 42.9 percent say that they have no interest in Sri Lanka’s politics but 13.4 show some interest in the country’s politics.79.3 percent show no interest in JMC election.
38.3 percent say that there is no change in their economy for the last one year. However 24.9 say slight improvement is noted.
Only 19 percent voters attend party political meetings and 79 percent do not attend party propaganda meeting.
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
Several senior school children in many popular and urban Sinhala schools in the Kurunegala District are addicted to liquor, drugs or smoking..!!!
Many NWP students addicted to drugs,liquor – Report
Bingiriya Corr.
"A survey has revealed that several senior school children in many popular and urban schools in the Kurunegala District are addicted to liquor, drugs or smoking. Some traders who sell narcotics secretly have persuaded these innocent students to take these hard drugs by supplying them in the guise of toffees and chocolates" R. M. Somasiri, a senior school principal in the Bingiriya electorate, said.
He was addressing a conference of school principals of the Kurunegala District held recently at Wariyapola Teachers’ Resources Development Centre.
He also said that Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Chief Minister’s Unit has now taken steps to conduct counselling sessions for students to develop positive attitudes, moral values and good manners among senior school children of National Schools and Central Colleges in Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts.
Mr. Asanka Bakmeewewa the co-ordinater said that a programme to improve personality of students too was now being conducted at some selected schools.
www island.lk
Bingiriya Corr.
"A survey has revealed that several senior school children in many popular and urban schools in the Kurunegala District are addicted to liquor, drugs or smoking. Some traders who sell narcotics secretly have persuaded these innocent students to take these hard drugs by supplying them in the guise of toffees and chocolates" R. M. Somasiri, a senior school principal in the Bingiriya electorate, said.
He was addressing a conference of school principals of the Kurunegala District held recently at Wariyapola Teachers’ Resources Development Centre.
He also said that Anti-Narcotics Unit of the Chief Minister’s Unit has now taken steps to conduct counselling sessions for students to develop positive attitudes, moral values and good manners among senior school children of National Schools and Central Colleges in Kurunegala and Puttalam Districts.
Mr. Asanka Bakmeewewa the co-ordinater said that a programme to improve personality of students too was now being conducted at some selected schools.
www island.lk
The campaign for Free and Fair Elections:The Rajapaksa administration was rapidly moving towards a one party dictatorial regime...!!!
NGO warns of road map to dictatorial regime.............by Shamindra Ferdinando
The campaign for Free and Fair Elections yesterday said that the Rajapaksa administration was rapidly moving towards a one party dictatorial regime. The election monitoring NGO asserted that having provincial council elections on a staggered basis was part of the ruling coalition’s strategy of throttling the Opposition, thereby denying the people a fair opportunity to effect a regime change.
Addressing a press conference at the National Library Services Board, Dr. Nimalka Fernando accused the government of implanting a road map for a dictatorial regime. She said that in the absence of an Independent Elections Commission and the government’s refusal to implement the 17th Amendment to the Constitution elections would be a farce.
She said though there hadn’t been many incidents of violence in the Uva as well as Jaffna and Vavuniya where local government elections, too, would be held on August 8, the election process wasn’t definitely free and fair. She accused the government of brazenly using flouting elections laws. "State resources and public officers are being used in support of government candidates," she said. A few days before nominations for the Jaffna Municipal Council they had targeted the Jaffna based Udayan press. She said that Opposition had been effectively silenced in an environment of fear created by the government. The bottom line is that there was no level playing field, she said emphasising that they weren’t biased towards any party.
While severely criticising current security measures in place, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula and suffering of 300,000 people held by the government, she welcomed the fielding of several women candidates by the Tamil National Alliance (4 candidates), UNP (3) and UPFA (1) in Jaffna.
Although Keerthi Tennakoon also of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections claimed that there had been a systematic campaign of terror unleashed by the government in support of its candidates, he failed to back his statement with facts. Responding to The Island queries, he said that there hadn’t been any major incidents in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Moneragala though there had been several incidents in the Badulla district. He acknowledged that most incidents reported from Badulla involved supporters of the ruling party.
Unlike in the South, there hadn’t been polythene decorations in the north. They called for an immediate release of civilians held by the government and relaxation of existing security measures. Asked whether security measures could be totally removed in the immediate future without taking into consideration the threat posed by LTTE terrorists taking refuge among the civilians, Tennkoon said, "Dan LTTE eka nehe" (Now there was no LTTE).
He said that among the 300,000 people in detention, there were about 350 persons eligible to vote at Jaffna and Vavuniya polls.
www island.lk
The campaign for Free and Fair Elections yesterday said that the Rajapaksa administration was rapidly moving towards a one party dictatorial regime. The election monitoring NGO asserted that having provincial council elections on a staggered basis was part of the ruling coalition’s strategy of throttling the Opposition, thereby denying the people a fair opportunity to effect a regime change.
Addressing a press conference at the National Library Services Board, Dr. Nimalka Fernando accused the government of implanting a road map for a dictatorial regime. She said that in the absence of an Independent Elections Commission and the government’s refusal to implement the 17th Amendment to the Constitution elections would be a farce.
She said though there hadn’t been many incidents of violence in the Uva as well as Jaffna and Vavuniya where local government elections, too, would be held on August 8, the election process wasn’t definitely free and fair. She accused the government of brazenly using flouting elections laws. "State resources and public officers are being used in support of government candidates," she said. A few days before nominations for the Jaffna Municipal Council they had targeted the Jaffna based Udayan press. She said that Opposition had been effectively silenced in an environment of fear created by the government. The bottom line is that there was no level playing field, she said emphasising that they weren’t biased towards any party.
While severely criticising current security measures in place, particularly in the Jaffna peninsula and suffering of 300,000 people held by the government, she welcomed the fielding of several women candidates by the Tamil National Alliance (4 candidates), UNP (3) and UPFA (1) in Jaffna.
Although Keerthi Tennakoon also of the Campaign for Free and Fair Elections claimed that there had been a systematic campaign of terror unleashed by the government in support of its candidates, he failed to back his statement with facts. Responding to The Island queries, he said that there hadn’t been any major incidents in Vavuniya, Jaffna and Moneragala though there had been several incidents in the Badulla district. He acknowledged that most incidents reported from Badulla involved supporters of the ruling party.
Unlike in the South, there hadn’t been polythene decorations in the north. They called for an immediate release of civilians held by the government and relaxation of existing security measures. Asked whether security measures could be totally removed in the immediate future without taking into consideration the threat posed by LTTE terrorists taking refuge among the civilians, Tennkoon said, "Dan LTTE eka nehe" (Now there was no LTTE).
He said that among the 300,000 people in detention, there were about 350 persons eligible to vote at Jaffna and Vavuniya polls.
www island.lk
SEE! HOW SINHALA SLFP(1994-2009) RUINED EDUCATION BY POLITICAL APPOINTMENTS! STUDENTS CONFUSED BY WRONGS OF Q-PAPERS! QUALIFIED TEACHERS SIDELINED.!!!
The issue of question papers
By Kelum Bandara
More spelling, factual and printing errors surfaced in school term test question papers yesterday from various parts of the country inconveniencing students and teachers.In Balangoda, in the Grade Five paper, a letter had been left out of a word – giving it an obscene meaning.
The Educational Professionals’ Association Secretary Wasantha Dharmasiri told Daily Mirror yesterday that he had had come across many errors in the Grade Four Mathematics question paper distributed among students in the Ratnapura Educational Zone. Mr. Dharmasiri said that there were questions that neither students nor teachers could understand.
“These are students planning to sit for the Grade Five Scholarship Examination soon. They are all confused today. In another school, the answer papers had also been distributed along with the question papers,” he said.
He said a tender racket had also been reported with regard to the printing of question papers in the Ratnapura zone.
“One printer had agreed to print an A4 size page of questions for 62 cents, but the tender had been awarded to another printer at Rs.1.32 for such a page. There seems to be a racket here. Someone might have tried to pocket some money. I informed the provincial authorities of this,” he said.
The Ceylon Teachers Services’ Union’s Organising Secretary Dhammika Alahapperuma said that the term tests had not been conducted successfully, even yesterday, in the North Central province. Mr. Alahapperuma said that the political appointments in the education sector had caused this crisis.
“The SLFP-led governments which ruled this country since 1994 should be held responsible for this utter rot. There is no use of the minister vowing to take action now. The education sector is filled with unqualified political henchmen. They know only to put up stages for the ruling party politicians and canvas votes for them,” he said.
He said that there were enough qualified persons in the education sector, but they had been sidelined due to political reasons.
Meanwhile, the Union’s General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that some subject directors and in-service advisors had threatened teachers in the Homagama area for revealing these mistakes to the media.
dailymirror.lk
By Kelum Bandara
More spelling, factual and printing errors surfaced in school term test question papers yesterday from various parts of the country inconveniencing students and teachers.In Balangoda, in the Grade Five paper, a letter had been left out of a word – giving it an obscene meaning.
The Educational Professionals’ Association Secretary Wasantha Dharmasiri told Daily Mirror yesterday that he had had come across many errors in the Grade Four Mathematics question paper distributed among students in the Ratnapura Educational Zone. Mr. Dharmasiri said that there were questions that neither students nor teachers could understand.
“These are students planning to sit for the Grade Five Scholarship Examination soon. They are all confused today. In another school, the answer papers had also been distributed along with the question papers,” he said.
He said a tender racket had also been reported with regard to the printing of question papers in the Ratnapura zone.
“One printer had agreed to print an A4 size page of questions for 62 cents, but the tender had been awarded to another printer at Rs.1.32 for such a page. There seems to be a racket here. Someone might have tried to pocket some money. I informed the provincial authorities of this,” he said.
The Ceylon Teachers Services’ Union’s Organising Secretary Dhammika Alahapperuma said that the term tests had not been conducted successfully, even yesterday, in the North Central province. Mr. Alahapperuma said that the political appointments in the education sector had caused this crisis.
“The SLFP-led governments which ruled this country since 1994 should be held responsible for this utter rot. There is no use of the minister vowing to take action now. The education sector is filled with unqualified political henchmen. They know only to put up stages for the ruling party politicians and canvas votes for them,” he said.
He said that there were enough qualified persons in the education sector, but they had been sidelined due to political reasons.
Meanwhile, the Union’s General Secretary Mahinda Jayasinghe said that some subject directors and in-service advisors had threatened teachers in the Homagama area for revealing these mistakes to the media.
dailymirror.lk
torsdag 30. juli 2009
onsdag 29. juli 2009
We are internally displaced prisoners..!!! We used to be in a prison controlled by LTTE.!!! Now we are in prison controlled by the Sinhala Govt.!!!
HRW calls for freedom for IDPs
Human Rights Watch says the Sri Lankan government should immediately release the more than 280,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians held in "detention camps" in the north.
The government, in violation of international law, has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps, euphemistically called “welfare centers” by the government. Only a small number of camp residents, mainly the elderly, have been released to host families and institutions for the elderly.
“Keeping several hundred thousand civilians who had been caught in the middle of a war penned in these camps is outrageous,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Haven’t they been through enough? They deserve their freedom, like all other Sri Lankans.”
The United Nations reported that as of July 17, 2009, the government was detaining 281,621 people in 30 military-guarded camps in the four northern districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, and Trincomalee. Camp residents are allowed to leave only for emergency medical care, and then frequently only with military escort. Inside the camps, humanitarian workers are prohibited, on threat of being barred from the camps, from discussing with residents the fighting in the final months of the conflict or possible human rights abuses.
Premkumar, 44 years old, told Human Rights Watch that he, his wife, and their 3-year-old daughter have been confined to a camp since they escaped the war zone in mid-May. He has been allowed out only once, when he managed to obtain a referral to a hospital.
“The way I see it, we are not internally displaced persons, we are internally displaced prisoners,” Premkumar said. “We used to be in a prison controlled by [LTTE leader] Prabhakaran. Now we are in a prison controlled by the government.”
In Kalimoddai and Sirukandal camps in Mannar district, established more than a year ago, some residents have been granted permission to leave the camp for short periods during the day. In these camps, they have to register with the military twice a day. Human Rights Watch has received reports that if a person fails or is late to register, the military may apply punitive measures, such as forcing the person to stand still under the sun for a period of time or to perform manual labor.
Sri Lanka’s policy of confining the displaced to detention camps has been widely condemned. On May 15, for example, Walter Kälin, the UN secretary-general’s representative on internally displaced persons, said: “Prolonged internment of such persons would not only amount to arbitrary detention but it also aggravates the humanitarian situation needlessly.”
In response to domestic and international criticism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has tried to justify the detention policy by claiming that anyone in the camps could be a security threat. The government has sought to play down the situation, insisting that the displaced civilians will be quickly resettled. In May, the government said it would resettle 80 percent of them by the end of this year. Now the Minister of Foreign Affairs says the goal is 60 percent. The government has not provided any concrete resettlement plans, however, and displaced persons have not received any information about when they might be allowed to return home.
The military has reportedly removed several thousand camp residents for alleged membership or support of the LTTE, and transferred them to rehabilitation centers for LTTE fighters or to Colombo, the capital, for further interrogation. In many cases, the authorities have failed to inform relatives remaining in the camps about the fate and whereabouts of those removed, raising concerns of possible ill-treatment or enforced disappearance. The order to humanitarian workers not to talk to camp residents limits their ability to protect people from abuse.
While the Sri Lankan authorities are entitled to screen persons leaving the war zone to identify Tamil Tiger combatants, international law prohibits arbitrary detention and unnecessary restrictions on the right to freedom of movement. This means that anyone taken into custody must be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released. Although human rights law permits restrictions on movement for security reasons, the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat.
“Vague promises about the future release of the people illegally locked up in detention camps are no justification for keeping them there,” said Adams. “Every day in the camp is another day that the government is violating their rights.”
The situation of camp residents is aggravated by inadequate living conditions in the camps. Many are overcrowded, some holding twice the number recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the UN, there is a shortage of latrines and access to water is inconsistent, causing hygiene problems. In June alone, health officials recorded more than 8,000 cases of diarrhea, as well as hundreds of cases of hepatitis, dysentery, and chickenpox.
Numerous reports indicate that camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated with the inadequate food, overcrowding, and inability to visit relatives in adjacent camps or elsewhere. In late June, they held at least two protests in the camps, which were dispersed by the security forces.
The government has effectively sealed off the detention camps from outside scrutiny. Human rights organizations, journalists, and other independent observers are not allowed inside, and humanitarian organizations with access have been forced to sign a statement that they will not disclose information about the conditions in the camps without government permission. On several occasions, the government expelled foreign journalists and aid workers who had collected and publicized information about camp conditions, or did not renew their visas.
On July 24, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a US$2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka, granting the government an “exceptional level of access to Fund resources.” Several countries – including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Argentina – abstained from the vote, reflecting concern about human rights violations during the conflict and continued abuses, including mistreatment of internally displaced persons. Installments of the loan will have to be approved every three months.
“The world recognizes that Sri Lanka needs money to rebuild the country,” said Adams. “But the government’s treatment of its Tamil population in recent months has drained much of the sympathy for the challenges it faces. The government needs to change course or expect greater international scrutiny in the future.”
dailymirror.lk
Human Rights Watch says the Sri Lankan government should immediately release the more than 280,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians held in "detention camps" in the north.
The government, in violation of international law, has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps, euphemistically called “welfare centers” by the government. Only a small number of camp residents, mainly the elderly, have been released to host families and institutions for the elderly.
“Keeping several hundred thousand civilians who had been caught in the middle of a war penned in these camps is outrageous,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “Haven’t they been through enough? They deserve their freedom, like all other Sri Lankans.”
The United Nations reported that as of July 17, 2009, the government was detaining 281,621 people in 30 military-guarded camps in the four northern districts of Vavuniya, Mannar, Jaffna, and Trincomalee. Camp residents are allowed to leave only for emergency medical care, and then frequently only with military escort. Inside the camps, humanitarian workers are prohibited, on threat of being barred from the camps, from discussing with residents the fighting in the final months of the conflict or possible human rights abuses.
Premkumar, 44 years old, told Human Rights Watch that he, his wife, and their 3-year-old daughter have been confined to a camp since they escaped the war zone in mid-May. He has been allowed out only once, when he managed to obtain a referral to a hospital.
“The way I see it, we are not internally displaced persons, we are internally displaced prisoners,” Premkumar said. “We used to be in a prison controlled by [LTTE leader] Prabhakaran. Now we are in a prison controlled by the government.”
In Kalimoddai and Sirukandal camps in Mannar district, established more than a year ago, some residents have been granted permission to leave the camp for short periods during the day. In these camps, they have to register with the military twice a day. Human Rights Watch has received reports that if a person fails or is late to register, the military may apply punitive measures, such as forcing the person to stand still under the sun for a period of time or to perform manual labor.
Sri Lanka’s policy of confining the displaced to detention camps has been widely condemned. On May 15, for example, Walter Kälin, the UN secretary-general’s representative on internally displaced persons, said: “Prolonged internment of such persons would not only amount to arbitrary detention but it also aggravates the humanitarian situation needlessly.”
In response to domestic and international criticism, President Mahinda Rajapaksa has tried to justify the detention policy by claiming that anyone in the camps could be a security threat. The government has sought to play down the situation, insisting that the displaced civilians will be quickly resettled. In May, the government said it would resettle 80 percent of them by the end of this year. Now the Minister of Foreign Affairs says the goal is 60 percent. The government has not provided any concrete resettlement plans, however, and displaced persons have not received any information about when they might be allowed to return home.
The military has reportedly removed several thousand camp residents for alleged membership or support of the LTTE, and transferred them to rehabilitation centers for LTTE fighters or to Colombo, the capital, for further interrogation. In many cases, the authorities have failed to inform relatives remaining in the camps about the fate and whereabouts of those removed, raising concerns of possible ill-treatment or enforced disappearance. The order to humanitarian workers not to talk to camp residents limits their ability to protect people from abuse.
While the Sri Lankan authorities are entitled to screen persons leaving the war zone to identify Tamil Tiger combatants, international law prohibits arbitrary detention and unnecessary restrictions on the right to freedom of movement. This means that anyone taken into custody must be promptly brought before a judge and charged with a criminal offense or released. Although human rights law permits restrictions on movement for security reasons, the restrictions must have a clear legal basis, be limited to what is necessary, and be proportionate to the threat.
“Vague promises about the future release of the people illegally locked up in detention camps are no justification for keeping them there,” said Adams. “Every day in the camp is another day that the government is violating their rights.”
The situation of camp residents is aggravated by inadequate living conditions in the camps. Many are overcrowded, some holding twice the number recommended by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. According to the UN, there is a shortage of latrines and access to water is inconsistent, causing hygiene problems. In June alone, health officials recorded more than 8,000 cases of diarrhea, as well as hundreds of cases of hepatitis, dysentery, and chickenpox.
Numerous reports indicate that camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated with the inadequate food, overcrowding, and inability to visit relatives in adjacent camps or elsewhere. In late June, they held at least two protests in the camps, which were dispersed by the security forces.
The government has effectively sealed off the detention camps from outside scrutiny. Human rights organizations, journalists, and other independent observers are not allowed inside, and humanitarian organizations with access have been forced to sign a statement that they will not disclose information about the conditions in the camps without government permission. On several occasions, the government expelled foreign journalists and aid workers who had collected and publicized information about camp conditions, or did not renew their visas.
On July 24, the executive board of the International Monetary Fund approved a US$2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka, granting the government an “exceptional level of access to Fund resources.” Several countries – including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Argentina – abstained from the vote, reflecting concern about human rights violations during the conflict and continued abuses, including mistreatment of internally displaced persons. Installments of the loan will have to be approved every three months.
“The world recognizes that Sri Lanka needs money to rebuild the country,” said Adams. “But the government’s treatment of its Tamil population in recent months has drained much of the sympathy for the challenges it faces. The government needs to change course or expect greater international scrutiny in the future.”
dailymirror.lk
tirsdag 28. juli 2009
RELIEF ITEMS,FOOD TO TAMIL IDPs WAITING IN COLOMBO/CHENNAI WITHOUT SINHALA GOVT APPROVAL..!!! US/INDIAN EMBASSIES SHD HELP...!!!
இந்திய நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை ஏற்க இலங்கை தயக்கம்?
ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் அனுப்பிய பொருள்கள் கொழும்பில் தேங்கி உள்ள நிலையில் தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் அடங்கிய 100 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றிய நிலையில் கடந்த இரு வாரங்களாக சென்னை துறைமுகத்தில் உள்ள சரக்குப் பெட்டக நிலையத்தில் தேங்கி உள்ளது தெரிய வந்துள்ளது.
இதில் உள்ள பொருள்களின் மதிப்பு சுமார் ரூ.12 கோடி இருக்கும் என கூறப்படுகிறது. நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை தமிழர்களுக்கு ஏற்க இலங்கை தயக்கம் காட்டி வருவதே இதற்கு காரணம் என தெரிகிறது.
இலங்கையில் போரினால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் சார்பில் அனுப்பப்பட்ட உணவு, மருந்து உள்ளிட்ட நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் பல்வேறு சிக்கல்களை கடந்து ஜூலை 9-ல் இலங்கை சென்றடைந்தது.
ஆனால், இவற்றை விநியோகம் செய்ய ரூ.32 லட்சம் கேட்டு செஞ்சிலுவை சங்கம் நிர்பந்தம் செய்த காரணத்தால் அப்பொருகள் கொழும்பு துறைமுகத்திலேயே முடங்கி கிடக்கின்றன.
தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய பொருள்கள்: இலங்கையில் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட தமிழர்களுக்கு தமிழ்நாடு அரசு சார்பில் கடந்த ஆண்டு நவம்பரில் ரூ.11 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள் அடங்கிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்பியது.
அடுத்து, இரண்டு கட்டங்களாக சுமார் ரூ.13 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள உணவுப் பொருள்கள், சமையல் பாத்திரங்கள், உடைகள் உள்ளிட்ட பொருள்கள் அனுப்பிவைக்கப்பட்டன. தமிழ்நாடு நுகர்பொருள் வாணிபக் கழகம் இப்பொருள்கள் அனைத்தையும் ஒவ்வொரு குடும்பத்துக்கும் தேவையான பொருள்களை தனித்தனி மூட்டைகளாக பேக்கிங் செய்து சுமார் 120 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றி இரண்டு கட்டங்களாக ஏற்றி வைத்தது.
தமிழ்நாடு அரசு சார்பில் அனுப்பி வைக்கப்பட்ட இப்பொருள்கள் அனைத்தும் இலங்கையில் உள்ள இந்திய தூதரகம் சார்பில் விநியோகம் செய்யப்பட்டன.
15 நாள்களாக தேங்கியுள்ள 100 கன்டெய்னர்கள்: ஏற்கனவே மூன்று முறை தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் சிக்கலின்றி விநியோகிக்கப்பட்டதால் நான்காம் கட்டமாக சுமார் ரூ.12 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்ப முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டது.
இதன்படி 90 ஆயிரம் சிறுவர்களுக்கான உடைகள், லுங்கி, துண்டு, சேலை, போர்வை, காலணிகள் உள்ளிட்ட பொருள்கள் அடங்கிய 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள், அரிசி, பால் பவுடர், மாவு பொருகள்கள், பருப்பு வகைகள், மளிகை சாமான்கள் அடங்கிய 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள் மற்றும் உயிர் காக்கும் மருந்துப் பொருள்கள் என 80 ஆயிரம் குடும்பங்களுக்குத் தேவையான பொருள்கள் தமிழக அரசு நிறுவனங்களான, கோ-ஆப்டெக்ஸ், நுகர்பொருள் வாணிப கழகம் சார்பில் கொள்முதல் செய்யப்பட்டன.
இவை அனைத்தும் 20 அடி நீளம் கொண்ட 36 கன்டெய்னர்கள் மற்றும் 40 அடி நீளம் கொண்ட 64 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றப்பட்டு சென்னை துறைமுகத்தில் உள்ள சரக்குப் பெட்டக நிலையத்தில் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. ஆனால் இரு வாரங்களைக் கடந்த நிலையிலும் இவை இலங்கைக்கு அனுப்பி வைக்கப்படவில்லை.
இலங்கைக்கு நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்புவதில் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள தாமதம் குறித்து சம்பந்தப்பட்ட தரப்பினர் கூறியதாவது:
நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் அனைத்தும் மத்திய அரசின் கப்பல் கழகத்துக்கு சொந்தமான கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றப்பட்டு ஜூலை 15-ஆம் தேதி துறைமுகத்துக்கு கொண்டு வரப்பட்டன. ஏற்கெனவே திட்டமிட்டபடி இவை அனைத்தும் ஜூலை 17 அல்லது 18 கொழும்பு சென்ற கப்பலில் அனுப்பப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும். ஆனால் இலங்கையில் இருந்து இதற்கான ஒப்புதல் செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை வரை கிடைக்கவில்லை. இதனால் அனுப்ப இயலவில்லை.
அனுமதி எப்போது வரும் எனவும் தெரியவில்லை. 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகளில் அடைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள உணவு பொருள்கள் இருப்பு வைக்கப்பட்ட சூழ்நிலை காரணமாக (அதிக வெப்பம்) வீணாகும் அபாயம் உள்ளதாக கூறப்படுகிறது.
ஏற்கனவே, ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் கொள்வாரின்றி கொழும்பு துறைமுகத்தில் முடங்கி உள்ள நிலையில், தற்போது தமிழக அரசு சார்பில் அனுப்பி உள்ள நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் சென்னைத் துறைமுகத்தில் தேங்கி உள்ள சூழல் குறித்து பல்வேறு தரப்பினரும் வேதனை தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இது குறித்து அரசு தரப்பில் கேட்டபோது காரணம் ஏதும் தெரிவிக்க மறுத்துவிட்டனர்.
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ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் அனுப்பிய பொருள்கள் கொழும்பில் தேங்கி உள்ள நிலையில் தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் அடங்கிய 100 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றிய நிலையில் கடந்த இரு வாரங்களாக சென்னை துறைமுகத்தில் உள்ள சரக்குப் பெட்டக நிலையத்தில் தேங்கி உள்ளது தெரிய வந்துள்ளது.
இதில் உள்ள பொருள்களின் மதிப்பு சுமார் ரூ.12 கோடி இருக்கும் என கூறப்படுகிறது. நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை தமிழர்களுக்கு ஏற்க இலங்கை தயக்கம் காட்டி வருவதே இதற்கு காரணம் என தெரிகிறது.
இலங்கையில் போரினால் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் சார்பில் அனுப்பப்பட்ட உணவு, மருந்து உள்ளிட்ட நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் பல்வேறு சிக்கல்களை கடந்து ஜூலை 9-ல் இலங்கை சென்றடைந்தது.
ஆனால், இவற்றை விநியோகம் செய்ய ரூ.32 லட்சம் கேட்டு செஞ்சிலுவை சங்கம் நிர்பந்தம் செய்த காரணத்தால் அப்பொருகள் கொழும்பு துறைமுகத்திலேயே முடங்கி கிடக்கின்றன.
தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய பொருள்கள்: இலங்கையில் பாதிக்கப்பட்ட தமிழர்களுக்கு தமிழ்நாடு அரசு சார்பில் கடந்த ஆண்டு நவம்பரில் ரூ.11 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள் அடங்கிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்பியது.
அடுத்து, இரண்டு கட்டங்களாக சுமார் ரூ.13 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள உணவுப் பொருள்கள், சமையல் பாத்திரங்கள், உடைகள் உள்ளிட்ட பொருள்கள் அனுப்பிவைக்கப்பட்டன. தமிழ்நாடு நுகர்பொருள் வாணிபக் கழகம் இப்பொருள்கள் அனைத்தையும் ஒவ்வொரு குடும்பத்துக்கும் தேவையான பொருள்களை தனித்தனி மூட்டைகளாக பேக்கிங் செய்து சுமார் 120 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றி இரண்டு கட்டங்களாக ஏற்றி வைத்தது.
தமிழ்நாடு அரசு சார்பில் அனுப்பி வைக்கப்பட்ட இப்பொருள்கள் அனைத்தும் இலங்கையில் உள்ள இந்திய தூதரகம் சார்பில் விநியோகம் செய்யப்பட்டன.
15 நாள்களாக தேங்கியுள்ள 100 கன்டெய்னர்கள்: ஏற்கனவே மூன்று முறை தமிழக அரசு அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் சிக்கலின்றி விநியோகிக்கப்பட்டதால் நான்காம் கட்டமாக சுமார் ரூ.12 கோடி மதிப்புள்ள நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்ப முடிவு செய்யப்பட்டது.
இதன்படி 90 ஆயிரம் சிறுவர்களுக்கான உடைகள், லுங்கி, துண்டு, சேலை, போர்வை, காலணிகள் உள்ளிட்ட பொருள்கள் அடங்கிய 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள், அரிசி, பால் பவுடர், மாவு பொருகள்கள், பருப்பு வகைகள், மளிகை சாமான்கள் அடங்கிய 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகள் மற்றும் உயிர் காக்கும் மருந்துப் பொருள்கள் என 80 ஆயிரம் குடும்பங்களுக்குத் தேவையான பொருள்கள் தமிழக அரசு நிறுவனங்களான, கோ-ஆப்டெக்ஸ், நுகர்பொருள் வாணிப கழகம் சார்பில் கொள்முதல் செய்யப்பட்டன.
இவை அனைத்தும் 20 அடி நீளம் கொண்ட 36 கன்டெய்னர்கள் மற்றும் 40 அடி நீளம் கொண்ட 64 கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றப்பட்டு சென்னை துறைமுகத்தில் உள்ள சரக்குப் பெட்டக நிலையத்தில் வைக்கப்பட்டுள்ளன. ஆனால் இரு வாரங்களைக் கடந்த நிலையிலும் இவை இலங்கைக்கு அனுப்பி வைக்கப்படவில்லை.
இலங்கைக்கு நிவாரணப் பொருள்களை அனுப்புவதில் ஏற்பட்டுள்ள தாமதம் குறித்து சம்பந்தப்பட்ட தரப்பினர் கூறியதாவது:
நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் அனைத்தும் மத்திய அரசின் கப்பல் கழகத்துக்கு சொந்தமான கன்டெய்னர்களில் ஏற்றப்பட்டு ஜூலை 15-ஆம் தேதி துறைமுகத்துக்கு கொண்டு வரப்பட்டன. ஏற்கெனவே திட்டமிட்டபடி இவை அனைத்தும் ஜூலை 17 அல்லது 18 கொழும்பு சென்ற கப்பலில் அனுப்பப்பட்டிருக்க வேண்டும். ஆனால் இலங்கையில் இருந்து இதற்கான ஒப்புதல் செவ்வாய்க்கிழமை வரை கிடைக்கவில்லை. இதனால் அனுப்ப இயலவில்லை.
அனுமதி எப்போது வரும் எனவும் தெரியவில்லை. 80 ஆயிரம் மூட்டைகளில் அடைக்கப்பட்டுள்ள உணவு பொருள்கள் இருப்பு வைக்கப்பட்ட சூழ்நிலை காரணமாக (அதிக வெப்பம்) வீணாகும் அபாயம் உள்ளதாக கூறப்படுகிறது.
ஏற்கனவே, ஐரோப்பிய தமிழர்கள் அனுப்பிய நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் கொள்வாரின்றி கொழும்பு துறைமுகத்தில் முடங்கி உள்ள நிலையில், தற்போது தமிழக அரசு சார்பில் அனுப்பி உள்ள நிவாரணப் பொருள்கள் சென்னைத் துறைமுகத்தில் தேங்கி உள்ள சூழல் குறித்து பல்வேறு தரப்பினரும் வேதனை தெரிவித்துள்ளனர். இது குறித்து அரசு தரப்பில் கேட்டபோது காரணம் ஏதும் தெரிவிக்க மறுத்துவிட்டனர்.
http://adhikaalai.com
Opp MPs complained to court that they were repeatedly refused to visit the Tamil civilians in Detention Camps in North in violation of their rights!!!
Opposition petition on visits to welfare centres:
AG granted time to consult Defence Secretary
Wasantha Ramanayake
The Supreme Court yesterday allowed an application for time by the Attorney General to obtain instructions from the Defence Secretary in the rights application filed by five Opposition MPs in connection with visiting welfare centres in the North.
Deputy Solicitor General Indika Demuni de Silva moving for time submitted that the influx of a large number of people had created an unprecedented situation which demanded a careful scrutinizing of separating innocent people from terrorists.
Allowing the application court noted that the since the issue involves a question of national security the court had to be mindful about its implications. Counsel J.C. Weliamuna for the petitioners submitted that if the petitioners were allowed to travel with what ever condition attached they would consider withdrawing the application.
The Petitioners, MPs, Jayalath Jayawardane, Lakshman Senevirathne, Mangala Samaraweera, M.T. Ali Hassaen and Mano Ganeshan complained to court that they were repeatedly refused to visit the civilians in welfare centers in the North in violation of their rights. Counsel J.C. Weliamuna appeared for the petitioners.
dailynews.lk
AG granted time to consult Defence Secretary
Wasantha Ramanayake
The Supreme Court yesterday allowed an application for time by the Attorney General to obtain instructions from the Defence Secretary in the rights application filed by five Opposition MPs in connection with visiting welfare centres in the North.
Deputy Solicitor General Indika Demuni de Silva moving for time submitted that the influx of a large number of people had created an unprecedented situation which demanded a careful scrutinizing of separating innocent people from terrorists.
Allowing the application court noted that the since the issue involves a question of national security the court had to be mindful about its implications. Counsel J.C. Weliamuna for the petitioners submitted that if the petitioners were allowed to travel with what ever condition attached they would consider withdrawing the application.
The Petitioners, MPs, Jayalath Jayawardane, Lakshman Senevirathne, Mangala Samaraweera, M.T. Ali Hassaen and Mano Ganeshan complained to court that they were repeatedly refused to visit the civilians in welfare centers in the North in violation of their rights. Counsel J.C. Weliamuna appeared for the petitioners.
dailynews.lk
US envoy stressed the need of early returning the IDPs/ Tamil civilians to their original places in conditions of safety and dignity..!!!
More US assistance
For displaced civilians:
Chaminda Perera
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P Schwartz yesterday announced US assistance of 8 million US$ for the early return and recovery of displaced people in the North through UNHCR and Non Governmental Agencies.
Schwartz said he is intend to return to Sri Lanka shortly observe the Governments resettlement process which would take place over the next month on the invitation of Government of Sri Lanka.
He said he learned from the Government authorities that a significant number of displaced civilians are planned to resettle in their original homes in the Mannar , Vavuniya and parts of Killinochchi over the next month.
Officials told that they are determined to strongly support development and the overall well being of the people in the affected areas. The United States welcomes these commitments and appreciates the Sri Lankan Governments invitation to me to return shortly to observe the process of return and recovery which I fully intend to do.
Addressing a press briefing at the conclusion of his visit to Sri Lanka at the Galadari Hotel, Schwartz stressed that the funds will also be utilized for the resumption of their livelihood and participation of local communities in designing and implementing the project would be encouraged.
He said his visit primarily focused on the humanitarian effort and the early return of IDPs to their original dwellings.
During his stay in Sri Lanka, Schwartz met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
The US has provided over US$ 50 million for humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka this year. He stressed the need of early returning the displaced civilians to their original places in conditions of safety and dignity.
The United States welcomes the sustained efforts of relief providers both from the Sri Lanka Government and from local and international organizations to address the critical needs of this very large community.
He said serious efforts were made to improve the sanitary condition and ease the congestion of welfare camps.
USAID Sri Lanka Director Rebecca Cohn said the new funding will support the early return of people to their original communities by improving their living condition and by helping their livelihood as soon as possible.
She said the USAID will provide nets and small boats for fishermen, tools and seeds for farmers to restore their livelihood. We will also give grants to help people start small businesses that will generate income and provide needed services for the community.
dailynews.lk
For displaced civilians:
Chaminda Perera
Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration Eric P Schwartz yesterday announced US assistance of 8 million US$ for the early return and recovery of displaced people in the North through UNHCR and Non Governmental Agencies.
Schwartz said he is intend to return to Sri Lanka shortly observe the Governments resettlement process which would take place over the next month on the invitation of Government of Sri Lanka.
He said he learned from the Government authorities that a significant number of displaced civilians are planned to resettle in their original homes in the Mannar , Vavuniya and parts of Killinochchi over the next month.
Officials told that they are determined to strongly support development and the overall well being of the people in the affected areas. The United States welcomes these commitments and appreciates the Sri Lankan Governments invitation to me to return shortly to observe the process of return and recovery which I fully intend to do.
Addressing a press briefing at the conclusion of his visit to Sri Lanka at the Galadari Hotel, Schwartz stressed that the funds will also be utilized for the resumption of their livelihood and participation of local communities in designing and implementing the project would be encouraged.
He said his visit primarily focused on the humanitarian effort and the early return of IDPs to their original dwellings.
During his stay in Sri Lanka, Schwartz met President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
The US has provided over US$ 50 million for humanitarian assistance in Sri Lanka this year. He stressed the need of early returning the displaced civilians to their original places in conditions of safety and dignity.
The United States welcomes the sustained efforts of relief providers both from the Sri Lanka Government and from local and international organizations to address the critical needs of this very large community.
He said serious efforts were made to improve the sanitary condition and ease the congestion of welfare camps.
USAID Sri Lanka Director Rebecca Cohn said the new funding will support the early return of people to their original communities by improving their living condition and by helping their livelihood as soon as possible.
She said the USAID will provide nets and small boats for fishermen, tools and seeds for farmers to restore their livelihood. We will also give grants to help people start small businesses that will generate income and provide needed services for the community.
dailynews.lk
mandag 27. juli 2009
SINHALA NARROW MINDNESS SHD COME TO END..!!! A welcome first step in building rapport with the Tamil Diaspora ..!!!
End ‘Captain Ali’ saga magnanimously
The ‘Captain Ali’ saga refuses to come to an end. The cargo is held up in the port for want of proper documents. The problem of documents appears to be a result of the cargo having had to be reshipped from India which in turn is a result of turning ‘Captain Ali’ away in a huff, when she arrived here. The continued detention of the cargo is bound to be misunderstood as malicious obstruction.
Now that the acrimony of the war has subsided, let us take a large-hearted view of the matter. The President, as the Minister of Finance, has the discretion under Section 19A of the Customs Ordinance to exempt goods from import duties and to restore seized goods under Section 164 thereof. Similarly the Collector of Customs has the discretion under Section 163, to waive rent and dues on goods not removed within the specified period.
Exercise of these discretions forthwith would lead to the clearing of the detained goods without waiting for documents until the goods reach their expiry dates. Such magnanimity is bound to be a welcome first step in building rapport with the Tamil Diaspora that appears to be seeing things in a realistic light and visiting the homeland in planeloads.
Somapala Gunadheera
www island.lk
The ‘Captain Ali’ saga refuses to come to an end. The cargo is held up in the port for want of proper documents. The problem of documents appears to be a result of the cargo having had to be reshipped from India which in turn is a result of turning ‘Captain Ali’ away in a huff, when she arrived here. The continued detention of the cargo is bound to be misunderstood as malicious obstruction.
Now that the acrimony of the war has subsided, let us take a large-hearted view of the matter. The President, as the Minister of Finance, has the discretion under Section 19A of the Customs Ordinance to exempt goods from import duties and to restore seized goods under Section 164 thereof. Similarly the Collector of Customs has the discretion under Section 163, to waive rent and dues on goods not removed within the specified period.
Exercise of these discretions forthwith would lead to the clearing of the detained goods without waiting for documents until the goods reach their expiry dates. Such magnanimity is bound to be a welcome first step in building rapport with the Tamil Diaspora that appears to be seeing things in a realistic light and visiting the homeland in planeloads.
Somapala Gunadheera
www island.lk
SINHALA PRESIDENT GRANT SPECIAL AMNESTY TO SINHALA ARMY DESERTERS..!!! BUT INNOCENT TAMIL PRISONERS NEVER GET IT..!!! WHY..???
Over 1900 deserters freed
With a special amnesty granted by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in view of the annual Kandy Perahera, a total of 1,933 army deserters including 50 officers were released from the prisons islandwide, including Welikada prisons yesterday.
Accordingly, 270 ex-soldiers and 14 ex-officers were released from Welikada. Meanwhile, three officers and 30 soldiers from Boossa and 27 soldiers from Galle were released under amnesty granted to them.
Religious ceremonies were held in these areas in order to bless the freed deserters
dailymirror.lk
With a special amnesty granted by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, in view of the annual Kandy Perahera, a total of 1,933 army deserters including 50 officers were released from the prisons islandwide, including Welikada prisons yesterday.
Accordingly, 270 ex-soldiers and 14 ex-officers were released from Welikada. Meanwhile, three officers and 30 soldiers from Boossa and 27 soldiers from Galle were released under amnesty granted to them.
Religious ceremonies were held in these areas in order to bless the freed deserters
dailymirror.lk
Inclusive reconciliation is among one of the top priorities for high-level bilateral dialogue between Sri Lanka and the US.!! Political solution..!!!
Wants humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka addressed
By Dianne Silva
A top US official said yesterday that Sri Lanka would retain the continuing support of the US government based on the approach taken to the humanitarian situation prevailing in the country.
“The continuing support of the US government will be reliant on the means in which the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka is addressed,” Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration from the US State Department Eric P. Schwarts said.
Secretary Schwartz admitted that his government in the past had substantial concerns over the Humanitarian issues in Sri Lanka,” he said.
He said that a political solution of inclusive reconciliation was high on the agenda. “Inclusive reconciliation is among one of the top priorities for high-level bilateral dialogue between Sri Lanka and the US. This process of inclusive reconciliation is important for all of Sri Lanka’s friends”, he said.
The purpose of Secretary Schwartz’s visit was to monitor the humanitarian effort in the country. “I was here to observe the state of the humanitarian effort, as well as to examine ways to further support effective relief and equitable and sustainable recovery,” he said.
Speaking at the Press Conference Director of US AID Sri Lanka Rebecca Cohn announced a donation of an $8 million and the provision of nearly 30 million food aid to the World Food Programme, this year from USAID.
“The funding we have announced this evening will support international organizations, such as UNHCR, as well as NGOs who are longstanding partners in Sri Lanka,” she said.
The aid would be used to improve the living conditions, restore the livelihoods and facilitate the early return of the displaced persons.
“In order to restore livelihoods, the US Government will provide necessities such as nets and small boats for fishermen, and tools and seeds for farmers. We will also give grants to help people start small businesses,” Cohn said.
While appreciating the effort by the government and other organisations to decongest the camps and provide better sanitation Mr. Schwartz said a range of issues concerned the US government.
“The United States remains deeply concerned about a range of issues where further progress is essential. In particular, the vast majority of displaced persons remain confined to camps, and my visit to Manik Farm and my conversations with displaced persons underscored for me the hardships they are enduring,” he said.
Mr. Schwartz addressed the issue of limited access to the camps for both International and local Organisations. “There remain burdensome limitations on access to those camps for those international humanitarian organizations and others who are in a position to ameliorate the conditions faced by these victims of conflict,” he said.
He further emphasized the need for persons within the camps to be given necessary information. “There is a dearth of information within these camps. There need to be better provision of information,” he said.
While in the country Secretary Schwartz met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda and other senior officials.
dailymirror.lk
By Dianne Silva
A top US official said yesterday that Sri Lanka would retain the continuing support of the US government based on the approach taken to the humanitarian situation prevailing in the country.
“The continuing support of the US government will be reliant on the means in which the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka is addressed,” Assistant Secretary of State for Population, Refugees and Migration from the US State Department Eric P. Schwarts said.
Secretary Schwartz admitted that his government in the past had substantial concerns over the Humanitarian issues in Sri Lanka,” he said.
He said that a political solution of inclusive reconciliation was high on the agenda. “Inclusive reconciliation is among one of the top priorities for high-level bilateral dialogue between Sri Lanka and the US. This process of inclusive reconciliation is important for all of Sri Lanka’s friends”, he said.
The purpose of Secretary Schwartz’s visit was to monitor the humanitarian effort in the country. “I was here to observe the state of the humanitarian effort, as well as to examine ways to further support effective relief and equitable and sustainable recovery,” he said.
Speaking at the Press Conference Director of US AID Sri Lanka Rebecca Cohn announced a donation of an $8 million and the provision of nearly 30 million food aid to the World Food Programme, this year from USAID.
“The funding we have announced this evening will support international organizations, such as UNHCR, as well as NGOs who are longstanding partners in Sri Lanka,” she said.
The aid would be used to improve the living conditions, restore the livelihoods and facilitate the early return of the displaced persons.
“In order to restore livelihoods, the US Government will provide necessities such as nets and small boats for fishermen, and tools and seeds for farmers. We will also give grants to help people start small businesses,” Cohn said.
While appreciating the effort by the government and other organisations to decongest the camps and provide better sanitation Mr. Schwartz said a range of issues concerned the US government.
“The United States remains deeply concerned about a range of issues where further progress is essential. In particular, the vast majority of displaced persons remain confined to camps, and my visit to Manik Farm and my conversations with displaced persons underscored for me the hardships they are enduring,” he said.
Mr. Schwartz addressed the issue of limited access to the camps for both International and local Organisations. “There remain burdensome limitations on access to those camps for those international humanitarian organizations and others who are in a position to ameliorate the conditions faced by these victims of conflict,” he said.
He further emphasized the need for persons within the camps to be given necessary information. “There is a dearth of information within these camps. There need to be better provision of information,” he said.
While in the country Secretary Schwartz met with President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, Senior Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa, Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda and other senior officials.
dailymirror.lk
Sri Lankan government is expected to suspend and bring to justice members of the military who allegedly “violated internationally recognized HR-Law..!
US bans military aid to SL
By Mendaka Abeysekera, US Correspondent
The Obama administration is likely to ban military assistance to Sri Lanka until the Mahinda Rajapaksa government improves its human rights record and also the rights involving the minority Tamils.
Under the US foreign operation appropriation bill(S 1434), which makes appropriations for the department of state, foreign operations, and related programmes for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, no defence export license is to be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Sri Lanka, until Colombo authorities meet several conditions.
According to section 7091, the Sri Lankan government is expected to suspend and bring to justice members of the military who allegedly “violated internationally recognized human rights or international humanitarian law; and agree 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 unimpeded monitoring throughout the country and to publicize its findings.’’
By Mendaka Abeysekera, US Correspondent
The Obama administration is likely to ban military assistance to Sri Lanka until the Mahinda Rajapaksa government improves its human rights record and also the rights involving the minority Tamils.
Under the US foreign operation appropriation bill(S 1434), which makes appropriations for the department of state, foreign operations, and related programmes for the fiscal year ending September 30, 2010, no defence export license is to be issued, and no military equipment or technology shall be sold or transferred to Sri Lanka, until Colombo authorities meet several conditions.
According to section 7091, the Sri Lankan government is expected to suspend and bring to justice members of the military who allegedly “violated internationally recognized human rights or international humanitarian law; and agree 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 unimpeded monitoring throughout the country and to publicize its findings.’’
SF/SLA SAID IN MAY 2009: 500 LTTE LEFT; JUNE 2009:22000 LTTE KILLED;JULY 2009: 50000 (LTTEers+FAMILIES)+TAMIL 250000 IDPs.!! HOW TO TRUST SINHALESE.!!
Security tightened to thwart Tigers fleeing.... by Shamindra Ferdinando
Following reports of some LTTE cadres, held in welfare centres in the Vavuniya-Mannar region escaping to the South, in some instances with the connivance of security personnel, the government has strengthened security measures in the area. The army, too, has been deployed in support of the police, now tasked with apprehending the escapees.
Well informed sources told The Island that on a directive given by Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, police headquarters recently appointed a Deputy Inspector General of Police to oversee overall security measures to prevent anyone fleeing welfare camps. The DIG based in Vavuniya would take measures to enhance security in collaboration with the army to block all exit points, sources said.
A senior official, based in Vavuniya, speaking to The Island on the condition of anonymity said though hundreds of police and army personnel had been deployed to block possible escape routes, the size of the detained population had made it an extremely difficulty task. About 300,000 persons, including 50,000 LTTE cadres and their families, are held in over two dozen camps, with the largest being at Menik farm.
Sources said that security wouldn’t be relaxed during the forthcoming Madhu festival. The Madhu feast will be held on August 15. Sources warned that security authorities had to be on alert to thwart attempts to smuggle out LTTE cadres taking advantage of the large groups of people entering the area during the festival.
www island.lk
Following reports of some LTTE cadres, held in welfare centres in the Vavuniya-Mannar region escaping to the South, in some instances with the connivance of security personnel, the government has strengthened security measures in the area. The army, too, has been deployed in support of the police, now tasked with apprehending the escapees.
Well informed sources told The Island that on a directive given by Defence Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, police headquarters recently appointed a Deputy Inspector General of Police to oversee overall security measures to prevent anyone fleeing welfare camps. The DIG based in Vavuniya would take measures to enhance security in collaboration with the army to block all exit points, sources said.
A senior official, based in Vavuniya, speaking to The Island on the condition of anonymity said though hundreds of police and army personnel had been deployed to block possible escape routes, the size of the detained population had made it an extremely difficulty task. About 300,000 persons, including 50,000 LTTE cadres and their families, are held in over two dozen camps, with the largest being at Menik farm.
Sources said that security wouldn’t be relaxed during the forthcoming Madhu festival. The Madhu feast will be held on August 15. Sources warned that security authorities had to be on alert to thwart attempts to smuggle out LTTE cadres taking advantage of the large groups of people entering the area during the festival.
www island.lk
lørdag 25. juli 2009
Sinhalese First Changed the Civilians As Tigers because of their Atrocities !!! Now Change the Tigers As Civilians Again because of Intl Aid..!!!
Child soldiers - converting suicide bombers to bookworms
Fairness cream; scented hair oil; talcum powder: These are things that female Tiger ex-combatants, many forcibly recruited as children, hesitantly ask for when placed in rehabilitation.
Thousands of exhausted cadres surrendered in the weeks before the Government declared its victory over the LTTE in May. The Army said more than 9,000 are now in custody. Some face prosecution; more are being absorbed into the Army; others will be sent into rehabilitation as soon as space becomes available in these overburdened camps. But to judge by the stories of the former child soldiers, turning their lives around will be a lot harder than providing some of the frills denied them during their years of warfare.
Children studying in Ambepussa camp. Theepochtimes.com
The Protection and Rehabilitation Center in Ambepussa is managed by the Bureau of the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation.
To reach it, you take a narrow lane that snakes through paddy fields and thick woods, climbs a steep incline and stops at a neat collection of single-story buildings. As the LTTE fought its final, doomed battle, 112 ex-fighters arrived there, fresh from combat, aged between 14 and 29.
Tall and thin, a young man with fragile features is summoned by Army officers. Ganeshalingam Thayalan speaks softly, uncertainly. He has just turned 18.
Today, he pores over mathematics and chemistry books to pass his advanced-level examination and enter university. There is no hint from his outward appearance that Thayalan was a trained suicide bomber.
He was just two when his parents died in an air force bombing and he was sent to Sencholai, an LTTE "orphanage" in Kilinochchi. Every school holiday, he was trained in the use of weapons, psychological warfare, combat skills and other military activity. After his Ordinary-Level exams, he was taught to be a human bomb. The Tigers showed him how to wear and activate a suicide jacket. It was a compulsory lesson: Other friends from Sencholai also had to learn it.
The LTTE subsequently deployed Thayalan in Vavuniya and ordered him to continue studying until they found him a target. He was living with a friend when, acting on a tip-off, the police arrested him. Would he have exploded himself when told to? Yes, he says, because the Tigers were watching. If he had disobeyed, they would have killed him anyway.
The rehabilitation centre provides children and adults with vocational training, and education in mathematics, computer science and languages, including Sinhalese, the tongue of the majority of Sinhala Buddhists they had once been coached to kill.
There are cultural and sporting events and occasional field trips.
But the children are chaperoned on all excursions and, while parents and relatives may visit, the center is not open to outsiders. In October 2000, a Sinhala mob attacked a similar venture in Bindunuwewa and killed 26 people.
Hiranthi Wijemanne, a consultant to the Commissioner General, says most inmates want to leave the country after rehabilitation. Social stigma will not permit them to return to their own villages or to mingle with the population in the South.
More than 50 reformed fighters have already gone abroad.
James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF in Sri Lanka, calls the centre a genuine attempt to help child soldiers learn how to be civilians.
From 2003 to the end of 2008, UNICEF recorded more than 6,000 cases of child recruitment by the Tigers, but the number is thought to have soared in the final months of the war.
To cope with the influx, the bureau is expanding its centers in the North and Welikanda in the East. It is also building a new facility in Vavuniya, where many ex-combatants now while away the time, awaiting their turn.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2009 A13
dailynews.lk
Fairness cream; scented hair oil; talcum powder: These are things that female Tiger ex-combatants, many forcibly recruited as children, hesitantly ask for when placed in rehabilitation.
Thousands of exhausted cadres surrendered in the weeks before the Government declared its victory over the LTTE in May. The Army said more than 9,000 are now in custody. Some face prosecution; more are being absorbed into the Army; others will be sent into rehabilitation as soon as space becomes available in these overburdened camps. But to judge by the stories of the former child soldiers, turning their lives around will be a lot harder than providing some of the frills denied them during their years of warfare.
Children studying in Ambepussa camp. Theepochtimes.com
The Protection and Rehabilitation Center in Ambepussa is managed by the Bureau of the Commissioner-General of Rehabilitation.
To reach it, you take a narrow lane that snakes through paddy fields and thick woods, climbs a steep incline and stops at a neat collection of single-story buildings. As the LTTE fought its final, doomed battle, 112 ex-fighters arrived there, fresh from combat, aged between 14 and 29.
Tall and thin, a young man with fragile features is summoned by Army officers. Ganeshalingam Thayalan speaks softly, uncertainly. He has just turned 18.
Today, he pores over mathematics and chemistry books to pass his advanced-level examination and enter university. There is no hint from his outward appearance that Thayalan was a trained suicide bomber.
He was just two when his parents died in an air force bombing and he was sent to Sencholai, an LTTE "orphanage" in Kilinochchi. Every school holiday, he was trained in the use of weapons, psychological warfare, combat skills and other military activity. After his Ordinary-Level exams, he was taught to be a human bomb. The Tigers showed him how to wear and activate a suicide jacket. It was a compulsory lesson: Other friends from Sencholai also had to learn it.
The LTTE subsequently deployed Thayalan in Vavuniya and ordered him to continue studying until they found him a target. He was living with a friend when, acting on a tip-off, the police arrested him. Would he have exploded himself when told to? Yes, he says, because the Tigers were watching. If he had disobeyed, they would have killed him anyway.
The rehabilitation centre provides children and adults with vocational training, and education in mathematics, computer science and languages, including Sinhalese, the tongue of the majority of Sinhala Buddhists they had once been coached to kill.
There are cultural and sporting events and occasional field trips.
But the children are chaperoned on all excursions and, while parents and relatives may visit, the center is not open to outsiders. In October 2000, a Sinhala mob attacked a similar venture in Bindunuwewa and killed 26 people.
Hiranthi Wijemanne, a consultant to the Commissioner General, says most inmates want to leave the country after rehabilitation. Social stigma will not permit them to return to their own villages or to mingle with the population in the South.
More than 50 reformed fighters have already gone abroad.
James Elder, a spokesman for UNICEF in Sri Lanka, calls the centre a genuine attempt to help child soldiers learn how to be civilians.
From 2003 to the end of 2008, UNICEF recorded more than 6,000 cases of child recruitment by the Tigers, but the number is thought to have soared in the final months of the war.
To cope with the influx, the bureau is expanding its centers in the North and Welikanda in the East. It is also building a new facility in Vavuniya, where many ex-combatants now while away the time, awaiting their turn.
Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 22, 2009 A13
dailynews.lk
Sinhala student groups resorted to extreme forms of violence causing injury to fellow students and extensive damage to university property..!!!
Colombo University student violence:
University teachers call for stern action
The University of Colombo Arts Faculty Teachers Association (AFTA-CU) in a media release issued yesterday called for stern action against students resorting to violence in the University. During a clash between two groups of students on July 21, 2009 extensive damage was caused to the University property. In addition, teachers who intervened to hold the unfolding violence were verbally abused and physically threatened.
The AFTA-CU has called for the expulsion of the ring leaders and decisive punishment for participants in the violence. They also demand that damages to University property be charged from the students involved or from student welfare funds for the next two years.
"We note with dismay that an unruly minority segment of the student body has been able to cripple the teaching activities of the University of Colombo simply because they have opted to extreme violence as the first resort in solving differences which seem less than minor at best," the AFTA-CU media release said.
The text of the release: "As the country has been informed through the national media by now, two student-factions in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Colombo resorted to extreme forms of violence on July 21, 2009 causing injury to fellow students and extensive damage to university property. This has resulted in the closure of the Faculty to all undergraduates except final year students. This situation, which has been evolving since last Friday and reached its climax on July 21 was finally brought under control after riot police were summoned to the University.
In this incident, not only were students injured and damage caused to public property, but academic staff of the university who attempted to intervene to halt the unfolding violence were verbally abused and threatened with physical violence in the most unpleasant language. Since such situations have been emerging in the Faculty over and over, threatening the lives of teachers, students and other staff, we urge that the authorities in the Faculty as well as the University take decisive action at this juncture that will send a very clear message to both students and citizens in the country whose funds maintain the University.
Since this incident marks a serious deterioration in the intellectual conditions in the Faculty and poses a threat to the wellbeing of both academic staff and students, AFTA-CU's Executive Committee which met at 12.00 noon July 22, 2009 resolved to make its position clear to both students as well as citizens of the country by issuing a statement of protest. We note with dismay that an unruly minority segment of the student body has been able to cripple the teaching activities of the University of Colombo simply because they have opted to extreme violence as the first resort in solving differences which seem less than minor at best. It is unfortunate to see such primordial actions in a Faculty which is supposed to be a seat of advanced learning.
In addition to a breakdown of the learning environment which has been facilitated by the silence of the great majority of students who also collectively suffer as a consequence of the actions of a minority, this state of affairs also reflects a larger malaise affecting our society at large where institutionalized political violence has been accepted as a normative form of governance and control by most political formations active in national politics. What we have seen at the Faculty of Arts is a reflection of this larger breakdown of ethics and common sense in our country.
AFTA-CU would also like to urge the Dean of the Faculty to reactivate without delay the Faculty-Student Liaison (Grievance) Committee that was set up some time ago with representation from students and academic staff as a viable mechanism to institute a dialogue and address emerging problems before they reach a boiling point."
dailynews.lk
University teachers call for stern action
The University of Colombo Arts Faculty Teachers Association (AFTA-CU) in a media release issued yesterday called for stern action against students resorting to violence in the University. During a clash between two groups of students on July 21, 2009 extensive damage was caused to the University property. In addition, teachers who intervened to hold the unfolding violence were verbally abused and physically threatened.
The AFTA-CU has called for the expulsion of the ring leaders and decisive punishment for participants in the violence. They also demand that damages to University property be charged from the students involved or from student welfare funds for the next two years.
"We note with dismay that an unruly minority segment of the student body has been able to cripple the teaching activities of the University of Colombo simply because they have opted to extreme violence as the first resort in solving differences which seem less than minor at best," the AFTA-CU media release said.
The text of the release: "As the country has been informed through the national media by now, two student-factions in the Faculty of Arts at the University of Colombo resorted to extreme forms of violence on July 21, 2009 causing injury to fellow students and extensive damage to university property. This has resulted in the closure of the Faculty to all undergraduates except final year students. This situation, which has been evolving since last Friday and reached its climax on July 21 was finally brought under control after riot police were summoned to the University.
In this incident, not only were students injured and damage caused to public property, but academic staff of the university who attempted to intervene to halt the unfolding violence were verbally abused and threatened with physical violence in the most unpleasant language. Since such situations have been emerging in the Faculty over and over, threatening the lives of teachers, students and other staff, we urge that the authorities in the Faculty as well as the University take decisive action at this juncture that will send a very clear message to both students and citizens in the country whose funds maintain the University.
Since this incident marks a serious deterioration in the intellectual conditions in the Faculty and poses a threat to the wellbeing of both academic staff and students, AFTA-CU's Executive Committee which met at 12.00 noon July 22, 2009 resolved to make its position clear to both students as well as citizens of the country by issuing a statement of protest. We note with dismay that an unruly minority segment of the student body has been able to cripple the teaching activities of the University of Colombo simply because they have opted to extreme violence as the first resort in solving differences which seem less than minor at best. It is unfortunate to see such primordial actions in a Faculty which is supposed to be a seat of advanced learning.
In addition to a breakdown of the learning environment which has been facilitated by the silence of the great majority of students who also collectively suffer as a consequence of the actions of a minority, this state of affairs also reflects a larger malaise affecting our society at large where institutionalized political violence has been accepted as a normative form of governance and control by most political formations active in national politics. What we have seen at the Faculty of Arts is a reflection of this larger breakdown of ethics and common sense in our country.
AFTA-CU would also like to urge the Dean of the Faculty to reactivate without delay the Faculty-Student Liaison (Grievance) Committee that was set up some time ago with representation from students and academic staff as a viable mechanism to institute a dialogue and address emerging problems before they reach a boiling point."
dailynews.lk
எம். எஸ். சுவாமிநாதன் அவர்களிடமிருந்து கிடைத்த பதில் மின்னஞ்சல்...!!! DR.MS:SWAMINATHAN REPLY ABOUT GOSL COOPERATION..!!!
எம். எஸ். சுவாமிநாதன் அவர்களிடமிருந்து கிடைத்த பதில் மின்னஞ்சல்
Fra: Muthamizh Vendhan (muthu.tamil78@gmail.com)
Sendt: 25. juli 2009 08:53:01
Til: kaviko2003@yahoo.com; mohan@vaiko-mdmk.com; tamizhdesiyam@gmail.com; thamiz@thenseide.com; thedmk@vsnl.com; thirumaa@hotmail.com; tholthiruma@gmail.com; vijayatr@kuraltvinfo.com; voteforpmk@gmail.com
Kopi: raj@rensu.co.uk; secretary@unicef.ca; shanmurugesu@yahoo.ca; toronto@monsoonjournal.com; Janaki Perairavar (janaki@perairavan.org); Jayanthi Shan (jayanthi_shan@hotmail.com); jeanne rowles (jeanne.rowles@sympatico.ca); Jeyanthi Reynolds (jreynolds@sawc.org); Jeyasing David (jdavid@providence.on.ca); Joanna Wilson (miltonwilson@rogers.com); Kala Jayenthiran (renuka.jayenthiran@sunlife.com); Kamal World Tamils (kamaltamil@yahoo.ca); Kanex Master (pkanex@hotmail.com); Kanjana Brodie (kanji87@hotmail.com); Kapileshwar Composer/Singer (kapileshwar24@yahoo.com); Konesh Pradeep (info@itr.fm); Kugarajah Ariyalai (ariyalai@hotmail.com); Kumkum Ramachandani (kumkum@msifood.com); Logendralingam Uthayan (uthayannews@yahoo.com); Mythili mayooran (mayuanish@hotmail.com); Nala Brodie (nala.brodie@gmail.com); Niranthi Xavier (niranthi.teresa@bigpond.com); Nirmala Ganesharatnam (mrsg46@hotmail.com); Nisha Ganesh (nisha.ganesh@yahoo.ca); nmathialagan nmathialagan (nmathialagan@yahoo.ca); olderwomensnetwork OWN (info@olderwomensnetwork.org); Oprah Winfrey (oprahnewsletter@oprah.com); Pakialauxmi Varathan (luxmyk@gotransit.com); pamini ranjan (pranjan@brenntag.ca); param gnaneswaran (paramgnana@gmail.com); param& kunju subraparam@hotmail.com (subraparam@hotmail.com); parvathy kanthasamy (pkanthasamy@hotmail.com); Poet Akil (poetakil@hotmail.com); ragu ramalingam (thilarama@yahoo.com.au); Raj Johnpillai (bedej@slt.lk); Raji Canagaratnam (kanagaratnam.raji@rogers.com); ravi brodie (ravi.brodie@sympatico.ca); Rev . Father Paulraj (rev.paulraj@yahoo.ca); Rohini Xavier (rohini.ej@rogers.com); ruba Gnanam (ruba_gn@hotmail.com); Ruth Campbell (ruthcampbell31891@yahoo.com); samy appadurai (samya@rogers.com); saradha peraivarar (saradha@perairavan.org); Saras Arikrishnan (ari.sarra@yahoo.com); Saroja Shirani (shirani@bellnet.ca); Selvam Kalam (kalam@tamilbook.com); Shan Nalliah (shanmugappirabunalliah@hotmail.com)
எம். எஸ். சுவாமிநாதன் அவர்களிடமிருந்து கிடைத்த பதில் மின்னஞ்சல்
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Swami-MSSRF
Date: 2009/7/25
Subject:
To: Muthamil78@gmail.com
MSS/DB/
24 July 2009
Mr Muthamil
Muthamil78@gmail.com
Dear Muthamil,
I thank you very much for your kind letter. I am grateful to you for the information you have given. I have neither been offered nor accepted any assignment in Sri Lanka.
With warm personal regards,
Yours sincerely,
M S Swaminathan
============================
PROF M S SWAMINATHAN
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Third Cross Street, Taramani Institutional Area
Chennai - 600 113 (India)
Tel: +91 44 2254 2790 / 2254 1229; Fax: +91 44 2254 1319
Email: swami@mssrf.res.in / msswami@vsnl.net
Fra: Muthamizh Vendhan (muthu.tamil78@gmail.com)
Sendt: 25. juli 2009 08:53:01
Til: kaviko2003@yahoo.com; mohan@vaiko-mdmk.com; tamizhdesiyam@gmail.com; thamiz@thenseide.com; thedmk@vsnl.com; thirumaa@hotmail.com; tholthiruma@gmail.com; vijayatr@kuraltvinfo.com; voteforpmk@gmail.com
Kopi: raj@rensu.co.uk; secretary@unicef.ca; shanmurugesu@yahoo.ca; toronto@monsoonjournal.com; Janaki Perairavar (janaki@perairavan.org); Jayanthi Shan (jayanthi_shan@hotmail.com); jeanne rowles (jeanne.rowles@sympatico.ca); Jeyanthi Reynolds (jreynolds@sawc.org); Jeyasing David (jdavid@providence.on.ca); Joanna Wilson (miltonwilson@rogers.com); Kala Jayenthiran (renuka.jayenthiran@sunlife.com); Kamal World Tamils (kamaltamil@yahoo.ca); Kanex Master (pkanex@hotmail.com); Kanjana Brodie (kanji87@hotmail.com); Kapileshwar Composer/Singer (kapileshwar24@yahoo.com); Konesh Pradeep (info@itr.fm); Kugarajah Ariyalai (ariyalai@hotmail.com); Kumkum Ramachandani (kumkum@msifood.com); Logendralingam Uthayan (uthayannews@yahoo.com); Mythili mayooran (mayuanish@hotmail.com); Nala Brodie (nala.brodie@gmail.com); Niranthi Xavier (niranthi.teresa@bigpond.com); Nirmala Ganesharatnam (mrsg46@hotmail.com); Nisha Ganesh (nisha.ganesh@yahoo.ca); nmathialagan nmathialagan (nmathialagan@yahoo.ca); olderwomensnetwork OWN (info@olderwomensnetwork.org); Oprah Winfrey (oprahnewsletter@oprah.com); Pakialauxmi Varathan (luxmyk@gotransit.com); pamini ranjan (pranjan@brenntag.ca); param gnaneswaran (paramgnana@gmail.com); param& kunju subraparam@hotmail.com (subraparam@hotmail.com); parvathy kanthasamy (pkanthasamy@hotmail.com); Poet Akil (poetakil@hotmail.com); ragu ramalingam (thilarama@yahoo.com.au); Raj Johnpillai (bedej@slt.lk); Raji Canagaratnam (kanagaratnam.raji@rogers.com); ravi brodie (ravi.brodie@sympatico.ca); Rev . Father Paulraj (rev.paulraj@yahoo.ca); Rohini Xavier (rohini.ej@rogers.com); ruba Gnanam (ruba_gn@hotmail.com); Ruth Campbell (ruthcampbell31891@yahoo.com); samy appadurai (samya@rogers.com); saradha peraivarar (saradha@perairavan.org); Saras Arikrishnan (ari.sarra@yahoo.com); Saroja Shirani (shirani@bellnet.ca); Selvam Kalam (kalam@tamilbook.com); Shan Nalliah (shanmugappirabunalliah@hotmail.com)
எம். எஸ். சுவாமிநாதன் அவர்களிடமிருந்து கிடைத்த பதில் மின்னஞ்சல்
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Swami-MSSRF
Date: 2009/7/25
Subject:
To: Muthamil78@gmail.com
MSS/DB/
24 July 2009
Mr Muthamil
Muthamil78@gmail.com
Dear Muthamil,
I thank you very much for your kind letter. I am grateful to you for the information you have given. I have neither been offered nor accepted any assignment in Sri Lanka.
With warm personal regards,
Yours sincerely,
M S Swaminathan
============================
PROF M S SWAMINATHAN
Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha)
Chairman, M S Swaminathan Research Foundation
Third Cross Street, Taramani Institutional Area
Chennai - 600 113 (India)
Tel: +91 44 2254 2790 / 2254 1229; Fax: +91 44 2254 1319
Email: swami@mssrf.res.in / msswami@vsnl.net
An open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa ...!!!
An open letter to “the man who tamed the tigers
Fra: V Sivasupramaniam (vijaratnamsiva@hotmail.com)
Sendt: 24. juli 2009 14:42:55
Til: vijaratnam sivasupramaniam (v_sivadevi@yahoo.com)
Kopi: paramalingam suren (surenp_2000@yahoo.com)
An open letter to “the man who tamed the tigers”
Thursday, July 23, 2009
An open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa
From Satheesan Kumaaran
(July 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Upon reading the July 10th interview by Jyoti Thottam with you for the Time Magazine captioned “The Man Who Tamed the Tamil Tigers”, I am appalled as are rest of the majority of the Tamils prompting me to write this open letter to you through the traditional and electronic media. Thank God for free media elsewhere in the civilised world so that your views as well as mine could be aired to the world!
I proceed to comment on every point you have stated in the interview in regard to the Tamils ---statements which I think you could never deny from your conscience, but have been fabricated for your own survival. I hope you will read this letter. By giving interviews around the world, you seek to become the hero by promoting the Tamils’ freedom fighters as villains and thereby trying to shake hands with world leaders, especially western leaders, who opposed your war against the Tamil people.
As you praised the lord for the death of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, let the Tamils also praise your lord, the Buddha, for the killing of over 35,000 Tamils within a matter of days for nothing other than believing that they were seeking freedom to live in peace with justice and dignity. Thanks to Lord Buddha who hailed from a royal family in north-eastern India. He hated his own class because they treated minorities as second-class citizens, and he preached and searched for freedom and justice for the minorities.
But, Mr. President, you may have to be ashamed of yourself along with other Sri Lankan born extremist Buddhists because you are hunting down the minorities when they demand their rights peacefully. Neither the LTTE leader nor Tamil militants took up arms just for fun. They had genuine grievances, but you do not seem to have acknowledged the fact.
Your previous counterparts too, met their demands through violence. When the LTTE demanded peace talks for years, you sent armed soldiers in return. You killed the champions for peace, like LTTE’s political wing leaders such as Brigadier S. P. Thamilselvan. Finally, you killed Nadesan and Pulithevan who came out with white-flags to make peace. You are keeping 300,000Tamils in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya for months without providing food, medicine, clothes, or water, after promising them liberation. It is baffling why access to local and international NGOs and media is denied. Is it because they would speak out the truth?
In the interview you asked: “Why he did all these mad things... [Laughs]...what else can I ask him?” We would like to ask you why you did such horrible and atrocious things to the Tamils. Do you bear a grudge against the Tamil people? What did they do to you? Did you see any of the civilians before you sent the butchers? And we want to remind you that your son, Namal, was stoned by the displaced camp civilians when he visited them recently...does it mean anything to you? To me, it means that the Tamils are sick and tired of your politics and they do not trust you at all and they are living in fear and frustration because they do not want you to capture their traditional lands.
To the question of international relations, you said you fought the war following George W. Bush’s policies in the war against terrorism. Further, you are begging them to give credit to you. However, you fail to understand the interpretation of what Bush said. He meant to fight the Al-Qaeda and other fundamental extremists who fought against the western culture with no injustice done to them. However, the war you conducted was against your own minority community who have struggled on the island since 1948, and who have followed several paths – first ‘Ahimsa’ – a peaceful struggle, second, a military struggle, and now getting on to the third phase.
Can you open up your heart and mind and say who killed the Tamils? It was none other than the Sri Lankan State. I don’t dispute the murders committed by the LTTE, especially since they fought their own battle with other Tamil militants who also took up arms to fight for separate Tamil Eelam. At the same time, we need to find out exactly who created the fratricide. It was no other than your State and the neighbouring India. India created this as it wanted it for its own geo-political gains in the region.
Who poked the eyes of Tamil youths and killed them in the prisons in the south? Who drove over a million Tamils out of the country? Who killed over 700 Tamils -- seniors, women, children, and men -- and buried them in Chemmani graveyard? Who killed wives of Hindu priests by detonating bombs in their wombs? Who raped the women and put them in the wells and pits? Who drove almost a million Tamils into Vanni from Jaffna peninsula in 1996? Even after more than half a million people returned to Jaffna after the completion of military operations, have you done anything to save the civilians from rape, tortures, killings, kidnapping, etc.? Most of these atrocities are carried out by your own armed forces as well as by your sponsored paramilitaries. Have you done anything to stop the activities of white-vans? What have you done to protect journalists from being kidnapped and murdered by the white-vans? Have you brought the perpetrators of the crime to book? Who killed nearly 130,000 civilians through aerial bombardment and shelling? Who widowed over 25,000 women? Who refused to open the roads leading to Tamil villages in the Northeast? Who detained over 300,000 civilians in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya? Who is killing nearly 1400 people each week in the camps guarded by the Sri Lankan armed forces as reported by the Times journal quoted international aid agencies as its source?
When answering these questions, one could easily say that the Sri Lankan State is an authoritarian state, and is doing everything Saddam Hussein did against his own people. Only the Sri Lankan successive Sinhala leaders having been doing much more harm than Hussein by slowly and steadily wiping out the Tamils. So, the question arises in the interpretation of what Bush said and how he acted against Hussein. Would the international countries including the U.S. direct their guns against the Sri Lankan State as they did against Iraq? What should you do to demonstrate to the international community that you are not an atrocious Hussein-like tyrant? You should grant autonomy for the Tamils when the Tamil people are entering the third phase of their struggle to gain their freedom.
In regard to the question of international sanctions against Sri Lanka, you rightly welcomed punishment for yourself but requested the world community not to punish the entire Sri Lankan community through sanctions, embargoes, and travel advisories. You are holding your people ransom. You are taking cover using them as shields...if you want to get punished for what you did under your leadership, you should allow the International Inquiry Commission led by the United Nations to collect details from the affected civilians and let the media and NGOs meet the Tamils, and you should cooperate with the Inquiry Commission rather than blocking them and acting as a racist State against human rights for the Tamils. You should have the courage of your former army commander, whom you have removed from office, to admit that you committed war crimes and go a step further to admit that you also committed crimes against humanity. If you do, global countries would lift the sanctions and other restrictions against your people. In contrast, I would like to ask, since you have wiped out the LTTE, why do you still impose restrictions on Tamil fishermen? Why aren’t you allowing them to do their fishing trade? If you can lift all the restrictions imposed upon Tamils, the global governments might also consider lifting restrictions on Sri Lanka.
Further, while punishing you for what you did to the Tamils, you responded to the next question thus: “There was no violation of human rights. There were no civilian casualties. If I did that, it wouldn't have taken two and half years to finish this. I would have done this in a few hours. This is all propaganda.” Mr President, you are wrong again. Your armed forces were not able to enter the LTTE stronghold because the LTTE were resisting from the beginning. Your armed forces took so long to capture Mannar alone, and then took months to capture other areas of the Vanni. Further, you did not want to do it immediately because you wanted to end the operation this year so you could get elected again when the Sri Lankans return to elect the President this year. So, as per your calculations, you wanted to get elected again through such military victories in the North.
Also, to the question of 7,000 civilian casualties as per to the UN official report, you said: “Seven thousand? No way. In the eastern province, zero casualties. I won't say there are zero casualties in the north. The LTTE shot some of them when they tried to escape.”
There is an old saying in Tamil that you cannot hide a pumpkin in a plate of rice. The affected civilians are in the government-controlled areas in the internment camps because you fear that they would tell the truth to the world. Further, you say you will release 50% of the people, or at most 60% this year, and saying that this is your target. This shows that you are filtering these people and threatening them not to reveal anything. You think that they would not get the opportunity to meet the press, so you want to release them one by one, and later you hope that the world community will become insensitive to the issue as days go by. Such are the methods you employ to free yourself from the responsibility and guilt of such genocidal war crimes. Your statement about the casualties in the east as zero is totally untrue. The Tamils say that over 50,000 Tamils have been killed in the military operations of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces since mid last year. If you are really worried about the plights of civilians on the island, you should let the international investigators visit the region to find out the exact casualty numbers. So, what are you scared of? The Tamils are not afraid of the truth. Give the human rights agencies access and they will discover the truth.
A well known example is that your security forces detained five physicians who came out of the LTTE former stronghold and you failed to release them despite pressure from world community. Then the doctors were brought to a press conference at the Media Centre for National Security on July 8 to recant their previous eye-witness accounts of the military’s shelling and killing of Tamil civilians during the final months of the military offensive. Human Rights and Global Medical Organizations condemned the Sri Lankan government for bringing them to the press conference saying that the whole event was a stage-managed affair by the government to undermine incriminating evidence of the military’s war crimes. Further, they withdrew their previous claims of casualties and now they read statements produced by the Sri Lankan intelligence wing to show the world that the previous statements when the doctors said the killings in the no-fire zone was wrong, yet the figure given after two months of detention and interrogations by the intelligence wing is correct. This shows how your State and your security forces coerced the civilians and civil servants to lie. This is not a new phenomenon for Tamils because once your armed forces detained Tamils since 1980s, your security forces first got signatures from the detainees on blank paper and then you made up stories so you can keep them permanently in the jails and to show the world that these Tamils are a threat to Sri Lanka’s national security.
The most peculiar response was when the interviewer called the people of the North as Tamils. You said: “Don't say Tamils. In this country, you can't give separate areas on an ethnic basis, you can't have this. With the provinces, certainly there must be powers, where local matters can be handled by them.”
You should keep in mind that Tamils are not bowing to you for their rights. They have now changed their strategies. You should remember that you can never wipe out the psyche of the people, because Tamils are a nation who hailed from the Dravidian race in South Asia. Tamils are basically a cultural identity and secular as opposed to an ethno religious identity. Tamil is an ancient language with its own rich literature that dates back to more than 5,000 years as acknowledged by leading linguistic scholars around the world. Whoever speaks Tamil identify themselves as Tamils, and the people who speak Tamil in Sri Lanka are Tamils. However, the unique thing about the Tamils in the Northeast of Sri Lanka is that they have been living there from time immemorial. What they are asking is to live in peace with all the rights they were enjoying before the Europeans took control of their territory. You, Mr. President, once again prove that you are acting in a puerile manner without considering the historical background of Tamils, asking them to forget their own identity like asking them to commit suicide. Every nation would want to maintain their history and heritage so that they can receive respect from other communities. If they lose their identity, they become homeless and hopeless, and therefore, the question of forcing the Tamils to abandon their identity is another form of cultural genocide, which you are engaged in against the Tamils.
The Tamils are afraid to come to Sinhalese areas, especially Colombo and they would avoid doing so if they can help it.
Mr President, we understand you are so desperate to hoodwink the international community that you are doing your best to convey your false and fabricated stories to the world using the world platforms and the world media while you keep the media in your own country suppressed. Earlier in May, you said while giving an interview to the journal, The Week, that you fought India’s war by crushing the Tamil Tigers. You further said: “There was no guarantee of security all these years. People could not celebrate freely, they were always afraid to speak freely. It was a war to end the rule of fear.” You spoke frankly on this point because India, who trained the Tamil militants, now changed its tactics because it feared that China would enter the scene and thereby become a security concern to India in the future. However, India does not care about the plight of Tamils. India fails to acknowledge the fact that it is making further blunders by alienating Tamils world-wide, including nearly 75 million Tamils that call India home. Further, you should understand that the people were living freely in the LTTE held areas and the Tamils are living in fear in your controlled areas.
After you came to power, you treated the Tamils as the people of a neighbouring country. In fact, you asked all the Tamils from the lodges in the South to go back to their homes in the North and East of the island. After international pressure, you changed your tune saying that they could live in Colombo and other Sinahala areas, but they should register their names in the police stations. Many Tamils are still hunted down by the Sri Lankan armed forces and your sponsored paramilitaries. Many Tamil families are still seeking the truth as to what happened to their nearest kin not knowing their whereabouts. White vans operated by these forces remain active and they have intensified their actions more now than before. So, you cannot claim that the Tamils are living free without fear.
In another interview given on June 30 to your loyal editor of The Hindu, Mr. N. Ram, you said that you would go for a political solution only after obtaining a popular mandate at the next presidential election. You said: “There is no way for federalism in this country. I am willing for a political solution and the TNA must agree to this. They also must know that they can’t get what they want.” Mr. President, the ethnic conflict started because your previous leaders failed to accommodate the Tamils. They failed to fulfill the demands of Tamils. Even the father of your party, the late Bandaranaike, signed an accord with the father of Eelam Tamils, and the late Chelvanayagam believed that the Tamils had grievances and should be solved through a federal model. However, after nearly five decades, even after such brutal war, you are saying you would not consider federalism as a model, rather saying that you would stick to the outdated unitary constitution. This is nothing but a white-wash to hoodwink the international community. However, you should remember that the Eelam struggle has now been internationalized more than ever before and the demon should not again climb the ‘murunga” tree (drumstick tree) as the old Tamil saying goes.
Further Mr President, the time is ripe for you, even after the most atrocious and unprecedented treatment to the Tamils, to fulfill the demands of Tamils. You should open the door for talks and you should come out with a genuine solution devoid of political opportunism and hypocrisy. The Tamils have sacrificed enough and they are sick and tired of facing another war should your leadership fail to grant autonomy for the Tamils. The Tamil freedom is not a dead movement and you cannot kill it, but they have silenced their guns as per the global geo-political demands with the hope that they will attain their lifelong goal even if they are to start all over again.
(The author can be reached at e-mail: satheesan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)
Fra: V Sivasupramaniam (vijaratnamsiva@hotmail.com)
Sendt: 24. juli 2009 14:42:55
Til: vijaratnam sivasupramaniam (v_sivadevi@yahoo.com)
Kopi: paramalingam suren (surenp_2000@yahoo.com)
An open letter to “the man who tamed the tigers”
Thursday, July 23, 2009
An open letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa
From Satheesan Kumaaran
(July 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Upon reading the July 10th interview by Jyoti Thottam with you for the Time Magazine captioned “The Man Who Tamed the Tamil Tigers”, I am appalled as are rest of the majority of the Tamils prompting me to write this open letter to you through the traditional and electronic media. Thank God for free media elsewhere in the civilised world so that your views as well as mine could be aired to the world!
I proceed to comment on every point you have stated in the interview in regard to the Tamils ---statements which I think you could never deny from your conscience, but have been fabricated for your own survival. I hope you will read this letter. By giving interviews around the world, you seek to become the hero by promoting the Tamils’ freedom fighters as villains and thereby trying to shake hands with world leaders, especially western leaders, who opposed your war against the Tamil people.
As you praised the lord for the death of LTTE leader V. Pirapaharan, let the Tamils also praise your lord, the Buddha, for the killing of over 35,000 Tamils within a matter of days for nothing other than believing that they were seeking freedom to live in peace with justice and dignity. Thanks to Lord Buddha who hailed from a royal family in north-eastern India. He hated his own class because they treated minorities as second-class citizens, and he preached and searched for freedom and justice for the minorities.
But, Mr. President, you may have to be ashamed of yourself along with other Sri Lankan born extremist Buddhists because you are hunting down the minorities when they demand their rights peacefully. Neither the LTTE leader nor Tamil militants took up arms just for fun. They had genuine grievances, but you do not seem to have acknowledged the fact.
Your previous counterparts too, met their demands through violence. When the LTTE demanded peace talks for years, you sent armed soldiers in return. You killed the champions for peace, like LTTE’s political wing leaders such as Brigadier S. P. Thamilselvan. Finally, you killed Nadesan and Pulithevan who came out with white-flags to make peace. You are keeping 300,000Tamils in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya for months without providing food, medicine, clothes, or water, after promising them liberation. It is baffling why access to local and international NGOs and media is denied. Is it because they would speak out the truth?
In the interview you asked: “Why he did all these mad things... [Laughs]...what else can I ask him?” We would like to ask you why you did such horrible and atrocious things to the Tamils. Do you bear a grudge against the Tamil people? What did they do to you? Did you see any of the civilians before you sent the butchers? And we want to remind you that your son, Namal, was stoned by the displaced camp civilians when he visited them recently...does it mean anything to you? To me, it means that the Tamils are sick and tired of your politics and they do not trust you at all and they are living in fear and frustration because they do not want you to capture their traditional lands.
To the question of international relations, you said you fought the war following George W. Bush’s policies in the war against terrorism. Further, you are begging them to give credit to you. However, you fail to understand the interpretation of what Bush said. He meant to fight the Al-Qaeda and other fundamental extremists who fought against the western culture with no injustice done to them. However, the war you conducted was against your own minority community who have struggled on the island since 1948, and who have followed several paths – first ‘Ahimsa’ – a peaceful struggle, second, a military struggle, and now getting on to the third phase.
Can you open up your heart and mind and say who killed the Tamils? It was none other than the Sri Lankan State. I don’t dispute the murders committed by the LTTE, especially since they fought their own battle with other Tamil militants who also took up arms to fight for separate Tamil Eelam. At the same time, we need to find out exactly who created the fratricide. It was no other than your State and the neighbouring India. India created this as it wanted it for its own geo-political gains in the region.
Who poked the eyes of Tamil youths and killed them in the prisons in the south? Who drove over a million Tamils out of the country? Who killed over 700 Tamils -- seniors, women, children, and men -- and buried them in Chemmani graveyard? Who killed wives of Hindu priests by detonating bombs in their wombs? Who raped the women and put them in the wells and pits? Who drove almost a million Tamils into Vanni from Jaffna peninsula in 1996? Even after more than half a million people returned to Jaffna after the completion of military operations, have you done anything to save the civilians from rape, tortures, killings, kidnapping, etc.? Most of these atrocities are carried out by your own armed forces as well as by your sponsored paramilitaries. Have you done anything to stop the activities of white-vans? What have you done to protect journalists from being kidnapped and murdered by the white-vans? Have you brought the perpetrators of the crime to book? Who killed nearly 130,000 civilians through aerial bombardment and shelling? Who widowed over 25,000 women? Who refused to open the roads leading to Tamil villages in the Northeast? Who detained over 300,000 civilians in Nazi-style camps in Vavuniya? Who is killing nearly 1400 people each week in the camps guarded by the Sri Lankan armed forces as reported by the Times journal quoted international aid agencies as its source?
When answering these questions, one could easily say that the Sri Lankan State is an authoritarian state, and is doing everything Saddam Hussein did against his own people. Only the Sri Lankan successive Sinhala leaders having been doing much more harm than Hussein by slowly and steadily wiping out the Tamils. So, the question arises in the interpretation of what Bush said and how he acted against Hussein. Would the international countries including the U.S. direct their guns against the Sri Lankan State as they did against Iraq? What should you do to demonstrate to the international community that you are not an atrocious Hussein-like tyrant? You should grant autonomy for the Tamils when the Tamil people are entering the third phase of their struggle to gain their freedom.
In regard to the question of international sanctions against Sri Lanka, you rightly welcomed punishment for yourself but requested the world community not to punish the entire Sri Lankan community through sanctions, embargoes, and travel advisories. You are holding your people ransom. You are taking cover using them as shields...if you want to get punished for what you did under your leadership, you should allow the International Inquiry Commission led by the United Nations to collect details from the affected civilians and let the media and NGOs meet the Tamils, and you should cooperate with the Inquiry Commission rather than blocking them and acting as a racist State against human rights for the Tamils. You should have the courage of your former army commander, whom you have removed from office, to admit that you committed war crimes and go a step further to admit that you also committed crimes against humanity. If you do, global countries would lift the sanctions and other restrictions against your people. In contrast, I would like to ask, since you have wiped out the LTTE, why do you still impose restrictions on Tamil fishermen? Why aren’t you allowing them to do their fishing trade? If you can lift all the restrictions imposed upon Tamils, the global governments might also consider lifting restrictions on Sri Lanka.
Further, while punishing you for what you did to the Tamils, you responded to the next question thus: “There was no violation of human rights. There were no civilian casualties. If I did that, it wouldn't have taken two and half years to finish this. I would have done this in a few hours. This is all propaganda.” Mr President, you are wrong again. Your armed forces were not able to enter the LTTE stronghold because the LTTE were resisting from the beginning. Your armed forces took so long to capture Mannar alone, and then took months to capture other areas of the Vanni. Further, you did not want to do it immediately because you wanted to end the operation this year so you could get elected again when the Sri Lankans return to elect the President this year. So, as per your calculations, you wanted to get elected again through such military victories in the North.
Also, to the question of 7,000 civilian casualties as per to the UN official report, you said: “Seven thousand? No way. In the eastern province, zero casualties. I won't say there are zero casualties in the north. The LTTE shot some of them when they tried to escape.”
There is an old saying in Tamil that you cannot hide a pumpkin in a plate of rice. The affected civilians are in the government-controlled areas in the internment camps because you fear that they would tell the truth to the world. Further, you say you will release 50% of the people, or at most 60% this year, and saying that this is your target. This shows that you are filtering these people and threatening them not to reveal anything. You think that they would not get the opportunity to meet the press, so you want to release them one by one, and later you hope that the world community will become insensitive to the issue as days go by. Such are the methods you employ to free yourself from the responsibility and guilt of such genocidal war crimes. Your statement about the casualties in the east as zero is totally untrue. The Tamils say that over 50,000 Tamils have been killed in the military operations of the Sri Lankan Armed Forces since mid last year. If you are really worried about the plights of civilians on the island, you should let the international investigators visit the region to find out the exact casualty numbers. So, what are you scared of? The Tamils are not afraid of the truth. Give the human rights agencies access and they will discover the truth.
A well known example is that your security forces detained five physicians who came out of the LTTE former stronghold and you failed to release them despite pressure from world community. Then the doctors were brought to a press conference at the Media Centre for National Security on July 8 to recant their previous eye-witness accounts of the military’s shelling and killing of Tamil civilians during the final months of the military offensive. Human Rights and Global Medical Organizations condemned the Sri Lankan government for bringing them to the press conference saying that the whole event was a stage-managed affair by the government to undermine incriminating evidence of the military’s war crimes. Further, they withdrew their previous claims of casualties and now they read statements produced by the Sri Lankan intelligence wing to show the world that the previous statements when the doctors said the killings in the no-fire zone was wrong, yet the figure given after two months of detention and interrogations by the intelligence wing is correct. This shows how your State and your security forces coerced the civilians and civil servants to lie. This is not a new phenomenon for Tamils because once your armed forces detained Tamils since 1980s, your security forces first got signatures from the detainees on blank paper and then you made up stories so you can keep them permanently in the jails and to show the world that these Tamils are a threat to Sri Lanka’s national security.
The most peculiar response was when the interviewer called the people of the North as Tamils. You said: “Don't say Tamils. In this country, you can't give separate areas on an ethnic basis, you can't have this. With the provinces, certainly there must be powers, where local matters can be handled by them.”
You should keep in mind that Tamils are not bowing to you for their rights. They have now changed their strategies. You should remember that you can never wipe out the psyche of the people, because Tamils are a nation who hailed from the Dravidian race in South Asia. Tamils are basically a cultural identity and secular as opposed to an ethno religious identity. Tamil is an ancient language with its own rich literature that dates back to more than 5,000 years as acknowledged by leading linguistic scholars around the world. Whoever speaks Tamil identify themselves as Tamils, and the people who speak Tamil in Sri Lanka are Tamils. However, the unique thing about the Tamils in the Northeast of Sri Lanka is that they have been living there from time immemorial. What they are asking is to live in peace with all the rights they were enjoying before the Europeans took control of their territory. You, Mr. President, once again prove that you are acting in a puerile manner without considering the historical background of Tamils, asking them to forget their own identity like asking them to commit suicide. Every nation would want to maintain their history and heritage so that they can receive respect from other communities. If they lose their identity, they become homeless and hopeless, and therefore, the question of forcing the Tamils to abandon their identity is another form of cultural genocide, which you are engaged in against the Tamils.
The Tamils are afraid to come to Sinhalese areas, especially Colombo and they would avoid doing so if they can help it.
Mr President, we understand you are so desperate to hoodwink the international community that you are doing your best to convey your false and fabricated stories to the world using the world platforms and the world media while you keep the media in your own country suppressed. Earlier in May, you said while giving an interview to the journal, The Week, that you fought India’s war by crushing the Tamil Tigers. You further said: “There was no guarantee of security all these years. People could not celebrate freely, they were always afraid to speak freely. It was a war to end the rule of fear.” You spoke frankly on this point because India, who trained the Tamil militants, now changed its tactics because it feared that China would enter the scene and thereby become a security concern to India in the future. However, India does not care about the plight of Tamils. India fails to acknowledge the fact that it is making further blunders by alienating Tamils world-wide, including nearly 75 million Tamils that call India home. Further, you should understand that the people were living freely in the LTTE held areas and the Tamils are living in fear in your controlled areas.
After you came to power, you treated the Tamils as the people of a neighbouring country. In fact, you asked all the Tamils from the lodges in the South to go back to their homes in the North and East of the island. After international pressure, you changed your tune saying that they could live in Colombo and other Sinahala areas, but they should register their names in the police stations. Many Tamils are still hunted down by the Sri Lankan armed forces and your sponsored paramilitaries. Many Tamil families are still seeking the truth as to what happened to their nearest kin not knowing their whereabouts. White vans operated by these forces remain active and they have intensified their actions more now than before. So, you cannot claim that the Tamils are living free without fear.
In another interview given on June 30 to your loyal editor of The Hindu, Mr. N. Ram, you said that you would go for a political solution only after obtaining a popular mandate at the next presidential election. You said: “There is no way for federalism in this country. I am willing for a political solution and the TNA must agree to this. They also must know that they can’t get what they want.” Mr. President, the ethnic conflict started because your previous leaders failed to accommodate the Tamils. They failed to fulfill the demands of Tamils. Even the father of your party, the late Bandaranaike, signed an accord with the father of Eelam Tamils, and the late Chelvanayagam believed that the Tamils had grievances and should be solved through a federal model. However, after nearly five decades, even after such brutal war, you are saying you would not consider federalism as a model, rather saying that you would stick to the outdated unitary constitution. This is nothing but a white-wash to hoodwink the international community. However, you should remember that the Eelam struggle has now been internationalized more than ever before and the demon should not again climb the ‘murunga” tree (drumstick tree) as the old Tamil saying goes.
Further Mr President, the time is ripe for you, even after the most atrocious and unprecedented treatment to the Tamils, to fulfill the demands of Tamils. You should open the door for talks and you should come out with a genuine solution devoid of political opportunism and hypocrisy. The Tamils have sacrificed enough and they are sick and tired of facing another war should your leadership fail to grant autonomy for the Tamils. The Tamil freedom is not a dead movement and you cannot kill it, but they have silenced their guns as per the global geo-political demands with the hope that they will attain their lifelong goal even if they are to start all over again.
(The author can be reached at e-mail: satheesan_kumaaran@yahoo.com)
fredag 24. juli 2009
A Fundamental Rights violation petition filed in Sinhala Supreme Court seeking the release of a Tamil family detained illegally in Camp !!!
Vanni IDP family files FR seeking release from “internment camp”
[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:35 GMT]
A Fundamental Rights violation petition has been filed in Sri Lanka Supreme Court Thursday seeking the release of a four-member family displaced from Vanni and currently being detained in one of the several camps in Vavuniyaa and to order two million rupees as compensation for illegal detention. Seventy-year-old Kanapathipillai Ehambaram of Naachchikudaa filed the FR petition on behalf of her daughter, son-in-law, and two grand daughters now being detained in a camp located in Vavuniyaa Koayil Ku'lam, legal sources said.
He says in his FR that he along with his daughter Jesuthas Rajenthini, her husband Jesuthas Nimalraj and her two children Niranjini and Puhalini were displaced from Naachchikudaa and sheltered in a camp in Vavuniyaa. He was discharged from the camp as he was seventy years old. But her daughter, son-in-law and grand children are not allowed to leave the camp. His daughter Rajenthini was the headmistress of the Naachchikudha Tamil School. Their detention is unlawful and fundamental rights are violated.
“Hence I pray court to order their release from the camp and also order the State to pay 2 million rupees as compensation to them for illegal detention,” the petitioner pleads.
The petitioner has cited Vavuniyaa camp officer-in-charge, Vavuniyaa Grama Niladhari, Vavuniyaa Army Commander, Vavuniyaa Government Agent, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Attorney General as respondents.
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:35 GMT]
A Fundamental Rights violation petition has been filed in Sri Lanka Supreme Court Thursday seeking the release of a four-member family displaced from Vanni and currently being detained in one of the several camps in Vavuniyaa and to order two million rupees as compensation for illegal detention. Seventy-year-old Kanapathipillai Ehambaram of Naachchikudaa filed the FR petition on behalf of her daughter, son-in-law, and two grand daughters now being detained in a camp located in Vavuniyaa Koayil Ku'lam, legal sources said.
He says in his FR that he along with his daughter Jesuthas Rajenthini, her husband Jesuthas Nimalraj and her two children Niranjini and Puhalini were displaced from Naachchikudaa and sheltered in a camp in Vavuniyaa. He was discharged from the camp as he was seventy years old. But her daughter, son-in-law and grand children are not allowed to leave the camp. His daughter Rajenthini was the headmistress of the Naachchikudha Tamil School. Their detention is unlawful and fundamental rights are violated.
“Hence I pray court to order their release from the camp and also order the State to pay 2 million rupees as compensation to them for illegal detention,” the petitioner pleads.
The petitioner has cited Vavuniyaa camp officer-in-charge, Vavuniyaa Grama Niladhari, Vavuniyaa Army Commander, Vavuniyaa Government Agent, Commander of the Sri Lanka Army and the Attorney General as respondents.
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
A five member Sinhala Supreme Court acquitted four Sinhala Army personnel earlier sentenced to death in Udatalawinna massacre of 5 Muslims..!!
All accused acquitted in Udatalawinna Muslim massacre case
[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:42 GMT]
A five member bench of the Supreme Court Friday acquitted four army personnel including a lieutenant earlier sentenced to death in the Udatalawinna massacre of five Muslim civilians during December 2001 general elections. In this case earlier eight persons were charged including the then Deputy Defence Minister General Anurudha Ratwatte and his sons Rohan and Chanuka. The court made the acquittal order when it took up the appeal filed by four army officers.
General Ratwatte and his two sons were acquitted by the High Court Trial at Bar held in Kandy. They were charged of aiding and abetting in the murder. Six army officers indicted with the murder were convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court. Subsequently they filed an appeal against conviction and death sentence.
The Supreme Court discharged one of them when it took up the appeal and inquired into the appeal by other four army personnel.
The order in the appeal of four was delivered Friday.
Chronology:
24.07.09 All accused acquitted in Udatalawinna Muslim massa..
20.01.06 Ratwatte, sons released, 5 sentenced to death in U..
23.11.05 Udathalawinne case concludes, Court's decision in ..
29.01.05 Ratwatte to give evidence in election massacre cas..
04.12.04 Ratwatte to appear in Court in election murder cas..
11.07.03 Supreme Court grants bail to General Ratwatte
10.07.03 Supreme Court to deliver order on Ratwatte appeal
20.06.03 Supreme Court reserves order on General Ratwatte a..
18.06.03 High Court rejects Ratwatte bail application
01.05.03 Ratwatte security tightened - IGP
29.04.03 Security to be tightened for Ratwatte trial
23.04.03 Ratwatte’s final attempt at bail turned down
19.03.03 Udathalawinna massacre case postponed
18.02.03 No confidence motion against Defence Minister defe..
18.02.03 Defense Minister faces No Confidence Motion
23.01.03 Ratwatte's bail petition denied
22.01.03 General Ratwatte further remanded
21.01.03 Udathalawinne massacre accused remanded
20.01.03 Trial-at-Bar inquiry into Udathalawinne massacre b..
17.12.02 Mahen Ratwatte surrenders
16.12.02 Third Ratwatte son to be arrested
15.11.02 Ratwatte released on bail
20.09.02 Ratwatte assets to be scrutinised
02.09.02 General Ratwatte investigation moves to Kandy
29.08.02 Gen. Ratwatte's bank lockers searched
22.07.02 CJ names three judges to hear Ratwatte case
12.07.02 General Ratwatte to be indicted in HC
14.06.02 Ratwatte, his sons, still suspects in massacre
04.06.02 Ratwatte's return provokes commotion in Parliament
24.05.02 General Ratwatte released on conditional bail
13.05.02 Ratwatte, his sons remanded again
15.04.02 General Ratwatte remanded for the sixth time
01.04.02 Gen. Ratwatte transferred to Bogambara prison
18.03.02 Court rejects Ratwattes' medical certificates
23.02.02 General Ratwatte's sons surrender to CID
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte indicted in massacre case
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte remanded till March 4
19.02.02 Former Defence Minister General Ratwatte arrested
15.01.02 SC rejects Ratwatte sons' FR applications
07.01.02 SC dismisses application by Gen.Ratwatte's sons
17.12.01 Five SLA surrender over Muslims' massacre
14.12.01 Police search Gen. Ratwatte’s home
07.12.01 UNP calls on Police to arrest Gen. Ratwatte
30.11.00 Ratwatte back as Dep. Defence Minister
13.10.00 Police detain Gen.Ratwatte's son over shooting
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
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The history of the Udatalawinna massacre..........by Shamindra Ferdinando
Now, that all accused in the country’s worst ever single polling day incident have been acquitted and discharged by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, it would be pertinent to recall the December 5, 2001 killing of 11 SLMC supporters about one hour after polling ended in the Kandy district and the environment in which the polling was conducted.
The 11 victims were among 45 persons killed and a few hundred wounded in polls related violence during a five-week long campaign marred by a spate of clashes between PA and UNP supporters. Although Kandy had been relatively calm during the campaign, on the day the election clashes erupted between supporters of the then SLFP strongman Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and the UNP.
Had the then PA government not brought in the army, the Kandy police would have been able to contain the situation, political sources told The Sunday Island.
The SLMC supporters had been accompanying a ballot box from a polling booth at Madawala to the main counting centre when armed persons traveling in two Defender jeeps pursued them and opened fire after their vehicle crashed on to a lamp post. Some of the wounded died while being rushed to the Kandy General Hospital.
Despite the violence, the UNP comfortably won the Kandy district with Keheliya Rambukwella, who subsequently switched allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, polling 143,235 preferences followed by Tissa Attanayake (99,381), A. H. M. Haleem (75,630) and Rauf Hakeem (71,094) being elected along with three other candidates. The PA managed four seats with Anuruddha Ratwatte polling 102,906 preferences while the JVP won a single seat.
The Udatalawinna massacre took place in the backdrop of a government decision to close down several entry/exit points in Vavuniya and the Eastern Province, thereby denying thousands of voters living in the then LTTE-held areas to exercise their franchise.
Interestingly, the Defence Ministry had failed to direct the STF to close down two entry/exit points in the area under its control. The STF had allowed Tamil speaking voters to enter the government-held area until 1.30 p.m.
The SC on Friday (July 24) set aside the High Court Trial-at-Bar judgment in respect of the election day Udatalawinna massacre. The High Court Trial-at-Bar convicted the accused of murder and imposed death sentence and 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each.
Among the accused were soldiers of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (VIR) arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the massacre. A Second Lieutenant, in charge of the platoon deployed to bolster security of Anuruddha Ratwatte, was one of them.
The then Army Commander, Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, told the CID that an additional platoon had been assigned to Ratwatte’s security contingent following intelligence reports of an imminent LTTE attack on the minister.
Although the men assigned for this task had been either stationed at Boyagane or some other base outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the Second Lieutenant hand picked to command the platoon had been on leave from his unit at that time deployed at Colombuthurai, Jaffna.
The police took the whole platoon into custody and then released some of the men after investigations. While a section of the platoon had been deployed at Ratwatte’s Kandy residence, the rest had been assigned duties outside.
The police also recorded a statement of Anil Obeysekera, PC, then Chairman of the CPC, after it was found that the Defender jeeps used in the killing had been released by the CPC.
For almost three months, Ratwatte’s sons, Lohan and Chanuka wanted for questioning by the police in connection with their involvement evaded arrest and gave themselves up on February 23, 2002 days after the police took their father into custody.
Anuruddha Ratwatte was flown to Kandy after being taken into custody in Colombo and produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate Ms Inoka Ranasinghe on February 20 and remanded till March 4. He flown back to Colombo and was admitted to the National Hospital.
The Supreme Court acquitted and discharged the Ratwattes on January 21, 2006.
www island.lk
[TamilNet, Friday, 24 July 2009, 07:42 GMT]
A five member bench of the Supreme Court Friday acquitted four army personnel including a lieutenant earlier sentenced to death in the Udatalawinna massacre of five Muslim civilians during December 2001 general elections. In this case earlier eight persons were charged including the then Deputy Defence Minister General Anurudha Ratwatte and his sons Rohan and Chanuka. The court made the acquittal order when it took up the appeal filed by four army officers.
General Ratwatte and his two sons were acquitted by the High Court Trial at Bar held in Kandy. They were charged of aiding and abetting in the murder. Six army officers indicted with the murder were convicted and sentenced to death by the High Court. Subsequently they filed an appeal against conviction and death sentence.
The Supreme Court discharged one of them when it took up the appeal and inquired into the appeal by other four army personnel.
The order in the appeal of four was delivered Friday.
Chronology:
24.07.09 All accused acquitted in Udatalawinna Muslim massa..
20.01.06 Ratwatte, sons released, 5 sentenced to death in U..
23.11.05 Udathalawinne case concludes, Court's decision in ..
29.01.05 Ratwatte to give evidence in election massacre cas..
04.12.04 Ratwatte to appear in Court in election murder cas..
11.07.03 Supreme Court grants bail to General Ratwatte
10.07.03 Supreme Court to deliver order on Ratwatte appeal
20.06.03 Supreme Court reserves order on General Ratwatte a..
18.06.03 High Court rejects Ratwatte bail application
01.05.03 Ratwatte security tightened - IGP
29.04.03 Security to be tightened for Ratwatte trial
23.04.03 Ratwatte’s final attempt at bail turned down
19.03.03 Udathalawinna massacre case postponed
18.02.03 No confidence motion against Defence Minister defe..
18.02.03 Defense Minister faces No Confidence Motion
23.01.03 Ratwatte's bail petition denied
22.01.03 General Ratwatte further remanded
21.01.03 Udathalawinne massacre accused remanded
20.01.03 Trial-at-Bar inquiry into Udathalawinne massacre b..
17.12.02 Mahen Ratwatte surrenders
16.12.02 Third Ratwatte son to be arrested
15.11.02 Ratwatte released on bail
20.09.02 Ratwatte assets to be scrutinised
02.09.02 General Ratwatte investigation moves to Kandy
29.08.02 Gen. Ratwatte's bank lockers searched
22.07.02 CJ names three judges to hear Ratwatte case
12.07.02 General Ratwatte to be indicted in HC
14.06.02 Ratwatte, his sons, still suspects in massacre
04.06.02 Ratwatte's return provokes commotion in Parliament
24.05.02 General Ratwatte released on conditional bail
13.05.02 Ratwatte, his sons remanded again
15.04.02 General Ratwatte remanded for the sixth time
01.04.02 Gen. Ratwatte transferred to Bogambara prison
18.03.02 Court rejects Ratwattes' medical certificates
23.02.02 General Ratwatte's sons surrender to CID
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte indicted in massacre case
20.02.02 Gen. Ratwatte remanded till March 4
19.02.02 Former Defence Minister General Ratwatte arrested
15.01.02 SC rejects Ratwatte sons' FR applications
07.01.02 SC dismisses application by Gen.Ratwatte's sons
17.12.01 Five SLA surrender over Muslims' massacre
14.12.01 Police search Gen. Ratwatte’s home
07.12.01 UNP calls on Police to arrest Gen. Ratwatte
30.11.00 Ratwatte back as Dep. Defence Minister
13.10.00 Police detain Gen.Ratwatte's son over shooting
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
The history of the Udatalawinna massacre..........by Shamindra Ferdinando
Now, that all accused in the country’s worst ever single polling day incident have been acquitted and discharged by a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court, it would be pertinent to recall the December 5, 2001 killing of 11 SLMC supporters about one hour after polling ended in the Kandy district and the environment in which the polling was conducted.
The 11 victims were among 45 persons killed and a few hundred wounded in polls related violence during a five-week long campaign marred by a spate of clashes between PA and UNP supporters. Although Kandy had been relatively calm during the campaign, on the day the election clashes erupted between supporters of the then SLFP strongman Minister Anuruddha Ratwatte and the UNP.
Had the then PA government not brought in the army, the Kandy police would have been able to contain the situation, political sources told The Sunday Island.
The SLMC supporters had been accompanying a ballot box from a polling booth at Madawala to the main counting centre when armed persons traveling in two Defender jeeps pursued them and opened fire after their vehicle crashed on to a lamp post. Some of the wounded died while being rushed to the Kandy General Hospital.
Despite the violence, the UNP comfortably won the Kandy district with Keheliya Rambukwella, who subsequently switched allegiance to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, polling 143,235 preferences followed by Tissa Attanayake (99,381), A. H. M. Haleem (75,630) and Rauf Hakeem (71,094) being elected along with three other candidates. The PA managed four seats with Anuruddha Ratwatte polling 102,906 preferences while the JVP won a single seat.
The Udatalawinna massacre took place in the backdrop of a government decision to close down several entry/exit points in Vavuniya and the Eastern Province, thereby denying thousands of voters living in the then LTTE-held areas to exercise their franchise.
Interestingly, the Defence Ministry had failed to direct the STF to close down two entry/exit points in the area under its control. The STF had allowed Tamil speaking voters to enter the government-held area until 1.30 p.m.
The SC on Friday (July 24) set aside the High Court Trial-at-Bar judgment in respect of the election day Udatalawinna massacre. The High Court Trial-at-Bar convicted the accused of murder and imposed death sentence and 20 years of rigorous imprisonment each.
Among the accused were soldiers of the Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment (VIR) arrested by the police for their alleged involvement in the massacre. A Second Lieutenant, in charge of the platoon deployed to bolster security of Anuruddha Ratwatte, was one of them.
The then Army Commander, Lieutenant General Lionel Balagalle, told the CID that an additional platoon had been assigned to Ratwatte’s security contingent following intelligence reports of an imminent LTTE attack on the minister.
Although the men assigned for this task had been either stationed at Boyagane or some other base outside the Northern and Eastern Provinces, the Second Lieutenant hand picked to command the platoon had been on leave from his unit at that time deployed at Colombuthurai, Jaffna.
The police took the whole platoon into custody and then released some of the men after investigations. While a section of the platoon had been deployed at Ratwatte’s Kandy residence, the rest had been assigned duties outside.
The police also recorded a statement of Anil Obeysekera, PC, then Chairman of the CPC, after it was found that the Defender jeeps used in the killing had been released by the CPC.
For almost three months, Ratwatte’s sons, Lohan and Chanuka wanted for questioning by the police in connection with their involvement evaded arrest and gave themselves up on February 23, 2002 days after the police took their father into custody.
Anuruddha Ratwatte was flown to Kandy after being taken into custody in Colombo and produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate Ms Inoka Ranasinghe on February 20 and remanded till March 4. He flown back to Colombo and was admitted to the National Hospital.
The Supreme Court acquitted and discharged the Ratwattes on January 21, 2006.
www island.lk
torsdag 23. juli 2009
WTRF DREAM/ IDEA COMES TRUE: A Nr of Democratic Tamil Organisations Across the World Launched an Initiative in Forming Global Tamil Forum (GTF)
Grass root organisations form Global Tamil Forum
[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 July 2009, 23:57 GMT]
A number of grass root Tamil organisations across the world on Thursday launched an initiative in forming Global Tamil Forum (GTF) said Suren Surendran of British Tamil Forum, which is one of the constituent organisations of the Forum. The Tamil diaspora is united in restoring the sovereignty of Eezham Tamils in their homeland and bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice, Mr. Surendran told TamilNet. The Forum will work for the benefit of Eelam Tamils based on the principles of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution that recognises Self-Determination of Eezham Tamils in creating an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the traditional homeland of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, said Dr. Sampavi Parimalanathan, a diaspora activist in Australia.
Welcoming the move on the 26th remembrance day of Black July 1983, Professor and Rev. Fr. S.J. Emmanuel, who is also the president of the International Federation of Tamils (Geneva) and of the Association of German Tamils, said the initiative is an urgent need of the hour.
A statement issued by the GTF said: "The immediate goal of this Forum will be to address the plight of the Tamils interned in the camps and have their resettlement in their homes and villages expedited by generating international pressure upon the Government of Sri Lanka. The Forum will also explore avenues to bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice."
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 July 2009, 23:57 GMT]
A number of grass root Tamil organisations across the world on Thursday launched an initiative in forming Global Tamil Forum (GTF) said Suren Surendran of British Tamil Forum, which is one of the constituent organisations of the Forum. The Tamil diaspora is united in restoring the sovereignty of Eezham Tamils in their homeland and bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice, Mr. Surendran told TamilNet. The Forum will work for the benefit of Eelam Tamils based on the principles of the Vaddukkoaddai Resolution that recognises Self-Determination of Eezham Tamils in creating an independent and sovereign Tamil Eelam in the traditional homeland of Eezham Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, said Dr. Sampavi Parimalanathan, a diaspora activist in Australia.
Welcoming the move on the 26th remembrance day of Black July 1983, Professor and Rev. Fr. S.J. Emmanuel, who is also the president of the International Federation of Tamils (Geneva) and of the Association of German Tamils, said the initiative is an urgent need of the hour.
A statement issued by the GTF said: "The immediate goal of this Forum will be to address the plight of the Tamils interned in the camps and have their resettlement in their homes and villages expedited by generating international pressure upon the Government of Sri Lanka. The Forum will also explore avenues to bring the perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice."
TamilNet URL: http://www.tamilnet.com email: tamilnet@tamilnet.com
JVP wants Govt look into problems of fasting Eastern U’grads...!!! They should not be ignored or neglected on racial grounds...!!!
JVP wants Govt look into problems of fasting Eastern U’grads by Saman Indrajith
JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (23) demanded that the government immediately mediate to sort out the problems of Eastern Province Graduates engaged in a continuous a hunger strike in the Batticaloa town.
Dissanayake said, in a special statement, that these unemployed graduates have been engaged in this agitation for over 22 days but the government had not paid any attention to address their grievances.
"These graduates who number around 1,700 are not demanding a separate country but a job which suits their qualification.
This problem of not giving them suitable employment opportunities has been there for nearly three years. Finally, they have commenced this hunger strike after a number of hartals, satyagraha and demonstrations. Now they have fasted for 22 days opposite the private bus stand in Batticaloa town".
MP Dissanayake said that the government should take this problem of absorbing the unemployed seriously without pushing them further towards racial segregation.
"They, like graduates in other parts of this country, deserve employment. They should not be ignored or neglected on racial grounds.
The government must address their problem immediately before it develops into a national crisis," Dissanayake said.
www island.lk
JVP MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake yesterday (23) demanded that the government immediately mediate to sort out the problems of Eastern Province Graduates engaged in a continuous a hunger strike in the Batticaloa town.
Dissanayake said, in a special statement, that these unemployed graduates have been engaged in this agitation for over 22 days but the government had not paid any attention to address their grievances.
"These graduates who number around 1,700 are not demanding a separate country but a job which suits their qualification.
This problem of not giving them suitable employment opportunities has been there for nearly three years. Finally, they have commenced this hunger strike after a number of hartals, satyagraha and demonstrations. Now they have fasted for 22 days opposite the private bus stand in Batticaloa town".
MP Dissanayake said that the government should take this problem of absorbing the unemployed seriously without pushing them further towards racial segregation.
"They, like graduates in other parts of this country, deserve employment. They should not be ignored or neglected on racial grounds.
The government must address their problem immediately before it develops into a national crisis," Dissanayake said.
www island.lk
A Minister's daughter had a birthday party in USA spending Rs 49 million while spending Rs 1.9 million for birthday cake when an IDP child suffer..!!
JVP asks Govt. to submit list
By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera
The JVP in Parliament yesterday called on the government to submit a list of Tamil youth in the detention camps together with their details to the House.
JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who moved an adjournment motion on the IDP issue in the House yesterday said that preparing such a list would make it possible to determine their fate.
He said that 1000 out to the 10,000 detainees have no charges against them and there should be some way for their kith and kin to know their fate. Mr. Dissanayake recalled that the death certificate of his brother who died in a detention camp in 1989 was given to his parents after 14 years.
The JVP MP alleged that the government has not done anything to build unity among the communities.“The government is trying to fulfill its political aspirations using the IDPs,” he charged.
“Its time to repair the damaged relationships among the communities that was brought about as a result of the divide and rule policy of the British during the colonial period and the actions of various governments that ruled the country after independence, “he said.
Turning to history he said the Sinhala Only Act, the Citizenship Act of 1946 Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Standardization of 1973 which prevented the Tamil youth from entering the universities were grave mistakes made by governments in the past.
“The 30 years of destruction was the ultimate result of this and Prabhakaran was also a product of it,” he said.
Referring to the IDP camps he said a certain Minister had held a birthday party for his child in USA spending Rs 49 million while spending Rs 1.9 million for the birthday cake when a child in the IDP camp finds it difficult to get a spoon of milk powder. “Can a Minister spend lavishly in such a manner when the children in the IDP camps are suffering so much?” he asked.
He called on the government to build up a mechanism where all political parties and civil organiations can play a role in helping the IDPs and restore them to their original position.
The JVP MP stressed that such a mechanism should be put into place to ensure smooth resettlement and to ensure that the destruction which the country underwent is not repeated.
dailymirror.lk
By Kelum Bandara and Yohan Perera
The JVP in Parliament yesterday called on the government to submit a list of Tamil youth in the detention camps together with their details to the House.
JVP Parliamentary Group Leader Anura Kumara Dissanayake who moved an adjournment motion on the IDP issue in the House yesterday said that preparing such a list would make it possible to determine their fate.
He said that 1000 out to the 10,000 detainees have no charges against them and there should be some way for their kith and kin to know their fate. Mr. Dissanayake recalled that the death certificate of his brother who died in a detention camp in 1989 was given to his parents after 14 years.
The JVP MP alleged that the government has not done anything to build unity among the communities.“The government is trying to fulfill its political aspirations using the IDPs,” he charged.
“Its time to repair the damaged relationships among the communities that was brought about as a result of the divide and rule policy of the British during the colonial period and the actions of various governments that ruled the country after independence, “he said.
Turning to history he said the Sinhala Only Act, the Citizenship Act of 1946 Prevention of Terrorism Act and the Standardization of 1973 which prevented the Tamil youth from entering the universities were grave mistakes made by governments in the past.
“The 30 years of destruction was the ultimate result of this and Prabhakaran was also a product of it,” he said.
Referring to the IDP camps he said a certain Minister had held a birthday party for his child in USA spending Rs 49 million while spending Rs 1.9 million for the birthday cake when a child in the IDP camp finds it difficult to get a spoon of milk powder. “Can a Minister spend lavishly in such a manner when the children in the IDP camps are suffering so much?” he asked.
He called on the government to build up a mechanism where all political parties and civil organiations can play a role in helping the IDPs and restore them to their original position.
The JVP MP stressed that such a mechanism should be put into place to ensure smooth resettlement and to ensure that the destruction which the country underwent is not repeated.
dailymirror.lk
Fmr FM:Mangala claimed that the CID/Government has again started its ‘witch hunt’...!!!
Mangala summoned to Fourth Floor
SLFP (M) Leader Mangala Samaraweera was asked to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department today to record a statement.
Mr. Samaraweera said that he was contacted by the CID officials
who had asked him to appear before the CID, but claimed that he was unaware of the reason.
“Although I informed the CID officials to come to my residence to record the statement, they refused and asked me to come to their office on the fourth floor,” Mr. Samaraweera told the Daily Mirror.
He said that he would go to the CID and give his statement. He claimed that the Government has again started its ‘witch hunt’.
On Tuesday, the CID grilled Tiran Alles, well known businessman and owner of the publishing house Standard Newspapers Pvt. Ltd., - a close associate of Mr. Samaraweera. Mr. Alles refused to divulge what he was questioned about.
dailymirror.lk
SLFP (M) Leader Mangala Samaraweera was asked to appear before the Criminal Investigation Department today to record a statement.
Mr. Samaraweera said that he was contacted by the CID officials
who had asked him to appear before the CID, but claimed that he was unaware of the reason.
“Although I informed the CID officials to come to my residence to record the statement, they refused and asked me to come to their office on the fourth floor,” Mr. Samaraweera told the Daily Mirror.
He said that he would go to the CID and give his statement. He claimed that the Government has again started its ‘witch hunt’.
On Tuesday, the CID grilled Tiran Alles, well known businessman and owner of the publishing house Standard Newspapers Pvt. Ltd., - a close associate of Mr. Samaraweera. Mr. Alles refused to divulge what he was questioned about.
dailymirror.lk
tirsdag 21. juli 2009
TOURISM MINISTER WANTS TAMIL DIASPORA TO VISIT SRILANKA..!!! BUT GR/DS IMPOSE DM-CLEARANCE AS SAME OLD UNWANTED RESTRICTIONS!! NO RECONCILIATIONS..!!!
Tamil Diaspora expected to participate in Nallur Kandasamy Kovil festivities – Mustapha .............................by Franklin R.Satyapalan
The Tamil Diaspora is expected to participate, in their thousands, in this year’s Nallur Kandasamy Kovil festivities, Tourism Promotion Minister Faizer Mustapha said.
He said that already over 180,000 members of the Tamil Diaspora had inquired about the facilities available to attend the festival.
Minister Mustapha, told hoteliers and media. at the Jaffna Kachcheri during a tour to spearhead the promotion of tourism and development of the hotel industry in the peninsula last weekend, that he was confident that members of the Tamil Diaspora will make use of the opportunity created by the elimination of terrorism and with the healing process taking place to come with their families to participate in the historic Kovil festivities and visit their kith and kin.
Also present during the briefing were the Assistant District Secretary of Jaffna Y. Paratharaman.
The Government was fully committed to providing all facilities so that this year’s ‘Nallur Kandasamy Kovil’ festival, which commences on July (27), would be celebrated on a grand scale after decades.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government is committed to assist all religions in their festivities, the Ministry of Tourism has been doing so for the last two years during the Esala Festival "we have provided water sanitation and other facilities. Then we saw the Nallur Festival as something significant for the Tamil community close and dear to their heart and decided to improve the facilities in and around the Kovil."
Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke with the permission of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, had granted clearance for the operation of direct charter flights by the Managing Director of Favourite Growth Capital and the Operator of Deccan Airlines Suren R. Mirchandani from Katunayake to Jaffna to transport the devotees.
The Minister visited the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil in the company of the delegation from the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Industry. He was accompanied by officials and participated in the religious activities and met the Chief Trustee Kuhathasan Mapana Mudaliyar.
"Until such time we re-establish a fully fledged Hotel School in Jaffna, we hope to provide training to the youths of Jaffna similar to what we have commenced in the Eastern Province. There are over 400 youths who are undergoing training".
"If each hotelier provides the names of four trainees, we can get the support of Deccan Airways to subsidise their airfares to Colombo to obtain the necessary basic training".
"We are doing all this especially because the President has advised us to focus on training rural youths to improve the quality of the service and standards in the Hotel Industry in Jaffna, to be on par with hotels in any other districts in the country.
"We will be with the hoteliers and look forward to work with them to bring in domestic tourists until such time we can develop Jaffna Peninsula in to a prime tourist destination".
"We will be marketing the Tourism Industry of Jaffna not only in Colombo, but overseas and are ready to take up the challenge and not turn back until we prove ourselves," he said.
www island.lk
The Tamil Diaspora is expected to participate, in their thousands, in this year’s Nallur Kandasamy Kovil festivities, Tourism Promotion Minister Faizer Mustapha said.
He said that already over 180,000 members of the Tamil Diaspora had inquired about the facilities available to attend the festival.
Minister Mustapha, told hoteliers and media. at the Jaffna Kachcheri during a tour to spearhead the promotion of tourism and development of the hotel industry in the peninsula last weekend, that he was confident that members of the Tamil Diaspora will make use of the opportunity created by the elimination of terrorism and with the healing process taking place to come with their families to participate in the historic Kovil festivities and visit their kith and kin.
Also present during the briefing were the Assistant District Secretary of Jaffna Y. Paratharaman.
The Government was fully committed to providing all facilities so that this year’s ‘Nallur Kandasamy Kovil’ festival, which commences on July (27), would be celebrated on a grand scale after decades.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s Government is committed to assist all religions in their festivities, the Ministry of Tourism has been doing so for the last two years during the Esala Festival "we have provided water sanitation and other facilities. Then we saw the Nallur Festival as something significant for the Tamil community close and dear to their heart and decided to improve the facilities in and around the Kovil."
Air Force Commander Air Chief Marshal Roshan Goonetilleke with the permission of the Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, had granted clearance for the operation of direct charter flights by the Managing Director of Favourite Growth Capital and the Operator of Deccan Airlines Suren R. Mirchandani from Katunayake to Jaffna to transport the devotees.
The Minister visited the Nallur Kandasamy Kovil in the company of the delegation from the Tourism Ministry and Tourism Industry. He was accompanied by officials and participated in the religious activities and met the Chief Trustee Kuhathasan Mapana Mudaliyar.
"Until such time we re-establish a fully fledged Hotel School in Jaffna, we hope to provide training to the youths of Jaffna similar to what we have commenced in the Eastern Province. There are over 400 youths who are undergoing training".
"If each hotelier provides the names of four trainees, we can get the support of Deccan Airways to subsidise their airfares to Colombo to obtain the necessary basic training".
"We are doing all this especially because the President has advised us to focus on training rural youths to improve the quality of the service and standards in the Hotel Industry in Jaffna, to be on par with hotels in any other districts in the country.
"We will be with the hoteliers and look forward to work with them to bring in domestic tourists until such time we can develop Jaffna Peninsula in to a prime tourist destination".
"We will be marketing the Tourism Industry of Jaffna not only in Colombo, but overseas and are ready to take up the challenge and not turn back until we prove ourselves," he said.
www island.lk
mandag 20. juli 2009
BJP: Attitude of DMK Govt/TN-state and the UPA government at the Centre in addressing the concern of Sri Lankan Tamils was far from satisfactory...!!!
BJP for rehabilitation of Lankan Tamils
Chennai, (PTI): Sri Lanka should take immediate steps to rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamils in the island nation and ensure they were resettled in their original place of inhabitation, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said.
"The displaced Tamils are staying in many camps in Sri Lanka. There are reports that the camps lack basic amenities and the people were suffering. Even a former judge of Sri Lanka had expressed displeasure at the condition of these camps", he told reporters.
He urged the Sri Lankan government to accord equal rights to the Tamils as enjoyed by the Sinhalese.
Naidu alleged the attitude of the DMK Government in the state and the UPA government at the Centre in addressing the concern of Sri Lankan Tamils was far from satisfactory.
Meanwhile, Express Buzz. Com reported that the BJP Leader expressing its concern over the plight of Tamils living in 33 camps in Sri Lanka, the BJP has urged the island nation not to wage a war against innocent Tamils.
This strong message was conveyed to Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India C. R . Jayasinghe, when 22 BJP MPs interacted with him in New Delhi on July 16, he said.
“The Lankan government should differentiate between fighting the LTTE and Tamil people. Also, it must not conclude that the fall of LTTE has put an end to the Tamils’ issue, which will continue unless and until legitimate rights were provided to them,” he said.
Venkaiah also wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prevail upon the neighbouring country over the Tamils’ issue on a regular basis. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi must also take it up frequently with the Centre.
Observing that even the former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Sarath N. Silva, had termed the grave situation prevailing in Sri Lankan camps as “appalling”, Venkaiah said that effective steps should be taken for the devolution of powers under the 13th amendment to Tamils.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Tamils are safe; their rights will be protected’
Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C. R. Jayasinghe assured India that there will not be any suppression of Tamil rights in Sri Lanka.
“The Tamils who constitute 16 per cent of the population will enjoy equal rights with the 70 per cent majority Sinhalese and devolution of power to the Tamil-dominated areas is a priority of the Rajapaksa government, which is now engaged in a massive rehabilitation effort following the elimination of the terrorist outfit LTTE.”
This assurance came from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C. R. Jayasinghe, in an informal chat with about two-dozen BJP MPs and intellectuals at the residence of senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu in the capital. The meeting was organised by the pro-RSS think tank India Foundation headed by Ram Madhav, a member of the RSS national executive.
Responding to the feelings expressed in the discussion, Sri Lankan High Commissioner reassured with a promise that the two-decade-old Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardana agreement formed the basic framework for the devolution of powers to the Tamils. Like in the Indian Constitution, under the new scheme in Sri Lanka, all parts of the country would have provincial set-up under a chief minister and the Tamil-majority areas would elect their own provincial governments with all powers under a federal set-up. He stressed that as of now a majority of Tamils live in Sinhala-majority areas and that there is no threat to their safety and security. They enjoy good social interaction. There will not be any discrimination against Tamils, he said. (Organizer.com)
Chennai, (PTI): Sri Lanka should take immediate steps to rehabilitate the internally displaced Tamils in the island nation and ensure they were resettled in their original place of inhabitation, senior BJP leader M. Venkaiah Naidu said.
"The displaced Tamils are staying in many camps in Sri Lanka. There are reports that the camps lack basic amenities and the people were suffering. Even a former judge of Sri Lanka had expressed displeasure at the condition of these camps", he told reporters.
He urged the Sri Lankan government to accord equal rights to the Tamils as enjoyed by the Sinhalese.
Naidu alleged the attitude of the DMK Government in the state and the UPA government at the Centre in addressing the concern of Sri Lankan Tamils was far from satisfactory.
Meanwhile, Express Buzz. Com reported that the BJP Leader expressing its concern over the plight of Tamils living in 33 camps in Sri Lanka, the BJP has urged the island nation not to wage a war against innocent Tamils.
This strong message was conveyed to Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India C. R . Jayasinghe, when 22 BJP MPs interacted with him in New Delhi on July 16, he said.
“The Lankan government should differentiate between fighting the LTTE and Tamil people. Also, it must not conclude that the fall of LTTE has put an end to the Tamils’ issue, which will continue unless and until legitimate rights were provided to them,” he said.
Venkaiah also wanted Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to prevail upon the neighbouring country over the Tamils’ issue on a regular basis. Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi must also take it up frequently with the Centre.
Observing that even the former Chief Justice of Sri Lanka, Sarath N. Silva, had termed the grave situation prevailing in Sri Lankan camps as “appalling”, Venkaiah said that effective steps should be taken for the devolution of powers under the 13th amendment to Tamils.
--------------------------------------------------------------------
‘Tamils are safe; their rights will be protected’
Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C. R. Jayasinghe assured India that there will not be any suppression of Tamil rights in Sri Lanka.
“The Tamils who constitute 16 per cent of the population will enjoy equal rights with the 70 per cent majority Sinhalese and devolution of power to the Tamil-dominated areas is a priority of the Rajapaksa government, which is now engaged in a massive rehabilitation effort following the elimination of the terrorist outfit LTTE.”
This assurance came from the Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India, C. R. Jayasinghe, in an informal chat with about two-dozen BJP MPs and intellectuals at the residence of senior BJP leader Venkaiah Naidu in the capital. The meeting was organised by the pro-RSS think tank India Foundation headed by Ram Madhav, a member of the RSS national executive.
Responding to the feelings expressed in the discussion, Sri Lankan High Commissioner reassured with a promise that the two-decade-old Rajiv Gandhi-Jayawardana agreement formed the basic framework for the devolution of powers to the Tamils. Like in the Indian Constitution, under the new scheme in Sri Lanka, all parts of the country would have provincial set-up under a chief minister and the Tamil-majority areas would elect their own provincial governments with all powers under a federal set-up. He stressed that as of now a majority of Tamils live in Sinhala-majority areas and that there is no threat to their safety and security. They enjoy good social interaction. There will not be any discrimination against Tamils, he said. (Organizer.com)
DESTROY TAMIL LIVES/HOMES BY MBRL!! THEN LIBERATE FROM LTTE! CAPTURE THEM IN DEATH CAMPS! EARNING MONEY FOR RELEASE! THIS IS SINHALA CRUEL TACTICS.!!!
IDPs in vanishing act
SECURITY MEN IN RACKET
JEYARAJ'S KILLER TOO
By Gayan Kuamara Weerasinghe
A major human smuggling racket in which security officials in charge of refugee camps in Chettikulam were charging exhorbitant rates and releasing Tamil refugees from camps, was busted this week. Authorities fear as to whether LTTE leaders who were among civilians in the camps have also made good their escape after bribing security officials. Meanwhile the chief suspect in the murder of minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Murthi was arrested while escaping from one of the camps.
It has been revealed that members of the defence unit, civilians and members of government institutions who come to work in these camps were behind this racket. Investigations have revealed that officials have charged sums of Rs.10,000 to Rs.500,000 to facilitate civilians escaping from IDP camps.
This racket was first exposed when an intelligence unit member was spotted at a checkpoint by the army and Police while transporting a civilian from a camp on his motor bike last week.
Under interrogation the officer admitted that he had taken rupees 75,000 from the civilian and had promised to take him out of the facility. Prior to this, two more people who had escaped from a welfare camp and lodged in the Kotahena area were arrested by the Kotahena Police.
They had escaped from the camp with the help of a person installing electrical fixtures, and some security officials. The escapees planned to go abroad and were arrested while they were staying at a lodge in Colombo.
A senior defence official in charge of the welfare camp area admitted that civilians were discovering ways and means to escape from the camps and that some members of the defence units were assisting them.
lakbimanews.lk
SECURITY MEN IN RACKET
JEYARAJ'S KILLER TOO
By Gayan Kuamara Weerasinghe
A major human smuggling racket in which security officials in charge of refugee camps in Chettikulam were charging exhorbitant rates and releasing Tamil refugees from camps, was busted this week. Authorities fear as to whether LTTE leaders who were among civilians in the camps have also made good their escape after bribing security officials. Meanwhile the chief suspect in the murder of minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle, Murthi was arrested while escaping from one of the camps.
It has been revealed that members of the defence unit, civilians and members of government institutions who come to work in these camps were behind this racket. Investigations have revealed that officials have charged sums of Rs.10,000 to Rs.500,000 to facilitate civilians escaping from IDP camps.
This racket was first exposed when an intelligence unit member was spotted at a checkpoint by the army and Police while transporting a civilian from a camp on his motor bike last week.
Under interrogation the officer admitted that he had taken rupees 75,000 from the civilian and had promised to take him out of the facility. Prior to this, two more people who had escaped from a welfare camp and lodged in the Kotahena area were arrested by the Kotahena Police.
They had escaped from the camp with the help of a person installing electrical fixtures, and some security officials. The escapees planned to go abroad and were arrested while they were staying at a lodge in Colombo.
A senior defence official in charge of the welfare camp area admitted that civilians were discovering ways and means to escape from the camps and that some members of the defence units were assisting them.
lakbimanews.lk
søndag 19. juli 2009
Vavuniya-based United Nations staff providing relief services to the IDPs have been advised to keep away from Vavuniya Hospital...!!!
Deadly diseases erupt in Vavuniya
Extent of meningitis, encephalitis outbreaks not reported to authorities
By Chathuri Dissanayake
Vavuniya-based United Nations staff providing relief services to the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have been advised to keep away from the Vavuniya General Hospital due to an outbreak of meningitis and encephalitis, the Sunday Times learns.
The UN warning to staff came amidst reports that hospital employees at Vavuniya had failed to inform authorities about the outbreak of the two diseases.
Dr. Hemantha Herath, Health Coordinator of the IDP camps, told The Sunday Times, “It is only now that we are getting a regular feedback from the hospital. They have not done in-depth investigations into these cases.”
Over the past week, 14 new encephalitis cases were detected in the hospital. The World Health Organisation in a report has pointed out that while the fatality rate of meningitis cases treated in all government hospitals in Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2005 was dropping to less than five percent, the fatality rate in the Vavuniya General Hospital was about 50 percent.
A team sent by the Health Ministry is studying the causes for the outbreak of these diseases. Meanwhile, according to a latest UN report, diarrhoea and hepatitis A are still prevalent in some of the IDP camps Dr. Herath said the number of cases of diarrhoea and hepatitis A was not going down and they were closely monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, a report prepared by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that only about 36 percent of the total cost of US$ 270 million had been received by the agency for the relief efforts in Vavuniya.
According to the report, health care, water distribution and supply of food items still need more attention.
The report has warned of the effect the approaching rainy season might have on the camps, especially in low-lying areas. It has called for an improved drainage system and shelters before the rainy season begins.
The Sunday Times also learns there is a shortage of complementary food items in the camps as NGOs which were supplying such items are pulling out.
The report said there is not enough suitable land to build more toilets. The camps currently have only about 9,215 toilets while 15,000 are needed.
sundaytimes.lk
Extent of meningitis, encephalitis outbreaks not reported to authorities
By Chathuri Dissanayake
Vavuniya-based United Nations staff providing relief services to the Internally Displaced People (IDPs) have been advised to keep away from the Vavuniya General Hospital due to an outbreak of meningitis and encephalitis, the Sunday Times learns.
The UN warning to staff came amidst reports that hospital employees at Vavuniya had failed to inform authorities about the outbreak of the two diseases.
Dr. Hemantha Herath, Health Coordinator of the IDP camps, told The Sunday Times, “It is only now that we are getting a regular feedback from the hospital. They have not done in-depth investigations into these cases.”
Over the past week, 14 new encephalitis cases were detected in the hospital. The World Health Organisation in a report has pointed out that while the fatality rate of meningitis cases treated in all government hospitals in Sri Lanka from 2000 to 2005 was dropping to less than five percent, the fatality rate in the Vavuniya General Hospital was about 50 percent.
A team sent by the Health Ministry is studying the causes for the outbreak of these diseases. Meanwhile, according to a latest UN report, diarrhoea and hepatitis A are still prevalent in some of the IDP camps Dr. Herath said the number of cases of diarrhoea and hepatitis A was not going down and they were closely monitoring the situation.
Meanwhile, a report prepared by the United Nations Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that only about 36 percent of the total cost of US$ 270 million had been received by the agency for the relief efforts in Vavuniya.
According to the report, health care, water distribution and supply of food items still need more attention.
The report has warned of the effect the approaching rainy season might have on the camps, especially in low-lying areas. It has called for an improved drainage system and shelters before the rainy season begins.
The Sunday Times also learns there is a shortage of complementary food items in the camps as NGOs which were supplying such items are pulling out.
The report said there is not enough suitable land to build more toilets. The camps currently have only about 9,215 toilets while 15,000 are needed.
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They are getting depressed of camp life. With nothing to do except waiting in queues all day and being in congested places with flies for longtime.!!!
Life in the camps: Much to be done
By Chathuri Dissanayake
Conditions in some of the camps housing Internally Displaced People (IDPs) are improving, but there are areas that need urgent attention, a UN report has revealed.
Water and sanitation, health and supply of complementary food items are some of the areas that need improvement, according to the UN Joint Humanitarian Update report issued for the week July 3 to July 10. The report has also highlighted as priority the need to improve drainage systems and the overall maintenance of the camps, especially in view of the oncoming rainy season in September
In the area of funds, the report says although an estimated US dollars 270 million is needed for ongoing relief activities and early recovery activities, only US dollars 97 million is available.
The report says 38 million US dollars was received for food items while 20 million US dollars was received for shelter and non food items including cooking utensils.
Long queues common scene at IDP camps still
According to the report, 5,483 people have been released from the IDP camps upto July 10, while another 20, 000 people from nine villages north of Vavuniya have been given clearance by the Army to return return to their homes.
Some Non Governmental Organizations (NGOs) supplying complementary food items have informed the authorities that they are unable to do so due to lack of funds. World Food Programme (WFP) Country Director Adnan Khan confirmed that many NGOs have said they will not be supplying complementary food, including dried chillie, garlic and mustard from the end of this month.
Highlighting health issues the report said there was an increase in the number of meningitis cases among the IDPs in Menik Farm and 18 patients were transferred outside of the district for further treatment.
Meanwhile the Sunday Times learns that Chicken Pox, Hepatitis -A and respiratory diseases are prevalent among some IDPs in the Vavuniya camps, although the number of cases had decreased overall. A health official who did not want to be named stressed the importance of reducing the congestion in the camps as this was a major contributory factor for the spread of communicable diseases. The official also warned that the approaching rainy season could make matters worse adding that the lack of a system for early detection was hindering health care activities in the camps.
The Joint Humanitarian Update report also highlights the need for improved water and sanitation standards. Another constraint facing relief workers is the lack of human resources. According to the GMOA there are only 30 to 40 doctors working in the IDP camps whereas at least 120 doctors and 3000 nurses were needed.
Water and sanitation is another area that needs more improvement in many of the IDP camps. Out of the estimated 15,000 latrines required only 9215 have been constructed. The report has highlighted the lack of suitable land to build more latrines.
The report also says there is insufficient information on morbidity and mortality rates to support mitigation of water borne diseases.
Long trek to collect water. Pic by Priyantha Hewage
Water distribution too still remains inconsistent across the camps, the report said. This situation has resulted in long queues of people waiting to collect water. According to sources in the area there was also a lack of drinking water although 3000 cubic metres is reported to be distributed among the IDPs.
According to earlier reports some of the camp sites are in the path of floodways or in low lying areas which would result in flooding of the camp space sites during the rainy season thus highlighting the importance of urgent drainage facilities..
Local authorities are now planning to divide Menik Farm zone two into a number of small villages due to security concerns. This would result in the relocation of close to 20,000 IDPs. Further it has been reported that the competent authority has requested for assistance to get building materials for 1600 shelters to house LTTE surrendees. These shelters would be constructed by the military.
Government funds have also been released to facilitate cement-based floors in the camps in the government-managed zones. However shelter agencies have recommended against such concrete slabs on 'technical grounds'.
According to the report only 32, 800 IDP children out of 90, 000 are currently participating in education activities. Hundred and thirteen temporary learning spaces have been created. According to the student ratio 452 such spaces are required.
Depression setting in
A medical officer working with authorities providing relief services for the IDPs speaking to the Sunday Times said that there was a noticeable number of people suffering from some form of depression in the camps.
According to this official who did not want to be named many have complained of lack of sleep, body pains and headaches.
"This is an early sign of depression. Doctors find increasing number of patients coming to them with these minor complaints. The individuals have visited the doctor with the same complaints several times over. They are getting tired of camp life. With nothing to do except waiting in queues all morning and being in congested places for a prolonged period of time are taking a toll on these people.
According to the official, hygiene was a problem with camps being swamped with flies.
"The authorities say that they are spraying to kill the flies but there is hardly any improvement. Whether any action is being taken is really questionable," the officer said.
According to him some of the issues that rise in the camps can be avoided if there was a proper implementation-mechanism in place.
"The government has sent enough provisions but whether the decisions and plans are being properly implemented is doubtful judging by the current situation," the officer added.
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