tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-37820433831775233602024-03-14T06:28:36.373-04:00Puligal TodayNews from Tamil Eelam (not censored by the Sri Lankan government).Editor: "Badrinath"http://www.blogger.com/profile/17030941526579143296noreply@blogger.comBlogger109125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-38069371620603823912010-12-16T22:07:00.003-05:002010-12-16T22:46:52.523-05:00Wikileaks : Gotabaya sanctioned extra-judicial killings by Paramilitaries[TamilNet, Friday, 17 December 2010]<br />A WikiLeaks cable, dated 18th May 2007 from US embassy in Colombo, accuses Defense Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse of giving orders to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) commanders in Jaffna not to interfere with Tamil paramilitaries who are "doing "work" that the military cannot do because of international scrutiny. The work referred to in the cable includes extra-judicial killings, extortion, abduction and prostitution by the Tamil paramilitary groups EPDP and Karuna Group. Both groups are led by Ministers in the present ruling Government in Sri Lanka.<br /><br /> * WikiLeaks: Robert Blake, 18 May 2007<br /><br />Accusing Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan (nom de guerre: Karuna), of engaging in "wide range of criminal activities" to collect funds, US embassy cable adds "Karuna operates prostitution rings out of the IDP camps to "take care of" GSL soldiers, stating that the women "had no choice" but to acquiesce to Karuna cadres' demands."<br /><br />"Allegations of government complicity in crimes committed by organized paramilitary groups have mounted in the last year [2006]," the cable begins followed by briefs under the following headings:<br /><br /> * Why Government of Sri Lanka finds the [Tamil] Paramilitaries useful<br /> * Paramilitary Groups give the GoSL a measure of deniability<br /> * GoSL has a history of funding Paramilitary Groups<br /> * Karuna Group becomes pre-eminent paramilitary<br /> * Abductions and Killings of Karuna group<br /> * Karuna extends his reach to Jaffna<br /> * Child soldiers of TMVP (Karuna Group)<br /> * Extortion and Prostitution rings run by Karuna<br /> * Making Karuna legitimate<br /> * EPDP: Extra-judicial killings with Military's support <br /><br />The leading summary paragraphs follow:<br /><br /> Paramilitaries such as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)-breakaway Karuna group and Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP) have helped the Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) to fight the LTTE, to kidnap suspected LTTE collaborators, and to give the GSL a measure of deniability. The GSL, which denies any links to paramilitary groups, has recently touted its efforts to improve its human rights record, such as the re-publication of procedures on arrests and detentions and the appointment of a "One-Man Commission" to investigate reported disappearances.<br /><br /> However, these efforts so far appear aimed more at improving Sri Lanka's image abroad and have yet to produce concrete improvements in the human rights situation. Outside the capital, the incidence of human rights abuses has continued, including extrajudicial killings, abductions, child trafficking, extortion, and prostitution.<br /><br /> President Rajapaksa's government, strapped for cash, has cut direct payments to paramilitaries initiated by former President Kumaratunga and instead turns a blind eye to extortion and kidnapping for ransom by EPDP and Karuna. While many of the charges against the government have been made in public fora, a growing number of trusted Embassy contacts, often at personal risk, have described in detail the extent of the GSL's involvement with paramilitary groups. <br /><br />On Gotabaya Rajapakse's, a US-citizen, criminal activities the cable says, "Defense Secretary Gothabaya Rajapaksa has authorized EPDP and Karuna to collect the money from Tamil businessmen. This may account for the sharp rise in lawlessness, especially extortion and kidnapping, that many have documented in Vavuniya and Colombo. Even though EPDP and Karuna are each comprised nearly exclusively of ethnic Tamils, the crimes that they commit are almost always against other Tamils."<br /><br />-----<br /><span style="font-weight:bold;">I'm not sure who is the editor of this "Eelanaadu France", but he is often right on the money. And it would be timely if I provide the editorial page of Eelanadu France, dated July 10, 2010.<span style="font-style:italic;"></span></span><br /><br /> ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்கள் - சேரமான்<br /><br /><br />அணையாத நெருப்பாக கடந்த ஆறு தசாப்தங்களுக்கு மேலாகக் கொழுந்து விட்டெரியும் தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்துவதில் இற்றைவரை எந்தவொரு சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளரும் ஆக்கபூர்வமான நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டதில்லை. மாறாக தமிழீழத் தனியரசுக் கோரிக்கையின் அடித்தளமாக விளங்கும் தமிழீழ தாயகம், தேசியம், தன்னாட்சியுரிமை ஆகிய முக்கோட்பாடுகளை சிதைத்து, தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையை ஒரு சிறுபான்மையினத்தின் பொருண்மியப் பிரச்சினையாக சித்தரிப்பதையே தமது மூலோபாயமாகக் கொண்டு, அரசியல் தீர்வு நாடகங்களை ஒவ்வொரு சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளரும் அரங்கேற்றி வந்துள்ளனர்.<br /><br />டி.எஸ்.சேனநாயக்காவின் காலத்தில் இருந்து மகிந்த ராஜபக்ச வரை இவ்வாறான மூலோபாயத்தையே மாறிமாறி ஆட்சிக்கட்டிலேறிய சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளர்கள் கையாண்டு வருவது வரலாறு. அரசியல் தீர்வு என்பது ‘இன்ஸ்ரன்ற் நூடில்ஸ் அல்ல (உடனடியாகத் தயாரிக்கக்கூடிய நூடில்ஸ் அல்ல)’ என்று அண்மையில் மகிந்த ராஜபக்ச வெளியிட்ட கருத்தை இதற்கான சமீபத்திய உதாரணமாக நாம் கொள்ள முடியும்.<br />ஆனாலும் ஏனைய சிங்கள ஆட்சியாளர்களை விட தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையை மிகவும் நுண்ணியமான முறையில் கையாண்டு, தமிழீழ தேசிய விடுதலைப் போராட்டத்தை மழுங்கடிப்பதற்கான காய்நகர்த்தல்களை மிகவும் நயவஞ்சகமான முறையில் முன்னெடுக்கும் ஒருவராக மகிந்தர் திகழ்வதை, அவரது கடந்த நான்கரை ஆண்டுகால நடவடிக்கைகள் கோடிட்டுக் காட்டுகின்றன: ‘குள்ளநரி’ என்று வர்ணிக்கப்பட்ட ஜே.ஆர்.ஜெயவர்த்தனவின் சூழ்ச்சிகளை விஞ்சும் வகையிலேயே மகிந்தரின் நயவஞ்சக நடவடிக்கைகள் அமைந்துள்ளன.<br /><br />கடந்த 2006ஆம் ஆண்டு யூலை மாதம் மாவிலாற்றில் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளுக்கு எதிராகப் பெரும்போரை சிங்கள அரசு தொடங்கிய பொழுது, அதற்கு முழுமையான ஆசீர்வாதத்தையும், ஒத்துழைப்பையும் மேற்குலகம் வழங்கியிருந்த பொழுதும், யுத்தத்தில் சிங்கள அரசு ஈட்டக்கூடிய வெற்றி, எதிர்காலத்தில் இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் வழியில் தீர்வு காண்பதற்கான வாய்ப்புக்களை இல்லாதொழித்துவிடக்கூடும் என்பதையும் ஓரளவுக்கு மேற்குலகம் புரிந்து கொண்டிருந்தது.<br /><br />சிங்களப் படைகளுக்கு பெரும் இழப்புக்களை ஏற்படுத்தும் வகையில் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் தாக்குதல்களை நிகழ்த்திய ஒவ்வொரு சந்தர்ப்பங்களிலும், ‘இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு படைவழியில் தீர்வு காண முடியாது’ என்றும், ‘அரசியல் தீர்வின் ஊடாக இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு நிரந்தரத் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்த முடியும்’ என்றும், ஒற்றைப் பல்லவியை மேற்குலக சமூகம் பாடிவந்தது. தமது படைவலிமையின் ஊடாக சிங்களத்தின் படைய – பொருண்மிய இயந்திரங்களை தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் நெருக்கடிக்குள் இட்டுச்சென்ற பொழுதும், இனப்பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வு காணப்பட வேண்டியதன் அவசியத்தை இந்தியாவிற்கும் சரி, மேற்குலகிற்கும் சரி அடிக்கடி உணர்த்திய முதன்மை சக்தியாக தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் படைவலிமையே திகழ்ந்துள்ளது.<br /><br />முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போருடன் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் படைவலிமை பின்னடைவுக்கு ஆளாகிய பின்னர், தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கு அரசியல் தீர்வை ஏற்படுத்துவதற்கு மேற்குலகமும் சரி, இந்தியாவும் சரி பிரயோகிக்கும் அழுத்தங்கள், சகட்டு மேனிக்கு வெளிப்படுத்தப்படும் கண்துடைப்பு நடவடிக்கைகளாகவே திகழ்கின்றன. கடந்த 1995ஆம் ஆண்டு சந்திரிகா குமாரதுங்கவுடனான பேச்சுவார்த்தைகள் முறிவடைந்த பொழுது, ஒரு அரைமரபுப் படையாகவே தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் அமைப்பு விளங்கியது.<br /><br />அக்காலகட்டத்தில் தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினையின் அடிப்படைக் கோட்பாடுகளைப் புறந்தள்ளி சந்திரிகா குமாரதுங்க முன்வைத்த அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்க (Devolution of pouuer) தீர்வு யோசனையை ஒப்புவிக்கும் கருத்துக்களையே மேற்குலக சமூகம் வெளியிட்டு வந்தது. எனினும் 1999ஆம் ஆண்டின் இறுதியில் முழுமையான மரபுவழிப் படையாக தமது வலிமையை தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகள் வெளிப்படுத்திய பொழுது, களயதார்த்தத்தைப் புரிந்து கொண்ட மேற்குலகம், அதன் பின்னர் ஒருபடி மேலேசென்று அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்கத் தீர்வுப் பல்லவியைக் கைவிட்டு, சமஸ்டி (feederalism) முறையிலான தீர்வு யோசனையை வலியுறுத்தி வந்தது.<br /><br />தற்பொழுது படைவழியில் முழுமையான மேலாதிக்கத்தை சிங்களம் செலுத்தும் நிலையில், சமஸ்டியை விட்டுக் கீழிறங்கி, அதிகாரப் பரவலாக்கத்தில் இருந்தும் பலபடிகள் சறுக்கி விழுந்து, உப்புச்சப்பற்ற அதிகாரப் பகிர்வு (power sharing) வழியிலான தீர்வு யோசனையை மேற்குலகமும், இந்தியாவும் வலியுறுத்தி வருகின்றன. இந்த மெய்யுண்மையை நன்குபுரிந்து கொண்டிருக்கும் மகிந்தர், ஒருபுறம் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் போராட்டம் மீண்டும் வீரியம்கொண்டு எழுச்சி பெறுவதற்கான புறநிலையை இல்லாதொழிப்பதற்கான எதிர்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளை முடுக்கிவிட்டவாறு, மறுபுறம் உள்ளிருந்து எழும் தீர்வு (Home-grown soluution) என்ற கோசத்துடன் மேற்குலகைத் திசைதிருப்பி ‘இலவு பார்த்த கிளி’யின் நிலைக்கு இட்டுச்செல்லும் நடவடிக்கைகளை கனக்கச்சிதமாக அரங்கேற்றி வருகின்றார்.<br /><br />இதன் விளைவாக தமிழ்த் தேசியப் பிரச்சினைக்கான தீர்வாக கட்டப் பஞ்சாயத்து முறையை எதிர்காலத்தில் மகிந்தர் முன்வைத்தாலும் ஆச்சரியப்படுவதற்கில்லை. இந்தியப் பேரரசின் திரைமறைவு அனுசரணையுடன் மகிந்தர் முன்னெடுக்கும் இந்த நாடகத்தில், ஏற்கனவே அவரது இரண்டு கண்களாக விளங்கும் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா, கருணா போன்றோருக்கு மேலதிகமாக, தனது நெற்றிக்கண்ணாக கே.பி என்றழைக்கப்படும் செல்வராசா பத்மநாதனையும் மகிந்தர் இணைத்துள்ளார். இதேபோன்று, ஏறத்தாள மூன்று தசாப்தங்களாக இந்தியாவில் அஞ்ஞாதவாசம் புரிந்த செல்வநாயகம் சந்திரகாசன், இரண்டு தசாப்தங்களாக ஒரிஸ்ஸாவில் ஒளிந்து வாழ்ந்த வரதராஜப் பெருமாள் போன்றோர், இந்தியாவின் நிகழ்ச்சித்திட்டத்திற்கு அமைய தற்பொழுது நாடுதிரும்பி மகிந்தரின் அரசியல் நாடகத்தில் இணைந்து கொண்டுள்ளனர்.<br />ஒருபுறம் தனது தாளத்திற்கு ஆடும் ‘தமிழ்த் தேசிய’ மூலாம்பூசப்பட்ட கைப்பொம்மையாக தமிழ்த் தேசியக் கூட்டமைப்பை மாற்றியமைத்திருக்கும் இந்தியா, மறுபுறம் அதனை சமநிலைப்படுத்தும் வகையில் தமிழ் அரசியல் கட்சிகள் பேரவை என்ற அமைப்பை தற்பொழுது நிறுவியுள்ளது. சிறீலங்கா துணைப்படைக் குழுக்களான ஈ.பி.டி.பி, புளொட், பிள்ளையான் குழு போன்ற ஆயுதக் குழுக்களும், ஆனந்த சங்கரியின் தமிழர் விடுதலைக் கூட்டணி, மனோ கணேசனின் சனநாயக மக்கள் முன்னணி, சிவாஜிலிங்கம்-சிறீகாந்த தலைமையிலான தமிழ் தேசிய விடுதலைக் கூட்டமைப்பு போன்ற கட்சிகளும், செல்வநாயகம் சந்திரகாசனின் அணியினரும் இந்தப் பேரவையில் அங்கம் வகிக்கின்றனர்.<br /><br />இதில் கே.பி, கருணா போன்றோரை இணைத்துக் கொள்வதற்கு டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா முற்பட்ட பொழுதும், சித்தார்த்தன், ஆனந்தசங்கரி, மனோ கணேசன் போன்றோரின் ஆட்சேபனை காரணமாக இந்த முயற்சி கிடப்பில் போடப்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. இதேநேரத்தில் தம்மிடம் சரணடைந்து தமது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கு ஒத்துழைப்பு வழங்கி வரும் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் முன்னாள் உறுப்பினர்களைக் கொண்ட ஆயுதக் குழு ஒன்றை கே.பி தலைமையில் உருவாக்கி, அதனை அரசியல் கட்சியாக பதிவு செய்வதற்கான நடவடிக்கைகளில் மகிந்தர் ஈடுபடுவது தொடர்பான தகவல்கள் தற்பொழுது அரசல்புரசலாகக் கசியத் தொடங்கியுள்ளன.<br /><br />ஏற்கனவே புலம்பெயர்வாழ் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே குழப்பத்தை ஏற்படுத்தி அவர்களின் உளவுறுதியை சிதறடிக்கும் நாசகார பரப்புரை நடவடிக்கைகளில் கடந்த ஓராண்டாக கே.பி குழுவினர் ஈடுபட்டு வரும் நிலையில், மீண்டும் தமிழீழ தாயகத்தில் ஆயுதப் போராட்டம் தலைதூக்குவதை தடுத்து நிறுத்துவதற்கான யுக்தியாக, தற்பொழுது வடதமிழீழப் பகுதிகளில் கே.பியின் கட்டுப்பாட்டின் கீழ் இயங்கக்கூடிய ஆயுதக் குழுவை களமிறக்குவதற்கு மகிந்தர் தயாராகுவதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. கோத்தபாய ராஜபக்ச, பசில் ராஜபக்ச ஆகியோரின் ஏற்பாட்டில் இது தொடர்பாக கடந்த சில நாட்களுக்கு முன்னர் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா, தர்மலிங்கம் சித்தார்த்தன், கே.பி ஆகியோருக்கு இடையில் பேச்சுவார்த்தை ஒன்றும் இடம்பெற்றிருப்பதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியிருக்கின்றன.<br /><br />இதனை முழுமனதாக டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தா ஏற்றுக் கொண்டுள்ள பொழுதும், இதனை ஏற்றுக் கொள்வதற்கு சித்தார்த்தன் தயக்கம் காட்டியிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.<br />ஏற்கனவே தென்தமிழீழத்தை கருணா, பிள்ளையான் ஆகிய இரு துணைப்படைக் குழுக்களிடம் ‘குறுநிலங்களாகப்’ பங்குபோட்டு, தனது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளை முன்னெடுத்து வரும் சிங்களம், அதே பாணியில் வடதமிழீழத்தை ஈ.பி.டி.பி, புளொட் ஆகிய இரு குழுக்களிடமும் பங்குபோட்டுள்ளது. இதில் வன்னிப் பெருநிலப்பரப்பின் தென்புலப் பகுதிகள் புளொட் குழுவின் ‘குறுநிலமாகவும்’, யாழ்ப்பாணக் குடாநாடு ஈ.பி.டி.பி குழுவின் ‘குறுநிலமாகவும்’ மாற்றப்பட்டுள்ளது.<br /><br />ஒருபுறம் தமிழீழ தாயகப் பகுதிகள் தோறும் சிங்களக் குடியேற்றங்களை நிறுவித் தனது ஆயுதப் படைகளைப் பரவவிட்டிருக்கும் சிங்களம், மறுபுறம் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே சமூக விரோத செயல்களையும், தமிழ்த் தேசவிரோத சிந்தனைகளையும் தூண்டிவிடும் நோக்கத்துடன் தமிழீழ தாயகப் பகுதிகளை ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்களாகத் துண்டாடும் நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈடுபட்டு வருகின்றது. இதில் குறிப்பாக வன்னிப் பெருநிலப்பரப்பின் வடபகுதிகளையும், யாழ்ப்பாணக் குடாநாட்டையும் கூட்டாக குறுநிலங்களாக குத்தகைக்கு எடுப்பதற்கான இணக்கப்பாடு, டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவிற்கும், கே.பியிற்கும் இடையில் ஏற்பட்டிருப்பதாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது.<br /><br />முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போரின் பொழுது புதுமாத்தளன் பகுதியில் இருந்து தப்பியோடி சிங்களப் படைகளிடம் சரணடைந்த தயா மாஸ்ரர் போன்றோர் இதில் முக்கியமான பாத்திரத்தை வகிப்பதாக கூறப்படுகின்றது. தற்பொழுது வடமராட்சியில் சுதந்திரமாக நடமாடும் தயா மாஸ்ரர், ஈ.பி.டி.பியின் பாதுகாப்புடன் கட்சிப் பரப்புரைகளில் ஈடுபடுவதாக அங்கிருந்து கிடைக்கும் தகவல்கள் தெரிவிக்கின்றன. இதேபோன்று கே.பி – டக்ளஸ் அணியின் அனுசரணையுடன் தடுப்பு முகாம்களில் இருந்து விடுவிக்கப்பட்ட தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் முன்னாள் ஊடகப் பணியாளர்கள் சிலரும், மூத்த ஊடகவியலாளர்களும் தற்பொழுது கே.பி குழுவிற்கான பத்திரிகை ஒன்றைத் தொடங்குவதற்கான முயற்சிகளில் ஈடுபட்டிருப்பதாக தகவல்கள் வெளியாகியுள்ளன.<br />கடந்த 1980களின் நடுப்பகுதியில் தமிழீழத்திலும், பின்னர் இந்தியாவிலும் தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் மூத்த உறுப்பினராக செயற்பட்ட கே.பி, டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவுடன் நெருங்கிய தொடர்புகளைப் பேணிவந்திருந்தார். சமூக விரோத நடவடிக்கைகளில் ஈ.பி.ஆர்.எல்.எவ் குழு ஈடுபட்ட பொழுது, அதற்கு எதிராக நடவடிக்கை எடுப்பதற்கு தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் மூத்த தளபதிகள் முற்பட்ட பொழுது, தனது நண்பரும், அப்பொழுது ஈ.பி.ஆர்.எல்.எவ் குழுவின் இராணுவத் தளபதியாகவும் விளங்கிய டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவைக் காப்பாற்றுவதற்காக, அதனை கே.பி கடுமையாக ஆட்சேபித்திருந்தார்.<br /><br />முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போருக்குப் பின்னரான இரண்டு வார காலப்பகுதியில், தனது பால்ய நண்பர்கள் சிலருடன் நேரடியாகவும், தொலைபேசியிலும் கலந்துரையாடிய கே.பி, இனிப் புதிய பாதையில் தான் பயணிக்கப் போவதாகவும், மாவீரர் நாள் என்பது தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் போராளிகளுக்கும், தமிழீழ விடுதலைப் புலிகளின் நேச அமைப்புக்களைச் சேர்ந்த போராளிகளுக்குமான நினைவு நாளாக மட்டுமன்றி, சகல இயக்கங்களையும் சேர்ந்த ‘தோழர்களுக்கான’ நினைவு நாளாக மாற்றப்பட வேண்டும் என்று வலியுறுத்தியதோடு, மாவீரர் நாளை நவம்பர் 27இல் இருந்து வேறொரு நாளிற்கு மாற்றியமைப்பது தொடர்பான யோசனையையும் முன்மொழிந்திருந்தார்.<br /><br />இதேபோன்று, முள்ளிவாய்க்கால் போரின் இறுதிக்கட்டங்களிலும், அதன் பின்னரும் டக்ளஸ் தேவானந்தாவுடன் நெருங்கிய தொலைபேசித் தொடர்பாடலில் கே.பி இருந்ததாக தெரிவிக்கப்படுகின்றது. இவ்வாறாக, ஒருபுறம் ‘இன்ஸ்ரன்ற் நூடில்ஸ்;’ பற்றிப் பேசிக் கொண்டு அரசியல் தீர்வு நாடகத்தை அரங்கேற்றியவாறு, மறுபுறம் தமிழீழ தாயகத்தை ஆயுதக் குழுக்களின் குறுநிலங்களாகத் துண்டாடியும், புலம்பெயர்வாழ் தமிழீழ மக்களிடையே குழப்பத்தை ஏற்படுத்தியும், தமிழீழ தேசிய விடுதலைப் போராட்டத்தை நிரந்தரமாக சிதைக்கும் இலக்குடன் தனது எதிர்ப்புரட்சி நடவடிக்கைகளுக்கான காய்நகர்த்தல்களை மகிந்தர் முன்னெடுத்து வருகின்றார்.<br /><br />இவற்றின் நடுநாயகமாக விளங்கும் கே.பியை நியாயப்படுத்துவதற்கு அவரது குழுவினரும், அவர்களின் ஊடகங்களும் முற்படுவது இதில் நகைப்புக்கிடமானது. ஈழத்தமிழினத்தை ஏமாந்த சோணகிரிகளாக நினைத்து, புலம்பெயர் தேசங்களில் கே.பியால் இயக்கப்படும் இந்தக் ‘காகிதப்புலிகள்’ நிகழ்த்தும் அறிக்கைப் போர் இதிலும் எள்ளிநகையாடலுக்கு உரியது.<br /><br />நன்றி:ஈழமுரசுBhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-24865340933928774842010-12-05T05:23:00.025-05:002010-12-06T18:04:04.399-05:00New Evidence of Sri Lankan Army War Crimes Against Tamils by Channel-4 Shock the WorldThe horrifying nature of these war crimes that committed by Sri Lankan armed forces against Tamils during the last phase of Wanni war in 2009, I’m sure anyone would not dare to watch it, begs the world once more for the important of war crime tribunal to be called against those responsible war criminals- Mahinda Rajapaksa and his brothers. <br /><br />If I reveal in what nature one of the women victims, Isaipiriya, in Channel-4 video, got caught with Sri Lankan armed forces that would give more room to understand the gory details of the evil acts that committed by Sri Lankan armed forces. Before that I give you a quick snapshot of her profile. <br /><br />When many crossed into government controlled area on May 17, 2009, people asked Isaipriya to join with them. And she told them, while changing into “panjabi” dress, that she will join them shortly with her husband, Sriram. Until this point, she never fought at battle field. And it all indicates that she and many other Tamil girls were raped and killed by Srilankan armed forces in cruel ways, along with other killed Tamil men in this Channel-4 video clip. I’m afraid that her husband’s body may have been in this clip given both reached the army together. In this nature this kind of war crime evidence coming out is highly unlikely. And that means 100s of Tamil women may have been victims of such Sri Lankan army war crimes.<br /><br />See this link for horrific images of these war crimes.<br /><br /><object id="flashObj" width="370" height="260" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,47,0"><param name="movie" value="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" /><param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" /><param name="flashVars" value="videoId=693375798001&playerID=69900095001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEabvr4~,Wtd2HT-p_VhJQ6tgdykx3j23oh1YN-2U&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" /><param name="base" value="http://admin.brightcove.com" /><param name="seamlesstabbing" value="false" /><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" /><param name="swLiveConnect" value="true" /><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always" /><embed src="http://c.brightcove.com/services/viewer/federated_f9?isVid=1" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" flashVars="videoId=693375798001&playerID=69900095001&playerKey=AQ~~,AAAAAEabvr4~,Wtd2HT-p_VhJQ6tgdykx3j23oh1YN-2U&domain=embed&dynamicStreaming=true" base="http://admin.brightcove.com" name="flashObj" width="370" height="260" seamlesstabbing="false" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowFullScreen="true" swLiveConnect="true" allowScriptAccess="always" pluginspage="http://www.macromedia.com/shockwave/download/index.cgi?P1_Prod_Version=ShockwaveFlash"></embed></object><br /><br />---- stay tuned, more info shortly -----Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-85385016101207044632010-12-03T21:39:00.001-05:002010-12-03T21:41:21.044-05:00Horror videos from Lanka - India Times EditorialThe airing of videos by a television channel in the United Kingdom, which show members of the Sri Lankan armed forces executing Tamils , shown to be stripped and shot, during the last phase of the offensive against the LTTE, is threatening to rock President Rajapaksa’s visit to the UK.<br /><br />While it is reported that the videos are not verified, and as the Sri Lankan government claims the video is merely an elongated version of the clip shown last year (and which Colombo called unsubstantiated), the videos posit the need to have an institutionalised arrangement that not only looks into alleged human rights violations by the Lankan Army, but also aids and abets the wider devolution of powers that must be part of the post-offensive measures in Sri Lanka.<br /><br />Indeed, there is much worry about on that count. The defeat of the LTTE must not be translated into a defeat of the legitimate political aspirations and needs of the Tamil minority.<br /><br />It has been globally acknowledged that a process of political devolution, which ensures a greater role for minorities, is the only long-term solution to the ethnic strife that ravaged the island-nation for years.<br /><br />On his part, President Rajapaksa has recognised the need to share power. But the hard reality is that precious little by way of progress towards that goal can be evinced.<br /><br />On the contrary, there is a growing feeling that there is a concerted attempt to delay and stymie the process of that devolution and political reform. The problem also is that, riding on the success of the army and a certain Sinhala consolidation — which has definite traces of chauvinism — the Rajapaksa regime, comprising a surprisingly large number of Rajapaksas, is tightening its stranglehold on power and the institutions of the state.<br /><br />This has also meant a certain amount of authoritarianism against political opponents and critics, including sections of the media and individual journalists. The videos may yet be unverified, but there is no way for Colombo to shake off allegations of wrongdoing other than setting up mechanisms to both probe rights violations and work on political devolution.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-61425576340735247002010-11-22T19:45:00.005-05:002010-12-03T17:29:45.496-05:00DbsJeyaraj and his Changing Stripes!One can ponder why a person like DbsJeyaraj often overlooked among Tamil journalists considering their work involved in the Tamil or English media channels, by pro-Tamils. Many who were familiar with Dbsjeyaraj in the past know his involvement of RAW, India’s intelligence agency, during the IPKF days of Jaffna in late 80s, while he worked as a reporter for Hindu newspaper, which was nothing but a mouth-piece of Indian government. And it is all well-documented. What we do not know how far he kept his contacts with the RAW since then. <br /><br />With the kind of background he has had in the past, his work often comes under scrutiny, especially from the pro-Tamils’ point of view. Because of the public scrutiny, he had trimmed down his criticism of LTTE or hardly any criticism at all, for the last decade in which time LTTE was a formidable force in SL. Ever since the military debacle of LTTE in May 2009, things had changed dramatically- so had Dbsjeyaraj’s stripes. Using the current circumstances- many people, even the pro-Tamils, are quiet sceptical of LTTE’s decisions during the peak of Wanni war in 2009 - DbsJeyaraj gradually paced his attacks against both LTTE and Tamil interests. What I cannot understand why a person like Jeyaraj who portrays himself a warrior in his articles has selective amnesia- undermining the LTTE only - while he never talks about the federal solutions, nor Tamil grievances. And the low point of his attacks comes in his latest article which stamps “Tamilnet” as a LTTE channel. So much as Tamils valued the Jaffna library, which was burned by Sinhala mobs in 1983 riots, Tamils should not lose Tamilnet that is a vital resource for them, and that should be protected at any cost against all the external powers. I do believe that most of his writings are anything but vague. And it is time for him to change his mentality of “if sabotaging LTTE endangers the Tamil interests, so be it”.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-9649056961347199982010-05-30T22:16:00.009-04:002010-05-31T20:36:20.065-04:00What is Project Beacon? - a Lesson for Ages!It is a must read an article that was written by Dr. C.P.Thiagarajah on Nov 1, 2007. If Dr. T can know about these things - Project Beacon - in 3 years advance, why not LTTE hierarchy? It shows that Co-Chairs played the game to perfection with Tamils. For full article, please go to the below <a href="http://www.tamilcanadian.com/page.php?cat=5&id=5238">Link </a> <br /><br />------------------------------------------------------------<br />World Democracies Wake up: Stop Sri-Lankan Terror<br /><br />By: Dr C P Thiagarajah<br />Courtesy: TamilCanadian - November 1, 2007<br /><br /><br /> <b> There is consensus in world opinion for a political solution based on the UN accepted ‘traditional homelands of Ethnic minorities principle’. However the co-chairs of the aid giving nations appeared to swim against the tide. If as reported in the Tamil Editors.com the involvement of the co-chairs in the 'Three Year Plan' of GSL military solution were true it would be the biggest fraud of the IC. It would be a stab in the back for the Tamil polity. The co-chairs were killing the foetus of Tamil Eelam in the womb. It was alleged that this plan code-named ‘Project Beacon’ was first presented to the Co-Chairs to the peace process in Sri Lanka, namely United States; European Union; Norway and Japan, during December 2005 in the Norwegian capital Oslo. The initiative was to have started on May Day 2006. According to the proposal, the project would be completed by May Day 2009, and an additional two years would be required thereafter for 'mopping up' operations.<br /><br />Project Beacon divided LTTE administered areas as at December 2005 into three coastal sections. The basic plan was to 'softening up' of sections by means of air raids and multi-barrel rockets; diversionary 'mini-offensives' in parts of other sections, and virtual siege of the area concerned for up to twelve months if necessary.<br /><br />Project Beacon warned the co-chairs that there may be 'significant' civilian casualties during 'softening up' activities and 'apparent humanitarian crises' during sieges. Consequently, it was feared that the Tamil Diaspora would take to the streets of their host nations highlighting Tamil civilian casualty and genocide. The plan provided the co-chairs with the names of key Tamil activists who may lead such mass demonstrations in some 12 countries. The plan requested that these individuals be arrested on 'charges of terrorism', thus 'giving a clear warning to the Diaspora on the consequences of demonstrating against the government of Sri Lanka'.<br /><br />Sri Lankan begged that it did not have the financial capacity to procure all the arms and ammunition necessary. It requested that the Co-Chairs to indirectly play a part. They take more responsibility for civil services, in particular in southern Sri Lanka, to ensure that more government money could be siphoned off to the military activity with very little impact on the day to day lives of the Sinhala public.<br /><br />The Co-Chairs unanimously agreed that the Three Year Plan was viable and 'militaristically sound'. The Co-Chairs agreed to abide by the two pre-conditions and review the plan as per necessary some three to four months following each May Day. Political observers might put two and two together and conclude that the IC’s silence over human suffering deaths and genocide in GSL Eastern war might be due to help the GSL in the project beacon. </b>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com39tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-67502842580536335912010-05-09T14:31:00.011-04:002010-05-11T18:48:52.129-04:00This period Tamils would like to forget, can they?<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lV1fbaw_wOKomYlDo-TW-e1m-9MAd4ivFJ4R-6rGRmLW8dmKgk216bZkqmr6zg-ov4o-y6Ph1r4lwVVTt7MRAY1vrAAQzHF5yE8aG4Q1d4zQI-v9oHPU7-PaSknu5wrB6B16K0wfY3s/s1600/Rem.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-lV1fbaw_wOKomYlDo-TW-e1m-9MAd4ivFJ4R-6rGRmLW8dmKgk216bZkqmr6zg-ov4o-y6Ph1r4lwVVTt7MRAY1vrAAQzHF5yE8aG4Q1d4zQI-v9oHPU7-PaSknu5wrB6B16K0wfY3s/s320/Rem.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469341293776872626" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBJSENCJkhrrFxMM4M0c2wCZFyxX-4Lc-QI1zmXmQ5FIg-PANhBD96P1nzkay5Gs-1sRlXmqjlCE1A5B3-wRw3g8ae44QnVyHGz7gcj-5g8mQy8FVshvMAa1919W-_wyijI8DHSPRgv18/s1600/pic1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 218px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBJSENCJkhrrFxMM4M0c2wCZFyxX-4Lc-QI1zmXmQ5FIg-PANhBD96P1nzkay5Gs-1sRlXmqjlCE1A5B3-wRw3g8ae44QnVyHGz7gcj-5g8mQy8FVshvMAa1919W-_wyijI8DHSPRgv18/s320/pic1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469872061627328162" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODlWLvesmwONDT1AAoy2p69pBgBH_nn4hvYz2dXGEGiNaZ-rmwvvm6J9sf6pWoKUDlgUcP6TFD7eQpRGu9oed3xjUinvXsSKAerzNmP5Hunxt1kvawWDMdGENg1RJ8u6V3jnqmIlfHnM/s1600/Picture2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 244px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhODlWLvesmwONDT1AAoy2p69pBgBH_nn4hvYz2dXGEGiNaZ-rmwvvm6J9sf6pWoKUDlgUcP6TFD7eQpRGu9oed3xjUinvXsSKAerzNmP5Hunxt1kvawWDMdGENg1RJ8u6V3jnqmIlfHnM/s320/Picture2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469872318089191250" /></a><br />What was in this girl's mind that time?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGiKp-sloe02I_E2EWdPF9rd_1k0gP1d0NC27tcxU5hY6iQHsG4vYVlplpdSrsqsauiVK2c9x4cdjWiKxykuNJWNmicG5OZNS_hz00T8n2ve1IaiMMtfbhWgsGENisThkdUHAQo9Zw2L8/s1600/Picture3.gif"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 221px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjGiKp-sloe02I_E2EWdPF9rd_1k0gP1d0NC27tcxU5hY6iQHsG4vYVlplpdSrsqsauiVK2c9x4cdjWiKxykuNJWNmicG5OZNS_hz00T8n2ve1IaiMMtfbhWgsGENisThkdUHAQo9Zw2L8/s320/Picture3.gif" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469872615927263858" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5i0cJ62KnquSjDRoirmGcPxP0xAAHsc1yhSnom2hfq2Vku5CjDvmfq2_MWxTZasv8hFKpfZMCgXmjVGrYmxuQ3ngnD8fBBmK7A60MqXxmyGbVA4VWfqWj0059Fp0Bd09KZWgwITaOuY/s1600/Picture4.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 222px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiY5i0cJ62KnquSjDRoirmGcPxP0xAAHsc1yhSnom2hfq2Vku5CjDvmfq2_MWxTZasv8hFKpfZMCgXmjVGrYmxuQ3ngnD8fBBmK7A60MqXxmyGbVA4VWfqWj0059Fp0Bd09KZWgwITaOuY/s320/Picture4.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469872935638809378" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhUV-tFzeKF1zhyphenhyphenOPR5fjfR-rly250GI0-W4iLfMrbeH6WLggNw_T3ic_1LGrXJKtQ8v8iHlDB_Sx_63wMfu9ztJPqhzQoYbB3UZaF4NaT9iB8pxrGsoBYE_mHn4X3uEhTkq7QAk6XIY/s1600/Picture5.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 220px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBhUV-tFzeKF1zhyphenhyphenOPR5fjfR-rly250GI0-W4iLfMrbeH6WLggNw_T3ic_1LGrXJKtQ8v8iHlDB_Sx_63wMfu9ztJPqhzQoYbB3UZaF4NaT9iB8pxrGsoBYE_mHn4X3uEhTkq7QAk6XIY/s320/Picture5.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469873703717224850" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SvDlKDVLWmAEL-7LN5vuGSI6bn-h3C472eakQMeM4ypf1bYfL90FpTFH7gvFV63qqlH3oNt_Yu9n7k9K4YsLaLLxlbdf49uD9OyCd4HVXJVlKeASjP6b_hHcOHX2sC8IPP5TurTs3uE/s1600/Picture6.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 219px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SvDlKDVLWmAEL-7LN5vuGSI6bn-h3C472eakQMeM4ypf1bYfL90FpTFH7gvFV63qqlH3oNt_Yu9n7k9K4YsLaLLxlbdf49uD9OyCd4HVXJVlKeASjP6b_hHcOHX2sC8IPP5TurTs3uE/s320/Picture6.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469873890250947026" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqp4bubD-_aze0H5HfHrkS2D06nV8bz2pfIZ64gPPnXxS05QogQuMHkZ7dWZZEsfcYrBJWstlHNw3jZpp_nS3nBPw3rhbWy_xuJhoCWuAruKCbFToDrCvIZZGJYxBbP2NcqXRTEFpup-M/s1600/Picture7.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 225px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqp4bubD-_aze0H5HfHrkS2D06nV8bz2pfIZ64gPPnXxS05QogQuMHkZ7dWZZEsfcYrBJWstlHNw3jZpp_nS3nBPw3rhbWy_xuJhoCWuAruKCbFToDrCvIZZGJYxBbP2NcqXRTEFpup-M/s320/Picture7.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469874103754108514" /></a><br />Everything was denied for this little kid from parents to food. Unthinkable!!!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_ppqcnAAlwNjBmnLjih_xMvkLmZgkYDcfwKnSKtg7Gu38rk2ejhVBWJhu2iCXGBcIy4TLcJdV5SxGtpON4zeJPbbIjRDJZ5IbRp1iRWjV7wlgx1Lg6wbIGpQNPFKIQ82RrMj4i2t6Xs/s1600/Picture8.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 186px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgS_ppqcnAAlwNjBmnLjih_xMvkLmZgkYDcfwKnSKtg7Gu38rk2ejhVBWJhu2iCXGBcIy4TLcJdV5SxGtpON4zeJPbbIjRDJZ5IbRp1iRWjV7wlgx1Lg6wbIGpQNPFKIQ82RrMj4i2t6Xs/s320/Picture8.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469874284899369554" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdSD1MAqijAmBBKYAsKaSx9fal407Uv7UEaQChITieouJ0_cZcsK_oU2uMMexu_OFjgpTYYEat_A0NzlbCmp8Mb5XVy22HMIhvmOpZumRr9T080hspbQbYS1_UNOzKhaNHOxf0A5Fh58/s1600/Picture9.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 145px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKdSD1MAqijAmBBKYAsKaSx9fal407Uv7UEaQChITieouJ0_cZcsK_oU2uMMexu_OFjgpTYYEat_A0NzlbCmp8Mb5XVy22HMIhvmOpZumRr9T080hspbQbYS1_UNOzKhaNHOxf0A5Fh58/s320/Picture9.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469874465633410706" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNnQ___00wodqJ00IPdCeFio7QflO5mjvx75soKqalUUW3gLOuGq96BRQkTguKl88IkSV6AaDvdp7Q1PInxIiPW6KQ8AKs0H5MfNr0ghj-uBb-GyJo_Q2SiK9gnEKn60yZIAHvI1mx2M/s1600/Picture10.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDNnQ___00wodqJ00IPdCeFio7QflO5mjvx75soKqalUUW3gLOuGq96BRQkTguKl88IkSV6AaDvdp7Q1PInxIiPW6KQ8AKs0H5MfNr0ghj-uBb-GyJo_Q2SiK9gnEKn60yZIAHvI1mx2M/s320/Picture10.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469874627544078194" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Jaz3mLJh8xK6ItTkAurSwFzx3mHf-3GZLkMvgAxYlptLKK8MkAKQsEI0WdluYLLntWBZvj8N4YR9DeANKW3fakaR1cr5255cclAofbgkv_nTj0Olp98yoryqyHy0QyVsvQTapJ-aohA/s1600/Picture11.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 239px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj2Jaz3mLJh8xK6ItTkAurSwFzx3mHf-3GZLkMvgAxYlptLKK8MkAKQsEI0WdluYLLntWBZvj8N4YR9DeANKW3fakaR1cr5255cclAofbgkv_nTj0Olp98yoryqyHy0QyVsvQTapJ-aohA/s320/Picture11.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469874882217346658" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyqTBzmIlGprwtDEUfrOSW-D_Pb3AwiT780AlSys74nWJiGK9x4Qs0H_x0OXQENFuSW8dKLoaqpGdyhzAxzIEvMm_SeLc0mX6mpKfzZhu_7zRu5myjfoLMKrPSoOT5uJ1Ku1ZPc-qf2w/s1600/Picture12.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 250px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiPyqTBzmIlGprwtDEUfrOSW-D_Pb3AwiT780AlSys74nWJiGK9x4Qs0H_x0OXQENFuSW8dKLoaqpGdyhzAxzIEvMm_SeLc0mX6mpKfzZhu_7zRu5myjfoLMKrPSoOT5uJ1Ku1ZPc-qf2w/s320/Picture12.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469875072530978162" /></a><br />Family had become dysfunctional, so six years old kid forced to take care of her little sister in these horrendous circumstances?<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KCmW9z1Qt4Zcv6CLp32o5xVmKstqOZpBETrSMscZjE3LvYUY90gKvCMGz_Gwap_asXtCCT1tlenpCnNhYB0fmkZSOWkZcBKD3jESSizdaD3TOzLHhyrWG-z8ww-pI4rH5l2_OL113N8/s1600/Picture13.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 319px; height: 227px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2KCmW9z1Qt4Zcv6CLp32o5xVmKstqOZpBETrSMscZjE3LvYUY90gKvCMGz_Gwap_asXtCCT1tlenpCnNhYB0fmkZSOWkZcBKD3jESSizdaD3TOzLHhyrWG-z8ww-pI4rH5l2_OL113N8/s320/Picture13.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469875230113212498" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5sodMeAJ-ELrCCumGjJ1xQAEs5vdviIpAnkJ8D0k2zF7MNV-wrr7ZY-8igj4irmMsmSskrUdsMlR9xff5rUaijMkGP70sozxbb8YQeYAJ91zCqtTJ-NEgATvQhKwRNAx7bAmBAwfiis/s1600/Picture14.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 267px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjN5sodMeAJ-ELrCCumGjJ1xQAEs5vdviIpAnkJ8D0k2zF7MNV-wrr7ZY-8igj4irmMsmSskrUdsMlR9xff5rUaijMkGP70sozxbb8YQeYAJ91zCqtTJ-NEgATvQhKwRNAx7bAmBAwfiis/s320/Picture14.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469875379840099282" /></a><br />Just no words to describe this!<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiERnVO8Rro1_C6SFASJ0pJ_iyfwx77D1vzRKdoUmJ5HzObNIYgCDkmDeIBJ3PJxZ_S67BJJmFS9gTHsmjGQK7BF4Z3UNpMLBwxYO-ZZQuIpJR2pzVSaMzK4IiSc2k-pTdL0MRJMAd06d8/s1600/Picture17.jpg"><img style="display:block; 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margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 207px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmSeIvNawKfFb5khglChxEtlRgYtpufC4_C-tknpw9nV5gTKwlqEG1TnhupD2k3rhyphenhyphenSbEKusIjsDK3iHsdtnjVgOvNLt2GpZwn-7m0ITZpg3i073S-YBXyg5LoC0coUEpxd-p17c3_IgY/s320/Picture37.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469879429685440962" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyY1kQp-MOCgZNREdNuyRtCYuGLB18pmaDYJ1twqMHa-LXadSklovnMTaJM8bwek1lCjGbO1oMC8rNHe6O9uFH59W1nb2eSbnynz2G864mOAwH53VsuXBRCgwJomTOb8OQXl-mD5bZOc/s1600/Picture38.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 200px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheyY1kQp-MOCgZNREdNuyRtCYuGLB18pmaDYJ1twqMHa-LXadSklovnMTaJM8bwek1lCjGbO1oMC8rNHe6O9uFH59W1nb2eSbnynz2G864mOAwH53VsuXBRCgwJomTOb8OQXl-mD5bZOc/s320/Picture38.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469879567917144114" /></a><br /><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTibeqpnkShEFA_tOEOxhLg_NeJIdms4ByxduzRLGaGn9Mz2SjpI661_VRMO-93WeoGojYU4bXAJKmvWr1fzeg1T7R3tW7CdC36e6Dus66UqLV9tuJK90rQaj_DV_ndUnO6YVedus8-ug/s1600/Picture39.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 190px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTibeqpnkShEFA_tOEOxhLg_NeJIdms4ByxduzRLGaGn9Mz2SjpI661_VRMO-93WeoGojYU4bXAJKmvWr1fzeg1T7R3tW7CdC36e6Dus66UqLV9tuJK90rQaj_DV_ndUnO6YVedus8-ug/s320/Picture39.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469879716627173042" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdgBpoGyU6nf_g3TxzfbyY9oJwHhCnEJemhTtAdrymAOByoInFkmyTraNexmwX5gSZcmqNQC7cQEp9AoKb3zw6J6P1zKZnwEWN1IQsakDMRZ9iOze_V4NofoLQ0l4W6k5g7_k-WSfHNw/s1600/Picture41.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 177px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCdgBpoGyU6nf_g3TxzfbyY9oJwHhCnEJemhTtAdrymAOByoInFkmyTraNexmwX5gSZcmqNQC7cQEp9AoKb3zw6J6P1zKZnwEWN1IQsakDMRZ9iOze_V4NofoLQ0l4W6k5g7_k-WSfHNw/s320/Picture41.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469880214692976978" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzP51SXrdNZmNuKyW2EMOtcb38VOjrmWcyPx_vt1m4doByWrAV_TdMiEQSREvFt70uIIIjpsDQJno67ozCCCofC5d_B_c8sqtr2ichIKyfnQ-Qq2UTNj_Q64ntYC6q84llhyVeayV91s/s1600/Picture42.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgvzP51SXrdNZmNuKyW2EMOtcb38VOjrmWcyPx_vt1m4doByWrAV_TdMiEQSREvFt70uIIIjpsDQJno67ozCCCofC5d_B_c8sqtr2ichIKyfnQ-Qq2UTNj_Q64ntYC6q84llhyVeayV91s/s320/Picture42.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469880370992175026" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdVHvcq94dY8zmBg4VjH_kvFKBM_7ZWHK33mWr1nuNK-MTDJoke5TCzdYBoLulthS0Hhd5kmlTAkMoR_qjYKKcFl0QzCGqPINo1yfmsRyQFhmhRY7UfMgnbWyg72QLAEuxv1UYcYkl0w/s1600/Picture43.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 215px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxdVHvcq94dY8zmBg4VjH_kvFKBM_7ZWHK33mWr1nuNK-MTDJoke5TCzdYBoLulthS0Hhd5kmlTAkMoR_qjYKKcFl0QzCGqPINo1yfmsRyQFhmhRY7UfMgnbWyg72QLAEuxv1UYcYkl0w/s320/Picture43.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469880529966517026" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheE-Ye0Vd6Hv4YCoeFgtLzdouFksScF0XLSy52PYxaDrtMUCdHqWA3XMlnz8_Jut-OGb5IHhJcZLXg1BmCRIJCcCnJMpwW39Qb2VgxOh4kZUkE7bkpQX0uh9oAUCcjsoivcbTuST3khlI/s1600/Picture44.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 210px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheE-Ye0Vd6Hv4YCoeFgtLzdouFksScF0XLSy52PYxaDrtMUCdHqWA3XMlnz8_Jut-OGb5IHhJcZLXg1BmCRIJCcCnJMpwW39Qb2VgxOh4kZUkE7bkpQX0uh9oAUCcjsoivcbTuST3khlI/s320/Picture44.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469880727640869026" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDREnYV12iOavErGGHZRa9rbpFKpb9O47lO46mnkOXZYwDaXv8LgsrATkXiTTxQbhXHD5RUW1dmdNyXBCVHVcnQ9afpHqBH1VSDiWOM0qtqPCOtSDuEZpudagKWYHWt0je7xS04a4FwXc/s1600/Picture45.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 213px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDREnYV12iOavErGGHZRa9rbpFKpb9O47lO46mnkOXZYwDaXv8LgsrATkXiTTxQbhXHD5RUW1dmdNyXBCVHVcnQ9afpHqBH1VSDiWOM0qtqPCOtSDuEZpudagKWYHWt0je7xS04a4FwXc/s320/Picture45.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469880894665711186" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fqYZ6UnZ39LndBMTqrK4GiLjHseNmYQtigUir7vQrj0k6xqGfFP9-Og7xP9RR3wmmIb9tsY8VUv2qQFgJB_HmEoFLEHHk3xOWK8QGzMvMkpYJYv6cn2YvjXNaTBHK81OxiOtaFg-5AE/s1600/Picture46.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 218px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9fqYZ6UnZ39LndBMTqrK4GiLjHseNmYQtigUir7vQrj0k6xqGfFP9-Og7xP9RR3wmmIb9tsY8VUv2qQFgJB_HmEoFLEHHk3xOWK8QGzMvMkpYJYv6cn2YvjXNaTBHK81OxiOtaFg-5AE/s320/Picture46.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469881048725825394" /></a><br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomQszLKCk60-f5aOm-pygt82nF0T7RBq2nO9jwEBW4XxfpViZy2VREYP-Ta6bHSBX3i7uDJknP1ToSybqBMiFzIuhFnq_AtSGpwQQQarYgt-BO5pvHx4xI8kazEEzYxdBHlOTGXJggWE/s1600/Picture48.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 238px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiomQszLKCk60-f5aOm-pygt82nF0T7RBq2nO9jwEBW4XxfpViZy2VREYP-Ta6bHSBX3i7uDJknP1ToSybqBMiFzIuhFnq_AtSGpwQQQarYgt-BO5pvHx4xI8kazEEzYxdBHlOTGXJggWE/s320/Picture48.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5469881187644252162" /></a><br /><br />These pictures can tell 1000s of the stories. Why I posted these images is just purely getting the word out that many families need your real help. It's not the time for arguing whose fault and what. And one thing is for sure that ultimate justice maybe delayed but won't be denied down the stretch.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com51tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-74567637143674641162010-04-11T20:21:00.000-04:002010-04-11T20:23:01.116-04:00Sri Lankan tells of asylum death voyageTWELVE of Pararasasingam Paheertharan's fellow travellers drowned, including brothers aged 13 and 14 employed as crew, after people-smugglers herded him and 38 other Sri Lankan Tamils on to an ill-equipped fishing boat for an ambitious journey across the Indian Ocean.<br /><br />In the first interview about last November's tragedy, soon to be examined by the West Australian coroner, Paheer said the people-smugglers promised passengers they would be transferred to a bigger vessel after two or three days sailing from Negombo, on Sri Lanka's west coast.<br /><br />"After 10 days travelling we realised we were deceived by them," he wrote in an email after The Australian visited him in detention on Christmas Island last week.<br /><br />"After 27 days travelling, our vessel had a hole -- we tried to remove the ocean water but we couldn't control it," Paheer wrote.<br /><br />He emptied two oil canisters, tied them together and hung on in big waves after the boat sank 350 nautical miles northwest of the Cocos (Keeling) Islands on November 1.<br /><br />Most survivors were taken aboard the LNG Pioneer, while others were rescued by the Taiwanese fishing vessel Kuamg, which was first to respond.<br /><br />The former student union activist told how he was rescued at 3am on his 32nd birthday after eight hours in the water.<br /><br />All 27 survivors, including a 15-year-old boy, remain in detention on Christmas Island.<br /><br />Paheer and four other survivors await a decision on their claims for asylum, while seven have received initial rejections and can ask for an independent review.<br /><br />"We never forget it, every day at night we see our people, who are shouting `please help us' from the ocean," he said.<br /><br />Paheer is among those asylum-seekers who typically pay up to $US10,000 ($10,700) to try to get to Australia from Indonesia or, in his case, from Sri Lanka.<br /><br />One Customs officer told The Australian he was astonished that so many dilapidated asylum boats made it as far as they did.<br /><br />The dangers of the journey from Negombo to Christmas Island did not bother the people-smugglers who took Paheer's money, and for Paheer it seemed worth the risk.<br /><br />Paheer recalled how, as a passenger who spoke good English, it was his job to radio for help at about 1am on November 1, when it became obvious the boat was in trouble.<br /><br />Nine hours later, a fishing boat appeared. "We waved towards it, it came near us, we explained our situation, then the boat captain said `we informed the Australian government, they sent a ship'," Paheer said.<br /><br />"Around 6.30pm we saw a ship coming towards us -- unfortunately before the ship came near us our vessel sank.<br /><br />"I saw that some of us were swimming towards the ship, others shouting here and there, in front of me I saw three people sink into the ocean."<br /><br />One body was recovered. Those who died included the boat's captain and his young nephews, brought to work as crew. A rescued 19-year-old arrived at Christmas Island with the other survivors last November believing his father had been rescued by another boat.<br /><br />It was a police officer's duty a few days later to tell the young man his father was not coming, and was believed drowned.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-34229984162944626422010-04-01T15:27:00.001-04:002010-04-01T15:30:26.247-04:00Sri Lanka's traitorous politicsBy Savitri Hensman -guardian.co.uk<br /><br />"A murderer is less to fear. The traitor is the plague," declared Roman statesman and orator Marcus Tullius Cicero over 2,000 years ago. Accusations of treachery still sting. But in Sri Lanka in recent decades, the term "traitor" has been flung about with wild abandon, raising questions about what loyalty people might owe to a nation and what this might mean in practice.<br /><br />Last year, a civil war ended with the crushing defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), but this has not brought national harmony and reconciliation. Instead, an authoritarian culture has taken hold in which disagreement with the powers that be is labelled as disloyalty to the nation. The general who led the successful military campaign against the LTTE, Sarath Fonseka, became highly critical of the current president, Mahinda Rajapakse, who with his brother Gotabhaya, the defence secretary, also claimed credit for the victory.<br /><br />Fonseka unsuccessfully stood as an opposition candidate in this year's presidential elections. Some government supporters labelled him as a traitor, and he was arrested. In the runup to parliamentary elections, he is facing trial by a military court.<br /><br />A political culture built on mistrust of diversity and disagreement took hold 30 years ago. The government tried to tap into fear of and rivalry towards Tamils among the Sinhalese majority. In the world view promoted by industries minister, Cyril Mathew, in his 1979 work Diabolical Conspiracy, those not Sinhalese Buddhists were particularly prone to be treacherous. In the days of British rule "a very special partiality was shown to the minorities and they were given valuable and privileged opportunities. In this crafty way the British rulers were able to obtain all the information regarding the efforts of the majority people for a united stand, from the beholden and grateful minority communities". This was a gross distortion of history, but helped to fuel suspicion and supposedly justify abuses of power. Harsh repression alienated many Tamil youth, swelling the ranks of an initially tiny militant movement fighting for a separate state.<br /><br />It was not just ethnic and religious minorities who came under attack: anyone who questioned the regime risked arrest or death. After unleashing violence against Tamil civilians in 1983, the government banned much of the opposition including the main Tamil party and Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), supported largely by discontented Sinhalese youth, supposedly for undermining national security.<br /><br />This fuelled support for the Tamil nationalist movement as well as a JVP rebellion. Soon the JVP, too, was labelling those its leaders disapproved of as traitors and violently targeting them The LTTE also set out to stamp its authority over the Tamil people, detaining or killing "traitors" – rival Tamil nationalists, moderates and anyone suspected of being critical of its policies, which included terrorist attacks, ethnic cleansing and child conscription.<br /><br />Meanwhile, human rights activists such as idealistic young opposition MP Rajapakse risked their safety to publicise the regime's injustices internationally and try to restore a less violent and divisive political culture.<br /><br />Now in power, it is ironic that Rajapakse is promoting the kind of repression he once opposed so strongly, further dividing rather than reconciling Sri Lankans. Critics of the government are labelled as traitors, human rights and democracy undermined.<br /><br />In any country where quasi-religious adoration of "the nation" takes hold, there is a risk this may tip over into unquestioning obedience to its leaders. Ironically, this may harm rather than protect its people and what is best in its heritage. The kind of patriotism needed by Sri Lanka and other countries today is that described by human rights defender Clarence Darrow: "True patriotism hates injustice in its own land more than anywhere else."Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-91104743079214986272010-03-25T22:04:00.002-04:002010-03-25T22:09:58.502-04:00Boycott of Sri Lanka Products is Started to Bear Fruits<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRorpr8Z0bSUq6DsE-QwkH2m1o1EKUbg5eJpjXecWW0c1FSvmD6w96HI2qsZp4a1c1yN81W8cM8Vza_1Xs_-oAJCdwSl-M3d18LlpzmA4c3zv8U8oalvQ4Z2iOZbWFgL5sSGVLdstjoJM/s1600/suren.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 140px; height: 140px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhRorpr8Z0bSUq6DsE-QwkH2m1o1EKUbg5eJpjXecWW0c1FSvmD6w96HI2qsZp4a1c1yN81W8cM8Vza_1Xs_-oAJCdwSl-M3d18LlpzmA4c3zv8U8oalvQ4Z2iOZbWFgL5sSGVLdstjoJM/s320/suren.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5452757962956398434" /></a><br /><br />Suren Surendiran is a senior member of the British Tamils Forum and the official spokesperson for the Global Tamil Forum. <br /><br /><br />“Some governments try to dodge criticism by claiming that human rights are ‘western values’. But people all over the world prove them wrong by demanding and suffering for their human rights – be they imprisoned protesters in Iran, or murdered journalists in Russia, or civilians caught up in conflicts in Sri Lanka or Gaza. We must continue to support people who demand their human rights across the world.” – David Miliband, Foreign Secretary, Statement to mark International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2009 -<br /><br />Sri Lanka’s president is pressing forward with parliamentary elections on April 8, 2010 despite allegations of electoral malpractice surrounding his own presidential election victory in January, the country facing economic crisis and growing international criticisms for the State’s callous disregard for human rights, general governance and lack of political will to resolve the 62 years long conflict.<br /><br />The U.S. State Department, in its Annual Report on Human Rights for 2009, has been highly critical of the Sri Lankan government. It says the government or paramilitary groups close to it were involved in summary killings and disappearances and that lawyers and journalists were harassed and victimised. It says the war-affected parts of the country saw the greatest number of political disappearances, estimated to be in the hundreds.<br /><br />Britain has also named Sri Lanka a “country of concern” in the latest Foreign and Commonwealth Office Human Rights Report 2009. “This reflects our concern about allegations of serious conflict violations, as well as the deteriorating status of the rule of law and freedom of expression…” – United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office Annual Report on Human Rights 2009<br /><br />United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on March 8, 2010 expressed “concerns about the lack of progress on political reconciliation, the treatment of Internally Displaced Persons and the setting up of an accountability process in Sri Lanka”.<br /><br />The prospect of a panel of experts being appointed to advise the Secretary General on accountability issues relating to Sri Lanka was not welcomed by President Rajapakse who said it was “uncalled for and unwarranted”.<br /><br />Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations Sir Mark Lyall Grant has said that UK disagrees with the argument put forward by the Non-Aligned Movement and that “[Secretary General] does have a mandate through the U.N. charter to uphold human rights and humanitarian international law, and therefore he is entirely within his rights to set up a group of experts who will advise him on taking forward his concerns about some of the allegations that have been made in the recent months in Sri Lanka”. – Colombopage, 20 Mar 2010<br /><br />“Sri Lanka’s government has sought an additional 39.6 billion rupees ($345 million) to fund its military, a 20 percent increase from the original defence budget despite the end of a 25-year war against Tamil Tigers in May.<br /><br />“Sri Lanka has a public sector of around 6 percent of the population. Maintaining loss-making public institutions without reforms, high and unproductive subsidies, a government with over 110 Ministers and expenditures that make more political than economic sense are other factors in the deficit.” – Reuters, March 4, 2010<br /><br />It is no surprise that the International Monetary Fund has delayed the third tranche of a $2.6 billion loan after Sri Lanka failed to achieve its budget deficit target to reduce deficit to 7 percent of GDP.<br /><br />An IMF mission to Sri Lanka in February concluded that they were unable to “complete” its review until the pending parliamentary elections in April. It is however important to note that Sri Lanka’s last two IMF programs ended with missions that were unable to “complete reviews”, effectively staying suspended. – Lanka Business Online, 25 Feb 2010.<br /><br />Despite Sri Lanka’s claims that it can overcome suspension of IMF loan, the country is already fearing the affects of the temporary suspension of General Scheme of Preference (GSP+) trade concessions due to come into effect in August 2010.<br /><br />“Western countries, and groups in the Tamil Diaspora, are pressing for some kind of accountability for thousands of civilian deaths at the end of the war. Sri Lanka is adamant its soldiers did not violate international law, and that for now has cost it enhanced European Union trade preferences known as GSP+ worth $136 million a year.” – Reuters, 2 Mar 2010<br /><br />Some of these above quotes and links stand as evidence that credible independent media organisations, institutions and foreign governments have highlighted facts, which I have used to illustrate my argument that the Rajapaksha regime is driving Sri Lanka into economic ruin for the sake of power at the cost of humanity itself.<br /><br />It is hoped that all donors including China, Japan and India will follow precedence set by Britain and the U.S. in persuading Sri Lanka to address its human rights record.<br /><br />It is against this backdrop and as part of its campaign to create worldwide awareness of the real human rights situation in Sri Lanka, the Global Tamil Forum has called for a worldwide boycott of Sri Lankan products and services – www.boycottsrilanka.comBhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-18037831668298611132010-02-20T20:18:00.012-05:002010-02-25T13:53:21.433-05:00Sri Lanka is Quickly Becoming the Congo of South Asia for Its Continuous Subject of Rapes of Tamil Women and GirlsNever ending stories of rapes of Tamil women and girls at the hands of Srilankan armed forces and its paramilitaries is norm of daily lives of Tamils who what they face in Sri Lanka nowadays. What is so alarming is that these criminals were never brought into justice. For example, Krishanthy case, in which the victim - Tamil teenage girl -was gang raped and later killed by two dozen Srilankan military men in the outposts of their camp in Ariyalai, Jaffna, in early 90s when she was on the way to her school. And another story of young Tamil woman worker of TRO ( Tamil relief Organization ) how she was gang raped and killed by about 20 paramilitary members of TMVP ( Karuna led faction of LTTE) for her suspected affiliation with LTTE in 2006. Because of the culture of impunity in Sri Lanka it encourages the Srilankan armed personnel to inflict more crimes against Tamil women and girls whenever they get chances. In the past, Srilankan armed forces often used to see every Tamil woman as their sexual pry or LTTE cadre given how the civil war played out in last 3 decades . Now LTTE is not in the picture, and it makes things easier for paramilitaries and Srilankan armed forces to go after any Tamil woman or girl whom they like. Raping of Tamil women and girls by Srilankan armed forces has become widespread in Sri Lanka but many stories never hit the mass media due to the backlashes the families of victims expect both from the culprits and the Tamil community itself.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_r4JB_8QVX4An8L7f4Z1rQBQ3tZjKEjqZ_wWaMuGeymZHA90mW4TWoZf4K1f8UlSEFc9jA-Wva__M3ZXQO06Djht3QpIFLLGN7kQyRmvlBtsoz4RRlEJ1vBsZZLeYNdiuMk-HVjRVp0/s1600-h/Tamilvictim1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 240px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc_r4JB_8QVX4An8L7f4Z1rQBQ3tZjKEjqZ_wWaMuGeymZHA90mW4TWoZf4K1f8UlSEFc9jA-Wva__M3ZXQO06Djht3QpIFLLGN7kQyRmvlBtsoz4RRlEJ1vBsZZLeYNdiuMk-HVjRVp0/s320/Tamilvictim1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440520526822188338" /></a><br /><br />One can argue that what are the benefits in trying to prevent the future rapes if the victims can go through anguish, isolation and the stigma by revealing their horrifying events to the public. Well, how many of you knew that more than 4,000 Tamil women were raped by IPKF (Indian Peace Keeping Force) and its paramilitaries ( ENDLF, PLOTE, etc) during their stay of 3-year period from 1987 to 1989? Even if the local media knew about those incidents, they failed to bring into public because of the retaliation from the culprits of these rapes. People familiar with the IPKF rule in Jaffna knew well about how Tamil women and girls suffered at the heels of IPKF and its paramilitaries. And those paramilitaries often wait on the streets of Jaffna for the school girls to come out from their schools like Veambadi, Chundikuli and Hindu Ladies College etc. These victims were often disappeared for days and released later on with the mercy of their captors or they were killed in some instances. It was evident from the findings of many female bodies buried beside the Ashoka Hotel that was occupied by IPKF and its paramilitaries during their stay in Jaffna. Many can think that 4,000 rape victims may not be high enough to think as epidemic of rape and grotesque violence against Tamil women in IPKF time. In fact, if you go into those little details of the Jaffna population, you would see it was clearly on the epidemic scale. <br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Tm_3QDHE179zlGDKUwwRhoDDgmPfNPN5akkkuGKSkxhQEemk82cBA5les4A_1orpsVc0GPglDRkwrbxMicHSZHJZKWrmLOxqbkdHRPyQRSntytLPPr6FDJ5V49PzwPRDW7h-GMdZJ10/s1600-h/tamilvictim2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 239px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4Tm_3QDHE179zlGDKUwwRhoDDgmPfNPN5akkkuGKSkxhQEemk82cBA5les4A_1orpsVc0GPglDRkwrbxMicHSZHJZKWrmLOxqbkdHRPyQRSntytLPPr6FDJ5V49PzwPRDW7h-GMdZJ10/s320/tamilvictim2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5440520739766567426" /></a><br /><br />What it made me to write this post is clearly this news - <span style="font-weight:bold;">http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=31223</span>- that appeared on Tamilnet few days back. And I see this is as the troubling sign of what to come from the Srilankan armed forces and its paramilitaries who stationed in Jaffna town which currently falls in the high-military zone. I’m already privy to one such incident happened few months ago and won’t reveal the victim’s name and her place for obvious reasons. The victim was raped by 9 EPRLF men (a paramilitary group that led by Douglas Devananda who is minister of the current ruling government in SL ) It is important to highlight the sufferings of Tamil women what they endure at the hands of Srilankan armed forces and its paramilitaries, otherwise it can once again become epidemic of rape against Tamil women and girls in Sri Lanka. <br /><br />One should not forget the barbaric nature of Srilankan armed forces who are often given incentives to work in North East provinces of Tamil homeland that they can always get way with the sexual assaults of Tamil women. Past history of Srilankan armed forces is real proof what you can expect from them. During the final stages of Eelam war IV last summer, Defence Sectary Gotabaya Rajapaksa even said that all the Tamil women can become the possession of his military personnel and Tamil men should be thrown into Indian ocean. If military head can have that kind of mentality, no need to mention how the lower ranks work. It was said in many channels that widespread sexual assaults were on going against Tamil women and girls who were part of the 300,000+ Tamils put behind the barped wires by Srilankan government aftermath of its military victory over LTTE last summer.<br /><br />Haitian peace keeping mission of Srilankan armed forces is a testimonial for how rouge Srilankan armed forces are. If they can go and involve in the raping spree of Haitian girls in their peace keeping mission of Haiti, not to mention that Haiti is more than 12,000 miles away from their country, they sure can inflict more violence against Tamil women in Sri Lanka given the history of hatred Srilankan armed forces have against Tamils in SL. What U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said of Sri Lanka is no accident that rape had been used as a weapon of war in Sri Lanka. <br />If we do not escalate the issue of rapes of Tamil women how they suffer at the heels of Srilankan forces and its paramilitaries, we may see 100s of brothels between Elephant Pass and Jaffna town on A9 highway just as what Colombo has it between Negombo and Pettah. The cultural city of Jaffna can become history for what it is known if we neglect the seriousness of these rapes. More importantly, there is no end to the sufferings of our women.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com61tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-35871662321194502372010-02-12T21:28:00.010-05:002010-02-12T22:22:43.506-05:00Ruwanda, Congo, Darfur, now Sri Lanka - Up to 40,000 civilians 'died in Sri Lanka offensive'By Andrew Buncombe, Asia Correspondent<br />Friday, 12 February 2010 <br /><br />The bitter controversy surrounding the final stages of the Sri Lankan government’s operation to crush separatist rebels has been reopened after a former UN official claimed that up to 40,000 civilians may have been killed.<br /><br />In the final stages of last year’s move to defeat the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the UN protested strongly about the number of Tamil civilians caught up in the fighting. Privately, officials estimated that between 8,000-10,000 lost their lives and that many more were wounded. <br /><br />Now, Gordon Weiss, who until the end of last year was the UN’s spokesman in Colombo, has suggested the figure may be much higher. “A lot of civilians died inside the siege zone. I have heard anything between ten and forty thousand people and that’s from reliable sources who had a presence inside the zone,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. “[The Sri Lankan authorities] repeated a number of things that were either intentionally misleading or were lies. One senior government civil servant remarked at the end of the war that the government insistence that the figures were very low was a ploy. It was a ploy to allow the government to get on with its business.”<br /><br />Last night, the Sri Lankan government dismissed the claims. Lucien Rajakarunanayake, a senior presidential spokesman said: “All I can tell you is that [Mr Weiss] is unaware of the facts. The figures are a total exaggeration. The UN itself has given figures that are much lower than this.”<br /><br />Precisely how many civilians were injured or wounded as Sri Lankan forces defeated the remnant of the LTTE fighters making a final stand in the north east of Sri Lanka, may never be known. At the time, the UN and other organisations claimed that civilians were being struck by ordinance fired by both sides. Testimony provided by Tamils who escaped from the war zone suggests that many civilians were used as human shields by the LTTE as government troops advanced.<br /><br />Mr Weiss was last night unavailable to comment and the UN in Sri Lanka refused to discuss the claims of its former spokesman, believed to be writing a memoir of his experiences in Sri Lanka.<br /><br />In the interview, the former spokesman also suggested there was a need to investigate allegations of possible war crimes. While there have been widespread calls for such an inquiry, including from some senior figures within the UN, the Sri Lankan authorities have refused such an undertaking. “I will not allow any investigation by the United Nations or any other country. There is nothing wrong happening in this country?Take it from me, we will not allow any investigation,” Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the country’s defence secretary and brother of the president, recently told an interviewer.<br /><br />Indeed, the purported readiness of former army chief Sarath Fonseka to cooperate with such an inquiry has been cited by the government as one of the reasons he was arrested and placed in detention and will likely be placed before a court-martial. Mr Fonseka, who last month failed in his electoral challenge to Sri Lanka’s president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, had said allegations about war could be investigated. The defence secretary said of Mr Fonseka’s undertaking: “He simply cannot do that. For one thing it is a lie.”<br /><br />Yesterday, hundreds of lawyers marched through Colombo to protest against Mr Fonseka’s continued detention. They gathered near the country’s Supreme Court which admitted a petition filed by the former general’s wife that claimed his detention by the military police was illegal. The court has given the government four weeks to reply.<br /><br />Such a date would be less than a month before parliamentary that Mr Fonseka has intended to contest. The government has not yet specified which charges it wishes to bring against him, but has repeatedly claimed he was plotting a coup – something he denied.<br /><br />Meanwhile, the US and Norway denied claims made by the government that they had bankrolled Mr Fonseka’s campaign. In a statement, the US Embassy in Colombo said: “The United States backed no candidate but strongly supported a free, fair, and credible democratic process.”Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-16079074201131638902010-02-01T03:47:00.021-05:002010-02-02T21:59:11.494-05:00VP, Death, and the Myth!<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNbsQFhlolVkJLLZY-eH4oklEXqYhF9IMY4h50VoZNIM8rsYlXiNBge_-j1vCMIfJ63MGTNLU9mZC2UbMjxUQmUhOX74i-j6CuB_gamYdm9H6XyL94tqU3bKZtCTV7tCzCsDLwbClPO0/s1600-h/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_2.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 301px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhXNbsQFhlolVkJLLZY-eH4oklEXqYhF9IMY4h50VoZNIM8rsYlXiNBge_-j1vCMIfJ63MGTNLU9mZC2UbMjxUQmUhOX74i-j6CuB_gamYdm9H6XyL94tqU3bKZtCTV7tCzCsDLwbClPO0/s320/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_2.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433194704077047026" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEIeITOkvLrImIyn9nmi5T9ZDF2FJqZRRRrE7nt2-oU-T8Uq5jGWGl6EUnVAUxIh_cb7Q6-1nz_4yPjzllWy4RdNsBGL2n1thOvr1gzKTukzJdhblhaIB4xh7Wkx7xAmUKwNMQlHIYOVQ/s1600-h/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_1.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 191px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEIeITOkvLrImIyn9nmi5T9ZDF2FJqZRRRrE7nt2-oU-T8Uq5jGWGl6EUnVAUxIh_cb7Q6-1nz_4yPjzllWy4RdNsBGL2n1thOvr1gzKTukzJdhblhaIB4xh7Wkx7xAmUKwNMQlHIYOVQ/s320/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_1.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433194593308664034" /></a><br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuRy6zwboGVNT4gXDN_eOjvmedGsIkHLYT578siVqtTV6GTdE2UGV1sCqDm1K7AKpgcxZGyWBFmemg0oQFYpTSBH8XohjinP1Iffmj8FsHLfBtNjK8-STHFWzjy-fR2S01_5Ntf4ePMg/s1600-h/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_0.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 100px; height: 83px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLuRy6zwboGVNT4gXDN_eOjvmedGsIkHLYT578siVqtTV6GTdE2UGV1sCqDm1K7AKpgcxZGyWBFmemg0oQFYpTSBH8XohjinP1Iffmj8FsHLfBtNjK8-STHFWzjy-fR2S01_5Ntf4ePMg/s320/pirabaharanpola_oruvar_0.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433194470552222610" /></a><br />The latest story at Tamilwin - <strong>http://www.tamilwin.com/view.php?2a36QVj4b4cF98224beSIPz0e22p1GQdcd2GipD3e0dpZLuQce04g2F92cdbHjoQ30</strong> - is stirring the controversy surrounding the death of VP once more. It is astonishing to see how the person who is Srilankan army officer on this image resembles the body of VP that was shown in all Srilankan channels.<br /><br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3rN7VB2AvumIHv8KsVFa7EKNhN-u3iIOPa568xkSpCfs_rwjluBGiGt3Z5yYE-Fjwks6e9CDjI417rLULJCLJM2HEbS6L0Pc3nzBscDf_fnSYFuFes9rpI8pgcrIBfO1zn1ytcNAkRc/s1600-h/VPreal.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk3rN7VB2AvumIHv8KsVFa7EKNhN-u3iIOPa568xkSpCfs_rwjluBGiGt3Z5yYE-Fjwks6e9CDjI417rLULJCLJM2HEbS6L0Pc3nzBscDf_fnSYFuFes9rpI8pgcrIBfO1zn1ytcNAkRc/s320/VPreal.jpg" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5433194304133521586" /></a><br /><br />It's the real image of VP that was taken on 2007 Maveerar Day. <br /><br /><br /> There were mixed opinions among pro-Tamils about the death of VP prior to this news story at Tamilwin as some thought he may have been killed and some simply said he never dies. For any common-sensed person, it was hard to reject the opinion of death of VP earlier as all the evidences in Mulliyavaikal directly pointed his death. Mind you, well into first week after the alleged killing of VP on May 18th by SLA, KP who is in Srilankan army custody now maintained his position that VP was alive then. I will reproduce few excerpts of the Tamilnet’s interview with KP that took place on May 18th, 2009.<br /><br /><blockquote><em>TamilNet: The Sri Lankan Government has declared the war won and has claimed that Mr Pirapaharan, the leader of LTTE has been killed. Has Colombo really won the war?<br /><br />S. Pathmanathan, Head of LTTE's International Diplomatic Relations<br />Pathmanathan: The Sri Lankan government makes unverified claims. I am only able to ascertain that our National Leader is alive and well. It is true that many of our senior members and leaders have either given up their lives or been treacherously killed. This is very unfortunate, but it is important to realize that our struggle will continue until the aspirations of our people are realized.<br /><br />The Sri Lankan Government may have declared a military victory. But it does not realize that it is a hollow victory. It has completely lost the trust and confidence of the Tamils in Sri Lanka.</em> </blockquote> <br /><br />One thing is clear that LTTE hierarchy was confident of KP then, otherwise they wouldn’t have moved him into higher up the position of Head of LTTE’s international relations when things started to get serious in the midst of Wanni war. After the executions of political leaders- Nadesan, Pulidevan and along with 300 others- on May 17th, the remaining LTTE hierarchy, assume VP was alive then, may have smelled the rat in KP and that put them not to share the info with KP anymore. Either way LTTE intelligence wing that learned the lessons of its life in the final week of battle in Wanni may have awaken from its sleep in time to think what was right for Tamils and its organization by going silent about the death of VP, even if he was alive. What puzzling to me is that why LTTE allowed the common enemy – GoSL- takes control of KP saga. The seismic proportions of Wanni events may have prevented LTTE think clearly for some time. It looks to me they’re still figuring out the good and bad apples even in their organization itself now.<br /><br />Revelation of VP alive can bring greater harms than VP dead for Tamils for the time being. Let it be what is now that VP is dead. For your own euphoria, you may bring harm to those 14,000 Tamil youths who’re in SLA’s custody now and to those who lost loved ones and their own limps in the war from any chance of rebuilding their remaining scattered lives. <br /><br />As it seems, LTTE is slowly overhauling its ship now. Look at their new website – www.lttepress.com – and it looks to me real site of their own. Don’t jump on the bandwagon quickly, and the GoSL and its Intel channels can double or even triple cross you here with their abundance of Tamil traitors from its arsenal. If you visit pulikalinkural.com, you would know that it is functioning well now. All it suggests that they’re in the fast-paced rebuilding mode now. The immutable fact of life for anyone is that there are two states in SL now regardless of VP’s existence.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com29tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-60804818679151676442010-01-08T19:56:00.006-05:002010-01-08T22:52:07.900-05:00Never Too LateIf we have learned from our past mistakes, we all know half measures never would bring any final result that we want. The amount of energy put into de facto state in Wanni by LTTE on the expense of building a strong political front in Tamilnadu cost everything for Tamils. Should they have built a strong network in Tamilnadu, at least a strong political front, we wouldn’t be in a position that no one would have imagined it before. Leaving the corrupt DMK or ADMK in power for a past decade or so, pro-Eelam elements put themselves in a big hole that wasn’t really exposed until they were pushed against the wall in the last Eelam war. <br /><br />One can argue that the mood was hostile against LTTE in India after the death of Rajiv, so any move by pro-Eelam elements in Tamilnadu would cost the remaining support. Well, one wrong call – the death of Rajiv Ghandi that hasn’t proved yet for who did – should not force another wrong call that was being passive on the corrupt DMK and ADMK leaders who are the reasons for why we have been forced to become slaves in our own land now. It is sad to see the so called political pundits blaming the change of mood in western and regional powers for our current state than our own political people – Karunanidhi and other traitors. <br /><br />Any charity or reform should always start from home. Without cleaning the garbage at home, we can’t point fingers on others - external powers. To the extent India cooperated with Sri Lanka to kill 30,000 Tamils in less than 4 months is a real proof of what you can expect from them in future. Sadly, they even went further by leveraging their current rise of power in South Asia to cover of their involvement of war crimes by silencing the human right calls. It won’t take too long to replicate of what happened to Eelam Tamils on Tamilnadu Tamils. So long as 4 feet “veadi” wearing politicians continue to dance to their masters in New Delhi to amass fortune for them, Tamils will continue to lose their rights, voices, and an identity. <br /><br />Yes, Tamilnadu enjoys the greater economic prosperity within the current system in India. Being the number one industrialized state and the contributor of third of economy of India, Tamilnadu would have easily prevented the bloodbath and saved 30,000 innocent Tamil lives, instead they watched the carnage unfolding in Wanni. When 100s of Tamil lives were forcefully taken daily in Wanni, Sun TV continued to be silent about any human loss. And the mainstream Medias of India followed their soap-opera stories of cricket and movie stars on their front pages and headline news instead of highlight the any suffering of Tamils in Wanni then. It all indicates one thing: there is no value for Tamil lives. Here is the glimpse of idea where Tamilnadu is heading; Tamil cinema rules the lives of Tamils there, and any Tamil channel you tune into contains 70/30 in favour of English dialogue. After all, Tamil cinema is home to pedophiles and perverts, who often backed by corrupt politicians. No wonder why the scumbag, Actor Vijay, openly expressed his interest for joining the Congress. <br /><br />What Tamilnadu needs at the moment is “The Shock Doctrine” version of Naomi Klein – a reform in the wake of crisis. Leader of “ Naam Thamizhar Iyakkam”, Seeman, should stop entertaining the local crowd and it is time for him to start the real work. We need a sophisticated umbrella organization that can take hard decisions if needed. Once the clean-up makes full-circle in Eelam and Tamilnadu, then sky is the limit for getting back our lost land and rights. That means the buck stops with Tamilnadu youth now. With one half-measure, we've already lost 3 decades and 130,000 Tamil lives, if we make one more, there won’t be any recovery for Tamils. It is time for Tamil youth to roll up their sleeves and get dirty in Tamilnadu.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-38795441419528992052009-12-18T15:05:00.008-05:002009-12-21T13:05:38.662-05:00Yes or no to Tamil Eelam( referendum in Canada )As you know, the political vacuum left by LTTE after its debacle in Mulliyavaikkal can bring greater adversities to Tamils if they do not shake off from what happened there. Yes, there are many Tamil factions emerging in our circles since the brutal military victory of GoSL against Tamils back home. Any ambivalence of the broader Tamil public should not be replaced with anti-Tamil views that is what GoSL have already started to throw at us. Please be clear in one thing that as long as we do not deviate from the Tamil nationalism, we're in the right direction regardless of any short-term adversities. Arguing about what good can bring whether forming the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam or supporting the Vaddukoddai Resolution, won't help us. But it is all about keeping our Tamil Nationalism alive in these troubling times until we get the right time to strike back. And that opportune moment can come in 10 years down the stretch or 50 years but we can wait for it.<br /><br />Leaving our youth back home in harms way by escaping into Western countries we also have blood in our hands. If anything in doubt, please see the CH4 clip. How many of our Tamil women are raped by SLA? How many are quietly suffering inside for their current turmoil?<br /><br />The least thing you can do Tomorrow is paying a visit to any polling center that is close by in your area.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-28336868499665740412009-12-16T00:24:00.008-05:002009-12-16T01:04:59.130-05:00Pictures won't hide the truth!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOKJPGSeyMroNNuRs6MHlXCBflZ2tx7knMXIIW-BEhE89BLPeB4WU-QW7LmpdQIjafx0zz0RF2OU2OZi73s5WEamTZmVmEPpe2ntgdhZ4lZ-7yYQcUQ38P2dIcWLDtvgdBVkPn8dL9Ok/s1600-h/thuvaraka1.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 212px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhyOKJPGSeyMroNNuRs6MHlXCBflZ2tx7knMXIIW-BEhE89BLPeB4WU-QW7LmpdQIjafx0zz0RF2OU2OZi73s5WEamTZmVmEPpe2ntgdhZ4lZ-7yYQcUQ38P2dIcWLDtvgdBVkPn8dL9Ok/s320/thuvaraka1.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415704179047574098" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_Z9Lt5SmBT7zx0SwIaGDfpMVKLVLVAS-68BR6OIPNtTJUWNPL32-Vv2AMbcyYk0Qz08_ng4qLYbpNdwRzvyG21aajYLxGqmdEyjWeWeUEnxF2F3ICMDDYMFDDrKUhBZfcn7aQFr0vmg/s1600-h/thuvaraka.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 312px; height: 320px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEis_Z9Lt5SmBT7zx0SwIaGDfpMVKLVLVAS-68BR6OIPNtTJUWNPL32-Vv2AMbcyYk0Qz08_ng4qLYbpNdwRzvyG21aajYLxGqmdEyjWeWeUEnxF2F3ICMDDYMFDDrKUhBZfcn7aQFr0vmg/s320/thuvaraka.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415703817582806050" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE2GT0aOxeUCQ7r9fW0PMXlbaHIhkQ-oTJZkyv-36Umc5Lb8QiBD9fYdR9Ci_YA16di_svTSBefH6hP1av1CvfzS2XZgH34auK_mLnjrY7YaXZo-XXD7w9dZNOZEFa0483nJnVx26dSQ/s1600-h/2009_Aug_29_035412__n6.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 100px; height: 66px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyE2GT0aOxeUCQ7r9fW0PMXlbaHIhkQ-oTJZkyv-36Umc5Lb8QiBD9fYdR9Ci_YA16di_svTSBefH6hP1av1CvfzS2XZgH34auK_mLnjrY7YaXZo-XXD7w9dZNOZEFa0483nJnVx26dSQ/s320/2009_Aug_29_035412__n6.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5415702276870752162" border="0" /></a><br />The evil acts by Srilankan armed forces against Tamils have reached another new low.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-43367905356438039742009-11-19T18:38:00.011-05:002009-11-19T23:07:58.501-05:00Sell-outs are on making, too familiar scenes once again!<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTpjL0IjRZ279Yu8PBQL9vwAgGdu900OmqB0GRT-qa_j3023r0_bd_qejdjYRguMaFtHV_ekbbgAMNrS4qL_gvIBOb4wTdMC5abKnK08dyoe063I0d-NyRnK-3iM7kAHHLrFTesOcBz5s/s1600/IN12_TNCM_7788f.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 260px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTpjL0IjRZ279Yu8PBQL9vwAgGdu900OmqB0GRT-qa_j3023r0_bd_qejdjYRguMaFtHV_ekbbgAMNrS4qL_gvIBOb4wTdMC5abKnK08dyoe063I0d-NyRnK-3iM7kAHHLrFTesOcBz5s/s320/IN12_TNCM_7788f.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406023492518950418" border="0" /></a><p class="MsoNormal"><br /></p><br />One man who would have prevented the bloodbath in Eelam that was none other than Mr. Karunanidhi, instead he made his name as biggest traitor of all in Tamil history books.<br /><br />What can you expect from a man who being married three times and a father of a rapist son – Stanley? Isn’t that his daughter, Kanimoli, who bought 250 acres of land in Srilanka in her recent visit of IDP camps in Vavuniya ? <span style=""> </span>Well, call it as a business trip.<br /><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmNC54RHKj3ud27MN27HH8kQkEaL0HFF2n_0OA1Aw9KKUmA-Bp2mmOzXD_N6hrX8wdnFZGHiKrnkaTEnGe7VIC3LecPGVLCa0iIjot1bWlN4AlPrOj5wuzq-UGL73n_nvi7G9JFOtt28/s1600/kishor_02.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 277px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGmNC54RHKj3ud27MN27HH8kQkEaL0HFF2n_0OA1Aw9KKUmA-Bp2mmOzXD_N6hrX8wdnFZGHiKrnkaTEnGe7VIC3LecPGVLCa0iIjot1bWlN4AlPrOj5wuzq-UGL73n_nvi7G9JFOtt28/s320/kishor_02.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406022292055778818" border="0" /></a><br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cn1ly0TsW8PoIbQfqGo9mlNSLCr42Mj_cVZcTiWd5EBz0AQg8BZmLgQrTbwvqv2NpJwZOgHPpxcW1O9KjKSrvsykXVAoQjh1tdjzuXwRWBEvdH7xHgfFd5rBS2lmEckMSgv6kd0Y0oU/s1600/kishor_01.jpg"><img style="margin: 0px auto 10px; display: block; text-align: center; cursor: pointer; width: 320px; height: 290px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_cn1ly0TsW8PoIbQfqGo9mlNSLCr42Mj_cVZcTiWd5EBz0AQg8BZmLgQrTbwvqv2NpJwZOgHPpxcW1O9KjKSrvsykXVAoQjh1tdjzuXwRWBEvdH7xHgfFd5rBS2lmEckMSgv6kd0Y0oU/s320/kishor_01.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5406021965401522306" border="0" /></a> Another Sell-out, TNA MP, Sivanathan Kisor- is making.<br /><br /><br />Not long ago, 1000s of Tamils were massacred like dogs by Srilankan armed-forces with the help of regional powers such as India and China, who wanted their own interests protected at the cost of Tamil lives. Tamils around the world took to streets and begged everyone to save their brethren back home but the world turned its blind eye just as it did in Rwanda, Congo and Darfur. To make things easy, naive LTTE leadership took series of amateur decisions one after one that helped the enemy to put the final nail on our coffins. Now shell-shocked Tamils are in total disarray as many factions are already starting to emerge even within our own camps. Given the Tamil history, traitors- eddapans - are nothing new but the way they emerge before the Tamil-blood gets dry it shows they're so desperate to make a move either for their own interests or Stockholm Syndrome that took the toll on them.<br /><br />If you're concerned Tamil, I would say you should pretend to be in a deep sleep for next 3 or 4 years until things get consolidated.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com37tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-52459258500697850812009-11-12T15:06:00.005-05:002009-11-13T02:02:53.603-05:00Officially the LTTE is done deal ?Revisiting the dirt will only add the pain to Tamils who have no shortage in that aspect but finding solutions to an unanswered questions will help them to think differently even in these adverse circumstances. If you've noticed the LTTE's official statement few days back - passing the torch to the diaspora Tamils from now on regards to Eelam struggles - you can easily come to the conclusion that LTTE is no more. Since the arrest of KP, many pro-Tamil websites started to hit the dust , and also many anti-Tamil elements started to emerge through various channels by using the favorable circumstances.<br /><br />It seems Colonel Ram is reported captured in the east, so there are no pockets remaining except those who have managed to flee oversees, which is not so many. One can wonder about what happened to Colonel Ram's cyanide? It tells that Colonel Ram and GoSL agreed on some sort of deal that would have provided safe passage to Colonel Ram, in return, he may have agreed to silence his guns.<br /><br />Also we have seen Rajapaksha freely visiting places like Tirupati and Nepal, with no fear of being attacked. His relative visited Madurai today, again without fear of attack. Fonseka has relatives in Oklahoma without any security, but they are also untouched. So all of this points out to a complete collapse of LTTE with no members left anywhere. From the day Prabhakaran was killed there has not been a single attack in Sri Lanka of any type.<br /><br />It was a very selfish and stupid strategy at the end, which is unexplainable except for delusion and insanity. The leaders would not let anyone escape alive, everyone had to die with them. I think people like Lawrence were likely executed when they tried to escape. First Tamilnet reported him killed, and then was told to change the story to him being injured. Prior to that there were rumors he was arrested. According to some insider news, Ilanthiraiyan was also executed by LTTE in the final week after finding out that he was an informant to GoSL for many of the LTTE's failed attacks, including the mission of Deepan-Durka that cost at least 500 lives of LTTE cadres.<br /><br />And the story of "silencing the guns" is another ridiculous thing Tamilnet continues to mention. They only did it after every single LTTE fighter had been sacrificed and no one was left except the leaders. At that time they were restricted to a 100 meters area. That is just stones throwing distance. After every fighter having been killed and only leaders left in a few bunkers covering a tiny area of 100 meters, they announce they have silenced their guns to save the people! And immediately following that the first group of leaders tries to surrender. After forcing at least 30,000 LTTE fighters to be killed and 30,000 civilians to be massacred, the leaders wanted to silence their guns and surrender?Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-74663014391614666332009-11-02T09:29:00.000-05:002009-11-02T09:32:26.621-05:00US to question Sri Lanka army chief over war crimes allegations<div id="content"><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/profile/randeepramesh" name="&lid={contentTypeByline}{Randeep Ramesh}&lpos={contentTypeByline}{1}"> By Randeep Ramesh</a>, South Asia correspondent <div id="article-wrapper"> <div class="image"> <img src="http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Guardian/Pix/pictures/2009/4/20/1240268339864/A-video-grab-shows-civili-001.jpg" alt="A video grab shows civilians fleeing a strip of land held by Tamil rebels" width="460" height="276" /> <p class="caption">A video image shows civilians fleeing a strip of land held by Tamil rebels during the civil war. Photograph: Reuters/Reuters</p> </div> <p><a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/srilanka">Sri Lanka</a> today objected to attempts by the US to question the chief of its army over allegations of war crimes during the final stages of the conflict with the Tamil Tigers.</p><p>US immigration authorities told General Sarath Fonseka, who is currently visiting his daughters in Oklahoma, that they would like to interview him before renewing his green card.</p><p>The Sri Lankan government said it was "worried" about the questions he might have to face because the US state department had made "allegations of crimes committed by the Sri Lankan armed forces".</p><p>Officials in Colombo are concerned that the US could also seek to ask the army chief about the involvement of the defence secretary, Gotabaya Rajapaksa – the brother of the Sri Lankan president and a US citizen – in the war.</p><p>The Sri Lankan embassy in Washington has retained lawyers from Patton Boggs, a leading law firm, to make the case that Sri Lanka could resist US attempts to question Fonseka over the defence secretary's conduct.</p><p>Fonseka and Rajapaksa are seen as the brains behind the government's bloody victory in May, which saw the Tamil Tiger leadership wiped out on the Indian Ocean island's north-eastern beaches.</p><p>Tamil groups have long urged the US to prosecute both the general and the defence secretary for what they describe as "genocide".</p><p>Bruce Fein, a lawyer for the US-based group Tamils Against Genocide, has argued that the political justification for a genocide investigation was strengthened because the "<a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/usa">United States</a> has been vocal with Serbia, Bosnia and other nations about policing and punishing their own citizens or residents for genocide".</p><p>There have been persistent allegations of war crimes committed during the final months of the 25-year Sri Lankan civil war.</p><p>Last month, the US state department's leading war crimes official, Stephen Rapp, called on Sri Lanka to conduct a "genuine" investigation into <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/22/sri-lanka-state-department-report" title="allegations of war crimes">allegations of war crimes</a> by both government troops and the Tigers.</p><p>Rapp's statement came as the state department released a <a href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/22/sri-lanka-human-rights-report" title="68-page report">68-page report</a>, based on US embassy findings, satellite imagery and aid agencies accounts, that painted a bleak picture of civilian life in a war zone under constant bombardment and where the death toll was rising. According to the UN and human rights groups, between 7,000 and 20,000 civilians were killed in the north-east between January and May.</p><p>The report blamed both the government and the Tigers. It said rebels had shot people trying to flee from their territory, forcibly recruited child soldiers and used suicide bombers.</p><p>But it also alleged that government forces shelled civilian populations, hospitals and schools in rebel-controlled territory, often in areas that had been described by the authorities as no-fire zones.</p><p>The Democratic senator Patrick Leahy, who wrote the legislation requiring the report, said it "eliminates any reasonable doubt that serious violations of the laws of war were committed by both the LTTE [Tamil Tiger] rebels and Sri Lankan government forces".</p><p>Sri Lanka dismissed the document as "unsubstantiated and devoid of corroborative evidence" .</p><p>Since then, Colombo has promised to investigate the final stages of the war, but many observers have raised doubts over its commitment to investigating itself.</p> </div> </div>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-31474116963622629942009-10-31T18:58:00.009-04:002009-10-31T19:10:45.933-04:00Survival of Maoists will pave the path to Tamil separate land in Sri Lanka, and India will pay the price for its game on Eelam Tamils.<p>By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/y/jim_yardley/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Jim Yardley">JIM YARDLEY for NY Times</a><br /></p><p>BARSUR, India — At the edge of the Indravati River, hundreds of miles from the nearest international border, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/india/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about India.">India</a> effectively ends. Indian paramilitary officers point machine guns across the water. The dense jungles and mountains on the other side belong to Maoist rebels dedicated to overthrowing the government.</p><a name="secondParagraph"></a> <p> “That is their liberated zone,” said P. Bhojak, one of the officers stationed at the river’s edge in this town in the eastern state of Chattisgarh.</p><p>Or one piece of it. India’s Maoist rebels are now present in 20 states and have evolved into a potent and lethal insurgency. In the last four years, the Maoists have killed more than 900 Indian security officers, a figure almost as high as the more than 1,100 members of the coalition forces killed in Afghanistan during the same period.</p><p>If the Maoists were once dismissed as a ragtag band of outdated ideologues, Indian leaders are now preparing to deploy nearly 70,000 paramilitary officers for a prolonged counterinsurgency campaign to hunt down the guerrillas in some of the country’s most rugged, isolated terrain.</p><p>For India, the widening Maoist insurgency is a moment of reckoning for the country’s democracy and has ignited a sharp debate about where it has failed. In the past, India has tamed some secessionist movements by coaxing rebel groups into the country’s big-tent political process. The Maoists, however, do not want to secede or be absorbed. Their goal is to topple the system.</p><p>Once considered Robin Hood figures, the Maoists claim to represent the dispossessed of Indian society, particularly the indigenous tribal groups, who suffer some of the country’s highest rates of poverty, illiteracy and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/infant_mortality/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="Recent and archival news about infant mortality.">infant mortality</a>. Many intellectuals and even some politicians once sympathized with their cause, but the growing Maoist violence has forced a wrenching reconsideration of whether they can still be tolerated. </p><p>“The root of this is dispossession and deprivation,” said Ramachandra Guha, a prominent historian based in Bangalore. “The Maoists are an ugly manifestation of this. This is a serious problem that is not going to disappear.”</p><p>India’s rapid economic growth has made it an emerging global power but also deepened stark inequalities in society. Maoists accuse the government of trying to push tribal groups off their land to gain access to raw materials and have sabotaged roads, bridges and even an energy pipeline. </p><p>If the Maoists’ political goals seem unattainable, analysts warn they will not be easy to uproot, either.</p><p>Here in the state of Chattisgarh, Maoists dominate thousands of square miles of territory and have pushed into neighboring states of Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Maharashtra, part of a so-called Red Corridor stretching across central and eastern India. </p><p>Violence erupts almost daily. In the past five years, Maoists have detonated more than 1,000 <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/i/improvised_explosive_devices/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier" title="More articles about improvised explosive devices.">improvised explosive devices</a> in Chattisgarh. Within the past two weeks, Maoists have burned two schools in Jharkhand, hijacked and later released a passenger train in West Bengal while also carrying out a raid against a West Bengal police station.</p><p>Efforts are under way to open peace negotiations, but as yet remain stalemated. With the government offensive drawing closer, the people who feel most at risk are the tribal villagers who live in the forests of Chattisgarh, where the police and Maoists, sometimes called Naxalites, are already skirmishing.</p><p>“Earlier,” said one villager, “we used to fear the tigers and wild boars. Now we fear the guns of the Naxalites and the police.”</p><p>The counterinsurgency campaign, called Operation Green Hunt, calls for sending police and paramilitary forces into the jungles to confront the Maoists and drive them out of newer footholds toward remote forest areas where they can be contained.</p><p>“It may take one year, two years, three years or four,” predicted Vishwa Ranjan, chief of the state police in Chattisgarh, adding that casualties would be inevitable. “There is no zero casualty doctrine,” he said.</p><p>Once an area is cleared, the plan also calls for introducing development projects such as roads, bridges and schools in hopes of winning support of the tribal people. Also known as adivasis, they have faced decades of exploitation from local officials, moneylenders and private contractors, numerous government reports have found.</p><p>“The adivasis are the group least incorporated into India’s political economy,” said <a href="http://research.brown.edu/research/profile.php?id=1231360402" title="Brown profile">Ashutosh Varshney</a>, an India specialist at <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/b/brown_university/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Brown University">Brown University</a>, calling their plight one of the “unfinished quests of Indian democracy.”</p><p>The Maoist movement first coalesced after a violent 1967 uprising by local Communists over a land dispute in a West Bengal village known as Naxalbari, hence the name Naxalites.<br /></p><p>Some Communists would enter the political system; today, the Communist Party of India (Marxist) is an influential political force that holds power in West Bengal. But others went underground, and by the 1980s, many found sanctuary in Chattisgarh, especially in the region across from the Indravati River known as Abhujmad. From here, the Maoists recruited and trained disgruntled tribal villagers and slowly spread out. For years, the central government regarded them as mostly a nuisance. But in 2004, the movement radicalized, authorities say, when its two dominant wings merged with the more violent Communist Party of India (Maoist). </p> <div id="articleInline" class="inlineLeft"> <div id="inlineBox"><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/01/world/asia/01maoist.html?pagewanted=2&hp#secondParagraph" class="jumpLink"></a><div class="image"><a href="javascript:pop_me_up2('http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2009/11/01/world/01maoist_CA2.html',%20'01maoist_CA2',%20'width=720,height=563,scrollbars=yes,toolbars=no,resizable=yes')"><img src="http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2009/11/01/world/01maoist_CA2/articleInline.jpg" alt="" width="190" border="0" height="127" /> </a> <div class="credit">Keith Bedford for The New York Times</div> <p class="caption"> Indian officers patrolled a forest around their base in Barsur, right on the edge of rebel-controlled territory in Chattisgarh. </p> </div><div class="image"><br /><p class="caption"> Indigenous women walked to a market in Chattisgarh State, where villagers are caught between the Indian government and Maoist rebels. </p> </div> </div> </div><a name="secondParagraph"></a> <p>Authorities in Chattisgarh then deputized and armed civilian posses, which have been accused by human rights groups of terrorizing innocent villagers and committing atrocities of their own in the name of hunting Maoists. Now, violence is frequent, if unpredictable, like the ambush near the village of Laheri, in Maharashtra State, carried out by the Maoists on Oct. 8.</p><p>That morning, following a tip, a police patrol chased two Maoist fighters and stumbled into a trap. Two hundred Maoists with rifles and machine guns lay waiting and opened fire when the officers came into an exposed area of rice paddies. Seventeen officers died, fighting for hours until they ran out of ammunition. </p><p> “They surrounded us from every side,” said Ajay Bhushari, 31, who survived the ambush and is now the commanding officer in Laheri. “They were just stronger. They had more people.”</p><p>The Maoists felled trees across the only road leading to the village. The police, already wary of using roads because of improvised explosive devices, marched their reinforcements 10 miles through the jungle, arriving too late at the scene. </p><p>Officer Bhushari said violence in the area had risen so sharply that the police now left the fortified defenses of their outpost only in large groups, even for social outings. The Maoists also killed 31 police officers from other nearby outposts in attacks in February and May.</p><p>“It’s an open jail for us,” he said. “Either we are sitting here, or we are on patrol. There is nothing else.”</p><p>About 40 miles from Laheri, a processing plant owned by Essar Steel has been closed for five months. Maoists sabotaged Essar’s 166-mile underground pipeline, which transfers slurry from one of India’s most coveted iron ore deposits to the Bay of Bengal. “I’ve told my management that I’ll take a team and do the repairs,” said S. Ramesh, the project manager for Essar. “But I can’t promise how long it will last.”</p><p>The Essar plant is part of broader undertaking by the government and several private mining companies to extract the resources beneath land teeming with guerrillas. Mr. Ramesh said 70 percent of India’s iron ore lay in states infiltrated by Maoists; production in this area is stalled at 16 million tons a year even though the area has the potential to produce 100 million tons.</p><p>Mr. Ramesh fretted that India’s growth would be stunted if the country could not exploit its own natural resources. Yet he also cautioned that the counterinsurgency operation was no cure-all. “That alone is not going to help,” he said. “We are not fighting an enemy here. We are fighting citizens.”</p><p>With police officers dying in large numbers and Maoists carrying out bolder attacks, the debate around the insurgency has sharpened in India’s intellectual salons and on the opinion pages and talk shows. </p><p>The writer <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/arundhati_roy/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Arundhati Roy.">Arundhati Roy</a> recently called for unconditional talks and told CNN-IBN that the Maoists were justified in taking up arms because of government oppression. Others who are sympathetic to the plight of the adivasis say the Maoist violence has become intolerable.</p><p>“You can’t defend the tactics,” said Mr. Varshney, the Brown University professor. “No modern state can accept attacks on state institutions, even when the state is wrong.”</p><p>Local people are caught in the middle. On a recent market day in the village of Palnar, women balancing urns of water on their heads and bare-footed, emaciated men came out of the forests to shop for vegetables, nuts or a rotting fruit fermented to produce local liquor. As peddlers spread their wares over blankets, the nearby government office was locked behind a closed gate.</p><p>“It’s a bad situation,” said one villager who asked not to be identified, fearing retribution from both sides. “The Naxalite activities have increased. They have their meetings in the village. They tell the people they have to fight. The people here do not vote out of fear.”</p><p>Another man arrived on a motorcycle from a more distant village. Several months ago, the police raided his village and arrested more than a dozen people after accusing them of being collaborators. A few were Maoist sympathizers, the man on the motorcycle said, but most were wrongly swept up in the raid. Now, Operation Green Hunt portends more confrontation.</p>“Life is very difficult,” the man said. “The Naxalites think we are helping the police. The police think we are helping the Naxalites. We are living in fear over who will kill us first.”Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-3016403446128221302009-10-23T19:48:00.001-04:002009-10-23T19:49:59.956-04:00Sri Lanka Pressed to Investigate Possible War Atrocities - NY Times.By <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/lydia_polgreen/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Lydia Polgreen">LYDIA POLGREEN</a> and <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/vikas_bajaj/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More Articles by Vikas Bajaj">VIKAS BAJAJ</a><nyt_byline version="1.0" type=" "> </nyt_byline> <p> International pressure is mounting on <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/srilanka/index.html?inline=nyt-geo" title="More news and information about Sri Lanka.">Sri Lanka</a>’s government to investigate atrocities that may have been committed during the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/18/world/asia/18lanka.html" title="Times article">final stages of its war with the Tamil Tiger insurgency</a> as two new reports from the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the European Union.">European Union</a> and the State Department detailing alleged human rights abuses were released this week. </p> <p>The reports come as Sri Lanka also faces intensifying criticism for its decision to keep more than 250,000 Tamils who were displaced by the fighting <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/13/world/asia/13lanka.html" title="Times article">in closed camps</a> that critics have likened to internment camps. The government says it plans to allow 80 percent of these people to return to their homes by the end of January, but insists that it must first weed out any remaining <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/l/liberation_tigers_of_tamil_eelam/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam">Tamil Tiger</a> rebels hiding among them. </p><p><a href="http://trade.ec.europa.eu/doclib/docs/2009/october/tradoc_145153.pdf" title="The European Union Report">The European Union report</a> in particular, which could lead to the withdrawal of trade concessions worth tens of millions of dollars to Sri Lankan garment and fisheries industries, represents the first time the Sri Lankan government has faced a serious sanction as a result of its conduct of the war. </p><p>Economists and business officials said the loss of the trade concessions, known as GSP-plus, could be a serious blow to an already ailing Sri Lankan economy. The country’s large garment industry will likely bear the brunt of the impact because as much as 60 percent of the country’s apparel exports go to the European Union.</p><p>Tariffs on some products could go from zero or near zero to between 5 percent and 18 percent, said E. M. Wijetilleke, the secretary general and chief executive of the <a href="http://www.nccsl.lk/home" title="Chamber’s Web site">National Chamber of Commerce of Sri Lanka</a>. Such increases could sink smaller companies that cannot cut costs to match bigger and lower-cost producers in China and India, he added.</p><p>“Some small-scale firms will not be able to survive and they will have to lay off the workers from their jobs,” Mr. Wijetilleke said. “There will be a huge impact on the economy.”</p><p>The garment industry in Sri Lanka employs about 270,000 workers directly and an additional 50,000 indirectly, according to estimates by Oxford Analytica, a research firm.</p><p>The State Department <a href="http://documents.nytimes.com/u-s-state-department-report-on-sri-lanka#p=1" title="Searchable State Dept. Report">report</a> , which was released Thursday, was largely a catalog of mostly unverified abuses by Sri Lankan forces and the Tamil Tigers based on reports from the American Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka’s largest city and commercial capital. </p><p>Because of limited access to the war zone by independent aid groups, human rights investigators and journalists, the report does not draw conclusions but urges the Sri Lankan government to investigate the allegations. </p><p>Questioned why the report did not take a tougher line, a State Department spokesman, Ian Kelly, defended the conclusions <a href="http://www.state.gov/r/pa/prs/dpb/2009/oct/130870.htm" title="State Department Briefing">at a briefing with reporters this week</a>. </p><p>He said the Obama administration was calling on the Sri Lankan government to open the closed areas to international scrutiny, to investigate the allegations and to bring to justice anyone responsible for atrocities.</p><p>So far, the Sri Lankan government has proved adept at eluding international scrutiny and seemingly <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/01/world/asia/01lanka.html" title="Times article">indifferent to even the harshest criticism of the Western countries</a> on human rights issues. </p><p>It successfully maneuvered its allies on the United Nations Human Rights Council to transform a stern demand for an international war crimes inquiry into a resolution celebrating its triumph over the Tigers. Efforts by Western countries to stall a $2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka from the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/international_monetary_fund/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the International Monetary Fund.">International Monetary Fund</a> also failed. </p><p>International efforts to press Sri Lanka to release Tamil civilians from a vast network of army-run camps in the country’s north have borne little fruit. More than halfway to the government’s self-imposed deadline to let almost all of the displaced people return to their homes, fewer than 10 percent have been allowed to leave, according to the <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about the United Nations.">United Nations</a>, human rights organizations and aid groups. And some who have left the camps have been settled in other camps rather than being sent home, according to Brad Adams of <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/h/human_rights_watch/index.html?inline=nyt-org" title="More articles about Human Rights Watch">Human Rights Watch</a>. </p><p>“I think it is fair to say now they never intended to keep their commitment to return the displaced because they have consistently reneged on their promises,” Mr. Adams said. “Their promises are not to the international community, they are to the people in the camps.” </p><p>Sri Lankan officials denied this, saying that the government had in the past few days begun relocating 41,685 people from the camps to their homes in what was the battle zone. They rejected the notion that the Tamil civilians were being held prisoner. </p>“It is not a concentration camp where they are, and they are not being taken to a lesser concentration camp anywhere else,” said Lucien Rajakarunanayake, a spokesman for Sri Lanka’s president, <a href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/r/mahinda_rajapaksa/index.html?inline=nyt-per" title="More articles about Mahinda Rajapaksa.">Mahinda Rajapaksa</a>.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-49726429814653816872009-10-18T12:01:00.003-04:002009-10-18T12:12:36.808-04:00KP's arrest led to many downfall of pro-Tamil channels?It puzzles me that why "pro-Tamil" channel- www.puthinam.com- won't function anymore. Here is the message from its website.<br /><br /><br /><div id="tamil">தனிப்பட்ட காரணங்களுக்காக இந்த இணையத்தளம் இயங்கமாட்டாது என்பதனை அறியத்தருகின்றோம்.</div> <div id="english">This is to advise due to personal reasons this website will not be functioning anymore<span title="1598 ">.</span></div>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-35061387982692257102009-10-16T14:55:00.001-04:002009-10-16T15:03:28.427-04:00Happy Diwali to All !India gets ready with new dress for Diwali while 300k+ Tamils who are confined into concentration camps in Vavuniya look for the ways to change the ones that they're wearing for months and weeks.Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-33138658022161422052009-10-09T13:06:00.001-04:002009-10-09T13:09:08.540-04:00Behind The Sri Lankan Bloodbath<p>Thousands of noncombatants, according to the United Nations, were killed in the final phase of the Sri Lankan war this year as government forces overran the Tamil Tiger guerrillas. Nearly five months after Colombo's stunning military triumph, the peace dividend remains elusive, with President Mahinda Rajapaksa setting out--in the name of "eternal vigilance"--to expand by 50% an already-large military. Little effort has been made to reach out to the Tamil minority and begin a process of national reconciliation.</p><p>China, clearly, was the decisive factor in ending the war through its generous supply of offensive weapons and its munificent aid. It even got its ally Pakistan to actively assist Rajapaksa in his war strategy. Today, China is the key factor in providing Colombo the diplomatic cover against the institution of a U.N. investigation into possible <a style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;" href="http://topics.forbes.com/war%20crimes" rel="nofollow">war crimes</a>, or the appointment of a U.N. special envoy on <a style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;" href="http://topics.forbes.com/Sri%20Lanka" rel="nofollow">Sri Lanka</a>. In return for such support, Beijing has been able to make strategic inroads into a critically located country in India's backyard.</p><p>Unlike China's assistance, India's role has received little international attention. But India, too, contributed to the Sri Lankan bloodbath through its military aid, except that it has ended up, strangely, with its leverage undermined.</p><p>For years, India had pursued a hands-off approach toward Sri Lanka in response to two developments--a disastrous 1987-1990 peacekeeping operation there; and the 1991 assassination of former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by a member of the Tamil Tigers. But having been outmaneuvered by China's success in extending strategic reach to Sri Lanka in recent years, <a style="border-bottom: 1px dotted; color: rgb(0, 51, 153); text-decoration: none; cursor: pointer; display: inline; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-weight: 400; font-style: normal;" href="http://topics.forbes.com/New%20Delhi" rel="nofollow">New Delhi</a> got sucked into providing major assistance to Colombo, lest it lose further ground in Sri Lanka. </p><p>From opening an unlimited line of military credit for Sri Lanka to extending critical naval and intelligence assistance, India provided sustained war support despite a deteriorating humanitarian situation there. A "major turning point" in the war, as Sri Lankan navy chief Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda acknowledged, came when the rebels' supply ships were eliminated, one by one, with input from Indian naval intelligence, cutting off all supplies to the rebel-held areas. That in turn allowed the Sri Lankan ground forces to make rapid advances and unravel the de facto state the Tigers had established in the island nation's north and east.</p><p>Sri Lanka, for its part, practiced adroit but duplicitous diplomacy: It assured India it would approach other arms suppliers only if New Delhi couldn't provide a particular weapon system it needed. Yet it quietly began buying arms from China and Pakistan without even letting India know. In doing so, Colombo mocked Indian appeals that it rely for its legitimate defense needs on India, the main regional power. It was only by turning to India's adversaries for weapons, training and other aid that Colombo pulled off a startling military triumph. In any event, Colombo was emboldened by the fact that the more it chipped away at India's traditional role, the more New Delhi seemed willing to pander to its needs.</p><p>Indeed, Rajapaksa deftly played the China, India and Pakistan cards to maximize gains. After key Tamil Tiger leaders had been killed in the fighting, Rajapaksa--to New Delhi's mortification--thanked China, India and Pakistan in the same breath for Sri Lanka's victory. </p><p>Today, India stands more marginalized than ever in Sri Lanka. Its natural constituency--the Tamils--feels not only betrayed, but also looks at India as a colluder in the bloodbath. India already had alienated the Sinhalese majority in the 1980s, when it first armed the Tamil Tigers and then sought to disarm them through an ill-starred peacekeeping foray that left almost three times as many Indian troops dead as the 1999 Kargil War with Pakistan.</p><p>India's waning leverage over Sri Lanka is manifest from the way it now has to jostle for influence there with arch-rivals China and Pakistan. Hambantota--the billion-dollar port Beijing is building in Sri Lanka's southeast--symbolizes the Chinese strategic challenge to India from the oceans. </p><p>Even as some 280,000 displaced Tamils--equivalent to the population of Belfast--continue to be held incommunicado in barbed-wire camps, India has been unable to persuade Colombo to set them free, with incidents being reported of security forces opening fire on those seeking to escape from the appalling conditions. One of the few persons allowed to visit some of these camps was U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who said after his tour in May: "I have traveled around the world and visited similar places, but these are by far the most appalling scenes I have seen ..." Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said recently that India has conveyed its "concerns in no uncertain terms to Sri Lanka on various occasions, stressing the need for them to focus on resettling and rehabilitating the displaced Tamil population at the earliest." But India seems unable to make a difference even with messages delivered in "no uncertain terms." </p><p>The story of the loss of India's preeminent role in Sri Lanka actually begins in 1987, when New Delhi made an abrupt U-turn in policy and demanded that the Tigers lay down their arms. Their refusal to bow to the diktat was viewed as treachery, and the Indian army was ordered to rout them. </p><p>Since then, Sri Lanka has served as a reminder of how India's foreign policy is driven not by resolute, long-term goals, but by a meandering approach influenced by the personal caprice of those in power. The 1987 policy reversal occurred after then Sri Lankan President J.R. Jayewardene--a wily old fox--sold neophyte Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi the line that an "Eelam," or Tamil homeland, in Sri Lanka would be a dangerous precursor to a Greater Eelam uniting Tamils on both sides of the Palk Straits. In buying that myth, Gandhi did not consider a simple truth: If Bangladesh's 1971 creation did not provoke an Indian Bengali nationalist demand for a Greater Bangladesh, why would an Eelam lead to a Greater Eelam? </p><p>Actually, the Tamils in India and Sri Lanka have pursued divergent identities since the fall of the Pandyan kingdom in the 14th century. While the Eelam struggle is rooted in the treatment of Tamils as second-class citizens in Sri Lanka--where affirmative action has been instituted for the majority Sinhalese and a mono-ethnic national identity sought to be shaped--the Tamils in India face no discrimination and have been fully integrated into the national mainstream. </p><p>Another personality driven shift in India's Sri Lanka policy came after the 2004 change of government in New Delhi, when the desire to avenge Gandhi's assassination trumped strategic considerations, with the hands-off approach being abandoned. That handily meshed with the hawkish agenda of Rajapaksa, who began chasing the military option soon after coming to power in 2005. "It is their duty to help us in this stage," Rajapaksa said about India. And Indian help came liberally. </p><p>In fact, such has been the unstinting Indian support that even after the crushing of the Tamil Tigers, India went out of the way to castigate the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, Navi Pillay, in June for shining a spotlight on the deplorable human-rights situation in Sri Lanka, including the continuing internment of internally displaced Tamils. India accused Pillay--a distinguished South African judge of Indian descent who has sought an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes committed by all sides in Sri Lanka--of going beyond her brief, saying "the independence of the high commissioner cannot be presumed to exceed that of the U.N. secretary-general."</p><p>The costs of lending such support have been high. New Delhi today is groping to bring direction to its Sri Lanka policy by defining its objectives more coherently, even as it struggles to respond to the Chinese strategy to build maritime choke points in the Indian Ocean region. Indeed, India has ceded strategic space in its regional backyard in such a manner that Bhutan now remains its sole pocket of influence. In Sri Lanka, India has allowed itself to become a marginal player despite its geostrategic advantage and trade and investment clout.</p><p>More fundamentally, the pernicious myth Jayewardene planted in Gandhi's mind triggered a chain of events still exacting costs on Indian security and interests. In fact, nothing better illustrates the fallacy Jayewardene sold Gandhi than the absence of a Tamil backlash in India to the killings of thousands of countless Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka this year, and to the continued incarceration in tent camps of 280,000 Tamil refugees, including 80,000 children. In fact, even as the Sri Lankan war reached a gory culmination, India's Tamil Nadu state voted in national elections for the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) led by Gandhi's widow, Sonia Gandhi, although that governing coalition had shied away from raising its voice over the Sri Lankan slaughter.</p><p>Today, the upsurge of Sinhalese chauvinism flows from the fact that the Sri Lankan military accomplished a task whose pursuit forced the mightier Indian army to make an ignominious exit 19 years ago. Consequently, Colombo is going to be even less inclined than before to listen to New Delhi. Indeed, the manner in which Colombo played the China and Pakistan cards in recent years to outsmart India is likely to remain an enduring feature of Sri Lankan diplomacy, making Sri Lanka a potential springboard for anti-India maneuvers. </p><p> <em>Brahma Chellaney, a professor of strategic studies at the Center for Policy Research in New Delhi, is the author, most recently, of </em><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Asian-Juggernaut-China-India-Japan/dp/8172236506" target="_blank">Asian Juggernaut: The Rise of China, India and Japan</a>.</p>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com22tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-58767281613102926122009-09-16T12:16:00.009-04:002009-09-16T13:16:12.800-04:00Thamilvany Gnanakumar's eye witness story on Guardian Today about what happened in final days of war in Wanni<pre><a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JL9xAFv78KU&feature=player_embedded">Here it is the link</a><br /><br /></pre>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com89tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3782043383177523360.post-80417688549223929902009-09-09T23:41:00.002-04:002009-09-09T23:49:34.825-04:00Lanka’s barbed wire<strong><span><span style="font-weight: normal;">Indian Express<br /><br /></span></span></strong><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">It is now three months since Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared the country “liberated” from Tamil Tiger (LTTE) rebels after a 26-year war. He said then that he wanted to settle most of the displaced Tamil civilians within 180 days — but today, with more than half that time elapsed, nearly 300,000 are still being held in “internment camps”, to which the media and humanitarian organisations have virtually no access. One person who was able to visit some of them in May was UN Secretary-General Ban Ki Moon. He said: </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">“I have travelled round the world and visited similar places, but these are by far the most appalling scenes I have seen...” </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">In mid-August these camps were flooded by downpours which, according to The New York Times, “sent rivers of muck cascading between tightly packed rows of flimsy shelters, overflowed latrines and sent hundreds of families scurrying for higher ground”. “We all knew that the monsoon rain would come,” says Nimalka Fernando, a Sri Lankan human rights activist and lawyer. “Many alerted the authorities. The government should have evacuated the displaced people earlier.”<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Further, there is no public list of those being held in the camps, and many families do not know whether their loved ones are alive or dead. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">The brutal and violent methods used by the LTTE during the conflict are beyond dispute. But while it was going on the government claimed to draw a distinction between LTTE fighters and the law-abiding Tamil population, whose genuine political grievances it would address later. So far, nothing like that has happened. Although it has screened out those it believes were LTTE cadres and sent them to separate camps, the government repeatedly extends its own deadline for releasing civilians in the main camps.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">People who question this inside Sri Lanka, like Ms Fernando, are accused of being traitors in the pay of “the LTTE diaspora”, while outsiders are accused of using humanitarian concerns as an excuse for neo-imperialist intervention. Sri Lankan journalists who criticised the government have been arrested, beaten and in some cases murdered in broad daylight, while many more have fled the country. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">In the last weeks of fighting an estimated 20,000 civilians lost their lives. Government forces are accused of shelling Tamil civilians and killing people who tried to surrender; the LTTE are charged with using civilians as human-shields, forcibly recruiting them as fighters and shooting those who tried to flee. There are rumours of mass graves but no independent observer has been allowed into the war zones to investigate. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">As one of the five “Colombo Powers” which organised the historic Bandung Conference in 1955, Sri Lanka was, for many decades, a model member of the international community. Surely, the people of Sri Lanka do not want to compromise that enviable status, and with it their good standing in the groups, like NAM, that represent the developing world.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Friends of Sri Lanka worldwide, especially in the developing world, do not understand why President Rajapaksa chose Burma/Myanmar as the first country to visit after winning the war. They were concerned to read, on his own website, that one reason for this choice was that “the [Burmese] generals are increasingly finding it difficult to contain insurgent groups in the country’s northern frontier and are willing to learn some fresh lessons from President Mahindra Rajapaksa on how to defeat the enemy.”<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">That is not what the international community in general, and the developing world in particular, wishes to learn from Sri Lanka. Rather, friends of Sri Lanka were — and still are — expecting the country to be faithful to its democratic tradition and act on President Rajapaksa’s promises that the rights of minorities would be respected, that the displaced would be helped to return home, that prisoners would be treated humanely. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">We do not believe that most in Sri Lanka agree with what some are saying in Colombo that developing-country governments can best deal with internal opposition by crushing it ruthlessly and treating any advice to respect universal principles of human rights and humanitarian law (which Sri Lanka agreed to uphold when it signed and ratified many treaties and conventions) as hypocritical. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">This puts a heavy responsibility on all who are close to Sri Lanka’s ruling elite and on Asia’s key powers — India, Japan and China — which have been staunch supporters of the Rajapaksa Government and have channelled large sums of money in its direction (much of it, recently, for humanitarian purposes). It is time for the people of these countries to insist on a full account of how their money is being spent, and for their governments to say clearly that further economic and political support will depend on the following conditions being fulfilled:<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">First, the UN, Red Cross and voluntary agencies must be given full and unhindered access to care for and protect the civilians in the camps, and then help them return to wherever in their own country they choose to live.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Second, a list of all those still alive and in custody should be published, so that families can stop searching for loved ones who are dead. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Third, any who continue to be detained as alleged LTTE combatants must be treated in accordance with the provisions of international law, and urgently given access to legal representation. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Fourth, accountability processes must be established to ensure that international aid is not diverted. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Fifth, the Sri Lankan government should invite regional and international specialists in conflict reconciliation to help rebuild lives and communities. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">Sixth, Sri Lanka should request or accept a full UN investigation into war crimes committed by all parties during the war. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;">The government has won the war, and the world shares the feeling of relief visible among Sri Lanka’s people. It remains for them to win the peace, and the rest of the world must help. That is the purpose of the demands listed above. World leaders as well as public opinion must insist on them, not only for the benefit of Tamils in general and the detainees in particular, but also for the hopes of democracy and human rights throughout Sri Lanka, and beyond. Peace won by the brutal humiliation of a people is rarely secure.<br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>The writer is a former foreign minister of Algeria and UN special envoy. </i></span></p><p><span style="font-size: 14px;"><i>This article was co-written by Edward Mortimer, senior vice-president of the Salzburg Global Seminar. </i></span></p><br /><strong><span><span style="font-weight: normal;"></span><b><br /><br /></b></span></strong>Bhairavhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16773772029563941265noreply@blogger.com11