.'States that want to oppress a people do so by breaking their political will to resist injustice. To do this, oppressing states kill a societies intellectuals and journalists who speak for the rights of their people. This is is why they killed Nadesan. They want the Tamils to be intellectually rudderless. It is easier to enslave a people who have lost their ability to understand the nature of their oppression'' Mr. D. Sivaram

“Nadesan had been harassed and threatened before his death because he had criticized the government and security forces, according to CPJ research”, the New York based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said in a statement condemning the murder of the veteran Tamil journalist in Batticaloa on Sri Lanka’s east coast. Meanwhile Mr. Nadesan’s colleagues in the east demanded investigations into “the pattern of intimidation and murder to silence Tamil journalists.. "On June 17, 2001, a Sri Lankan army officer summoned Nadesan for an interrogation and threatened the journalist with arrest unless he ceased reporting about the army", the CPJ said. "We are outraged by the murder of Aiyathurai Nadesan and urge authorities to find and punish those responsible for this crime," said Executive Director of CPJ Ms. Ann Cooper.

"..we have to go on with the process, because one has to be knocking at the door. Even if you know that what is beyond the door could be not very pleasant, that is the only solution... for the first time  (the LTTE) has split into three. So things are changing. It is not because, I think, the personality of Prabhakaran may change... I do not expect much change from this particular leader. But movements change, other people may change, circumstances and political conjecture change. I think there is some hope.." Sri Lanka President Chnadrika Kumaratunga more

Sri Lanka military intelligence has from time to time unleashed brutal state terror in the East, using individuals and paramilitary groups such as PLOTE Mohan and Razeek group. There is no Karuna group operating in the East now. The recent violence in the East in the name of ‘Karuna group’ is a continuation of this state terror by the SLA,” said Mr. E. Kausalyan, the political wing leader of the Liberation Tigers in the East, speaking to journalists at the LTTE secretariat in Kokkadicholai Saturday.

“Under the ceasefire agreement, the Government of Sri Lanka was obligated to disarm all paramilitary groups within 60 days. If the GoSL had fulfilled its obligation, there would have been no chance for violence,” observed Mr. Kausalyan. “By using the individuals and paramilitary groups that have been working with the SLA since well before the ceasefire agreement, SLA is engaged in psychological operations against the Tamil people of the East.”

"..Sri Lanka's government has stopped visiting U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan from touring tsunami-ravaged areas controlled by the LTTE, despite his requests a Reuters report filed from Hambantota said. Annan was quoted as saying: "I am here on a humanitarian mission. I would like to visit all the areas, but as you know I am here as a guest of the government and they set the itinerary". UN officials told Reuters that they had been striving to convince the government, but to no avail. "It is a relief visit, not a political one. The secretary general wanted to go, but it just didn't happen," said one official on condition of anonymity to Reuters. .."

"...Referring to a news item broadcasted by the Government owned Sri Lankan Broadcasting Corporation (SLBC) Saturday morning, quoting Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri as the source person, that the leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and the Intelligence Chief of the organisation are among the dead or reported missing consequent to the Tsunami tidal wave attack, the LTTE in a press release said that it "strongly protested against the mischievous act of the Sri Lanka Broadcasting Corporation, stooping down to such low level of broadcasting news that are fabricated by interested parties... The government has a moral responsibility to ensure that its media exercise extra caution in broadcasting news material that tend to create tension and confusion, especially at a time the people are in distress consequent to the natural disaster..."

Mr. E. Kousalyan, head of the Liberation Tigers' political division for Batticaloa-Amparai district was killed in an ambush on the highway to Batticaloa Monday night around 7.45...Liberation Tigers blamed paramilitary operatives working with the Sri Lankan armed forces for the attack.

The Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) in an urgent press statement issued on Wednesday morning said that the intimidation of relief workers by the Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) has been escalating in several welfare centres in Batticaloa and Amparai. "The positive relief efforts coordinated by the TRO after the recent devastation are being severely disrupted due to recent STF intervention in the East" said the press release. The organisation said it is in the process of documenting incident reports as they continue to arise and sought clarification from the Government of Sri Lanka the "exact nature of instructions issued to the special task force".

"While Tamils are grappling with the enormous rehabilitation work from the tsunami, the government is trying hard to obstruct any relief work in Tamil areas. In government-controlled Tamil areas Sinhalese soldiers are hindering the relief efforts being carried out by TRO. They are grabbing the emergency relief supplies and diverting them. In Trincomalee, according to reports from that area, they are diverting TRO emergency supplies to unaffected Singhalese areas. In other Tamil areas they are grabbing the relief supplies from TRO and distributing the supplies themselves. Seeing government soldiers in the rehabilitation camps is causing panic. Seeing a Sinhalese soldier in their camp is the last thing a traumatised Tamil person needs..." more

"While vocalizing support for the peace process (for international consumption), Sinhala leaders have done little to actually advance it... In fact, what was done is the exact opposite. Massive demonstrations against the Norwegian mediators, vigorous propaganda against federalism, take-over of key ministries in the peace process by the President on the pretext of ‘national security’, and so on and so forth.It is in this milieu that the existence of the so called paramilitaries, or the ‘other groups’ must be viewed and understood. If anyone believes that these paramilitaries are functioning without the support of the Sri Lanka government and the Sri Lanka armed forces, they are indeed hallucinating..."

"..A plethora of names are being bounced around – shadow war, stealth war, subversive war, and so on. But no concrete action is being taken to arrest it. .. Colombo’s schoolyard politics of sneak attacks and claims of innocence have been tolerated by the international community for too long. The Co-chairs must exert their influence with the new Sri Lankan administration to demonstrably implement Clause 1.8 of the Ceasefire Agreement immediately. A period of mutual de-escalation and confidence building is a sine quo non if a meaningful peace process is to resume. It must begin with an end to the Army’s covert onslaught..."

"The two paramilitary cadres who surrendered to the Tigers in Amparai disclosed that Karuna operates from India and that Pillayan was leading the Karuna group operating in the east. They also revealed that Sri Lankan Government Ministers A L M Athaullah, Douglas Devananda and Maithripala Sirisena are complicit in helping paramilitaries operating in the east, during a press conference held at Thenakam guest house in LTTE controlled Karadiyanaru Monday. The cadres also said that the paramilitaries were involved in violence against Muslims to create dissension between Tamil and Muslim communities..."

Rape and murder of Ilaiyathamby Tharshini

"The Sinhala occupation army in Jaffna is once again on the rampage. Reports coming from the peninsula for the last 2 weeks speak of SLA soldiers systematically sweeping areas of potential unrest and conducting cordon and search in the Jaffna peninsula. Several villages that include Kachchai area in Thenmaradchy, Ariyalai in Jaffna, Myilankadu in Valikamam North, Erlalai North and Mandan in Vadamaradchy area have been subject to cordon off and search operations..."

"The Member of Parliament for Jaffna, Mr Gajendran who was with the marchers was also severely wounded in the army assault. Prof. Perinpanathan of the Faculty of Humanities and Kandeepan, the President of the Medical Students Union were admitted to the hospital with gunshots. The bullet aimed at the Vice Chancellor, Dr Mohanathas, whistled past, as he was quick to fall flat on the ground along with the other marchers, at the sight of impending danger.However, he and Prof Sivachandran were severely butt-assaulted and subsequently rushed to hospital for treatment along with many others."

"The Australasian Federation of Tamil association joins the International Federation of Tamils (IFT) in strongly condemning the ‘Reign Of Blind Terror’ imposed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces on the Academic Community in Jaffna, in which the Vice Chancellor of the Jaffna University, Deans of Faculties, Senior Lecturers and Student Council Leaders were brutally shot at, assaulted, and trampled on their way to the office of the Peace Monitoring Commission on Monday, 19 December, to hand over a memorandum protesting against the recent army and paramilitary atrocities perpetrated on the student population and the civilians in Jaffna within the last two weeks..."

"The Tamil National Alliance vehemently condemns the conduct of the Sri Lankan armed forces not only with regard to the practice of State Terror against unarmed innocent Tamil civilians, but also the brutal suppression of the Tamil peoples' right to peacefully protest against the shameful and despicable sexual assault and murder of an innocent, vulnerable young girl. Incidents of this nature have been systematically used by the armed forces against Tamil civilians as a weapon of war."

Extra Judicial Killing of Jude Sugathy (Theresa) Croos , Jude Arokiyathass Fernando, Emmani Croos, Emmani Anthonikkam Croos

"The international community must take concrete actions to stop Sri Lanka State terrorism. We are aware that when known leaders of the Tamil struggle are killed, such as Mr. Kausalyan, the head of LTTE’s Eastern political wing and the head of the Eastern Tsunami reconstruction efforts, and Mr. Chandra Nehru, the Human Rights activist and journalist Taraki, the international community expressed concerns.

However, the assassination of Mr. Joseph Pararajasingham demonstrates that these concerns have not had any effect on the Sri Lankan government. It is appalling that these and other deaths are never investigated fully and brought to any conclusion. The impunity with which Tamils killings are never properly investigated or punished including mass murders are an encouragement for the armed forces to continue with their killings. However the LTTE is blamed without any effective investigation. This is part of the war to marginalize and dehumanize the only force that can effectively speak up for the Tamils..."

"The Joint Operations Command of the Sri  Lanka... knows that the grossly impudent lie will leave traces behind even after it is nailed down. The 'even handed' approach of the BBC is one result - "Sri Lanka's government and rebel Tamil Tigers have blamed each other for the murder". But those who are not beguiled by the so called 'even handed' approach, will insist on asking the question: why did the Joint Operations Command lie about the identity of the killers of Pararajasingham?  Organisations (like individuals) lie when they have something to hide. What was it that the JOC sought to hide?..."

"Sri Lankan Military troopers and the Colombo Police have arrested 920 Tamils, including 105 Tamil women, in a joint cordon and search operation in Colombo between Friday midnight and Saturday noon  in Tamil residential areas in Wellawatte, Bambalapitiya, Maradana, Kotahena, Grandpass and Mutuwal... Two-thousand troopers from the Sri Lanka Army, Navy and the Air Force together with 1500 policemen took part in the operation conducted in 15 police areas in Colombo following the orders given by the SL President Mahinda Rajapakse to the Inspector General of Police .. The Police described the search operation as a major move to crack down "LTTE activities" in Colombo."

"...More than 920 Tamils have been arrested and detained in Colombo alone in one overnight search. Sri Lanka armed forces are descending on Tamil homes in the middle of the night, privacy of the Tamil bedrooms is trespassed, men and women, young and old, in their night-clothes are bundled up in awaiting vehicles and taken away for interrogation and detention. Although the government tells the international media that many are being released after an identity check-up, they are being arrested over and over again, and subjected to an ordeal of being fingerprinted, photographed, and videoed..."

Sri Lanka Army  murders, breaches Ceasefire & Lie Again - This Time, the Brazen Lie

" Five innocent Tamil youth have been deliberately shot and killed in cold blood by security forces around 7.45 p.m. on 2nd January 2006 on the road close to the beach abutting Dockyard Road and the road leading to Fort Frederick at Trincomalee. Two other innocent Tamil youths sustained serious injuries at the same time and place caused by a grenade explosion..." more

"This is the second urgent appeal the IFT, International Federation of Tamils is making to the IC, International Community within a week...  In complete contrast to the statement made by the military spokesman on the killing of five teenage boys in Trincomalee that they were LTTE cadres killed accidentally in a blast while assembling an incendiary with an intent to attack a military installation, the autopsy made by the state medical officers on their bodies, has revealed that they were shot through their ears at a very close range. It was also subsequently revealed that they were all advanced level qualified civilian students from the same school on a normal evening camaraderie at the beach...

...Five were killed instantly while two are in hospital, critically wounded. A spokesperson for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission, Helen Olafsdottir, told BBC Sandesaya, that there was evidence that all five students had been shot in the head in a manner she described as resembling “executions.” This is naked State terrorism perpetrated on unarmed school children. The Tamil nation, both in Sri Lanka and belonging to the Tamil Diaspora appeals to the International Community to condemn the barbaric act of the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and prevail on the President of Sri Lanka to take immediate and strong action against the perpetrators... Unarmed civilians need protection against a vindictive armed state."

Open Appeal against Sri Lanka Army Atrocities - Dr N Malathy, NESOHR Secretary General

"Over the last six to seven weeks atrocities by the Sri Lankan armed forces and paramilitaries against civilians in Northeast have escalated to alarming levels.Sri Lankan armed forces so far have been responsible for at least 45 deaths and more than 100 disappearances and innumerable shooting/beating and injuring of civilians who were going about their daily lives..."

"The BBC Sinhala Service revealed today a report by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) stating that enquiries are ongoing regarding 20 complaints of forced disappearances that are alleged to have taken place during the month of December 2005... In recent decades, Sri Lanka has had one of the worst records in the world concerning forced disappearances... Past experience dictates that forced disappearance in Sri Lanka entails the killing of persons following arrest. The arrests are performed secretly, so as to circumvent legal safeguards and to prevent any traces of evidence being left concerning the abduction and any further ill-treatment..." more

Bojan Renuka, 30, and Bojan Shanuka, 23, and their mother Bojan Arthanageswary were shot dead by  Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence operatives

"The Government of Sri Lanka not only failed to carry out proper investigations into the assasinations of reputed Tamil leaders, parliamentarians, journalists and activists, but it has also failed to take appropriate actions to prevent the recurrence of such crimes against the ordinary Tamil civilians, all four Tamil parties in the Lankan parliament charged in a joint memorandum sent to SL President Mahinda Rajapakse Friday. The joint statement was issued by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), Upcountry Peoples' Front (UPF) and Western Province Peoples' Front (WPPF) that jointly staged a protest campaign within the chambers of the Sri Lankan Parliament. "

"..The assassination of the key Tamil activist has taken place when the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was about to announce the appointment of Mr. Vigneswaran as the national list Parliamentarian to fill the position held by Joseph Pararajasingham MP who was slain in Batticaloa on Christmas eve..."

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers shot and killed five Tamil civilians Tuesday night close to an SLA 51-1 Division camp located at Vatharavathai, 13 km north-east of Jaffna. The soldiers took the five civilians, a Municipal Council official, an electrical mechanic, a farmer and two auto-rikshaw drivers, into their camp and later brought them out to an open terrain and gunned them down, villagers said. A terror-campaign, let loose on the civilians in Puthur in October 2005, when the villagers spoiled a rape attempt by the soldiers, triggered a series of Claymore attacks in Jaffna. Tuesday's killings come a few hours after Australia commending Colombo for "not retaliating in kind."

"..Neither party to the CFA has a right to adopt retaliatory measures. The parties must report any violation to the SLMM for appropriate action or give two weeks' notice to withdraw from the agreement. Defying this stipulation, unilaterally commencing a retaliatory attack is a gross breach of the CFA. In addition, the attack by government forces on civilian targets, causing death and extensive damage to civilian property, making people destitute is a humanitarian violation and is a war crime under Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court Article 2 ( c ) and 2(e). International Humanitarian Law does not permit warring parties to attack civilian targets and civilian lives. The "retaliatory action" directed on civilian targets in Trincomalee-Batticaloa areas on 25-26 April are the actions of a terrorist state intent on terrorising the Tamil people into submission..."

Sri Lanka Army soldiers opened fire and attacked with Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launchers two three-wheelers with 7 youths inside, killing all of them on the spot. The attack took place inside a lane near SLA Intelligence Camp in Navindil, 300 meters from Nelliyadi junction in Vadamaradchi, Jaffna, around 2:15 p.m. Thursday. The victims, who were on their way to attend a birthday party, were attacked by the SLA men in retaliation to a grenade attack that took place behind their Intelligence camp where 3 SLA personnel, including an officer, were wounded.  The seven victims from Rajakiramam in Karaveddy were identified as:

Selvarajah Suman, 22,
Veluppillai Vimalan, 21
Nagaratnam Naguleswaran, 18,
Palachandran Krishanthan, 18,
Thamotharampillai Sharmilian, 17,
Navaratnarajah Nathanna, 19,
Subramaniam Subash, 19

The attack on the youths from Rajakiramam, a village located 500 meters south of Nelliyadi, comes as the villagers were mourning the deaths of another 2 auto-rikshaw drivers who were killed recently."
 

During the long years of this armed conflict, we have been distressed that the international community has not kept its focus on application of humanitarian law, and has allowed States with their own geopolitical interests at stake in the situation to reframe the discussion about it. This has been to the great detriment to both unbiased and equal attention to both sides of the conflict, but has also led to a kind of international “demonization” of the Tamil people and the LTTE.  From this perspective, military operations that are legal for combatant forces in an armed conflict carried out by the LTTE are widely discussed as “terrorist,” while aerial bombings of schools, hospitals, churches (many of them sheltering persons displaced by the armed conflict) by the Sri Lankan armed forces receive little or no condemnation, although these acts are identified in humanitarian law as violations, if not grave breaches.

Much of the widespread torture, admitted to but dismissed in a crudely cavalier fashion by government authorities interviewed by the Special Rapporteur, occurs in the context of the armed conflict and is hence a grave breach of the Geneva Convention, as is, of course, any death as a result of torture.

But these grave breaches -- war crimes in international law -- receive almost no condemnation for what they actually represent...

Murdered: Ketheeswaran Yathursan (4 months), Ketheeswaran Thanushkanth (4), Palachamy Ketheeswaran (25), Ketheeswaran Anex Ester (23), Abraham Robinson (28), Sellathurai Amalathas (28), Kanesh Navaratnam (50) , Joseph Anthonymuttu ,(64) Sinnathurai Sivanesan(46), Murugesu Shanmugalingam (72), S Kantharoopan (29), Shanmugalingam Parameswari (65), Ratnam Senthuran (38)

"For the first time, the monitoring mission’s field staff were authorised to speak on the record about what they had found. They say publicity is the only weapon they have. The monitors say suspected military killings target civilians believed to be LTTE-linked. Ponnuthurai Thayanithi, 27, killed last week, had one sister who had died fighting for the Tigers but was not believed to have any direct link. Police initially refused to come and inspect the body, said Heiskanen. “This is where the girl was killed in the middle of the day,” Heiskanen said. “As you can see, we’re about 60 metres from an army checkpoint. There are always three soldiers there. The girl had two bullets in her head. They didn’t hear or see anything.”  Heiskanen said he asked the soldiers why they had not noticed the killing taking place within sight and earshot. They said that as the shots were fired, there was a particularly strong gust of wind, so they had heard nothing. “I said ‘how do you know what was the exact time?’“ he said. “It is ridiculous. They don’t even try to make things up.”"

International League for the Rights & Liberation of Peoples writes to  Ms. Louise ARBOUR, High Commissioner of Human Rights, Geneva

As an NGO accredited to the UN Human Rights Commission for many years, we follow with great concern the developments in Sri Lanka. The cease-fire of February 2002 is valid only in name, while the situation on the ground is worsening day by day. Not surprisingly, it is the civilians who suffer the most of the renewed warfare. Thus, according to the Nordic truce monitors 191 people were killed in April alone, the vast majority of them civilians. It was the bloodiest month since the cease-fire was signed over four years ago. On May 12^th, the International Herald Tribune wrote about the situation in Trincomalee under the headline ’Savagery replaces Sri Lanka’s eroded cease-fire’ about the spectre of a repeat of the anti-Tamil pogrom of 1983 that started the civil war which cost more than 65.000 lives, lead to 800.000 internally displaced persons most of them still languishing in camps and more than half a million of expatriates. The government of Sri Lanka talks of peace but going by the increase of the military budget this year of 23 per cent prepares for war.

Closure of A9, the only trunk road to Jaffna from rest of Sri Lanka, more than 10 weeks ago, has halted the flow of essential food provisions, and medical supplies to Jaffna Peninsula, and if urgent steps are not taken, the residents will face severe humanitarian crisis, civil society leaders in Jaffna warned Monday. Jaffna residents face malnutrition and imminent starvation; and shortage of medical supplies and doctors, have wreaked havoc with the peninsula's fragile health care system, hospital and Non Governmental Organizations (NGO) sources said.

Sri Lanka's State Terror - the Terror of the White Van... Video

More than 200 civilians were killed and hundreds of others injured in the five-month long Sri Lanka military offensive carried out in sea, air and land on Vaharai and adjoining coastal hamlets. Nearly 40,000 IDPs stay in 49 temporary shelters and with friends and relatives elsewhere in the military controlled part of Batticaloa district. The Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) from Vaharai and neighboring Trincomalee district express resentment over the inequity in reimbursing relief and compensation by Sri Lanka Government authorities.

" Jeyachandran Prathap, Maiyoor Chandramohan, Devadas Christy Prasanna, Balasingham Surendran, Jesuthasan Jeyasuthan, Paramsamy Visaharan, Marimuththu Kumutharaj, Amirthalingam Alaheswaran"

Bloodbath looms in war-torn Sri Lanka
Special Correspondent, News Weekly  (for 60 years Australia's Independent News Magazine),

"Sri Lanka's "dirty war" against its Tamil minority has surpassed the level of abuses seen in General Augusto Pinochet's Chile, and is now increasingly being compared with Pol Pot's murderous rule in Cambodia... The growing influence of China in Sri Lanka accords with what is happening in many countries around Australia. From the deep-water ports of Sri Lanka, communist Chinese naval power could one day straddle the Indian Ocean."

"The Law & Society Trust, in collaboration with four local partners including the Civil  Monitoring Commission and the Free Media Movement, has compiled a working document listing 547 persons killed and 396 persons disappeared during the period January to June 2007. The complete confidential document, with names, locations of incidents and all available data, has been submitted to the Presidential Commission of Inquiry (“the Commission”) as well as relevant members of Government..."