AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL ACCUSES TAMIL TIGERS OF USING CIVILIANS AS A BUFFER, VIOLATING INTERNATIONAL LAW

The London based Amnesty International accused the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who are in control of Sri Lanka’s Northern Wanni area, of designing measures to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.

Amnesty International, in a statement said, “In the LTTE-controlled Wanni area, the Tigers have hindered thousands of families from moving to safer places by imposing a strict pass system and, in some instances, forcing some family members to stay behind to ensure the return of the rest of the family. These measures seem designed in part to use civilians as a buffer against government forces - a serious violation of international humanitarian law.”

Amnesty International also accused the Tamil Tigers of recruiting people to fight unwillingly in its statement: “The LTTE has also engaged in forced recruitment.”

The organization also criticized the Sri Lanka government of keeping the refugees in camps and not allowing them to go freely, except for children to go to school. “Amnesty International has also received reports that the government is housing those who have been able to leave LTTE areas in temporary shelters that often operate as de facto detention centers. Witnesses from Kalimoddai camp in Mannar district told Amnesty International that more than 200 families who are held there cannot exit the camp for any reason (except to go to school) without obtaining a pass from the government's security forces.”

While seeing to the shelter, food and sanitary needs of the people, the government forces also have to see to the security of the refugees and the surrounding areas, since it was the practice of the LTTE to send saboteurs with refugees in the Eastern Province, military sources said.

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http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=6758

Assassinating Rajiv Gandhi was a big blunder by a short-sighted LTTE

The newly elected chief minister of Sri Lanka’s eastern provincial council was a child soldier in the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), only 15 years old, when former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated in May 1991. In his first interview with an Indian newspaper, S. Santira Kanthan, alias Pillayan, calls the assassination a big mistake on the part of LTTE. Edited excerpts:

What made you join the LTTE and what do you think about it now?
I joined the LTTE in 1991 when I was 15 years old and I thought that through the armed struggle, we could achieve the rights of the Tamil people.

One time the LTTE was very strong, the people believed that it was the only hope for the Tamils, but now they are struggling. That is why the people ended up voting for us.

Why did you leave the LTTE?

In 2004, differences between the northern and eastern provinces became accentuated. I am very attached to the Eastern Province people because I was born there and I know how they were discriminated by the LTTE. I knew that it would be difficult to get Tamil Eeelam (independent homeland for which the Tamil rebels are battling) because the LTTE started killing their own Tamil people. The killing of Rajiv Gandhi was a big blunder which we will never be able to rectify. We lost the dream of Tamil Eelam and left the LTTE and thought better to start a political party through which we can get the aspirations of the Tamil-speaking people (fulfilled).

Where were you when Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated?
I was in the LTTE training camp.

Read more,
http://www.livemint.com/2008/08/10234519/Assassinating-Rajiv-Gandhi-was.html

Tamilnet's latest lies

The Tamilnet website, manned by Pro-LTTE Tamil Diaspora 'journalists' continues inventing news stories favorable to their losing war. In one of its recent and most blatant lies, the website announced on Tuesday, August 2008, that '23 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were killed and four wounded in a Claymore ambush at Periyavaddavaan in Tharavai (Thoppikkal) area in Batticaloa district Tuesday evening around 6:30'.

Supposedly, 'well informed sources in Batticaloa' had told this to TamilNet. The site goes on to claim that this 'is the first major ambush on SLA since the Sri Lankan forces occupied the Thoppikkal region an year ago'.

In a small line below the article, the site reveals the truth, that 'only one SLA soldier was killed in the ambush and three wounded'. Although these lies are clearly to a Diaspora audience, it reveals the dwindling quality of tamilnet's sources in the East. Comparatively speaking, Tamilnet sources in the Wanni still continues as evidenced by an article today alleging a shelling of an innocents house in the Wanni.

Read more,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/08/tamilnets-latest-lie.html

East like phoenix rises from ashes

Snarling through the newly built bund, the dust and heat greet us showing the signs of the rustic life of an area always burdened with hardships.With no mercy, the sun bakes the ‘soil as well as the skin’.

The embarkment built with fresh red soil to prevent flooding which in undates the entire area with more than 15 feet under water. The sluice gates was the landmark of a humanitarian mission to liberate the fertile Eastern province, where thousands of Tamils were held as human shields, from the paws of the LTTE.

Mavil Aru

Despite the scorching sun the tractor drivers and labourers were busy levelling new bund, a stretch of over three kilometres, happy with the Ministry of Nation Building for giving them job opportunities.

“This is the first time that we have cultivated large acreage of paddy lands after liberation of the East. The LTTE terrorists while holding the Mavil Aru anicut, some farmers were chased away and some were killed. We abandoned these lands until the military captured and restored peace”, says H.M. Tikiri Banda, a paddy farmer in Mavil Aru since 1978.

Read more,
http://www.sundayobserver.lk/2008/07/13/sec08.asp

Karuna returns as LTTE eyes the East

LTTE renegade Commander Vinayagamoorthy Muralitharan alias Karuna Amman returned to Sri Lanka this evening from London. His return was preceded by newspaper reports of the former LTTE 'Colonel' threatening to allegedly return to the ranks of the LTTE.

In Karuna's absence, Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan alias Pillayan alias Kubeiran became the Chief Minister of the Eastern Province, a post he said he would cede to his superior, Karuna upon his return. It will be interesting to see whether this pledge is actually carried through.

Informed sources told this site that Karuna's return has come at a time when LTTE's current 'Special Commander' to the East, Keerthi and his band of Jeyanthan Brigade cadres are planning to create havoc in the Eastern Province.

The Karuna group, which broke into two groups, became one after Karuna's arrest and detention. After Pillayan became Chief Minister, it became virtually impossible for TMVP cadres to engage in open combat with the growing LTTE units in the East.

Read more,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/07/karuna-returns-as-ltte-eyes-east.html

Sri Lankan president says action on rebels to continue

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse said Saturday that the forward march of his troops will never be curtailed despite calls from interested parties to announce a ceasefire with Tamil Tiger rebels.

"There are calls for a ceasefire when the terrorists face defeat. I will not allow anyone to curtail the forward march of the troops," Rajapakse who is also the commander-in-chief of the island's security forces told a gathering of teachers.

Rajapakse since becoming the president at the end of 2005 has gone on a military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

His troops have captured the entire Eastern Province from the rebels' control and the government now claims the rebels have been limited to just two districts in the Northern Province.

Rajapakse's statement came as the military announced the capture of a major LTTE held area in the district of Mannar Saturday.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, the military spokesman said a key rebel facility in Mannar's Parappakandal area was captured by the troops.

More than 7,000 people have perished in the island's separatist war since the end of 2005.

The Norwegian backed ceasefire which lasted six years was abandoned in January this year.

Extracted from,
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=312078791

“LTTE will have no option but to negotiate”

Sarath Amunugama, Sri Lankan Minister for Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion, says the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, whose strength in the Eastern province now stands reduced, will have to hold negotiations with the government very soon.

On the lines of the provincial elections to the Eastern province held in May, polls would be conducted for the north if and when the province comes under the control of the government security forces. He was speaking to senior journalists at The-Hindu in Chennai on Wednesday. Excerpts.
Dr. Amunugama’s opening remarks:

We are now reaching a critical phase in the relationship between the government and the LTTE. Now, there has been the provincial council election in the east and Mr. Pillayan who was the assistant of Karuna has been made the Chief Minister. Pillayan [Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan] started as a child soldier, graduated through the LTTE. But when there was this conflict with the security forces, Karuna’s group joined hands with us.

The LTTE’s strength in the Eastern province has been largely reduced. Initially we had the local bodies election — elections of Batticaloa and one of the smaller villages. Both were won by Mr. Pillayan. Subsequently, there was the Eastern provincial election. The government and Mr. Pillayan [referring to the electoral pact between the Sri Lankan Freedom Party and Mr. Pillayan’s Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal] won that election.

Now he is the Chief Minister. He is getting on famously with other Chief Ministers. Recently he has been appointed chairman of the Chief Ministers’ Council. That has led to a lot of consequences.

Read more,
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/06/21/stories/2008062154991100.htm

It’s very unrealistic to think of a ceasefire at this stage -Basil

Q: Analysts see the May Eastern victory as a triumph of war strategy and political consolidation. Is there a danger of you and Gotabhaya exercising more power in this scenario?

First you need to see that the East was not a favourable province for the PA. The President lost the East badly at the Presidential election. We lost over 168,000 votes. In this campaign the UNP used three SLMC leaders and a prominent Sinhala politician to defeat the govt. Then the TNA made a public appeal for the people to vote against us; then the LTTE created tension to dissuade voters. Even the JVP contested separately. All we had was the faith that we had genuinely done work to develop the East. We had that confidence when we went before the people.

But on strengthening myself and Gotabhaya I need to deny that belief because I haven’t even gone to the East after the elections. I used to visit there at least once a week before but now the people have spoken and there is an elected people’s representative there who can handle the development; we don’t need to get involved there. My involvement in the East is less now. Even in the military side more and more power is coming to the Provincial Councils. The military presence is much less there. Those days the centre had more power because we worked through the governor, but now there are ministers and the CM so our involvement is negligible. Politically, we have power because our presence is strengthened after the elections in the East.

Q: Although you say your involvement is minimal, there must be much left undone in the East?

There is a lot to be done. We have resettled at least 90% of the displaced. Our target is to leave none unsettled by end December. On livelihoods too we are progressing with the help of donor agencies. The infrastructure development too is continuing according to plan. The East must be having the largest number of bridges in the entire country as planned. Water, fisheries harbour and roads will take priority. Even the World Bank has cited the East as a priority in the recently pledged funds. Reconstruction of the irrigation canals is also underway. The Trincomalee industrial estate is already underway.

Read more,
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=13259

Sri Lanka's eastern election challenged in court

Sri Lanka's Eastern Provincial Council election held on May 10 has been challenged in court for the second time in a row, officials said Tuesday.

The Appeal Court last week decided to take up the hearing of a petition filed by the main opposition United National Party, challenging the legality of the election.

The Appeal Court on Tuesday ordered the newly-elected chief minister of the Eastern Province, Sivanesaturai Chandrakanthan and 17 others file answers in court.

The May 10 election in the Eastern Province has been dubbed as seriously flawed by the opposition groups, citing large scale impersonation, intimidation and ballot stuffing.

The election was held after 20 years in the province which the government claimed had been completely cleared of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

The Eastern Province came to be merged with the Northern Province in 1987 as part of an Indian brokered solution to end the armed conflict in the island.

However, the two provinces were separated in 2006 by a Supreme Court order which declared the 1987 merger of the two provinces invalid.

Extracted from,
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&id=310869461

LTTE providing East Muslim youth arms training in Vanni to target TMVP in the East

News reaching Asian Tribune, from local sources, in the East claim that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) are training local Muslim Youths from Akkaraipattu, Amparai and Kaathankudy, Batticaloa and other areas.

It is said that these youths may be affiliated to the Wahabbist Group that is linked to several murders including members of the TMVP. Agents of the LTTE are clandestinely picking up these Muslim youths locally and dispatching them for training in Vanni.

The purpose for the LTTE giving these Muslim youths training is clear as it is their intension to manipulate and make use of the Wahabbist Group to target members of the TMVP and possibly other democratic political groups in the East.

Extracted from,
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/11755

LTTE massacre of 400 policemen in 1990 to be probed shortly

The massacre by the LTTE of 401 policemen who surrendered to the outfit on the orders of the Premadasa government in 1990 in the Eastern Province is to be investigated after a lapse of 18 years.

The government has decided to probe the mass murder in response to appeals from the family members of the victims, according to the Media Centre for National Security (MCNS).

Police personnel serving in Ampara, Trincomalee and Batticaloa were ordered to lay down arms and give themselves up by the then UNP government, which was struggling to salvage a fragile ceasefire with the LTTE, when the LTTE laid siege to many police stations in the area.

The police were ready to fight back, but they were not in a position to defy the government order to surrender.

The LTTE raided the police stations, seized all the weapons and ammunition, bundled the captives into police vehicles and drove away into the jungle. Thereafter, the police personnel including officers were ordered to dig their own graves, lined up and mowed down.

Although the government places the number of policemen killed at 401, police sources say, it could be as high as 600 and a full scale probe is needed to establish the actual number.

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/06/14/news15.html

Eastern Sri Lanka poll 'relatively violence-free'

The poll to elect a maiden provincial council in eastern Sri Lanka ended on a 'relatively violence-free note' with nearly 60 percent of about one million voters exercising their franchise, the election commission said Saturday.

'According to reports received at the close of the poll, the estimated voter turnout was approximately 65 percent, 55 percent and 60 percent in Ampara, Batticaloa and Trincomalee respectively. Counting has commenced for postal votes,' the election department said.

An assistant commissioner of the election department at Rajagriya in Colombo told IANS Saturday evening that though there were reports of poll-related violence in all three districts in the eastern province, 'they were not serious in nature'.

'There were no immediate reports of 'serious poll-related violence' that could affect the overall outcome of the poll. We, however, have to wait for the zonal reports, which would be out only after the ballot boxes are opened for counting,' he said on condition of anonymity.

'Overall, I would say, the poll is relatively violence free,' he said, adding that the final result for the council would not be released if there was any re-polling due to malpractices.

However, the opposition parties such as the United National Party (UNP), the Marxist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) have charged that the poll was largely marred by violence, including rigging, impersonation, assault and intimidation instigated by pro-government mobs.

Read more,
http://www.indiaenews.com/srilanka/20080510/117229.htm

Woman and child wounded in LTTE mortar attack- Bakmitiyawa

LTTE terrorists mounted an indiscriminate 81 mm mortar shell attack at a civilian settlement at Pannalgama general area in Bakmitiyawa, Damana today(may 10), injuring 4 people including a woman and a child, at around 7.15a.m., sources reveal.

According to latest reports received, terrorists have fired 7 mortar bombs at the Pannalgama civilian settlement, what was said to be another attempt of LTTE to flush the settlers from their native lands. The injured child was said to be a 10-year old, informed sources said.

According to Damana Police, an injured civilian was rushed to the Tottama rural hospital. Security has been tightened in the area as combined Army and Police search teams were dispatched to the scene.

Pannalgama is located approximately 25km South East of Damana

Read more,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080510_05

Sri Lanka allows foreign media to cover council polls

Sri Lankan government today yielded to the demands of foreign media to allow them to cover this weekend's Eastern Provincial council elections after initial hesitation due to security fears.

"Our apprehensions were only that the foreigners should be protected during the elections. We wanted them to be free from any danger of any possibility of LTTE attack," a defence official told agencies.

"The issue has been sorted out. We have decided to allow the foreigners to cover the elections on producing a valid Media I-card," the official said.

Earlier, it was decided that any foreigner not registered as an election observer cannot be allowed in the Eastern province during the polls. The defence ministry intervened following the objections and decided to reverse the planned restrictions.

Fierce clashes between the Sri Lankan security forces and the LTTE has led to the death of more than 70,000 people since 1983. The government fully liberated the eastern part of the country from the Tamil rebels last July.

Campaigning for the Eastern Provincial Council Elections, scheduled for May 10, ended last night.

Read more,
http://www.zeenews.com/articles.asp?aid=441880&sid=SAS

High stakes for Rajapaksa in Eastern Province polls

Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province will, for the first time in 20 years, hold provincial council elections on May 10.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) is a front-runner, has high stakes in the elections. Rajapaksa has to win to gain legitimacy in the eyes of the nation and the international community.

By all accounts, the contest is neck and neck. But political pundits believe that the UPFA and its ally, the Tamileela Makkal Viduthalai Puligal (TMVP), will likely win. Indeed, the UPFA-TMVP combine is very strong, but it is also feared that it may use every stratagem and resource to get the desired result, given the importance of the poll to it.

If Rajapaksa wins, he will have proved that he has the support of all the three ethnic communities in the East for his project to rid the province of the Tamil Tiger terrorists and separatists, and to restore democracy.

Though predominantly Tamil-speaking, the Eastern province comprising the three districts of Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Amparai, is ethnically mixed. The Muslims constitute 39 per cent, the Tamils 36 per cent, and the Sinhalese, 25 per cent.

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http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?

'Prabhakaran not keen on peaceful solution to Lanka strife'

LTTE breakaway faction Tamil Makkal Vidhuthalai Pullikal has accused Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran of not being keen on a peaceful solution to the 25-year-old ethnic strife in Sri Lanka.

"Prabhakaran only believes in an armed solution to the Tamil problem in Sri Lanka and is not interested in any peaceful means to resolve the crisis," said Pillayan, the TMVP leader and a leading contender for the Chief Ministers post in Eastern Provincial council where elections are to be held next month.

The TMVP split from LTTE towards the end of 2004 following differences between Prabhakaran and his senior colleague Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan, better known as Colonel Karuna.

Pillayan alleged in an interview on Thursday that Prabhakaran would rather rule a small portion of Sri Lanka on his own terms rather than coming forward for ending the clashes, which had left about 70,000 people dead in the island nation.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/

Sri Lanka Muslim lawmakers resign to contest provincial poll

Three members of Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC), a minority Sri Lankan political party, have resigned their parliamentary seats to contest the forthcoming provincial council poll in the eastern province.

The party has a strong base in Eastern Sri Lanka where a sizable population of Muslims live.

SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem, general secretary Hasen Ali and Basheer Segu Dawood will contest the eastern districts of Trincomalee, Amparai and Batticaloa, a senior SLMC official said.

The SLMC has struck a deal with the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to form an alliance to contest all three districts in the poll scheduled for May 10.

The UNP and SLMC have agreed to contest the elections together on the UNP ticket.

Read more,
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=2053919366

Sri Lanka has no plan to put off election in Eastern province

The Sri Lankan government on Monday denied a claim by the main minority Muslim party leader of a government plan to postpone the May 10 election for the Eastern Province.

"There is absolutely no plan to postpone the election," Keheliya Rambukwella, the government's defense spokesman and the Minister of Foreign Employment told reporters.

Rauff Hakeem, the leader of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC)had accused the government of contemplating postponement of the poll claiming security issue as an excuse if the situation became unfavorable to it.

Rambukwella stressed that the government was determined to give the eastern people the political freedom of appointing their own leaders after its success of liberating the east from the control of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

read more,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/31/content_7893152.htm

Showcasing a success

ON the evening of March 11, heads of foreign missions based in Colombo received an invitation from the Foreign Ministry to gather at the office of Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama the following day at 11 a.m. for a briefing on the just-concluded local body elections in Batticaloa district. Similarly, members of the local and international press corps were called to his office for another briefing on the elections.

The invites raised several eyebrows. What has the Foreign Ministry got to do with the conduct of local body elections in just one of three eastern districts?

For the Mahinda Rajapaksa government and its Foreign Ministry, the Batticaloa elections constituted an extraordinary feat for more than one reason and deserved to be promoted as such.

The logic and objective of showcasing the Batticaloa elections to the international community is three-fold. First, the government succeeded in conducting the elections without any untoward incident in an area, parts of which were wrested from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) less than a year ago. Secondly, the government can take credit for bringing a section of the LTTE, the breakaway faction led by Vigyanamurthy Muralitharan alias ‘Col’ Karuna, now led by Pillian, into the political mainstream.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it is a reflection of the commitment of the government to usher in democracy in the erstwhile LTTE-dominated areas and provide an idea of the shape of things to come in the East and eventually in the North, parts of which continue to be under the control of the Tigers.

Read the full article here,
http://www.hinduonnet.com/fline/stories/20080411250704600.htm

Government in a hurry over polls: TULF

he Sri Lankan military on Sunday said the number of LTTE cadres and the soldiers killed in Saturday’s battles in the north had gone up to 52 and eight respectively. Meanwhile, Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) chief V. Anandasangree charged the Mahinda Rajapaksa government with going ahead with elections to the eastern province in a “great hurry”.

In a letter addressed to Mr. Rajapaksa, the TULF leader argued that free and fair elections were not feasible until all “armed groups are disarmed.”

The immediate provocation for the missive is the reported decision to re-deploy sections of the Special Task Force (STF) from the Amparai district.

However, the government has termed reports on the re-deployment in a section of the local media as “misleading” saying only a few units of the STF were being pulled out for deployment in the northern battle front. Mr. Anandasangree said there was no doubt that the East had been liberated but not cleared fully of the LTTE problem.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/2008/03/24/stories/2008032455621600.htm