Tamils Need Help from International Community

Tamils in Sri Lanka Need Help from International Community

13 December 2006

"Colombo on genocidal war path" - Thamilchelvan
[ TamilNet ][ Dec 11 12:18 GMT ]

Liberation Tigers Political Head, S. P. Thamilchelvan, in his address on International Human Rights Day held in Kilinochchi Sunday, stated that the Sri Lankan Government, depriving the Tamil people of their fundamental birthrights such as the "right to life, right to national identity and the right to homeland," and disabling the Ceasefire Agreement with its presently introduced "Prevention of Terrorism" act, was on a "genocidal war path," violating not only human rights laws, but also the Geneva humanitarian laws by carrying out bombardments on hospitals and schools. "Tamil people stand deceived by the membership conferred on the Sri Lankan state to the newly formed Human Rights Council."

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SLMM to discuss with govt. PTA's impact on CFA
[ Sunday Leader ][ Dec 11 15:24 GMT ]

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) last week said that it was seeking an urgent meeting with the government to discuss the newly brought back provisions of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). "We will talk about this with the government as soon as possible," SLMM Spokesperson Thoffinur Omarsson told The Sunday Leader. The SLMM is likely to bring up the issue of the PTA initially during its routine meetings with the Government Peace Secretariat. "We want to discuss it at the appropriate forum and we usually deal with SCOPP," Omarsson said.

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Civilian casualties pour into hospital after Sri Lanka fighting
[ AFP ][ Dec 11 12:35 GMT ]

Dozens of civilians wounded in weekend shelling in Sri Lanka poured into a hospital inside rebel-held territory, medical sources said, as the rebels put civilian deaths at 41. Sources in the Vakarai hospital inside territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) said 27 dead civilians were brought there. "We also have 65 people wounded who have been brought for treatment," a medical source said when contacted by telephone. He said some areas were still unreachable due to fears of shelling, although there were fewer attacks Monday.

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SL Govt distances from 'devolution' report
[ Hindustan Times ][ Dec 11 11:47 GMT ]

The Sri Lankan government has formally distanced itself from the report submitted by an overwhelming majority of the members of the experts committee on devolution of power to solve the ethnic conflict in the island. Denying that the government backed the recommendations made by 11 out of the 17 members of the panel set up by President Mahinda Rajapaksa, cabinet spokesman Anura Priyadarshana Yapa said on Sunday that reports describing the recommendations as embodying the government’s views were mere “speculation”.
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Sri Lanka rebels say military shells refugee camp
[ Reuters ][ Dec 09 15:04 GMT ]

Sri Lankan army artillery fire hit two camps in rebel territory, killing four refugees and injuring 20, the Tamil Tigers said on Saturday, two days after the army accused the rebels of a similar attack. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) accused the military of mounting an offensive in the eastern district of Batticaloa to push into their territory, which the army denied. However, as with other recent clashes, independent confirmation of what had happened behind rebel lines was impossible.

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Ban S.Lanka rebels, end truce, say monks and Marxists
[ Reuters ][ Dec 11 14:52 GMT ]

Thousands of protesters, from hardline Marxists to Buddhist monks in saffron robes, marched through Sri Lanka's capital on Monday to demand the government ban the Tamil Tiger rebels and end a tattered 2002 truce. Holding banners reading "Shame for not banning the Tigers" and chanting "Ban them immediately, withdraw from the ceasefire", around 3,000 demonstrators massed near President Mahinda Rajapakse's Colombo offices to hand over a petition. The protest by majority Sinhalese nationalists comes as a new chapter in Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war intensifies. Near daily artillery clashes and ambushes have killed about 3,000 civilians, troops and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) fighters this year alone.

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