|
|
Parents in Jaffna hands over children to the Human Rights Commission
Full News Article
chinthanaya
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 673
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:13:22 GMT Report for Abuse
|
COLOMBO (AFP) - Sri Lanka recorded a trade deficit of 659.5 million dollars in the first quarter, but foreign remittances pushed the overall balance of payments into positive territory, the central bank said.
Housemaids carry the country in their shoulders! |
rasak
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 597
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:18:44 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Talking from Munambam near Ernakulam before setting off on another fishing expedition, Wilson said he had spoken to Climones on the wireless communication system on March 12. ?They wanted more ration from us because they were going further away (towards the Lankan coast close to Jaffna). They said they wanted to fish for a few more days before returning. We did not have enough rations. Another boat, Marco Polo, offered to give them more ration. That?s the last I spoke to Climones. After that we returned to the Mandapam area and continued fishing.?
Wilson ruled out the Lankan Navy?s involvement in the fishermen?s disappearance. ?We have had encounters with the Lankan Navy in the past. If we ride into their territory, they come and search our boat for arms. They seize our cell phones, gold rings and other things they take a fancy to. But they have never kidnapped any fisherman nor killed any intentionally,? he said.
WHEN the families of the missing fishermen had all but given up hope, the Tamil Nadu Government made a startling disclosure. On April 27, Director General of Police D Mukherjee announced that the 12 fishermen had been abducted by the LTTE and were being held captive by the Tigers. To the relief of the families who lived in a fishing district known to sympathise with the LTTE, this seemed like good news. The chorus was: ?They would never do any harm to our men. They are Tamils too, like us, aren?t they??
But as the men failed to return after more than 60 days, a nagging worry has replaced the earlier sense of relief. The DGP had also disclosed that the Tiger rebels were responsible for the killing of five Kanyakumari fishermen in a mid-sea attack that took place on March 29.
Joining a few Tamil outfits in their pro-LTTE rhetoric, the Church in the Kanyakumari Diocese is confident of clearing the LTTE?s ?good name? and has tried to convince the coastal fishermen and their families that the Tigers, fighting for the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka, would never do something ?so brutal or insensitive.?
Says Father L Selvaraj, Superintendent of the Diocese and part of the Coastal Peace and Development formed to fight for fishermen?s welfare: ?The state Government has created a lot of confusion with its statements about the LTTE?s involvement. Initially, the families of the missing fishermen did not believe it was the LTTE. We are not sure if this is not a political game.?
A DRIVE through some fishing villages along the picturesque Kanyakumari coast tells a different tale. In Kodimunai, and particularly in neighbouring Kotilpaadu, the agony over the endless wait for the men is slowly turning to anger. Sympathy for the Tigers, which had once prompted the fisher families to offer prayers for LTTE?s victory in the war for Eelam and ?freedom? for their brethren in Sri Lanka, is being changing into resentment.
John Kennedy, who belongs to Kodimunai, launched a relentless effort to find the fishermen. At least three among the missing men are his relatives. As soon he got to know that the men had not returned, he contacted his friends in Rameswaram. Four boats took to the sea in search of the Sri Krishna. He also contacted the various fishing societies and associations in North Sri Lanka for information about the whereabouts of the boat and its crew.
?It is quite common for our fishermen to go close to the Lankan coast for fishing. We are convinced it is the LTTE who have our men,? says Kennedy. ?In the past, the Sri Lankan Navy has shot at our men. But they never launched an attack like the LTTE did on March 29, killing five of our fishermen. And even if they (Lankan Navy) have taken our men into custody, we would get to know through diplomatic or other sources. But we have no such information, which is what is leading us to believe that the LTTE is behind the abduction.?
But what has made villagers furious are assertions by pro-LTTE leaders like MDMK?s Vaiko and Thol Thirumavalavan, heading the Dalit Panther of India (DPI) known for its strong Tiger leanings, that the rebels were not responsible either for the abductions or the killings of the Tamil Nadu fishermen.
?Let them not play politics. Let them just help us get our fishermen back. They are making so much noise for the Tamils in Sri Lanka. What about us?? asks a furious Kennedy. ?If the LTTE doesn?t return our men back, they will only earn our hatred,? he warns.
In Vareedammal?s cramped two-room hut, there?s an air of despondency. After her husband Milkias died, her second son, Kingsley (24), became the family?s breadwinner. Besides, Vareedammal, Kingsley had to look after his three siblings. ?Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and the state DGP have told us that the LTTE has abducted our men. Then why are Vaiko and Thirumavalavan confusing the issue by saying the Tigers are not responsible?? she asks. ?My life depends on my son. If the Government doesn?t get him back, then all the 11 families will go to the District Collectorate and commit mass suicide,? she says.
For the families the news that their men were ?safe? in the hands of the LTTE provided hope, however tenuous. Even before the Government released information about the LTTE?s involvement in the abductions and killing based on ?confessions? by six Sea Tigers detained in Indian waters when their boat Maria (later found to have been involved in the March 29 attack) developed a technical snag off the Kanyakumari shores, many of the families of the missing fishermen were convinced of the Tigers? role in their abduction. ?Our children would sleep every night near the sea in the hope that the LTTE would release their fathers or brothers in the dead of night and that they would sneak back home in their boats. The children wanted to be the first to embrace their fathers,? said Antony Anne Besant, whose husband, Joseph Thathayoose, is one of the missing.
J Barthalomai and Rosemary are heart-broken. It had been their young son Aniston?s first fishing expedition. The teenager had been very excited not only because it was his first deep sea adventure but also because it would have been the first time he would be earning some money. ?If they are dead, our misery would have been over in a few days. But this pain is endless. We don?t even know if they are dead,? says Rosemary.
?If the LTTE wanted to use the boat to smuggle their arms, they could have just taken it and let our men free,? says Barthalomai.
SIMMERING anger against the LTTE bubbled to the surface when the local media went to town with reports of ?denial? issued by the Tigers. ?We are sure that Vaiko and Thirumavalavan have told the LTTE to issue such a statement denying their role in the abduction so that their ?image? in Tamil Nadu as an organisation fighting a great cause remains intact,? says A Brito, who belongs to Kotilpaadu. His two brothers-in-law, C Albert (38) and C Franklin (40), were part of the group onboard Sri Krishna. So was B Yesudasan, whose wife Elsie and four daughters, are now distraught. ?My children were so happy when the Government announced that the LTTE had taken away their father. We thought they are safe. Now some people say that it is not the LTTE. We are scared,? says Elsie.
The Government paid each family of the missing fishermen Rs 10,000 as compensation. That?s hardly likely to last long. The women and children have pinned their hopes on the LTTE?s compassion to let their men free. But with pro-LTTE leaders virtually going to town with the tandora (a drum) claiming the LTTE had no role in the abduction, hope, much like the sympathy for Tigers, is fast receding.
?We have told the police everything. The LTTE will never forgive us?
He first said he could not identify the killers who attacked their boat mid-sea. But now Maria John Louise says it was the Tigers who attacked them
FOR Maria John Louise, 41, one of the four survivors of the bloody mid-sea attack on March 29, the nightmare might never go away. He crouches in fear inside his new house close to the sea edge in Michael colony in Neerodi village in Kanyakumari district. ?I will never go to sea again. Now that the LTTE knows we have told the police everything, they will never forgive us,? he says.
Maria John Louise was among the nine fishermen who were reportedly attacked by the LTTE. Five died in the firing. Maria, teenager Jereen, Euster Bhai and Arulan Doose were the four survivors who returned with a version of the incident that left the identity of their attackers a mystery.
However, their story changed after the Coast Guard detained six Sri Lankan Tamils, later found to be Sea Tigers, near the Kanyakumari Coast on April 10 when their boat Maria developed a technical snag. On interrogation of the six men, the state ?Q? Branch found that their boat Maria was the one involved in the March 29 attack and that the LTTE was also behind the abduction of 12 fishermen who disappeared after they set out on a fishing expedition from Kodimunai. Maria John and the three others were taken to Tuticorin to identify the six men. ?But we were sure they were not our attackers,? says Maria John. The four men failed to identify the boat. ?We couldn?t make out properly from the angle at which it was berthed near a bigger ship,? Maria John adds.
The Tamil Nadu Government subsequently issued a statement blaming the LTTE for the abduction of the 12 fishermen and also that Maria was the same boat involved in the mid-sea attack. Sitting in his home and yet to recover emotionally from the brutal mid sea attack on Red Sun, the boat that carried him and eight others, Maria John Louise said he had no doubt that it was the LTTE that attacked them.
?We saw Maria and another boat that was tied to it. The other boat?s steering wheel had been removed, so we thought perhaps it had developed a snag,? he said. When Red Sun, drew close to the two boats, the boat owners from Kanyakumari, Justin and Satheesh, asked the men in Maria if they could borrow their nets. ?The other two boats with mostly bare-chested men wearing pants, lungis and shorts, spoke in Tamil with the typical Jaffna accent.?
When the men refused, Satheesh prodded the nets in Maria with a long rod with an iron hook at its end. ?He suddenly realised there were wooden cartons (perhaps carrying arms and ammunition) beneath. Then the shooting began,? says Maria John.
What follows is not much different from the survivors? earlier story. Four fishermen died in the boat while one succumbed to injuries at the Nagercoil hospital. Previously, the survivors had told the police that two boats came to the area where they were fishing and opened fire without provocation. And since the men did not speak they could not make out if they were Tamils or Sinhalese.
But following detention of the six Lankan Tamils on April 10, the Tamil Nadu police said that the LTTE had been behind the attack. The six detained men and some other groups of Sea Tigers ?used to smuggle arms and ammunition from a ship belonging to the LTTE in the high seas and fetch them to their camp in Sri Lanka,? a statement by the Tamil Nadu Director General of Police disclosed.
According to Q Branch findings, while the six Sea Tigers, now in Tamil Nadu police custody, were transporting arms and ammunition in their boat Maria, the boat ran into problems and started drifting towards Indian waters. When they saw the Kanyakumari fishermen in two country boats, they dropped all their arms and ammunition into the sea before seeking their help. |
LionGr
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 463
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:19:11 GMT Report for Abuse
|
WRH bro
Oh realy? Could you feed children with adult food?
i havent seen such an incompetent like u.. they didnt sort out the food as baby food and adult food when they hid it in da rat wholes...
just dont give lame excuses when you run out of words..
and why did you evade the other questions i asked????
Edited By - LionGr - 16 May 2007 08:31:55 GMT |
rasak
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 597
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:20:20 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Housemaids carry the country in their shoulders!
also dont forget these people
Another industry the LTTE has been implicated in is the forced prostitution of Tamil women who are being smuggled to other countries. In the mid 1990s some Sri Lankan women were abused or raped while being smuggled towards Canada by the LTTE, and some were deliberately stranded in Thailand and forced into prostitution there. |
Sweetlady
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 7
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:42:04 GMT Report for Abuse
|
| Definetely, these children are going to miss their parents. Nevertheless, they will be in safe hands thanks to HRC, and not carrying a gun havier than them. Oh God, please....... save these children and look into their future needs. |
tigerforce
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 956
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:43:41 GMT Report for Abuse
|
stealthy special forces who entered thoppigala have not returned so have 10 who went into west vanni
do we also remember the 120 special forces who died in muhamalai in oct 2006
ltte has got mahinda in a vice /any move he makes now will
be disasterous for sin mod nation. |
srimal111
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 2347
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:45:45 GMT Report for Abuse
|
Tigerpose
Article: Parents in Jaffna hands over children to the Human Rights Commission
where are your children ?
Dont worry about Mahina mama . worry for the Tamils in SL. At this rate you will have to go back to SL to increase the Tamil population in N and E. |
nirupam
Senior Member
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 1915
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:50:22 GMT Report for Abuse
|
SLA threatens witnesses in Jaffna with death.
Jaffna magistrate postponed Uthayan journalist Rajivarman's murder case for the third time Tuesday as there were no witnesses to testify at Jaffna High Courts. The police filed a petition requesting the Court to allow more time to find witnesses, legal sources in Jaffna said.
Rajivarman's case was called for hearing on 4 May, 7 May and for the third time on Tuesday at the Jaffna courts when Magistrate Mr. R. T. Wicknarajah postponed the case to 9 July as no one had come forward to testify.
Parents of Rajivarman and his uncle had not cited anyone as implicated or suspected in his killing in their statements.
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and the SLA-backed paramilitary are alleged to be involved in Rajivarman's killing, and fear of retribution is preventing witnesses to bear testimony, civil society sources in Jaffna said.
The assailants shot Rajivarman in broad day light within 300 metres from the SLA mini camp guarding the Sri Lanka Petroleum Corporation.
Selvarajah Rajivarman, 25, a young journalist working at Jaffna's Uthayan newspaper was shot dead on April 29 by two gunmen riding motorbike
|
rasak
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 597
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:50:35 GMT Report for Abuse
|
do we also remember the 120 special forces who died in muhamalai in oct 2006
dont spread utter lies, SF never participated in muhamaly, the brave soldiers who died inj MM was from the 68 Bat. |
swastika
Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 380
Member Profile
|
16 May 2007 08:52:13 GMT Report for Abuse
|
do we also remember the 120 special forces who died in muhamalai in oct 2006
Tiger whatever,
Its not SF.
Its Gamunu regiment one of the SLA service regiments.
SF not wearing helmet.
Only wearing a black scarf. |
|
Search All News and Discussions