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Britain approves humanitarian aid to Sri Lanka
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Robins
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25 May 2007 06:22:30 GMT Report for Abuse
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Dailymirror
A fierce battle broke out on the seas off Delft Island in Jaffna yesterday when the LTTE launched a pre-dawn attack on the island?s Navy camp, killing at least four sailors, the Navy said. However, the LTTE claimed Sea Tigers had killed at least 35 sailors and destroyed a Navy Dvora, while four rebels were killed.
ONLY FOUR SLN killed!! punnakku for the poor? Any investigation? No? |
rasak
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25 May 2007 06:22:37 GMT Report for Abuse
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At last the message is being taken seriously by the IC about the duplicity of the MR gvt!! MRs credibility is gone!
realy then y
Gajendrakumar pointed out that US and UK, while curtailing some development aid due to the worsening human rights record of the Sri Lanka Government, continue with their military assistance to the Government. 'How is one to interpret this other than as support for the government?s military approach?... Then I ask you, why should the Sri Lankan Government change its ways?,' he said.
TAMILnut |
rasak
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25 May 2007 06:25:33 GMT Report for Abuse
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May be if SLN keeps murdering Indian fishermen!
Eleven Tamil Nadu fishermen, missing since early March, returned home on Friday evening and confirmed to the police and the media in Chennai yesterday that they had been abducted by the LTTE on March 12 and released two days ago.
The fishermen also confirmed what the Tamil Nadu police had suspected all along ? that they had been taken away because the 'Sea Tigers' wanted to make use of their vessel, 'Sri Krishna'.
They had initially been kept in a Mannar island whose name was unknown to them, and later shifted to other places they could identify as 'LTTE-controlled' from the many photographs and portraits of Velupillai Prabhakaran and people listening to the 'Tamil Eelam Radio'.
They were initially a group of 12, but one unfortunate man, Simon Joey from Kollam in Kerala, had been retained on 'Sri Krishna', apparently because the 'Sea Tigers' found good use for his technical skills. The rest, all from Tamil Nadu, were kept for about 35 days in a forest and later shifted to other places. Simon was probably forced to be on 'Sea Tiger' arms transport missions.
Authorities in Chennai believe that Simon may now be in Maldivian custody. When the Maldivian Coastguard sank a suspected 'Sea Tiger' vessel on Thursday, it captured five persons, one of them said to be Malayalam-speaking. If this person is Simon, India will be keen to obtain his release.
Simon could be a treasure-house of information on the functioning of the Sea Tiger and their logistic operations, as he was probably working with the 'Sea Tigers' for more than two months.
Tamil Nadu police chief D. Mukherjee told the media that he was happy that the stand of the State police that it was the LTTE that abducted the fishermen had been vindicated.
?Some people disbelieved us when we said they had been taken away by the LTTE, but we now have the fishermen's own testimony to confirm that our earlier statement was correct,? he said, presenting the 11 fishermen before the media.
J. Clements, leader of the group of fishermen, narrated the sequence of events that began with the vessel leaving Kodimunai in the Kanyakumari district of Tamil Nadu on March 6. They had been reported missing from around that day.
Two fibre-glass boats carrying LTTE men seized their boat off Erwadi near Rameswaram on March 12, he said. ?They asked all of us to get into their boats, but Simon was asked to remain in Sri Krishna. I pleaded with them to let me join Simon, as he could not speak Tamil, but they beat me up and pushed me into the fibre glass boat along with others.?They were initially taken to a forest area. ?It was terrible? 11 of us had to share five mats, in a place infested with snakes, lizards and scorpions. The food was unpalatable,? Clements said.
The Tigers threatened to shoot them if they tried to escape, but often told them that being their ?brethren? across the sea, the fishermen should help their cause.
The Tigers had first told them they wanted to use their boat for a week, after which they would be allowed to return to India. However, that week stretched to several times that duration. They were in a forest on an island for some time, later in a prison near a temple. They were told to hide in bunkers whenever there was shelling. Once they were shifted because air strikes were expected.
Finally, the 11 fishermen were released on Thursday and left on the island of Iranaitheevu. Some other fishing boats from Tamil Nadu were asked to transport them to Rameswaram.
They came back in two boats, one of which landed around 4.30 p.m. on Friday at Narikuli near Rameswaram, and another around 7.45 p.m . at Thangachimadam, a few kilometres away.
The fishermen could not say why the Tigers had released them, but the police suspect that the LTTE, which had denied any role in the disappearance of the fishermen, had been waiting for an appropriate moment to send them back. With news trickling out that Sri Krishna had been sunk, and some of its occupants captured, the Tigers may have decided that the moment had arrived. |
Robins
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25 May 2007 06:26:06 GMT Report for Abuse
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Rasak
For the first time in the history of Brittain they have established an ALL PARTY GROUP FOR TAMILS in the British parliament!!
The Goondans at the SL embassy tried to dissuade the MPs and got Big egg on their face!!
So at last IC is listening!! they cant put their business interests any longer, should start doing something about killings of innocent civilians! over 4000 dead since the rajapakse crooks came to power! |
BABA
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25 May 2007 06:29:12 GMT Report for Abuse
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British will have to aid Srilanka this way or that way cos they can noway trust a terrorist org. they are already going thru a difficult time with alqueada in London itself!They have to decide whether to help terrorists or otherwise a democratic govt.For sure they wouldn't like muslim radicals govern their neighborhoods which partially happens now!Thou they are spineless but Srilankans are not their kind to let that happen on their ground!
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rasak
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25 May 2007 06:29:41 GMT Report for Abuse
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So at last IC is listening!! they cant put their business interests any longer
but not according to honorable Ponnambleam. hes a far bigger bootlicker than u...lol |
rasak
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25 May 2007 06:32:44 GMT Report for Abuse
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For the first time in the history of Brittain they have established an ALL PARTY GROUP FOR TAMILS in the British parliament!!
isnt it funny, still the WETAMILs cant do anything without their white masters, still go behing whitre asses like colonial days..what loosers!! |
rasak
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25 May 2007 06:46:04 GMT Report for Abuse
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By Farah Mihlar
Belated perhaps, but with new impetus, Britain is finally responding to a severe escalation of fighting in Sri Lanka that has resulted in more than 3,000 deaths in the past year. The horrific violence following the breakdown of a ceasefire signed in 2002 forms the latest chapter in a two-decade war between the Tamil Tiger militants and Sri Lankan government forces.
The Tigers want a separate state for ethnic minority Tamils, accusing the majority Sinhala Buddhist state of continuous discrimination. The latest British response to the Sri Lankan conflict came a fortnight ago, almost simultaneously, in the form of a parliamentary debate, the creation of an all-party Tamil group and finally a partial freezing of aid to the country. Some of these initiatives will certainly be helpful to the country but hints of partiality and incoherency in the overall response threatens to negate the positive effort.
The move to create parliament's first ever all-party Tamil group by its title itself is likely to draw the most controversy. MPs who lead this group, like Keith Vaz, are clearly responding to their significant electorate of Sri Lankan Tamil refugees turned UK citizens. But the general partisan approach of some parliamentarians to a conflict that also affects the majority Sinhalese and minority Muslims is outrageous to say the least.
The reference to 'Tamils' is unclear as it implies a non-existent homogeneity. Part of the recent violence against Tamils has come as a result of brutal opposition between the Tigers, old militant groups and a new Tiger breakaway faction called the Karuna group. The general tone of some MPs' speeches appeared to also recognise the Tigers as the sole representatives of the Tamils - a claim most moderate Tamils oppose and for which they have paid dearly, having lost many of their leadership to Tiger suicide attacks.
The debate also lacked an understanding of the ethnic nuances in the conflict. Sadiq Khan, who represents Tooting - which has a significant Tamil population - spoke extensively of human rights violations against 'Tamil-speaking people'. But, being a Muslim himself, he failed to mention the serious violations Tamil-speaking Muslims have been subject to by the Tigers, including abductions, torture, killings and extortions. In 1990, in a horrific ethnic cleansing campaign, the Tigers gave some 100,000 Muslims 24 hours to leave the northern areas under their control. Sixteen years later many of them remain in displaced camps.
Suggestions to lift a ban imposed by the British government on the terror group in 2000 could also be seen as reflecting a sense of bias. It is shocking that the parliamentarians advocating this refused to sufficiently consider the internal impact. The ban has helped to reduce extortion and attacks against Sri Lankan expatriates by Tamil criminal gangs with Tiger links.
Funds collected from Tamils in Europe, Canada, Australia and the US has, through the years, helped the Tigers progress from being the pioneers of suicide bombings to forming their own air force. Four air attacks in two months on Colombo have engulfed the capital in fear.
It is unfortunate that the staunch unilateral condemnation of terror by the British parliament following the July 7 London bombings does not apply when another country's capital is being continuously bombarded. It is also somewhat amusing that this reaction comes from Britain at a time when the French, Americans and Australians have all recently cracked down on Tiger fundraising.
Even the rationale of lifting the ban on the grounds it would give the Tigers parity of status at future negotiations is unconvincing. The ever-changing field of conflict resolution provides varied modalities of engaging terror groups while they are outlawed. At the least even for the ban to be suspended the Tigers should display more commitment to peace negotiations and democratisation.
Despite the Tigers' deadly reputation, they are certainly not solely to blame for the current humanitarian and human rights crisis in the country. The worst impact of the latest fighting is seen in the east of Sri Lanka where the government, in a bid to flush out the Tigers, has intensified its military campaign. Incessant shelling of Tamil villages has displaced some 150,000 people in just a few months. A little away from the towns, the bare land is dotted by a sea of small white tents as far as the eye can see. Families, some with four or five children, are cramped under the tiny flimsy white plastic covers that the scorching sun burns through. Food is rationed, water and sanitation are problematic. In the main towns, the renegade Karuna militants move freely with arms. Their offices stand adjacent to army camps but the government denies any association with the rebels.
Across the country, reports of extra-judicial killings, abductions and disappearances are soaring. Colombo's response has been to completely quell accusations of human rights violations. NGOs, human rights activists and the few media groups that defy the environment of fear are threatened and antagonised.
It is this situation that makes some aspects of the British response positive. The decision to freeze aid sends a strong warning to Sri Lanka. The parliamentary debate was welcome but there were some unanswered questions on issues such as military aid to Sri Lanka and Britain's forthcoming role as head of the UN security council. In that capacity Britain can play a crucial role that can range from insisting on international human rights monitoring to imposing UN sanctions.
With the Norwegian peace facilitators struggling to get the warring factions to negotiate, Britain can make a significant difference. But with the stigma of being the former colonial master, Britain will have to tread carefully. Its effort must be sincere, impartial and sensitive to the complex nature of the conflict. After Afghanistan and Iraq, Britain certainly can't afford another international mess.
(The Guardian, comments) |
AliGatePera
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25 May 2007 06:57:03 GMT Report for Abuse
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SL will be soon under the UN control..
Rights groups want UN to monitor Sri Lanka abuses
Alarmed by the scale of abuses in Sri Lanka, not just in the northeastern war theatre but also in capital Colombo, human rights groups are advocating UN intervention.
odded by their Sri Lankan counterparts, global rights groups are concluding that only the UN can bring some sanity in a country where killings, kidnappings, forced recruitment and other violations are rampant.
Colombo too has seen plenty of killings and daylight abductions.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/StoryPage/StoryPage.aspx?id=455ae5cb-2e08-4298-a397-8489c3097e17&MatchID1=4465&TeamID1=10&TeamID2=6&MatchType1=1&SeriesID1=1109&PrimaryID=4465&Headline=Rights+groups+want+UN+to+monitor+Sri+Lanka+abuses |
BABA
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25 May 2007 07:02:03 GMT Report for Abuse
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Srilanka will be under the UN control
will it make a change with Srilankans!
Ha ha hah hahhhhhhhaaaaaaa! |
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