5000 killed and 15,000 injured in Vanni; 500 died due to lack of medicine says TNA MP Sri Kantha
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP N. Sri Kantha says that 5000 people killed and 15,000 people were injured in Vanni. He further said that 500 of the deaths were caused by lack of medicine. He said that shelling and bombing in Vanni should be stopped before talks that his party had unanimously decided to have with the President could be started with a conscience.
‘Global order’ experiments with body and mind of Vanni civilians
To what extent human beings can survive under extreme conditions was a Nazi research on the ‘dispensable Jews’ of the concentration camps, to find out the levels of extremity the human body and mind can withstand. Academic and professional circles raise an alarm that the Colombo government and the abetting powers, in experimenting political cum military effectiveness of their local and global order through a no-witness genocidal war, are probably at such a research with the Eezham Tamils.
Some elements supporting the rebels trying to take me to the international criminal court – Sri Lankan President
President Mahinda Rajapakse stated some elements supporting the rebels were trying to take him to the international criminal court. He said their were many who were trying to give the country to the rebels and destroy it and were in the process of implicating the defence secretary and the army chief to the international criminal court.
Ambassador Robert Blake objects to Wimal Weerawansa’s recent criticism
United States Ambassador Robert Blake stated, National Freedom Front (NFF) leader Wimal Weerawansa’s recent criticism of Norway and the United Nations was misplaced and that they in no way endorsed LTTE terrorism. Earlier Weerawansa had urged the Sri Lankan government to sever all diplomatic ties with Norway claiming it had facilitated talks between UN Humanitarian Chief Sir John Holmes and Kumaran Padmanadan ‐‐ informally known as KP who is alleged to be the LTTE’s point man for international arms procurement.
Government rejects the cease fire request made by Tamil National Alliance
Government has totally rejected the request made by the Tamil National Alliance for cease fire in regard to the sufferings of the northern people. It has accused that the Tamil National Alliance had travelled to world countries for the past six months, had have attempt for cease fire. According to government sources, the Tamil National Alliance Parliament Members have insisted cease fire, by journeying to Britain, India, Switzerland and Norway.
Sri Lanka accused of shelling civilians at the UNSC briefing
Top UN Humanitarian John Holmes, said ‘Sri Lanka was accused of shelling areas with civilians, near to hospitals. “wouldn’t like to put a time” frame on how long the UN would fund these camps, from which IDPs cannot leave or receive visits, even from family members. Likewise, he declined again to confirm his own agency’s figures of 2,683 civilians killed from January 20 to March 7, a number that only came out because the document was leaked to Inner City Press.
Rs. 200 billion printed since September 01; IMF loan to cover balance of payment
Economists say that the depth of the financial crisis of Sri Lanka is uncovered by the statements of several Ministers that say the loan is not a ‘bail-out’ package but a ‘stand-by’ arrangement. Stand-by arrangements are temporary measures meant for the countries that are facing extreme balance of payment crises. In 2001, President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga’s government applied for a similar stand-by arrangement in 2001 to cover the balance of payment temporarily.
Excluding safe zone LTTE is restricted to one sq km – Sri Lanka military
Sri Lanka government says that the LTTE has now been restricted to an area of one square kilometer excluding the no-fire zone (NFZ) declared by the government. Speaking at the weekly Defence Ministry press briefing Military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara said the government forces has to liberate another 21 square kilometers in Mullaitivu, but out of it 20 square kilometers are consisting of safe zone, lagoon and the wetlands.
No military assistance to Lanka from India- Indian Navy
Admiral Sureesh Mehta, Chief of Naval Staff, has said that the Indian Armed Forces, including the Navy, have not extended military assistance to Sri Lankan forces battling the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Addressing a press conference after commissioning the INS Parundu, a full-fledged naval air station at Uchipuli near here on Thursday, he said Indian forces had no role in the ongoing military action against the LTTE.
A slaughter waiting to happen
The already severe humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka is on the brink of catastrophe. It will take the quick arrival of humanitarian relief and high-level international political muscle to bring the nightmarish situation to an end and prevent a slaughter. An estimated 150,000 civilians are now trapped in a tiny pocket of land between Sri Lankan military forces, whose artillery shells regularly fall among them, and the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), who shoot at them if they try to escape. Food, clean water and medical assistance are all increasingly scarce.
