With fresh reports emerging calls grow in support of war crime probe
Any government could defeat terrorism if it ignored the 1949 Geneva convention that aims to protect civilians; Washington officials in the Justice Department considering to seek criminal charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa; clear signs of heavy artillery shelling, no-fire zones were not spared; concern growing for the displaced people, Emily Wax reports in Washington Post.
Emily Wax writing on Washington Post says that there were clear signs of heavy artillery shelling on the strip of beach where tens of thousands of civilians huddled during the conflict between Sri Lankan government forces Tamil rebels.
The night of May 31, 1981 Jaffna library burned
Remembering the sad saga of Tamils in Sri Lanka, a cultural genocide of Tamils, the burning down of the Jaffna library, one of the biggest and finest in Asia, on the night of May 31, 1981? On that fateful night Sri Lankan paramilitary forces set ablaze this grand library as part of the pogrom against Tamils of Jaffna. Some 97,000 volumes of books, excluding rare and important Ola manuscripts, went up in flames.
Tamils should not fall prey to government lies
For the Tamils around the world the sad news of the destruction of the acknowledged Tamil leadership came as a tremendous shock. The LTTE leadership was of immense symbolic significance in that they provided a rallying point for the Tamils to orchestrate against the oppression and the aggressive actions towards the Tamils by the Sinhala polity.
British medic Damilvany Gnanakumar who witness the bloodbath detained in Sri Lankan Detention Camp
A British medic Damilvany Gnanakumar ( Vany ), who has witness the bloodbath orchastrated by Sri Lankan Government on the beaches is now detained in Sri Lankan Detention Camp and there are calls to free her. Vany was worked in the make-shift hospital which was attacked multiple time by Sri Lankan Government Forces and she gave an eyewitness account to Guardian UK on 12th May 2009 . War Without Witness have records of Foreign National from New Zealand, Canadan and Germany who have been illegally detained in Sri Lankan Camps.
UN chief knew Tamil civilian toll had reached 20,000; The Times says it can reveal
The United Nations humanitarian chief John Holmes disputed a report appeared in ‘The Times’ newspaper of London that cited a “UN source” to support an estimate that at least 20,000 people were killed during the months-long final siege.
“That figure has no status as far as we’re concerned,” Holmes said. “It may be right, it may be wrong, it may be far too high, it may even be too low. But we honestly don’t know, he said.
With fresh reports emerging calls grow in support of war crime probe
Any government could defeat terrorism if it ignored the 1949 Geneva convention that aims to protect civilians; Washington officials in the Justice Department considering to seek criminal charges against Gotabaya Rajapaksa; clear signs of heavy artillery shelling, no-fire zones were not spared; concern growing for the displaced people, Emily Wax reports in Washington Post.
‘Nothing is more important for me than what India thinks’ – Rajapaksa
In an interview with The Week magazine, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has categorically said that nothing is more important for him than what India thinks. He said that he has fought “India’s war” by eliminating the LTTE militarily, which had assassinated former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi 18 years ago.
Government buries dead bodies of 47 IDPs in 14 days in Mannaar
The Sri Lankan government buried a total of 47 dead bodies of internally displaced people from Vanni region who were held in Sri Lanka Army-run internment camps, buried in Mannaar general cemetery in 14 days, from May 13 to May 27, by Mannaar District Secretariat.
These bodies were buried by the government authorities as their relatives refused to accept the bodies for burial because of their financial inability, according to sources.
It is best to carry out investigations on war crimes ‐ Navanethem Pillay
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay has stated it was best to carry out investigations on war crimes during the battle between government forces and the LTTE. She pointed by carrying out these investigations independently, any war crimes committed could be highlighted to the people.
Journalists trying to cover fate of Tamils are threatened, obstructed
Reporters Without Borders is extremely worried by statements by Sri Lankan officials, including army commander Gen. Sarath Fonseka, that journalists who visited areas formerly controlled by the Tamil Tiger rebels will be prosecuted.
