Suresh Premachandran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, accused Sri Lanka Government for purposely encouraging crimes in Jaffna peninsula such as abduction and killing for ransom, robbery, sexual abuse of lonely women so that it could continue to hold the peninsula in its authority, in a press meet held Monday at his Jaffna office. He further blamed the government for having abandoned the resettled civilians in Mullaiththeevu district who had been uprooted and detained during the war on Vanni.
Suresh Premachandran told the press that the government has no intention to withdraw its armed forces from Jaffna peninsula or to lift the various restrictions imposed on the people as it wants to hold on to the absolute power it enjoys in the place of its occupation.
He said that the government, with the help of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Intelligence Wing and its soldiers, is carrying out criminal activities so as to create a situation where it can justify the presence of its armed forces in Jaffna peninsula to maintain law and order to the international countries and other people.
Commenting on the resettlement in Vanni, Suresh Premachadran accused the government for have taken the uprooted civilians to Mullaiththeevu for resettlement without any preparation and abandoned them there without offering assistance.
The resettled civilians have to manage on their own living under trees and tin sheets donated by India and other international countries, he said.
Even the school children have study under trees and temporary structures with tin sheets for roofs, he added.
Remarks Of Tamil Genocide in Sri Lanka:
Monday, May 10, 2010
SLA builds base on demolished LTTE War Heroes’ Resting Home in Uduppiddi
More than 200 Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers are engaged in constructing a military base since Friday morning on the very place of E’l’aangku’lam Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) War Heroes Resting Home in Vadmaraadchi which had been razed to the ground by SLA 03 May night using heavy equipments, sources in Jaffna said. Defence Secretary Gothabaya who recently visited Jaffna is understood to have issued the orders to demolish the above War Heroes Resting Home and to build a military base on the ground where it had stood, the sources said.
The remnants of the tombstones and other debris are taken away to the seashore and dumped.
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna using bulldozers had completely demolished E’l’laangku’lam Liberation Tiger War Heroes’ Resting Homes in Uduppiddi in Vadmaraadchi Monday night, former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivajilingam said.
He told that local residents in Uduppiddi had conveyed the information by phone.
The remnants of the tombstones and other debris are taken away to the seashore and dumped.
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in Jaffna using bulldozers had completely demolished E’l’laangku’lam Liberation Tiger War Heroes’ Resting Homes in Uduppiddi in Vadmaraadchi Monday night, former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian Sivajilingam said.
He told that local residents in Uduppiddi had conveyed the information by phone.
Colombo accelerates Sinhalicisation of Madu
Colombo has launched a large scale Sinhala colonisation at Madu Road Junction, located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, by officially claiming to "resettle" 80 Sinhalese families after renovating a Buddhist temple into a large Vihara at the junction. Categorising the Sinhalese settlers as "Internally Displaced Persons," the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry officials said the Sinhalese "IDPs" had met Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando and G.A. Chandrasri, the former SLA commander of Jaffna, who is serving as the Northern Province Governor, with the Chief Incumbent Buddhist Monk of the Vihara. Caritas, a Catholic agency for justice, peace and development has been pressurised to construct the houses for the Sinhalese settlers.
Madu is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. It is the symbol of Tamil Catholicism in the island of Sri Lanka and is already a declared forest sanctuary.
The colonisation scheme was begun in 1970s with a hidden motive of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction.
However, the "settlement" was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast.
The geographical contiguity of Tamil Catholics along the western coast of Sri Lanka from Mannaar to Colombo has been already Sinhalacised in the Chilaapam (Chilaw) - Colombo sector through carefully planned social engineering, an act of cultural and demographic genocide similar to de-linking the contiguity of the Northern and Eastern provinces along the eastern coast.
Ko’ndachchi-Chilaavaththu’rai, Thalaimannaar Pier and Madu in Mannaar district are being particularly targeted for Sinhala-Buddhist colonies by Colombo's Defence and Resettlement ministries.
Madu is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. It is the symbol of Tamil Catholicism in the island of Sri Lanka and is already a declared forest sanctuary.
The colonisation scheme was begun in 1970s with a hidden motive of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction.
However, the "settlement" was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast.
The geographical contiguity of Tamil Catholics along the western coast of Sri Lanka from Mannaar to Colombo has been already Sinhalacised in the Chilaapam (Chilaw) - Colombo sector through carefully planned social engineering, an act of cultural and demographic genocide similar to de-linking the contiguity of the Northern and Eastern provinces along the eastern coast.
Ko’ndachchi-Chilaavaththu’rai, Thalaimannaar Pier and Madu in Mannaar district are being particularly targeted for Sinhala-Buddhist colonies by Colombo's Defence and Resettlement ministries.
Colombo accelerates Sinhalicisation of Madu
Colombo has launched a large scale Sinhala colonisation at Madu Road Junction, located on Mannaar-Madawachchi Road, which branches off the main route to Madu shrine, situated in the middle of traditional Tamil area, by officially claiming to "resettle" 80 Sinhalese families after renovating a Buddhist temple into a large Vihara at the junction. Categorising the Sinhalese settlers as "Internally Displaced Persons," the Sri Lankan Defence Ministry officials said the Sinhalese "IDPs" had met Resettlement Minister Milroy Fernando and G.A. Chandrasri, the former SLA commander of Jaffna, who is serving as the Northern Province Governor, with the Chief Incumbent Buddhist Monk of the Vihara. Caritas, a Catholic agency for justice, peace and development has been pressurised to construct the houses for the Sinhalese settlers.
Madu is the famous pilgrim centre of Tamil Catholics, where even the Sinhalese Catholics of the western coast, who were Tamils a century ago, flock in for festivals. It is the symbol of Tamil Catholicism in the island of Sri Lanka and is already a declared forest sanctuary.
The colonisation scheme was begun in 1970s with a hidden motive of transforming the area into a full-fledged Sinhala colony, by using the lands of a cashew farm between the Madu Shrine and the junction.
However, the "settlement" was later abandoned, fearing repercussions following large-scale massacre and arson committed by the Sri Lanka Army in December 1984 after a landmine blast.
The geographical contiguity of Tamil Catholics along the western coast of Sri Lanka from Mannaar to Colombo has been already Sinhalacised in the Chilaapam (Chilaw) - Colombo sector through carefully planned social engineering, an act of cultural and demographic genocide similar to de-linking the contiguity of the Northern and Eastern provinces along the eastern coast.
Ko’ndachchi-Chilaavaththu’rai, Thalaimannaar Pier and Madu in Mannaar district are being particularly targeted for Sinhala-Buddhist colonies by Colombo's Defence and Resettlement ministries.
Video that reveals truth of Sri Lankan 'war crimes'
Phone video smuggled to Europe bolsters claims that Sri Lankan soldiers murdered Tamil prisoners
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters
Sri Lankan Army commandoes
More pictures
The naked man, his hands bound behind his back, is pushed to the ground. Then a man in military uniform delivers a forceful kick to the back of the prisoner's head with the heel of his boot. As the prisoner slumps forward, another soldier points his automatic weapon and fires a single shot. The man's body jolts. "It's like he jumped," laughs one of the giggling soldiers.
As gunfire rattles, the camera pans left to reveal a further seven bloodstained bodies, all handcuffed and bound, and – with one exception – similarly naked, strewn on the ground. The camera then pans right again, as another naked man is forced to the ground and shot in the back of the head. This time the body falls backwards.
These scenes, captured on video, allegedly show extra-judicial killings of Tamils by Sri Lankan troops earlier this year in the bitter and bloody endgame of the country's civil war. As government forces made a decisive thrust into the stronghold of rebel forces to end the decades-long conflict, a Sri Lankan soldier apparently took this footage, which was then smuggled out of the country by activists. It may constitute the first hard evidence for those who believe war crimes were committed in the effort to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The significance of this footage – particularly shocking for the seemingly casual way in which the killings were carried out – is even greater given the way that journalists and independent observers were prevented by the government from reaching the war zone. The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians were killed in what was, in effect, a war with no outside witnesses.
Last night the Sri Lankan army dismissed the footage as the latest in a series of fabrications designed to damage the country's image. But campaigners and Tamil politicians said it was vital that a full inquiry be carried out into the alleged killings. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for an investigation into possible war crimes if convincing evidence emerged.
So too has Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, who said: "We have received consistent reports that violations of the laws of war, as well as international human rights law, were committed by both sides in the conflict and we call once again for an international, independent and credible investigation into what took place during the final days of the conflict."
The footage was obtained by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), an organisation made up of several dozen Sri Lankan journalists who have fled into exile in recent years as the intimidation and killing of media professionals has soared. The group, whose members now live mostly in Europe, said the film was taken by a Sri Lankan soldier in January using his mobile phone as the army was battling to take the LTTE's de facto capital, Kilinochchi.
A spokesman for the group, who asked not be identified, said: "It was as if someone was filming it for fun. This was being circulated by the soldiers. It has been going round for a while. It was taken as if it was a souvenir." He said rumours of such footage had existed for a long time but that this was the first time such film had entered "the mainstream".There is no way to confirm the authenticity of the footage, first broadcast by Channel 4 News. Likewise, there is no way of proving that the people apparently shot dead are Tamils, as the JDS has claimed. But this is not the first time that images from the war zone, captured on mobile phones, have been circulated within Sri Lanka.
Earlier this year a man in the eastern city of Trincomalee showed The Independent pictures of a naked, dead woman. He said the woman was apparently an LTTE fighter, killed as government troops advanced on rebel positions to the north.
Nor is it the first time that the army has been accused of carrying out summary justice. In May, when the rebels' final position in the north-east was overrun by government soldiers and the LTTE's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed, it emerged that two other leading rebels had been shot dead while trying to surrender. Tamils living outside Sri Lanka said the two men were carrying a white flag when they were shot by troops. A senior government official admitted that the two men had been trying to give themselves up for several days. At the time, the EU called for an inquiry into possible human rights abuses committed during the final months of the war.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCR) said: "If it can be verified, this footage could be evidence of the sort of war crimes we fear were committed by both sides. We have repeatedly said there should be an investigations into the closing stages of the conflict. There needs to be some sort of accountability."
The final assault on the LTTE ended a war that had raged for almost three decades and cost at least 70,000 lives. The LTTE, fighting for a Tamil homeland, had long waged a brutal insurgency and used suicide bombers to attack both civilian and military targets. Since the war ended, the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose brother heads the powerful defence ministry, has soared among the country's Sinhala majority.
The resulting peace has also seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of visitors to Sri Lanka, lured by its beaches, tropical forests and gently paced culture. Already about 100,000 visitors from the UK travel to the island each year, according to the Sri Lankan tourist board, and officials are hopeful that the tourist numbers will increase further.
When he announced an end to the war, the president said that Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims must live as "equals". Yet some Tamils say the government has done little to placate its population or to offer them a political "settlement". This summer, in local elections held in the north, the government's party won in the city of Jaffna, but in Vavuniya victory went to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has previously voiced some support for the LTTE.
Yesterday Sri Lankan opposition MPs urged the government to release nearly 300,000 war refugees held in state-run camps, saying the detentions brought discredit to the country.
"These camps stand as a symbol of shame and disgrace to our proud Sri Lankan history," said Mano Ganesan, an opposition MP and leader of a group calling itself Parliamentarians for Human Rights. "They are like prisons. People are kept against their will and that's illegal."
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Reuters
Sri Lankan Army commandoes
More pictures
The naked man, his hands bound behind his back, is pushed to the ground. Then a man in military uniform delivers a forceful kick to the back of the prisoner's head with the heel of his boot. As the prisoner slumps forward, another soldier points his automatic weapon and fires a single shot. The man's body jolts. "It's like he jumped," laughs one of the giggling soldiers.
As gunfire rattles, the camera pans left to reveal a further seven bloodstained bodies, all handcuffed and bound, and – with one exception – similarly naked, strewn on the ground. The camera then pans right again, as another naked man is forced to the ground and shot in the back of the head. This time the body falls backwards.
These scenes, captured on video, allegedly show extra-judicial killings of Tamils by Sri Lankan troops earlier this year in the bitter and bloody endgame of the country's civil war. As government forces made a decisive thrust into the stronghold of rebel forces to end the decades-long conflict, a Sri Lankan soldier apparently took this footage, which was then smuggled out of the country by activists. It may constitute the first hard evidence for those who believe war crimes were committed in the effort to crush the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The significance of this footage – particularly shocking for the seemingly casual way in which the killings were carried out – is even greater given the way that journalists and independent observers were prevented by the government from reaching the war zone. The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians were killed in what was, in effect, a war with no outside witnesses.
Last night the Sri Lankan army dismissed the footage as the latest in a series of fabrications designed to damage the country's image. But campaigners and Tamil politicians said it was vital that a full inquiry be carried out into the alleged killings. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon has voiced his support for an investigation into possible war crimes if convincing evidence emerged.
So too has Amnesty International's Asia-Pacific director, Sam Zarifi, who said: "We have received consistent reports that violations of the laws of war, as well as international human rights law, were committed by both sides in the conflict and we call once again for an international, independent and credible investigation into what took place during the final days of the conflict."
The footage was obtained by Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS), an organisation made up of several dozen Sri Lankan journalists who have fled into exile in recent years as the intimidation and killing of media professionals has soared. The group, whose members now live mostly in Europe, said the film was taken by a Sri Lankan soldier in January using his mobile phone as the army was battling to take the LTTE's de facto capital, Kilinochchi.
A spokesman for the group, who asked not be identified, said: "It was as if someone was filming it for fun. This was being circulated by the soldiers. It has been going round for a while. It was taken as if it was a souvenir." He said rumours of such footage had existed for a long time but that this was the first time such film had entered "the mainstream".There is no way to confirm the authenticity of the footage, first broadcast by Channel 4 News. Likewise, there is no way of proving that the people apparently shot dead are Tamils, as the JDS has claimed. But this is not the first time that images from the war zone, captured on mobile phones, have been circulated within Sri Lanka.
Earlier this year a man in the eastern city of Trincomalee showed The Independent pictures of a naked, dead woman. He said the woman was apparently an LTTE fighter, killed as government troops advanced on rebel positions to the north.
Nor is it the first time that the army has been accused of carrying out summary justice. In May, when the rebels' final position in the north-east was overrun by government soldiers and the LTTE's leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed, it emerged that two other leading rebels had been shot dead while trying to surrender. Tamils living outside Sri Lanka said the two men were carrying a white flag when they were shot by troops. A senior government official admitted that the two men had been trying to give themselves up for several days. At the time, the EU called for an inquiry into possible human rights abuses committed during the final months of the war.
A spokesman for the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights (UNHCR) said: "If it can be verified, this footage could be evidence of the sort of war crimes we fear were committed by both sides. We have repeatedly said there should be an investigations into the closing stages of the conflict. There needs to be some sort of accountability."
The final assault on the LTTE ended a war that had raged for almost three decades and cost at least 70,000 lives. The LTTE, fighting for a Tamil homeland, had long waged a brutal insurgency and used suicide bombers to attack both civilian and military targets. Since the war ended, the popularity of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose brother heads the powerful defence ministry, has soared among the country's Sinhala majority.
The resulting peace has also seen a 25 per cent increase in the number of visitors to Sri Lanka, lured by its beaches, tropical forests and gently paced culture. Already about 100,000 visitors from the UK travel to the island each year, according to the Sri Lankan tourist board, and officials are hopeful that the tourist numbers will increase further.
When he announced an end to the war, the president said that Sinhala, Tamils and Muslims must live as "equals". Yet some Tamils say the government has done little to placate its population or to offer them a political "settlement". This summer, in local elections held in the north, the government's party won in the city of Jaffna, but in Vavuniya victory went to the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which has previously voiced some support for the LTTE.
Yesterday Sri Lankan opposition MPs urged the government to release nearly 300,000 war refugees held in state-run camps, saying the detentions brought discredit to the country.
"These camps stand as a symbol of shame and disgrace to our proud Sri Lankan history," said Mano Ganesan, an opposition MP and leader of a group calling itself Parliamentarians for Human Rights. "They are like prisons. People are kept against their will and that's illegal."
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