Call your Senators TODAY on War Crimes in Sri Lanka

Update:  the letter was sent to Secretary Clinton on Dec. 10, with 17 signatories!  Here’s who signed:  Sherrod Brown, Burr, Murray, Hutchison, Casey, Gillibrand, Hagan, Cornyn, Mikulski, Cardin, Lieberman, Lautenberg, Boxer, Feingold, Coons, Manchin and Menendez.  Thanks to everyone who lobbied your Senator!

A Congressional sign-on letter is circulating in the Senate now, sponsored by Senators Sherrod Brown and Richard Burr.  The letter asks Secretary Clinton to publicly call for an independent international investigation into war crimes and other abuses committed during the war in Sri LankaAmnesty International has been campaigning for such an international investigation for the past several months.  Amnesty has received credible, consistent reports that both the Sri Lankan government forces and the Tamil Tiger rebels committed violations of international humanitarian law, including war crimes, and human rights abuses during the war in Sri Lanka.

This past summer, Amnesty activists supported a similar letter in the House of Representatives, and we obtained 58 co-signers!  It’d be great if we could get a similar success in the Senate.

Here’s how to take action:

1. Call the Congressional switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask to speak to your Senators.  Tell your Senators about the letter and encourage them to support it.

2. If your Senators have Facebook pages or Twitter accounts, encourage them through those platforms to sign on to the letter.

AIUSA welcomes a lively and courteous discussion that follow our Community Guidelines. Comments are not pre-screened before they post but AIUSA reserves the right to remove any comments violating our guidelines.

142 thoughts on “Call your Senators TODAY on War Crimes in Sri Lanka

  1. Dear Amnesty & Mr McDonald,

    A most timely call for justice & an independent international investigation of the war crimes & genocide against the Tamil People in Sri Lanka !

    Thank you all, from my heart !!

    Let the hidden truths be uncovered.

  2. No time like NOW !

    The survivors ……… the exiles fleeing the island state …… the Tamil diaspora ……… the experts, historians, & scholars……… the rights bodies …..

    Their testimonies are essential !!!!

    Carpe diem !

  3. Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    In sri lanka raping is a weapon of War crime against Tamils.

    New York media alerts UN posting of 'War Criminal' http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    Tamils in Sri Lanka have been subject to ethnic discrimination by successive Sri Lankan governments since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. The present government responsibility for mass killings of Tamils.

  4. Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    In sri lanka raping is a weapon of War crime against Tamils.

    New York media alerts UN posting of 'War Criminal' http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    Tamils in Sri Lanka have been subject to ethnic discrimination by successive Sri Lankan governments since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. The present government responsibility for mass killings of Tamils.

  5. Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    In sri lanka raping is a weapon of War crime against Tamils.

    New York media alerts UN posting of 'War Criminal' http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

    Tamils in Sri Lanka have been subject to ethnic discrimination by successive Sri Lankan governments since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. The present government responsibility for mass killings of Tamils.

  6. Wake me up, Before you Go Go !!!

    Dear Senators !!

    Please be good enough to click on the Following links.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attr
    http://www.spur.asn.au/prominent_tamil_leaders_ki

    These clearly highlight the Massacring of Human Rights in Sri Lanka by a brutal Terrorist Group while the HR organizations as Amana International and HRW were sleeping naked in the streets of Philadelphia…

    As proper statesmen, I am sure that you would not act like the D. Miliband of England who tried to get some cheap votes by supporting Terrorism in the UK. (As per the same Wikileaks mentioned in an above post). As educated and brainy statesmen who fear wrong and know the meaning of the word "Shame" I trust you would not act like Mr. Jim Maccadonald. Hence, I trust that you will realize the brilliance of the GOSL in getting rid of Terrorism and building a land where all citizens, immaterial of their ethnicity, religion or colour could live in peace and fully support the GOSL against the un-evolved groups of Terrorists (including those who hide behind the guise of HR)

    Thank you

    Rip Van Winkle !!

  7. Rohan, your post is another sort of a leak, you took part of the wiki-leak post that says Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa could be responsible, but no where in it says about 40,000 tamils. It says UN internal figures of 7000 and thats including combatants.

  8. Wake me up, Before you Go Go !!!

    Dear Senators !!

    Please be good enough to click on the Following links.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attr
    http://www.spur.asn.au/prominent_tamil_leaders_ki

    These clearly highlight the Massacring of Human Rights in Sri Lanka by a brutal Terrorist Group while the HR organizations as Amana International and HRW were sleeping naked in the streets of Philadelphia…

    As proper statesmen, I am sure that you would not act like the D. Miliband of England who tried to get some cheap votes by supporting Terrorism in the UK. (As per the same Wikileaks mentioned in an above post). As educated and brainy statesmen who fear wrong and know the meaning of the word "Shame" I trust you would not act like Mr. Jim Maccadonald. Hence, I trust that you will realize the brilliance of the GOSL in getting rid of Terrorism and building a land where all citizens, immaterial of their ethnicity, religion or colour could live in peace and fully support the GOSL against the un-evolved groups of Terrorists (including those who hide behind the guise of HR)

    Thank you

    Rip Van Winkle !!

  9. Wake me up, Before you Go Go !!!

    Dear Senators !!

    Please be good enough to click on the Following links.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attr
    http://www.spur.asn.au/prominent_tamil_leaders_ki

    These clearly highlight the Massacring of Human Rights in Sri Lanka by a brutal Terrorist Group while the HR organizations as Amana International and HRW were sleeping naked in the streets of Philadelphia…

    As proper statesmen, I am sure that you would not act like the D. Miliband of England who tried to get some cheap votes by supporting Terrorism in the UK. (As per the same Wikileaks mentioned in an above post). As educated and brainy statesmen who fear wrong and know the meaning of the word "Shame" I trust you would not act like Mr. Jim Maccadonald. Hence, I trust that you will realize the brilliance of the GOSL in getting rid of Terrorism and building a land where all citizens, immaterial of their ethnicity, religion or colour could live in peace and fully support the GOSL against the un-evolved groups of Terrorists (including those who hide behind the guise of HR)

    Thank you

    Rip Van Winkle !!

  10. Hey Jim !!

    Why the long silence ?? Who gave a kick up your rear end for you to suddenly remember your favourit topic of Sri Lanka ?? Is it because the December Bonuses are on your way ?

    However, it is kind of a bad time for you to come up with this kind of a post when Wikileaks has leaked out so much of information on the HR matters of your pay masters.

    In an era, where we sadly get to know that the UNO is pressurized by the government of USA, how can we be assured of the Independent operation of a much lesser organization as the corner shop of AI?? Will it be wrong if we assume that AI is being pressured by some unforeseen force or is getting paid by such evil force ???

    Jim – on many instances, we (Pro GOSL crowd) have written here about the many HR issues that LTTE carried out – what action have you taken against these terrorists ??? To give you the latest, recently, a mass grave for 26 Ari Lanka Army men were found in Vanni – Why don't I hear you shout out loud about those HR violations ?? Go to the links I have posted in the above post by me – Take the incidents mentioned – Can you, with a straight face without getting naked tell me how many cases you have filed against thousands of incidents mentioned in those posts ?????

    You only take one last fight of the legal GOSL to get rid of terrorism and shout about it without any evidence and forget the zillion atrocities carried out by a Terrorist group !!!!!!!!!

    You mention that you have got credible reports, why not share them with the rest of the world ??? Then we will also get to know what you have listed under the violations of the GOSL and compare it with what you have listed under the violations by Terrorists.

    Just mentioning words "Both Parties" will not server any cause, but, facts and figures.

    However, with your Mass Lie of SLA using cluster bombs during final battle, the world will really doubt the Credibility that you are much bragging about !!!

    Jim – Bottom line, you have lost credibility (For AI along with you), UN lost Virginity (getting pressured by GOUSA) and GOUSA is loosing it's most important respect from rest of the world (Thanks to Wikileaks) !!

    Do you want to continue being on the loosing side ???

  11. Dear Amnesty & Mr McDonald,

    A most timely call for justice & an independent international investigation of the war crimes & genocide against the Tamil People in Sri Lanka !

    Thank you all, from my heart !!

    Let the hidden truths be uncovered.

  12. No time like NOW !

    The survivors ……… the exiles fleeing the island state …… the Tamil diaspora ……… the experts, historians, & scholars……… the rights bodies …..

    Their testimonies are essential !!!!

    Carpe diem !

  13. Mahinda Rajapaksa suffers humiliating defeat or political Waterloo at Oxford

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.
    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1828

  14. US embassy said that Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

    US AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS wrote:

    1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of "truth and reconciliation" commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue — including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." END SUMMARY.

    ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE

    ———————————–

    2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts' committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee's recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a "truth and reconciliation" commission (ref B).

    3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election — other than President Rajapaksa's promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables

  15. US diplomats believe the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for mass killings that marked the bloody end to the country's civil war.

    The roles of Mr Rajapaksa, his brothers and other leaders in the final stages of the military operation that destroyed the Tamil Tigers were a reason there has been no Sri Lankan investigation, according to the message from the US ambassador.

    The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians, holed up in a so-called "no-fire zone", may have been killed as a result of shelling by both sides in the spring of 2009. Mr Rajapaksa has always rejected demands for an independent inquiry.

    Mr Rajapaksa is visiting the UK and last night met Defence Secretary Liam Fox. He had also been expected to deliver an address at the Oxford Union, but the event was cancelled by the student debating society because of concerns about protests being planned.

    The cable sent in January this year by the US ambassador Patricia Butenis said any attempt to push for prosecutions would be counter-productive. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power.

    "In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka."
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-

  16. Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33147

    In sri lanka raping is a weapon of War crime against Tamils.

    New York media alerts UN posting of ‘War Criminal’
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33067

    Tamils in Sri Lanka have been subject to ethnic discrimination by successive Sri Lankan governments since Sri Lanka gained independence in 1948. The present government responsibility for mass killings of Tamils.

  17. Mahinda Rajapaksa suffers humiliating defeat or political Waterloo at Oxford

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.
    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1828

  18. Mahinda Rajapaksa suffers humiliating defeat or political Waterloo at Oxford

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.
    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1828

  19. Rohan, your post is another sort of a leak, you took part of the wiki-leak post that says Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa could be responsible, but no where in it says about 40,000 tamils. It says UN internal figures of 7000 and thats including combatants.

  20. US embassy said that Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

    US AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS wrote:

    1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of "truth and reconciliation" commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue — including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." END SUMMARY.

    ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE

    ———————————–

    2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts' committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee's recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a "truth and reconciliation" commission (ref B).

    3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election — other than President Rajapaksa's promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables

  21. US embassy said that Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

    US AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS wrote:

    1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of "truth and reconciliation" commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue — including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them "vulnerable." END SUMMARY.

    ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE

    ———————————–

    2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts' committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee's recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a "truth and reconciliation" commission (ref B).

    3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election — other than President Rajapaksa's promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables

  22. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "
    http://www.news24.com/World/News/UK-media-shows-f

  23. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "

    Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya
    [TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:53 GMT]
    One of women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the recently released Channel-4 video has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriya, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, by the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West.“I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat," the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 6-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war in Sri Lanka's indiscriminate bombardment on civilians. TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from Oliveechchu video magazine.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  24. US diplomats believe the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for mass killings that marked the bloody end to the country's civil war.

    The roles of Mr Rajapaksa, his brothers and other leaders in the final stages of the military operation that destroyed the Tamil Tigers were a reason there has been no Sri Lankan investigation, according to the message from the US ambassador.

    The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians, holed up in a so-called "no-fire zone", may have been killed as a result of shelling by both sides in the spring of 2009. Mr Rajapaksa has always rejected demands for an independent inquiry.

    Mr Rajapaksa is visiting the UK and last night met Defence Secretary Liam Fox. He had also been expected to deliver an address at the Oxford Union, but the event was cancelled by the student debating society because of concerns about protests being planned.

    The cable sent in January this year by the US ambassador Patricia Butenis said any attempt to push for prosecutions would be counter-productive. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power.

    "In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka."
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-

  25. US diplomats believe the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for mass killings that marked the bloody end to the country's civil war.

    The roles of Mr Rajapaksa, his brothers and other leaders in the final stages of the military operation that destroyed the Tamil Tigers were a reason there has been no Sri Lankan investigation, according to the message from the US ambassador.

    The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians, holed up in a so-called "no-fire zone", may have been killed as a result of shelling by both sides in the spring of 2009. Mr Rajapaksa has always rejected demands for an independent inquiry.

    Mr Rajapaksa is visiting the UK and last night met Defence Secretary Liam Fox. He had also been expected to deliver an address at the Oxford Union, but the event was cancelled by the student debating society because of concerns about protests being planned.

    The cable sent in January this year by the US ambassador Patricia Butenis said any attempt to push for prosecutions would be counter-productive. "There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power.

    "In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country's senior civilian and military leadership including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka."
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-

  26. Wake me up, Before you Go Go !!!

    Dear Senators !!

    Please be good enough to click on the Following links.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_attacks_attributed_to_the_LTTE

    http://www.spur.asn.au/prominent_tamil_leaders_killed.htm

    These clearly highlight the Massacring of Human Rights in Sri Lanka by a brutal Terrorist Group while the HR organizations as Amana International and HRW were sleeping naked in the streets of Philadelphia…

    As proper statesmen, I am sure that you would not act like the D. Miliband of England who tried to get some cheap votes by supporting Terrorism in the UK. (As per the same Wikileaks mentioned in an above post). As educated and brainy statesmen who fear wrong and know the meaning of the word “Shame” I trust you would not act like Mr. Jim Maccadonald. Hence, I trust that you will realize the brilliance of the GOSL in getting rid of Terrorism and building a land where all citizens, immaterial of their ethnicity, religion or colour could live in peace and fully support the GOSL against the un-evolved groups of Terrorists (including those who hide behind the guise of HR)

    Thank you

    Rip Van Winkle !!

  27. Hey Jim !!

    Why the long silence ?? Who gave a kick up your rear end for you to suddenly remember your favourit topic of Sri Lanka ?? Is it because the December Bonuses are on your way ?

    However, it is kind of a bad time for you to come up with this kind of a post when Wikileaks has leaked out so much of information on the HR matters of your pay masters.

    In an era, where we sadly get to know that the UNO is pressurized by the government of USA, how can we be assured of the Independent operation of a much lesser organization as the corner shop of AI?? Will it be wrong if we assume that AI is being pressured by some unforeseen force or is getting paid by such evil force ???

    Jim – on many instances, we (Pro GOSL crowd) have written here about the many HR issues that LTTE carried out – what action have you taken against these terrorists ??? To give you the latest, recently, a mass grave for 26 Ari Lanka Army men were found in Vanni – Why don’t I hear you shout out loud about those HR violations ?? Go to the links I have posted in the above post by me – Take the incidents mentioned – Can you, with a straight face without getting naked tell me how many cases you have filed against thousands of incidents mentioned in those posts ?????

    You only take one last fight of the legal GOSL to get rid of terrorism and shout about it without any evidence and forget the zillion atrocities carried out by a Terrorist group !!!!!!!!!

    You mention that you have got credible reports, why not share them with the rest of the world ??? Then we will also get to know what you have listed under the violations of the GOSL and compare it with what you have listed under the violations by Terrorists.

    Just mentioning words “Both Parties” will not server any cause, but, facts and figures.

    However, with your Mass Lie of SLA using cluster bombs during final battle, the world will really doubt the Credibility that you are much bragging about !!!

    Jim – Bottom line, you have lost credibility (For AI along with you), UN lost Virginity (getting pressured by GOUSA) and GOUSA is loosing it’s most important respect from rest of the world (Thanks to Wikileaks) !!

    Do you want to continue being on the loosing side ???

  28. Covard Rajapaksa is ready to flee UK !!

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    After the Oxford Union canceled the speech which was scheduled to be delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankans in the UK have started to surround the hotel where the President staying.

    Our source in London confirmed that thousands of people are heading towards to the Dorchester Hotel with flags and cut outs.

    "It is just showing different drama what we saw in Colombo when they were announced the result of the Presidential Election. But in Colombo the Hotel was surrounded by the military. Here it is thousands of people who are seeking justice for their own people," the source told the Sri Lanka Guardian while explaining current situation.

    The Sri Lankan Military surrounded the hotel where the opposition presidential candidate was staying in last January following which the government claimed that the election had been won by Rajapakse with a huge margin. However, the defeated candidate refused the results.

    Meanwhile another news source claimed that President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    In the meantime, the President expressed regret after Oxford canceled the event and said that he will look for another venue in the UK or elsewhere so that he can express his opinions.
    http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/12/sri-lanka

  29. I think, Rajapaksa is a Coward !!!

    🙁

    Why Rajapaksa is afraid to be at Oxford ??

    _________________________________

    Security concerns prompt cancellation of President Rajapaksa lecture at Oxford Union

    Statement from The Oxford Union on the visit of President Rajapaksa, Dec, 2, 2010

    Earlier this year, The Oxford Union invited the current President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to address our members at a date convenient to him.

    Since the invitation was first accepted by Mr. Rajapaksa, the Union has consulted extensively with Thames Valley Police as well as the Sri Lankan High Commission in London on security arrangements for the President’s visit. Due to security concerns surrounding Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit which have recently been brought to our attention by the police.

  30. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "
    http://www.news24.com/World/News/UK-media-shows-f

  31. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "
    http://www.news24.com/World/News/UK-media-shows-f

  32. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "

    Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya
    [TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:53 GMT]
    One of women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the recently released Channel-4 video has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriya, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, by the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West.“I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat," the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 6-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war in Sri Lanka's indiscriminate bombardment on civilians. TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from Oliveechchu video magazine.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  33. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island's civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women's dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    "The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies," the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made "lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women "

    Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya
    [TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:53 GMT]
    One of women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the recently released Channel-4 video has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriya, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, by the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West.“I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu'l'livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat," the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 6-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war in Sri Lanka's indiscriminate bombardment on civilians. TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from Oliveechchu video magazine.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  34. Rama well said:

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.

    Mahinda suffers political Waterloo at Oxford !!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

  35. The political environment underwent an emotional transformation after the British TV “Channel – Four” showed further footage on brutal cold –blooded execution of prisoners by soldiers.

    In another video circulated widely on the web gruesome images of a naked woman were shown. It was alleged that the girl was “Isaipiriya” a woman announcer on the TV run by the LTTE in the Wanni.

    The Sri Lanka Army had earlier announced that she had been killed in the fighting.

  36. Covard Rajapaksa is ready to flee UK !!

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    After the Oxford Union canceled the speech which was scheduled to be delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankans in the UK have started to surround the hotel where the President staying.

    Our source in London confirmed that thousands of people are heading towards to the Dorchester Hotel with flags and cut outs.

    "It is just showing different drama what we saw in Colombo when they were announced the result of the Presidential Election. But in Colombo the Hotel was surrounded by the military. Here it is thousands of people who are seeking justice for their own people," the source told the Sri Lanka Guardian while explaining current situation.

    The Sri Lankan Military surrounded the hotel where the opposition presidential candidate was staying in last January following which the government claimed that the election had been won by Rajapakse with a huge margin. However, the defeated candidate refused the results.

    Meanwhile another news source claimed that President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    In the meantime, the President expressed regret after Oxford canceled the event and said that he will look for another venue in the UK or elsewhere so that he can express his opinions.
    http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/12/sri-lanka

  37. Covard Rajapaksa is ready to flee UK !!

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    After the Oxford Union canceled the speech which was scheduled to be delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankans in the UK have started to surround the hotel where the President staying.

    Our source in London confirmed that thousands of people are heading towards to the Dorchester Hotel with flags and cut outs.

    "It is just showing different drama what we saw in Colombo when they were announced the result of the Presidential Election. But in Colombo the Hotel was surrounded by the military. Here it is thousands of people who are seeking justice for their own people," the source told the Sri Lanka Guardian while explaining current situation.

    The Sri Lankan Military surrounded the hotel where the opposition presidential candidate was staying in last January following which the government claimed that the election had been won by Rajapakse with a huge margin. However, the defeated candidate refused the results.

    Meanwhile another news source claimed that President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    In the meantime, the President expressed regret after Oxford canceled the event and said that he will look for another venue in the UK or elsewhere so that he can express his opinions.
    http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/12/sri-lanka

  38. Rajapaksa's white-washing Sri Lanka war crimes

    White-washing war crimes with the lame-duck of a commission, namely LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission)

    As Rajapaksa is being hounded in the UK during his visit to ostensibly address Oxford Union, it is incumbent on the Tamil diaspora not to rock the boat by indicting him at this juncture in courts. Sri Lankan judiciary is utterly flawed and the private fiefdom of the President; British justice could be seen to be slow but at least it will deliver.

    Channel 4 is systematically providing increased evidence of torture, rape and murder of civilians by the security forces. Witnesses, government servants and medical staff are coming out with fresh evidence although some are down-playing the horrors of the war for fear of reprisals.

    Behind all the façade of the 18 month long celebration the President cannot ignore international outcry particularly when the Tamil refugees who were forced to flee and whom the government thought were good riddance are united in their efforts to make it accountable for war crimes.

    Every Tamil living in the North and East lost at least one member of their family or relative to say the least during the 30 years of war. Their mourning is real and memories indelibly etched in their minds and passed onto to their next generations.

    President Rajapakse has a long road ahead of him and despite his toothpaste grin and larger than life cut-outs on every hoarding he is not a man who sleeps peacefully and even Dorchester’s plush comforts cannot shake of his morbid fear for his future lurking in every corner.

  39. This is just so amusing to see how coward Rajapaksa is ..:)

    He is fleeing UK 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Now , the whole world can see that he is a coward who is afraid of his own shadows

  40. Myanmarese military, is gearing up for a “Sri Lanka solution” to the ethnic issue.

    Myanmar may now be borrowing methods from the government of Sri Lanka’s successful COIN strategy used against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE) in 2008’. The Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which does not have a cease-fire with the SPDC. In response, the KNLA has worked with Western special forces advisers, installing networks of trail-watch cameras, remote-controlled video cameras, spy cameras and sensors in the jungles of the country’s east.

    According to K’Nyaw Paw, representing the Forum of Myanmar’s Community-Based Organisations, there are now 237 government battalions in eastern Myanmar, and army attacks have caused 73,000 civilians in the east to flee their homes in the past year. Thirty thousand refugees crossed into Thailand after fighting between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the army, near the towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Myanmar and allegations that the army uses forced labor, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
    http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20209

  41. War crimes lawyers seek arrest of Sri Lankan president in Oxford

    Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit expected to trigger protests over his government's treatment of civilians during war with Tamil Tigers

    Lawyers working for Tamil activists are attempting to obtain a war crimes arrest warrant against Sri Lanka's president and senior member of his entourage who have arrived in Britain.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers last year amid humanitarian protests about the treatment of civilians trapped in the war zone, is due to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday.

    The visit comes as Tamil supporters claim to have acquired a video showing a former Tamil Tiger colonel being interrogated by Sri Lankan forces. His family allege he was killed after surrendering.

    Rajapaksa is also expected to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox. Last year the UK revoked a number of arms exports licences to Sri Lanka in response to the conflict.

    The Sri Lankan head of state's visit, postponed from last month, is likely to trigger mass protests. Tamil demonstrators were at Heathrow airport for his arrival on Monday evening; more are expected in Oxford later this week.

    Last year thousands of Tamils blockaded Parliament Square in Westminster for several weeks to draw attention to the fighting in Sri Lanka. The freezing weather may reduce the numbers involved this time. There are estimated to be as many as 300,000 people of Tamil descent in the UK.

    Sen Kandiah, founder of the British Tamil Forum, an umbrella group representing Tamils in the UK, told the Guardian: "We have been working on an arrest warrant for some time. We have instructed a prominent legal firm and have spoken to former lord chancellors.

    "We know that at least 40,000 civilians were killed at the end of the war. This man was the commander in chief and he's coming to speak to the Oxford Union. He should face a proper trial."

    Another Tamil activist, Suren Surendiran, said that if Rajapaksa had immunity as head of state then arrest warrants would be sought against military members of his entourage. Graham Williamson of the civil rights group Act Now has called for a boycott campaign of Sri Lankan goods.

    The UK accepts universal jurisdiction for war crimes offences, meaning that those accused of atrocities can be arrested in Britain wherever the offence was allegedly committed. But the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, announced in the summer that the legislation would be amended so that any prosecutions would require the assent of the director of public prosecutions.

    That would effectively stop the private actions brought against visiting foreign officials that have deterred visits by Israeli officials. A similar tactic was used when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister against the former Chilean president, General Augusto Pinochet. He was arrested and held under house arrest on charges of crimes against humanity, before being released on health grounds without being charged.

    Last month David Cameron endorsed calls for an independent investigation into the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. He told the Commons: "Everyone has read the papers and seen the TV footage, but we need an independent investigation" to work out whether there had been human rights abuses.

    A spokesman for the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, which represents Rajapaksa, denied that he had cancelled his trip to the UK last month becuse of fears that he might face an arrest warrant.

    "He had to give a keynote speech at the UN," the spokesman said, "and visit Shanghai. He had a busy international schedule. He's here now to speak to the Oxford Union."

    Rajapaksa last spoke at the Oxford Union in 2008. His second visit tomorrow, according to his spokesperson, will mean that he is the first serving head of state to address the union twice.

    The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has established a three-man committee to investigate ways of dealing with the war crime allegations.

    A spokesman for Fox said: "Dr Fox will be meeting President Rajapaksa in a private capacity. This reflects Dr Fox's longstanding interest in Sri Lanka and his interest in, and commitment to peace and reconciliation there."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/sri-l

  42. Mahinda Rajapaksa suffers humiliating defeat or political Waterloo at Oxford

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.

    http://dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/1828

  43. US embassy said that Rajapaksa shares responsibility for 2009 Sri Lankan massacre

    US AMBASSADOR PATRICIA A. BUTENIS wrote:

    1. (S) SUMMARY: There have been a few tentative steps on accountability for crimes allegedly committed by Sri Lankan troops and civilian officials during the war with the LTTE. President Rajapaksa named a committee to make recommendations to him on the U.S. incidents report by April, and candidate Fonseka has discussed privately the formation of some form of “truth and reconciliation” commission. Otherwise, accountability has not been a high-profile issue — including for Tamils in Sri Lanka. While Tamils have told us they would like to see some form of accountability, they have been pragmatic in what they can expect and have focused instead on securing greater rights and freedoms, resolving the IDP question, and improving economic prospects in the war-ravaged and former LTTE-occupied areas. Indeed, while they wanted to keep the issue alive for possible future action, Tamil politicians with whom we spoke in Colombo, Jaffna, and elsewhere said now was not time and that pushing hard on the issue would make them “vulnerable.” END SUMMARY.

    ACCOUNTABILITY AS A POLITICAL ISSUE

    ———————————–

    2. (S) Accountability for alleged crimes committed by GSL troops and officials during the war is the most difficult issue on our bilateral agenda. (NOTE: Both the State Department Report to Congress on Incidents during the Conflict and the widely read report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also detailed many incidents of alleged crimes perpetrated by the LTTE. Most of the LTTE leadership was killed at the end of the war, leaving few to be held responsible for those crimes. The Government of Sri Lanka (GSL) is holding thousands of mid- and lower-level ex-LTTE combatants for future rehabilitation and/or criminal prosecution. It is unclear whether any such prosecutions will meet international standards. END NOTE.) There have been some tentative steps on accountability on the GSL side. Soon after the appearance of the State Department report, President Rajapaksa announced the formation of an experts’ committee to examine the report and to provide him with recommendations on dealing with the allegations. At the end of the year, the president extended the deadline for the committee’s recommendations from December 31 until April. For his part, General Fonseka has spoken publicly of the need for a new deal with the Tamils and other minorities. Privately, his campaign manager told the Ambassador that Fonseka had ordered the opposition campaign to begin work planning a “truth and reconciliation” commission (ref B).

    3. (S) These tentative steps notwithstanding, accountability has not been a high-profile issue in the presidential election — other than President Rajapaksa’s promises personally to stand up to any international power or body that would try to prosecute Sri Lankan war heroes. While regrettable, the lack of attention to accountability is not surprising. There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power. In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership, including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/us-embassy-cables-documents/243811/print#history-link-box

  44. Dear Jim,
    Could you please explain the difference between these actions from a 'war crimes' point of view:

    (a) US drone strikes on suspected Jihadis (no trial, no capture, just the US's assurances) and,

    (b) Sri Lanka's suspected actions ?

    I hope that you're also asking your Senators to look into the US's war crimes, also. If not, why not ? Or does 'manifest destiny' affect AI staffers when they're based in the US?

  45. Dear Distraught Ladies of Eelam,

    It was the Oxford Union (a bastion of free speech) that was too cowardly to allow Rajapakse to speak, citing threats and demonstrations. And who made the threats? The totally brave, 100% non-cowardly Donkeys of Diaspora Eelam.

    For real cowardice you Eelamists have to look in the mirror and ask yourself this question:
    Why were you too cowardly to go and fight in Sri Lanka, to save your Eelam, when your Sun God wanted you?

    Instead you bravely demonstrated, defecated and caused traffic jams in the West. But you were too busy and too cowardly to actually put your lives and limbs at risk, unlike your brave LTTE cadres who actually fought and died, in vain.

    Rajapakse is many things, but he's no fool and he's not a coward.

  46. Myanmarese military, is gearing up for a “Sri Lanka solution” to the ethnic issue.

    Myanmar may now be borrowing methods from the government of Sri Lanka’s successful COIN strategy used against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE) in 2008’. The Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which does not have a cease-fire with the SPDC. In response, the KNLA has worked with Western special forces advisers, installing networks of trail-watch cameras, remote-controlled video cameras, spy cameras and sensors in the jungles of the country’s east.

    According to K’Nyaw Paw, representing the Forum of Myanmar’s Community-Based Organisations, there are now 237 government battalions in eastern Myanmar, and army attacks have caused 73,000 civilians in the east to flee their homes in the past year. Thirty thousand refugees crossed into Thailand after fighting between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the army, near the towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Myanmar and allegations that the army uses forced labor, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
    http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20209

  47. Myanmarese military, is gearing up for a “Sri Lanka solution” to the ethnic issue.

    Myanmar may now be borrowing methods from the government of Sri Lanka’s successful COIN strategy used against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE) in 2008’. The Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which does not have a cease-fire with the SPDC. In response, the KNLA has worked with Western special forces advisers, installing networks of trail-watch cameras, remote-controlled video cameras, spy cameras and sensors in the jungles of the country’s east.

    According to K’Nyaw Paw, representing the Forum of Myanmar’s Community-Based Organisations, there are now 237 government battalions in eastern Myanmar, and army attacks have caused 73,000 civilians in the east to flee their homes in the past year. Thirty thousand refugees crossed into Thailand after fighting between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the army, near the towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Myanmar and allegations that the army uses forced labor, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.
    http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20209

  48. War crimes lawyers seek arrest of Sri Lankan president in Oxford

    Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit expected to trigger protests over his government's treatment of civilians during war with Tamil Tigers

    Lawyers working for Tamil activists are attempting to obtain a war crimes arrest warrant against Sri Lanka's president and senior member of his entourage who have arrived in Britain.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers last year amid humanitarian protests about the treatment of civilians trapped in the war zone, is due to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday.

    The visit comes as Tamil supporters claim to have acquired a video showing a former Tamil Tiger colonel being interrogated by Sri Lankan forces. His family allege he was killed after surrendering.

    Rajapaksa is also expected to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox. Last year the UK revoked a number of arms exports licences to Sri Lanka in response to the conflict.

    The Sri Lankan head of state's visit, postponed from last month, is likely to trigger mass protests. Tamil demonstrators were at Heathrow airport for his arrival on Monday evening; more are expected in Oxford later this week.

    Last year thousands of Tamils blockaded Parliament Square in Westminster for several weeks to draw attention to the fighting in Sri Lanka. The freezing weather may reduce the numbers involved this time. There are estimated to be as many as 300,000 people of Tamil descent in the UK.

    Sen Kandiah, founder of the British Tamil Forum, an umbrella group representing Tamils in the UK, told the Guardian: "We have been working on an arrest warrant for some time. We have instructed a prominent legal firm and have spoken to former lord chancellors.

    "We know that at least 40,000 civilians were killed at the end of the war. This man was the commander in chief and he's coming to speak to the Oxford Union. He should face a proper trial."

    Another Tamil activist, Suren Surendiran, said that if Rajapaksa had immunity as head of state then arrest warrants would be sought against military members of his entourage. Graham Williamson of the civil rights group Act Now has called for a boycott campaign of Sri Lankan goods.

    The UK accepts universal jurisdiction for war crimes offences, meaning that those accused of atrocities can be arrested in Britain wherever the offence was allegedly committed. But the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, announced in the summer that the legislation would be amended so that any prosecutions would require the assent of the director of public prosecutions.

    That would effectively stop the private actions brought against visiting foreign officials that have deterred visits by Israeli officials. A similar tactic was used when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister against the former Chilean president, General Augusto Pinochet. He was arrested and held under house arrest on charges of crimes against humanity, before being released on health grounds without being charged.

    Last month David Cameron endorsed calls for an independent investigation into the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. He told the Commons: "Everyone has read the papers and seen the TV footage, but we need an independent investigation" to work out whether there had been human rights abuses.

    A spokesman for the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, which represents Rajapaksa, denied that he had cancelled his trip to the UK last month becuse of fears that he might face an arrest warrant.

    "He had to give a keynote speech at the UN," the spokesman said, "and visit Shanghai. He had a busy international schedule. He's here now to speak to the Oxford Union."

    Rajapaksa last spoke at the Oxford Union in 2008. His second visit tomorrow, according to his spokesperson, will mean that he is the first serving head of state to address the union twice.

    The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has established a three-man committee to investigate ways of dealing with the war crime allegations.

    A spokesman for Fox said: "Dr Fox will be meeting President Rajapaksa in a private capacity. This reflects Dr Fox's longstanding interest in Sri Lanka and his interest in, and commitment to peace and reconciliation there."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/sri-l

  49. War crimes lawyers seek arrest of Sri Lankan president in Oxford

    Mahinda Rajapaksa's visit expected to trigger protests over his government's treatment of civilians during war with Tamil Tigers

    Lawyers working for Tamil activists are attempting to obtain a war crimes arrest warrant against Sri Lanka's president and senior member of his entourage who have arrived in Britain.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers last year amid humanitarian protests about the treatment of civilians trapped in the war zone, is due to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday.

    The visit comes as Tamil supporters claim to have acquired a video showing a former Tamil Tiger colonel being interrogated by Sri Lankan forces. His family allege he was killed after surrendering.

    Rajapaksa is also expected to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox. Last year the UK revoked a number of arms exports licences to Sri Lanka in response to the conflict.

    The Sri Lankan head of state's visit, postponed from last month, is likely to trigger mass protests. Tamil demonstrators were at Heathrow airport for his arrival on Monday evening; more are expected in Oxford later this week.

    Last year thousands of Tamils blockaded Parliament Square in Westminster for several weeks to draw attention to the fighting in Sri Lanka. The freezing weather may reduce the numbers involved this time. There are estimated to be as many as 300,000 people of Tamil descent in the UK.

    Sen Kandiah, founder of the British Tamil Forum, an umbrella group representing Tamils in the UK, told the Guardian: "We have been working on an arrest warrant for some time. We have instructed a prominent legal firm and have spoken to former lord chancellors.

    "We know that at least 40,000 civilians were killed at the end of the war. This man was the commander in chief and he's coming to speak to the Oxford Union. He should face a proper trial."

    Another Tamil activist, Suren Surendiran, said that if Rajapaksa had immunity as head of state then arrest warrants would be sought against military members of his entourage. Graham Williamson of the civil rights group Act Now has called for a boycott campaign of Sri Lankan goods.

    The UK accepts universal jurisdiction for war crimes offences, meaning that those accused of atrocities can be arrested in Britain wherever the offence was allegedly committed. But the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, announced in the summer that the legislation would be amended so that any prosecutions would require the assent of the director of public prosecutions.

    That would effectively stop the private actions brought against visiting foreign officials that have deterred visits by Israeli officials. A similar tactic was used when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister against the former Chilean president, General Augusto Pinochet. He was arrested and held under house arrest on charges of crimes against humanity, before being released on health grounds without being charged.

    Last month David Cameron endorsed calls for an independent investigation into the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. He told the Commons: "Everyone has read the papers and seen the TV footage, but we need an independent investigation" to work out whether there had been human rights abuses.

    A spokesman for the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, which represents Rajapaksa, denied that he had cancelled his trip to the UK last month becuse of fears that he might face an arrest warrant.

    "He had to give a keynote speech at the UN," the spokesman said, "and visit Shanghai. He had a busy international schedule. He's here now to speak to the Oxford Union."

    Rajapaksa last spoke at the Oxford Union in 2008. His second visit tomorrow, according to his spokesperson, will mean that he is the first serving head of state to address the union twice.

    The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has established a three-man committee to investigate ways of dealing with the war crime allegations.

    A spokesman for Fox said: "Dr Fox will be meeting President Rajapaksa in a private capacity. This reflects Dr Fox's longstanding interest in Sri Lanka and his interest in, and commitment to peace and reconciliation there."
    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/sri-l

  50. US diplomats believe the Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapaksa, bore responsibility for mass killings that marked the bloody end to the country’s civil war.

    The roles of Mr Rajapaksa, his brothers and other leaders in the final stages of the military operation that destroyed the Tamil Tigers were a reason there has been no Sri Lankan investigation, according to the message from the US ambassador.

    The UN has estimated that 10,000 civilians, holed up in a so-called “no-fire zone”, may have been killed as a result of shelling by both sides in the spring of 2009. Mr Rajapaksa has always rejected demands for an independent inquiry.

    Mr Rajapaksa is visiting the UK and last night met Defence Secretary Liam Fox. He had also been expected to deliver an address at the Oxford Union, but the event was cancelled by the student debating society because of concerns about protests being planned.

    The cable sent in January this year by the US ambassador Patricia Butenis said any attempt to push for prosecutions would be counter-productive. “There are no examples we know of a regime undertaking wholesale investigations of its own troops or senior officials for war crimes while that regime or government remained in power.

    “In Sri Lanka this is further complicated by the fact that responsibility for many of the alleged crimes rests with the country’s senior civilian and military leadership including President Rajapaksa and his brothers and opposition candidate General Fonseka.”

    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/sri-lanka-president-hit-by-mass-murder-allegations-2148823.html

  51. This is a whack on the face for Rajapaksa and his cronies.

    Rajapaksa cannot fool the world anymore.

    It is a fast moving and vibrant e-world and cannot conceal human right violations.

    The majority of the politicians in Sri Lanka still thinks they can carry on and abuse minorities and portray the world safeguarding all citizens’ rights.

    Hats off to C4 broadcasting board and the peaceful demonstrators who gathered at the airport

  52. Rajapaksa Rajapaksa is complaining about the freedom of speech in Oxford ??

    🙁

    He must be joking !!!

    When you crush freedom of speech in your own country and subjugate the Tamils under your iron boot …..you deserve to be embarrased at the hands of some starngers.

    Mutpagal saithal pitpagal kurtkum.

  53. I think, Rajapaksa is a Coward !!!

    🙁

    Why Rajapaksa is afraid to be at Oxford ??

    _________________________________

    Security concerns prompt cancellation of President Rajapaksa lecture at Oxford Union

    Statement from The Oxford Union on the visit of President Rajapaksa, Dec, 2, 2010

    Earlier this year, The Oxford Union invited the current President of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, to address our members at a date convenient to him.

    Since the invitation was first accepted by Mr. Rajapaksa, the Union has consulted extensively with Thames Valley Police as well as the Sri Lankan High Commission in London on security arrangements for the President’s visit. Due to security concerns surrounding Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit which have recently been brought to our attention by the police.

  54. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island’s civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women’s dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    “The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies,” the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made “lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women ”

    http://www.news24.com/World/News/UK-media-shows-footage-of-Sri-Lanka-massacre-20101201

  55. Sri Lanka Army rape and killed 7 Tamil women and one of them was a journalist Isaippiriya

    New footage of an alleged massacre by Sri Lankan troops during the island’s civil war has been broadcast by a British television channel, which says at least seven women may have been killed.

    Channel 4 said the five-minute video showed the women’s dead bodies in a muddy field. It was an extension of another video shown by the channel last year in which soldiers appeared to shoot two blindfolded men.

    “The new video seems to show the same incident, but rather than stopping after the execution of a second bound man, it continues and the camera pans left revealing the naked and dead bodies,” the channel said.

    Channel 4 said the video had accompanying dialogue in the execution video in which Sri Lanka Army soldiers made “lewd and callous comments, which seems to strongly suggest that sexual assaults have taken place before the death of the 7 Tamil women ”

    Naked body of woman in Channel-4 video identified as Journalist Isaippiriya
    [TamilNet, Wednesday, 01 December 2010, 12:53 GMT]
    One of women victims, stripped naked, hands tied behind back, and shot dead, as seen in the recently released Channel-4 video has been identified as 27-year-old Shoba, with nom de plume Isaippiriya, who worked as media specialist with the LTTE, by the TamilNet Vanni correspondent who recently reached a free country in the West.“I am able to learn through those who have been at Mu’l’livaaykkaal in the final days of war, that Shoba remained unarmed and did not take part in combat,” the Vanni correspondent told TamilNet, adding that Shoba lost her 6-month-old baby girl, named Akal, in the last stage of the war in Sri Lanka’s indiscriminate bombardment on civilians. TamilNet refrains from publishing the cruel video, but instead publishes a video footage of Isaippiriya as a reporter from Oliveechchu video magazine.

    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33147

  56. Rama well said:

    Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa suffered an ignominious political embarrassment at the stately university town of Oxford when his scheduled address to the prestigious Oxford Union was cancelled unilaterally.

    Mahinda suffers political Waterloo at Oxford !!!!! 🙂 🙂 🙂

  57. Thillai

    You are right about Rajapaksa and his complaining about the freedom of speech in Oxford !!

    What goes up must come down … 🙂

    Good lesson for those who abuse power…

    MR expect free speech in UK where there is no free speech in his home country….

  58. The political environment underwent an emotional transformation after the British TV “Channel – Four” showed further footage on brutal cold –blooded execution of prisoners by soldiers.

    In another video circulated widely on the web gruesome images of a naked woman were shown. It was alleged that the girl was “Isaipiriya” a woman announcer on the TV run by the LTTE in the Wanni.

    The Sri Lanka Army had earlier announced that she had been killed in the fighting.

  59. Rajapaksa’s goons assaulted the opposition position in the Sri Lanka Parliament !!

    UNP MP threatened in Sri Lanka Parliament over UK protests

    Thursday, 02 December 2010, 05:20 GMT]

    Tense situation is prevailing in Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday morning after the ruling Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians assaulted UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena accusing him of instigating the protests in the United Kingdom against visiting Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

  60. Covard Rajapaksa is ready to flee UK !!

    🙂 🙂 🙂

    President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    After the Oxford Union canceled the speech which was scheduled to be delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse, the Sri Lankans in the UK have started to surround the hotel where the President staying.

    Our source in London confirmed that thousands of people are heading towards to the Dorchester Hotel with flags and cut outs.

    “It is just showing different drama what we saw in Colombo when they were announced the result of the Presidential Election. But in Colombo the Hotel was surrounded by the military. Here it is thousands of people who are seeking justice for their own people,” the source told the Sri Lanka Guardian while explaining current situation.

    The Sri Lankan Military surrounded the hotel where the opposition presidential candidate was staying in last January following which the government claimed that the election had been won by Rajapakse with a huge margin. However, the defeated candidate refused the results.

    Meanwhile another news source claimed that President has ordered an airplane to be on standby in order to evacuate him in the event of any trouble

    In the meantime, the President expressed regret after Oxford canceled the event and said that he will look for another venue in the UK or elsewhere so that he can express his opinions.

    http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/12/sri-lankans-in-uk-surround-hotel-where.html

  61. Rajapaksa’s white-washing Sri Lanka war crimes

    White-washing war crimes with the lame-duck of a commission, namely LLRC (Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission)

    As Rajapaksa is being hounded in the UK during his visit to ostensibly address Oxford Union, it is incumbent on the Tamil diaspora not to rock the boat by indicting him at this juncture in courts. Sri Lankan judiciary is utterly flawed and the private fiefdom of the President; British justice could be seen to be slow but at least it will deliver.

    Channel 4 is systematically providing increased evidence of torture, rape and murder of civilians by the security forces. Witnesses, government servants and medical staff are coming out with fresh evidence although some are down-playing the horrors of the war for fear of reprisals.

    Behind all the façade of the 18 month long celebration the President cannot ignore international outcry particularly when the Tamil refugees who were forced to flee and whom the government thought were good riddance are united in their efforts to make it accountable for war crimes.

    Every Tamil living in the North and East lost at least one member of their family or relative to say the least during the 30 years of war. Their mourning is real and memories indelibly etched in their minds and passed onto to their next generations.

    President Rajapakse has a long road ahead of him and despite his toothpaste grin and larger than life cut-outs on every hoarding he is not a man who sleeps peacefully and even Dorchester’s plush comforts cannot shake of his morbid fear for his future lurking in every corner.

  62. 'Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he's a head of a criminal State. I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope. As commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility' http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_02_01

    Sri Lanka 'war crimes' video: who are these men? http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes

  63. This is just so amusing to see how coward Rajapaksa is ..:)

    He is fleeing UK 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Now , the whole world can see that he is a coward who is afraid of his own shadows

  64. 'Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he's a head of a criminal State. I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope. As commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility' http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_02_01

    Sri Lanka 'war crimes' video: who are these men? http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes

  65. 'Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he's a head of a criminal State. I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope. As commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility' http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_02_01

    Sri Lanka 'war crimes' video: who are these men? http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes

  66. Dear Jim,
    Could you please explain the difference between these actions from a ‘war crimes’ point of view:

    (a) US drone strikes on suspected Jihadis (no trial, no capture, just the US’s assurances) and,

    (b) Sri Lanka’s suspected actions ?

    I hope that you’re also asking your Senators to look into the US’s war crimes, also. If not, why not ? Or does ‘manifest destiny’ affect AI staffers when they’re based in the US?

  67. Dear Distraught Ladies of Eelam,

    It was the Oxford Union (a bastion of free speech) that was too cowardly to allow Rajapakse to speak, citing threats and demonstrations. And who made the threats? The totally brave, 100% non-cowardly Donkeys of Diaspora Eelam.

    For real cowardice you Eelamists have to look in the mirror and ask yourself this question:
    Why were you too cowardly to go and fight in Sri Lanka, to save your Eelam, when your Sun God wanted you?

    Instead you bravely demonstrated, defecated and caused traffic jams in the West. But you were too busy and too cowardly to actually put your lives and limbs at risk, unlike your brave LTTE cadres who actually fought and died, in vain.

    Rajapakse is many things, but he’s no fool and he’s not a coward.

  68. Myanmarese military, is gearing up for a “Sri Lanka solution” to the ethnic issue.

    Myanmar may now be borrowing methods from the government of Sri Lanka’s successful COIN strategy used against the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Ealam (LTTE) in 2008’. The Sri Lankan-style strategy appears primarily to target the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA), which does not have a cease-fire with the SPDC. In response, the KNLA has worked with Western special forces advisers, installing networks of trail-watch cameras, remote-controlled video cameras, spy cameras and sensors in the jungles of the country’s east.

    According to K’Nyaw Paw, representing the Forum of Myanmar’s Community-Based Organisations, there are now 237 government battalions in eastern Myanmar, and army attacks have caused 73,000 civilians in the east to flee their homes in the past year. Thirty thousand refugees crossed into Thailand after fighting between a faction of the Democratic Karen Buddhist Army (DKBA) and the army, near the towns of Myawaddy and Three Pagodas Pass. In total, an estimated 446,000 people are thought to be displaced inside Myanmar and allegations that the army uses forced labor, forced displacement and rape as part of its campaign in ethnic minority regions are part of the campaign by rights groups to establish a Commission of Inquiry into war crimes in Myanmar.

    http://www.irrawaddy.org/article.php?art_id=20209

  69. War crimes lawyers seek arrest of Sri Lankan president in Oxford

    Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit expected to trigger protests over his government’s treatment of civilians during war with Tamil Tigers

    Lawyers working for Tamil activists are attempting to obtain a war crimes arrest warrant against Sri Lanka’s president and senior member of his entourage who have arrived in Britain.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa, whose government defeated the separatist Tamil Tigers last year amid humanitarian protests about the treatment of civilians trapped in the war zone, is due to speak at the Oxford Union on Thursday.

    The visit comes as Tamil supporters claim to have acquired a video showing a former Tamil Tiger colonel being interrogated by Sri Lankan forces. His family allege he was killed after surrendering.

    Rajapaksa is also expected to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox. Last year the UK revoked a number of arms exports licences to Sri Lanka in response to the conflict.

    The Sri Lankan head of state’s visit, postponed from last month, is likely to trigger mass protests. Tamil demonstrators were at Heathrow airport for his arrival on Monday evening; more are expected in Oxford later this week.

    Last year thousands of Tamils blockaded Parliament Square in Westminster for several weeks to draw attention to the fighting in Sri Lanka. The freezing weather may reduce the numbers involved this time. There are estimated to be as many as 300,000 people of Tamil descent in the UK.

    Sen Kandiah, founder of the British Tamil Forum, an umbrella group representing Tamils in the UK, told the Guardian: “We have been working on an arrest warrant for some time. We have instructed a prominent legal firm and have spoken to former lord chancellors.

    “We know that at least 40,000 civilians were killed at the end of the war. This man was the commander in chief and he’s coming to speak to the Oxford Union. He should face a proper trial.”

    Another Tamil activist, Suren Surendiran, said that if Rajapaksa had immunity as head of state then arrest warrants would be sought against military members of his entourage. Graham Williamson of the civil rights group Act Now has called for a boycott campaign of Sri Lankan goods.

    The UK accepts universal jurisdiction for war crimes offences, meaning that those accused of atrocities can be arrested in Britain wherever the offence was allegedly committed. But the justice secretary, Ken Clarke, announced in the summer that the legislation would be amended so that any prosecutions would require the assent of the director of public prosecutions.

    That would effectively stop the private actions brought against visiting foreign officials that have deterred visits by Israeli officials. A similar tactic was used when Margaret Thatcher was prime minister against the former Chilean president, General Augusto Pinochet. He was arrested and held under house arrest on charges of crimes against humanity, before being released on health grounds without being charged.

    Last month David Cameron endorsed calls for an independent investigation into the end of the Sri Lankan civil war in 2009. He told the Commons: “Everyone has read the papers and seen the TV footage, but we need an independent investigation” to work out whether there had been human rights abuses.

    A spokesman for the public relations firm Bell Pottinger, which represents Rajapaksa, denied that he had cancelled his trip to the UK last month becuse of fears that he might face an arrest warrant.

    “He had to give a keynote speech at the UN,” the spokesman said, “and visit Shanghai. He had a busy international schedule. He’s here now to speak to the Oxford Union.”

    Rajapaksa last spoke at the Oxford Union in 2008. His second visit tomorrow, according to his spokesperson, will mean that he is the first serving head of state to address the union twice.

    The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, has established a three-man committee to investigate ways of dealing with the war crime allegations.

    A spokesman for Fox said: “Dr Fox will be meeting President Rajapaksa in a private capacity. This reflects Dr Fox’s longstanding interest in Sri Lanka and his interest in, and commitment to peace and reconciliation there.”

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/30/sri-lanka-president-arrest-war-crimes

  70. This is a whack on the face for Rajapaksa and his cronies.

    Rajapaksa cannot fool the world anymore.

    It is a fast moving and vibrant e-world and cannot conceal human right violations.

    The majority of the politicians in Sri Lanka still thinks they can carry on and abuse minorities and portray the world safeguarding all citizens’ rights.

    Hats off to C4 broadcasting board and the peaceful demonstrators who gathered at the airport

  71. Rajapaksa Rajapaksa is complaining about the freedom of speech in Oxford ??

    🙁

    He must be joking !!!

    When you crush freedom of speech in your own country and subjugate the Tamils under your iron boot …..you deserve to be embarrased at the hands of some starngers.

    Mutpagal saithal pitpagal kurtkum.

  72. Thillai

    You are right about Rajapaksa and his complaining about the freedom of speech in Oxford !!

    What goes up must come down … 🙂

    Good lesson for those who abuse power…

    MR expect free speech in UK where there is no free speech in his home country….

  73. Rajapaksa’s goons assaulted the opposition position in the Sri Lanka Parliament !!

    UNP MP threatened in Sri Lanka Parliament over UK protests

    Thursday, 02 December 2010, 05:20 GMT]

    Tense situation is prevailing in Sri Lanka’s parliament Thursday morning after the ruling Rajapaksa’s Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) parliamentarians assaulted UNP MP Jayalath Jayawardena accusing him of instigating the protests in the United Kingdom against visiting Sri Lanka’s President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

  74. ‘Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka. It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he’s a head of a criminal State. I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope. As commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility’
    http://www.lankanewsweb.com/news/EN_2010_12_02_010.html

    Sri Lanka ‘war crimes’ video: who are these men?
    http://www.channel4.com/news/sri-lanka-war-crimes-video-who-are-these-men

  75. The AI blog has become the modern age Tamilnet. Accusations without evidence. And Jim has restored to the gurilla teckniques the Tiger propaganda was famous for. Spit out something and cover… and do not answer anything any reader asks. Pathetic.

    Or may be I'm mistaken, this is his job and December bonuses might depend on how may controversies he creates.

  76. The AI blog has become the modern age Tamilnet. Accusations without evidence. And Jim has restored to the gurilla teckniques the Tiger propaganda was famous for. Spit out something and cover… and do not answer anything any reader asks. Pathetic.

    Or may be I’m mistaken, this is his job and December bonuses might depend on how may controversies he creates.

  77. New War Crimes Claims (attached full video clip) http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?203mOJlda4cB

    Sri Lanka leader Mahinda Rajapakse 'guilty' of war crime http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sri-la

    Sri Lanka appointed many commissions called the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Involuntary Removals and Disappearances of Persons, sofar no one convicted, it is an eyewash. Many people reported missing in Sri Lanka have never been located and are presumed dead.

  78. New War Crimes Claims (attached full video clip) http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?203mOJlda4cB

    Sri Lanka leader Mahinda Rajapakse 'guilty' of war crime http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sri-la

    Sri Lanka appointed many commissions called the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Involuntary Removals and Disappearances of Persons, sofar no one convicted, it is an eyewash. Many people reported missing in Sri Lanka have never been located and are presumed dead.

  79. New War Crimes Claims (attached full video clip) http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?203mOJlda4cB

    Sri Lanka leader Mahinda Rajapakse 'guilty' of war crime http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sri-la

    Sri Lanka appointed many commissions called the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Involuntary Removals and Disappearances of Persons, sofar no one convicted, it is an eyewash. Many people reported missing in Sri Lanka have never been located and are presumed dead.

  80. Woooo Hoooo !!

    Look who are up and running !!!!!!!!!!!!! – The spineless Apes of the Peelam Die Ass Pora – LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Finally Jim managed to put a post to get his Year End Bonus and it has been the Fuel the Terrorists of Peelam wanted up their rectums to run around like headless chicken – LOL (Pukata Petrol Gahala – LOL)

    And again, the posts are totally not relevant to the Topic and Jim Gona is fine with it – May be Jim should get some advice from his buddy Govind !!

    Also as usual, Jima is conveniently neglecting answering questions which does not surprise me at all.

    Was not that surprised to see the interpretations from the apes of Peelam of what happened in the UK with MR. It was the Oxford guys who were chicken not to allow MR speak – again a lesson to all in the west who are hiding these Terrorist Pussies under their coats. These Terrorists have managed to threaten the Oxford Scholars not to allow a leader of a country to make his Second speech to them.

    So, is it safe to assume that the British have become cowards against the Pussies of Peelam ???

    Actually, MR already got his part of the honor of becoming the only head of state to be invited twice (Again, within a short period of time) to address Oxford Student union – His trip was planned for 3-4 days and will return as scheduled. Has any pussy of Peelam being invited to oxford for anything ?? May be to clean the toilets…. ?

    Well, getting back to the subject of the senators, as I clearly mentioned in my previous post, I thoroughly believe that they are educated and brainy enough to understand the right from wrong….

  81. Neethan Says:
    December 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena never supported your unholy alliance – He was in Milano, Italy, and not in London, UK, on the day of your apes blocking Hethro Airport – LOL !!

    Only one politician named Wikramabahu who cannot even get 1,000 votes from the whole island was their to get some recognition at his dying age. I don't think anyone would take notice of what he had to say as there is no representation for him, just like the few hundreds that gather around for Peelam…

  82. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape
    [TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
    Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.

    Meanwhile, briefing a press conference Thursday at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London, Colombo's minister Dr. G.L.Peiris said that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ‘freedom of expression’ had been violated in Britain by Tamil protesters.

    When journalists countered him by pointing out to the status of freedom of expression in the island of Sri Lanka, Dr. Peiris said that during certain times governments are forced to take certain measures. He drew a parallel, citing the British way of handling freedom of expression during the height of IRA struggle.

    Sri Lanka never killed any civilians, Mahinda Rajapaksa told British media Thursday. “Many of our army officers trained at Sandhurst. That is why they will never kill a civilian,” he was quoted as saying by James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to London was part of a media offensive orchestrated by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger hired by Colombo, says Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

    In the mean time, the British Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Wednesday met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on his ‘private visit’. Fox was tight lipped of his half an hour ‘private meeting’ with Rajapaksa.

    But, it seems, the British Foreign Office is not happy about the Defence Secretary getting close to Colombo. Citing a source, Sam Coates said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague may step in if the Defence Secretary were judged to be too close to Colombo.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  83. New War Crimes Claims (attached full video clip)
    http://www.lankasrinews.com/view.php?203mOJlda4cB54Y24aeSAQC0e23mYBddcdcBdmY220eqQMKAae244YB54cdaTlmO20

    Sri Lanka leader Mahinda Rajapakse ‘guilty’ of war crime
    http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/world/sri-lanka-leader-mahinda-rajapakse-guilty-of-war-crime/story-e6frg6so-1225964747854?from=public_rss

    Sri Lanka appointed many commissions called the Presidential Commissions of Inquiry into Involuntary Removals and Disappearances of Persons, sofar no one convicted, it is an eyewash. Many people reported missing in Sri Lanka have never been located and are presumed dead.

  84. Lawyers for Tamil activists in Britain are seeking an arrest warrant against President Rajapaksa – who is currently visiting the UK and is
    due to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox, tonight – for alleged war crimes committed last year at the bloody end of the civil
    war against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

    More than 40,000 Tamils, are thought to have died in the space of a few days in May 2009, when a large concentration of both Tamil Tigers
    and civilians, crammed in a small coastal strip, came under heavy bombardment from Sri Lankan government forces.

  85. Woooo Hoooo !!

    Look who are up and running !!!!!!!!!!!!! – The spineless Apes of the Peelam Die Ass Pora – LOL !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Finally Jim managed to put a post to get his Year End Bonus and it has been the Fuel the Terrorists of Peelam wanted up their rectums to run around like headless chicken – LOL (Pukata Petrol Gahala – LOL)

    And again, the posts are totally not relevant to the Topic and Jim Gona is fine with it – May be Jim should get some advice from his buddy Govind !!

    Also as usual, Jima is conveniently neglecting answering questions which does not surprise me at all.

    Was not that surprised to see the interpretations from the apes of Peelam of what happened in the UK with MR. It was the Oxford guys who were chicken not to allow MR speak – again a lesson to all in the west who are hiding these Terrorist Pussies under their coats. These Terrorists have managed to threaten the Oxford Scholars not to allow a leader of a country to make his Second speech to them.

    So, is it safe to assume that the British have become cowards against the Pussies of Peelam ???

    Actually, MR already got his part of the honor of becoming the only head of state to be invited twice (Again, within a short period of time) to address Oxford Student union – His trip was planned for 3-4 days and will return as scheduled. Has any pussy of Peelam being invited to oxford for anything ?? May be to clean the toilets…. ?

    Well, getting back to the subject of the senators, as I clearly mentioned in my previous post, I thoroughly believe that they are educated and brainy enough to understand the right from wrong….

  86. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    What the " brave war heroes " from the Sri Lanka Army are running away ???????

    This is just funny !!

    When the Sri Lanka Army officers face the justice and courts, they become such cowards !!!!!!!!!!

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    They ran and hide like the lowly cowards they are !!

  87. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape
    [TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
    Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.

    Meanwhile, briefing a press conference Thursday at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London, Colombo's minister Dr. G.L.Peiris said that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ‘freedom of expression’ had been violated in Britain by Tamil protesters.

    When journalists countered him by pointing out to the status of freedom of expression in the island of Sri Lanka, Dr. Peiris said that during certain times governments are forced to take certain measures. He drew a parallel, citing the British way of handling freedom of expression during the height of IRA struggle.

    Sri Lanka never killed any civilians, Mahinda Rajapaksa told British media Thursday. “Many of our army officers trained at Sandhurst. That is why they will never kill a civilian,” he was quoted as saying by James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to London was part of a media offensive orchestrated by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger hired by Colombo, says Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

    In the mean time, the British Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Wednesday met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on his ‘private visit’. Fox was tight lipped of his half an hour ‘private meeting’ with Rajapaksa.

    But, it seems, the British Foreign Office is not happy about the Defence Secretary getting close to Colombo. Citing a source, Sam Coates said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague may step in if the Defence Secretary were judged to be too close to Colombo.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  88. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape
    [TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
    Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa's entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa's visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.

    Meanwhile, briefing a press conference Thursday at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London, Colombo's minister Dr. G.L.Peiris said that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa's ‘freedom of expression’ had been violated in Britain by Tamil protesters.

    When journalists countered him by pointing out to the status of freedom of expression in the island of Sri Lanka, Dr. Peiris said that during certain times governments are forced to take certain measures. He drew a parallel, citing the British way of handling freedom of expression during the height of IRA struggle.

    Sri Lanka never killed any civilians, Mahinda Rajapaksa told British media Thursday. “Many of our army officers trained at Sandhurst. That is why they will never kill a civilian,” he was quoted as saying by James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to London was part of a media offensive orchestrated by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger hired by Colombo, says Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

    In the mean time, the British Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Wednesday met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on his ‘private visit’. Fox was tight lipped of his half an hour ‘private meeting’ with Rajapaksa.

    But, it seems, the British Foreign Office is not happy about the Defence Secretary getting close to Colombo. Citing a source, Sam Coates said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague may step in if the Defence Secretary were judged to be too close to Colombo.
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art

  89. Neethan Says:
    December 2nd, 2010 at 10:32 am

    Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena never supported your unholy alliance – He was in Milano, Italy, and not in London, UK, on the day of your apes blocking Hethro Airport – LOL !!

    Only one politician named Wikramabahu who cannot even get 1,000 votes from the whole island was their to get some recognition at his dying age. I don’t think anyone would take notice of what he had to say as there is no representation for him, just like the few hundreds that gather around for Peelam…

  90. Jim McDonald, December

    Thank you, Jim McDonald for the whole article

    Rajapaksa should be allowed to get away with amnesia about the war crimes !!!!

    Why there has been no investigation into most of the atrocities Tamils have been subject to in the last 62 years?

  91. TV anchor among naked men, women ‘killed’ by Sri Lanka soldiers on video

    Britain’s Channel 4 aired stomach-churning footage of men in uniform alleged to be his soldiers executing naked, unarmed, tied-up and blindfolded men and women. One of the women was Shoba alias Isaippiriya, a journalist.

    Channel 4 said the video was shot shortly before the final triumph of the Sri Lankan army over the Tigers in May 2009, and is an extended version of another video it aired last year.

    The video, apparently shot with a cellphone camera — one of the frames has a Sri Lanka Army soldier holding up a cellphone — shows naked Tamil prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs being shot from behind by Sri Lanka Army soldiers with assault rifles. The killings take place in a field littered with naked, bloody corpses, some with their heads blown off.

    The Sri Lanka Army soldiers are heard talking among themselves, and Channel 4 said the “lewd and callous comments seem strongly to suggest that sexual assaults took place before Tamil women deaths”.

    See full video on http://www.lobbyforpeace.com/warcrime-video.html

  92. ‘’…. Tamil IDP’s being denied access to their former places of residence
    Challenging the right to title of the properties traditionally owned and /or occupied persons living in conflict affected areas

    Large tracts of previously occupied lands being demarcated as high security zones

    Unjustified Tamil land acquisitions on security considerations but allocated for non security related purposes

    The publicly announced resettlement benefits to internally displaced Tamils not being distributed equitably and in line with the announced scheme

    Lack of basic amenities like water, sanitation, power and proper housing for the newly resettled Tamil families

    Resource allocation not determined on community priorities and allocated without consultation and outside the need base and at times missing the most vulnerable and in need, possibly due to Tamil identity based biases

    Some areas like Jaffna receiving more than necessary resource allocations and peripheral areas lacking in even basic allocations

    Preventing willing and capable NGO’s/INGO’s, international community and Diaspora from helpingTamils in need at their most vulnerable moment of need

    Building of new permanent Sri Lanka military cantonments with residential facilities for military personnel and their families

    Plans to settle majority community families in order to change the Tamil traditional area demography otherwise than by natural development oriented migration

    Arbitrary arrests and detention of the Tamils in the post war period as well

    Continuing active engagement of unauthorized armed groups

    Continuing disappearances of Tamil civilians

    List of Tamils in custody, camps and detention centres not being made public

    Failure to assist Tamil families in tracing missing persons

    Negative impact on Tamil civilians during the conflict due military excesses

    Unease of single Tamil women headed families fearing for their safety in the presence of large number of armed personnel of the forces

    Removal of Tamil burial sites of persons affected by the conflict

    Some important Tamil cultural, religious and remembrance sites being damaged and destroyed

    Disrespect shown by Sinhala visitors to holy sites and sites held in high esteem by Tamil communities

    Free availability of liquor, cigarettes and narcotics to Tamil children

    Emerging consumerism promoted by Sinhala business houses who fail to participate in adding value to the Tamil communities

    Savings of the region being channelled to other areas whilst unmet needs in the Tamil community remain

    Decision making in the hands of the Sinhala military or officials from the Central Government. .…’’

    People believe what Rajapaksa DO
    and not what Rajapaksa SAY.

  93. Rohan Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 am

    American diplomats accused top Sri Lankan officials, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, of playing a role in last year’s alleged massacre of Tamil Tiger rebels.

    What's the Big deal ?????

    Sri Lankan officials have better things to do than accusing the top American officials of the massacres carried out in the Middle east !!

    U know why ?? Because we wash our own back side and not try to wash other peoples backsides. May be You guys need to learn to wash your own back sides too… 😀 !

  94. Vishnu Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 4:01 am

    War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    Have you looked at your self in the mirror lately ??? You are worse than the pot calling the kettle black.

    You cowardly Pussies were hiding in the safe heavens of the west when your brothers were paying with their lives to fight for a homeland for you apes. MR's visit was anyways for 3 days and he stayed the full 3 days in UK immaterial of the happenings. He has the guts to go to any country without fear – That's what you call being brave.

    When did you spineless chicken $#!T come to Sri Lanka last ??? show your bravery and come to Sri Lanka if you are not cowards. I am sure that you are peeing in your pants when you hear the name Sri Lanka and Mahinda Rajapakse. Go have a wash before you start smelling worse !!

  95. Heshan Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 4:39 am

    Your post made me laugh so bad, I was wondering whether you usually use your rectum to make conversations – LOL !

    Let me take a few points…

    Continuing disappearances of Tamil civilians

    Where???? To the west ??

    List of Tamils in custody, camps and detention centres not being made public

    There are no such detainees for lists to be published you moron !!
    Anyways, lists of those who are in prison are not published in this part of the world. Do they publish the names in the western heavens of yours ?? – IDIOT !!

    Failure to assist Tamil families in tracing missing persons

    Have you tried out ??

    Negative impact on Tamil civilians during the conflict due military excesses

    How about the negative impact on the Tamil civilians when they were held Human Shields ?? Positive ??? – IDIOT !!
    At least they are happy now and getting on with their lives…

    Unease of single Tamil women headed families fearing for their safety in the presence of large number of armed personnel of the forces

    Why ? Do the Army people forcefully take these ladies and hang cyanide capsules around their necks and push them to war ???? – Don't lie you Moron !!

    Removal of Tamil burial sites of persons affected by the conflict

    Only the monuments of Terrorists of Peelam are removed – No We don't want to remember that dark era…

    Some important Tamil cultural, religious and remembrance sites being damaged and destroyed

    Example please ??? and I hope you wont say that Fat Terrorist Piribakaran's underground dungeon was a worship site !!

    Disrespect shown by Sinhala visitors to holy sites and sites held in high esteem by Tamil communities

    Examples please ??? Is it worse than the disrespect you Apes show to your western masters by littering their back yards and causing traffic jams ??

    Free availability of liquor, cigarettes and narcotics to Tamil children

    LOL – So, does this mean that the Tamil children are attracted to these without any kind of publicity ?? Do you know how many Liquor bottles and Fags were purchased by the LTTE for their cadres ?? (Not forgetting that most cadres were Children) Anyways, how come these narcotics be worse than the Cyanide Capsules you spineless apes hung around their necks ?????? Moron – think before you fart !!

    You apes haven't even seen the development that's happening in the war effected areas – Sad that you will never be able to see it too ! Keep littering your west while licking their rectums !!

  96. TV anchor among naked men, women ‘killed’ by Sri Lanka soldiers on video

    Britain’s Channel 4 aired stomach-churning footage of men in uniform alleged to be his soldiers executing naked, unarmed, tied-up and blindfolded men and women. One of the women was Shoba alias Isaippiriya, a journalist.

    Channel 4 said the video was shot shortly before the final triumph of the Sri Lankan army over the Tigers in May 2009, and is an extended version of another video it aired last year.

    The video, apparently shot with a cellphone camera — one of the frames has a Sri Lanka Army soldier holding up a cellphone — shows naked Tamil prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs being shot from behind by Sri Lanka Army soldiers with assault rifles. The killings take place in a field littered with naked, bloody corpses, some with their heads blown off.

    The Sri Lanka Army soldiers are heard talking among themselves, and Channel 4 said the “lewd and callous comments seem strongly to suggest that sexual assaults took place before Tamil women deaths”.

    See full video on http://www.lobbyforpeace.com/warcrime-video.html

  97. TV anchor among naked men, women ‘killed’ by Sri Lanka soldiers on video

    Britain’s Channel 4 aired stomach-churning footage of men in uniform alleged to be his soldiers executing naked, unarmed, tied-up and blindfolded men and women. One of the women was Shoba alias Isaippiriya, a journalist.

    Channel 4 said the video was shot shortly before the final triumph of the Sri Lankan army over the Tigers in May 2009, and is an extended version of another video it aired last year.

    The video, apparently shot with a cellphone camera — one of the frames has a Sri Lanka Army soldier holding up a cellphone — shows naked Tamil prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs being shot from behind by Sri Lanka Army soldiers with assault rifles. The killings take place in a field littered with naked, bloody corpses, some with their heads blown off.

    The Sri Lanka Army soldiers are heard talking among themselves, and Channel 4 said the “lewd and callous comments seem strongly to suggest that sexual assaults took place before Tamil women deaths”.

    See full video on http://www.lobbyforpeace.com/warcrime-video.html

  98. Rajapaksa and his cronies knew that his trek to the England was going to be an ill-fated one but due to arrogance and swollen heads, the merry men undertook the pilgrimage.

  99. Rajapaksa speaks at a function where even fifty people would not have participated he seems to have taken more than a hundred of his yes men.

    Even though the wails of genocide were rendering the air, hRajapaksa decided to take a military officer who is a war criminal.

    I do not have to repeat the rest of the fairy tale, the whole planet knows what took place.

    They say ” everyday is not Christmas “,Rajapaksa, the master of deceit has just walked into his own waterloo, as the media very cleverly states and what goes around has to come around.

    When he flies back to the safety of his own back garden, the likes of Lemon-Puff and , the million goons like Merv will bring the gullible’s in their thousands who will be given free transport and the dry fish rice packets to pay hosannas to the all conquering king who just could not tell the British about his desires to make Sri Lanka become Sorri Lanka or Sori Lanka [ or as we say in Tamil – itchy Lanka ]

  100. Damning evidence has surfaced which will be proof that Sri Lankan Army committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Global Tamil Forum has released a series of video footage that it has received from military sources, which clearly shows the Army abusing a senior LTTE commander Col. Ramesh when he surrendered at the last leg of the war.

    The Daily Telegraph in its coverage today quoted government spokesperson Hulugalle as he could not comment on the video or the Global Tamil Forum's claims, but reiterated his government's claim that Col Ramesh had been killed in fighting.

    The Global Tamil Forum claimed that they have obtained various other more incriminating video and photographic evidences that they intend submitting to the UN Panel. They said in an official statement to the media yesterday that these evidence will implicate many of the serving Sri Lanka senior military men and ex servicemen.

    he link below is the news clip where Sri Lanka Media was officially announced that many of the LTTE senior cadres being killed in battle. One of the names mentioned is Colonel Ramesh. His photo with his name at the bottom in Sinhala is also shown in this news bulletin

  101. 'Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka.

    It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he's a head of a criminal State.

    I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope.

    Rajapaksa as commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility

  102. Lawyers for Tamil activists in Britain are seeking an arrest warrant against President Rajapaksa – who is currently visiting the UK and is
    due to meet the defence secretary, Liam Fox, tonight – for alleged war crimes committed last year at the bloody end of the civil
    war against Tamils in Sri Lanka.

    More than 40,000 Tamils, are thought to have died in the space of a few days in May 2009, when a large concentration of both Tamil Tigers
    and civilians, crammed in a small coastal strip, came under heavy bombardment from Sri Lankan government forces.

  103. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    What the ” brave war heroes ” from the Sri Lanka Army are running away ???????

    This is just funny !!

    When the Sri Lanka Army officers face the justice and courts, they become such cowards !!!!!!!!!!

    🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

    They ran and hide like the lowly cowards they are !!

  104. War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape
    [TamilNet, Friday, 03 December 2010, 00:44 GMT]
    Sri Lankan Major General Chagi Gallage, a member of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s entourage to London, plans to escape war crimes accusation in the courts of London by chartering a flight, informed circles in London said Thursday midnight. Meanwhile, if Mr. Rajapaksa’s visit was a private one as claimed by him, why there were senior ministers like G.L.Peiris and military commanders in the entourage, wonder media circles in London. The escape plans of the military commander follows attempts by the Global Tamil Forum (GTF) to file a war crimes case against him in London. Valid reasons are suspected behind the escape attempt of Chagi Gallage. Around 7,000 Eezham Tamils in London protested the presence of Rajapaksa entourage in London Thursday.

    Meanwhile, briefing a press conference Thursday at the High Commission of Sri Lanka in London, Colombo’s minister Dr. G.L.Peiris said that SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s ‘freedom of expression’ had been violated in Britain by Tamil protesters.

    When journalists countered him by pointing out to the status of freedom of expression in the island of Sri Lanka, Dr. Peiris said that during certain times governments are forced to take certain measures. He drew a parallel, citing the British way of handling freedom of expression during the height of IRA struggle.

    Sri Lanka never killed any civilians, Mahinda Rajapaksa told British media Thursday. “Many of our army officers trained at Sandhurst. That is why they will never kill a civilian,” he was quoted as saying by James Harding and Ben Macintyre of The Times.

    Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to London was part of a media offensive orchestrated by the lobbying firm Bell Pottinger hired by Colombo, says Sam Coates, Deputy Political Editor of The Times.

    In the mean time, the British Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Wednesday met Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa who was on his ‘private visit’. Fox was tight lipped of his half an hour ‘private meeting’ with Rajapaksa.

    But, it seems, the British Foreign Office is not happy about the Defence Secretary getting close to Colombo. Citing a source, Sam Coates said that the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the Foreign Secretary Mr William Hague may step in if the Defence Secretary were judged to be too close to Colombo.

    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33156

  105. Jim McDonald, December

    Thank you, Jim McDonald for the whole article

    Rajapaksa should be allowed to get away with amnesia about the war crimes !!!!

    Why there has been no investigation into most of the atrocities Tamils have been subject to in the last 62 years?

  106. ‘’…. Tamil IDP’s being denied access to their former places of residence
    Challenging the right to title of the properties traditionally owned and /or occupied persons living in conflict affected areas

    Large tracts of previously occupied lands being demarcated as high security zones

    Unjustified Tamil land acquisitions on security considerations but allocated for non security related purposes

    The publicly announced resettlement benefits to internally displaced Tamils not being distributed equitably and in line with the announced scheme

    Lack of basic amenities like water, sanitation, power and proper housing for the newly resettled Tamil families

    Resource allocation not determined on community priorities and allocated without consultation and outside the need base and at times missing the most vulnerable and in need, possibly due to Tamil identity based biases

    Some areas like Jaffna receiving more than necessary resource allocations and peripheral areas lacking in even basic allocations

    Preventing willing and capable NGO’s/INGO’s, international community and Diaspora from helpingTamils in need at their most vulnerable moment of need

    Building of new permanent Sri Lanka military cantonments with residential facilities for military personnel and their families

    Plans to settle majority community families in order to change the Tamil traditional area demography otherwise than by natural development oriented migration

    Arbitrary arrests and detention of the Tamils in the post war period as well

    Continuing active engagement of unauthorized armed groups

    Continuing disappearances of Tamil civilians

    List of Tamils in custody, camps and detention centres not being made public

    Failure to assist Tamil families in tracing missing persons

    Negative impact on Tamil civilians during the conflict due military excesses

    Unease of single Tamil women headed families fearing for their safety in the presence of large number of armed personnel of the forces

    Removal of Tamil burial sites of persons affected by the conflict

    Some important Tamil cultural, religious and remembrance sites being damaged and destroyed

    Disrespect shown by Sinhala visitors to holy sites and sites held in high esteem by Tamil communities

    Free availability of liquor, cigarettes and narcotics to Tamil children

    Emerging consumerism promoted by Sinhala business houses who fail to participate in adding value to the Tamil communities

    Savings of the region being channelled to other areas whilst unmet needs in the Tamil community remain

    Decision making in the hands of the Sinhala military or officials from the Central Government. .…’’

    People believe what Rajapaksa DO
    and not what Rajapaksa SAY.

  107. Rohan Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 12:35 am

    American diplomats accused top Sri Lankan officials, including President Mahinda Rajapaksa, of playing a role in last year’s alleged massacre of Tamil Tiger rebels.

    What’s the Big deal ?????

    Sri Lankan officials have better things to do than accusing the top American officials of the massacres carried out in the Middle east !!

    U know why ?? Because we wash our own back side and not try to wash other peoples backsides. May be You guys need to learn to wash your own back sides too… 😀 !

  108. Vishnu Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 4:01 am

    War crime suspect in Rajapaksa entourage plans charted flight escape ???

    Have you looked at your self in the mirror lately ??? You are worse than the pot calling the kettle black.

    You cowardly Pussies were hiding in the safe heavens of the west when your brothers were paying with their lives to fight for a homeland for you apes. MR’s visit was anyways for 3 days and he stayed the full 3 days in UK immaterial of the happenings. He has the guts to go to any country without fear – That’s what you call being brave.

    When did you spineless chicken $#!T come to Sri Lanka last ??? show your bravery and come to Sri Lanka if you are not cowards. I am sure that you are peeing in your pants when you hear the name Sri Lanka and Mahinda Rajapakse. Go have a wash before you start smelling worse !!

  109. Heshan Says:
    December 3rd, 2010 at 4:39 am

    Your post made me laugh so bad, I was wondering whether you usually use your rectum to make conversations – LOL !

    Let me take a few points…

    Continuing disappearances of Tamil civilians

    Where???? To the west ??

    List of Tamils in custody, camps and detention centres not being made public

    There are no such detainees for lists to be published you moron !!
    Anyways, lists of those who are in prison are not published in this part of the world. Do they publish the names in the western heavens of yours ?? – IDIOT !!

    Failure to assist Tamil families in tracing missing persons

    Have you tried out ??

    Negative impact on Tamil civilians during the conflict due military excesses

    How about the negative impact on the Tamil civilians when they were held Human Shields ?? Positive ??? – IDIOT !!
    At least they are happy now and getting on with their lives…

    Unease of single Tamil women headed families fearing for their safety in the presence of large number of armed personnel of the forces

    Why ? Do the Army people forcefully take these ladies and hang cyanide capsules around their necks and push them to war ???? – Don’t lie you Moron !!

    Removal of Tamil burial sites of persons affected by the conflict

    Only the monuments of Terrorists of Peelam are removed – No We don’t want to remember that dark era…

    Some important Tamil cultural, religious and remembrance sites being damaged and destroyed

    Example please ??? and I hope you wont say that Fat Terrorist Piribakaran’s underground dungeon was a worship site !!

    Disrespect shown by Sinhala visitors to holy sites and sites held in high esteem by Tamil communities

    Examples please ??? Is it worse than the disrespect you Apes show to your western masters by littering their back yards and causing traffic jams ??

    Free availability of liquor, cigarettes and narcotics to Tamil children

    LOL – So, does this mean that the Tamil children are attracted to these without any kind of publicity ?? Do you know how many Liquor bottles and Fags were purchased by the LTTE for their cadres ?? (Not forgetting that most cadres were Children) Anyways, how come these narcotics be worse than the Cyanide Capsules you spineless apes hung around their necks ?????? Moron – think before you fart !!

    You apes haven’t even seen the development that’s happening in the war effected areas – Sad that you will never be able to see it too ! Keep littering your west while licking their rectums !!

  110. TV anchor among naked men, women ‘killed’ by Sri Lanka soldiers on video

    Britain’s Channel 4 aired stomach-churning footage of men in uniform alleged to be his soldiers executing naked, unarmed, tied-up and blindfolded men and women. One of the women was Shoba alias Isaippiriya, a journalist.

    Channel 4 said the video was shot shortly before the final triumph of the Sri Lankan army over the Tigers in May 2009, and is an extended version of another video it aired last year.

    The video, apparently shot with a cellphone camera — one of the frames has a Sri Lanka Army soldier holding up a cellphone — shows naked Tamil prisoners with their hands tied behind their backs being shot from behind by Sri Lanka Army soldiers with assault rifles. The killings take place in a field littered with naked, bloody corpses, some with their heads blown off.

    The Sri Lanka Army soldiers are heard talking among themselves, and Channel 4 said the “lewd and callous comments seem strongly to suggest that sexual assaults took place before Tamil women deaths”.

    See full video on
    http://www.lobbyforpeace.com/warcrime-video.html

  111. Rajapaksa and his cronies knew that his trek to the England was going to be an ill-fated one but due to arrogance and swollen heads, the merry men undertook the pilgrimage.

  112. Rajapaksa speaks at a function where even fifty people would not have participated he seems to have taken more than a hundred of his yes men.

    Even though the wails of genocide were rendering the air, hRajapaksa decided to take a military officer who is a war criminal.

    I do not have to repeat the rest of the fairy tale, the whole planet knows what took place.

    They say ” everyday is not Christmas “,Rajapaksa, the master of deceit has just walked into his own waterloo, as the media very cleverly states and what goes around has to come around.

    When he flies back to the safety of his own back garden, the likes of Lemon-Puff and , the million goons like Merv will bring the gullible’s in their thousands who will be given free transport and the dry fish rice packets to pay hosannas to the all conquering king who just could not tell the British about his desires to make Sri Lanka become Sorri Lanka or Sori Lanka [ or as we say in Tamil – itchy Lanka ]

  113. War criminal escaped last night from UK? http://www.lankanewsweb.com/ADS/MahindainOxford.h

    Sri Lanka video contains evidence of war crimes, says ICTY legal expert http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art
    "This is a very disturbing video and clearly, on the face of it, shows war crimes have been committed and perhaps crimes against humanity, depending on who the group targeted was," said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), after reviewing the execution video broadcast by Channel-4, and added ""[t]here is no question that this video is prima facie evidence that these crimes were committed. And therefore there's a responsibility on the part of the international community to push for an investigation and prosecution."

  114. Damning evidence has surfaced which will be proof that Sri Lankan Army committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Global Tamil Forum has released a series of video footage that it has received from military sources, which clearly shows the Army abusing a senior LTTE commander Col. Ramesh when he surrendered at the last leg of the war.

    The Daily Telegraph in its coverage today quoted government spokesperson Hulugalle as he could not comment on the video or the Global Tamil Forum’s claims, but reiterated his government’s claim that Col Ramesh had been killed in fighting.

    The Global Tamil Forum claimed that they have obtained various other more incriminating video and photographic evidences that they intend submitting to the UN Panel. They said in an official statement to the media yesterday that these evidence will implicate many of the serving Sri Lanka senior military men and ex servicemen.

    he link below is the news clip where Sri Lanka Media was officially announced that many of the LTTE senior cadres being killed in battle. One of the names mentioned is Colonel Ramesh. His photo with his name at the bottom in Sinhala is also shown in this news bulletin

  115. ‘Every day we wake up to find new credible evidence of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Sri Lanka.

    It is disheartening and disappointing to tell the least that a killer of tens of thousands of innocent lives could be given privileges just because he’s a head of a criminal State.

    I pray every day that justice will be done to those who perished and those who are still living in hope.

    Rajapaksa as commander in chief, the president should take full responsibility

  116. War criminal escaped last night from UK? http://www.lankanewsweb.com/ADS/MahindainOxford.h

    Sri Lanka video contains evidence of war crimes, says ICTY legal expert http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art
    "This is a very disturbing video and clearly, on the face of it, shows war crimes have been committed and perhaps crimes against humanity, depending on who the group targeted was," said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), after reviewing the execution video broadcast by Channel-4, and added ""[t]here is no question that this video is prima facie evidence that these crimes were committed. And therefore there's a responsibility on the part of the international community to push for an investigation and prosecution."

  117. War criminal escaped last night from UK? http://www.lankanewsweb.com/ADS/MahindainOxford.h

    Sri Lanka video contains evidence of war crimes, says ICTY legal expert http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&art
    "This is a very disturbing video and clearly, on the face of it, shows war crimes have been committed and perhaps crimes against humanity, depending on who the group targeted was," said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), after reviewing the execution video broadcast by Channel-4, and added ""[t]here is no question that this video is prima facie evidence that these crimes were committed. And therefore there's a responsibility on the part of the international community to push for an investigation and prosecution."

  118. Sri Lankan detainees “resettled” in appalling conditions

    Following the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, the Sri Lankan government detained about 280,000 Tamil civilians from the northern Vanni region in huge military-controlled camps. After many months of incarceration, in violation of their fundamental legal and democratic rights, detainees were later “resettled” in designated areas or consigned to “transit camps”. According to the government, around 20,000 people are still living in the military-run detention camps.

    On November 3, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, fraudulently claimed that “Sri Lanka has kept a unique record by resettling IDPs [internally displaced persons] within a short period of time.” He insisted that “the government is committed to improve the life of the resettled people”.

    However, the situation on the ground is appalling. Detainees have been left without proper facilities, including houses. In order to conceal these conditions from the outside world, the government has imposed restrictions on the media visiting these areas. A WSWS team travelled to the region recently and compiled the following report.

    ****

    Vattakachchi is a large rural area about 8 kilometres east of Kilinochchi town in northern Sri Lanka. It is one of the districts in the Vanni region that bore the brunt of 30 years of communal war, instigated and driven by the Colombo political establishment. Along with other parts of the Vanni region, Vattakachchi was devastated during the final phase of the Sri Lankan military’s offensive that reached here in December 2008.

    About 7,000 people lived here. Many joined the hundreds of thousands who fled the indiscriminate attacks of the advancing military. People trekked from one place to another, mainly on foot, until they reached Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district, where the army’s final attacks took place. We met people who had seen thousands of people killed and maimed, including their loved ones, during the military’s barrages.

    After being detained for months in huge military-controlled camps, some people were “resettled” in villages in the Vattakachchi area. No one knows what has happened to the many others who have not returned. Many residents are now widows or widowers. Some young people were dragged off to secret detention camps as LTTE “suspects”.

    On our way to Vattakachchi, near a place called Thiruvaiyaru Kanagapuram, we saw wrecks of war-damaged vehicles that had been abandoned by fleeing civilians. It was a few kilometres from the Iranaimadu Tank—a large artificial lake that is famous for inland fishing. Now the army is guarding the tank, which also provides water for agriculture.

    Fishing has been banned for the many Tamil families who once relied upon it for their livelihoods. The army has also occupied the living quarters for irrigation department employees. People are allowed to enter the Hindu temple only at times of worship. A Buddhist temple has been built by the army—another sign that the military occupation will be permanent.

    We stayed in one family’s hut. It was only about 10 square metres. The roof was made of coconut leaves, with walls of mud and sticks. The floor was also mud-based. There was a smaller hut used as a kitchen. In the whole district, we only saw huts with tarpaulin or coconut-leaf roofs. When it rains, the huts become muddy. Rain floods the low-lying huts and strong winds often take off the makeshift roofs. Because the huts are so small, some people sleep in the kitchens. Now and then, we saw people living in half-damaged or partly-repaired houses.

    There is no electricity in the area. Even to use a mobile phone, residents must pay a private generator owner a fee of 20 rupees (17 US cents). Villagers have no access to television or even newspapers.

    Outside a cooperative store

    People were brought back here about six months ago, but nothing has improved since. Very few resettled people have any means to earn a living. Some are working on low-cost housing sites, still uncertain about their jobs.

    An unemployed worker told us: “My wife got injured in the stomach at Mullivaikkal. I tried to bring her to a government-controlled area for treatment but the LTTE stopped us. I later got to a government-controlled area with other people. The army took my wife, saying they were going to provide her with medical treatment. I was detained in a camp with our one-year-old son. I appealed to the army and civil officers to allow me to leave and search for my wife but I was not allowed. After we were released, I began to search for her and I am still searching.”

    The only government dispensary in the area opens for just three hours a day, two days of the week. This dispensary is supposed to serve around 7,000 people, including in Ramanathapuram and Kalamadu in addition to Vattakachchi, but it is totally inadequate.

    Taking a patient to Kilinochchi is a nightmare. The access road is so bumpy that the maximum speed of a vehicle is about 5 kilometres per hour. Even though there is supposed to be a bus running between Kilinochchi and Vattakachchi every hour, people often have to wait many hours.

    The villagers’ main meal is rice with dhal or coconut sambol. They get small amounts of dry rations from the UN’s World Food Programme. But people often sell their rations to buy cheaper food or raise money for other needs. Some people have started cultivating rice but with much difficulty, since they lack adequate equipment, manure and seeds.

    We visited Mayavanoor South village, on the southern boundary of the Vattakachchi area. Villagers have to walk about 500 metres to fetch water. There are no toilets. Residents have to walk 3 kilometres to catch public transport to Kilinochchi. Earlier, the villagers used bicycles but they lost them all during the war.

    Inside a nursery school

    Mayavanoor South village school has only five teachers for several hundred children, from grades one to five. It has a roof thatched with coconut leaves. Class rooms are divided by tin sheets. Teachers told us they were ordered by the education department not to give any details and not to allow any media photos.

    One voluntary teacher, however, told us her story. “We fled to Mullaithivu as refugees. My husband was shot and killed on the spot by the military. We buried him there and went to the government-controlled area. I have been teaching for many years. Previously I was paid an allowance of 3,000 rupees but now I get no allowance. I continue teaching without pay in the hope of getting a permanent appointment.”

    We came across a functioning Montessori school, which previously had been abandoned for a long time. Two teachers were there but no one paid them. One teacher was a war widow with two children. Her husband had died in a shell attack by the Sri Lankan military. Around 70 children were registered but only around 40 were attending. The children’s parents were not in a position to pay the teachers. Some children were even coming to the school without meals. These children have no drinking water, toilet facilities, desks, chairs or play things.

    The situation in villages throughout the Vanni is much the same. People are angry about the devastation caused by the military, and the government’s false promises, as well as the role of the Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), previously a political proxy for the LTTE.

    One villager told us: “The LTTE controlled the people with repressive methods. Now people are afraid to speak because of the military. The war is over, yet our problems remain the same. TNA MPs visit here to pretend that they are interested about us. But they cannot do anything for us.”

    Since the LTTE’s defeat, the TNA has expressed its willingness to collaborate with the Rajapakse government. When TNA parliamentarians visit people they claim they can change the situation by speaking to the government. The TNA has also sought the help of the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu ruling party, Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam, to put pressure on Colombo to agree to a “political solution” for Tamils.

    By a “political solution” the TNA and other Tamil capitalist parties mean the devolution of certain powers to them in Sri Lanka’s north and east, to provide privileges for the Tamil elite. The TNA issues statements on the plight of Tamils in the Vanni, but its real interest is in cutting a deal with the government.
    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/sril-d0

  119. Sri Lankan detainees “resettled” in appalling conditions

    Following the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, the Sri Lankan government detained about 280,000 Tamil civilians from the northern Vanni region in huge military-controlled camps. After many months of incarceration, in violation of their fundamental legal and democratic rights, detainees were later “resettled” in designated areas or consigned to “transit camps”. According to the government, around 20,000 people are still living in the military-run detention camps.

    On November 3, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, fraudulently claimed that “Sri Lanka has kept a unique record by resettling IDPs [internally displaced persons] within a short period of time.” He insisted that “the government is committed to improve the life of the resettled people”.

    However, the situation on the ground is appalling. Detainees have been left without proper facilities, including houses. In order to conceal these conditions from the outside world, the government has imposed restrictions on the media visiting these areas. A WSWS team travelled to the region recently and compiled the following report.

    ****

    Vattakachchi is a large rural area about 8 kilometres east of Kilinochchi town in northern Sri Lanka. It is one of the districts in the Vanni region that bore the brunt of 30 years of communal war, instigated and driven by the Colombo political establishment. Along with other parts of the Vanni region, Vattakachchi was devastated during the final phase of the Sri Lankan military’s offensive that reached here in December 2008.

    About 7,000 people lived here. Many joined the hundreds of thousands who fled the indiscriminate attacks of the advancing military. People trekked from one place to another, mainly on foot, until they reached Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district, where the army’s final attacks took place. We met people who had seen thousands of people killed and maimed, including their loved ones, during the military’s barrages.

    After being detained for months in huge military-controlled camps, some people were “resettled” in villages in the Vattakachchi area. No one knows what has happened to the many others who have not returned. Many residents are now widows or widowers. Some young people were dragged off to secret detention camps as LTTE “suspects”.

    On our way to Vattakachchi, near a place called Thiruvaiyaru Kanagapuram, we saw wrecks of war-damaged vehicles that had been abandoned by fleeing civilians. It was a few kilometres from the Iranaimadu Tank—a large artificial lake that is famous for inland fishing. Now the army is guarding the tank, which also provides water for agriculture.

    Fishing has been banned for the many Tamil families who once relied upon it for their livelihoods. The army has also occupied the living quarters for irrigation department employees. People are allowed to enter the Hindu temple only at times of worship. A Buddhist temple has been built by the army—another sign that the military occupation will be permanent.

    We stayed in one family’s hut. It was only about 10 square metres. The roof was made of coconut leaves, with walls of mud and sticks. The floor was also mud-based. There was a smaller hut used as a kitchen. In the whole district, we only saw huts with tarpaulin or coconut-leaf roofs. When it rains, the huts become muddy. Rain floods the low-lying huts and strong winds often take off the makeshift roofs. Because the huts are so small, some people sleep in the kitchens. Now and then, we saw people living in half-damaged or partly-repaired houses.

    There is no electricity in the area. Even to use a mobile phone, residents must pay a private generator owner a fee of 20 rupees (17 US cents). Villagers have no access to television or even newspapers.

    Outside a cooperative store

    People were brought back here about six months ago, but nothing has improved since. Very few resettled people have any means to earn a living. Some are working on low-cost housing sites, still uncertain about their jobs.

    An unemployed worker told us: “My wife got injured in the stomach at Mullivaikkal. I tried to bring her to a government-controlled area for treatment but the LTTE stopped us. I later got to a government-controlled area with other people. The army took my wife, saying they were going to provide her with medical treatment. I was detained in a camp with our one-year-old son. I appealed to the army and civil officers to allow me to leave and search for my wife but I was not allowed. After we were released, I began to search for her and I am still searching.”

    The only government dispensary in the area opens for just three hours a day, two days of the week. This dispensary is supposed to serve around 7,000 people, including in Ramanathapuram and Kalamadu in addition to Vattakachchi, but it is totally inadequate.

    Taking a patient to Kilinochchi is a nightmare. The access road is so bumpy that the maximum speed of a vehicle is about 5 kilometres per hour. Even though there is supposed to be a bus running between Kilinochchi and Vattakachchi every hour, people often have to wait many hours.

    The villagers’ main meal is rice with dhal or coconut sambol. They get small amounts of dry rations from the UN’s World Food Programme. But people often sell their rations to buy cheaper food or raise money for other needs. Some people have started cultivating rice but with much difficulty, since they lack adequate equipment, manure and seeds.

    We visited Mayavanoor South village, on the southern boundary of the Vattakachchi area. Villagers have to walk about 500 metres to fetch water. There are no toilets. Residents have to walk 3 kilometres to catch public transport to Kilinochchi. Earlier, the villagers used bicycles but they lost them all during the war.

    Inside a nursery school

    Mayavanoor South village school has only five teachers for several hundred children, from grades one to five. It has a roof thatched with coconut leaves. Class rooms are divided by tin sheets. Teachers told us they were ordered by the education department not to give any details and not to allow any media photos.

    One voluntary teacher, however, told us her story. “We fled to Mullaithivu as refugees. My husband was shot and killed on the spot by the military. We buried him there and went to the government-controlled area. I have been teaching for many years. Previously I was paid an allowance of 3,000 rupees but now I get no allowance. I continue teaching without pay in the hope of getting a permanent appointment.”

    We came across a functioning Montessori school, which previously had been abandoned for a long time. Two teachers were there but no one paid them. One teacher was a war widow with two children. Her husband had died in a shell attack by the Sri Lankan military. Around 70 children were registered but only around 40 were attending. The children’s parents were not in a position to pay the teachers. Some children were even coming to the school without meals. These children have no drinking water, toilet facilities, desks, chairs or play things.

    The situation in villages throughout the Vanni is much the same. People are angry about the devastation caused by the military, and the government’s false promises, as well as the role of the Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), previously a political proxy for the LTTE.

    One villager told us: “The LTTE controlled the people with repressive methods. Now people are afraid to speak because of the military. The war is over, yet our problems remain the same. TNA MPs visit here to pretend that they are interested about us. But they cannot do anything for us.”

    Since the LTTE’s defeat, the TNA has expressed its willingness to collaborate with the Rajapakse government. When TNA parliamentarians visit people they claim they can change the situation by speaking to the government. The TNA has also sought the help of the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu ruling party, Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam, to put pressure on Colombo to agree to a “political solution” for Tamils.

    By a “political solution” the TNA and other Tamil capitalist parties mean the devolution of certain powers to them in Sri Lanka’s north and east, to provide privileges for the Tamil elite. The TNA issues statements on the plight of Tamils in the Vanni, but its real interest is in cutting a deal with the government.
    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/sril-d0

  120. Sri Lankan detainees “resettled” in appalling conditions

    Following the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, the Sri Lankan government detained about 280,000 Tamil civilians from the northern Vanni region in huge military-controlled camps. After many months of incarceration, in violation of their fundamental legal and democratic rights, detainees were later “resettled” in designated areas or consigned to “transit camps”. According to the government, around 20,000 people are still living in the military-run detention camps.

    On November 3, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, fraudulently claimed that “Sri Lanka has kept a unique record by resettling IDPs [internally displaced persons] within a short period of time.” He insisted that “the government is committed to improve the life of the resettled people”.

    However, the situation on the ground is appalling. Detainees have been left without proper facilities, including houses. In order to conceal these conditions from the outside world, the government has imposed restrictions on the media visiting these areas. A WSWS team travelled to the region recently and compiled the following report.

    ****

    Vattakachchi is a large rural area about 8 kilometres east of Kilinochchi town in northern Sri Lanka. It is one of the districts in the Vanni region that bore the brunt of 30 years of communal war, instigated and driven by the Colombo political establishment. Along with other parts of the Vanni region, Vattakachchi was devastated during the final phase of the Sri Lankan military’s offensive that reached here in December 2008.

    About 7,000 people lived here. Many joined the hundreds of thousands who fled the indiscriminate attacks of the advancing military. People trekked from one place to another, mainly on foot, until they reached Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district, where the army’s final attacks took place. We met people who had seen thousands of people killed and maimed, including their loved ones, during the military’s barrages.

    After being detained for months in huge military-controlled camps, some people were “resettled” in villages in the Vattakachchi area. No one knows what has happened to the many others who have not returned. Many residents are now widows or widowers. Some young people were dragged off to secret detention camps as LTTE “suspects”.

    On our way to Vattakachchi, near a place called Thiruvaiyaru Kanagapuram, we saw wrecks of war-damaged vehicles that had been abandoned by fleeing civilians. It was a few kilometres from the Iranaimadu Tank—a large artificial lake that is famous for inland fishing. Now the army is guarding the tank, which also provides water for agriculture.

    Fishing has been banned for the many Tamil families who once relied upon it for their livelihoods. The army has also occupied the living quarters for irrigation department employees. People are allowed to enter the Hindu temple only at times of worship. A Buddhist temple has been built by the army—another sign that the military occupation will be permanent.

    We stayed in one family’s hut. It was only about 10 square metres. The roof was made of coconut leaves, with walls of mud and sticks. The floor was also mud-based. There was a smaller hut used as a kitchen. In the whole district, we only saw huts with tarpaulin or coconut-leaf roofs. When it rains, the huts become muddy. Rain floods the low-lying huts and strong winds often take off the makeshift roofs. Because the huts are so small, some people sleep in the kitchens. Now and then, we saw people living in half-damaged or partly-repaired houses.

    There is no electricity in the area. Even to use a mobile phone, residents must pay a private generator owner a fee of 20 rupees (17 US cents). Villagers have no access to television or even newspapers.

    Outside a cooperative store

    People were brought back here about six months ago, but nothing has improved since. Very few resettled people have any means to earn a living. Some are working on low-cost housing sites, still uncertain about their jobs.

    An unemployed worker told us: “My wife got injured in the stomach at Mullivaikkal. I tried to bring her to a government-controlled area for treatment but the LTTE stopped us. I later got to a government-controlled area with other people. The army took my wife, saying they were going to provide her with medical treatment. I was detained in a camp with our one-year-old son. I appealed to the army and civil officers to allow me to leave and search for my wife but I was not allowed. After we were released, I began to search for her and I am still searching.”

    The only government dispensary in the area opens for just three hours a day, two days of the week. This dispensary is supposed to serve around 7,000 people, including in Ramanathapuram and Kalamadu in addition to Vattakachchi, but it is totally inadequate.

    Taking a patient to Kilinochchi is a nightmare. The access road is so bumpy that the maximum speed of a vehicle is about 5 kilometres per hour. Even though there is supposed to be a bus running between Kilinochchi and Vattakachchi every hour, people often have to wait many hours.

    The villagers’ main meal is rice with dhal or coconut sambol. They get small amounts of dry rations from the UN’s World Food Programme. But people often sell their rations to buy cheaper food or raise money for other needs. Some people have started cultivating rice but with much difficulty, since they lack adequate equipment, manure and seeds.

    We visited Mayavanoor South village, on the southern boundary of the Vattakachchi area. Villagers have to walk about 500 metres to fetch water. There are no toilets. Residents have to walk 3 kilometres to catch public transport to Kilinochchi. Earlier, the villagers used bicycles but they lost them all during the war.

    Inside a nursery school

    Mayavanoor South village school has only five teachers for several hundred children, from grades one to five. It has a roof thatched with coconut leaves. Class rooms are divided by tin sheets. Teachers told us they were ordered by the education department not to give any details and not to allow any media photos.

    One voluntary teacher, however, told us her story. “We fled to Mullaithivu as refugees. My husband was shot and killed on the spot by the military. We buried him there and went to the government-controlled area. I have been teaching for many years. Previously I was paid an allowance of 3,000 rupees but now I get no allowance. I continue teaching without pay in the hope of getting a permanent appointment.”

    We came across a functioning Montessori school, which previously had been abandoned for a long time. Two teachers were there but no one paid them. One teacher was a war widow with two children. Her husband had died in a shell attack by the Sri Lankan military. Around 70 children were registered but only around 40 were attending. The children’s parents were not in a position to pay the teachers. Some children were even coming to the school without meals. These children have no drinking water, toilet facilities, desks, chairs or play things.

    The situation in villages throughout the Vanni is much the same. People are angry about the devastation caused by the military, and the government’s false promises, as well as the role of the Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), previously a political proxy for the LTTE.

    One villager told us: “The LTTE controlled the people with repressive methods. Now people are afraid to speak because of the military. The war is over, yet our problems remain the same. TNA MPs visit here to pretend that they are interested about us. But they cannot do anything for us.”

    Since the LTTE’s defeat, the TNA has expressed its willingness to collaborate with the Rajapakse government. When TNA parliamentarians visit people they claim they can change the situation by speaking to the government. The TNA has also sought the help of the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu ruling party, Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam, to put pressure on Colombo to agree to a “political solution” for Tamils.

    By a “political solution” the TNA and other Tamil capitalist parties mean the devolution of certain powers to them in Sri Lanka’s north and east, to provide privileges for the Tamil elite. The TNA issues statements on the plight of Tamils in the Vanni, but its real interest is in cutting a deal with the government.
    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/sril-d0

  121. War criminal escaped last night from UK?
    http://www.lankanewsweb.com/ADS/MahindainOxford.html

    Sri Lanka video contains evidence of war crimes, says ICTY legal expert
    http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=33159
    “This is a very disturbing video and clearly, on the face of it, shows war crimes have been committed and perhaps crimes against humanity, depending on who the group targeted was,” said Mark Ellis, Executive Director of the International Bar Association (IBA), after reviewing the execution video broadcast by Channel-4, and added “”[t]here is no question that this video is prima facie evidence that these crimes were committed. And therefore there’s a responsibility on the part of the international community to push for an investigation and prosecution.”

  122. Sri Lankan detainees “resettled” in appalling conditions

    Following the defeat of the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May last year, the Sri Lankan government detained about 280,000 Tamil civilians from the northern Vanni region in huge military-controlled camps. After many months of incarceration, in violation of their fundamental legal and democratic rights, detainees were later “resettled” in designated areas or consigned to “transit camps”. According to the government, around 20,000 people are still living in the military-run detention camps.

    On November 3, Economic Development Minister Basil Rajapakse, the brother of President Mahinda Rajapakse, fraudulently claimed that “Sri Lanka has kept a unique record by resettling IDPs [internally displaced persons] within a short period of time.” He insisted that “the government is committed to improve the life of the resettled people”.

    However, the situation on the ground is appalling. Detainees have been left without proper facilities, including houses. In order to conceal these conditions from the outside world, the government has imposed restrictions on the media visiting these areas. A WSWS team travelled to the region recently and compiled the following report.

    ****

    Vattakachchi is a large rural area about 8 kilometres east of Kilinochchi town in northern Sri Lanka. It is one of the districts in the Vanni region that bore the brunt of 30 years of communal war, instigated and driven by the Colombo political establishment. Along with other parts of the Vanni region, Vattakachchi was devastated during the final phase of the Sri Lankan military’s offensive that reached here in December 2008.

    About 7,000 people lived here. Many joined the hundreds of thousands who fled the indiscriminate attacks of the advancing military. People trekked from one place to another, mainly on foot, until they reached Mullivaikkal in the Mullaithivu district, where the army’s final attacks took place. We met people who had seen thousands of people killed and maimed, including their loved ones, during the military’s barrages.

    After being detained for months in huge military-controlled camps, some people were “resettled” in villages in the Vattakachchi area. No one knows what has happened to the many others who have not returned. Many residents are now widows or widowers. Some young people were dragged off to secret detention camps as LTTE “suspects”.

    On our way to Vattakachchi, near a place called Thiruvaiyaru Kanagapuram, we saw wrecks of war-damaged vehicles that had been abandoned by fleeing civilians. It was a few kilometres from the Iranaimadu Tank—a large artificial lake that is famous for inland fishing. Now the army is guarding the tank, which also provides water for agriculture.

    Fishing has been banned for the many Tamil families who once relied upon it for their livelihoods. The army has also occupied the living quarters for irrigation department employees. People are allowed to enter the Hindu temple only at times of worship. A Buddhist temple has been built by the army—another sign that the military occupation will be permanent.

    We stayed in one family’s hut. It was only about 10 square metres. The roof was made of coconut leaves, with walls of mud and sticks. The floor was also mud-based. There was a smaller hut used as a kitchen. In the whole district, we only saw huts with tarpaulin or coconut-leaf roofs. When it rains, the huts become muddy. Rain floods the low-lying huts and strong winds often take off the makeshift roofs. Because the huts are so small, some people sleep in the kitchens. Now and then, we saw people living in half-damaged or partly-repaired houses.

    There is no electricity in the area. Even to use a mobile phone, residents must pay a private generator owner a fee of 20 rupees (17 US cents). Villagers have no access to television or even newspapers.

    Outside a cooperative store

    People were brought back here about six months ago, but nothing has improved since. Very few resettled people have any means to earn a living. Some are working on low-cost housing sites, still uncertain about their jobs.

    An unemployed worker told us: “My wife got injured in the stomach at Mullivaikkal. I tried to bring her to a government-controlled area for treatment but the LTTE stopped us. I later got to a government-controlled area with other people. The army took my wife, saying they were going to provide her with medical treatment. I was detained in a camp with our one-year-old son. I appealed to the army and civil officers to allow me to leave and search for my wife but I was not allowed. After we were released, I began to search for her and I am still searching.”

    The only government dispensary in the area opens for just three hours a day, two days of the week. This dispensary is supposed to serve around 7,000 people, including in Ramanathapuram and Kalamadu in addition to Vattakachchi, but it is totally inadequate.

    Taking a patient to Kilinochchi is a nightmare. The access road is so bumpy that the maximum speed of a vehicle is about 5 kilometres per hour. Even though there is supposed to be a bus running between Kilinochchi and Vattakachchi every hour, people often have to wait many hours.

    The villagers’ main meal is rice with dhal or coconut sambol. They get small amounts of dry rations from the UN’s World Food Programme. But people often sell their rations to buy cheaper food or raise money for other needs. Some people have started cultivating rice but with much difficulty, since they lack adequate equipment, manure and seeds.

    We visited Mayavanoor South village, on the southern boundary of the Vattakachchi area. Villagers have to walk about 500 metres to fetch water. There are no toilets. Residents have to walk 3 kilometres to catch public transport to Kilinochchi. Earlier, the villagers used bicycles but they lost them all during the war.

    Inside a nursery school

    Mayavanoor South village school has only five teachers for several hundred children, from grades one to five. It has a roof thatched with coconut leaves. Class rooms are divided by tin sheets. Teachers told us they were ordered by the education department not to give any details and not to allow any media photos.

    One voluntary teacher, however, told us her story. “We fled to Mullaithivu as refugees. My husband was shot and killed on the spot by the military. We buried him there and went to the government-controlled area. I have been teaching for many years. Previously I was paid an allowance of 3,000 rupees but now I get no allowance. I continue teaching without pay in the hope of getting a permanent appointment.”

    We came across a functioning Montessori school, which previously had been abandoned for a long time. Two teachers were there but no one paid them. One teacher was a war widow with two children. Her husband had died in a shell attack by the Sri Lankan military. Around 70 children were registered but only around 40 were attending. The children’s parents were not in a position to pay the teachers. Some children were even coming to the school without meals. These children have no drinking water, toilet facilities, desks, chairs or play things.

    The situation in villages throughout the Vanni is much the same. People are angry about the devastation caused by the military, and the government’s false promises, as well as the role of the Tamil parties, including the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), previously a political proxy for the LTTE.

    One villager told us: “The LTTE controlled the people with repressive methods. Now people are afraid to speak because of the military. The war is over, yet our problems remain the same. TNA MPs visit here to pretend that they are interested about us. But they cannot do anything for us.”

    Since the LTTE’s defeat, the TNA has expressed its willingness to collaborate with the Rajapakse government. When TNA parliamentarians visit people they claim they can change the situation by speaking to the government. The TNA has also sought the help of the Indian government and the Tamil Nadu ruling party, Dravida Munnethra Kazhagam, to put pressure on Colombo to agree to a “political solution” for Tamils.

    By a “political solution” the TNA and other Tamil capitalist parties mean the devolution of certain powers to them in Sri Lanka’s north and east, to provide privileges for the Tamil elite. The TNA issues statements on the plight of Tamils in the Vanni, but its real interest is in cutting a deal with the government.

    http://www.wsws.org/articles/2010/dec2010/sril-d02.shtml

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