Open Letter to Dr. Coomaraswamy on Tamils and Human Rights
[ Illangai Thamizh Sangam ] [ 11:33 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
Sadly your accessibility to international fora through your position, allows you to make such statements in front of an international audience at the expense of my community. Couched in terms that may seem as not being your personal opinion, but rather a prevailing view, a statement attributed to you that the "Thamil community is now represented as a community living close to criminality, feeding the international underworld of crime and being comfortable with the forces of terror" is one that's highly derogatory of a class of people. As it is not directed at any individual, you have gotten away with defamation. What you said in a public forum not only maligns the whole community, the venue you chose to say it in makes it all the more damaging to law-abiding Thamil communities living in the NorthEast, the rest of Sri Lanka and those spread around the globe. For a person of your standing it is a dismal and disgraceful performance.
Drama called 'commission of inquiry'
[ Uthayan ] [ 11:45 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
Government sources say that President Rajapakse has appointed a two member commission of inquiry to investigate into the recent events in Jaffna that were aimed at disturbing the peace efforts. This latest commission of inquiry in a long series of commissions of inquiry only goes to show that governments may change in the south but their approach remains the same.Former President Chandrika Kumaratunge also appointed a commission of inquiry to investigate the murders of Batticaloa-Amparai political wing head Kousalyan, LTTE members accompanying him and Mamanithar ChandraNehru.That commission held many sessions expending a lot of resources and time. Nothing useful came out of that or any of the prior inquiries. The benefit of that inquiry was to fool the international community into believing that the government is being responsible in its conduct.
Tamil Tigers to discuss resuming peace talks with Norwegian peace envoys
[ AP ] [ 11:49 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
Tamil Tiger leaders will meet with a high-level Norwegian delegation and discuss the possibility of resuming peace talks with the Sri Lankan government, a rebel spokesman said Tuesday. "The details (for resuming the peace process) will be worked out when the Norwegian delegation meets with our leadership," Daya Master, the spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, said by telephone from the northern rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi.Master declined to say who would be coming from Norway - which brokered a 2002 cease-fire between the government and rebels - or when they would arrive. Earlier Tuesday, the Defense Ministry blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for a grenade attack at a police meeting in the country's northwest, which wounded 18 officers.But Master denied the LTTE was involved in any of the attacks.
Year-old international effort to identify tsunami victims grinds on
[ AP ] [ 12:41 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
One year after the Indian Ocean tsunami, the world's ID sleuths press on with their grisly task. In a DNA lab in Sarajevo, the experience drawn from Bosnia's mass graves is helping to put names to bodies in a morgue at a Thai holiday resort 8,000 kilometres away. DNA collected from relatives around the world, along with samples from items as mundane as a toothbrush, are being filtered through a high-tech, multinational operation to give a decent burial to the dead of the Dec. 26 disaster and a small measure of relief to the relatives left behind.
War would hit S.Lanka health, bird flu effort-UN
[ Reuters ] [ 12:53 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
Any renewed war between Sri Lanka's government and Tamil Tiger rebels could threaten health programmes already hit by Asia's tsunami and hamper efforts to fight bird flu, the World Health Organization said on Tuesday. "It would depend on the nature of the conflict, but it could stop people from seeking treatment when they need it, "WHO country representative Agostino Borra told Reuters in an interview. "It could undo the gains we have made." A string of recent attacks on troops in Sri Lanka's north and east -- where two decades of conflict have already left health problems more severe than elsewhere on the island -- have raised fears a 2002 truce might collapse and war might resume.
India cannot be a card in Colombo's oppressive politics game - Vaiko
[ TamilNet ] [ 15:52 GMT, Dec. 13, 2005 ]
Indian Defence Minister Mr Pranab Muhkerjee assured the Tamil Nadu Politician Mr. Vaiko Monday that he will investigate the press reports on the reconstruction efforts of Palaly airstrip in the main Sri Lankan military base in Jaffna. 'Earlier Indian political leaders had acted with great care, and had declined to enter into a defence treaty or airbase reconstruction projects when I have brought the Tamil concerns to the Indian leadership's notice,' Vaiko said.Sri Lanka was receiving financial aid from India and whether that aid was being poured into the airstrip project without the knowledge of the political leadership of India remains to be investigated, he said, adding that he strongly believed that India will not be trapped in Colombo's attempt to portray to the world that India was on its side of the conflict, Mr. Vaiko told TamilNet.
