A visiting Tamil side defeated the Welsh at the 5th annual cricket match held in Newtown, Wales on July 23. Having lost twice in a row to the Welsh at previous contests, the Tamils ‘had restored their pride’ the team said.

The toss was won by the Welsh who elected to field. The Welsh attacked with a new ball which struck early - the Tamils’ lost 2 wickets within the first 4 overs. The visitors’ misfortune didn’t stop there; 5 wickets for 61 at the 14th over created concern for the touring side.

But the Brudy-Nihathen partnership changed the game’s direction, taking 65/ 5 to 145/5 by the 30th over. Then came the partnership of Brudy and Sivas. Both scored over 50 to take the total to 191 for 7 at the 36th over. Siva’s 53 included 5 sixes, which forced the fielders to search the next door golf club grounds for the ball. Tamils were all out by the 39th over, but Tamils scored a repectable 225.

Chasing the target of 225, the Welsh lost pinch-hitter Bryan Jones at the 6th over with 8 runs. But Michael Ballomore and John Anthony ensured that Welsh made a brisk start. Paul Kruger resoundingly clubbed the Tamils seamers to the boundary.

But the game then changed with the total on 147 as Paul was bowled by Vasenthan. The Welsh team was all out at the 37th over with 61 runs short.

While the excellent performance of the bowlers D Anthany (4 wickets for 34 runs in 8 overs) and Suresh (4 wickets for 32 runs in 6.4 overs) made them contenders, Captain Brudy’s innings of 64 runs gave him the well earned title of Man of the match.

Mr Phil Woolly, the President of the NCC said, “These kinds of events bring communities together.” Former Chairmen Mr Peter Davies said this year NCC tried to sponsor a professional cricket player from the Tamil community in Sri Lanka’s Northeast, but did not succeed due to lack of time to go through the bureaucratic visa requirements before the 2006 Cricket season start.

He felt such actions this would help the club to progress in their league status while it gives exposure to those young cricketers in league level. Chairmen Mr Neil Badger thanked every one involved.

Tamil innings: Suresh (c L Davis b M Bellomore) 4, Thisor (b D Anthony) 4, Sajakan (c D Brown, b D Anthony) 31, Nirojan (b D Anthony) 3, Kobi (lbw, b D Anthony) 0, Nikanthan (c D Anthony, b L Davies ) 21, Brudy (c D Anthony, b J Davies) 64, Sivas (c L Davies, b J Davies) 53, Raj (c D Anthony, b B Jones) 7, Neru (c L Davies, b M Bellomore) 4, Vasenthan (not out) 1, Extras (1nb 10w 4b 6lb) 21

Fall of wicket: 4 Suresh, 21 Thisor, 33 Nirojan, 48 Kobi, 61 Sajahan, 145 Nikanthan, 191 Brudy, 201 Sivas, 220 Raj, 225 Neru

Welsh innings: B Jones (c Brudy, B Kobi), 8, M Bellamore (B Sivas) 35, J Anthony (B Neru) 19, R Davies (B Sajakan) 8, L Davies(B Suresh) 25, P Kruger(B Vasanthen) 44, C Davies (B Kobi) 9, A Jones (B Suresh) 0, D Brown (B Suresh) 1, J Davies (B Suresh) 0, D Anthony (not out) 0, Extras(6nb 5w 2b 2lb) 15.

Fall of wicket: 23 B Jones, 60 J Anthony, 72 R Davis, 89 M Bellamore, 130 L Davies, 147 P Kruger, 156 C Davis, 164 A Jones, 164 D Brown, 164 J Davies

It is not illegal to raise the Tamil Eelam flag in the United States, the US embassy in Colombo said last week. The embassy was responding to questions by Sri Lankan state media that a sports event organized in the United States weekend before last was a Tamil Tiger event as the Tamil Eelam flag had been raised there.

However, the Embassy’s press officer Evan Owen said that the US authorities couldn’t have prevented the Tamil sports festival in New York as there was no evidence to indicate the organisation behind this event had any links with the LTTE.

The Arts and Cultural branch of the World Tamil Organization in New York held its Ninth annual children’s sports festival at the Jamaica High School sports facilities in Jamaica New York Saturday July 30.

More than 200 children from Staten Island, Queens, Brooklyn, Bronx and New Jersey areas took part in the festival, organizers said.

The sports festival commenced with the lighting of flame of sacrifice, and the hoisting of US and Tamil Eelam national flags, and the flag of the Arts and Cultural Organization.

The Tiger symbol of Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) created in 1977 was designated as the National Flag of Tamileelam in 1990, without the letters inscribing the movement’s name. The Tiger flag became a civil flag in 1990.

“The LTTE remains to be listed as a foreign terrorist organisation. Any financial assistance or material aid to the LTTE is in violation to the US law,” the US embassy press officer said adding that however, the right to assemble and freedom of speech is upheld by their constitution.

Inquired about the Sunday Tamil schools and the matter that the curricular for these schools being sanctioned by an Education Board in Kilinochchi - the LTTE headquarters, he said “The US does not have a central education ministry controlling what is taught in school. It would be inappropriate for us to be screening material that has been taught.”

Diaspora parents have established a Tamil Education Board head quartered in Germany with members in other countries with significant Tamil population. This Board is responsible for drawing up curricula for teaching Tamil language and culture to diaspora children.

“Tamil books for Kindergarten to Grade 9 have already been developed that satisfy specific educational needs of diaspora children. These were drafted with expert guidance from University Professors in Tamil Language from South India, Singapore and Sri Lanka,” Mr Rajaratnam, a member of the Education Board from Canada told TamilNet.

“Although developed outside Sri Lanka, the books and the school curriculam were reviewed by the Tamileelam Education Board in Kilinochchi in 2004 and were approved,” Rajaratnam added.

More than two hundred American Tamils from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka held a protest in the West Front park of US Capitol building Monday August 1, between 12:00 noon and 4:00 p.m. urging the US Government to take action against Colombo for its war crimes against the Northeast Tamils.

The rally also remembered the civilians killed in the Black July 1983 pogrom against Eelam Tamils.

The protest was attended by supporters of the Tamil struggle resident in the Baltimore-Washington area and some people from other states.

Arrangements for the peace march and protest, including the obtaining the legal permit for the protest from the US Capitol Police, were made by US Tamils of Indian origin.

The marchers urged the US Government to:

- take the lead in acknowledging that the actions of GoSL against Eelam Tamils constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity,

- force the GoSL to refrain from targetting Tamil civilians,

- ban visits of Sri Lanka military personnel to the US,

- stop military training of Sri Lanka armed forces, and to

- pressure the Government of Sri Lanka to negotiate in good faith with the Liberation Tigers toward a political solution to the Tamil national question which recognizes the right to self-determination of the Tamil people.

Forty-four Sri Lankan police officers who were training at a college in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu were sent back following opposition from local political parties.

The state Chief Minister M Karunanidhi told the state assembly last Friday the training was stopped and the Sri Lankan police officers were sent back on Thursday.

Karunanidhi thanked India’s central government for the move.

Regional parties such as PMK (Pattaali Makkal Katchi) and MDMK (Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam) said they were concerned that the Indian government was training Sri Lankan police at a time when the security forces and the Tamil Tigers are engaged in a fierce battle in Sri Lanka.

Karunanidhi made the announcement an hour after the principal opposition AIADMK and its allies MDMK and DPI walked out of the assembly condemning the Centre for training Sri Lankan policemen “which will assist the killing of Tamils” in the island nation.

DPI leader K Selvam, who raised the issue, said “Sri Lankan army is conducting air strikes on Tamils which had resulted in killing of innocent civilians including women and children. A full-scale war is going on there and provinding training at this juncture to Sri Lankan police in Tamil Nadu has aroused the anger of Tamils.”

Most of the protesting parties sympathise with the Tamil cause in Sri Lanka and oppose any help from New Delhi to Colombo.

They said the Tamils in India and Sri Lanka would view this as an anti-Tamil move, therefore, Delhi must stop the training programme.

MDMK leader M. Kannapan had raised the issue in the assembly, saying: “The Lankan policemen should not be in India at all as the Lankan forces were killing innocent Tamil civilians in the island nation.”

MDMK parliamentary party leader L. Ganesan met India’s prime minister, Manmohan Singh, last Thursday to demand that the Sri Lankan police leave India.

Despite the chief minister telling the house that the policemen had been sent back Thursday night, the DPI, MDMK and AIADMK staged a walkout.

Sri Lanka’s deputy high commissioner here, P.M. Amza, clarified that the policemen were not getting any military training in India. He said they were in India only to learn ‘administrative’ functions.

Last Wednesday, the PMK, an ally of the DMK, demanded that the training be stopped at once. Opposition parties too lent their voice to the protests.

MDMK general secretary Vaiko dashed off a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh saying ‘it was shocking that the policemen were being trained at the CRPF training college in Coimbatore ... which terribly hurts Tamil sentiments.’

MDMK parliamentary party leader L. Ganesan met the prime minister Thursday to demand that the Sri Lankan police leave India.

The subject was again raised in the assembly Friday by DPI’s K. Selvam, who claimed the Sri Lankan policemen were being trained to handle and defuse bombs in Coimbatore and that they could use this against the Tamils.

The ruling DMK’s main rival, the AIADMK said the training would not have been possible without the state government’s knowledge.

Most political parties in Tamil Nadu are bitterly opposed to India signing a defence pact with Sri Lanka. In December, then Tamil Nadu chief minister Jayaram Jayalalitha refused to receive Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.

THE 1983 anti Tamil pogrom marked a critical turning point in the political history of the post independence Sri Lankan state. The violence consolidated the sense amongst the Tamil people that their security and future well-being could never be guaranteed in a unitary state dominated by a Sinhala Buddhist ideology. By August 1983 there had been a massive increase in recruitment for the Tamil independence movement as many began to feel that separation was the only viable option that remained open to the Tamils on the island.

While the previous governments of the United National Party (UNP) sought to explain the violence in terms of a master conspiracy by leftists and the provocation of Tamil separatists, its rival, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP), simply blamed the failings of the then UNP administration. The UNP government promised firm action against the leftists and militants while the SLFP-led People’s Alliance government pointed its fingers at the UNP while echoing the latter’s rhetoric of fighting terrorism.

The objective of both methods is to reassure the Tamils that the conditions and motivations that made the 1983 violence possible have long since disappeared. The explanations also seek a cause somewhere outside the Sinhala polity and thereby remove any form of collective responsibility.

Whatever the precise anatomy of events that led up the unrestrained violence against the Tamils, it is clear that even a momentary unleashing of collective madness requires the prior existence of certain conditions. An examination of the conditions and assumptions underlying Sinhala attitudes to the violence, as expressed by both rural villagers and politicians, uncovers certain common themes. These themes and the supporting worldview provide the context with which the Sinhalese perceive violence against the Tamils.

As Jonathan Spencer, writing on popular Sinhalese perceptions of the violence suggests, it is not possible to explain the 1983 events by referring exclusively to events outside the Sinhala populace and worldview.

“While no one has disagreed with the government’s claim that there was a large element of organisation in the rioting, this does not mean that events can be explained solely in terms of manipulation by a few ring-leaders,” he says. “It may be possible to argue that the violence could have been perpetrated without widespread popular support but it is just as valid to point out that it would have been impossible had there been any measured show of opposition from the Sinhala population.”

During the July 83 violence Spencer was working in a village on the southern edge of the central highlands where he was able to ascertain the “popular mood.” He suggests that the violence was made possible by the existence of “very wide-spread anti Tamil resentment.” This led most Sinhalese people to either deny that the Tamils had been the victims or suggest that their suffering had been deserved: “Thus as I was again and again reminded throughout my stay, in Sinhalese eyes the Tamil is an inherently violent and dangerous creature whose excesses from time to time try even the saintly patience of the majority Buddhists.”

“Why were people doing this,” I asked. “It’s like this,” explained a young man who was staying with my friend. “This country is a good, straight Buddhist country. Yet these Tamils are always making trouble, killing people.”

The observations of Elizabeth Nissan from her experience in Anuradhapura confirm that most Sinhalese people blamed the Tamils for the 83 violence. A Sinhalese man whom she spoke to on the evening of July 26, when a curfew had finally been imposed, blamed the Tamils for the inconvenience. “Yes there’s curfew. If those Tamils want to come and live in our country they should help us. But they cause us all this trouble. How are we to work and buy food? It’s those Tamils cause us problems.”

Even when it was accepted that the Tamils had been the targets of the violence, this was justified as a natural reaction by the Sinhalese to the extreme provocations to which they had been subjected. Nissan collected some of the more commonly heard statements: “… but they killed thirteen of our soldiers, so what do they expect,” “they came here and now they are trying to divide the country; that’s why it happened,” “…we have given them a lot but they always want more.”

According to Nissan the logic of the arguments given above are supported by an ideology that outlines a specific type of relationship between the Sinhalese, the Sri Lankan state and the Tamil speaking people.

“Implicit in all such statements is the fundamental premise that Sri Lanka is inherently and rightfully Sinhalese state; and that this is, and must be accepted as, a fact and not a matter of opinion to be debated. For attempting to change this premise, Tamils have brought the wrath of the Sinhalese on their own heads; they have themselves to blame.”

This view was echoed and reinforced by the Sinhalese leaders through their official speeches broadcast to the nation throughout the period of the violence. The popular consensus was reiterated: the Tamils had started the violence by demanding too much; the Sinhalese position in the island needed to be reassured; responsibility for the violence lay with out-side forces and the Sinhalese people had been the righteous victims.

For five days as the violence raged, the President, J. R. Jayawardene, said nothing. When he finally made an appearance, there were no words of sympathy for the Tamils. Instead, he said that because of attacks by Tamil separatists against the military, the Sinhalese people as a whole had reacted. He would ensure that the Sinhala people would not be so affronted again by passing legislation that made the pro-motion of Tamil independence a crime. In justifying the legislation, Jayawardene said that his government, “‘cannot see any other way by which we can appease the natural desire of the Sinhala people to prevent the country being divided.”

In similar vein, the Minister of Trade and Shipping, Lalith Athulathmudali, bemoaned the suffering the violence had caused the Sinhalese while seeking blame it on some malevolent cause outside the Sinhala populace. “A few days ago, my friends, I saw a sight which neither you nor I thought we should live to see again. We saw many people looking for food, standing in line, greatly inconvenienced, seriously inconvenienced … We now know there is a hidden hand behind these incidents … It may be terrorists of the North, extremists and terrorists in the South.”

The implications of this train of thought are obvious. The guarantee of the Tamil people’s safety and well-being in a unitary Sri Lankan state can only come about when the Sinhala people come to see that their political culture is undermined by this logic and then start systematically to reject it. The central tenet of this worldview, that the Sinhala people have a natural right to the island and that Tamil existence on it can only be tolerated as far as it does not threaten Sinhala Buddhist hegemony, will inevitably lead to a sense of righteous collective violence against any group that is perceived as threatening this.

Although the SLFP President Chandrika Kumaratunga started her term in power in 1995 by declaring her intent to depart from this logic in both act and deed, the events of subsequent years suggest that nothing had changed. The years since 1995 are rich with incidents and missed opportunities that suggest that the ideology of Sinhala Buddhist dominance set the limits to her expressed commitment to multi cultural pluralism.

This is most clearly seen in the manner in which the President conducted the ‘war for peace’ and the approach she took to the peace process. Her approach to both suggests that she firmly believes that the life of the Tamil speaking people must be consistent with the Sinhala Buddhist claim to culturally and politically dominate the whole geographical space of the island.

The undisguised triumphalism and Sinhala martial celebration with which the PA government marked the capture of the Jaffna in 1995 gave a clear indication to the Tamils that nothing had changed. Whilst half a million Tamils were homeless in the most appalling conditions, an archaic victory celebration was held in Colombo. The deputy defence minister, General A. Ratwatte, gave the President a scroll that symbolised her sovereignty over a territory called ‘Yapa Pattuna,’ as the now conquered Tamil region of Jaffna is known in the south.

The general mood in Colombo was that of jubilation and the message of the celebrations was clear: the independent Tamil character of the Jaffna peninsula, that had long been an affront to the dominant people of the island, had now been assimilated into the Sinhala Buddhist hegemony. There were no words of sympathy for the suffering and humiliation endured by the Tamils. This - as in 1983 - was entirely deserved, the feeling went.

The dissonance between the political rhetoric from the south and the experience of the Tamils was a repeat of the events that took place after the July 1983 riots. The President often congratulated herself publicly on how reasonable she was being to the Tamils compared to previous (UNP) political leaders. In one satellite broadcast to Jaffna, she directly reminded the Tamils of how good she had been to them and how much she had tried to do for them.

However, a closer examination of her speech revealed that she has in no way departed from the assumptions and attitudes that were used by the Sinhala populace, both people and politicians, to explain the July 83 riots. According to the President she entered into negotiations with the LTTE in 1994 because of her own commitment to democracy, which made her go further than the expectations of simple duty alone.

“We are a democratic government … We deeply believe in democracy and human rights ... That is why as soon as we came into power, I wrote to (LTTE leader) Mr. Prabhakaran inviting him to come to discuss seriously to stop the war. Normally, ahead of a legally elected sovereign does not write or talk to any terrorists who belong to illegal organisation. But I decided to write to the terrorist leader because I wanted very much to bring peace to Jaffna and to North and East of this country. We have offered permanent peace.”

The President took the position of someone whose tolerance and commitment to peace is the expression of ‘a saintly Buddhist patience.’ In this, as in 1983, there is absolutely no recognition of the conditions endured by the Tamils in post independence Sri Lanka and the sequence of events that brought the conflict about: the war has simply appeared without reason and “the LTTE is solely responsible” for the Government’s destructive military operations in the Tamil areas.

Furthermore, the Government condescends to talk to the LTTE because of its own commitments to peace. Again peace is not the resolution of conflict through negotiation between two conflicting sides – rather, it is a gift, bestowed by the President on the Tamil people.

“I have now spoken to you about … the strategy employed by my government in order to solve the Tamil people’s problems and to end the war … That has to be achieved through a new constitution legally and politically. The sincere and honest will of the government is to implement what is contained in the new constitution. We have done an immense amount of work to persuade the Sinhala majority people that this has to be done,” she lectured Jaffna’s people.

The Tamils must therefore understand that the constitutional solution to the conflict is simply presented to them as the “only” means to guarantee their rights. The Sinhala people, however, have to be persuaded that this has to be done. The Tamils have no rights except the ones the President chooses to give them, but the Sinhala people have pre existing rights that clearly have to be accommodated within any solution. The Tamils are simply informed as to the settlement they may have while the Sinhalese have a right to veto, and hence must be persuaded.

The President’s assertion that the Tamils could not have the right to determine the political conditions of their life because they “were not the original people of the island” resonates with the common sense that was used to justify the July 83 pogrom. As Lalith Athulathmudali, Sri Lanka’s notorious security minister, said in the aftermath of the July 83 violence, “the Sinhala people feel that they have an important place in this country.” By extension, all other ethnic groups are secondary to Sinhala priorities.

As history has demonstrated, this perception will inevitably lead to the justification of collective violence against the Tamils, whether in the form of popular military offensives or mob violence. The dominant consensus in the South remains that the Tamil right to exist on the island is dependant entirely on the goodwill of the Sinhalese. Little wonder then that when the Tamils ever overstep the mark by suggesting that their existence is independent of Sinhala generosity, that they suffer punitive and self-righteous violence.

Edited, originally published July 25, 2001.

The violence unleashed against innocent and unarmed Tamils in July 1983 brought in its wake many unintended and unforeseen consequences. Chief among them was the rise of the Tamil armed militancy. Those responsible for the anti-Tamil pogrom and the Sixth Constitutional Amendment disavowing separatism may have expected the Tamil people to be cowed into submission through brute force. It was the opposite that happened. The Tamil Eelam demand and related armed struggle received a massive fillip.

Twenty years have passed since the July ‘83 pogrom. The Tamil armed struggle has reached epic proportions today. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) organisation has become the premier politico-military force of the Tamils. It has raised militias modelled on a conventional army and is perhaps the only guerrilla force in the world that has a naval wing. It controls swathes of territory in the north and east. It is also a force to be reckoned with in areas under the nominal control of the Sri Lankan armed forces. The Tigers’ reach extends even to Colombo and other places in Sinhala majority regions.

Formidable entity

Given the size and power of the LTTE today, it would be very hard to believe that this formidable entity was a very weak outfit in comparative terms 20 years ago. However unpalatable it may be to the hawks south of Vavuniya, the simple truth was exactly that. The LTTE had only 29 full time members when it launched the attack on the army patrol at Thirunelvely on July 23. It also had another 20 to 30 people as helpers and active supporters in the Northeast. The July ‘83 pogrom however changed all that.

There was a collective upsurge among Tamils after 1983. Almost every young Tamil felt that force had to be met with force. They began flocking to the existing movements like the LTTE, People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE), Tamil Eelam Liberation Organisation (TELO), Eelam People Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF) and Eelam Revolutionary Organisation (EROS). In addition to these several new organisations emerged overnight. Some were splinters from existing groups. There were 34 identifiable groups at one stage.

Outraged

The phenomenon of young Tamils outraged by the July violence chanting the mantra of “aayuthap porattam” (armed struggle) received two terrific boosts. Firstly India entered the scene and began providing arms and training to the new recruits. Boatload after boatload of youths crossed the Palk Strait and received training in north and south India.

Secondly there was a massive exodus of Tamils to foreign countries. The Tamil diaspora grew rapidly in size. These Tamils began collecting and sending money to the armed movements. Thus began growing the Tamil armed struggle.

The LTTE, PLOTE, TELO, EPRLF and EROS together had only about 275 to 300 cadres when the July violence erupted. The numbers began swelling in the aftermath of the pogrom. The combined strength of the groups reached five digits within a year. This rapid increase caused its own problems. Later fratiricidal conflicts transformed the nature of the Tamil armed struggle. Nevertheless there is no denying that the 1983 violence effectively laid the foundation for a widespread conflict that is yet to be resolved.

There was a tremendous sense of idealism among Tamils after 1983 July. Almost every Tamil living in southern Sri Lanka was affected directly or indirectly. The scale of deaths, destruction and displacement was massive. Apart from the devastation there was the feelings of wounded pride and injured self-respect. The urge to prove that the Tamils were not a cowardly people was predominant. There was also the insecurity factor. Tamil consciousness underwent a significant change as a result of the July pogrom. One event that fired many young Tamils was the Welikada Prison massacre that resulted in the gruesome deaths of 52 Tamil political prisoners. Thirty five were killed on July 25, and 17 on July 27th.

Ruthless reputation

Tamils had hitherto laid great emphasis on education. It was seen as the avenue to upward mobility. A white collar job was the overwhelming desire of young Tamils. This created a bookwormish image of Tamil youths. Even worms turn. This is exactly what happened after 1983. Many highly qualified Tamils holding good jobs left them and took up arms; many undergraduates joined; so too did brilliant students doing their advanced levels. Another feature was the number of youths studying in India and Western countries to take up arms. Later Tamil girls too started joining the movements.

Violence against Tamils has been continuing since 1956. Force had been systematically deployed against Tamils to suppress their nonviolent struggle for equality. The violence was of two categories. One was the mob violence encouraged and fostered by the powers that be. The second was the use - official and unofficial - of police and armed forces to crush legitimate Tamil aspirations. This continuing process peaked during July 1983. Organised and disorganised mobs wrought havoc with active collusion by sections of the police and armed forces. That pogrom was the turning point for Tamils. The armed struggle thereafter became inevitable.

That tragic period in the last week of July became the defining moment for Tamil militant consciousness. The consequences of July 1983 prevail still. The important question is have the correct lessons been learnt?

This article was published on the 20th of July 2003

The Constitution of Sri Lanka, ultimately based on the racial, linguistic and religious dominance by virtue of the numerical strength of the Sinhalese community, remains a major stumbling- block to settling the ethnic question.

It is a block to achieving peace or communal harmony in the country as it would bars fulfilment of any political aspirations of the Tamils.

It should be acknowledged that due to Sinhala extremist politics the Tamils have many grievances. No political solution can ever be reached and constitutionally guaranteed to prevent such discriminative repercussions from occurring again.

President Mahinda Rajapakse has jettisoned all the aspirations of the Tamils for peace by prioritising a militarily repressive strategy. His own ideology called ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ emphasizes “no Norway, no federal constitution, no recognition of a Tamil homeland, no self-determination, no nationhood for Tamils, no recognition of the LTTE as sole partner in negotiation.”

Now, simply to mark time, the President proposes to enact a draft framework with appropriate amendments to the Constitution on the devolution of powers. The two-thirds majority needed for this to pass is nowhere in sight.

But this way he is hoodwinking the whole world into believing he is a genuine leader, seeking national consensus.

But if were seriously committed to a peaceful, negotiated solution, then, as a gesture of openness, the President has to junk his own ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’ to create a congenial environment for a plurality of ideas.

Even if he does so, one-third of the numerical strength of the Sinhalese population will suffice to override the numerical strength of the entire Tamil population.

The Sinhala community, by virtue of their majoritarian status could thus arrive at any decision of their own at any referendum and defeat any opinions or proposals voiced by the Tamil community with regard to their aspirations and fundamental rights.

Moreover, at any time, Sinhala representatives in the legislative assembly could enact any law or frame any constitutional change arbitrarily at any time to the advantage of the Singhala community only, using their voting strength to override Tamil demands.

Unless there is will to peace and desire for harmony induced by a change of heart among Sinhalese, nothing tangible can be expected from any peace process. There are no indications at all that is in the offing.

Tamils have a very legitimate desire, as any other people, to control their own lives, to rule the conditions of their existence, and to govern themselves in their homeland, in the territorial areas they have traditionally inhabited.

The British colonial rulters have to bear considerable responsibility for the ethnic rift in the county. They were the architects of the conditions of independence in 1948. The fragile safeguards in the Constitution have proved worthless and Sinhala rulers have systematically stripped the Tamils of their basic and fundamental rights.

As such, and by virtue of accepted international norms, including the right to self-determination, Sri Lanka’s Tamils - with their own linguistic and cultural identity and identifiable homeland - are free to determine their political status, to enable them to live with equal rights with other world communities.

They are entitled to pursue their economic, social and cultural development as they see fit. It is not for another people to decide whether they may or not.

The difficulties caused by Sri Lanka’s Sinhala constitution cannot be allowed to be a bar to Tamil aspirations.

Don’t do it. Do not pretend, yet again. Western intervention cannot achieve what for half a century it has failed to achieve in the Middle East: a political settlement between Israelis and Palestinians. True, the region was a western responsibility 50 years ago, but so was half the world. That does not mean we can soothe its tears with a liberal soundbite or cure its ills with a gun. We cannot.

I find it near unbelievable that anyone can propose sending foreign troops back into Lebanon, as in 1958, 1976, 1978 and 1982. The penultimate intervention, by the United Nations, was specifically to “restore international peace and security” and assist the Lebanese government in gaining “a monopoly” of authority along the frontier with Israel. It failed because neither side wanted it to succeed. The only settlements in the region have been a result of wars, whether with Jordan, Syria or Egypt. It is local people, the resolution of force on the ground, that will alone resolve the latest conflagration.

It has become a moral axiom of North Atlantic statesmanship that military potency confers a right and a duty to intervene. A subsidiary premise holds that such intervention will always be for the good. Hint that some conflict might be better resolved if the west stayed aloof and the cry goes up, “What would you do, then? You can’t just do nothing.”

To the feelgood fanatics of London and Washington, leftwing and rightwing alike, they must be the subject of every verb and the world its object. They are the children not so much of Palmerston and Disraeli as of the crusaders, the conquistadors and the Comintern, blessed with massive moral assurance. The idea of leaving wars to resolve themselves, states to find their own leaders and regions to evolve their own equilibrium is to them not just mistaken but immoral.

I once made a vow never to write about the Middle East. I had visited Israel and Jordan and was in Beirut in 1983 during an agony of foreign intervention comparable only to the miseries of modern Baghdad. I watched the cynicism with which western armies arrived after the televised horror of the Sabra and Shatila massacres. I watched the cynicism with which they left when the going got hot. My last image was of an American battleship lobbing shells into Chouf mountain villages to provide media “cover” for the US marines’ retreat.

I realised that there was no way of calibrating comment on this subject that might inform debate rather than merely stir prejudice. Each side wanted not intelligence but support or condemnation. A sickening feature of every crisis was the eagerness of statesmen to “get engaged”, as if the Middle East were a gymnasium in which to practise diplomatic exercises. Harold Wilson thought he could pacify the region. Lord Carrington was seeking a Middle East peace deal in 1982 while Argentina was invading the Falklands. Tony Blair naively traded “Middle East peace” for joining Bush in Iraq. Britain has claimed a role in every Oslo accord, every road map, every two-state solution, as if the Levant were somewhere in Northern Ireland.

Last week, Blair hamfistedly pleaded with George Bush to be allowed to play once more. The Commons chorus demanded visits, statements, exhortations. Sir Menzies Campbell called for “action to stop the escalating conflagration”, as if peace on Earth could be ordered with club soda. We can all read Amos Oz, writing last week, and sympathise with his exasperation at peace moves by Israel being met with the shelling of settlements and the kidnapping of soldiers. We can all see the destruction of Beirut and killing of civilians and feel an equal and opposite sympathy. The terrorising of innocents is nowadays the small change of limited war. Yet how unfit for purpose is the language of sympathy. The morality of “something must be done” is weakened by being intransitive.

There are two strands to the current debate on intervention. One simply states a humanitarian obligation to show concern for those in pain, whatever the reason and whoever is to blame. From the foundation of the Red Cross on the battlefield of Solferino in 1859 to the aid effort expended on Ethiopia in the 1980s, citizens of rich countries have felt a duty towards those in distress.

Only since the end of the cold war has this duty been polluted by politics. In 1992, the Washington Post rewrote the UN charter to justify America’s invasion of Somalia since the latter’s government had “improperly treated” its own people and thereby sacrificed its territorial integrity. Intervention was converted into a moral duty by Blair’s 1999 “humanitarian crusade” speech in Chicago. “We cannot turn our backs on conflicts and the violation of human rights ... if we want to be secure.” Blair’s confusion of humanity and security has bedevilled debate ever since. After 9/11 it opened the gate for generals and the military/ industrial complex to seize the initiative, with results that can be seen on the streets of Iraq today.

The idea that Britain (or any other country) enjoys a unique legitimacy in intervening in the affairs of sovereign states is legally doubtful and racially repugnant. Blair’s thesis that any state that is not democratic is somehow a threat to Britain is absurd, as is the implication that a love of freedom cannot speak for itself but must be imposed by force of arms. Quite apart from the madness of this imperialism, the west cannot implement it. It can hold in thrall such puny neo-colonies as Kosovo, East Timor and Sierra Leone. But in Iraq it has failed and in Afghanistan it is failing. The idea of bringing similar bounty to Iran beggars the imagination.

Intervention has brought not peace but violence to these poor peoples. The mendacity of the neocons in claiming gains from intervention is equalled only by the enthusiasm of liberal supremacists to “finish the job”. The humanitarian urge is time-honoured. It “does something” about human distress through charities and NGOs rather than governments and armies. Yet its steady morphing into the paranoid warmongering of western politicians is an international catastrophe. It is fuelling anti-west extremism and negating any humanitarian motive. What democratic cause can justify 1,000 deaths a week from “nation-building” in Iraq?

Of course something must be done about the agonies suffered by the people of the Middle East. Humanity demands it. I would sail the first Red Cross ship into Beirut harbour. But I would sink the first aircraft carrier.

Published in The Guardian of Tuesday July 25, 2006

Tamils are seeing their community as the primary targets of Sri Lanka’s plans to seize money from ‘dormant’ bank accounts as the mass displacement of the conflict which has affected one in four Tamils has left many without the necessary paper work of physical access to banks. Meanwhile, the Financial Times, one of the world leading financial newspapers, in an editorial last week, criticised the notion of seizing money from dormant accounts as not making economic sense and duplicitous.

Sri Lanka announced Wednesday it would seize an estimated 30 million dollars in dormant bank accounts as part of a drive to clean up commercial bank books, press reports said.

Monetary authorities will use a provision under the Banking Act relating to "abandoned property" to access the dormant funds, AFP quoted Upali de Silva, Secretary General of the Sri Lanka Banks’ Association, said.

The association published a notice Wednesday warning people to re-activate accounts dormant for over 10 years or risk the money being transferred to the Central Bank.

When Sri Lanka’s conflict erupted anew in 1995, hundreds of thousands of Tamils were displaced from Jaffna and then other towns in the Northeast. Lost paperwork, including identity documents, has hindered many families ability to stabilise their lives in new locations.

Before then hundreds of thousands fled to India and Western countries. Many have not been able to return for a number of reasons, including the scattering of their relations fro Jaffna and elsewhere.

"There are several billion rupees worth of unclaimed property and goods waiting to be claimed," de Silva told AFP.

Customers have until the end of August to re-activate bank accounts, the association said.

Rightful owners can still claim their money at a later date but will be forced to follow a lengthy legal process.

Interestingly, the notion of the government seizing money has been suggested by a Commission in Britain.

However, whilst Sir Ronald Cohen’s study suggests the money could fund a ‘Social Investment Bank’ and charitable causes, Sri Lanka’s government intends to spend the money it seizes.

The Financial Times, commenting on the Commission’s findings, observed in an editorial Thursday sub-titled ‘Raiding dormant accounts makes no economic sense’ that such a move served only as a way to inject banknotes into the economy, thereby fuelling inflation.

“Nobody seems to have noticed that this is a fantasy, a recipe for that non-existent delicacy, the free lunch,” the FT said.

“Spending the unclaimed cash will not generate new economic assets for the economy: it will simply crowd out some of what is already going on through higher prices or higher interest rates.”

When banks find their reserves trimmed they will lend less and try to take in more deposits, the prestigious financial daily said. Interest rates will thus rise.

“Anyone who earns money but doesn’t spend it is already a benefactor to the rest of society: by leaving their money unclaimed, they also … make everything a little bit cheaper for everyone else,” the paper said.

“This [scheme] is a bureaucratic way to inject banknotes into the economy. Why bother? The printing presses are in easy reach. But more honest politicians fund spending through taxes.”

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres visited Sri Lanka’s war-torn northeast on Wednesday to assess the plight of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced and met the Tamil Tigers.

Guterres’ visit comes against a backdrop of escalating violence between the military and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which many fear could rupture a 2002 ceasefire and open a new chapter of a two-decade civil war.

It also comes days ahead of a new visit by Norwegian special peace envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer amid fresh diplomatic efforts to break a deadlock in talks between the foes, the government said.

“The purpose of (Guterres’) visit is to meet displaced people in the north and east of the country and hear first-hand their concerns and needs,” the UNHCR said in a statement.

Guterres also met members of the LTTE to discuss humanitarian issues related to displaced people, but the Tigers made no comment after he left their northern stronghold by helicopter.

Unarmed Nordic truce monitors say a rash of clashes and attacks have killed more than 800 people so far this year - most of them civilians, and displaced tens of thousands.

Many civilians in the army-held Jaffna peninsula are too scared to venture out after dark because of nightly shootings and attacks.

Ordinary Tamils resent what they see as an army occupation of Jaffna -- their cultural heartland -- where vast tracts of prime farmland are cordoned off as military high security zones and still peppered with landmines.

Some openly back the Tigers, who have been listed as a terrorist group by the United States, Britain, India, Canada and the European Union.

“I lost my father in 1988 due to shelling. I was just two years old,” said 18-year-old student Kuganathan Navaratnam, standing outside a Jaffna bank.

“I am studying well. I would love to join the LTTE, but I can’t leave my mother and sister,” he added. “There will only be a war if it is started by the government.”

Naked and bloodied, the exhausted youth slumps on a bench by the filthy roadside, his head in hands, awaiting the final blows.

His casually dressed pursuers gather round. One be-spectacled young man grins as he raises his right knee in preparation for another blow.

This single image, above all others, has come to represent the traumatic events of ‘Black July’ 1983 for Sri Lanka’s Tamils.

The mayhem that erupted across Colombo and other parts of the south when state-backed mobs of rampaging Sinhalese attacked Tamils and their property might seem distant from the now iconic image of the lone victim surrounded by a small group of laughing, even bored, slightly built youth.

Over 3,000 Tamil people were killed in over 6 days of organised anarchy between July 24-30 1983 (the official government figure for the deaths was 358).

The pogrom, organised by Sri Lanka’s state forces and carried out by Sinhala mobs targeting Tamils from voters’ lists made available to them entered Tamil consciousness as ‘Black July’ or ‘the Holocaust.’

But the image of the lone Tamil boy cornered by a group of Sinhala youth touched a nerve in a minority community feeling beleaguered and utterly defenceless as the majority community and the state turned on them.

‘Black July’ triggered a flood of recruits to a myriad of Tamil militant groups, including what has now became a standing army, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Many commentators have thus erroneously linked the July 1983 (and an ambush by Tamil fighters which killed thirteen soldiers which is cited as the ‘reason’ for the riots) to the start of the conflict.

In fact Tamil militancy began in the mid-seventies, but it long remained a shadowy phenomena, eclipsed by (though undoubtedly nurtured in) the mass mobilisation behind the parliamentary Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF)’s non-violent drive for independence for the discriminated Tamils.

Amid the tumultuous changes that have gripped Sri Lanka in the near quarter century since July 1983, that iconic photograph has endured, the moment of racist violence it captures a potent reminder to the Tamils of their vulnerability.

The photograph itself was taken by Chandragupta Amarasinghe, working for a Communist newspaper at the time.

Although fearful of the consequences of photographing the state-backed rioters, Amarasinghe and a colleague decided to try anyway. As the Sinhala youth closed in on the Tamil victim, they seized a chance.

Amarasinghe whipped the camera up, snapping a frame before tossing it into an open bag being held open by his friend. They then fled. In the bag was a captured moment of Sri Lanka’s violent history. It is doubtful they were even aware of its potency.

The photograph is made available to Tamil Guardian by the well-known Australia-based academic Michael Roberts, who later acquired it from Amarasinghe.

Tamil Guardian: Anatomy of a pogrom
The Guardian (UK): Eyes ‘gouged out’ in mockery
Tamil Guardian: Deserving victims, just violence
Sunday Leader: July 1983 and the Tamil armed struggle
Tamil Guardian: Special feature section

24 July

One SLA soldier was killed when unidentified gunmen, waiting in ambush, fired at a group of soldiers at Kaddaiadampan, Mannar. The firefight ensued for about half an hour. W. D. P. C. Priyatharshana, who was seriously wounded, succumbed to injuries.

Unidentified men shot and killed Maha Kanapathipillai, a senior member of the paramilitary Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), in Wellawatte, Colombo. Maha Kanapathipillai was responsible for Public Relations of EPDP leader Douglas Devananda who is the Sri Lankan Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare and an ally of President Mahinda Rajapakse. The incident took place on All Ceylon Buddhist Congress Road in Wellawatte and Maha Kanapathipillai, 55, rushed to Kalubowila hospital with gunshot wounds, succumbed to his wounds.

Thirukovil Police recovered the bullet riddled bodies of two Tamil youths in Porakalappu, Thirukovil, Batticaloa. The bodies were identified as belonging to Kandiah Thivakaran, 21, a mason by profession of Vinayagapuram and Jeyapragasam Jeyaraj, 23, a labourer.

Two Tamil youths, Kumaranayagam Sasikaran, 23, and Manoharan Rajendran, 22, both tractor drivers by profession, had sustained injuries in a shooting incident that took place around Sunday midnight in the vicinity of Thirukovil Sithira Velauthar Temple where the annual festival was being held.

At least four hand grenades were detonated Monday morning before the water cutting festival of the temple commenced in the sea shore located close to the temple.

Unidentified persons shot dead Nagarajah Suntharalingam, 34, at Poonagar in Eachchilampathu.

Serunuwara Police also recovered the body of a home guard, identified as Nissanka Ranjith Bandara, from Sri Mangalapura, a Sinhala settlement located close to Serunuwara police station. Nissanka Bandara had been cut to death on Sunday night.

23 July

A Tamil and a Sinhalese were found shot dead at a graveyard in Thonikkal, Vavuniya. Police suspected that the victims were persons involved in petty theft and burglary in Vavuniya area for a long time. The Sinhala victim is a Homeguard from Madukande and the other is a Tamil from Rasendrakulam in Vavuniya. Their hands were bound and eyes were covered when the police recovered the dead bodies.

SLA soldiers conducted an early morning cordon and search operation in Suthanthirapuram, Vavuniya and arrested four civilians on suspicion of having links with the LTTE, Vanni district parliamentarian Sivanathan Kishor said. The arrested four, Velayuthan Saivaruban, 27, Mylvaganam Ketheeswaran, 23, Chelliah Govindarajan, 55, and Thaavalan, 25, were transferred to the Vavuniya Police after the relatives complained to the parliamentarian who intervened on their behalf.

Emily Janoos, 58, a senior member of the paramilitary EPDP was shot dead by gunmen at Uoorkavatturai, Jaffna as he was riding his bicycle over Kayts Bridge. He was a member of the Uoorkavatturai Pradeshya Sabha.

A 45-year-old man was found shot dead in Karainagar, an islet off Jaffna. Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Somasundaram Thirugnanasmbandar, at his house.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Thirunavukarasu, 67, in Mallakam, Jaffna. Civilian sources in Mallakam alleged that the victim was an informer to the SLA in the area.

Two SLN soldiers were injured, one seriously, when gunmen riding a motorbike hurled hand grenades at the soldiers engaged in security duties in Vankalavady in Velanai, Jaffna. Two civilians were injured following indiscriminate firing by the SLN soldiers on pedestrians after the grenade attack. The attack was third within the last two months inside the SLN High Security Zone (HSZ) in Velanai – a SLN petty officer was killed on 6 July, and an EPDP supporter was shot dead in June.

Two youths were shot dead in Kalviyangkadu, Jaffna, by gunmen who followed the youths on a motorbike. Gunmen followed Selvam Sutharsan, 22, from Nallur Temple Road and his friend Anton Kanagaratnam Thushyanthan from Thalayadi Road, Thirunelvely, Jaffna who were also riding a motorbike, and unloaded a hail of bullets at the victims. Both died on the spots. Residents also said that both victims were suspected to be involved in the robberies and killing in the neighbourhood.

22 July

Mr. A. Nagamani, 55, a civilian from Ottumadam, Jaffna, was shot dead in front of his house. The gunmen called Mr. Nagamani to come out of the house and shot him at point blank range.

The President of the Myliddy Fisheries Society was abducted by armed persons in a white van in Pt. Pedro, Jaffna. Justin Cruz, 35, was riding his bicycle along College Road when he was abducted. Local residents, on hearing a man shouting for help, arrived at the spot and saw a white van speeding away. “The men in the van were armed and they threatened to shoot us,” an eyewitness told TamilNet. Cruz is a fisherman and a father of three. He was displaced from SLA’s Myliddy HSZ. His wife has made a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC).

President of the Aathikovilady Fisheries Society and Board member of the Federation of Fisheries Societies, Vadamaradchi North, Mr. Rasathurai Inthirarajah, 38, has been reported “missing” since Friday, 21 July. He went missing while he was riding a bicycle from his home at Valvettithurai to the Fisheries Society office at Pt. Pedro.

A SLA soldier was killed and 3 seriously wounded in a claymore explosion at Meesalai, Jaffna. The soldiers were on a road clearing patrol on the A9, close to Meesalai Railway Station. Traffic through the A9 at Messalai was blocked and SLA troopers launched a cordon and search operation.

Unidentified motorbike-gunmen shot and killed two Tamil youths at Periyaneelavanai, Batticaloa. The victims were identified as Kirushnapillai Arumugam, from Kannankudah, and Sithambarapillai Kajeevan from Kaluthawalai.

The SLA shot dead a Tamil civilian N. Suthakar, 30, of Palamppadru in Thampalakamam division at Kachchakodithivu, Kinniya. Police sources said that the troops opened fire when the youth attempted to snatch a rifle from a soldier. Civil sources in the area said the youth was shot dead for no reason.

Two masked men riding a motorbike shot dead Cassim Bawa Abdul Rahim, 44, in Thoppur, Trincomalee, while he was returning home after morning prayers in a mosque in his village. The police detained a Muslim man with his motorbike in connection with the killing.

21 July

A 68-year old man was shot dead by unidentified gunmen at his house, in Urani, Puttur East, Jaffna. Two motorbike-riding gunmen asked Valli Krishnan to come out of his house and gunned him down.

Motorbike-riding gunmen shot and killed Sinnamani Tharmarajah, 28, as he was travelling in Kopay, Jaffna.

A mother and her two children were injured when a SLA truck travelling at high speed collided with a privately owned passenger van, trapping and injuring the three riding a bicycle in Kopay, Jaffna. The driver of the SLA truck lost control of the vehicle and hit the van travelling in the opposite direction, local witnesses said. Ms Raveendra Sivagankai, 32, Sambavan, 7, and Sambavi, 5, from Kopay North, were seriously injured in the incident.

A young woman, identified as Murukaiah Sukirtha, 25, a mother of one from Naatholai, Ilavalai, was shot dead by unidentified gunmen, riding a motorbike, in front of Nathan cinema in Jaffna town centre. SLA troops cordoned off the area and conducted a search, but no arrests were made.

Two Rocket Propelled Grenades (RPGs) were fired into the house of Batticaloa MP for the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), Mr. S. Jeyananthamoorthy. The parliamentarian, his wife, two children and their relatives, narrowly escaped the attack that caused damage to the roof of the house located in Batticaloa town. A policeman providing security was wounded in the attack.

20 July

Nadarajah Ravindrakumar, 29, from Ilavalai, the owner of a saloon in Inuvil, Jaffna, was shot and seriously injured by men riding a motorbike while he was opening his shop. He succumbed to his injuries at Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Krishnapillai Srikrishnan, 22, was shot and killed by armed men, at Irupalai, Jaffna, by men on motorbikes. Civilians alleged that the killers were paramilitaries collaborating with the SLA.

Four civilians were injured when SLA soldiers fired at random following a grenade blast in Nallur, Jaffna. The injured were identified as K. Vasanth, 18, N. Gnanasekaram, 34, S. Yasithan, 25, and S. Sivanesalingam, 58. The troops opened fire after unidentified armed men hurled a grenade at the troops.

Motorbike riding gunmen shot and killed a shop owner in Kokkuvil, Jaffna, inside a SLA HSZ. Local residents blamed paramilitaries collaborating with the SLA for the killing. Sinnathurai Mangaleswaran, 47, who was seriously injured in the incident, succumbed to his injuries at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Unknown gunmen shot dead Selvar Yogan, 60, a supporter of the paramilitary EPDP, in Atchuvely, Jaffna. The gunmen requested Mr Yogan to come out the house and shot him at point blank range before escaping from the area. Mr Yogan was an EPDP candidate in the 1998 local council elections and was an elected member of a Pradeshya Sabha.

A man, believed to be a local resident, was killed when SLA soldiers opened fire indiscriminately after two unknown assailants hurled a hand grenade into the SLA sentry located near St. Patricks College, Jaffna. The alleged assailants escaped after throwing the grenade.

Seven civilians, including a foreign woman married to a Sri Lankan, were injured when a bus carrying sailors in a SLN convoy crashed into their multi-passenger vehicle. The convoy was travelling from Colombo to the Trincomalee naval headquarters located inside the Dockyard. The damaged vehicle, belonging to a Christian society, was parked on the roadside on the orders of the personnel providing security to the convoy until the convoy passed through the road. However one of the buses in the convoy, which was being driven at high speed, suddenly swerved onto the side of the road and crashed into the parked vehicle.

Paramilitary cadres abducted 2 youths, Loganathan Kajan, 20, and Muththurasa Prabakaran, 27, from the villages in Valaichenai, Batticaloa. Parents of the abducted, gripped by fear and insecurity, did not complain to the police.

Three Tamil Eelam auxiliaries who were patrolling in LTTE-controlled Semamadu, Vavuniya district, were wounded in a claymore blast carried out by a SLA DPU. One of the three wounded was reported to be in a serious state. They had been on a regular road clearing patrol.

Three officials of the World Bank funded North-East Irrigated Agriculture Project (NEIAP) and the driver of their pickup, belonging to Mannar District Secretariat, were wounded in a claymore attack by a SLA DPU in Kokupadaiyan, Mannar. The vehicle was heavily damaged in the attack, but the officials narrowly escaped with minor wounds. A civilian motorcycle rider narrowly escaped another claymore explosion 200 meters from the spot.

The Manager of Manthai South Multi-Purpose Co-operative Society (MPCS) branch in Uyilankulam, Mannar, was gunned down by SLA troopers at Manatkulam Junction, while he was returning home. Police said that the MPCS manager was hit when SLA troopers opened fire after a grenade attack on the checkpost. Sindathurai Christy Anton, 40, a family man, was returning home to Puthukkamam from the MPCS shop in Uyilankulam.

19 July

A SLA Captain, a Lieutenant and a Lance Corporal were killed and 11 other troopers wounded when a bus carrying the troopers was ambushed with a claymore near Maruthanarmadam Junction, Jaffna. Five of the eleven SLA troopers wounded in the ambush, were in serious condition. The soldiers opened fire indiscriminately for fifteen minutes and beat up the civilians in the area after the attack, resulting in three civilians being rushed to Jaffna hospital. The wounded troopers, 1 officer, 8 SLA troopers and 2 policemen, were rushed to Palaly military hospital and three were airlifted to Colombo. Three civilians, V. Kajanthan, 21, K. Thurairajah, 62, both from Uduvil, Chunnakam, and D. Sabaratnayakam, 68, from Veemankamam, Tellippalai, were wounded when SLA troopers opened fire for 15 minutes after the attack. The bus was carrying 15 troopers, from Uduvil SLA camp, who were to leave Jaffna on vacation to their homes in South, SLA sources said.

Gunmen, riding a motorbike without licence plates and allegedly associated with the SLA, shot three youths who emerged from a playground in front of Kopay Teachers Training College and escaped. Gunasekaram Matheeswaran, 21, from Kondavil and Navaratnam Dinesh, 23, from Irupalai, were rushed to hospital. Rasaratnam Parthipan, 30, had escaped from the site and was later admitted to Jaffna hospital. Residents allege the attackers were SLA operated paramilitary cadres.

Satkunam Suthaharan, 26, and Murugesu Sivakumar, 23, were found shot dead in Paalameenmadu, Batticaloa. They had been abducted, allegedly by paramilitary Karuna Group cadres, on 16 July. A note claiming that the two men were “traitors” who were being “punished” by the “sons of soil” was found beside the dead bodies. At an inquest into the deaths, the magistrate ruled that both deaths were murders.

Unidentified men shot dead a Tamil civilian, Mr. Gunarasa Thevan, 34, at Puthukudiruppu in Allesgarden, Trincomalee. Initial reports said two persons on a motorbike had called the deceased outside his house and had talked to him. Thereafter they shot him in the head and fled from the scene.

LTTE cadres thwarted an attempt by a Deep Penetration Unit (DPU) of the SLA to enter into the LTTE held area through its FDL in Eachchilampathu division, Trincomalee district. The soldiers fled from the area leaving a live claymore mine and other weapons at the site. They also took back injured soldiers and the number of casualties was unknown. One LTTE cadre Lieutenant Kuilan (Thevananthan Vino of Anpuvallipuram), was killed in the encounter.

18 July

A saloon owner standing outside his business was killed in blast shock and 4 SLA soldiers were injured when their tractor was hit by a road side claymore at Kodikamam, Jaffna. Two SLA soldiers and a 70-years old civilian inside the saloon were seriously wounded. A saloon worker was also wounded. The blast occurred on the road to Pt. Pedro, about 400 metres from the Kodikamam junction. The saloon owner who died on the spot was identified as Sinnathamby Nagarasa, 55, from Kudamiyan, Varani.

Batticaloa Police recovered the bodies of two youths with gun shot wounds from shrub jungles in Swiss village in Sathurukondan, Batticaloa. Murugupillai Mahadevan, 26, and Chinniah Somasunderam, 31, were abducted from their relatives house Monday night by unknown gunmen. The gunmen allegedly shot dead the men using a T-56 type rifle, dumped their bodies and escaped.

Eight civilians, all Tamil women, were injured in an explosion that took place in Anpuvallipuram, Trincomalee. The women were engaged in a shramadana (voluntary work) campaign, cleaning the side walks along the road, when the explosion occurred. Police claimed a bomb hidden in the refuse had accidentally detonated during the cleanup activity.

17 July

A SLA soldier riding a bicycle was killed and two SLA troopers seriously injured, when a claymore attached to a parked bicycle exploded in Jaffna town. The soldiers were on their way to supply meals to SLA checkposts when they came under attack. Four civilians were also injured, one seriously, by the explosion and when the soldiers fired indiscriminately after the attack. The injured civilians were identified as Joseph Sasiraj, 23, S. Sangilithevar, 53, Sivam Indrakumar, 50, and Kumaran, 27, all from Jaffna.

Five SLN troopers were seriously injured when a route clearing patrol of the SLN hit a claymore placed along the road in Sampaltivu village, Trincomalee. One of the five later succumbed to injuries after being admitted in the Colombo general hospital. Security forces immediately launched a cordon and search operation in the village following the claymore explosion. Several civilians were detained and questioned during the search operation.

A civilian was injured when shells fired by SLA soldiers from Punani camp hit Vakaneri, Batticaloa. More than 50 shells hit the village, Mr. P. Daya Mohan, Batticaloa district LTTE political head, told TamilNet. The shelling continued for 30 minutes from 10 a.m., he said. The wounded civilian was identified as Kanapathipillai Krishnapillai.

At least 12 residential homes were set ablaze in Iyankerni Saspuram, Batticaloa, before nightfall on Monday, during factional fighting amongst the villagers. The hacking to death of a local mason, Savuntharan Chandrakumar, 23, outside the village grocery shop by unidentified persons Friday night, is suspected to be the likely cause of the violence. Although several homes have been destroyed only one resident registered complaint to the police.

16 July

Two gunmen riding a motorbike opened fire at auto-rickshaw vehicles, killing two drivers, both brothers, on the spot in Point Pedro, Jaffna. The attack, marking a renewed terror campaign against auto-rickshaw drivers and owners in Jaffna district, took place opposite the main entrance of the SLA 52-4 Brigade quarters in Vadamaradchi. Vaseekaran Navartnam, 25, and Paheerathan Navartnam, 20, were waiting for passengers at the auto-rickshaw parking at the old Point-Pedro Central Bus Stand.

Three men were hacked to death by a gang armed with knives and machetes Ariyalai, Jaffna, around 3 p.m., Sunday. The dead men were identified as Joseph Judeson, 21, and Pakyaraj Arulraj, 23, of Collumbuththurai and Anton Densil, 22, of Koyathoddam. The body of Joseph was found at Arulampalam Road and the other two bodies were found nearby.

Sivalingam Varatharajah, 17, a GCE(O/L) student at Jaffna Central College, has been reported missing after attend private tuition class Sunday morning. His mother registered a complaint with the Human Rights Commission office.

An unidentified youth, estimated to be 20 years old, was shot dead by gunmen in Alaiyadiwempu, Akkaraipattu, Batticaloa. Two hand-grenades were found in his possession.

Paramilitary cadres abducted 3 youths from the villages of Paddiyadychenai in Valaichenai, Batticaloa. Parents of the abducted children, gripped by fear and insecurity, avoided making complaints to the Police. The abducted youths were identified as Nadarasha Surendran 22, Shanmugam Ariyan 21, and Kanthashamy Mohanraj 22. Paramilitary carders who came in a white van would have had to pass the SLA camp to enter the villages of Paddiyadychenai in Valaichenai.

15 July

Unidentified persons riding a motorbike lobbed a grenade at the Jaffna office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO). Several international organizations, including UNHCR, UNICEF, ICRC and SLMM also have their offices close to the TRO office. The SLA has a mini camp and check a post about 200 metres from the TRO office. The grenade exploded outside the front outer wall of the office building and no damage was caused.

Paramilitary gunmen entered the house of a tsunami survivor settled at Kalkudah, Batticaloa, and shot the man dead on the road. Police recovered the dead body, riddled with 11 bullets from a T-56 automatic rifle, and identified the victim as Arumugam Kalakaran, 23. Paramilitary cadres had questioned and harassed the civilians at Kalmadu and had fired shots in the air on Saturday.

14 July

A LTTE member was killed and five civilians were injured when shells fired by the SLA hit Muttur east. Five houses were destroyed and several others were damaged in the attack. The artillery and mortar attack continued for about two hours from 9.30 a.m. from several SLA camps located in Monkey Bridge, Kaddaiparichchan and other camps surrounding Muttur east. The killed LTTE member was identified as Ruben.

Sooriyakumar Sukirthan, 30, of Potpathy road in Kokuvil, was abducted from his house Friday night and his body was found the next morning at Amman road in Kokuvil, Jaffna. He had been hacked to death. A note near the body, signed by “Peoples Brigade”, stated that Sooriyakumar was punished for his anti-social activities including theft, molesting of women and his participation in several killings.

Three undergraduates travelling by bus from Jaffna town to Pt. Pedro were arrested by SLA soldiers manning a check post near Vallai Bridge. The students were taken to an undisclosed camp, according to passengers who arrived at Pt. Pedro, later that evening. Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission and SLMM in the northern peninsula were informed about the arrests.

Parents of Mariyaseelan Jeevakumar, 17, who was arrested by the SLA at his home on Friday morning are searching for the details of the whereabouts of their son. Although the youth was allegedly handed over to Jaffna Police by the SLA, the parents were not informed of his arrest. Emergency laws mandate the Police to bring the arrested youth before a magistrate within 48 hours of the arrest, or to obtain explicit authorization from the Defense Ministry to keep him in detention. In either case, the parents or relatives have to be informed of the whereabouts of the detainees. Neither has happened in the case of Jeevakumar. In a similar arrest of a youth from Kopay previously, Jaffna Police had sent an arrested youth to Colombo to be interrogated by the Criminal Investigation Division, but admitted doing so only after the intervention of the Jaffna Human Rights Commission officials.

Unidentified men shot dead a youth and injured another at Sinna Urnai Gandhi Village, Batticaloa. The suspects, in a three-wheeler, chased the two youths and shot at them. The injured had fled from the area. The youth killed was alleged to be a supporter of the LTTE and attackers are suspected to be of Karuna paramilitary group.

Another youth Gunasingham Puvanendran, 19, of Palameenmadhu, Batticaloa, was shot and injured near the Palameenmadhu cemetery by unidentified persons. He was shot when he was cycling to see his friend.

An unidentified youth of about 20 years was shot dead by unknown gunmen in Vantharumoolai, Batticaloa. A green coloured hand-grenade was found in his possession.

Savuntharan Chandrakumar, 23, a mason, was hacked to death at Iyankernisaspuram, Batticaloa. He had gone to a local shop at Iyankerni School Road to buy provisions, when five unidentified persons who arrived at the shop, coaxed him out of the shop, and hacked him to death before escaping.

13 July

Two SLA soldiers were killed and another wounded in a claymore attack at Kalmadu, Vavuniya.

Separately clash erupted at Omanthai FDL where one SLA soldier was killed and another trooper was wounded.

Artillery and mortar fire was reported at the Nagarkovil FDL for more than 30 minutes from 7:00 p.m. Thursday.

Gunfire and explosions were reported off the shores of Vadamarachi North between Kankesanthurai (KKS) and Thondamanaru.

Sri Lankan police recovered two bombs near the residence of the government spokesman for Defence and National Security, Keheliya Rambukwella, in Kandy. Ten Tamils were arrested during a subsequent search conducted in the area.

12 July

Four LTTE cadres were killed in an ambush by SLA soldiers who penetrated into LTTE-controlled Kadawanaikulam, in Trincomalee district. The LTTE gave the names of those killed as being Lt. Colonel Eesan (Muthulingam Kalaiarasan of Eachantivu-Alankerni), Captain Theepan (Nagarajah Venthan, of Pattithidal-Muttur), Captain Thanushan (Venthan of Batticaloa) and Veeravengai Karuna (Thangavel Karunakaran of Mullipottanai-Thampalakamam).

A claymore attack on a Sri Lankan police vehicle claimed the lives of two policemen and injured five in Nallur, Jaffna. The attack took place in a highly guarded area surrounded by SLA camps and checkposts. The attackers had selected an isolated pocket in the highly crowded suburb of the Jaffna town to inflict high casualty, reports said.

A SLA soldier was injured in a claymore blast in the Vadamaradchi sector of the Jaffna peninsula. The troops went on a road clearing operation from a camp close to Thamotharampillai Vidyalayam when they were attacked. Troops conducted a search operation in the area, but no arrests were made.

The head of the Jaffna district People Liberation Organization of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) group, Sebastian Iruthayarajan (alias Bolder Rajan), 43, was shot dead by unknown gunmen as he was riding a bicycle towards a Girls’ Convent in Martin Street to pickup his school aged children. The gunmen followed Mr Iruthayarajan shot him at close range and escaped. Iruthayarajan is a father of nine children.

The leader of the PLOTE military wing in Vavuniya was abducted Wednesday night when he went out to put up posters. The body of Ratnam Sriskandarajah, alias Bavan, 46, was found Thursday morning at Cheddikulam, Vavuniya. ‘Bavan’ had been operating with PLOTE in Vavuniya for a long period. A group of PLOTE members, claiming to be Tamil nationalists, in a Tamil media release, alleged that SLA Intelligence, in collaboration with the PLOTE hierarchy, assassinated Bavan. He had opposed the paramilitary agenda of the PLOTE hierarchy, the cadres claimed, criticising the top hierarchy of the paramilitary organisation for collaborating with SLA Intelligence in getting rid of Tamil nationalist elements in the organisation.

The remains of two Tamil civilians, Sakthivel Sivasankaran, 28, and Thasan Thevarajah, 24, who disappeared on 22 May after leaving Kattumurivu, Batticaloa, to collect honey in the jungle, were recovered by their relatives. Both had died of gunshot wounds. Residents of Vaharai division usually go to jungles of the Pollonaruwa border to collect honey and meat for their livelihood. Relatives of the men went in search of them to the border area of Welikanda in Pollonaruwa division when they failed to return home more than a month.

Hostile forays by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) into Liberation Tigers controlled territory in Batticaloa district are serious acts of military aggression and have the potential to trigger a major destructive war, the LTTE warned international truce monitors, after a bloody clash that left 16 dead.

The LTTE warning came after at least 12 Sri Lankan troopers were killed when the Tigers confronted a SLA unit comprising at least 100 soldiers that had moved 5 km inside their controlled areas in the Batticaloa district.

Four LTTE cadres were killed and six wounded in the fighting in Vakaneri.

The Tigers recovered the bodies of twelve SLA soldiers, the LTTE’s Batticaloa Political Head, Mr. P. Daya Mohan, told TamilNet

One Lance Corporal, identified as R. M. Karunarathne, 24, from Monaragala, was captured alive.

“SLA soldiers have been firing mortar and artillery rounds indiscriminately from Thursday night into residential areas of Vadamunai and Vakeneri inside the areas of LTTE control,” Mr. Daya Mohan wrote to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) on Saturday 15 July.

“A group of SLA soldiers Thursday night clandestinely entered into villages past Vakaneri further towards Kulathumadu into LTTE controlled areas and mounted attacks. Residents have fled these villages due to fears of further violence.”

“We regard the hostile action by the SLA not only as a serious violation of the Cease Fire Agreement, but more critically as an act of provocation to trigger a major war. This incident exposes Sri Lanka’s President’s reliance on advancing his military agenda while initiating a duplicitous All Party Talks on power sharing to placate the International community.

“We urge the SLMM to take immediate and urgent efforts to prevent the SLA from entering Tamil homelands in the future and to work towards bringing normalcy to peoples lives in affected areas.

The bodies of the dead SLA soldiers were handed over to the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) on Saturday, 15 July, at Black Bridge, Chenkalady.

SLMM officials met with captured Lance Corporal Karunaratne last Wednesday at the LTTE’s Thenaham building in Karadiyanaaru. Head of SLMM for Batticaloa district, Sari Rask, and his deputy attended the meeting. Mr. Daya Mohan was present on behalf of the LTTE.

Mr Karunaratne told the SLMM members that SLA group entered the LTTE-held area under the orders of SLA commanders, and that the LTTE fighters attacked them first when their group advanced towards Vakaneri.

SLA reports from Colombo initially claimed that a group of soldiers on a search and clear operation had gone missing in Vakaneri.

Mr. Daya Mohan said that Sri Lankan troops based at a camp in the Valaichenai Paper Factory north of Batticaloa had moved into the LTTE territory at Kulathumadu in Vakaneri on the night of 13 July.

The Tigers confronted them around 6:00 a.m. the next day. The fighting lasted one hour before the troops withdrew, leaving the bodies of their comrades, he said.

SLA camps located in Miyankulam, Karadikkulam and Valaichenai Paper Factory provided support mortar and artillery fire when the SLA troopers were withdrawing, Mr. Daya Mohan said.

Regular soldiers of the SLA’s 23-2 Brigade conducted the raid, he told TamilNet. Initial reports of the raid being carried by Deep Penetration Units (DPUs) were incorrect, he said.

A brief statement issued by the Sri Lanka Army in its website said that that troops who were on a search and clear operation in “Vakaneri area, Welikanda came under LTTE motar and small arms fire.”

Leaders of LTTE in Batticaloa district handed over the bodies of the 12 soldiers the Saturday following the attack, and they were taken to Valaichchenai government hospital by the ICRC team.

An SLA officer identified the bodies at the hospital, before a SLA team transferred the bodies to Pollonaruwa general hospital with the facilitation of the ICRC for post-mortem examination.

Civilians in the area were displaced to Pendukalsenai by the fighting.

There have been several raids against the LTTE in the area in the past few months, many involving Army-backed paramilitaries. SLA artillery and mortars have often covered the retreat of these DPUs, Mr. Daya Mohan said.

However the incursion at Vakaneri, involving a large number of regular Sri Lankan troops with artillery support, marks a degree of escalation in the long-running ‘low intensity‚ war’ between the LTTE and the Sri Lankan military, reports said.

The Batticaloa LTTE office released the following names of the LTTE fighters killed in the attack as being Captain Navalogan (Nagarajah Kugan) from Murippu, Mulliyavalai, 2nd Lt. Veera (Masilamani Maheswaran) from Kulathumadu, Vahaneri, Batticaloa, Captain Puvathanan (Ganesh Pirabhakaran) from Thihiliveddai, Santhiveli, Batticaloa, and 2nd Lt. Ilaveeran (Kandiah Kones) from College Road, Santhiveli, Batticaloa.