An event to remember the tragic suffering caused by the December 2004 tsunami was organised by the White Pigeon UK on January 22 at Trafalgar Square, London.

Despite the very cold weather, several hundred people gathered for two hours to listen to speeches and pay their respects beneath the White Pigeon Banner displayed on the bottom of Nelson’s Column.

There was display of photographs of the tsunami-struck parts of Sri Lanka, whose northern, eastern and southern coastlines were badly hit, killing over thirty thousand people from all ethnicities.

In his welcome speech, Dr N S Moorty, Director of White Pigeon welcomed religious leaders of all faiths and other distinguished guests in attendance. He thanked the generosity of the British public, who helped to raise almost £1 million.

WP was able to send 25 doctors immediately and set up about 250 medical camps with medicine and medical equipments, preventing the spreading of epidemics and saving many lives.

He paid tribute to the efforts of the thousands of volunteers from the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) and Tamil Tiger cadres who struggled without rest for days to help survivors of all communities. This type of disaster relief structure was not available even during the cyclone in America or the earthquake in Pakistan, Dr. Moorthy said.

WP was initially set up to help the landmine victims in Sri Lanka. More than 19,000 landmine victims were helped by the artificial limbs. But after the tsunami WP expanded its activities supplying survivors with immediate relief, such as prepared food, clothes, and medicine and hygiene facilities, intermediate relief, such as temporary shelter and food for cooking and water for drinking and washing and permanent settlement, such as brick-built houses and employment opportunities.

“In providing the relief, we did not discriminate against people on the basis of race or religion,” Dr. Moorthy said.

Multi-faith prayers were given by Imam Shahid Hussain (Regents Park Mosque), Rev Liz Russell (St Martin-in-the-Fields Church), Venerable Sangthong (The Buddhist Temple) and Kamalanatha Kurukkal (Edmonton Nagapoosani Temple).

After the prayers, Robert Evens and Jean Lambert, members of European Parliament addressed the crowd.

Mr Robert Evens said that at the time of the tsunami he was on holiday in America where there was not much coverage on the media about the tsunami, but only after retuning to the UK he was able to understand the situation and he was amazed by the response of the British public.

Jean Lambert in her speech emphasised the problems recovering from the tsunami, including allocation of land, bureaucracy, lack of compensation and the on going conflict.

Then children aged from 5-10 from Sivayogam Arts Society, dressed in white, sang songs about the tsunami in Tamil.

Bala Karunakaran, a medical student from Kings College, London described his experience with the tsunami victims - he was on medical assignment in Kilinochchi hospital when the waves hit the coastline. Designed to treat a maximum of 100 patients per day, the hospital handled more than 1000 patients on December 26, 2004.

He said the hardest part of his work was to take pictures of the dead bodies by the only one digital camera. There were bodies of children in their best clothes as it was Christmas day, and there were no counsellors to console the survivors. On the following day they created a website to identify the dead bodies, he said.

Carmel Budianrdjo, an Indonesian human rights campaigner, spoke about how tsunami brought peace to that hard-hit country, bring the Aceh rebels (GAM) and the Indonesian Government to a settlement.

Kavitha Sathyamoorthy recited a poem in English about the tsunami followed by a poetry reading by Parm Kaur, a poet, playwright and director.

Peter Quiny, a relief worker, described his experience in Batticaloa, which had a high toll of death due to the tsunami: he felt that welfare centres there were well below international standards, particularly denying occupants privacy.

The Remembrance event concluded by Vote of thanks by Evelyn Rodrigues, a WP volunteer.

Norway’s announcement last Wednesday that the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government have agreed that Switzerland would be a suitable venue for talks to stabilize the strained February 2002 ceasefire was understandably, though prematurely, greeted with international acclaim and relief by Sri Lankans of all communities. Indeed the events of the subsequent week, the most serious being the abduction of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO), have raised serious doubts about the prospects of the forthcoming talks and, in the longer term, a peaceful accommodation between the Tamils and the Sinhala-nationalist state.

To begin with, talks in themselves are not going to end the cycle of violence in Sri Lanka’s Northeast – which is why last week’s optimism was overstated. What is required is the willingness and ability of both sides to exert their authorities over their respective armed forces and end offensive actions. For its part, the LTTE has, whilst retaining its right to self-defense, given its undertaking to bring an end to attacks on the Sri Lankan military – a credible assurance, given its reputation for iron discipline and its influence over the Tamil community. The question is can, and if so, will, President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government be able to deliver the same? Within a day of Norwegian Special Envoy Erik Solheim’s announcement of talks last week, there was a deep penetration raid on the LTTE in Batticaloa. Notably, the ambush party which killed a senior LTTE cadre retreated under the cover of Sri Lanka Army (SLA) artillery to government controlled territory. This week, two groups of TRO workers were abducted in government-controlled Batticaloa by gunmen who demonstrably enjoyed the support of the Sri Lankan security forces. Moreover, the Sri Lankan military has not stopped its intimidation of the Tamil populace: cordon and search operations are ongoing with heavily armed troops marching through schools and hospital grounds, harassment of civilians at checkpoints continues, fishermen have gone missing and screams have been heard from army camps.

Amid shock and outrage amongst the Tamils in the wake of this week’s abductions, the LTTE has quite rightly declared it is reconsidering the Geneva talks and demanded the government ensure the safe return of the aid workers. The movement is unequivocal: it has not pulled out of the talks, but negotiations can only proceed once this matter is satisfactorily resolved and the wider de-escalation takes place. The LTTE’s position is justifiable on two grounds. Firstly, there has to be tangible de-escalation – including the abandoning of aggressive postures – before any talks can be meaningful. Without a will to peace, nothing can be achieved at the table. Secondly, and more importantly, there is no point in holding talks if agreements reached simply cannot be implemented. President Rajapakse - who is also Sri Lanka’s commander-in-chief - has been suggesting (according to reputable press reports) that sections of his military are operating on their own against the Tigers. This is an unacceptable excuse (the same logic was presented by Premier Ranil Wickremesinghe – though he blamed the hardline militarism of then President Chandrika Kumaratunga for Sri Lankan military attacks against the Tigers, including the sinking of LTTE ships). This is not to say it is a credible excuse either – many Tamils believe Rajapakse, like his predecessors, is duplicitous, determinedly waging a covert war against the Tigers whilst mouthing platitudes about peace.

In short, nothing will be served – and even worse, a false optimism will be unfairly raised amongst the long-suffering people of the Northeast – by talks between the LTTE and a Sri Lankan President who simply cannot back up his undertakings. The LTTE is therefore quite right to hold its position and await Colombo’s response. If President Rajapakse and the Sri Lankan government will exercise their authority and demonstrably rein in the Army’s paramilitary forces and their military intelligence commanders, then the Geneva talks can lead to meaningful steps towards de-escalation and stability. Unfortunately, President Rajapakse has only demonstrated leadership when rousing the Sinhala nationalist rabble. At this critical juncture, he is maintaining an irresponsible silence – and, even worse, his spokesmen are simply denying the aid workers’ abductions ever took place. This incident has thus demonstrated exactly what the future of negotiations with President Rajapakse and his government is likely to be. Last week’s optimism was premature and, as many Tamils now feel, sorely misplaced.

Tamil Youth Organization’s Norwegian branch held its annual Youth Knowledge competition last month, following its annual youth knowledge conference on January 15.

Some of the students participated - Oslo

The competition was held at the same time in all the major cities of Norway, TYO said.

Youths between 13 and 20 years of age could participate in the competition, answering questions on general knowledge, geography, Tamil history and other topics concerning the Tamil homeland.

Almost 240 youngsters participated in Oslo (some of whom are pictured), Asker&Bærum, Trondheim, Bergen, Florø and Stavanger, TYO said.

Some of the students participated - Stavanger

Malaysia has unveiled a 140-ft Lord Murugan statue, claimed to be the tallest standing idol in the world of the Hindu deity.

The statue, built by 15 sculptors from India for over three years, was unveiled by Malaysia’s Works Minister and the Malaysian Indian Congress President S Samy Vellu at the Sri Subramaniar Temple in Batu Caves on January 29.

The statue, at the foothill of the temple is made up of 1,550 cubic metres of concrete, 250 tonnes of steel bars and 300 litres of gold paint brought in from Thailand, according to Kuala Lumpur-based media reports today. It has been built at an estimated cost of 666,215 dollars.

Sri Subramaniar Temple officials said they plan to seek an entry into the Guinness Book of World Records as the tallest Lord Murugan statue in the world.

The Batu Caves Temple is the most popular Hindu shrines in Malaysia, which was discovered in 1892, 13 km north of Kuala Lumpur.

Lord Murugan, the son of Shiva nad Parvati, is one of the divine powers in the Hindu pantheon of Gods. More than a million Malaysian Hindus celebrate Thaipusam at the three caves in the limestone hill every year, climbing 272 steps.

Thaipusam falls on a full moon day in the auspicious 10th Tamil month when the constellation of Pusam, the star of well-being, rises over the eastern horizon.

Ramping up earlier harsh criticism of the Liberation Tigers by the United States’ Ambassador to Sri Lanka last week, visiting US Undersecretary Of State For Political Affairs Nicholas Burns condemned the LTTE as a “reprehensible terrorist group” and heaped invectives on it.

At the same time, Mr. Burns endorsed the Sinhala-dominated Sri Lankan government saying: “We are a great friend to this country. We support its territorial integrity. We support the preservation of peace.”

Later, he reiterated his statement: “We''re a friend of this country. We respect its territorial integrity and want to see it preserved.”

“And the people of this country ought not to have to live for another 15 or 20 years with this reprehensible terrorist group keeping this country verged on the edge of war,” he said of the LTTE.

“We call upon the LTTE, especially, to cease and desist from the violence and terrorism that it has afflicted upon the people of this country,” he said.

He repeatedly condemned the LTTE, saying its “attacks over many, many years upon the political leadership and the average citizens of this country, are reprehensible and they are condemned by the international community.”

“This is an organization bent on provoking violence, as it commits violence, as it kills innocent people,” he said.

“And we hope that the LTTE will understand that it will have no relationship with my government and, indeed, no effective relationship with any country in this world as long as it seeks to redress its own grievances through the barrel of a gun,” he said.

“Now, we understand the Tamil community here has legitimate grievances, and legitimate issues that ought to be addressed by the government. And there out to be a dialogue, a better dialogue, between the government and the Tamil community,” he said, implicitly calling on the Tamils to reject the LTTE as their leaders.

Asked if he had raised Tamil civilians’ complaints about military violence with the government, Mr. Burns said: “In fact, we raised that with the President, and the Foreign Minister, and the other officials with whom we met.”

“We said for sure that the activities of the paramilitary organizations also ought to be condemned and they ought to be stopped. And if there are allegations of military abuse of Tamil civilians, they ought to be investigated. If there are people found responsible, of course they ought to be dealt with in the justice system here.”

“I must say,” Mr. Burns said, “that the response we received from the government is that the government leaders also believe that those attacks must stop, and they must not be carried out in the future.”

Asked what contribution the US could make to peace in Sri Lanka, Mr. Burns said: “If there''s any weight that America can bring it is to try to convince the LTTE to come in and negotiate, and to try to give advice to our friends in the government that they ought to find a way not to respond to the obvious provocations of the last several weeks.”

“At the same time, we are trying to show our support for the government by providing military assistance and training for its officers, military exercises between our troops and the government''s troops, so that the government can be strong and the government''s forces can deter future attacks against the people of this country.”

“We work very closely with the government and we''re proud of what the United States has been able to do as a friend to Sri Lanka,” he said further.

He pointed to the deployment of 1,500 US marines in southern and eastern Sri Lanka in the wake of the December 2004 tsunami – the US did not assist people – overwhelmingly Tamils – in the LTTE-held areas.

“We are also, in the longer term, very hopeful in 2006 we might reach an agreement with the Government of Sri Lanka - to provide a considerable amount of economic assistance, so that reconstruction and rehabilitation of the country can continue, especially those areas that have been so badly affected by the tsunami,” Mr. Burns said.

“We hope a final peace can come to Sri Lanka. The United States wants that very much, and we''ll support the government in its effort to protect this country, and its territorial integrity as these negotiations resume,” he said.

Conscious of the intense criticism by many Tamils of US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead for his singling out of the LTTE for criticism earlier last month, Mr. Burns praised him also: “we''re very proud of the efforts of the American Embassy here, of Ambassador Lunstead, who has done such a wonderful job to represent the United States.”

The International community last week hailed the decision by the Liberation Tigers and the Sri Lankan government to agree on Geneva as the venue for urgently needed talks on stabilising the badly strained February 2002 ceasefire and heaped praise on Norway and her Special Envoy, Erik Solheim.

A flurry of welcoming statements by leading states and international organisations followed announcement by the LTTE last Wednesday that it would drop its preference for Oslo as a venue for talks – to which Sri Lanka is resolutely opposed - and accept the Norwegian proposal of Geneva instead.

India this week joined the United States, Britain, Japan, the European Union and United Nations in supporting negotiations. Many countries praised Norway’s veteran peace envoy, Mr. Erik Solheim for his success in securing both sides’ compromise.

The US, EU, Japan and Norway are the Co-chairs of Sri Lanka’s peace process, but facilitation between the LTTE and Sri Lanka is solely Norway’s responsibility.

Responding swiftly to Norway’s announcement, Switzerland said last week it “welcomes this decision, which represents an opportunity to divert a further escalation of the conflict.”

“Moreover, Switzerland acknowledges the endeavours of Norway, which have resulted in this promising outcome. Switzerland is ready to provide Norway with its utmost support and hopes that the talks can get underway as soon as possible,” the government said.

“The securing of this agreement [for talks on ceasefire] is a precondition for future peace talks, which have been suspended since April 2003,” Switzerland said.

Also welcoming the talks, the United States said “we commend Special Envoy Erik Solheim for his effort to advance this positive development and fully support Norway''s facilitation of the peace process.”

The US, continuing to single out the LTTE for criticism, added it “commends the Sri Lankan government for its restraint in the face of recent provocative attacks and fully supports its efforts as it advances towards peace.”

“We support the territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. We call on both the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to take immediate action to prevent violence and to uphold the terms of the Ceasefire Agreement,” the US said.

“As Under Secretary for Political Affairs R. Nicholas Burns said during his January 23 trip to Sri Lanka, this long conflict will end only when the LTTE and the government resume discussions, and the LTTE are convinced to stop using violence and acts of terror as political weapons,” a State Department statement said.

Welcoming the talks between the LTTE and Sri Lanka, the Indian government said “the resumption of talks augurs well for the prospects of peace in Sri Lanka."

New Delhi reiterated its long-standing view in favour of a "negotiated political settlement" that meets the just aspirations of all communities and which respects the unity, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka, an External Affairs Ministry statement said.

The EU said it “welcomes the agreement between the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to hold talks in Switzerland with a view to reinforcing the Ceasefire Agreement concluded in February 2002 and to improving its implementation.”

The EU said it “expresses its firm hope that the talks will help stabilize the situation in Sri Lanka and lead to a peaceful solution of the conflict.”

Reiterating its full support for Norway’s role as facilitator in the peace process, the EU said it “commends Minister Eric Solheim for his longstanding and untiring efforts for a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Sri Lanka.”

Britain also said it “strongly appreciates and supports the efforts of Erik Solheim and his Norwegian colleagues in their important facilitation work.”

“I am very pleased that the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE have agreed to meet for talks on implementing the Ceasefire Agreement,” Dr Kim Howells, Minister of State at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, said.

“This is an important step. The Sri Lankan people want and deserve peace. Maintaining the ceasefire and ending violence are essential for all parties in Sri Lanka to create the right climate to take the country towards a lasting solution,” he said.

Japan, welcoming the agreement by both sides, also commended “the role of Norway as facilitator in bringing about this important agreement.”

“The Government of Japan strongly hopes that escalating violence in the North and East will be stopped, and actual talks between the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE will commence at an earliest possible date,” Japan’s Foreign Ministry said.

“Japan also hopes that the peace process will be reinvigorated through such talks,” the statement said. “The Government of Japan remains committed to supporting the efforts of the parties to the conflict towards achieving a lasting peace through pursuing the negotiated settlement of the conflict.”

Welcoming the talks, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan called on both sides to strictly observe the ceasefire and commended renewed efforts by Norway to facilitate the resumption of discussions.

“To advance the peace process, it will be important to put an end to the escalating violence in the North and East and to strictly uphold the ceasefire. The people of Sri Lanka deserve a new hope that peace could be in reach,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

The abductions of ten aid workers of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) by suspected Army-backed paramilitaries have raised doubts as to whether talks between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers agreed to international applause last week would go ahead.

“It appears that a campaign of terror has been unleashed on TRO personnel in the NorthEast,” the charity said in a frantic statements issued Tuesday after ten members were abducted in two separate incidents in Sri Lanka’s restive east - one group from their vehicle within 100 yards of an Army checkpoint.

The TRO appealed to the government of Sri Lanka, international ceasefire monitors, the International Red Cross, Colombo-based embassies and civil society to “urgently investigate these missing humanitarian workers.”

Last Wednesday the LTTE and the Sri Lankan government accepted a Norwegian proposal to hold urgent talks in February in Switzerland on the ceasefire agreement which has been badly frayed by a simmering shadow war between Army-backed paramilitaries and the Tigers.

But no date for the talks has been set and the LTTE has already said that its participation in the negotiations – the first talks since early 2003 are conditional on improvements in the security situation faced by Tamils in Army-occupied parts of the Northeast.

“This is a very serious incident and it will be very difficult to convince Tamil people to go for talks when the harassment is going on,” Seevaratnam Puleedevan, head of the LTTE Peace Secretariat told The Associated Press, after the abductions of the first five TRO staffers.

The United States responded quickly Tuesday after the first incident, calling for calm and an investigation. A US Embassy statement called “on all parties to exercise restraint and calm, especially in the run-up to the cease-fire talks in Geneva.”

The US said it was “concerned about the reported kidnapping of the TRO members” and urged “the relevant authorities to rapidly investigate these allegations.”

The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) tasked with overseeing the truce has received the complaints.

The LTTE has reacted angrily to the abductions – sentiments not improved by the Sri Lankan government’s flat denial of the checkpoint incident having taken place at all (Colombo has not commented on the second incident).

Criticising the TRO as an organisation “with links to the LTTE” Sri Lankan military spokesman Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said that reports of the Welikande abductions were false allegations meant to discredit the security forces.

“Such abduction could not happen in close vicinity to the check point,” he told the BBC Sinhala service.

However, despite repeated protests by the LTTE, Tamil civil groups and the international community, Sri Lanka has refused to disarm Army-backed Tamil paramilitary groups waging a shadow war against the Tigers, claiming instead the violence is 'internal feuding' within the LTTE.

Hundreds of LTTE members and supporters, civilians and Sri Lankan miltiary personnel have been killed in the past two years with violence peaking in the past two months – easing, however, after intense Norwegian shuttle diplomacy secured an agreement by both protagonists to negotiate the implementation of the February 2002 ceasefire agreement.

Violence had been declining in the past week after the government and the LTTE agreed to resume talks on the ceasefire - even though the day after the Norwegian announcement, Army backed paramilitaries attacked an LTTE vehicle and killed a senior cadre and iIn a sharp escalation, Sri Lanka Army fired heavy weapons to cover the ambush team’s retreat into government-controlled territory.

Then this Tuesday (Jan 31), suspected Army-backed paramilitaries abducted two separate groups of aid workers from the TRO.

Five people - four personnel from the TRO’s Pre School Education Development Center (PSEDC) personnel and their driver - have been reported missing in the East, the charity said.

The team, which was expected to have returned to the Kilinochchi FORUT office Tuesday, had left Valaichchenai, Batticaloa District, Sunday around 7:00 p.m, but had failed to arrive, a statement said. Amongst the missing is Mr. Kasinathar Ganeshalingam, PSEDC North-East Province Secretary.

Earlier, another five TRO staff emembers travelling from their Batticaloa office to Vavuniya for training were stopped by paramilitary personnel immediately after the Welikanda, (Polunnaruwa District) Sri Lankan Army (SLA) checkpoint at 2 pm.

Fifteen TRO Batticaloa staff members were travelling to Vavuniya. The TRO vehicle had registered at the Welikanda checkpoint and was continuing its journey when an unmarked white van that had been following obstructed their vehicle and forced it to stop about 100 yards from the checkpoint.

Five TRO members – all experienced aid workers - were dragged out and forced into the white van the others – recent recruits enroute for training - were assaulted and forced to turn back to Batticaloa.

“It will affect the atmosphere of the peace process,” LTTE media co-ordinator Daya Master told Reuters from Kilinochchi.

“This will create panic in the people again. These are innocent civilians. It may be the Sri Lankan forces or it may be the Karuna group,” he said.

The Karuna Group is a paramilitary group led by former Tiger commander Karuna Amman who defected to the Sri Lanka military in April 2004 following the collapse of his rebellion against the LTTE. Since then several LTTE cadres and supporters, paramilitaries and security forces personnel have been killed in violence that has come to be characterized as a ‘shadow war.’

Sri Lanka’s Tamil Tigers will not attack government forces provided the military ceases violence against Tamil civilians, a LTTE chief negotiator Anton Balasingham said Wednesday last week as the organisation agreed to Norwegian peace talks in Switzerland.

“There has been some LTTE military action, but most of these incidents are by the peoples’ militias,” Balasingham told Reuters shortly after the Tigers dropped their refusal to go anywhere but Norway -- the one place the government would not go.

“For our part, we will cease all action against government forces,” he said in a sitting room in Kilinochchi, the de facto LTTE capital, but warned that this was “conditional on the fact that government forces and paramilitary forces cease acts of violence against Tamil civilians.”

The Tigers had previously denied involvement in attacks on government forces that has stretched a 2002 truce to its limit. Analysts say the Tigers had been attacking government forces to provoke an over-reaction in the hope of stirring up international outcry over army abuses.

The Tigers have complained breakaway faction the Karuna group were attacking them in the east and acting as government paramilitaries. International truce monitors said security forces were at best turning a blind eye.

The Tigers had only agreed to drop their demand for talks in Oslo during Wednesday’s discussions with Norwegian peace broker Erik Solheim, architect of the 2002 truce, Balasingham said.

Some of President Mahinda Rajapakse’s allies had said Norway was too soft on the Tigers.

“What is crucial is not what has happened in the past, Balasingham said. “What is crucial is to create a congenial environment so that both parties can sit together and negotiate. The resumption of talks is a very, very strong step that will bring an end to the present tension and bring an end to the fear of war.”

Credit for the breakthrough should go to LTTE head Velupillai Pirapaharan, said Balasingham, who was flown in specially from his London home for the talks. He said they were giving Rajapakse time to rein in abuses - abuses the army denies.

When Rajapakse took office in November after a Tiger vote boycott destroyed the chances of his more conciliatory opponent, he said he wanted to redraw the ceasefire to prevent “terrorist acts”.

Both sides must agree for the agreement to be altered, and Balasingham said this was out of the question. The Tigers expected the government to put up political proposals for a long term solution, he said, and the Tigers would negotiate if these were felt to be fair.

“At the initial stages, talks will be centred on the terms and conditions of the ceasefire agreement,” Balasingham said. “There is no question of amending the agreement, we will only talk of its smooth implementation.”

Whilst preparing to engage in a new series of negotiations with the Sri Lankan government, the Liberation Tigers are training Tamil civilians in the use of arms in case war returns.

An Associated Press report from the de-facto LTTE headquarters town last week said that every afternoon, civilians of all age groups from school children to gray-haired elders gather at a public playground for a session of military training which the Tigers prefer to call “training in self defense.”

“We have so far enlisted 13,000 civilians in this district for training in self defense,” said a Tiger official in-charge of the training who uses the nom-de-guerre “Por Piriyan” meaning ‘Lover of War’ in Tamil.

“We don''t want to start a war again but if it is thrust on us it is important that all the people are ready to face it,” he told Associated Press reporter Krishnan Francis as he inspected the training of some 200 men and women.

The trainees are divided into various age groups and batches and they are trained in various aspects of battle over weeks. After an initial training period they will be taught how to handle assault rifles and other sophisticated weaponry, he said.

“Don''t be taken in by the term ''self defense.'' It also includes training to pick up a gun and shoot,” said 58-year-old Subramanium Pasupathipillai, a village head who gave a forthright description of the exercise. “We should also be prepared to be up there in front when required.”

“Don''t underestimate us (the elders) seeing our gray heads. We are also capable of fighting,” Pasupathipillai said, adding that he was a volunteer member of LTTE forces that have captured well-fortified government military garrisons before the cease-fire.

“We can''t be mere spectators when our brethren are killed in numbers by the army,” Pasupathipillai said, accusing government troops of killing scores of Tamil civilians.

Responding to a query about civilians becoming easy targets for government troops once they are trained, Por Piriyan said civilians are targeted whether they are trained or not.

“It does not make a difference to them [troops]. It is only because the civilians were targeted before that they are coming to us now for training. It gives them power to face it,” said Piriyan, who says this name may have been chosen for him by the guerrilla group because of his enthusiasm for fighting.

Meanwhile, the BBC’s Dumeetha Luthra, reporting from Jaffna found that amid increasing violence, “he Tamil people are, however, the worst sufferers - there are increasing reports of them being harassed, kidnapped and killed.”

Mudiyappu Ramedius, a lawyer at the Human Rights Commission office in Jaffna, says the number of such complaints has risen dramatically.

“Tamils are being killed regularly by what officials say are ‘unidentified gunmen.’ However the public perception here is that the military is behind these incidents. That in turn creates anger and more violence,” Luthra wrote.

“All along the Tamil-dominated [Jaffna] coastline, joining the Tigers has become a common cry,” she says.

“Although no-one admits it openly, many here have been trained by the Tigers to build up a so-called civil defence force.

One fishermen who does not want to be identified describes the training to the BBC: “The training is for day and night offensives, and how to use different types of rifles.”

“Like all young men preparing to fight their first war, Sri Lankan soldiers here are scared and nervous,” Luthra wrote from Jaffna. “But their commanders, who fought the rebels in the last conflict, say they are ready for any eventuality.”

“Fresh-faced young men are already facing an invisible front line … Every time they leave this base they confront the possibility that a claymore mine attack will blow up their convoy.”

Meanwhile the LTTE’s naval arm, the Sea Tigers, this week completed the training of three batches of ‘auxiliary’ militia.

The LTTE auxiliary units are comprised of selected cadres who, whilst not members of the LTTE, get training above the basics being given to the large number of civilians.

TamilNet reported that the ninth group of Sea Tigers'' auxilliary force, which trained at the Lt. Col. Maravan training camp in Vadamaradchy east, held a gruaduation ceremony on Monday.

Separately, the fifth group – 125 cadres - held a passing out parade at the Lt. Col. Thiruvadi training camp in Manalaru (Weli Oya) the same day.

Tamil Guardian: Strengthening homeland security

A rash of abductions of Tamils and the ‘disappearances’ of many in Sri Lanka Army custody and the targeted killings by suspected pro-government paramilitaries of outspoken journalists, political leaders and family members of anti-government activists and fighters have raised fears of a return to the bloody ‘dirty war’ of the eighties, a Tamil Diaspora lobby group said Wednesday.

The Geneva-based International Federation of Tamils (IFT) said it “is concerned by strong evidence that the Sri Lanka military and its political sponsors have returned full cycle to the policies of the 1988 to 1999 period when an estimated 60 000 civilians in the South were killed by government death squads.”

Pointing to similar tactics deployed against opponents of the state by the militaries of Israel and Colombia, the IFT said the violence was unleashed “with a tacit nod from geopolitical strategic allies such as the United States.”

“In Sri Lanka, the application of these strategies is well honed from the response to the southern JVP insurgency,” the IFT said, citing a report from 1989 by Human Rights Watch

“Official military as well as state controlled paramilitary death squads are now actively engaging in terror strategies [including] (a) Abductions and disappearances in army custody, (b) targeted political assassinations of opposition leaders, (c) killing of journalists and (d) killing of the families of dead war heroes and of civilian political activists.”

Pointing out that in the past two months, in Jaffna alone, there have been over 40 disappearances of people arrested government backed paramilitaries or troops, the IFT cited international human rights reports which said Sri Lanka in the eighties “had the second highest rate of disappearances in the world.”

“In the context of war, the deliberate targeting of unarmed non-combatants is a war crime,” the IFT said. “In any context, the deliberate targeting of civilians by a state’s military apparatus constitutes state terrorism.”

“It is time for the international diplomatic community, particularly those who claim to endorse values of liberty and democracy, to accept the credible witness evidence and the evidence of investigative journalists that the paramilitary death squads are financed and controlled by the Sri Lankan military,” the organisation said.

Sri Lanka''s peace process is back on track but patience is sorely needed and will be key to any success, Norwegian envoy Erik Solheim said Thursday last week - a day after the government and Tamil Tigers agreed to meet for talks.

Solheim, leading Norwegian efforts to bring a lasting end to the war since secret negotiations began in 1998, said when he started he would not have believed there would be so little progress in eight years.

"When I started on a full time basis, I thought it would maybe take half a year," Solheim told Reuters after finally persuading the two sides Switzerland was a mutually acceptable venue for fresh talks.

"Patience was important in this process and it still is. It will not be sorted out in a few months."

Norway is aiming to replace Solheim - who is now also the country''s international development minister - with a new envoy, but diplomats say replacing his personal relationship with key figures, including Tiger leader Velupillai Pirapaharan, is all but impossible.

Sitting in his Colombo hotel room with his shoes kicked off and looking visibly exhausted, Solheim said he was pleased senior members of the two sides - although not their leaders - had agreed to meet to discuss the ceasefire''s implementation.

He had taken a helicopter ride 200 km (130 miles) north to the LTTE stronghold of Kilinochchi to meet the Tigers, came back and held a meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse before starting to finalize arrangements for the talks.

"It''s definitely important - a clear positive step forward, but only one step," he said. "There had been a gradual turning to the worse for the last months, definitely now there is a step in the right direction.

"The parties can use this momentum to find a way to stop the violence and the killings and, based on that, move closer toward a settlement."

The gulf between the two sides remains vast. The Tigers say they want autonomy in Tamil-held areas, while Rajapakse says he wants a unitary state and is allied to hardline parties who oppose concessions.

"There is real enthusiasm for peace but possibly not real enthusiasm for the necessary compromises," Solheim said. "I would not advise on the specifics of the compromises. It''s a complex matter."

He said there was a risk some elements might try to disrupt or sabotage the process. Diplomats fear more killings may spark new violence.

"The big risk are spoilers who want to produce violence to undermine this positive effort," Solheim said. "At the moment the parties should do their utmost to stop violence, but they should not let violent elements and spoilers derail the process."

Norway was willing to continue its attempts to broker a lasting settlement as long as it believed both sides ultimately wanted peace and were not using the Norwegians - invited because of their experience in the Middle East - for their own ends, he said.

But setting an agreement the island''s majority Buddhist Sinhalese and minority Tamil-speaking Hindus, Muslim and Christian communities would take time, he said.

"I think there''s no other place in the entire world where four major key world religions are meeting themselves on one small island and they all make up a substantial part of the population," Solheim said. "If this was easy to solve, it would have been solved a long time back."

The abduction two weeks ago by suspected paramilitaries of ten Tamil aid workers in the Northeast is further evidence of the state of affairs in the Northeast. Over the past two months, attacks on civilians have become standard practice for the Sri Lankan armed forces in retaliation for militant attacks. Violence against reporters seen as inimical to the state and its military apparatus has already been commonplace. The recent escalation to include aid workers amongst potential targets will further detract from the limited assistance the conflict- and tsunami-battered people of the Northeast presently receives.

The press and aid agencies compose a large segment of the institutions which indirectly promote the collective welfare and security of Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka. Many of the journalists murdered in recent years were openly critical of the military and its shadowy the paramilitaries and the violence these forces unleash on civilians. Their outspoken criticism was amongst the handful of non-violent avenues of resistance to military violence against the island’s minority communities.

The Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) is the single largest humanitarian organisation operating in the Northeast. It has single-mindedly pursued its objective of improving the lot of the residents of the sprawling region regardless of their ethnicity or religion. Over a quarter of the region’s population presently reside in refugee camps and a substantial portion of those who have struggled to restore some semblance of normality to their lives, particularly after the December 2004 tsunami, suffer from ongoing restrictions on their livelihood by the armed forces

In the absence of international aid – blocked by the Colombo regime - the TRO has been a beacon of hope for the destitute. The organisation has provided shelters for the displaced, homes for those orphaned by the conflict or the tsunami and health clinics in a region deliberately neglected by the state. International aid organisations working alongside the TRO attest to its incorruptible standards, unlike those of the state’s institutions.

Nevertheless, the TRO has been inspected locally and internationally, following accusations by the state that it is a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Many of the TRO’s international offices have been raided following such allegations by the local Sri Lankan consulate, which after investigation, have been proven false. The TRO is consistently slandered and attacked in the Sri Lanka’s Sinhala-owned press - and in some cases by irresponsible international media agencies operating out of Colombo. Sri Lanka’s foreign minister in a recent visit to the US again called for the organisation to be banned.

Perhaps it is due to these frequent witch-hunts against the TRO has ensured that its accounts and operations are conducted to a higher benchmark than its peers. The TRO was, for example, one of the few NGOs to publish audited financial statements for the first 6 months after the tsunami. It consistently delivers annual independently-audited accounts available to its donors and any other interested parties, which accounts for every penny received and spent.

The TRO’s effectiveness has meanwhile been hailed by many local and international media, international NGOs, visiting dignitaries (including Bill Clinton and Kofi Annan), foreign governments, the UN, and even by the government of Sri Lanka itself - former President Chandrika Kumaratunga saluted the TRO’s work in the post-tsunami construction of temporary Shelters at a ceremony on 22 August, 2005 during which she presented the organization with a plaque.

Despite its proven track record, the violence unleashed against the organisation in recent times has escalated from attacks on its reputation to grenades thrown at its offices and, now, the abduction and, probably, murder of its staff. The Sri Lankan state, which the Tamils have consistently argued is institutionally racist, has - unsurprisingly - failed to respond adequately to the recent violence against the TRO, fobbing these off as stage-managed by the LTTE. In a farcical twist, the police even arrested those TRO volunteers who, having been released by the paramilitaries, had sought to report the abductions. The TRO staff were detained overnight and attempts were reportedly made to forcefully coerce out of them a statement retracting their accusations of being abducted.

Having routinely endured treatment such as that meted out to the TRO volunteers at Batticaloa police station, ordinary Tamils are further convinced that Sri Lanka’s state institutions are so structurally chauvinistic as to be irredeemable (the Supreme Court’s intervention last year to prevent tsunami aid from being shared with the LTTE-held parts of the Northeast is another example).

More importantly, however, any hopes amongst the Tamils that the international community would intervene in their interests have again been dashed. Like its response to the sabotaging of last year’s tsunami deal by the Sinhala extremists, the international community has remained noticeably muted on the TRO abductions. At a time when wide-scale condemnation might have ensured the swift return of the missing aid workers, the international community chose to remain pointedly silent. Aside from a request by the US for a state investigation, there has been no official criticism. And no one actually expects an investigation of any worth, given Sri Lanka’s poor record and the identity of the suspected perpetrators of the abductions - indeed no state sponsored investigation into abuse by its security forces has resulted in a single successful conviction during the history of the ethnic conflict.

The international community’s decision to remain silent on the abductions is also perplexing from a wider perspective. One of the key advantages of peace, it is often stated, is that the displaced and impoverished residents of the Northeast will be able to receive assistance and rehabilitate their lives, easing the frustration that reportedly fuels violence.

But surely organisations such as the TRO are central to these efforts? The abductions will undoubtedly impede its ability to function. TRO volunteers will not be able to travel freely and potential volunteers will be put off joining as not only is the charity now a target, the international community is deeming it a legitimate one. (The related question, this raises, is what effect the ensuing Tamil sentiment will have on LTTE recruitment).

The Sri Lankan state’s position in this matter is unsurprising. The TRO’s activities in times of war have undermined Sri Lanka’s strategic objectives of inflicting war-weariness and in times of peace have embarrassed the state’s failure to provide for those in the Northeast. Its consistent provision of shelters, schools and medical assistance to those regardless of their cultural background has stood in sharp contrast to the state’s chauvinist institutions. The consistent attacks by the Sinhala nationalist and the Sinhala-dominated state on the organisation’s credentials and personnel are based solely on its Tamil roots.

Similar attacks on aid workers elsewhere in the world are usually unreservedly condemned and prompt robust calls for action. However, the international community appears to have once again opted instead to bolster the Sri Lankan state by withholding condemnation. The fear of riling the southern hawks at this fragile stage of the peace process has outweighed the risk to the lives of the TRO’s volunteers and the wider impact on the charity’s ability to serve the residents of the Northeast, indeed for development in the region.

The TRO will form the cornerstone of any potential non-violent solution the ethnic conflict. Its efficient structures, committed volunteers and transparent mechanisms promise that it will be the most successful vehicle for the rehabilitation of the Northeast. Allowing Sinhala hard liners and paramilitary organisations to attack the TRO is not only a short-term threat to stability but severely undermines the potential for the long-term redevelopment and rehabilitation. The consequent implications for the peace process are inescapable.

Since the assassination of Tamil parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham on Christmas Eve, the dissonance between the vocal anger of the Tamil expatriate community and the studied silence of their host governments has been jarring. Reports of the ‘Murder in the cathedral’ began to circulate amongst expatriates at least an hour before it hit the major news channels, thanks to the Tamil electronic media and vibrant social network of relations and friends.

Some people, frustrated at the delay in international coverage of the killing, began to lobby key media. In Britain, Tamils contacted the BBC, questioning the lack of coverage – which was belatedly forthcoming. Three weeks after the killing, the BBC responded to some of those who contacted it, saying: “Sri Lanka, unfortunately, is a very difficult place for journalists because both sides have strongly opposite views and also restrict your movement. It is very difficult to verify every detail in what is effectively a conflict zone and in which both sides give varying accounts of the same incident.”

Some of the reasons given by the BBC for the delay in its reaction were valid. The Sri Lankan government and the Sinhala-owned press went into overdrive almost immediately with accusations that the Tamil Tigers were responsible, an allegation that met with derision from the Tamils – irrespective of their sentiments towards the LTTE.

In contrast, every major Tamil press gave the assassination and the subsequent funeral prominent coverage. They emphatically attributed the murder to Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives and anti-LTTE paramilitaries. This view was also consistently expressed by those closest to Joseph Pararajasingham, including his family, his party, the Tamil National Alliance, and the North East Secretariat of Human Rights (NESOHR), of which he was a founder member.

There was, very early on, a broad consensus on both the motivation for the murder and the identity of those responsible. In an article, expatriate writer Brian Seneviratne, spelled it out: “Para was fluent and articulate, he was outspoken and obviously credible. He could present, to the Sinhala Parliament and to international audiences, the suffering and problems faced by the Tamil people and the outrageous violation of human rights that they have had to endure. The Sri Lankan government and its armed forces simply had no answer other than [his] assassination.”

Pararajasingham was one of the most popular and senior of Sri Lanka’s Tamil MPs. He was, furthermore, one of the figures best known to the international community, having repeatedly met with their representatives in Colombo and abroad. Notably, Tamil media and community organizations also began, almost instantly, to call for international action against the government of Sri Lanka.

The European Tamil Initiative for Peace issued an Appeal for Action the very next day asking the UK Presidency of the EU to ensure “immediate steps are taken with the genuine intent of protecting the civil rights and security of the Tamils of Sri Lanka that the Tamil legislators who are engaged in service to their constituents and international advocacy to restore the rights and fundamental freedom of the Tamil people of Sri Lanka are well protected.”

The Geneva based International Federation of Tamils (IFT) went further, calling on the European Union to “impose sanctions on the government of Sri Lanka until all pro-government death squads have been dismantled and the military intelligence officers who control these squads investigated and disciplined.”

The US Tamil Sangams issued a joint statement which concluded, “the international community must show political and moral courage and impose sanctions on the government of Sri Lanka in order to put an immediate end of this deliberated and calculated violence. Such an action would restore confidence of the Tamil people in the peace process.”

And so it went on, from Tamil expatriates in US and Canada, to those in several members of the European Union (as well as Norway and Switzerland), to Australia and New Zealand.

The Tamils’ appeals were based on the face value of numerous statements by international actors, including key states such as the United States, and EU members expressing unequivocal respect for the democratic process, the rule of law and the sanctity of the life. Many states had expressed a direct interest in Sri Lanka’s peace process. Foremost among them the US which had expressed such a keen desire to see peace and prosperity in Sri Lanka, and Britain which held the EU presidency. International actors and donor community had long been calling for the free expression of Tamil political will. Here, now, was the brazen murder of a prominent Tamil politician who symbolised that electoral process at work. And so began the wait for a reaction from the foreign ministries of the world.

But the Tamils are, of course, still waiting. Not one protest or expression of outrage has been forthcoming. The silence itself seems to confirm international recognition of where responsibility lies.

Moreover, that the standards of democracy, liberty and security that the foreign governments apply to the citizens of their own countries are quite different from those they are happy to see applied to the Tamils of Sri Lanka. No one is better placed to observe and understand this two-tier system of diplomacy than the expatriate Tamils of course.

We recall the assassination of that Sri Lanka’s foreign minister - a ‘Tamil’ minister who had never actually stood for election amongst the Tamils - where without any actual evidence to hand, the EU assigned blame on the Tigers and slapped a travel ban on them. It is precisely actions such as the travel ban that have placed such a heavy burden of international advocacy on behalf of the Tamil people on to the foreign affairs committee of the TNA and on Pararajasingham, ultimately making him a target of those who would silence such advocacy.

And so, having placed the burden on Pararajasingham and effectively invited his death, what did the EU and the US hope to achieve by so pointedly looking the other way?

The refusal to condemn the assassination stems wholly from what Pararajasingham stood for. The TNA has twice decisively won elections on a platform of Tamil self-determination and of support for the LTTE. Although the international actors were apparently keen for Tamils to ‘express their political will’, they are now unhappy as this political will seems to conflict with their geopolitical interests (the parallels to the recent elections in Palestine - and the unpleasant shock the result gave many international actors - are inescapable).

Furthermore, we must understand that not all lives are of equal value because not all political leaders are valued equally. A leader elected on a platform that the geopolitical actors do not find to their liking is necessarily of less value than a ‘leader’ who is not elected at all but granted his ministerial post through political patronage (perhaps precisely because he is not elected, the latter can espouse views that are convenient to the geopolitical actors but deeply unsatisfactory to the long-suffering Tamils).

The not so subtle international subtext is: ‘if your political views do not agree with ours then don’t look to us for the same protection as those whose views are.’ Pararajasingham is, in this sense, as much a victim of an utter lack of respect for free speech and political diversity on the part of the liberal democracies, most notably the United States and the members of the European Union, as the chauvinism of the Sri Lankan state.

An alternative, less cynical, argument might be that the international actors do indeed see the trail of blood leading to Colombo but do not see what can be gained by publicly acknowledging it. They are, it is argued, concerned that criticism of Sri Lanka will impede their program of gradual reform and lead to further destabilization of an ally and fellow government, which ought to be cajoled rather than brow-beaten into good behaviour. To quote senior US official, Mr. Nicholas Burns, international actors would prefer to ‘have a chat among friends’ on the subject of murder, rather than outright condemnation.

In any event, the decision of the international actors to ignore the murder of Pararajasingham has far-reaching consequences. At a critical point in the peace process, foreign participants pointedly and silently looked away from the trail of blood which leads so clearly to the government of Sri Lanka. Their credibility as neutral actors and sponsors of the peace process is therefore very much suspect. As is their commitment to the principles of civil liberty and democracy, particularly when it applies to the Tamils of Sri Lanka.

Coming as it did at a sensitive point in the peace process, the lessons drawn from the lack of international reaction to Pararajasingham’s killing have been learnt by a far broader spectrum of Diaspora and local Tamils than might usually have been the case. These lessons, moreover, have to be situated amongst others stemming from other scenarios, such as Iraq, the so-called ‘war on terror, Guantanamo, the ‘rendition’ of terrorist suspects to countries suspected of practicing torture, and so on.

The sub text that has been understood by the Tamils is that the US and its allies respect human rights and free speech, but only of those whose beliefs and interests do not conflict with their geopolitical interests. So much for Voltaire.