The NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) released a report last week on the Sri Lanka Navy violence against Tamils in Pesalai, on December 23, 2005. Extracts follow:

On Friday December 23rd, at 1.30 pm, the second vehicle of the three vehicles carrying Sri Lankan Navy sailors back to their base in Talaimannar was hit by a claymore mine. The attack occurred in Pesalai when the bus was passing through the “Hundred House Scheme”. The Sri Lankan Navy camp in Talaimannar is located about two kilometres from this housing scheme. Thirteen soldiers died in the attack and many more were wounded.

Uninjured soldiers in the other two vehicles immediately started spraying bullets towards the housing scheme. Panicky occupants of the houses in the “Hundred Housing Scheme” started to flee in all directions. Following account is based on the statement given to us by a family member of one of the victims and the descriptions of the attack given by several other residents who faced the Sri Lankan Navy revenge attack.

As people started to run, Suganthy picked up her younger child aged 3, and her husband, Fernando, picked up their older child aged 5. Fernando told Suganthy, “Let us run and if we die, let us die together”. They began to run.

Suganthy’s house was on the road side between the location of where the Navy vehicle got hit by the claymore and the Navy vehicle that was traveling a few metres ahead. Suganthy is an asthma patient and she found it difficult to run carrying the toddler.

At this time Suganthy saw that the couple next door was still in their home, standing at their door steps. This couple next door was not about to run like everyone else. Suganthy told Fernando, “I will wait with them, you run further”.She tore her hand from Fernando’s and ran into the house of Anthoniamma and Emanuel Cruz. That was the last time Fernando saw his wife and child.

The Cruz couple, whose house at which Suanthy took refuge, have four children, eldest of them is 14 years old. These children had gone to another house to watch television with their friends. The parents, worried about what could happen to their children did not want to run away, and they stayed in their home. Fernando ran on and stopped about five houses further down and stayed there. After that, no one knows what exactly happened to Suganthy, her baby and the Cruz couple.

One woman resident states: “The fleeing people were stopped by the Sri Lankan Navy and the women were forced to sit on the hot sand with their face to the sand. The Navy soldiers then asked the young women crude sexually motivated questions. They also dropped their trousers in front of the women. It was so unbearable”.

The men were taken to another side and they were all beaten. There were all together about 42 men who were beaten. Both men and women were then forced to sit there for several hours. Navy men came to the house where Fernando (Suganthy’s husband) had taken refuge with their older five year old boy.

The Navy men picked up the five year old boy by his collar and were about to beat him. Fernando instinctively put his arm to take the blow. The Navy men had then turned to the father and said, “Are you so brave and strong that you can stop us?” They then severely attacked the father. Fernando sustained severe injuries on his arms, legs, and hips as a result of the attack. He was unable to walk.

Around 6.00 pm the priest from the village church arrived and rescued all of the residents sitting on the sand and took them to the church. The Navy did not release nine men. When the villagers arrived at the church they realized that several people were missing. Everyone thought the missing people would have run further and took refuge in the adjacent villages.

The church priest searched for the missing people in the other villages, found some of them and brought them back to the church. Suganthy, her baby and the Cruz couple was still missing. Suganthy’s relatives looked among the injured civilians admitted to the hospital for the missing four people. There they saw a pregnant mother who was hit in the stomach with a gun by the Navy men.

On the second day, Saturday December 24th, the Bishop of Mannar (Bishop Rayappu Joseph), talked to the Navy and got the nine detained men released. It was around 12.00 pm on Saturday when they were released. Residents said those nine men, when they returned, did not look like they were humans, they were attacked so severely, their skulls were broken, their hands and legs were broken. The state in which they came back was beyond belief.

On Saturday, no one was allowed to go back into the village. The Navy however, allowed the Assistant Government Agent (AGA) for the district to go through the village but she was not allowed to go inside any houses. The Navy stopped them from stepping off of the road. The Navy only allowed the AGA to go down the road to the adjacent villages to look for the missing people. The AGA looked through the other villages and came back and said the four missing people were not to be found.

The residents encouraged the AGA to ask for permission from the Navy to go inside houses to look for the missing people. The AGA took three more of her officials and went to look in the houses.

Those who came described what they saw as follows, “It’s hard to describe what we’ve seen, it’s really cruel. There is a lot of blood that has run from inside a house, outside, and down the front steps of the house. The verandah is covered in blood. Because there was so much blood, we couldn’t step into the house. The blood on the steps is still there. We found the hands of a small child just outside the house and a chunk of flesh inside the house among the ashes”.

Everyone by now realized that the four people are no more. The Navy did not allow anyone into the houses for sometime and they must have cleared out the place during that time. They have just missed to remove the child’s hand and the chunk of flesh that the AGA and her three officials saw on Saturday.

The third day, Sunday December 25th, which was Christmas day, the Sri Lankan Navy pulled back, and allowed the people to go to their homes. Fernando was the first one to be there with his younger brother. The others soon joined him. The ashes in the house were still there. The hand and the chunk of flesh had been removed. They could see that some attempt had been made to wash up the blood.

They searched among the ashes. Fernando immediately recognized the green skirt that his wife was wearing. It was half burnt. In one area there was dried blood in a puddle, which the Bishop took pictures of. Only the Bishop was allowed to take a camera.

They found Suganthy’s national ID (Identity Card), her army ID, and her bank account book as she must have run with her purse and these things were in her purse. Her homeowner’s identity card was also there. They submitted all of these things to the police. The National ID of Emanuel Cruz was also there.

The people were also saying that there had been some theft. The Navy actually stole jewels from the women and there was 25,000 Rupees missing from one home. About seven houses had been burnt badly. Furniture and mattresses were heaped in these houses and were set alight. They completely burnt one of the large shops in the village.

By Monday, December 26th, the entire village had collected the remains of their belongings and left the village. Fernando was also admitted to the hospital on Monday.

On Tuesday, the family members of Fernando took some offerings to the house, as part of the funeral ritual. They placed the food at the steps and within two minutes of doing this, the Navy men were there. The family members felt threatened. People were absolutely scared at the time of the incident. On the second or third day after the incident the Navy was still carrying out its search operations and the entire village was in a state of fear.

On Sunday, December 25th, two officials from the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the Bishop of Mannar Rev. Rayappu Joseph, and Rev. Fr. Wincent Parick, the parish priest from the church where resident took refuge, visited the house where the burnt human remains were found. The Mannar Police were given the job of conducting investigations.

None of the people who faced the Sri Lankan Navy attack on December 23rd expect anything to come out of the police investigations.

In the run up to the announcement last week that the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers would soon hold peace talks in Geneva, there has been a marked decrease in violence – a trend broken by the abduction of five Tamil aid workers this week. Nevertheless, there have been a number of incidents and developments that have continued to raise tensions in several parts of the Northeast.

In the most serious incident, a senior LTTE cadre killed in an ambush by suspected Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers and paramilitary cadres Thursday in Vadamunai in Batticaloa district.

Major Kapilan was killed and at least one cadre was wounded when the paramilitaries and SLA soldiers ambushed their tractor in an LTTE held area in Vadamunai near Welikande in Batticaloa-Polannaruwa border.

In notable developments, the Army's 23-1 Brigade camp in Welikande backed up the withdrawing ambush group with 5" mortar fire from their base, while the attackers had used a Rocket Propelled Grenade (RPG) launcher to hit the tractor.

On Friday normal life and business in Vavuniya town and suburbs came to a standstill due to a hartal (shut down) organised by Tamil Student's Union in protest against the killings of civilians in NorthEast by the Sri Lankan armed forces, military intelligence and paramilitary forces.

A cordon and search operation was conducted by the SLA and Police in Manippuram Housing Scheme, 8 km northwest of Vavuniya, from Friday morning till noon. There were no arrests.

On Monday last week normal life in the Army-controlled Mannar island came to a complete standstill when the Tamil speaking people observed general shut down in response to the call made by the Pesalai Tamil Peoples Forum to condemn the killing of four members of two families by Navy soldiers.

That morning a special mass in connection with the one-month remembrance of four persons killed was also held in the Pesalai Vettri Matha Church heeded by Mannar Bishop.

SLA soldiers cordoned off Kallikaddaikadu village in the northwestern Mannar District and conducted house-to-house search operation the same morning. The village is 10 km east of Mannar town on the Madawachchi-Mannar main road.

SLA troops on foot patrol in Irupalai area along Jaffna Point-Pedro came under fire from unknown gunmen Saturday evening, and in another incident in Chulipuram one trooper was injured when unknown gunmen hurled a grenade at a SLA foot patrol.

Although military officials in Jaffna district said that the two attacks happened after a few days of relative calm, the military desisted from blaming the attacks on any party and speculation is rife among Jaffna residents and local Tamil media that the attacks may have been staged by SLA intelligence operatives and paramilitaries operating with them to pointing blame at pro-Tamil Tiger militia.

The Tamil Resurgence Force, which has claimed several attacks against Sri Lankan security forces in the Jaffna district had said after the LTTE agreed last Wednesday to cease violence that it would also stop its actions.

SLA soldiers on foot patrol shot and injured a civilian, Velupillai Nagarajah, 70, along A9 road in Madathady area in Chavakacheri Thursday morning. The Army claimed it was an accident, but others say the victim was hit by a deliberate burst of fire.

In a similar incident recently, a retired Post Master was killed by SLA gunfire in Point Pedro after which the SLA claimed a gun had fired accidentally, but investigations by the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) proved that the killing was not accidental.

Two youths were shot and killed whilst riding their bicycles in Jaffna in two separate incidents in Nallur, Jaffna, Wednesday morning last week. Gunmen riding in a motorbike shot and killed a youth on Konavalai lane in Kokkuvil East and another youth, around the same time, in Kondavil East on Potpathy lane.

A student from Varani Yakkalai area was shot dead by unknown gunmen Tuesday afternoon last week. He was a member of a LTTE ‘War Hero’ family. Kandasamy Vaikunthan, 23, who was returing from classes from a privte tutory in Meesalai was shot dead in front of Kannki Amman Temple by gunmen who followed him from his classes. His brother, a member of Liberation Tigers, had died in combat earlier.

The owner of an eating house in Meesalai, Thenmaradchy district, was shot dead along the A9-highway near the Chavakachcheri market by two men riding in a motorbike Monday afternoon last week. A young woman was seriously injured when Sri Lankan soldiers randomly fired at the civilians after the shooting incident at Meesalai, 4 km east of Chavakachcheri along the A9 highway.

Relatives of the deceased allege that Sri Lanka Intelligence operatives were behind the killing. Krishnagobi and two other brothers are involved in eatery business and two of the three brothers were arrested and held in Jaffna prison in 2000 for supporting the Liberation Tigers. They were released after two years.

Earlier last week, in a letter to selected government officers addressed from its office at the Sridhar Theater, Jaffna, , the Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) threatened with death those who defy its call to attend a meeting in Vathiri, Karaveddy.

"We are aware that you worked closely with the Liberation Tigers who practise terrorism and who are destroying the culture, justice and administration of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka,” the EPDP said.

“Since you have not fled to Vanni and continue to live in Jaffna, we are keen to include you as part of our force. We are holding a meeting on the 23 January at 3.00 p.m. in Vathiri Pradeshya Sabha offices.

“If you attend your family's and your future will be safe. If not we would like to remind you the fate that befell the family of Bojan in Manipay and expect your attendence,”

In the recently published case histories of Manipay killing of three members of the same family and the separate killing of a 15 year old youth in Kodikamam, the NorthEast Secretariat on Human Rights (NESOHR) provides details of involvement of Sri Lanka Intelligence operatives and paramilitary cadres belonging to EPDP in the killings.

With several SLA soldiers wearing black bands covering their faces, clearing Kanagasabai Road leading to Bojan's family, nine members of EPDP paramilitaries scaled the fences of the two storied house at 10 p.m. and killed Renuka, 30, Shannuka, 23, and Arthanareeswary Bojan, 51, NESOHR said in its report after interviewing residents of Manipay and family members who escaped death. The killings took place on 14 January.

In the shooting death of student Thambirajah Arulajanthan, 15, of Kodikamam on 28 December, NESOHR report said, EPDP cadres and SLA Intelligence operatives had visited the house three times in search of Arul's brother-in-law Kirubakaran. Kirubakaran was an LTTE member and had left the movement six years ago, the family told NESOHR.

Mr.Thambipillai Selvarajah, 48, a mason by profession was shot dead by unidentified men Wednesday night close to the market in Muttur town in Trincomalee district. He was the second Tamil civilian shot dead by unidentified persons in the SLA controlled Muttur town since Tuesday morning and the third in the Trincomalee district.

Both earlier killings took place Tuesday morning. Soon after the second attack, several Tamil families in Muttur town fled their houses and sought refuge in the Christian Church in the Muttur town.

Mr. Subramaniyam Suhirtharajan, a Tamil journalist, was shot dead in Trincomalee town, close to the Governor's Secretariat. Mr. Ramalingam Suntheralingam, 54, a board member in Muttur Co-operative Society was shot dead in his house located between the Muttur police station and an SLA checkpoint along the Methodist Church Road in Muttur town.

Reporters sans frontières (RSF) in a press release issued Tuesday said that Mr. Suhirtharajan, a correspondent of the Tamil-language daily Sudar Oli was killed for writing about "abuses committed in his region by Tamil paramilitary groups," and that in Sri Lanka, "the impunity enjoyed by the instigators and perpetrators of these murders encourages more violence against the press."

The day before he was killed, the reporter had detailed the abuses committed by Tamil paramilitary groups including the EPDP in the Trincomalee region in an article. The Sudar Oli newspaper also recently ran photos taken by Suhirtharajan showing that five Trincomalee students were shot dead at point-blank range on 2 January, disproving the army¹s claim that they were killed by a grenade explosion. Sri Lankan commandos are blamed for the execution-style killings.

Unknown attackers lobbed a grenade at a civilian residence in Vepankulam, 3 km northwest of Vavuniya town on Sunday night. No one was wounded in the attack, which was the sixth grenade attack to be reported on civilian residences within the last few days, Vavuniya Police said.

At least two houses of reputed businessmen were among the targets in Vavuniya. Incidents of extortions and violence, allegedly by paramilitary cadres, have escalated in the area.

On Saturday night, a 13-year-old boy, his 14-year-old sister, and their mother were wounded when unknown attackers lobbed a grenade into the front-yard of the residence of a reputed trader in Vavuniya, Chandrakumar, the owner of Gopi Agency.

The residence of the owner of Ratnam Travels, another trader in Vavuniya, was also attacked earlier last week, according to Police.

An unidentified extortionist was behind the killing of a private tutor, Kamalachandran, last Monday, according to the relatives of the victim. The gunman had shot the victim after a short conversation, eyewitnesses said.

In Batticaloa, the house of a cadre of the paramilitary Razeek Group which was located in located at Thiruchchenthuru Temple Road in Kallady was damaged when an unknown assailant hurled a grenade at it.

Meanwhile, the Tamil Teachers Union (CTTU) reiterated a demand that Sri Lankan armed forces personnel should be withdrawn fifty meters away from schools in the Tamil and Muslim dominated Northeast province, and also to vacate schools now occupied in the high security zones in Jaffna district.

The increasing presence of SLA troops near the entrances to several schools in Jaffna district has irked parents and have increased absenteeism in schools. Educational institutions along the Jaffna-Kankesanthurai Road, from Jaffna town to Tellipallai entrance to the High Security Zone (HSZ) are the most affected.

Children attending Mallakam Maha Vidyalayam, Mallakam Visaladchi Maha Vidyalayam, Chunnakam Thirugnanasampantha Vidyalyam, Innuvil Central College, Kokkuvil Tamil Mixed School, Kokuvil Hindu College and Jaffna Hindu College located along the Jaffna-KKS road or nearby cross roads are anxious about the heavily armed troopers outside their school gates.

Meanwhile, incidents of thefts have increased in Chankanai, Kalviyankadu, Tellipalai and surrounding areas, residents said.

Residents allege that despite complaints to the police, police have made no efforts to identify the intruders, nor the SLA command has taken efforts to alleviate the army-imposed lighting restrictions that have affected the security of Jaffna households during the night hours.

In Vavuniya, incidents of extortions allegedly paramilitary cadres have escalated despite the expectations of decrease in violence in the wake of the announcement last week that peace talks would take place in Geneva soon.

Meanwhile, fishermen of Pallimunai in Mannar district are undergoing severe hardship due to restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) in leaving for fishing and returning from sea.

According to a Navy directive, fishermen can leave for fishing after 6 in the morning and return by 5.30 in the evening. But SLN soldiers are only allowing the fishermen to leave the shore only around 9 in the morning after delaying deliberately conducting checks and other procedures, fishermen have complained to local fisheries officials.

Fishermen are unable to do deep sea fishing because the shortened time window, they said, adding that SLN soldiers who are manning checkpoints along the shore subject them to severe checks openning every item, even their meal packets they take, to delay their departure to sea.

Two SLA soldiers were killed and one seriously wounds in a claymore mine explosion that struck their tractor in Sarasalai, 4 km northeast of Chavakachcheri in Thenmardchi, Jaffna district, around 1:00 p.m. Tuesday.

A cycle bomb placed near a bus depot at the third mile post junction along the Nilaveli-Trincomalee road narrowly missed a Navy bus convoy carrying soldiers towards the east port town Tuesday morning. Initial reports said eleven soldiers were injured and admitted to navy hospital. Sri Lanka troops fired in retaliation killing two Tamil civilians and injuring several. Four have been admitted to Trincomalee general hospital.

An SLA soldier was killed Monday night when a grenade was thrown at a sentry point located in the premises of Mannar General Hospital. A combined camp of the SLA and Sri Lanka Navy is located close to the Balamurugan Temple in the hospital premises. SLA soldiers fired in retaliation injuring a Tamil civilian who was sleeping on the verandah of the Balamurugan temple.

An Air Force (SLAF) soldier manning a checkpoint in Anpuvallipuram in Trincomalee district was injured when an unidentified person lobbed a hand grenade around 8.30 pm Monday.

Two Tamil youths known as supporters of the LTTE were shot dead by gunmen on Monday at 12 noon at Deans Road in Akkaraipattu town. Chandranathan Sasikumar, 23, also called Appuhami, a resident of Kurukkal Road in Akkaraipattu and Gopalakrishnan Suresh, 16, of RKM Road Akkaraipattu, were killed whilst riding a motorbike by gunman on another motorbike.

A paramilitary cadre of the EPDP group, Navaratnarajah Jegatheeswaran, 26, from Rajakiramam in Karaveddy, Jaffna was shot dead at Sunday morning by gunmen riding in a motorbike along Nelliady-Kodikamam road.

The Liberation Tigers on Saturday said two of their fighters, a Lieutenant and a Second Lieutenant were killed Friday evening when a minicamp located in the LTTE held Kadavanaikulam area in Trincomalee district was attacked by a group of around 50 SLA soldiers, the LTTE said in a complaint to international ceasefire monitors.

Two SLA soldiers sustained minor injuries when assailants hurled a grenade at their road clearing patrol in Arumugathankudiyiruppu in Eravur, 14 km north of Batticaloa along the Batticaloa-Valaichenai highway at 1.30 p.m. Saturday. Troops arrested three Tamil youths playing close by as suspects.

A Navy soldier was killed on the spot and three others were seriously injured in a roadside blast in Kayts an island north-west of Jaffna town around 1.30 p.m. Saturday. A wounded trooper, later succumbed to his wounds. Navy troopers were on a road patrol in the area when the mine went off.

Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade at the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) office located on Lake Road in Batticaloa Friday night around 11:30 p.m. No one was wounded in the attack, Batticaloa Police said. Three vehicles parked outside the SLMM office were damaged in the attack. The SLMM office is located inside Sri Lank Army High Security Zone near a SLA base that also houses the paramilitary Razeek Group.

Sri Lankan troops Saturday afternoon found and defused two live claymore mines at a place close to Swami Malai, a resettled Tamil village in Thambalakamam division about 27 km off northwest of east port town along Trincomalee-Kandy main road.

The week before, troops recovered a live claymore mine in Naduthivu village in Kinniya division, also in Trincomalee.

An SLA soldier was killed when assailants hurled a grenade at troops in Mallakam junction in Vallikamam at 3.45 p.m. Friday. One civilian was injured when the troops returned fire.

There were two incidents of grenade explosions in Irupalai on Jaffna-Point Pedro Road at 5 p.m. Friday. The unknown gunmen followed the explosion with gunfire before escaping from the area.

One Police officer, Mr Piyantha, 46 was seriously injured in Nallur, Jaffna Aadiyapatham Road, Old junction when unknown gunmen hurled a grenade at him at noon Friday. Two youths from Neervely, P Anushan, 23, and R Ravi, 21, who were riding on a bicycle were also injured by the blast.

There was another grenade attack on the SLA sentry point in Aanaikottai, Jaffna at 2.30 p.m. Friday also.

Gunmen shot and killed a paramilitary cadre of the EPRLFon Friday at 10:45 a.m. at Kallady, 2 km south of Batticaloa town. Arulampalam Suntharalingam, 33, known as Sinnavan, was a former Razeek paramilitary group member.

Nine Navy sailors were killed and ten wounded when their bus was hit by a claymore mine in Chettikulam Thursday evening on Madawachi - Mannar Road. A Sinhala home guard was reported killed and a Muslim youth was wounded in SLN gunfire following the attack.

Three policemen and an SLA soldier and two civilians were injured in the grenade attacks that took place at Thursday morning at Parameswara and Thatatheru junctions. Five civilians were wounded when soldiers fired indiscriminately in both locations.

Two SLA soldiers were injured Tuesday morning last week when unknown gunmen ambushed a SLA foot patrol at Punanai in Valaichenai along the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa highwat at the 18th mile post.

The bodies of two civilians, Sithampari Kanesharatnam, 39, and Visuwar Krishnar, 58, who lived near Kovilarkandy Amman Temple, were recovered in a bylane near Kaithady bridge close to the A9 main road. Eyewitnesses told authorities they had seen the victims being interrogated by SLA soldiers Monday evening.

Also Tuesday, a Muslim businessman, Ahamedlebby Abthul Bahir, 35, was beaten to death and his friend Nahurthamby Athambaba Lebby, 25, seriously injured by a Tamil mob protesting a shooting incident in Akkaraipattu Monday evening.

Nearly 250 employees including few medical officers Tuesday morning staged a walkout in protest demanding the withdrawal of armed forces personnel from the premises of the Mannar district hospital and a ban on soldiers visiting the wards of the hospital whilst carrying their weapons.

The Human Rights Commission in Jaffna received complaints Monday that ten civilians in Karainagar in Jaffna islets have been arrested by Navy personnel conducting a cordon and search operation. When relatives inquired at the Karainagar SLN camp on the whereabouts of the arrested the Navy denied arresting anyone.

Unidentified attacked lobbed a grenade into a Tamil shop located in the Madathady junction in Trincomalee Tuesday morning. Mr. Thevatharsan, 25, an employee of the shop was critically injured in the attack which took place a few yards away from the Trincomalee Police Headquarters along the Main Street.

The body of Suppiah Murugan was found with gunshot wounds Monday night at Urumpiray Junction along Jaffna Palaly road in front of Urumpirai Hindu College. A cook at a restaurant in Urumpiray, Murugan hailed from Trincomalee. The killing in high security zone where there is 24-hour surveillance by the security forces shocked Urumpirai residents.

Two Tamil civilians, Selvanayagam Mayooran, 35, and Sabaratnam Mathivathanakumar, 32, were wounded when unknown gunmen fired at them at 10.30 p.m. Sunday while they were going to their residences in Pallathoddam in Uppuveli Police division in Trincomalee. The motive is not known.

Two sisters, Bojan Renuka, 30, and Bojan Shanuka, 23, and their mother Bojan Arthanageswary, 51, residents of a house in Mudaliyar Kanagasabai Road in Manipay, close to the Manipay Hindu College, Jaffna district, were shot dead Sunday midnight by gunmen suspected to be SLA intelligence operatives and EPDP paramilitary cadres.

The father, Nagendran Bojan, 55, and brother Bojan Ullasan, 26, sustained gunshot injuries and are receiving treatment at the Jaffna Teaching Hospital.

Bojans is a Maaveerar family and Renuka acted as the main character in a Tamil film “Amma Nalama?” (Mother, are you well?) produced by the Liberation Tigers’ film division Nitharsanam.

Sellathurai Yogarajah, 26, who was on his way to a Hindu temple in Kodikamam, in Thenmaradchi in Jaffna district, was shot and killed allegedly by SLA soldiers in Thenmaradchi Sunday morning.

Tharmarasan Tharmaseelan, 37, who was abducted by unidentified men Saturday night, was found shot dead with his hands tied behind his back near a Navy check post on Suruvil road in Kayts town, north-west of Jaffna, Sunday morning.

Tharmarasan was visiting his friend when four men, allegedly members of the paramilitary group, EPDP and Navy soldiers entered the house and took him away, according to residents.

Mr Raman Ranjan, 36, was shot dead by unknown gunmen who came in a motorbike at Karuwappankerny, 2 km north of Batticaloa town near Naagathampiran temple in Batticaloa at 5.00 p.m. Saturday.

All the members of a Tamil family were wounded in a grenade attack in Trincomalee on Saturday evening. An unidentified attacker lobbed a greande into the front verandah of the house located in Gandhinagar, 3 km southwest of the east port town, when the entire family, a father, mother and their two children, was watching a television programme following Pongal celebrations. SLA sentry points are located near the house, between Anpuvallipuram and Abeyapura.

Following a grenade attack on an SLA unit in Irupalai, residents said they witnessed soldiers arresting a tractor driver and taking him to the Irupalai SLA camp. However, SLA has denied arresting anyone from the area.

Mr Sulaimanlebbai Mohammed Esmail, 33, a labourer at a brick quarry in Nainakaddu Sammanthurai in Kalmunai was shot dead by unknown gunmen using an automatic rifle on Thursday night at 11-00 pm while he was sleeping in a shed near the quarry. The motive for the killing is not clear.

Unknown assailants hurled a grenade at the house of a businessman located at 2nd division Puliyady Road Valaichenai on Friday early morning at 4-30 a.m. but it failed to explode. The motive is not clear.

In Mannar, the petrol station run by Manthai West Multi Purpose Co-operative Society is now surrounded by military camps and sentry points and residents of the west coast town fear going to the station. They have begun making a thirteen kilometre journey to refuel at two other stations.

69 year-old Kanapathy Murugesu, a retired Post Master, was shot dead by Sri Lankan soldier near Odakarai Lane, in Point Pedro in Jaffna district Thursday at 1 p.m. Army officials claimed the gun had gone off accidentally. The victim from Thunnalai North, Karaveddy, was returning home in a bicycle after collecting his monthly pension when he was killed.

Five civilians, including a mother, a 60-year-old devotee and a 71-year-old man were wounded in soldiers’ retaliatory fire after two grenade attacks aimed at troops and policemen manning the checkpoints at two separate junctions in the suburbs of Jaffna town Thursday morning.

SLA soldiers at Lingapuram, Trincomalee Wednesday morning ganged up and beat to death a 40-year-old Tamil farmer, Thanabalasingham, in his paddy fields, villagers protested to truce monitors.

Soldiers opened fire in Kokkuvil, 5km northeast of Jaffna town, killing a civilian traveller on Jaffna KKS Road around 7:00 p.m. Wednesday, residents said. Doctors said the cause of death was gunshot wounds contrary to the claim of the SLA that the victim was killed in grenade explosion.

Two demining workers, Tharmasiri and Kandeepan, employed by the humanitarian Danish De-mining Group, DDG, were abducted by unknown armed men who came in a white Hiace van Wednesday early morning in Point Pedro.

Thambiah Tharmasiri and Narayanamoorthy Kandeepan were abuducted at 5:20 a.m. Wednesday on Odaikarai lane while they were on their way to work in Kuppilan, close to the High Security Zone near the Palaly Military Base.

Four de-mining workers of another De-mining group, HALO Trust, are already reported missing. They are suspected be either abducted by the gunmen, or in the custody of the SLA troopers or the Sri Lankan Police in Jaffna District.

Thambu Nadesu, who runs a business near the Puthur junction on the Jaffna - Point Pedro road was shot dead allegedly by Sri Lankan military intelligence operatives Tuesday around 11.30 p.m. He was asked to come out of his house for investigatations and shot dead, villagers said.

Fifty-years-old Thambu Nadesu, from Saraswathy Lane in Puthur East, was an active organisor of the civilian protest against an attempted rape of a woman in the area allegedly by Sri Lanka Army soldiers on October 28, reports said.

He was also is a close relative of Nirojan Tharmarajah (20) who was shot dead by the SLA in October 2005, when SLA opened fire when people protested against attempted rape of a woman in the area by the SLA soldiers.

Unknown gunmen shot and killed a 31-years-old woman in Thenmaradchi Wednesday noon last week at the grounds of Panrithalaichi Amman Temple. The victim, Pavalarani, had been abducted from her house in Mattuvil East, 6 km north of Chavakacheri, Wednesday morning.

P. Sivasankar, 28, from Meesalai and owner of a clothing store in Chavakacheri town was shot dead at 5.30 p.m. Tuesday last week on Dutch Road by gunmen suspected to be Sri Lankan military intelligence.

Residents said two of Sivasankar’s in-laws who owned the Clothing Store received death threats from SLA intelligence for several months. Both fled fearing for their lives and have now taken refuge in Tamil Nadu.

Navy soldiers arrested eight Tamil youths on Tuesday night last week at 7 p.m at the Manpuri checkpoint located in Puttalam - Kalpity Road. All are residents of Liberation Tigers controlled area of Kaddaiparichchan in Mutur and were travelling in a private minibus which was stopped at the Manpuri checkpoint.

Kondavil schoolgirl’s family warned

The Jaffna school girl abducted by four Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers from Paalpannai (Milk Farm) Road in between Thirunelvely and Kondavil junction was returned to her parents in Kondavil Tuesday night by higher officers of the SLA.

Kondavil residents who witnessed the abduction and other residents allege that the SLA soldiers were intending to subject the school girl to sexual abuse but had to abandon their pursuit on the direction of higher SLA officers who flew into Jaffna from Palaly military camp on being notified of the escalating protests in Kondavil following the abduction on Tuesday afternoon 2 p.m.

The abducted girl is sixteen years old and said to be a GCE (Ordinary Level) student at a popular Kondavil mixed school, residents said.

She was on her way to her aunt's house and was going in a bicycle along Paalpannai road when she was forcefully taken away by SLA soldiers.

Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers have threatened the family with death if the details of abduction were made public.

The principal of the school where the abducted girl attends warned TamilNet correspondents to be cognizant of the seriousness of the threat to life of the girls family when filing stories with details of abduction.

When the abduction occurred, residents of the area and a youth who saw the girl being dragged away by the SLA, searched the shrub area near by. Sri Lankan troopers who came to the scene around 5 p.m. with an official of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (fired in the air to disperse the crowd.(TamilNet)

These are extracts from US Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead’s address to the American Chamber of Commerce in Sri Lanka:

At the Embassy, we are currently doing our annual goal setting exercise. As has been the case since arriving here, our goals boil down to two simple, yet complementary themes: peace and prosperity.

Today, however, there is an overriding theme that trumps all the others: Peace.
The peace process is paramount.

As we look at peace and prosperity, we are at a point in the cycle when the furtherance of peace is perhaps the single most important thing that can push Sri Lanka along the path to further prosperity.

A failure to capitalize on peace now will have significant negative repercussions in the months and years ahead. It will be especially bad for the economy and the underlying businesses that drive it.

What I was pleased to find at the Co-Chairs meeting in Brussels, was a continued optimism on the part of my fellow co-chair participants that, despite recent damage to the ceasefire and the peace process, a strong hope for progress remains.

We went on to outline those recent events and statements that we saw as useful and those that we saw as detrimental to the process.

In that vein, I have to take a moment here to congratulate the Government on its continued restraint, despite the recent provocative actions by the LTTE.

Similarly, the US calls on the LTTE to stop its violent activities and to return to the negotiating table with the Government of Sri Lanka in order to work towards a stable, permanent peace.

There can be a role for the LTTE in future development of Sri Lanka, but only if it returns to the peace table, renounces terrorism in word and deed and become a responsible participant in Sri Lanka’s future. And this will lead to a better life for the Tamils and all Sri Lankans in the North and East.

The LTTE’s current actions call into question its “leadership” of the Tamil people. What kinds of leaders block their people from realizing their most fundamental democratic aspirations? What kinds of leaders allow their people to continue to suffer from a lack of investment and industry? What kinds of leaders continue to pursue violence when the clear benefits of peace are obvious?

These are not acts of leadership. They directly undermine LTTE claims to legitimacy and they keep the aspirations of the Tamil people bottled up.

The United States remains committed to the peace process in Sri Lanka, and in helping the legitimate governing bodies of Sri Lanka to prepare for their roles in developing and protecting their citizens.

Through our USAID program, we are helping to increase the competitiveness of Sri Lankan industries, we are helping Sri Lanka rebuild after the tsunami, and we are supporting efforts to help people realize the benefits of peace.

Through our military training and assistance programs, including efforts to help with counterterrorism initiatives and block illegal financial transactions, we are helping to shape the ability of the Sri Lankan Government to protect its people and defend its interests.

Let me be clear, our military assistance is not given because we anticipate or hope for a return to hostilities.

We want peace. We support peace. And we will stand with the people of Sri Lanka who desire peace.

If the LTTE chooses to abandon peace, however, we want it to be clear, they will face a stronger, more capable and more determined Sri Lankan military. We want the cost of a return to war to be high.

Sri Lanka is at a tricky point in its history. It’s not clear if it is at a crossroads, or a cliff’s edge.

The US will continue to support a strong, unified Sri Lanka that seeks peace and prosperity and that offers an atmosphere of respect and justice for all citizens regardless of religion and race.

We will urge others in the International Community to do the same.

We have stood with Sri Lanka through the peace process as one of the co-chairs.

We are standing with Sri Lanka through the rebuilding process from the tsunami.

And we want to stand with Sri Lanka as it crosses the threshold from a situation of “no war” to one of peace and moves from a platform of low economic growth to a launching pad of economic dynamism.

In the wake of a claymore attack on January 12 which killed ten troopers in a Sri Lanka Navy convoy proceeding from Vavuniya to Mannar, international ceasefire monitors asked whether indeed there could be said to be a ceasefire amidst the plethora of attacks and murders in the island’s Northeast.

In a statement issued Friday last week the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM) lamented over 100 people have been killed last month half of which were civilians.

“Killings and serious attacks continue and the situation is getting worse. It is our assessment that if the Parties don’t react immediately they risk going back to war,” the monitors said.

The SLMM condemned the attack on the Navy bus as “brutal murder” and said it was “yet another serious blow to the Ceasefire Agreement.”

The government blames the Tigers for the attack, a charge the LTTE denies. The Tigers said Tamil residents incensed by continuing military harassment are striking back.

The SLMM said it “believes that if such attacks or retaliation of such attacks continue the Ceasefire Agreement will be over.”

Whilst acknowledging “several reports of civilian harassment by the Security Forces” the monitors also said it was not enough for the Tigers to disclaim responsibility and that the “ LTTE’s indifference to these attacks worrying.”

However the monitors urged the Sri Lankan government to restrain its military.

The SLMM said the Sri Lankan government must take steps to “to face up to its responsibility to disarm … armed groups” – referring to Army-backed paramilitaries - operating in areas controlled by its military.

These “alternative armed elements”, the SLMM said, “have been able to operate freely in the East in Government controlled areas.”

“These forces have destabilised the ceasefire and are one of the major reasons for increased tension between the Parties [to the ceasefire],” the SLMM said.

Extracts from the statement follow:

“Various actors in the international community have blamed the LTTE for attacking Government troops but the LTTE has continuously denied any involvement. The LTTE claims that “the People” are behind the attacks on the military. SLMM finds this explanation unacceptable. It is safe to say that LTTE involvement cannot be ruled out and we find the LTTE’s indifference to these attacks worrying.

“It is however clear that people are suffering and unfortunately there have been several reports of civilian harassment by the Security Forces in relation to increased security measures. The harassment often takes a form of harsh treatment of the Tamil population in relation to the attacks. We would like to urge the Government of Sri Lanka and the Security Forces to prevent such actions from taking place.

“It is important to emphasise that the current situation also stems from the fact that alternative armed elements have been able to operate freely in the East in Government controlled areas. These forces have destabilised the ceasefire and are one of the major reasons for increased tension between the Parties. We therefore urge the Government of Sri Lanka to face up to its responsibility to disarm these other armed groups so that the rule of law can be reinstated in the affected areas.

“Increasing amount of civilians is being caught in the middle leading to major disturbances in the local communities. The conflict between the two sides is hurting civilians and preventing any restoration to normalcy.

“We urge both Parties to consider carefully how they can mend the situation instead of merely blaming each other and pointing fingers. The Parties need to come up with firm confidence building measures with the truthful aim of reaching a peaceful solution. Actions speak louder than words and we feel that we need to see more commitment from the two Parties if war is not to break out in Sri Lanka.”

Blast at truce monitors’ offices

Hours after international monitors urged the Sri Lankan government to disarm Army-backed paramilitaries, a bomb ripped last Friday through one of their offices in the east of the island.

The blast in the town of Batticaloa destroyed a vehicle of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), but no one was hurt. Three more SLMM vehicles were damaged.

It was the first attack on the Scandinavian officers supervising the February 2002 ceasefire agreement.

“It was definitely not intended to kill anyone,” SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir told Reuters.

“We cannot rule out that it was someone trying to scare us away. We are not pulling out - it would send a strong message that if anyone threw a firecracker in our direction we would leave.”

The Liberation Tigers condemned the attack, saying said they were “extremely disturbed and concerned” and describing it as an attempt to destroy the cease fire agreement. “We are very relieved that no one was hurt in this attack,”

“We would like to express our strong condemnation of this distressing attack on unarmed peace monitors whose presence has been invaluable for the people of this island,” the LTTE said in a letter.

“Our leadership views this attack as an attempt to wreck the ceasefire agreement. Our leadership also expresses the continued support of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to the SLMM to implement the ceasefire agreement in its fully intended meaning and to rectify the deteriorating ceasefire environment.”

“We wish to bring to your notice that this attack has taken place within a Sri Lanka Army High Security Zone. An SLA base is located near this SLMM office and this SLA base also houses the paramilitary groups,” the LTTE also said.

The deteriorating security situation in the north is affecting the lives of the people in Jaffna with business activities slowing down, travelling between the north and south curtailed and southerners working in the north leaving.

The construction industry in particular which was picking up during the cease-fire period has slowed down. A number of foreign NGOs have also returned to Colombo.

Pilgrimages from the South to places like Nagadeepa have virtually come to a standstill following the string of attacks in the past weeks, which has led to a tense security situation.

As people prepared for last weekend''s Thaipongal celebrations we observed a marked difference in the atmosphere that prevailed during the eve of Deepavali celebrations, before the presidential election in November.

There was a bustle of activity on the streets then. The markets were crowded and buses were packed with passengers even travelling on the hoods. But in contrast, on the eve of Thaipongal many of the shops had closed earlier than usual, the bus stand was virtually deserted shortly after dusk and celebrations appeared to be on a low key compared to previous years.

Among the worst affected by the deteriorating security situation were the traders who enjoyed brisk business last year.

“Before the spate of violence, an average of 200 lorries would come in from the south bringing supplies to Jaffna. They contained mainly building material and food items. But today only an average of 50 lorries come from the south daily,” R. Jeyarasa, President of the Chamber of Commerce (Jaffna branch) told The Sunday Times.

He said there was a time when companies based in the south used to dispatch goods on a bank guarantee to the value of Rs. Five million or even more as they were certain of the returns. But now most companies have cut down on the bank guarantee and were even reluctant to provide credit.

“There was a time when about 20 to 30 lorries of cement used to come daily and the stocks were over in a short period. But today it is difficult distribute these stocks because people are reluctant to go ahead with the construction activities,” he said.

Many projects that employed workers from the south have also been affected as many have gone back to the south fearing the security situation.

Many of them were masons and carpenters. The scarcity of the labour force has resulted in labour charges suddenly skyrocketing in Jaffna. Many companies from the south that sent luxury items and other essentials have reportedly reduced the flow of goods due to a drastic slump in business.

A. Gunaratnam, an agent in Jaffna, for companies including Ceylon Tobacco, Delmege and Milgro said there were times when he got about 12 lorry- loads from Colombo, but now he sometimes even gets less than four lorry-loads.

He also said his sales had been affected as most of the salesmen from the south and those from the upcountry working for him had left their jobs and returned home.

“There is also a drop in the number of people coming to our shops in town. Buses now stop plying from town as early as five in the evening and people are reluctant to venture into town after dusk,” he said.

Many southern businessmen including those who transported items including soft toys, flower plants, flower pots, furniture and ornaments for sale in the north have stopped their sales activities due to the security situation.

The sight of lorry-loads of timber plying from the south to the north being parked at the Omanthai security checkpoint was a common sight not too long ago but today one sees only a few lorries making their way to the north.

Banking activities in Jaffna have also been affected after Banks were forced to closed down for a week following threats.

During the week long closure of the banks, many of the ATM machines ran out of cash, forcing residents to return home with empty pockets and purses.

“Some people have even started withdrawing their savings from the banks in Jaffna as they fear if the situation turns worse they would not be able to pull out their money,” a bank manager of a private bank told The Sunday Times.

Some of those who invested heavily in the hotel industry have also been affected as the number of people patronizing these places have dropped due to movement of civilians being curtailed at night.

Many of these hotels and restaurants were patronized by Sri Lankan expatriates who were home on holiday and local and foreign NGO workers.

In contrast to the crowded restaurants and pubs before the November 17 election, many of them were now empty and closing up shortly after dusk. Crowds that gathered at the cinema halls were no longer seen. Some 10 cinema halls had come up during the past four years and most cinemas were screening as many as five shows a day.

“We are having only one show for a day now and even then only a handful of people turn up,” the manager of a popular cinema said.

Several international actors this week joined a growing chorus of alarm over Sri Lanka’s fast deteriorating ceasefire, urging restraint and calling for renewed peace talks to forstall a return to war.

The February 2002 Norwegian-brokered cease-fire between the Tamil Tigers and the government is under severe strain as a two year old shadow war between Army-backed paramilitaries and the LTTE escalates.

The United Nations’ Secretary General, Kofi Annan, Tuesday warned, like many others, that civilians face enormous suffering if Sri Lanka’s protracted civil war as to erupt again.

UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said in New York that Mr. Annan was concerned about quickly deteriorating security situation in the tropical island.

Dujarric said the cease-fire was under “severe strain” and that the latest fighting is “once again being felt by the civilian population.”

Annan “strongly urges the government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE to shore up the cease-fire, ensure respect for the human rights of all Sri Lankans, and urgently resume their dialogue under the facilitation of the Norwegian government,” Dujarric said Monday.

He was echoing a strongly worded warning from international monitors supervising the truce. Last Friday the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) “killings and serious attacks continue and the situation is getting worse. It is our assessment that if the Parties don’t react immediately they risk going back to war.”

The World Bank added its voice to the mounting concerns with the Country Director warning that assistance provided by the international lending agency could see a dent if there was no immediate improvement.

WB Country Head Peter Harrold told the Daily Mirror the level of World Bank assistance in its country assistance strategy depended heavily on the progress of the peace process.

“Conflict reduces the effectiveness of development assistance; it raises the poverty level of conflict affected people and destroys the assets that development assistance has previously provided,” he said, adding that he hoped the upcoming visit of Norwegian Minister and special envoy Erik Solheim would facilitate the process for government and the LTTE to return to the negotiating table.

The European Union also expressed similar fears with visiting EU Commissioner for External Relations, Mrs Benita Ferrero-Waldner, saying: “it is imperative that the government, other political parties and the Tamil Tigers heed the call of the people and join hands to arrest the spread of violence prevailing in the north and in the east.”

“It would quite simply be a tragedy if the various leaders involved failed to meet this basic demand of the people,”

She strongly criticised both sides for wrangling over the venue for talks to stablise the ceasefire – the LTTE wants a European location, suggesting Norway, but Sri Lanka wants to hold talks in Asia.

“The debate … over the venue for reviewing the implementation of the ceasefire agreement hardly inspires confidence,” Mrs. Ferrero-Waldner said.

“The state of the ceasefire is so perilous that Sri Lanka can ill afford to waste time on talks about the venue for talks! For all who truly seek settlement through negotiation rather than war, surely they have more urgent priorities.”

“To reinvest in peace may seem today a most difficult and tortuous route but it is Sri Lanka’s only road to prosperity and stability in the long term. To turn to violence may appear to be the line of least resistance now but will prevent Sri Lanka from realising its economic potential, will cause massive human suffering again and ultimately will only delay the inevitable return to the negotiating table,” she said.

“The international community can offer help in form of trade and aid but cannot and should not seek to offer political solutions. Sri Lanka’s political future lies solely in the hands of Sri Lanka’s leaders themselves,” she pointed out.

However, Mrs. Ferrero-Waldner’s comments came soon after the US ambassador to Sri Lanka, Mr. Jeffrey Lunstead, bluntly warned the LTTE that his government wanted the “cost of a return to war to be high.”

The US wanted it to be clear, if the Tigers chose to “abandon peace,” they will face a “stronger, more capable and more determined” Sri Lankan military, he said.

Sri Lanka is at a tricky point in its history, the US Ambassador said, adding that it was not clear “if Sri Lanka was at a crossroads, or at a cliff’s edge.”

The United States wants to remain committed to the peace process in Sri Lanka, and in helping the “legitimate governing bodies of Sri Lanka to prepare for their roles in developing and protecting their citizens,” Mr. Lunstead also said.

Condoleeza Rice, the US secretary of state, told Sri Lanka’s visiting foreign minister last week that Washington, which like Britain has proscribed the Tigers as a terrorist organisation, viewed the conflict as another front in the global “war on terror”.

Ms Rice also “expressed concern over the recent upsurge in violence ... and lauded the Sri Lankan government’s restraint in the face of Tamil Tiger provocations”, a spokesman said.

Last week Amnesty International also expressed concern over the spreading violence and rights abuses, and appealed “to all parties to halt the killings, abductions and “disappearances” being reported daily from the north and east of Sri Lanka.”

“The deteriorating security situation will also drastically effect aid and relief operations to those displaced by the tsunami and by years of conflict who see no hope of returning to their homes,” Amnesty said.

We thank Ambassador Jeffrey Lunstead for his comments on the 9th January [‘Peace and Prosperity: US Policy Goals in Sri Lanka’] outlining to the Tamil people the enormous amounts of American economic aid that they are supposedly foregoing by their pursuit of freedom.

But he will find, on examination of the facts, that the Tamils of Sri Lanka fully understand the benefits of economic prosperity, having enjoyed such prosperity long before their marginalisation by the post-independence Sri Lanka state and the ensuing the civil war. Indeed it was the Tamils’ supposedly disproportionate educational and commercial success that lead, in the first place, to racially biased legislation such as the university quota system and the Sinhala-only language act and ultimately to the anti-Tamil pogroms which expressed the historical resentment of the majority against a successful minority.

The Tamils as a nation are more than aware of the future economic value of the strategic assets of their homeland, including, by way of example, mineral deposits such as Titanium and maritime assets such as the Trincomalee harbour. We are equally aware that the United States, among others, will have interest in these resources too.

A few observations on economic proficiency, to begin with. The United States, while a major investor abroad, is facing an increasing trade and current account deficit. Simply put, the Ambassador’s great nation consumes more than it produces and increasingly so. The United States also consumes more oil, a crucial economic resource for its current economy, than it produces. It needs to ensure supplies and routes for those supplies from regions including Asia. The present government of the United States has also widened its budget deficit – the government spends more than it earns, and this impacts its ability to provide services such as welfare and disaster management to its own people.

These potential unstable dynamics are not in themselves entirely calamitous though perhaps incomprehensible to the rest of the world. But that is America''s prerogative. Perhaps not entirely incomprehensibly, when the time comes, the Tamils might also wish to freely navigate global economic dynamics for themselves and determine the true cost of capital for the optimal, long term exploitation of their strategic assets.

The Ambassador is known for his scholarship of South Asia. He will of course be aware that the Tamils are among the oldest international maritime trading civilizations in the region, also being geographically strategically placed. It is hence perhaps conceivable that the present Tamil leadership has the ability and the acumen to recognise the need to understand both international commerce and globalisation.

The economic activity that has been achieved and sustained in areas such as Kilinocchi in the past few years needs to be seen in the context of an almost decade long embargo of essential goods to the Tamil areas imposed by the Sri Lankan government. The Ambassador’s government, while preaching free trade, had done little to oppose the embargo, and in fact, sought to further economically isolate the Tamil homeland by imposing restrictions on the means by which the Tamil expatriate community supports the Tamil administration in the North East.

A government is measured not only by its ability to create prosperity for a portion of its citizens but also by its capacity to execute essential functions particularly in times of deep crisis. We are confident that the Tamil administration’s unflinching and comprehensive efforts in the first few days when the Tsunami struck in December 2004 will stand more than ordinarily favorable comparison to the US government’s response to the natural disaster in New Orleans last year.

Furthermore, any post Tsunami progress in the Tamil areas needs to be viewed in the context of the inability or unwillingness of the Ambassador’s government, to influence the Sri Lankan state to implement the PTOMS or a comparable alternative. Even the great generosity of the expatriate Tamil community in the Tsunami period was greatly hampered by animosity towards the TRO, one of the most effective grass roots aid organizations in the North East.

Nevertheless the purpose of this comment is not to discuss the economic future of the Tamil homeland: it is understood that a prosperous economic future can be achieved only once a strong and defensible foundation of Tamils’ civil liberty is won.

Instead let us focus on a fact that the Ambassador missed entirely in his speech to the American Chamber of Commerce: that there are some things that money cannot buy. These are often the most important blessings of life.

We speak in the context of the recent circumstances experienced by the civilians of the North East. Jaffna has been under the occupation of an army that speaks a foreign language since 1995. In the last six weeks we have witnessed increasing violence against civilians by the armed forces, including rape, disappearances. Member of Parliament Joseph Pararajasingham, who the Ambassador has met several times, was shot dead during Christmas Mass military intelligence operatives. The Ambassador is no doubt aware of all of these developments, apart from those he opted to speak about.

Many Tamils have died for the simple reason that they were of a different race from the majority state, and had no access to a genuine ‘government of the people… by the people.. for the people’. No amount of the American government’s money and technology investment will bring their families either justice or solace. Indeed, what would have been priceless would have been something that is entirely without monetary value: the government of America’s unequivocal condemnation of repressive violence by the state against its unarmed citizens.

The Ambassador asks what kind of Tamil leaders will forego the considerable economic handouts he describes in his speech. We may respond to him with the words of one of the greatest leaders the world has known in recent times. “No man is good enough to govern another man without that other’s consent.”

The vision that drives the Tamil people and their leaders is echoed in his words: “Our fathers brought forth upon this continent a new nation: conceived in liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal…… . that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people. . .by the people. . .for the people. . . shall not perish from this earth.”.

And we ask, how the Ambassador and his American colleagues could have forgotten the immortal words of Abraham Lincoln?

Indo-Pakistan talks inch forward

India and Pakistan wound up their two-day foreign secretary-level talks to unveil the third round of composite dialogue here on Wednesday, with the doves and hawks both finding reasons to claim victory.

A joint statement issued after the talks between India’s Shyam Saran and Pakistan’s Riaz Mohammad Khan presented a wholesome picture of purposeful engagements ahead to bid for a final settlement of the Kashmir issue and other related differences.

But an exchange of words on the margins of the talks over Balochistan left ample room for the hardliners to applaud.

Mr Khan put Pakistan’s interpretation of the talks in a terse comment during a news conference.

“We should move beyond learning to live with the problems,” he warned about the slow pace of progress on Kashmir. “That would be living dangerously.”

He said the third round would be a challenging one precisely for this reason, a characterization that senior officials in the Indian side were also willing to concede as reasonably fair.

Mr Khan offered reasons to suggest that the time was ripe to take up the Kashmir issue for serious discussion.

“We have come to a stage where, given the improved relations, given the CBMs, the people-to-people contacts, it is also time that we start discussing the problems that are as old as the independence of the two countries.”

More US diplomats to India

United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Wednesday said the US will send more diplomats to countries like India.

This, Dr Rice said, is part of ''transformational diplomacy''.

"We will begin to shift several hundred of our diplomatic positions to new critical posts for the 21st Century. We will begin by moving 100 positions from Europe and Washington, DC, to countries like China, India, Nigeria and Lebanon," Dr Rice said in a speech at Georgetown University''s School of Foreign Service.

"Additional staffing will make an essential difference," she added.

Noting that emerging powers like India, China, Brazil and Egypt and South Africa are increasingly shaping the course of history, she said that the new frontlines ''of our diplomacy'' are appearing more clearly in transitional countries.

"Our current global posture does not really reflect that fact. For instance, we have nearly the same number of State Department personnel in Germany, a country of 82 million people, and in India, a country of one billion people," Rice said.

''It is clear that America must begin to reposition diplomatic forces around the world,'' she said.

US sets aside India nuke doubt

The Bush administration, confronting a potential threat to its 2005 nuclear deal with India, has signaled it will set aside concerns that New Delhi violated a previous agreement with the United States.

In documents released by a Senate panel, the State Department said it could not determine whether the project in question -- a 40 megawatt nuclear reactor called Cirus -- had violated a 1956 U.S.-India contract.

Some experts say the project violated past Indian assurances that U.S. nuclear material would be used only for peaceful uses, not weapons, and this called into question India''s trustworthiness as a future nuclear partner.

But Undersecretary of State for Non-proliferation Robert Joseph said "a conclusive answer (on whether a violation occurred) has not been possible."

Rather than spend time on Cirus, "the administration believes the most productive approach is to focus on India''s new commitments under (the July 18, 2005) joint statement," he told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee.

The agreement, which must be approved by the U.S. Congress, would give India access to nuclear technology, including fuel and reactors, and commit New Delhi to place nuclear facilities associated with its civilian energy program under international inspection.

Bush now views India, a rising democratic and economic power on China''s border, as an evolving core U.S. ally and the new nuclear deal is central to that vision.(Reuters)

AU: Darfur talks ‘too slow’

The African Union has criticized the Sudanese government and rebels for failing to make progress in talks aimed at ending three years of killing, rape and looting in the western region of Darfur.

Talks have stalled over issues of power sharing and how to create a final cease-fire and they need to be revitalized, according to an AU statement quoting its chief mediator Sam Ibok.

"Ibok made clear to the Sudanese Parties the disappointment of the African Union Peace and Security Council, and the United Nations Security Council over the slow progress so far achieved," the statement issued late on Wednesday said.

"The current round of the peace talks had been characterized by inflexibility, suspicions and the absence of a minimum level of confidence," it said.

The AU special envoy for Darfur, Salim Ahmed Salim, had described the talks to end the conflict as "disturbingly and agonizingly slow," the statement added.

The mediators urged the parties to resume talks with vigor and reminded them of the millions of Darfuris living in makeshift camps in the region, waiting for an end to the fighting so they could return home.

The rebels want a vice-president from Darfur and an autonomous regional government, both suggestions the government rejects after conceding a high level of autonomy to southern rebels a year ago to end a brutal conflict.

UN warns over West Africa

Nearly $240 million is needed to feed at least 10 million people this year in West Africa, where food shortages risk being overshadowed by emergencies elsewhere on the continent, the United Nations said Monday.

Several countries in West Africa suffered shortages last year after crops were ravaged by drought and locusts.

In Niger, the worst-affected, aid groups scrambled to tackle a food crisis affecting more than 3 million people.

"The poorest are likely to find themselves in a precarious situation again, their survival strategies exhausted and their purchasing power depleted."

So far, $18.4 million had been received out of a total $237 million required for 2006. WFP said it planned to feed at least 10 million people in West Africa with over 300,000 tonnes of food.

About six million people are on the brink of starvation in the Horn of Africa due to severe drought, crop failure and depletions of livestock herds, while some 12 million people in southern Africa need emergency food aid, the UN says.

In Niger, donations poured in only after months of appeals. Aid workers blamed donor nations for failing to respond quickly, pointing out that the cost to donors of saving a starving child is much greater than the cost of feeding them to avert a crisis.

Snow stymies Kashmir efforts

The United Nations resumed crucial relief flights to earthquake-devastated areas of Pakistan this week, but the race to save hungry and freezing victims was stymied by new landslides.

Helicopters flew again after being grounded for three days by the harsh Himalayan winter. But key roads to quake-wracked areas have been blocked by landslides and avalanches triggered by heavy rain and snow.

"A lot of roads are being cut off by landslides," said U.N. World Food Program spokeswoman Caroline Chaumont.

The agency has organized more than 9,000 flights since the Oct. 8 earthquake killed 87,000 people and left 3.5 million homeless.

Overland routes bring food and supplies to roughly 500,000 of the 1 million people being fed by the WFP. Helicopters, by contrast, reach only 380,000.

Relief workers worry that the harsh winter weather will intensify hunger and misery in the quake-wracked region of Kashmir and add to the death toll. Some supplies were delivered during brief breaks in the snowfall.

Main roads leading to the Jhelum and Neelum valleys in Kashmir, where thousands of refugees await, are blocked at several places, said Maj. Farooq Nasir, the Pakistani military relief commander for the region.

Bulldozers are trying to clear the roads, but authorities said Monday it would take days to re-establish the route after the rain and snow stops.

The European Union is preparing itself for the possibility of doing business with Hamas after this month’s Palestinian elections, even though the group is on the EU’s list of banned terrorist organisations.

On a visit to the Gaza Strip and the West Bank this week, Benita Ferrero-Waldner, commissioner for external relations, emphasised the EU would not take sides in the January 25 vote, in which Hamas is mounting a strong challenge to President Mahmoud Abbas’ Fatah party.

The EU is unlikely to cut funding automatically if Hamas emerges as part of the Palestinian government after the elections, an outcome many observers consider possible. “We have been a consistent, and reliable partner for both sides [in the Israel-Palestinian conflict],” she said. “We will continue to offer our support to all those who seek peace by peaceful means.”

Some Fatah politicians had previously seized upon an incomplete version of comments made by Javier Solana, the EU governments’ foreign policy representative, to warn their constituents that a vote for Hamas would mean less international funding.

The EU is the biggest donor to the Palestinian Authority and is considering doubling its annual aid of €500m ($605m, £343m) in coming years. As the official in charge of the European Commission’s external relations budget the biggest single component of EU aid, Ms Ferrero-Waldner’s opinion is particularly important.

At present, she has frozen the EU’s direct budgetary assistance for the PA because of its failure to get expenditure on salaries under control.

The EU stance contrasts with the more strident position of the US which has insisted that the elections give the Palestinian people a fundamental choice between supporting organisations such as Hamas and participating in a peaceful process.

However, President George W. Bush’s high-profile backing for democratisation in the Arab world means the US administration would face a dilemma on how to proceed if Hamas receives the votes of a sizeable proportion of the electorate.

In practical terms, the EU could maintain contacts with a PA that included Hamas if it respected democratic procedures and did not breach basic commitments such as the 1993 Oslo peace deal for Israel-Palestine. Mr Abbas argues that by participating in the elections, Hamas has implicitly accepted Oslo, although Hamas itself, which refuses to renounce its conflict with Israel, disputes this.

The EU has already been in contact with Hamas candidates as part of its role as an official observer of the Palestinian elections, but says this has been strictly limited to issues connected to the vote.

However, some EU officials talked to Hamas members through informal and hence deniable channels in the past and were always unhappy about the decision to put the group on the terrorist list, a move championed by Israel and the US. EU foreign ministers have consistently refused to take a similar step for Hizbollah, the Islamist Shia organisation that forms part of the Lebanese government.

Their worry is that heavy handed actions by the EU could prove counterproductive, pushing Hamas further from the political mainstream – a conclusion endorsed on Wednesday by the International Crisis Group, a think-tank in Brussels.

“With the prospect as remote as ever of a renewed peace process or a weakened Palestinian Authority cracking down on a strengthened Hamas, the international community’s best remaining option is to maximise the Islamist movement’s incentives to move in a political direction through a policy of gradual, conditional engagement,” the report says.

The US-led war on terror, which has led to charges of torture and inhumane treatment of detainees, is fuelling erosion of human rights across the globe, Human Rights Watch said.

US disregard for basic human rights standards in the name of combating terrorism had triggered a “copy cat phenomenon around the world,” Kenneth Roth, the executive director of the independent US monitor told a media conference while launching an annual report documenting rights issues in 68 nations.

Roth said he had queried Egyptian Prime Minister Ahmed Nazif last year about the rounding up and alleged torture of suspects following a bomb blast and “he said to me, really without batting an eyelash: ‘What do you want? That is what the United States does.’”

New evidence shows that torture and mistreatment are a deliberate part of the Bush administration’s counterterrorism strategy, hampering Washington’s ability to pressure other states into respecting international rights laws, the New York-based group said in the report.

The Bush administration has a deliberate strategy of abusing terror suspects during interrogations, Human Rights Watch said, basing its conclusions mostly on statements by senior administration officials in the past year, and said President Bush’s reassurances that the United States does not torture suspects were deceptive and rang hollow.

“In 2005 it became disturbingly clear that the abuse of detainees had become a deliberate, central part of the Bush administration’s strategy of interrogating terrorist suspects,” the report said.

On a trip to Europe last month, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told foreign leaders that cruel and degrading interrogation methods were forbidden for all U.S. personnel at home and abroad. She provided little detail, however, about which practices were banned and other specifics.

“There is an enormous problem that when a government as influential as the United States flouts basic human rights standards, it undermines the standards and gives green light to other governments to do the same,” Roth said.

Many countries - Uzbekistan, Russia and China among them - used the war on terror to “attack their political opponents, branding them as Islamic terrorists,” Human Rights Watch said.

It cited Malaysia’s defense of its arbitrary detention law, the Internal Security Act, based on the US example of detaining people indefinitely without trial.

“Malaysia is justifying its Internal Security Act on the basis of Guantanamo and that is, if the United States is detaining people without trial, who are you to protest Malaysia detaining people without trial?,” Roth said.

The controversial US naval base at Guantanamo Bay is a detention center for war on terror prisoners.

Roth said that in respect to US policy, Malaysia had a point but added that “it is important to stress that the United States is not the arbiter of international standards.

“There is international law which everybody should abide by and there is no excuse for Malaysia.”

Roth said the “biggest blind spot” in terms of Washington’s policy towards Asia has been Indonesia, another US anti-terror ally.

He said Washington lifted a congressional ban on military aid to Indonesia even though not a single senior military official had been prosecuted for atrocities in the province of now-independent East Timor.

“There is a sense that because (Indonesian President Susilo Bambang) Yudhoyono is elected that therefore Indonesia’s human rights problem is solved, when, in fact, the president has very little control of military.

“The military continues to largely self finance through its own business activity and it has absolutely blocked efforts to hold military officials accountable,” he said.

“So, it was utterly premature to lift the congressional ban ... but Indonesia is an ally in the fight against terror.”

Pakistan was cited as another example where Washington looked the other way, being a top ally in US counterterrorism efforts.

Roth said President Pervez Musharraf broke his promise to step down as army chief and then came to the United States in September and boasted: “Let me assure you that President Bush never talks about ‘when are you taking your uniform off?’”

There was no US rebuttal over that statement, he said.

“The US, in fact, today rarely speaks in terms of human rights when it addresses the conduct of other governments around the world. It prefers warmer, vaguer, buzzier words like democracy and freedom,” Roth said.

Human Rights Watch said while there was a need for vigorous enforcement of human rights norms by other powerful nations, Britain and Canada compounded the lack of leadership by trying to undermine critical international rights protections.

Britain sought to send suspects to governments likely to torture them based on “meaningless assurances of good treatment” while Canada moved to dilute a new treaty outlawing enforced disappearances, it said.

The European Union continued to subordinate human rights in its relationship with others deemed useful in fighting terrorism, such as Russia, China and Saudi Arabia, it said.

HRW also criticises Britain for its policy of sending foreign terrorist suspects to their native countries where torture is routine.

The Human Rights Watch report usually concentrates on countries such as Iraq, Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia, but the prime targets of the latest one are the US and European countries.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said Wednesday he had only seen news accounts of the report, but he rejected its conclusions.

Human Rights Watch has criticized the Bush administration’s war against terrorism before, registering concern that abuses in the name of fighting terrorism were unjustified and counterproductive.

In other reports, the group has protested that the Bush administration’s promotion of democracy was applied narrowly and missed allies, such as Saudi Arabia and Pakistan, that were due criticism.

Amid increasing violence by Sri Lankan troops against Tamil civilians, many are fleeing government-controlled areas to areas controlled by the Liberation Tigers and a small number are even fleeing to south India, reversing a trickle of returns from there since the February 2002 truce.

Over the weekend, several hundred families fled from areas controlled by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) in the Jaffna peninsula and crossed to LTTE held Vanni region through the Muhamalai, bringing the number of families seeking refugee there to over 4,000.

Many families have shifted from the villages of Ariyalai, Velanai, Punguduthivu, Kayts, Thambatti, Kodikamam, Varani, Karainagar and Velvettithurai. They could be seen on the road with their belongings packed into trucks, minibuses and auto rickshaws, reports said.

The displaced were received at transit centre for displaced people set up by Tamil Rehabilitation Organization on the LTTE side of the checkpoint.

A Jaffna fishing family add their boat to their possessions as the pack up and flee to LTTE held areas to escape Sri Lankan military reprisals. Photo Tamilnet

They were provided with cooked meals before they were sent to other welfare centres. Some families have choosen to live with their families and friends, the TRO said.

In Trincomalee district, more than one thousand families have fled from their homes in the SLA controlled divisions of Muttur and Seruvila in the Trincomalee district due to harassment and intimidation allegedly by the government troops manning sentries located in their villages and have sought refuge in schools and with their relatives in the LTTE held areas.

As of January 11 about 500 families from Mallikaithivu, Kachchanoor and Iruthayapuram had taken refuge in two schools in Thanganagar—an LTTE-controlled area, WSWS reported.

About 750 families or 2,371 people from Menkamam, Kumarapuram and Kilivetti had taken shelter in nearby schools or in the homes of relatives after cordon-and-search operations by government forces.

Here also, the TRO has deployed its volunteers in Eachchilampathu and other areas to supply cooked meals to refugees and sent a stock of mattresses and bed sheets for the displaced.

In Mannar district region in the west of Sri Lanka, about two hundred fisher families, residing in Siruthoppu near Pesalai, have moved to Vankalai about 20 km away from the military-controlled Mannar town following intimidation and threats by security forces. They took their fibreglass fishing boats and nets and other fishing gear in tractors and available means of transport.

Mannar bishop Joseph Rayeppu says a number of families had recently sought shelter in local churches fearing reprisals.

Since recent attacks on Navy buses, masked men have regularly entered their houses in the night threatening inmates with death and other atrocities. Several people were burned alive in a retaliatory attack by Navy sailors on a Tamil settlement.

Indian officials said the refugees arriving in Tamil Nadu are mostly from Mannar. They reportedly find it easy to hire a boat from Thalaimannar and are dropped on an island close to Tamil Nadu. The Tamil Nadu fishermen bring them ashore.

“What these refugees are saying is that the Navy there wants information on the LTTE movements. It suspects that some of the local people were working with the Tamil Tigers in the recent operations,” a senior police officer told The Hindu newspaper.

“Apparently, those living with their families, especially children, want to move out of Defence-controlled areas. Many have moved into LTTE territory while these people have decided to come over to Tamil Nadu,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Jaffna daily, Uthayan, in an editorial this week protested the “collective punishment” being meted out to the Tamils by the Sri Lankan military.

“It is a common practice for oppressive governments to deal with the pressures of a people’s movement by giving collective punishment to the entire people. The freedom struggle in the Tamil homeland which has become the people’s struggle is being handled by the Sinhala military in the same way.”

“The result is the beating and killing of innocent people to punish the grenade attack carried out by someone else. These military actions are not taken in the heat of the moment. These are well planed actions of the military to threaten the people into submission.”

At the start of December 2005 there was an increase in the level of violence in the Jaffna Peninsula, Trincomalee and other regions of the NorthEast of Sri Lanka. The NGO Consortium and local NGOs have stated that, “Many families in the Jaffna peninsula and Trincomalee felt that due to escalating violence that there was a threat to their personal safety from the Sri Lankan Security Forces and paramilitary forces. Many of these families identified the Vanni region as a place where they could temporarily move for safety.”

Over 3,325 families (approximately 14,500 individuals as of 16/01/06) have left their permanent housing, taking only what they could carry on their backs, and have crossed the checkpoints and lagoon into LTTE controlled areas of the Vanni.

In light of this influx of IDPs TRO is making an “URGENT APPEAL” to the Tamil Diaspora and the international community for desperately needed funds to build temporary shelters, provide food and water, non-food relief (NFR) items, medical treatment and transportation to meet the needs of these families.

Due to TRO’s extensive work with the post-tsunami internally displaced persons (IDPs) and the continuing work with conflict affected populations the demand placed on TRO is so great that the funds received to date are inadequate to deal with this crisis. TRO has the staff, structure, and expertise to effectively serve these IDPs if adequate funding is found. It is only through the immediate, generous support of the Tamil Diaspora and TRO’s other international partners that we will be able to deal with the impending humanitarian crisis.

In the present acute circumstances we call upon the well wishers of the Tamil community to urgently contact their local governmental, non governmental agencies, humanitarian agencies and religious institutions in their countries of residence and apprise them of the grave humanitarian crisis that will only get worse as the numbers of IDPs continue to increase. The situation is critical and the people of the NorthEast require the urgent assistance of these agencies and institutions to alleviate the suffering.