The Tamileelam Child Protection Board has urgently requested the parents of children under 17 who had joined the LTTE and yet to be released, to contact it, with the intention of identifying and releasing underage LTTE cadres.

In an announcement published on May 8 in Eezhanaatham, the Tamil daily circulated in LTTE controlled areas, the Board said it had been “expeditiously reuniting children born in 1990 and after with their parents,”

“The Board is acting on the basis of information received from parents and other organizations, and from the data collected by the Board,” it said.

The advertisement called for “all parents who have children born in 1990 and after, and yet to be released from the organization [LTTE], to provide the details of their children” to a contact in Paravippaagnchaan, Kilinochchi, so that they could be identified and released.

“The Tamileelam Child Protection Board has been responsible for the execution of the provisions of the Tamileelam Child Protection Act 2006 which came into force in January 2006,” the announcement states.

“As one of the main functions, the Board identifies under-age recruits, obtains their release, and reunites them with their families,” it added.

The Tamileelam Child Protection Act No. 03 of 2006 outlaws the enlisting of children under 17 years in Armed forces and makes participation of under 18-year olds in armed combat illegal.

The legislation enacted by the Tamileelam Legislature Secretariat, and which became effective on October 15 2006, brings into law measures to protect the rights and well-being of children from inception through to adolescence.

The Act, containing 83 sections, makes education compulsory up to grade 11, mandates registration of all births, outlaws enlisting of children under 17 years in armed forces, makes participation of under 18-year olds in armed combat illegal, and proscribes all forms of child labour.

Human rights officials dismissed reports in Sri Lankan papers that 200 children had been handed over by Jaffna parents to protect them from being abducted by the Liberation Tigers.

Officials at the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commissions (SLHRC) called the story in the Daily Mirror newspaper a blatant lie.

The Daily Mirror had reported that parents in Jaffna “handed over some 200 children” to the SLHRC and they “are now accommodated in a special building in Jaffna following a court order”.

Jaffna SLHRC officials also criticised the paper for false reporting, saying the member cited in the article is a Sinahalese who used to be part of the organisation but is no longer in Jaffna.

The news story was written in a language giving an impression that the said official is still attached to the SLHRC Jaffna office, they said.

The paper quoted former Supreme Court judge Dharmasiri Jayawickrama, as telling the media “these children, whose parents had feared that they would be abducted by the LTTE, are being cared for by Prisons officials.”

The building where the children are now accommodated is fast becoming inadequate and the HRC is looking for a new building, the paper reported him as saying.

Nothing of this nature has ever happened, SLHRC officials in Jaffna said.

They admit that more than 72 youths and young family men have sought safety with them and been placed in protective custody in Jaffna prison.

But the Jaffna officials say these men have sought their protection fearing that they could be abducted or killed by the Sri Lanka Armed Forces and the paramilitary cadres collaborating with them.

13 May

● A Buddhist monk who worked for peaceful coexistence among ethnic communities, was shot and killed in Trincomalee. Venerable Nandaratena Thera, the Chief Priest of the Mahadiulwewa Buddhist Rajamaha Vihare in Morawewa, Trincomalee, had participated in many events, including Pongu Tamil in 2005 in the eastern port town. The assassins went to the Vihare by motor cycle, called the priest out and fired at him, fleeing the scene immediately after the shooting. Morawewa and Mahadiulwewa were earlier known as Muthalikulam and Maha Vilankulam in Tamil. Both were traditional Tamil areas until successive governments implemented state aided colonization schemes in Trincomalee. Both villages are now Sinhalese dominated and their names have also been changed from Tamil into Sinhala.

● The SLA imposed restrictions on the sale of fuel in Mannar district. Fuel stations in Mannar town were ordered to sell a maximum of five litres of diesel to each vehicle and three litres of petrol to each motor cycle on any given day. Residents are allowed buy five litres of kerosene per day for domestic purposes. The fuel stations were further instructed not to sell fuel in plastic containers.

● More than 600 SLA soldiers cordoned off a large area in Kaithady, Jaffna, and conducted house-to-house search. Local residents were asked to remain inside their houses until the operation was completed. Locals were body searched and national identity cards for young men and women were examined. No one was arrested during the operations.

● SLA troopers on night patrol shot dead a security guard at Chandilipai, Jaffna. The SLA claimed they shot Nagarasa Wijayakumar, 32, a family man from Manipai, employed as a night security guard at the Divisional Secretariat, when he failed to stop at their command and tried to flee. They also said they recovered a hand grenade from his body.

● Armed men shot dead a youth at his house in Kanakipuram in Akkaraipattu, Amparai. Murugesupillai Ananthan, 22, a labourer and the father of two, was called out of his house and shot.

● SLA troopers opened fire on civilians fishing in a lake at Thampanam Veli, along the Chengkaladi-Badulla road in Batticaloa, seriously wounding a youth from the refugee camp at Aiyangeani village in Eravur. His father narrowly escaped injuries. Saravanapavan Pirabu, 18, is an IDP, displaced from Pankudaveli, in LTTE held territory, when the SLA launched offensives on his village. He and his father Nesathurai Sarvanapavan, 37, had been fishing in the lake when they were fired at. Many civilians from villages like Koduvamadu and Thampanam had to flee their villages as the SLA established new camps in these areas.

12 May

● The body of a youth, estimated to be about 25 years, was found along V.H Lane in Irupaalai East, Jaffna. The body had several gunshot wounds to the head and upper body, and was dressed in black trousers and a brown shirt. Residents speculated that the youth was killed in another location and the body dumped at Irupaalai. They added that sounds of vehicular activity were heard late the previous night from that location.

● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a youth from Vaddukoddai, Jaffna. Rasalingam Nagarajah, 22, originally from Thoppukadu, Karainagar, was abducted from his temporary residence in Vaddukkoddai, in the presence of his father.

● A postman working at the Kaithadi post office disappeared on his way to work by bus. SLA troopers had taken postman Subramaniam Sivatharsan, 28, for investigation the previous day and he was released after being severely tortured. The troopers confiscated his motor cycle and his National Identity card before releasing him, forcing him to take the bus to work the next day, during which time he disappeared.

● Regular prayers and religious functions in Hindu Temples in Velanai, Kayts, and in the other Jaffna islets in general, have come to a standstill following the killing of the main priest in one temple and the arrests of the chief priest and custodian of another temple in Velanai by the SLN in late April, early May. Hindu priests who attend to the temple poojas and serve as key social facilitators for religiously conservative residents of rural Tamil villages, are increasingly fearful of the harassment and ire directed against them by the SLN, and are refusing to attend to temple activities. Many priests have relocated to other areas, fearing for their lives. Ratnasabapathy Aiyar Somaskantha Kurukkal, 60, chief priest of Mudippillaiyar Hindu Temple was shot dead by SLN soldiers on 30 April. Subsequently, on May 3, SLN soldiers arrested the chief priest and the Trustee Board Chairman of Perunkulam Muththumaariamman Hindu temple at Velanai following alleged discovery of ammunition at the temple premises.

11 May

● Sivaraj Paheerathan, a Jaffna University student kept in remand since his arrest on August 18, was released by the Colombo Chief Magistrate following a report from the Attorney General that there was no evidence to charge him under the Emergency Regulations or to detain him under the PTA. Paheerathan was taken into custody from the office of the Jaffna University Students Union, in the premises of Jaffna University, during a cordon and search operation by the SLA in the area. The SLA claimed he was in possession of leaflets issued by an organization called Peoples Liberation Army at the time of arrest. Later he was handed over to the Kankesanthurai Police, from where he was airlifted to Colombo.

● Armed men in a white van forcibly abducted a disabled family man from Kalaivani Road in Pandaitharippu, Jaffna. Theiventhiran Ragunathan, 36, of Vadaliyadaippu, had been living with relatives after being displaced from his home due to SLA offensives.

● Gnanaseelan Asokan, 24, of Nallur, Jaffna went missing on May 11 after going to Nallur temple to pray.

● An auto driver who disappeared on May 4, after going to Kokkuvil SLA camp for interrogation, was released by the SLA after being severely tortured in detention. Thurai Tharmalingam, 38, is from Raasa Veethi, Kalviyangkaadu, Jaffna. Kokkuvil SLA camp officials had earlier denied that they arrested Tharmalingam when approached by his wife.

● SLA troopers distributed notices listing the names of principals of leading schools in Jaffna town and some students, branding them members of the LTTE. The notice warned those listed that they would be killed if they failed to give up "terrorist activities." It was signed by a group calling itself 'Tamil Alliance to Save Sri Lanka'.

● The Colombo Chief Magistrate ordered remand until May 17 for a Jaffna Tamil woman charged with failing to register her name with Wellawatte Police. Ms Balasubramaniam Wimala Indra of Jaffna had travelled to Colombo and stayed with relatives in Wellawatte while waiting for documents that would enable her to travel to Germany. During a cordon and search operation she was taken into custody when she failed to produce the registration of her presence in the area with Wellawatte Police. When she was produced in court after 21 days in remand, the Terrorist Intelligence Department argued that she should be remanded until the investigation against her is completed. The Magistrate said that the police had informed her orally and in writing that the woman is suspected to be involved with terrorist activity and that therefore she did not have the authority to discharge the woman or release her on bail.

● Gunmen shot and killed a Samurthi officer at Nattpiddimunai in Kalmunai, Amparai. Yogarasa Thivaharan, 38, a father of one, was rushed to hospital in a critical condition but succumbed to his injuries. Originally from Karaitheevu, Thivaharan had married at Nattpiddimunai and was employed at the Samurthi Tamil Section in Kalmunai. The gunmen called him out of his house and shot him dead.

● A fuel station in Valaichennai, Batticaloa, owned by a Tamil business man, was attacked by a mob of more than 200 Muslims. The station is near the local railway station and is in an area regularly patrolled by Sri Lankan armed forces. The mob attacked the fuel station soon after Friday prayers and caused damages estimated to be more than Rs.500,000. SLA soldiers and traffic policemen were on duty at the time of the incident and Valaichennai police station is 150 metres from the petrol station. The owner, G. Somakanthan, said that even after he reported the impending attack to Valaichennai police, the police did not come to his aid. Only after he informed Batticaloa police chief, did the police intervene to bring the situation under control, he said.

● Three MiG-27 fast attack aircrafts belonging to the SLAF dropped 12 bombs in two sorties on Kaively Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaitheevu, causing damage to civilian residences. Two MiG-27s had dropped eight bombs in the same area the previous day. Local residents trained in safety measures escaped injuries by taking refuge inside bunkers during the air-attacks. Five houses were damaged by the two air attacks. Two 100kg gravity bombs fell near the house of a local resident, Suresh, who was hiding inside the bunker with his two children and escaped unhurt. More than 500 students in nearby Kaively Ganesha Vidiyalayam also scattered and took refuge inside school bunkers at the sound of the aircrafts.

10 May

● Two SLAF MIG fighter jets bombed Puthukkudiyiruppu in Mullaiththeevu. The MIG bombers flew at a very low altitude, causing panic among the villagers at Karnan Kudiyiruppu.

● Forty-five youths, placed in the protective custody in Jaffna prison after they sought protection fearing death from SLA soldiers and SLA-backed paramilitaries, were produced at Jaffna Magistrate Courts, and are to be released due to deteriorating hygiene conditions in the prison. 34 were released on surety bail of a relative, while nine did not want to leave the safety of the prison. Another two were not allowed bail as there are police cases filed against them.

● Armed men shot dead a building contractor in his house at Puthukkudiyruppu, Valaichennai, Batticaloa. Illayathamby Thayan, 37, a father of two from Puthukkudiyruppu, had worked as a building contractor for more than ten years and his wife is a Samudri Officer at Mangeani village.

● The EPDP paramilitary group led by Siva, operating from a SLA camp at Valaichennai fishing harbour in Batticaloa, is demanding that building contractors in Valaichennai provide bricks, sand and cement to build SLA sentry posts. Some contractors have been called to the EPDP office and had money demanded from them, while others have been threatened in their homes at nights for not complying. Two contractors have left Valaichennai to live in Batticaloa town, fearing for their lives.

● An attacker threw a hand grenade at a refugee camp at Saratha Vidyalayam in Manchaththoduvay, Kathankudi, Batticaola, injuring ten civilians, including four women. The incident occurred as civilians in the refugee camp were watching television outside their tents. The victims have been identified as Kanapathypillai Arasaratnam, Velayutham Segar, Sivarasa Nirmala, Sivarasa Suthagar, Packiyarajah Kalaimathy, Thiyagarajah Sivarasa, Mailvaganam Malini, Sabapathy Rajanikanth, Sinrasa Sinnathamby, and Sasikaran Viyakumar. Nearly 200 families displaced from Muthur and Sampur areas in Trincomalee currently live in temporary tents in the camp.

9 May

● The bodies of five youths, suspected to be paramilitaries belonging to a breakaway faction of the Karuna Group, were recovered buried in Kiran, Eravur, Batticaloa. One of the bodies was identified as that of Sinthujan alias Johnson Jeyakanthan, 31, a key Karuna Group operative. On the same day, gunmen shot and killed Johnson, 56, Sinthujan’s father, at his house in Kalvanchikudi, Batticaloa. P. Sumanathas, another suspected Karuna Group operative, was also abducted from his house in Kolaavillai, Amparai, and killed.

● A Sub Inspector attached to the Vellaaveli STF camp was killed during an attack aimed at SFT troopers in a security patrol in Vellaaveli, Batticaloa. M. P. De Silva, 41, succumbed to his injuries at hospital.

● Armed men in unnumbered vehicles abducted a Tamil youth travelling in a Muthur-to-Batticaloa bound bus

● Five workers were killed and another four injured when a boiler exploded in a rice mill in Saainthamaruthu, Kalmunai, Amparai. Three died on the spot and later two succumbed to burn injuries. A Ceylon Electricity Board transformer near the mill was also badly damaged in the explosion.

● Armed men shot dead Kalikutty Ramanan at Raja-Ela in Kanthalai, Trincomalee.

8 May

● Three men armed with T56 rifles forced their way into the house of Thavarasa Sujitharan, 19, along Kodikaamam-Point Pedro road at Yaththaalai, Varani, Jaffna, and shot him dead at point blank range. Sujitharan tried to escape running inside a room and locking himself but the killers forced open the door and sprayed him with bullets. Sujitharan’s house is in a SLA HSZ where the 52nd Brigade Base is also located.

● The TNA parliamentary group said they would join a peninsula wide school boycott if four Jaffna district high schools students, abducted by armed men the previous Friday, were not released. A consortium of private educational institutions in Jaffna had already urged the abductors to release the students and accused the SLA of complicity in the abductions. A number of student organizations appealed to the students for a peninsula wide boycott of schools, warning that the boycott would continue indefinitely until the students are released.

● Unidentified men in white vans abducted two Tamil youths, both natives of Jaffna, from Colombo. One youth was abducted from a telecommunication centre in Wellawatte. He had been staying in a house at Kalubowila, south of Colombo city. In the second abduction, armed men had dragged the youth from his house at Mayfield place in Kotahena, put him in a vehicle and sped away.

● Vavuniya Police said they shot dead a man, alleged to be a member of the Liberation Tigers, near Pandarikulam Amman temple road in Vavuniya. Two youths opened fire at the police, and one was killed and the other escaped when the police returned fire, the police said.

● The LTTE said they repulsed another Sri Lankan offensive along the Vavuniya Mannar border. The Tigers recovered a dead body of a Sri Lankan trooper and claimed to have seized military hardware, including an AK-LMG, following an intense fight that lasted for 30 minutes. Two LTTE fighters were killed in action. The Sri Lankan troopers, who launched the offensive towards Kurichuddakulam, west of Thampanai, were forced to withdraw after sustaining heavy casualties.

● Marimuththu Kanakamma, a mother of seven, was wounded when two SLAF bombers attacked Karnankudiyiruppu in Puthukkudiyiruppu.

7 May

● SLAF bombers dropped bombs over a fuel storage at Vaddakkachchi, Kiliniochchi. The fuel storage belonged to the Chamber of Commerce of Private Businesses in Kilinochchi. Some houses located in the vicinity of the fuel storage were also damaged in the air strike.

● LTTE officials handed over the bodies of five SLA soldiers, killed in action during a SLA offensive the previous day, to a delegation of the ICRC at Vaddakkandal, where the LTTE Mannar district political secretariat is located. The ICRC delegates then handed the bodies to SLA officials at Uyilangkulam army check point in Sri Lanka government held territory. One AK-LMG, 40 mm rocket gun with shells, seven T-56 automatic rifles, a claymore mine, RPG ammunition, 28 hand grenades and 11 bullet-proof jackets, different ammunitions and military equipments were seized by the Tigers following a search operation in the area.

● All Eravur business establishments, government schools, government offices, and banks shut down demanding the arrest of the arsonists who burnt three shops the previous morning. A consortium of mosques, Muslim organizations, and the Jamiyathul Ulama Board in the area organized the protest. Security was strengthened with a large number of police and STF personnel stationed along the main roads.

● Masked armed men shot dead Poopalapillai Chelvanayagam, 52, a labourer and father of four, outside his residence in Sooriyapuram, Kaluvanchikkudi, Batticaloa, and then fled the scene.

● Gunmen shot dead Mammangam Rasakumar, 30, an IDP employed as a shop assistant, in Koralankerni, Eravur, Batticaloa.

● SLA soldiers cordoned off and search large residential areas in Kokuvil east, Jaffna. Potpathi road, Medical Faculty road, Ka'lngkarai Road, Railway Station Road, and Temple Road areas were subjected to house-to-house search. Youths were subjected to severe interrogation.

● Armed men opened fire on the SLA Udupiddi junction camp and its sentry posts, positioning themselves between Udpuiddi junction and the road to Vathiri in Vadamaradchchi, Jaffna, blocking the road for public traffic. The fire fight lasted nearly fifteen minutes, and the attackers escaped after the exchange of fire.

● Jaffna University students boycotted lectures protesting against unlawful entry by armed men into the campus the previous Saturday morning, who destroyed memorial photographs of students killed in the conflict and stole funds raised by students to support the refugees in the east. Students from all faculties on campus joined the protest.

● TNA Jaffna parliamentarians and Jaffna Technical College (JTC) students made a public appeal calling for the immediate release of four high school students who went missing the previous week. The parliamentarians said failure to free the students, and postponing the creation of an environment conducive to learning, would result in mass protests and demonstrations by the public and student community. The SLA in Jaffna, anticipating student agitation in reaction to the abduction, deployed troopers in large numbers in front of Jaffna schools, conducting checks and blocking outsiders entering the schools.

● The SLA conducted cordon and search operation in Thiriyaai, Trincomalee, following an attack on a group of SLA soldiers the previous night in which one soldier was injured.

● Armed men shot dead a Tamil youth at Manatcheanai, in government held Muthur south, Trincomalee. A group of armed men in a white van dragged S. Sasitharan, 29, out of his house, and fired at him.

● SLA soldiers and police personnel evacuated all employees of the Colombo Municipal Council (CMC), and conducted an extensive search of the premises after they received a tip off from an unidentified source that a bomb was about to detonate within the offices. Roads leading to the CMC office and its surroundings were temporarily closed for traffic and civilian movements till the search operation was over. Nothing suspicious was found.

Two ‘death notice’ has been issued to students and educational staff across Jaffna, including those at many of the leading schools and Jaffna University.

The second notice listed details of Jaffna University staff and students on a “death list”, and gave "Final Warning" to those involved in "terrorist activities."

It accused those listed of aiding and abetting the Liberation Tigers and was signed by a group calling itself the ‘Tamil Alliance to Save Sri Lanka’.

It was distributed by a group of armed men who had stormed the premises late in the night on May 13. They had put up posters and left pamphlets in Tamil with the title ‘last warning’ issued to some 323 students and staff including the Vice Chancellor and professors of the University.

It was also allegedly being passed around by SLA troopers. However, the SLA denied involvement in the distribution of the notices.

The University campus notice followed an earlier one on May 9, listing mainly school students and principals. The Jaffna Hindu College’s principal was one of four principals on the list.

The notice branded those listed as being members of the Liberation Tigers and warned that they would be killed if they failed to give up "terrorist activities."

“This amnesty is offered because you are students but if you continue to participate in hand grenade attacks, claymore attacks and other such activities, the death sentence passed on you will be carried out without any delay,” said the notice, which was also signed by the ‘Tamil Alliance to Save Sri Lanka’.

Meanwhile, Jaffna Campus safety officers complained to the Vice Chancellor that members of SLA and Sri Lanka’s Military Intelligence division have been entering the Campus and assaulting the security officers during work hours.

Schools were already being boycotted by students demanding the release of four high school students abducted on May 4.

That protest had paralyzed all the schools and educational institutions in the peninsula. But even the few students who attended some of the schools went home when news of the notices spread across the Jaffna district.

The Jaffna University campus was already closed as a result of a previous dispute and is expected to remain closed until the latest threat is addressed by the security forces hierarchy in Jaffna.

Normalcy is impossible until abducted students have been released, a delegation of dignitaries told the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) Commander in Jaffna.

"The immediate release of the abducted students is the only way to bring Jaffna peninsula educational activities back to normalcy," Jaffna Bishop Rt. Rev. Thomas Savundaranayagam told had said in a special meeting last Wednesday, TamilNet reported.

However, when TamilNet reported the story, the bishop wrote to the Army Commander, denying he had spoken to TamilNet.

“I am writing to you regarding the news item that appeared in the “Tamil Net” on 17th May 2007,” the Bishop wrote.

“The entire news item is said to have been given by the Bishop of Jaffna Rt. Rev. Dr. Thomas Savundaranayagam. After my return from Palaly I had not spoken to any news media. Hence I deny totally the report ascribed to me by the “Tamil Net”,” he said.

TamilNet, while standing by the story, amended the headline to remove any suggestion that the details of the meeting were conveyed to the agency by the Bishop himself.

“At the press meet, attended by several reporters, Bishop remained silent, and only the other participants to the meeting with the Commander talked to the reporters,” TamilNet corrected.

“TamilNet story was pieced together from two of these attendees and sources close to the Bishop,” the agency said.

The meeting between the Peoples Committee for Peace and Goodwill (PCPG) and SLA Jaffna Commander Maj. Gen. G. A. Chandrasiri inside the Palaali High Security Zone (HSZ) had lasted for more than two hours.

Former Jaffna University Vice-chancellor Prof. P. Balasundarampillai and Mr. S. Paramanathan, representative of the Federation of Public Organizations participated in the meeting the meeting with the SLA Jaffna Commander.

The discussions focussed on the aggravating situation in Jaffna peninsula caused by the abduction of four high school students and the death notices issued to Jaffna University staff, students and some principals of schools allegedly by SLA troopers.

"The educational activities of Jaffna University, resumed after much effort, face the risk of stalling completely due to the death threats made to the University community and unless immediate action is taken matters will worsen," the Rev. Bishop allegedly told the SLA Commander.

The attendees also explored ways to remedy the situation.

TamilNet also noted that it understood why the Bishop felt compelled to write his letter.

“TamilNet wishes to point out that residents in Jaffna district are living in an open prison where abductions, torture and killing have become rampant, and the counter insurgency campaign by the SLA has reached a stage where no private citizen's life is safe,” the agency wrote.

“In this climate of fear, TamilNet understands the reasons for the letter from Bishop who would be under tremendous pressure not to criticize the military.”

Fear and turmoil continue to grip the Jaffna peninsula due the disappearance of and increasing number students disappear, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) allegedly responds by threatening to censor reports on the abductions.

At least 10 students have been reported missing, another two confirmed as having being killed and at least 2 students released after being tortured by Sri Lanka’s Military Intelligence division in the past two months alone.

Another small number of students also continue to be officially detained by the Sri Lankan forces and other students have sought the protective custody of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC).

Combined with students not attending school from fear over what could happen while they are out of the house, these incidents have severely reduced the number of students attending educational institutions in the Jaffna peninsula and worsened the already poor educational state of the region.

Four high school boys disappeared on May 4. Three boys from Jaffna Hindu College, and another from St John’s College were all taken from their homes by armed men arriving in white vans – generally believed to be either Sri Lankan military personnel not wearing uniform or paramilitary cadres working alongside Sri Lankan military intelligence – who broke into houses and abducted some of the boys in the presence of their parents.

"I strongly condemn the SLA personnel intimidating the Jaffna media not to publish any news of the student agitation calling for the immediate release of the four students," S. Gajenthiran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna parliamentarian said.

“This is a gross violation of the freedom of the press,” he added.

“The SLA again intimidating media persons after the recent killing of journalist Selvarajah Rajitharan is highly deplorable,” the MP noted.

A consortium of private educational institutions in Jaffna had urged the abductors to release the students and accused the SLA of complicity in the abductions.

A number of student organizations also appealed to the students for a peninsula wide boycott of schools, and the students responded by staying away in droves.

However, anticipating student agitation in reaction to the abductions, the SLA in Jaffna had deployed troopers in large numbers in front of schools and were conducting checks and blocking outsiders entering the schools.

On April 23, a student from Jaffna Technical College disappeared while on his way to college.

Also in April, two students had sought protection from the Jaffna office of the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC), saying they feared for their lives. An 18-year-old claimed that armed men in white vans came to his house several times during the night, with the intention of abducting him. A 16-year-old said his father had been summoned to the SLA civil administration office and ordered to hand him over to the SLA.

Another 16-year-old student and his family sought protection with the SLHRC on April 19, after the boy’s brother had been arrested the previous week. The family had been harassed by the SLA after the arrest, and they feared for their safety.

On April 16, a Jaffna University undergraduate student was released after being detained and severely tortured by Sri Lankan Military Intelligence. He was pushed out of a white van alongside a road three days after he disappeared.

And another University student was released on April 10, again after being tortured. The Arts faculty student had been waylaid outside his home and abducted by Sri Lankan Military Intelligence personnel the previous day. He was interrogated and tortured in a military camp before being dumped out of a white van alongside a road.

And on March 31, a 19-year-old student disappeared after leaving his house at Colombuthurai in Jaffna to take care of some personal errands.

Meanwhile, on Saturday May 5, armed men in civil clothes forcibly entered the Jaffna University campus, injuring the security guard.

The gang had remained inside and the vicinity of Jaffna campus for several hours and allegedly destroyed memorial photographs of students killed in the conflict.

The men also allegedly stole funds raised by the students to support refugees in the east.

The following Monday Jaffna University students boycotted lectures protesting against the invasion.

The situation has deteriorated to such an extent that students from outside the Jaffna peninsula are allegedly considering leaving the region.

Jaffna University administrative officers have expressed concern that another exodus would only further worsen the academic situation, and could even bring into question the viability of the institution. The University Senate held a special meeting last Friday to discuss the abductions and the death threat issued to staff and students.

As far back as January, the Jaffna University Students’ Union had been appealing to Sri Lankan government authorities and the international community to ensure the safety of students.

The statement also called on the authorities to create a “safe, free and conducive atmosphere” for educational activities in the Jaffna district and urged them to take steps to investigate the whereabouts of those who had been abducted.

In that month, a Hartley College student and a Velayutham Boys’ School student, both from Point Pedro, also disappeared. Their parents have been reported as saying they suspect the SLA of being behind the disappearances.

The University Student’s Union also noted that between August 2006 and January, one undergraduate, two technical college students, and five secondary school students had been killed, in addition to the abduction and disappearance of many other students.

The Sri Lanka Army’s refusal to open the Omanthai checkpoint, on the main A9 route between LTTE controlled territory and Vavuniya town, is endangering the lives of the sick, LTTE officials charged.

"The SLA is adamantly against opening of the A9 land route but we continue to make efforts to have the A9 opened so that people are given the freedom to travel," LTTE Vavuniya political head, Gnanam told TamilNet after discussions with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Friday.

A large number patients in need of urgent medical treatment are being prevented from getting help due to the SLA closure of the A9, he explained.

Several lorries loaded with commodities are also stuck at the checkpoint, he said.

“We are ready to re-open the checkpoint, but we can’t do it until ICRC agrees,” military Spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe told the Daily Mirror Friday.

“Therefore we asked ICRC to take up the matter with the Tigers as thousands of people are suffering,” he said.

The ICRC urged both the military and the LTTE to guarantee the security at the Omanthai checkpoint to facilitate free civilian movement.

“Discussions are underway with both parties on finding ways to resolve the issue which is creating a major problem,” ICRC spokesman Davide Vignati said.

On Thursday morning, the ICRC temporarily withdrew from the Omanthai entry and exit point following heavy shelling in the vicinity.

Kilinochchi hospital faced a crisis when the SLA closed the entry-exit check point at Oamanthai, as patients scheduled to be taken to Vavuniya for urgent treatment could not be transferred.

Three infants, including a one day old, are under artificial breathing, and need immediate medical attendance, hospital officials said.

Twelve children below the age 12, and six pregnant mothers have to be taken to Vavuniya for treatment not available in Kilinochchi, but cannot travel, they added.

Swaminathan Selvasothy, 35, of Navvi, Vavuniya, injured in SLA shelling Thursday and waiting for treatment, is an example of those waiting to travel for medical treatment.

19 May

● The LTTE and SLA exchanged intense artillery fire across their Thenmaradchy FDLs, with the fire fight focussing on Kovilakandy, Maravanpulo, and Thanankilappu in Jaffna. The SLA was firing from artillery bases in these areas towards LTTE controlled Pooneryn, across Jaffna lagoon, and LTTE gunners responded from the bases spread across Pooneryn. Several artillery shells allegedly exploded in SLA FDL positions, artillery bases and medical facilities. The LTTE FDL in Muhamalai also came under severe artillery attack.

● Two SLAF Kfir jets dropped four bombs on Kanchikudichanaru, Amparai. As residents had already been displaced by SLA offensives, no one was hurt.

● The STF had vacated a camp at Thangavelayuthapuram, Amparai on May 8. The camp had been set up in homes people had abandoned during an SLA offensive into LTTE territory in January. The STF troopers had removed tiles and other valuables from the houses and converted them into SLA sentry posts, those who had been back to the area said. The troopers also converted a local temple into a liquor bar and took property from the office of an NGO.

● The SLN took into custody two siblings who arrived in Pesalai in a fibre glass boat from Ilupaikadavai, in LTTE held territory in Mannar. Guruparan Kirushanthy, 18, and her
brother Guruparan Sajeevan, 16, of Mullaitheevu said they went to Pesalai to see relatives. The boatman who transported them was also taken into custody.

● Pakkianathan Vijeyasanthan, 32, a married man from Trincomalee who was abducted in Borella, Colombo on Friday, reported his presence to the Badulla police station. He was allegedly abducted by unidentified men in a white van and was later released in Badulla.

18 May

● Two fishermen from Thampadi in Kayts were shot dead by the SLN. The SLN claimed to have shot two LTTE cadres during a fire fight on the Kayts shores. But relatives identified the bodies as belonging to Gnanaruban Rutson, 18, and Robert Thevathas, 32, who had gone fishing the previous morning and failed to return.

● Gunmen sprayed gunfire towards Udupiddi SLA camp in Jaffna after creating road blocks to prevent the movement of pedestrians and vehicular traffic near the camp. Soldiers returned fire, but the gunmen escaped.

● Residents along the Vadamaradchy north coast in Jaffna reported sporadic skirmishes between SLN boats and the Sea Tigers. Residents of Munai, and civilians west of Kankesanthurai reported hearing sounds of artillery fire.

● A former employee of the Centre for Policy Alternatives and the deputy editor of the Tamil language version of the ‘Peace Monitor,’ magazine, Pakyanadan Wijai Shanthan, 32, disappeared near his wife’s office in Borella, Colombo. Shanthan had fled to India last November after the killing of Ketheeshwaran Loganathan, but had returned to Colombo in April.

17 May

● The Sri Lankan Military command in Palali announced new reduced curfew hours in Jaffna, from 8:00 p.m. to 4:00 a.m., a reduction of one hour.

● Artillery attacks by the SLA from their FDL in Iranaillupangulam, Nochikulam and Kalmadu towards civilian targets in LTTE controlled Vavuniya inflicted heavy damages on property and livestock in Kovilkunchukulam. More than twenty shells from SLA occupied areas exploded within the premises and the play ground of a mixed school. Since the students and teachers used bunkers effectively as trained, no one was hurt. A total of 334 students and 9 teachers attend the school

● The SLA said they handed over six bodies of LTTE cadres killed during a fire fight at the Vavuniya FDL, and were skking the assistance of the ICRC to hand the bodies over to the LTTE.

● Jaffna University undergraduates from outside the district are considering leaving the Peninsula due to the deteriorating security conditions for students. Escalating student abductions and the recent posters bearing a hit list of students have shaken the student community, and the frequent disruptions to lectures have affected academic progress, student leaders said.

● Armed men abducted three labourers from their house at Kathar Chinakulam in Vavuniya and shot them dead. Subramaniam Chandrasegaran, 28, a father of two, Sinnathurai Vigneswaran, 24, a father of two and Manamohan Mohanathas, 24, were killed. Their wives said the armed men who took away their husbands spoke fluent Tamil.

16 May

● K. G. Wijayasinghe, 43, a police constable attached to Eravur Police station, committed suicide by shooting himself. He was allegedly in a disturbed state due to family related problems. Wijayasinghe, a father of three, was from Malkoduwawe, a small hamlet in Kurunagala. He had assumed duties at Eravur Police station three days earlier.

● Eravur Police questioned some Muslim youths regarding the burning of three shops in the town on 6 May. Pamphlets issued in the area named the youths as responsible for arson, but not arrests were made.

● Two LTTE commandos were killed in a clash on the Mullikulam FDL in Vavuniya. Vavuniya police contacted the ICRC to hand the body over to the LTTE.

● SLN Kayts Coast Guards arrested a fisherman who, after his boat had capsized in Mannar Sea, fought for his life for two days, and swam back to the shore at Velanai, Mandathivu. F. Denistus Miranda, 33, a father of five of Pesalai, Mannar, has gone fishing when he was thrown overboard. After being handed over to Kayts police and then the courts, suspicion was raised regarding his identity. Miranda told the magistrate that SLN at Pesalai allow fishermen to fish only after they surrender their National Identity Cards to the SLN and hence he was not in possession of his NIC.

● The SLA at Avarangkal in Valikamam East, Jaffna, observed the movements of a lorry during curfew hours and fired at the vehicle.

● Alwinas Piriyatharsan, 27, from Naranthanai north, Kayts, Jaffna, went missing after he went to obtain permission to travel to Colombo at the Assistant Government Agent's office in Kayts.

15 May

● Kanakaratnam Mohanraj, 17, was killed on the spot and his father was wounded when SLA fired artillery shells hit their house in Pooneryn. The scattered body of the student, killed when he had gone home for his lunch break, was recovered at his home.

● A Sri Lanka Transport Board bus plying the Navvaly-Chavakachcheri route in Thenmaradchy, Jaffna, was burnt. The attackers forced the passengers to alight from the bus before setting fire to the vehicle near the Vaddukkoddai Agricultural Institute on Urumpirai road in Maruthanaamadam. Chunnakam Police and SLA soldiers rushed to the scene but were unable to contain the fire.

● A civilian was killed in crossfire when Sri Lanka Police attempted to arrest a robbery suspect in Vavuniya. Robbers attempting to rob a house in Pandarikulam the previous week were caught by civilians and handed over to the police. On information provided by the robbers, the police surrounded a house in Vavuniya. K. Mahendran, 52, a family man and a mason by profession was caught in crossfire when police attempted to arrest a suspect in the house.

● A Tamil youth was shot and injured in Uppuveli, Trincomalee. The SLN said that troops stationed at a local detachment had fired at an unidentified person when he attempted to enter the camp through the rear entrance. The SLN claimed it recovered some weapons from the man.

● Two Tamil boys were injured when a hand grenade concealed under garbage, exploded near a Hindu Temple at Chelvanayakapuram, Trincomalee. The explosion occurred when people living in the vicinity of the temple were engaged in clearing garbage along the roadside. Sri Lankan armed forces rushed to the scene and conducted investigations following the explosion.

● The SLA has instructed filling stations in Mannar town to obtain the names of persons who purchase fuel and the registration numbers of their vehicles and driving licence. Employees of filling station are also obtaining names and signatures of residents who purchase kerosene for domestic use as instructed by the SLA. People in large number were seen from morning till evening in front of the fuel filling station owned by Maanthai West Co-operative Society, at the entrance to Mannaar town, following the introduction of fuel restriction.

● Fourteen Tamil civilians arrested in a cordon and search operation in Wellawatte, Colombo, when they failed to prove their identity and the reason for their presence in the location. The police took about 25 Tamil civilians into custody but eleven were released after they proved their identity and the purpose of staying in the location.

● Two youths, one a Tamil and another a Sinhalese, were discharged by the Colombo Magistrate when the prosecuting police officer told the court there was no evidence to implicate them with any crime. They had been charged with taking photographs of Borella police station with their cell-phone camera. Borella Police arrested Balasubramaniam Ram Kumar of Point Pedro and his Sinhala friend Sunil of Warakapola while they were allegedly taking photographs of Borella Police Station from the first floor of the Borella public market two months ago. Since then both had been detained under the PTA.

14 May

● A Muslim youth was shot dead at Aaththimoaddai, Saambaltheevu, along Trincomalee-Nilaveli road. Mohamed Azaath, 25, a native of Irrakakandy, Nilaveli, had been employed as a driver in a private sector van transporting passengers to and from Nilaveli. He had stopped his vehicle at Aaththimoaddai junction to take passengers when an unidentified person waiting at the bus halt got into the vehicle and fired at him.

● A young woman with 2 children from Naaranthanai in Kayts has disappeared in Trincomalee where she had gone to get a ticket on a ship bound for Jaffna, her parents said in a complaint to Jaffna office of the SLHRC. Anjani Robert Lessia, 36, has not been heard from since April 13. She had left Jaffna for Colombo on March 11 to receive her husband from abroad. As he could not return as planned due to the volatile situation in Sri Lanka, Lessia had phoned her parents on April 13 said she was proceeding to Trincomalee to travel back to Jaffna on the passenger ship. She has not been heard from since.

● Sivasami Raku, 24, a mentally retarded youth from Velanai in the islets of Jaffna has been missing since April 19, when he was last seen on his way to Jaffna town, his parents said in a complaint to the Jaffna office of the SLHRC.

● Arudpragasam Ravikumar, 25, of Nallur, Jaffna, went missing while going to work.

The United Nations’ food agency is worried by the deteriorating situation of hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Tamil people in Sri Lanka’s volatile east.

The World Food Programme (WPF) has urgently appealed for more funds from donors and better access from the Sri Lankan government to provide for over 100,000 refugees languishing in makeshift camps in the Eastern Batticaloa district.

Thousands of displaced people are living in makeshifts camps.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan government has begun forcibly resettling the frightened refugees, forcing people on to buses taking them back to their homes in the war zones.

On May 18, the WPF said 400,000 people displaced by fighting are in need of food aid and 18,677 tons of food costing US$ 10.7 million is required during the next six months to ensure basic food supplies reach these people.

According to WFP Asia Regional Director Anthony Banbury, current food stocks will only last up to mid-June.

This is the second time in the past two months the agency has called for additional donor funds. In March the agency made a similar urgent call as it only had enough provisions to last up to end of April.

"I am very concerned by the deterioration of the humanitarian situation as a result of the resurgence in the conflict. I am especially concerned about the impact of the conflict on civilians, many of whom have now been displaced multiple times by the fighting," said Banbury.

According to WPF donors are also concerned that the intended beneficiaries are not receiving the aid and suspect some of the food supplies are being diverted to the Sri Lankan military.

"Donors we were just meeting with were asking questions: How do you know your food aid is going to the intended beneficiaries? How do you know it's not being stolen by some of the parties, diverted to the military. These are very legitimate concerns for donors." Banbury said.

According to Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) a UN news agency, in early May the WFP provided food rations to approximately 70% of 140,000 IDPs (internally displace people) are living in recognised welfare camps and other sites in Batticaloa district.

The remaining 30% of the IDPs are supported by non-governmental organizations (NGOs) with the Sri Lankan state providing no or minimal assistance. The WFP rations consist of rice, flour, dahl, sugar, spices and cooking oil.

As IDPs are spread across the district living in nearly 100 refugee camps ensuring food supplies gets to all those in need has become a logistical and bureaucratic nightmare.

For example, WFP reported on 9 May that a 12 percent gap in food assistance in the district, with some 13,000 IDPs not receiving food rations.

In addition to fresh funds the WFP urged for better access to the needy and security for aid workers.

"We have big problems in Sri Lanka. We have an access problem to the most vulnerable people in the north and in the east of the country," said WFP Spokeswoman, Christiane Bertiaume.

"We have got security problems for our local and international staff. Some of them have even been threatened."

Offensives in the first three months of 2007 by the Sri Lankan army aimed at capturing LTTE administered areas in the eastern districts triggered a massive exodus of people creating a humanitarian crisis.

Over 230,000 people who fled their homes in LTTE administered areas to escape the incessant shelling and bombing by the Sri Lankan forces sought refuge in hundreds of refugee camps dotted around Batticaloa town.

Aid agencies say they have struggled to support the large number of refugees and the displaced have continued to suffer due to lack of living space, unhygienic sanitary facilities and scarcity of clean water and food.

In addition the refugees were also subjected to paramilitary intimidations and abductions and some were forced to return to their homes in Vaharai against their will.

Meanwhile the Sri Lankan government last week announced that it will begin resettling about 90,000 of these people to the homes they fled in West Batticaloa.

According to the Assistant Government Agent (a senior civil servant) in Batticaloa, K Mahesan, the government wants all the displaced to have returned to their homes by a deadline of July 31.

This is irrespective of concerns amongst refugees and aid workers that the conflict zones, now dominated by troops and Army-backed paramilitaries, are not safe.

And aid workers fear some of these people may be returning home against their will.

A month ago the Sri Lankan government came under severe criticism from international human rights organisations for forcibly resettling thousands of people in Vaharai which was considered to be unsafe and lacking of basic infrastructure.

The Tamil Relief Organisation (TRO) has appealed to the international community to remind the Sri Lankan state that forcing displaced people to return home is against international humanitarian law.

"The WFP is in principle prepared to provide that assistance as requested by the government. However, our provision of assistance will be conditional on the voluntary nature of the returns," Banbury said.

"We will not provide assistance to anyone who is forced to return against their will, nor will we provide assistance to people who are not part of a formal UNHCR approved return process."

Following forcible resettlement of refugees in March the United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) pulled out of all refugee resettlement operations in Sri Lanka’s East.

At the time Amin Awad, head of UN refugee agency UNHCR in Sri Lanka announcing their decision to pull out of resettlement work in the East said "we are saying that we are not involved with this situation, we don't want to give the IDPs the impression that we are assisting or facilitating or promoting return."

"The conditions in Vakarai are not right for resettlement and there is work to be done on services and minimum conditions for return," Awad said.

It is not just the refugees who are not safe. Aid workers, both local and internal, have been harassed, threatened and even killed by security forces and paramilitary groups operating along with them.

In August 2006 17 local aid workers from Action Against Hunger, a French aid organisation, were found shot dead at close range. The ceasefire monitors from the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission, after investigating the incident held government forces responsible for the killing.

Last month, Army-backed paramilitary Karuna Group demanded all local and international NGOs to register with them and made a veiled threat that if the NGOs did not comply it “would not be responsible for their safety.”

L. Arupragasam is a happy man. The head teacher has finally returned to his school which is located in Kalavanchchikudi division, Batticaloa district, eastern Sri Lanka. Last December, Arupragasam, along with 230 of his students had to abandon the school so it could be used as a shelter for about 2,000 displaced people.

Now, some six-months later, Arupragasam is back at work and the school is back in action. The principal is not simply pleased to be back in his office, but happy, too, that he has an additional 45 students.

Many schools lacks proper facilities and operate in makeshift classrooms.

"My school is my home and teaching these children again is more than a wish come true." Arupragasam said.

"My school now also provides education to 120 internally displaced children in the evenings, and more parents are now enrolling their children, realizing the importance of education," the principal adds.

"The war cannot stop the children from getting a decent education."

At the height of the violence between government forces and Tamil Tigers in the east over the past year, the education of at least 135,000 students in Batticaloa district alone was disrupted, according to the Batticaloa Divisional Secretary, S. Amalanathan.

"We had to close 324 schools in Batticaloa district to house people who were fleeing the fighting during the worst days," Amalanathan told IRIN. He said 86 schools still remain closed as they continue to shelter IDPs or because the security situation is poor.

Today, some 130,000 IDPs still remain in Batticaloa district, despite a reduction in violence, and according to Amalanathan, at least 30,000 of these are students.

In an urgent bid to get these children back to school again, UN agencies such as UNICEF have devised a two-shift school day at temporary buildings where local children attend school in the morning and IDPs in the afternoon.

"There has been a fantastic attempt in Batticaloa district to accommodate all children, although with shortage of space and materials, they were incorporated into host schools or displaced schools at different times," UNICEF Spokesperson, Gordon Weiss says.

Due to a shortage of teachers, UNICEF has also begun training 1,150 teachers in a consolidated syllabus and psychosocial support.

The consolidated syllabus will help children who have missed classes to reach expected levels of academic achievement by the end of 2007, UNICEF says.

"The greatest problem we face is identifying schools that have adequate space or could accommodate additional afternoon shifts. The children from parts of Batticaloa West who were displaced in March were accommodated with their families in both Batticaloa and Paddiruppu education zones. These children have been identified in recent surveys and will be targeted in the 'back to school' campaigns," Weiss said.

UNICEF has identified immediate needs which include material support such as temporary learning structures, additional training for teachers, the strengthening of the capacities of local education authorities to plan and respond to emergency needs, and the strengthening of support for children who are missing classes.

The Inter Agency Standing Committee (IASC), in its latest report, says the schools that have been vacated by IDPs were in need of cleaning and repairs.

"A total number of 86 schools in Batticaloa district are still temporarily closed and the local education authorities have requested a quick assessment on this. A lot needs to be done to clean up the mess in the vacated school buildings," the IASC said.

The principal of the Ramakrishna School, Arupragasam, told IRIN that when he returned to his school it was in need of immediate repairs and of desks and other furnishings.

"We have to locate tables, chairs and other material. The people had used some of them as firewood, and we had to clean a lot."

Agencies such as UNICEF have also begun providing supplementary feeding to children in Early Childhood Development Centers (ECDC) for IDPs in three zones in the Batticaloa district. They are also monitoring to check the quality and standard of Emergency Early Childhood Education (EECE) project work and to assess changes in the lives of children who are in such programmes.

The majority of the schools in Batticaloa district may have reopened and students are back in class, but many parents still fear for the safety of their children and wait outside the school gates till classes end, says Arupragasam.

"There is still a lot of fear," he says.

"The situation was very bad last year, with bombs flying over schools and hundred of people running. Many parents still feel the situation can get out of control any day again."

Classic counter-insurgency urges states adopt a twin-track strategy: violence against the guerillas and incentives for civilians not to support them. When serious political dissatisfaction is fueling support for the militants, the incentives must necessarily include a ‘political solution.’

This is the strategy the international community has encouraged successive Sri Lankan governments fighting the Tamil Tigers to take.

Former President Chandrika Kumaratunga attempted it in her disastrous ‘war for peace’; offering a devolution package whilst fighting a high intensity war against the LTTE.

The strategy failed because, firstly, the package was not credible, having been emasculated by Sinhala nationalists, and secondly, the unbridled brutality of her military campaign sent support for the LTTE soaring.

But President Mahinda Rajapakse is following a different track these days.

As his recently unveiled ‘power-sharing’ proposals show, Rajapakse is not interested in wooing the Tamils. Rather he intends (in the style of President J. R. Jayawardene)– to teach the Tamils a punishing lesson for defying the state.

In short, he is not going to persuade the Tamils to abandon the Tigers, he’s going to cow them into submission.

This is why, despite publicly toying with the notion, he has not put serious effort into forging a southern consensus on what to put before the LTTE at the table.

It is also why he is unabashedly following a single-minded and ruthless war strategy, marked by mass displacements of Tamils and widespread human rights abuses against them.

The international community has in recent times come to the realization Rajapakse is simply not interested in their advised approach.

So, whilst they are still committed to backing Sri Lanka against the LTTE, there is considerable nervousness that Rajapakse is unnecessarily stoking Tamil resentment with his tactics.

Which is why you sometimes get murmurs of disapproval, along with token measures, from the US, UK and others.

But in principle the international community is committed to supporting the Sri Lankan state against the LTTE.

And they know full well that the Tamil Diaspora, located primarily in North America, Europe and Australia, is a crucial well of support for the Tigers.

The array of bans on the LTTE in US, (first UK, then) EU and Canada, as well as the finance restrictions in Australia are intended to block the financial and material support that Diaspora Tamils are providing the Tigers with.

Just as Rajapakse has given up trying to win over the Tamils, so has the international community.

And just as Rajapakse is using a campaign of terror to browbeat the Tamils in Sri Lanka, several Western governments have launched an aggressive campaign against the Diaspora Tamils.

In the past two months Tamils have been arrested in France, US, and Australia on charges of providing support to the Tigers, of extorting money for the LTTE, and so on. The media is taken along for all the arrests, with massive coverage following.

A Tamil television station, TTN, which has viewers across Europe, was shut down last month by French authorities. The charge was of not registering the channel properly (though employees allege the authorities simply ignore their applications).

In Britain, the state-owned BBC and establishment newspapers are conducting a smear campaign alleging that Tamils funding the Tigers are the prime suspects credit card fraud.

Many of those arrested are openly sympathetic to the LTTE. But most are not simply canvassing for the LTTE. They were exposing the atrocities being inflicted on the Tamils by the Sri Lankan state. This violence and deprivation is not not reported by the main media organizations, which are barred from parts of the Northeast or are not equipped and staffed to report continuously from the other areas.

The ongoing international campaign of ‘shock and awe’ against the Diaspora has two objectives; firstly to pressure the LTTE and, secondly, to demoralize and frighten the Tamil expatriate public.

The international community appears to have calculated that through such arrests and other harassments of Tamils in foreign countries, it will able to exert sufficient pressure on the LTTE to give up its armed struggle and go to the negotiation table.

Thus the international campaign against the Diaspora Tamils is an extension of the Sri Lankan state’s campaign of terror against the Tamils there.

For many states waging the self-styled ‘war on terror,’ Diaspora communities appear threatening and problematic. The logic of ‘legitimate state versus illegitimate terrorists’ is applied without nuance to all states which are prepared to sign up to the ‘global’ war.

Of course, international politics remains state-centric and states will generally support each other (indeed, with the state as the most powerful political organization around today, that is why the Tamils are seeking their own state).

The international norms that gained such force at the end of the Cold War, such as those around human rights and protection of civilians, have proved remarkably fragile this century.

The missed opportunities for positive international action in Sri Lanka have been numerous. In the past couple of year, these include the failure to force the Sri Lankan government to implement PTOMS (the mechanism to share tsunami aid with the LTTE), to re-open the A9 and other humanitarian corridors, to observe international humanitarian law (laws of war), to desist from using food embargoes against Tamil population centers, and so on.

Even the recent campaign for human rights protection by Amnesty International has not led to reduction in international military and economic support for the Rajapakse government.

This unwavering support stems from a belief that whatever its flaws, the Sri Lankan state will ultimately reform, drop its Sinhala chauvunism and become a ‘liberal democracy’ in the model of the Western donors backing it.

This belief underpinned the attachment of conditionality to aid disbursed by donors during the Norwegian peace process. The conditions were meant to ensure aid flowed to reward ‘good’ behavour and was blocked by ‘bad’ behaviour.

Indeed, more often than not, the state was given the benefit of the doubt and conditionality was often dropped.

Most of the $4.5bn pledged in Tokyo in June 2003 was made conditional on ‘progress in the peace process.’ Despite the country sliding steadily into the present all out war, most of that aid had been disbursed by 2006.

The international community approach is mainly carrot for the Sri Lankan state and stick for the Tamils. The ‘shock and awe’ strategy unleashed against expatriate Tamils in the past few weeks has at least four objectives.

First, to terrorize Tamil expatriates into not extending their financial, material and political support to the LTTE for fear of arrest or harassment.

Secondly, to frighten Tamil activists into not engaging in political activity in their host countries against the Sri Lankan government.

Thirdly, to force expatriate Tamils to pressure the Tigers into giving up the armed struggle and negotiating instead with the Sri Lankan government.

And lastly, perhaps most desirably, for the Tamil Diaspora to pursue their political aspirations, not by backing the LTTE, but other actors. These could be other Tamil actors – so called ‘moderates’ – such as the paramilitary groups that are allied with Colombo against the LTTE.

But, ideally, the international community would like expatriate Tamils to go running after the host states themselves. Rather than the LTTE being the representatives of the Tamils, the host states, citing its ‘own citizens,’ could instead take up this mantle instead.

International calculations figure expatriates’ money and expertise could be channeled through ‘official channels’ to the Tamils of the Northeast. Then not only would the LTTE be denied the Diaspora’s support, the oppressive Sri Lankan state could perversely harness the expatriates’ efforts to better their brethren’s plight towards defeating the Tamil struggle.

This is why Western states are knowingly assisting Sri Lanka’s efforts to terrify and intimidate the Tamils by targeting Tamil media, community organizations and political activists in their own territories.

Whilst the international community makes much of the lack of press freedom in Sri Lanka, France shuts down the TTN television on a registration technicality.

While media promoting the LTTE or Tamil perspective are thus blocked, Sri Lankan government’s claims against the Tigers – such as the credit card allegations – are propagated through mainstream Western media.

While the Sri Lankan government is chided for not allowing NGOs to operate, Tamil expatriate organizations seeking to highlight Colombo’s human rights abuses are harassed and investigated on charges of ‘supporting LTTE terrorism.’

Whilst Sri Lanka is gently urged to allow humanitarian access and provision of shelter for hundreds of thousands of displaced Tamils, Tamil expatriates are aggressively prevented from supporting Diaspora charities and trusts that are known to be working effectively in the Northeast.

The Tamil Diaspora must not be shocked and awed by the ongoing international hostility. Rather than retreat from participating in politics, we should do exactly the reverse and participate more actively.

The international community’s actions are based on perceptions of self-interest. We should engage with key states and INGOs as part of our efforts to promote the Tamil cause.

Ultimately, what is crucial is that the Diaspora continues to support the Tamils’ sixty year struggle for political rights.

This month sees the 31st anniversary of the passing of the Vaddokoddai Resolution, unanimously adopted by the first convention of the Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF), the year before the party won a sweeping mandate in the 1977 elections.

The Resolution, concludes with a plea to us, the Tamil people.

It calls “upon the Tamil Nation in general and the Tamil youth in particular to come forward to throw themselves fully in the sacred fight for freedom and to flinch not till the goal of a sovereign state of Tamil Eelam is reached.”

Amid continuing controversy following comments by the head of the Anglican Church, the Archbishop of Canterbury, which appeared to justify Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse’s military action against the Tamil Tigers, two Sinhala Bishops Wednesday defended Archbishop Rowan Williams, saying his comments had been taken out of context.

Rajapakse meeting the Archbishop

Archbishop Williams concluded a 3-day visit to Sri Lanka earlier this month at the end of which he made his controversial statements.

"It is undoubtedly inevitable that what you might call surgical military action against terrorism should take place", Archbishop Williams said in reports filed by TamilNet and the BBC Sinhala service on May 11, 2007.

The Archbishop said that he hoped and prayed that military action would lead to an opening of communication between the government and the Tamil Tigers.

"But we all hope and pray that that will lead not to ...victory for one, defeat for another, but to an opening of communication, a re-establishment of the possibilities for civil society to develop", he said.

The Archbishop told journalists in Colombo, the government’s military solution to the problems of the country "increasingly appears to be no solution".

But this week, in a letter to TamilNet, Rt Revd Kumara Illangasinghe, Bishop of Kurunagala, and Rt Revd Duleep de Chickera, Bishop of Colombo, said Archbishop Williams had meant that military action was not justified “unless it had the clear aim of enhancing the possibility of dialogue.”

On Tuesday, Bishops Illangasinghe and de Chickera wrote to TamilNet saying Archbishop Williams had been misquoted and that he had, in fact, said the following:

“The military solution to the problems of the country increasingly appear to be no solution. It is undoubtedly inevitable that what you might call ‘surgical’ military action against terrorism should take place but we all hope and pray that it will lead not to desolation, victory for one and defeat for another, but to an opening of communication, a reestablishment of the possibility for civil societies to develop.”

By saying this, according to Bishops Illangasinghe and de Chickera, “whilst acknowledging that government forces will react to attacks, the Archbishop is questioning whether such a military response was justified unless it had the clear aim of enhancing the possibility of dialogue amongst both sides.”

“The Archbishop’s comments about military action were certain not an endorsement of but rather an observation on the present reality in Sri Lanka,” they asserted.

“The Archbishop’s position at the media conference, taken as a whole, made it clear that he was opposed to any military solution to the island’s ethnic conflict and that he was very concerned about human rights violations, child conscription and the problems faced by internally displaced persons,” they also said.

The bishops insisted that “the Archbishop consistently maintained this position at meetings he had with a cross-section of political, religious and civil society leaders and groups that he met while in Sri Lanka, including the meetings with the President and the Leader of the Opposition.”

TamilNet’s editorial board Tuesday said they stood by the original story which had, in its lead paragraph, clearly pointed out the Archbishop’s linkage between “surgical military strikes against terrorism” and “an opening of communication between the government and the Liberation Tigers.”

Ironically, a senior Buddhist priest who met with Archbishop Williams during the latter’s visit told him that religious leaders should keep away from interfering into state affairs in war situations

The Mahanayaka of the Asgiriya Chapter of Sri Lanka’s Buddhist clergy, the Most Ven.Udugama Sri Buddharakkhita Thero told the Archbishop it is a section of the people in north and east that had launched a rebellion against the government demanding a part of the country.

“The Sri Lankan government is engaged in a war to control this situation. We are neutral in that respect and our hopes are for peace”, the Mahanayaka Thero said in comments reported on BBC Sinhala service.