Seventeen lawyers and approximately 50 students were arrested for protesting against Congress party’s support for the Sri Lankan state and its failure to protect Tamil civilians in the neighbouring island.

The arrests came as All India Congress Committee (AICC) general secretary Rahul Gandhi, toured major cities in Tamil Nadu to rejuvenate the party at the grass-roots level in the state.

On Wednesday September 10, approximately 50 law students were arrested in Madurai for demonstrating against Gandhi’s visit to Tamil Nadu.

The students flayed Congress for being “indifferent” to the ‘sufferings’ of Sri Lankan Tamils and demanded the ban on LTTE to be lifted and India to recognise separate Tamil Eelam, police said.

On Thursday September 10, the day Gandhi was scheduled to arrive in Coimbatore, 17 lawyers were arrested by the police for staging a black flag demonstration over the visit Gandhi to Tamil Nadu, accusing Congress of failing to protect the lives and property of Tamils in Sri Lanka.

The lawyers, carrying black flags, shouted slogans such as 'Rahul Go Back' 'Do not enter Tamil Nadu,' near the District Court Complex.

At a press meeting held at Chennai, Gandhi was cornered by the media on the Congress government's lack of response to the plight of Tamils lodged in camps in Sri Lanka, according to local media reports.

Answering a flurry of questions that bordered on accusing the Congress of inaction despite large scale civilian deaths in the island nation, Rahul vehemently denied the charge and said he and his family had always stood for Tamils' rights and maintained that India would not tolerate any violation of their rights, according to reports.

Frustrated at the unrelenting media, at one point, Gandhi was quoted as asking "What answer do you want?'' and adding "I want to make something very clear. My family has always had utmost admiration and respect for Tamil people. My grandmother and my father were involved in this. We've deep sentiments for Tamil people''.

“The government and the Prime Minister would not tolerate anything other than this.”

“The central government is applying as much pressure as possible on the Sri Lankan government. Congress wants the rights of the Tamils guaranteed. There is absolutely no question about it. We will do everything to protect them,'' he was further quoted as saying.

However, Gandhi did not make any specific comments on the internment of 300,000 internally displaced Tamils in camps.

However, responding to Gandhi’s comments Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) leader V Gopalswamy (Vaiko) said that Gandhi was ignorant of the plight of Tamils and his assurance has come too late for Tamil refugees.

"Rahul Gandhi stated that the Indian Government would not let down the Tamils. Already the Indian government has enabled them (Government of Sri Lanka) to disseminate (divide and isolate) the Tamils. So, Rahul Gandhi, I pity him for his ignorance," Vaiko said.

Meanwhile, the Indian embassy in New York denied a visa to US-based humanitarian worker and a critic of the Sri Lanka Government, Dr Ellyn Shander to travel to New Delhi to address the Delhi Tamil Sangam on 20th September, Deccan Chronicle reported.

Shander was to address the Delhi meeting with MDMK General Secretary Vaiko, after attending meeting in Bangalore with the local Tamil Sangam on 15th of September.

"Her [Shander's] Indian host M.Natarajan, Chennai-based political activist and husband of Sasikala, close friend of AIADMK leader Jayalalithaa Jeyaram, has accused both the Central and state governments of curbing free speech in the country," the paper said.

Natarajan has organised a series of meetings in Chennai, Bangalore, Coimbatore, Madurai and Delhi till Sept. 20 with Shander as the main speaker, the paper added.

Natarajan said that the Chennai police had denied permission to conduct an indoor meeting with Shander as the guest on September 16. “We have moved the Madras high court against denial of permission to conduct indoor meetings on the human rights violations in Sri Lanka. The writ petition would be heard on Monday,” the paper said quoting Natarajan.

Shander told TamilNet that she will protest against the visa cancellation.

"My only hope and desire is to see the Tamils of Sri Lanka liberated from the hell of the concentration camps. They are being brutalized, killed, raped and deprived of even basic human rights, by their own government, all because they were born Tamil in Sri Lanka," Shander told TamilNet, adding, "The Indian government has the ability to be a shining example of humanitarianism and save the Tamils of Sri Lanka. India will then go down, on the right side of history."

Shander, a Connecticut physician, worked with the Elie Wiesel Foundation to obtain a statement from the nobel laureate, Elie Wiesel supporting Tamils right to "live and flourish in t Sri Lanka, according to local2F>

"After winning the war, the Sri Lankan regime is in the process of losing the peace. Following the historic, but bloody and distasteful victory, against the armed struggle of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapaksa could be magnanimous and reach out to the Tamil minority and open the way for national reconciliation. But Rajapakse has chosen another path, the path of domination...Under the tents of the refugee camps tomorrow's Tigers may already be rising to mount a future rebellion," warned France's popular daily, Le Monde in an editorial last Thursday.

Excerpts from the translated editorial follows:

More than three months after the end of the war, some 280 000 Tamil refugees are kept as prisoners behind of barbed wire, unhealthy and overcrowded camps.

Official reasons for the delay are that the Government is screening the civilians to identify combatants and to protect the village refugess from the mines planted by the LTTE.

These excuses are fanciful. The truth is, the Sri Lankan government seeks to control this population [Tamil refugees] and to silence the refugees who were witnesses to the horror of the last weeks of the conflict.

International assistance to camps will be forthcoming only if the Sri Lankan regime shows urgency in weeding out the suspects and release. For proof, Sri Lanka did not hesitate to remove and torture two local staff of the United Nations.

NGOs and UN must confront an existential question: did they help a population in distress or are they complicit in a large-scale incarceration? This question has become increasingly complex as the rainy season approaches, which could sow chaos inside the camps. Already in the month of August, rain has washed away the tents of thousands of refugees, and hundreds of families are inconvenienced and agitating inside the camps.

Instead of making peace, President Rajapaksa and his brother Gotabhaya, Secretary of Defense, are exhibiting vengeance: they have declared the war against the civil society.

In recent weeks, a renowned Tamil journalist was sentenced to twenty years in prison; a human rights activist has received death threats; a video seemingly showing Sri Lankan soldiers executing naked men convinced the UN to consider investigation.

The Sri Lankan Government is in a position of strength. It has developed dependent friendships with with the least recommendable regimes on the planet and has had to deal with minor retaliatory measures on the part of the Western powers.

The LTTE and its local supporters are destroyed. But, under the tents of the refugee camps, tomorrow's Tigers may already be rising to mount a future rebellion.

Based on Self-Determination, distinct and comprehensive autonomy to the historical homeland of Eelam Tamils is the political solution envisaged by the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to the ethnic conflict in the island of Sri Lanka, said veteran Tamil politician and TNA Parilamentary Group Leader R. Sampanthan, while addressing the press in Jaffna Tuesday. Mr. Sampanthan, who said that a draft proposal of the TNA will be released soon, was optimistic of India's support. This is the first time the TNA is coming out with its own political formula to resolve the ethnic conflict.

TNA Parliamentary Group leader R. SampanthanA political formula to resolve the ethnic question of Eelam Tamils is currently being drafted by the TNA and it will be presented soon to Colombo, New Delhi and to the International Community, Mr. Sampanthan said while answering a question at the ITAK office located on Martin Road.

"All powers needed including land, agriculture, industries and security should be in our hands," Mr. Sampanthan said. "Financial arrangements including powers to raise funds inside and outside of the island are also crucial." Tamil diaspora is keen in investing in the North and East and the TNA is engaged in talks with everyone concerned and in planning with foreign governments, he added.

In a recent meeting with the Indian Foreign Minister, the TNA had expressed its willingness to work along with the Indian government and the Indian FM has reciprocated by assuring his government's cooperation, Mr. Sampanthan said.

All formulas such as the 13th Amendment, 13+, 13++ etc., being spoken about by the Sri Lankan ministers have been dumped to the dustbin by the SL President Mahinda Rajapaksa, he added. It was only because of international pressure Mr. Rajapaksa was talking about considering 13th Amendment as a beginning, but he is not interested in it anymore as pressure mounts on him from JVP and other Sinhala parties, Sampanthan said.

Taking a stand that there is no majority or minority in the island, the SL President ignores the plight of Tamils and Muslims, Sampanthan blamed and added that the displaced Tamils and Muslims have to be resettled in their own places.

Some high ranking sections of the SL government threaten to re-impose restriction on fishing in Jaffna if people are not voting in favour of the government in the forthcoming Jaffna Municipality elections.

Tamils, either in the North or in the East, do not own or operate trawlers engaged in Deep Sea fishing at the moment. According to Central Bank statistics of March 2009, out of 2814 trawlers in the island, only two are in Jaffna, but they are not operating. The only one trawler that was in Tamil hands in Trincomalee has been coerced to be sold. In the meantime, more than 1,000 trawlers belonging to Sinhalese are fishing in the waters of the East. This is the situation when the Colombo government comes out with threats such as re-imposing fishing restrictions [There was a time when 60% of the islands fisheries was carried out by the Tamils]. This threat comes from sections that have now rallied behind the ruling party's betel symbol. How could these politicians, who are unable to even retain their party's own Vee'nai symbol are going to help Tamils winning their rights, asked Sampanthan.

Meanwhile, Mavai Senathirajah, who addressed the same press conference blamed some sections for making propaganda that there is dissention in the TNA. The SL government, in the past, destroyed political parties and bought over some of them. "The TNA is the one and only political alliance that is immune to such tactics of the government. Our people will not allow any dissention in the TNA. Our diaspora also insists on the unity of the TNA," Mr. Senathirajah said.

Even Mahinda Rajapaksa has recently said that a political solution has to be negotiated with the TNA, he added.

Sampanthan, Mavai Senathiraja, Suresh Premachandran, Gajendrakumar Ponnampalam, Pathmini Sithamparanathan, Solemon Siril and Thuraratnasingham were present at the press conference.

In the meantime, TNA parliamentarians Kanagasapai, William Thomas and Ariyanethran are arriving Jaffna on Tuesday to engage in election campaign. Mr. Sivasakthy Anandan and Kishore are actively engaged in election campaign for ITAK in Vavuniyaa, Mavai Senathirajah told reporters.

The Sri Lankan government is putting pressure on the families of murdered aid workers to seek compensation from the charity that had employed the 17 individuals at the time of their murder.

The families were sent letters by the Sri Lankan government, which seek more compensation from Action Contra la Faim (ACF), reported the BBC.

The authorities deny the letters exist, but the BBC reports that it has seen copies of them.

The relatives have told the BBC that they do not want to press for more compensation from the French charity.

There was an outcry when the 17 aid workers were killed in 2006. The aid staff - all but one of them ethnic Tamils - were working on tsunami relief projects in the north-eastern town of Muttur when they were killed on 4 August 2006.

Critics say Sri Lanka has a long history of failing to prosecute rights abuses.

Nordic monitors overseeing a truce in the country's civil war at the time blamed security forces, who denied the charge.

Earlier this month, Sri Lanka's top human rights panel cleared the army, pinning the killings on Tamil Tiger (LTTE) or Muslim home guards.

The commission of inquiry also said compensation already paid to victims' families of about 400,000 Sri Lanka rupees (about $3,480) was "totally inadequate".

A number of relatives of the murdered aid workers say they do not want to sign the government's letters, while others have refused to comment due to what their lawyers described as fear of intimidation, the BBC reported.

"Money will not help us. We cannot get our relatives back anyway," one family member of the victims told the BBC.

The BBC claimed to have seen three letters seeking more compensation from ACF, reporting that the letters were handed to the victims' families on 19 July at a government administration office in the eastern town of Trincomalee. They were due to be signed and handed back by Saturday 25 July.

One letter was addressed to the French ambassador in Sri Lanka, a second to the country's attorney general.

"We the heirs of the deceased are aware of the interest France and the French government has taken in human rights aspects especially in the... commission of inquiry into the killing in Muttur of 17 aid workers," the letter addressed to the French ambassador said.

"Therefore we trust that the French government will take necessary steps to oversee the payment of due compensation to the kinsmen/ women of the deceased."

A third letter seen by the BBC commended President Rajapaksa for investigating the killings.

"We are extremely grateful to Your Excellency for appointing a commission of inquiry and ensuring that justice prevailed," the letter said.

"We agree with the findings of the commission that the deaths were caused by the LTTE and the compensation as determined must be paid by ACF," it said.

A senior government official denied any knowledge of such letters being issued.

Rajiva Wijesinghe, secretary to the ministry of human rights and disaster management, told BBC Sinhala that ACF had done a "very bad thing" by "forcing" its staff to work close to the battlefield.

"Some workers were even denied leave by ACF. They were forced to go towards the battlefield while many other aid workers were leaving the area," he said.

He added that the compensation paid by ACF "for their own wrongdoing" was inadequate.

There was no immediate response from the charity, which has accused Sri Lanka's government of lacking the will to find those responsible for murdering its staff.

It is not clear whether any of the families has returned the signed documents to the authorities.

Despite the end of hostilities, children in Sri Lanka continue to be at risk of forced recruitment, arbitrary detention and other human rights abuses, the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers (Coalition) said on Tuesday, 28 July.

In a new briefing to the Security Council Working Group (Working Group) on Children and Armed Conflict, the Coalition urged the Sri Lankan authorities to act immediately to protect conflict-affected children.

Children are among dozens of people who have been detained by security forces in internally

displaced person (IDP) camps in Vavuniya, apparently for their alleged links to the Liberation

Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In one case in June 2009, a group of four or five girls and boys from a camp in Menik Farm were reportedly detained and questioned by members of the Sri Lankan military. One of the girls admitted that she had been with the LTTE for two days.

The children were subsequently taken away and there has been no news of them since.

“The families of children taken by the security forces from detention camps have no idea where they are – if they are in detention, have been taken to rehabilitation centres or have disappeared ” said the Director of the Coali tion, Victoria Forbes Adam.

Given the background of large-scale disappearances in Sri Lanka, there are grave fears that some of the reported incidents of children and adults being removed from IDP camps may represent enforced disappearances.

“There are simple steps that can be taken to enhance the security of children in IDP camps including allowing unhindered access to independent human rights monitors and maintaining a centralized register of all persons in the camps. Families should also be informed of where their children have been taken and their access to them should be facilitated ” said Victoria Forbes Adam.

The Coalition has received reports of continued abductions for ransom and forced recruitment of children by pro-government armed groups.

Unverified reports indicate that young boys in rehabilitation centres in Vavuniya have been forced to join pro-government armed groups including the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP)and Tamil People’s Liberation Front (TMVP).

They are now reportedly collecting ‘protection money’ from merchants and traders in Vavuniya town.

There are also sporadic reports of child recruitment in Batticaloa district by the TMVP and cadres loyal to the former TMVP leader, V. Muralitharan, known as Karuna.

“Armed groups are clearly operating with the support of the security forces who are allowing them access to IDP camps and centres for surrendees and using them to identify individuals formerly associated with the LTTE. The Sri Lankan authorities must act immediately to prevent armed groups from entering facilities where children are housed and must investigate reports of ongoing abductions and recruitment by them ” said Victoria Forbes Adam.

An entrenched culture of impunity in Sri Lanka facilitates ongoing abuses against children.

In 2007 the government initiated an investigation into elements of the armed forces suspected of complicity in the forced recruitment of children by the TMVP. Twenty-three months later it has yet to be completed.

In the meantime, Karuna, the former head of the TMVP, has been made a government minister. Karuna also stands accused of recruiting thousands of child soldiers when he was an LTTE commander prior to his split with the group in 2004. No known action has been taken against any member of the security forces or of any armed group suspected of child abductions or forced recruitment.

Intense recruitment of children by the LTTE during the final phase of the conflict has created serious challenges for the release and reintegration of underage recruits.

While the government has set up a framework to provide support for children leaving armed groups through the establishment of accommodation and rehabilitation centres, the efforts fall short of internationally recognized best practice.

Under the framework, there are concerns that former child soldiers may be held in custody for up to one year without clear grounds.

Further, there are concerns about the inadequate access of these children to their families; the incomplete separation of children from adults; and the security of children in the centres.

“The end of the 25 -year long conflict represents a unique opportunity to release and reintegrate all former child soldiers and to assist thousands of other conflict-affected children in Sri Lanka. It will take concerted and coordinated efforts by the Sri Lankan authorities and the international community to ensure that this opportunity is not squandered.”

The New York-based group Human Rights Watch on Tuesday pressed for an international probe into the killings in Sri Lanka of 17 local employees of a French charity three years ago.

HRW marked the anniversary of the execution-style murders of the Action Against Hunger (ACF) workers in Sri Lanka's northeastern town of Muttur with a scathing attack on the country's leaders.

The group accused the government of grossly mishandling the investigation into the deaths of local employees of the Action Against Hunger group.

"Since the ACF massacre, the (President Mahinda) Rajapakse government has put on an elaborate song and dance to bedazzle the international community into believing justice is being done," said HRW director James Ross.

"It's time the UN and concerned governments say 'the show is over' and put into place a serious international inquiry."

"Instead of doing all it can to get justice for this horrific crime, the Sri Lankan government is further traumatising the victims' families by trying to shift the blame to others."

ACF itself has demanded an international investigation after a government probe failed to identify any suspects.

The call came last month after a Sri Lankan investigation cleared the military of killing the 17 employees of the charity, but ordered more compensation for the families of the victims.

HRW said that an international inquiry was needed into the murders. Sixteen of the victims were ethnic Tamils.

Thirteen men and four women who worked on water sanitation and farm projects for ACF were found shot dead in an area where government troops and the Liberation Tigers were fighting.

Nordic peace monitors at the time blamed the killings – the worst attack on aid workers since the bombing of the UN headquarters in Baghdad in August 2003 – on government forces.

The government has denied any role.

The commission blamed the killings on either the Tamil Tigers or auxiliary police known as home guards. Its full report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa remains unpublished.

But HRW says that this report was based primarily on "limited witness testimony" from people who said that the armed forces were not in the vicinity at the time.

Excerpts from the commission's final report posted on the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defense website sharply criticize the role of local organizations in the ACF inquiry.

These organizations provided legal support for witnesses and made a number of written submissions on the case, HRW noted in a press release.

The commission stated that the "main function" of seven named nongovernmental organizations was to "attempt to discredit every possible institution and authority of this country before the Commission, and attempt to hold one party responsible for the gruesome crime.... They appeared not to ascertain the truth but to engage in a fault finding exercise of the security forces of Sri Lanka."

The commission said the groups adopted "a suspiciously narrow outlook" and engaged in a "preconceived plan or conspiracy to discredit the Commission ... for the consumption of some of the international organizations."

Human Rights Watch said that such accusations, made in the current context of continuing threats and physical assaults against media and civil society groups labeled "traitorous" or otherwise anti-government, place individuals and organizations at serious risk.

Colombo appointed 11 foreign diplomats and dignitaries to supervise the probe, but they pulled out in April 2008 saying the investigation did not meet minimum international standards.

"On the third anniversary of the murder of 17 aid workers, the Sri Lankan government is no closer to uncovering the truth or prosecuting those responsible," said Ross.

"Instead, the government is using the atrocity to threaten local rights groups, intimidate the victims' families, and score political points against the French government."

“Tamils should be vigilant of Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse’s intentions. He says that there is no minority race in the country but only a majority race. It is clear that his intention is to assimilate the Tamil race into the Majority Sinhala race in Sri Lanka,” Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Jaffna district parliamentarian, told TamilNet Saturday,  in an interview in Jaffna.

“Mr. Rajapakse spoke of 13th Amendment before he waged the war on Vanni and during the later stage of the war he spoke of 13 ‘double plus’. Now he says that he is going to offer a political solution to the ethnic issue,” Gajendrakumar said.

“But in a recent interview to an Indian website he said that power devolution is a long term issue and the proposal now would create tumult in the country. We are certain that Mahinda thinks that the Tamils need not be given any solution,” he said.

“India openly assured us that the Vanni people will be resettled within 180 days but we knew that Sri Lanka will not keep its promises. Now it is forced to speak of resettlement due to International pressure. But some persons here say that action is being taken to resettle the Vanni displaced people because they had urged the President to do so,” Gajendrakumar said.

“The real intention of Mr Rajapakse is to crush the Tamil struggle, Tamil Nationalism and leave the Tamils with nothing. The government tries to present a picture of Tamils wishing to live along with the Sinhalese, and the UPFA uses this now as a deplorable election gimmick, he further said.

“Mahinda had made Karuna the SLFP organizer for the East and now he will make Minister Douglas Devananda its organizer for the North. He thinks that there will be no minority issue in the country after that,” he told TamilNet.

“Lifting the existing restrictions has been made election propaganda. The restrictions were imposed saying that they were necessary to destroy the Liberation Tigers. Why should they continue even after destroying the Tigers as the government claims?” Gajendrakumar asked.

“Buddhist monks support the government. Wimal Weerawanse’s JVP party supports it. Besides, around 30 UNP parliamentarians support the government. In this context why can’t the government bring about a political solution?” he further questioned.

“It is obvious that Mr. Rajapakse does not wish to give anything to the Tamils,” Gajendrakumar said.

On being asked whether TNA would consider if Mahinda Rajapakse proposes a political solution, Gajendrakumar said that they would explore the possibilities of considering the proposal if and when put forward by the ruling party.