The West is taking up East on SL HR matters

The United Nations Human Rights Council clashed Tuesday over two competing resolutions on how to provide aid to thousands of people displaced by the Sri Lankan military campaign against the Tamil Tigers.

The first resolution, tabled by Switzerland and supported by European countries, proposed that international aid agencies be given direct access to those affected by the long-running war, including more than 300,000 people housed in government camps. It also calls for investigations into possible war crimes during the conflict against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). A counterresolution, tabled by Sri Lanka and backed by powerful allies including China, Russia, and India, calls for the UN to cooperate with the Sri Lankan government in providing humanitarian assistance.

During the session, Sri Lanka clashed with Western countries as it attempts to curtail investigations into allegations of war crimes, reports The Times of London.

Tuesday's special session on Sri Lanka was requested by 17 nations, including France, Germany, Britain, and Canada. A Human Rights Commission special session has been convened on only 10 previous occasions.

Observers at yesterday's preliminary meeting in Geneva, which was described as acrimonious, said that the 47-member Council was divided over the European resolution, with 18 countries for and 18 against. The other nine are undecided….

The two competing agendas clashed in the preliminary meeting when an Asian bloc led by India, Pakistan and Malaysia argued for today's special session to be abandoned altogether. India, China and Egypt walked out of the meeting after this was refused.

Sri Lanka went to the meeting backed by powerful new allies such as China, which provided much of the military hardware for the final offensive that defeated the Tamil Tigers last week after a 25-year war….

Several undecided countries, including Chile and Mexico, are pressing for a compromise resolution incorporating elements of both drafts.

International human rights groups are dissatisfied with the European resolution because it fails to call for an international war crimes inquiry and instead suggests that Sri Lanka launch internal investigations, reports Agence France-Presse.

Although the European-led text targeted violations during the conflict and backed investigations, the watchdog group UN Watch dismissed it as "a joke".

"Despite the call by UN rights officials for an international inquiry into possible war crimes, the proposal instead asks Sri Lanka to investigate itself -- it's a joke," said UN Watch's executive director Hillel Neuer….

Advocacy group Human Rights Watch said that the Council needed to examine the creation of an impartial commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of human rights violations committed by both parties as a matter of urgency.

But the Sri Lankan government denies such reports and insists it is in favor of a national reconciliation campaign. On the eve of the Human Rights Commission session, a Sri Lankan government official said international monitoring was unacceptable, reports The Nation, a Sri Lankan daily news paper.

The international community is welcome to provide Sri Lanka with assistance, but it should be according to the wishes of the people of this country, including the people of the North, Senior Presidential Advisor and MP Basil Rakapaksa said in a message to the international community.

"If they want to be our friends, then they should be genuine friends. We do not want 'monitors,' we need partners. Be our partners in this task to help our people," Rajapaksa said.

An opinion piece in an Indian newspaper, the Deccan Herald, argues that the Human Rights Commission's disagreement on how to tackle Sri Lanka is evidence of a global power play underway in the Indian Ocean.

In essence, Sri Lanka is the theatre where Russia and China are frontally challenging the US's incremental global strategy to establish NATO presence in the Indian Ocean region. The US has succeeded in bringing the NATO up to the Persian Gulf region. The NATO is swiftly expanding its relationship with Pakistan. But it is Sri Lanka that will be the jewel in the NATO's Indian Ocean crown. Russia and China (and Iran) are determined to frustrate the US geo-strategy. The hard reality, therefore, is that geopolitics is sidetracking Sri Lanka's Tamil problem.

Meanwhile, the Sri Lankan government last Tuesday rejected the Tamil Tigers' offer to participate in the country's democratic process after being defeated last week, reports the BBC.

In an interview with the BBC, [Sri Lankan defense secretary] Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said the LTTE rebels could not be trusted to give up "terrorism"....

He said: "I do not believe the LTTE can enter a democratic process after years of their violent activities." He added that there were "enough democratic Tamil political parties in the country" to represent the Tamil minority....

Mr Rajapaksa also said the work of government forces was not yet over as they had to recover weapons hidden by the LTTE in the northern and eastern regions.

Read More....

Prabakaran is not dead???

One more attempt, huh!!.. I received this image via an email, I am not sure who this is,,, but he wanted us to think that Piraba is still alive...

We had enough of these and thank for the effort, but let this be the final of these....



TamilNet is good at this. As a result of the war I know that they have become photo shop (an image editing tool) experts.

However as usual, a simple test revealed it all..


If you have any doubts, here is the original photo.. [Thank goes to "anonymous blogger" :-)]


Still not sure... then have a look at this.. :-)

LTTE leader Prabhakaran killed - Reports

As per the colombo Page - The LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran was shot dead on Monday while trying to flee in an ambulance, news reports said.

Citing a senior defence official news agencies said Prabhakaran was trying to drive out of the battle zone in a an ambulance along with a few aides.

"He was killed with two others inside the vehicle. There will be a formal announcement later," the official was quoted. According to the source the vehicle has caught fire upon firing by the troops.

According to the military, the Tigers tried to evacuate its leaders early this morning in two vehicles. Army special soldiers of 53 Division have intercepted the vehicles moving north and destroyed the convoy after fierce fighting.

The military said it had found 150 bodies of LTTE cadres so far and they are in the process of identifying them.

Among the identified were, Charles Anthony, the eldest son of LTTE chief, B. Nadesan, LTTE's political head, S. Pulidevan , LTTE's head of peace secretariat, S. Ramesh, A special military leader, Kapil Amman, LTTE's deputy intelligence leader, Sudarman , the aide to Prabhakarn's son, Rathnam Master , a Black Tiger leader and Ilango, another senior LTTE leader.

Answer to Channel 4 News: [Grim scenes at Sri Lankan camps]

The channel4 managed to sneak in to a refugee camp in north of Sri Lanka, but what have they captured?? Did they capture anything new?? What I see in the news is just the regular seen that I saw many times before. This means nothing, specially compared to what happened in Iraq, Palestine or in Afghan. Isn't this video proving that the camp is well managed? What I see here is a set of artificially made stories that would have created with or without getting in to this camp.. I know Tamils are excited about this new channel4 news. Channel4 is making hot news (most of the time hot news are lies) here.. International community has to be careful as some media create controversy for their own advantage. Anyway let’s go through couple of their comments to see if we can answer to them..

Comment – Dead bodies left out in the open for days

Answer - Channel4 is claiming this with no evidence. A man sneaks in to a camp with a camera, but he is telling that dead bodies are everywhere but with having no facts to support his claim. Is this how channel4 produce fair news. If you say this is hot news, then who else wouldn’t have created this, this way??

Comment – Shortage of food and water

Answer - You are just assuming things in big time.. Open your eyes little more and just look at these people, and just judge it by their body shape, do you think that they have a food shortage? In another place you claimed that people are dying but have failed to capture a single shot of a person who is about to die too. Do you really want someone to believe you? When it comes to food shortage, mm… maybe it is for the main coordinator of channel4 news? He look very thin, isn’t he?..

Comment – Channel4 news manage to get cameras passed the army check points

Answer - Oh.. Great.. That is illegal, not worth for a reputed news channel. So this alone tells the story behind your pain over this problem. The LTTE is having lots of money and they are spending them wisely now. They are buying good lawyers diplomat and are cheating the whole world. I doubt whether some of your reporters are also in their (LTTE’s) payroll..

Rightnow, Channel4 is thrown out of Sri Lanka. They deserve it for what they did..

Comment – Aid worker is saying that he saws four dead bodies inside the camp, three women and a man, warms came out of mouth of a one…

Answer -An Aid Worker? Who is he any way? I can see a shadow of a man. Is this news created about a serious matter? If bribe some civilians and recorded this, will you not kick their ass? Give me a single evident to prove that this aid worker is from the camp. He can be anybody and it can be anybody’s voice. Who else cannot create news like this? Does the intelligent world believe these?? Shame on you channel4.. You have tried very hard.. More you watch the clicp more it proves that it is a lie..

Comment – one mother have asked him for two spoon of milk powder to feed her kids

Answer - What are you trying to say here? They may not have milk (why don’t your country sent a ship filled with milk?? So then we will give it to them), that is true, but they do have enough food. Government is sending foods three times a day, but you have failed to note it. I am sure that you would have seen it. But, Yes, I know you don’t want to mention it. It is not assisting your hidden agenda, isn’t it? In the south, dry foods, cloths, medicine and other necessities are collecting (I myself donated stuff to our village temple) and are sending them in lorries every day to these camps.. But you here is shouting that they don’t have milk. Man, you are really one sided.. Your intension is to get richer..

Comment – there are still children without their parents

Answer - How many you think came to Army controlled areas just in last month alone? It was in big numbers (over 200 000 came).. So if this happen to your country, do you expect your government to resolve all the problems in matter of hours.. Jesus.. be practical.. You are an asshole and also an idiot.. Have you ever heard of prioritizing your work?? If you have two news to report at the same time, which one you pick, this is not rocket science.. Yes, I know, Media people are *generally* uneducated..

Comment – There is a lack of coordinate

Answer - Just a claim again, you have no proof here. Show us where they have failed to coordinate.. Anyway, when you manage a human avalanche of this size, it is expected, isn’t it??.. Give some time to the government. They will get it organized. I hope you remember the way we recovered form T-Zunami?? Keep watching…

Comment – Women are sexually abused

Answer - Again you have no proof, but will look it to that once the war is over..

Comment – Women have to bath in the open area

Answer - No PROOF AGAIN, it is just a claim again.. but will look it to that once the war is over..

Now, what they have done here, they are just fishing in the mud water to create controversy. They are making their news channel famous through that. I have never heard of channel4, but now they are as famous as BBC or CNN. I guess that this is a calculated move that channel4 took to lift them up on the table? I encourage the people with little bit of brain to think about these….

News channels wanted to gain access to these areas. But can a responsible government allow news channels to run around and create news at their will in an area where they fight with the most ruthless terrorist group of the world? The answer is NO. However, this may be difference when Australian firefighters fighting with a wild fire. Here, we are up against a terrorist group who will dare to do anything for their survival, in this hora the next minute is not defined.. Let’s assume that Channel4 sent to no fire Zone where terrorist are among civilians. Now, what if a group of news reporters were captured by LTTE and kept on hostage, demanding the government to stop the offensive operations? What will be the result? Look, we have fought this war for 30 years and have lost too many things to risk it for the name of media freedom now. So let’s wait for couple of more months, then we can arrange you news channels a workout to north to write/ show whatever they want..

Answer to BBC [Hospital 'hit by Sri Lankan army']

The LTTE is conducting false propaganda to cover their defeat and to find a breathing time to regain their lost power. In this regards a well organized network is assisting them to control the international Medias. Recently an e-mail was sent by a doctor who is working for LTTE with some images attached. It would very well have been ignored, but made the headline of BBC South Asia.

I think we need to have some kind of an online source to counter attack these propagandas in a timely manner. Let this be a such initiative....

BBC:The Sri Lankan army has killed 91 people at a makeshift hospital inside a civilian safe zone in the last two days, two doctors have told the BBC.

Answer: As a respectable institute we expect BBC to be fairer when producing news. This is such a sensitive topic. To say that SLA hits hospitals, they need to at least give the name of this doctor. That doctor, T Varatharaja is an LTTE stooge. Why would these news organizations take his words as gospel truth?

Going along this, can I also make headlines by sending an email with bunch of photos to prove something that never happened?

BBC:The doctors said bombardments from the army had killed 64 people on Saturday, including patients, their relatives and bystanders in Mullivaikal.

Comment: Given that he sent photos, why did he failed to produce the photos of the 64 people died in the incident as well. I mean even if one produces them, will you believe it, not knowing the date of which those photos were taken.

BBC:About 87 people were injured. Another 27 people reportedly died on Friday.
The army has denied bombing the hospital, saying that Tamil Tiger rebels carried out suicide attacks.

Comment: Who denied this, let us see the sources to trace this news back, then again who said that LTTE terrorists are carrying out suicide attacks to damage hospitals in their areas? Jesus… Am I getting this right???

BBC:A doctor in Mullivaikal has sent images he says show shelling at the hospital
A spokesman for the Sri Lankan army said that although soldiers had heard explosions in the area, they had not fired any shells.

Answer: First there is only one spokesman for army. Second we never heard him say this. However he did say that LTTE was firing shell from inside out. The LTTE is firing shell to the out skirt of safe zone to first, kill/ threaten civilian who are about to leave, second to put the bad name on Sri Lankan Army.

BBC:The army had not used heavy weapons for some days, he said, since the government announced on Monday that it was halting its use of heavy weapons in the conflict zone.
The army spokesman said Tamil Tiger rebels had launched eight suicide attacks in the space of two days.
A doctor working within the zone has e-mailed the BBC a number of photographs which, he says, show the aftermath of recent shelling at the hospital in Mullivaikal.

Answer: Simply there is no hospital in Mullivaikal. Didn’t responding to this news, Sri Lankan government say this?



One image appears to show a father and son killed as they slept.


Answer: In another image it shows shelling at the hospital, but in the same image we see an unharmed tire and a trolley alongside, which tell us that a magical shelling has been taken place to blast off the hospital while not shaking the tire.

BBC:The hospital lies within a government-designated safe zone set up to protect civilians.
In contrast, the defense ministry has put on its website video clips which, it says, show the rebels moving an artillery piece through the zone they control, our correspondent says.
Journalists are not allowed near the conflict zone, so the conflicting accounts cannot be independently verified.

Answer: Yes you cannot verify the accountability, fair enough. But then why the hell you give publicity to the photos sent by so called doctor (I call him an LTTE carder)? Isn’t it what makes the headline of this article??

BBC:Trapped civilians
The images sent by a doctor appear to show bodies and damage to structures
The reports centre on a tiny strip of land on the north-east coast, where Tamil Tiger rebels are still holding out against government forces.

Comment: They are not rebels they are terrorists, the whole world including LTTE diplomats claim this, but not BBC.

BBC:The Sri Lankan military has restricted the rebels to a 12 sq km (5 sq miles) area and believes it is close to defeating them.
Tens of thousands of civilians have been trapped in the area, and the EU and the UN have urged Sri Lanka to observe a pause in its campaign to let them out.

Answer: There is a difference between “been trapped” and “forcibly kept”, what do you think is happening there?