EPRLF NET

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) spokesperson Mr. Andrej Mahecic told journalists in Geneva that in the past two weeks alone, an estimated 39,000 people have returned to their former villages according to the UN news centre website dated 6th November 2009. The spokesperson further stated that “UNHCR and other UN agencies continue to advocate strongly with the Government of Sri Lanka to expedite the return of all remaining IDPs [internally displaced persons] to their areas of origin in safety and dignity and in line with international standards,”
Returning families also receive a shelter grant equivalent to about $250 so they can start rebuilding their homes. Read the rest of this entry »

COLOMBO: A leading light of the early leftist movement in Ceylon and wife of S.C.C. Anthony Pillai, Dona Caroline Rupasinghe Gunawardena, passed away in Kosogama, on the outskirts of Colombo on Monday. She would have turned 101 on October 8.

Media Director of Presidential Secretariat Lucien Rajakarunanayake says, “ She was and would continue to be a legend.” Read the rest of this entry »

Com. Upali Cooray a veteran socialist leader and an ardent advocate of equal rights for all communities in Sri Lanka respond to a Face Book commentary made by an enthusiastic second generation Sri Lankan.
It is understandable that the relief ordinary people felt when they heard that the spectre of terrorism eclipsed Sri Lanka has been routed. One must also not forget that more than 100,000 people have perished in this war particularly those innocent civilians who were unwittingly caught in this war. This is a time for cautious reflections and sharing the grief of those unfortunate ones as well.
In his response to one of the jingoist comment Upali says “triumphalism fails to consider the deep-rooted problems that gave rise to armed rebellion by a section of the Tamil people. It deleted from history the anti-Tamil riots of 1977, the burning down of the most valuable library in Jaffna in 1981 and the pogrom of 1983” He concludes the note by saying “After all equanimity in the face of both triumph and disaster is the essence of our culture.” Read the text of the letter…. Read the rest of this entry »

In an interview with the Editor of the influential Indian magazine Mainstream date lined 23rd May 2009, Mr. Varadaraja Perumal (VP) the Former Chief Minister of the North East Province( 1988- 1990) and one of the key Leaders of the EPRLF said that the ‘Major Hindrance to Democratic Movement among the Sri Lankan Tamils has been Removed’
Sumit Chakravartty the editor of the Mainstream interviewed him in which he comments on the changed scenario in the island state following the killing of Velupillai Pirabhaharan, the LTTE supremo, on May 18, 2009. He has also stated that “The Government of India is doing everything possible to extend humanitarian help to the Sri Lankan Tamils. However, this is a task which must be taken up not just by India but the entire international community. The international community must be generous in providing relief to and rehabilitating the displaced Sri Lankan Tamils.” He also expressed confidence on President Mahinda Rajapaksa that “he can also use the 13th Amendment to bring about devolution of power” To read the Full text of the interview….. Read the rest of this entry »

As we have reported in our previous report, the LTTE made desperate bid to anyone they knew to facilitate their surrender. Marie Colvin of the Sunday Times report says that “As the Sri Lankan army closed in, rebels made a desperate plea to a Sunday Times correspondent to help stave off annihilation” It also shed more light that Nadesan and Pulidevan were keen to surrender.
The myth that the LTTE has a worldwide net work of diplomatic and political operators seems to be overstated. In the last minute LTTE had to use their satellite phone to call a journalist to get assurance for their lives is shocking. This supports the theory that the trapped LTTE leadership was misled by various LTTE actors. Read the full story on the Sunday Times dated 24th May 2009 Read the rest of this entry »

UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon arrived in Sri Lanka, he was quoted on arrival that “We are here at a defining moment in Sri Lanka’s history,” and “A long and terrible conflict has come to an end. Now is the time for the nation to unite and build a just and lasting peace.” Political observers believe that the International community has recognised that the war is over and the present concerns are to ensure the speedy return to normalcy. International community also expects that the Government of Sri Lanka should act fast to progress towards political solution. Ban Ki Moon also said that “It is important that victory becomes a victory for all Sri Lankans” To read the UN news centre…… Read the rest of this entry »

It is difficult to reconstruct the sequence of events on that fateful day, the 18th of May 2009. Speculations, claims and counterclaims will go on for a long time to come. The survivors and various actors in this macabre episode will begin to tell their version of the story. However everyone agrees on one thing that the LTTE leadership was decimated on the ground and Pirabhaharan’s reign has been brought to an abrupt end.
There are more questions than answers as to why and how LTTE was lead into this dead end. In an article published in the Daily Telegraph there are some startling revelations. LTTE wanted to surrender to a third party and there were communications between the Norwegian minister Mr. Solheim and Sri Lankan Government official Dr. Kohona. LTTE’s official website Tamilnet also accepted that Mr. Nadesan and Mr. Pulidevan was marching towards the Sri Lankan army’s 58th Brigade with a white flag in hand. One cannot blame Pirabhaharan, KP and the LTTE leadership for considering the option of surrendering because politics is always the art of possible. One cannot stop wondering if the LTTE had contemplated other options 20 years ago; more than 100,000 lives would have been saved and possibly LTTE would still have been an influential political force. To see some details of the last minute attempts by the LTTE to surrender see the article that appeared on the Telegraph on line by Dean Nelson. Read the rest of this entry »

In the general election in India, the ruling Congress and its allies has scored a resounding victory. In the state of Tamil Nadu, all the pro LTTE candidates lost except Thirumavalavan who choose to depart from his past and pledged loyalty to the Chief Minister Mr. M. Karunanithy.

According to the IANS report “The losers included MDMK’s passionately pro-Tiger chief Vaiko, who in 1989 made a dramatic secret trip to Sri Lanka’s north to meet Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran”

IANS also pointed that the “vote count in Puducherry and Tamil Nadu showed that all seven candidates of the PMK and three of the four MDMK candidates had lost”

Full report of the IANS… Read the rest of this entry »

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Adviser on the prevention of genocide Francis Deng made a statement on the 15th of May in which he called on UN and other agencies full and unfettered access to all civilians and detainees. According to the UN News centre, Walter Kälin, the Secretary-General’s Representative for the Human Rights of Displaced Persons, who said the LTTE is preventing civilians from leaving the area and placing military installations close to them, while the Government, for its part, has been using heavy weapons such as mortars there in recent days. “This combination of factors must have resulted in unacceptably high numbers of civilian casualties.”

It appears that the International Community including the UN are voicing concern and are fully involved in bringing about a pause but the Government of Sri Lanka relentlessly pursues the military option. Prolonging the conflict is causing high number of causalities and untold misery to those tens of thousands of people trapped in this area. It is also becoming evident that the Government’s time limit for their ‘rescue’ operation continues to extend. …To read the UN News Centre reporting on 15th of May Read the rest of this entry »

According to the Associated Press Reports (AP) today by Krishan Francis :

• 2,700 people escaped from LTTE area today
• 14 people were wounded by LTTE gunfire
• So far 200,000 people crossed over to the Govt. controlled area
• Doctors have abandoned the hospital in Mullivaikal
• Unimaginable humanitarian catastrophe - Red Cross
• UN Envoy Vijay Nambiar will leave for Sri Lanka today(14th May 2009)

Read the rest of this entry »