Sri Lanka: The silent cry

Thank you so much for posting this. This must have more media coverage. I read today that the govt. is processing people out of that area and sending them to 'camps' down South. I do not think they should be doing that without international eyes watching them. I do not condone violence and people on both sides have been a part of that. However, the Tamil have legitimate grievances regarding land, water, and treatment by the Sinhalese. This genocide must end now. What is happening there now is a war crime.

tamilsforjustice.com

From our knowledge and the voices of Tamil people, they raised a valuable point. We as media are only receiving information from the SL government, which is one sided, so we do not know what to believe. But if LTTE are fighting for the tamil people's rights, why would they hold the 250,000 people as hostages(as SL government claim) and use them as human shields. We interviewed many people, they all said there are many cases where tamil civilians have been killed in concentration camps. The civlians are scared they will be tortured, raped and killed. Women, children, so they prefer to stay with the LTTE, then die in army's hands. Whatever is happening in Sri Lanka, International bodies must be allowed in to find out and report the truth. Countries like this need more attention. Military force is never the resolution

I agree and also wonder what will happen to the Tamils who leave this zone into these camps set up by the government. It is an horrific situation.The fact that media has not been allowed in is a very telling sign as well as journalists who question their tactics being murdered.

What is happening in the world! We westerners shout for genocide in Darfur & write against China BUT support another genocide in Sri Lanka, We shout freedom / press freedom against Mugabe in Zimbawe BUT support the total ban and even killing of journists in Sri Lanka. We shout the use of excessive military force and use of cluster bombs in Gaza, South Ossetia BUT supports (even provide) all kind of military weapons include dangerous Cluster bombs in civilian areas. On top of ALL, we shout for Values and Freedom all over, BUT supports the brutal GENOCIDE of Tamils in this modern world.

TO WHOM THESE POLITICIANS ARE ACCOUNTING FOR?

This is so sad to see how the world encouraging the genocidal elements like Srilanka.

The tea from Srilanka is made out of the blood of innocent Tamils.

The cloths imported from srilanka is made out of the skins of aducted and killed thousands of innocent Tamils.

World be true with the Srilankan state atrocities.

Bring peace to our Tamil nation.

Stop Tamils being wiped out from human history.

Within last 10 days more than 2 thousand innocent Tamils have been killed by Srilankan government in the designated safe zones while ICRC is witnessing.

Yesterday the Srilankan state terrorists have threaten and removed the ICRC from the war zone in order to wipe out the 250 thousand innocent Tamils.

World please wake up!

Please show some interest in the in-justice done to the Tamils. PLEASE FREE THE Tamils

It's true, the supposed "safe zone" is just a front for the Sri Lankan government to attack civilians. International intervention is needed to move civilians safely from the war zone. These civilians cannot trust this government which inflicts genocidal atrocities upon them. Please help. USA - we have the most influence, what are we doing?? We need to step it up and get our government to intervene now.

If we don't do something about this now, there won't be anyone left for us to do something FOR..!!

It's another form of ethnic clensing empowered by the Sri Lankan government.. and as this site states clearly..

"If the Sri Lankan government has nothing to hide, then why not let the media in..!!"

It only takes a moments thought to realise what's happening back in Sri Lanka, but it's the lack of awareness that stops everyone from doing so..
This march was set to accomplish this goal, and I hope it has done enough to open the eyes of the politicians who are in power and able to do something to help..

To the auditor's of this site:
Keep up the good work, and hopefully we'll all get our deserved justice.. soon..!!

The human tragedy that unfolds in Sri Lanka is a continuation of the genocide of Tamils. Countries that had genocide in the past, often deny and hide the true nature of the situation and blamed on to the victim as a last resort. That’s what we see now. Media personals are not allowed to enter Vanni or even “safe zone” that declared by government and NGOs are forced out of the region that’s including ICRC, diplomats who voiced for the suffering Tamil people are threatened to send out of the country. Then how can you believe in Sri Lankan government stories?

Gregory H. Stanton from Genocide Watch writes that the perpetrator uses "12 ways to deny a genocide", It also applies to genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka as well.

http://www.genocidewatch.org/aboutgenocide/12waystodenygenocide.html

This is a great slide show..Please do more to highlight to UN Agencies that India's Congress Party is committing a crime in supporting the Sri Lankan government's actions againts Tamils.

Sri Lanka engaged in deliberate, systematic act of genocide -

The Tamil homeland is witnessing one of the worst human tragedies of the 21st century said the Political Division of the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) in a statement issued in Tamil on Wednesday. More than one-thousand civilians have been killed and four-thousand are struggling to recover from the injuries amid continuous artillery barrage, air attacks and cluster bombing by the Sinhala state, the LTTE statement said. The LTTE statement categorically denied the Sri Lankan claim that a Tiger human bomb had recently attacked civilians.

"We are a liberation movement. Our fighters and the people are engaged in the struggle with total dedication and sacrifice. We categorically deny the charges that we carried out the uncivilised act," the statement said adding that it was the Sri Lankan government that has used internationally banned cluster bombs to attack civilians. Several hundreds of civilians have been killed and maimed by the Sri Lankan bombardments, it said. The Tiger statement urged the International Community to be aware of the false propaganda of the Sri Lankan state.

"The Sri Lankan military, after demarcating an area with pockets of land as safe zone and creating an illusion of security in the minds of people, let loose a relentless campaign of bombardment on them. The resulting carnage was witnessed by the UN and ICRC representatives," the statement said.

"The Sinhala state has blocked access to media; communication links with outside world are cut off; International Non Governmental Organisations were ordered leave by Colombo; International human rights monitors are not allowed to visit our territory; Medical supplies are banned; Many civilians die every day; Even the ICRC representatives are forced to leave the area by the Sri Lankan state; People wander from place to place seeking refuge and are forced to lead a life worse than animals in the marsh and jungles of Vanni," the statement added.

All the countries of the world that condemn the ongoing humanitarian tragedy, should also come forward to exert pressure on the Sri Lankan state to immediately agree on a ceasefire and engage in negotiations to resolve the conflict, said the statement of the political division of the LTTE.

I cannot believe the sl government has odered all ICRC and aid workers to leave. They are going to kill anyone. and use " WAR ON TERRORISM" as the excuse. SOMEONE HELP THESE PEOPLE. WHERE IS THE HUMANITY. INDIAN GOVERNMENT, UK GOVERNMENT, STATE TERROR ARE THE REAL TERRORISTS. BOTH PARTIES SHOULD JUST HAULT. war is never the answer. someone please GOD STEP IN.

this is so heart breaking. there has to be something someone can do to help these people. keep them in all your prayers . pray this comes to an end now . plz stop this war

Please save the suffering Tamils from the SL Government sponsored terrorism. Tamils are fighting for freedom. LTTEs are freedom fighters.
Thanks for releasing this informative and heart- breaking video to the public.

Naanjil Peter

Thanks for posting this and thanks to Tamils in Britian to show this GENOCIDE to the British people and politicians. World has been playing double standard when it comes to Sri Lankan Tamils' problem. Specifically, Britian has a moral duty to solve this problem by creating Tamil Eelam, a separate state for Tamils. This will be the only permanant solution. If they fail this time, entire Sri Lanka will be in bigger trouble, economically and politically.
Please help to STOP the GENOCIDE.

Sri Lanka Unveils Tamil Slavery as Economic Stimulus

Colombo: The government of Sri Lanka has proposed a prison system where more than four hundred thousand Tamils will be kept to work free of charge while aid agencies to feed them according to a document released. The draft plan, which the government has circulated among international aid groups and donors in recent days, surfaced as tens of thousands of civilians fled the northern battlefield where Tamil Tiger rebels and government forces have been waging heavy battles.

Aid workers and Western diplomats have expressed concerns about the treatment of the ethnic Tamil civilians in the concentration camps. “Western governments requested the rebels to guarantee freedom of movements of civilians in the rebel held area”, said an aid worker. “When the civilians enter the government held area, they either disappear or kept in the concentration camps as prisoners. Tamil civilians safety and freedom of movement is not guaranteed when they enter the cleared area” points out an international aid worker who doesn’t want to be identified.

Tamils think the proposed system as modern day slavery. “More than four hundred thousand would be kept as prisoners and forced do work for the government free of payment or bare minimum cost” said a displaced girls school teacher. “Since the military is going to be involved, the women and children are going to be treated as sexual slaves in the camps”, she further said.

According to the draft proposal, the government estimates 40,000 to 50,000 internally displaced families totaling more than 200,000 people would flee the war zone. The "virtual prisons" would be set up to house them for two to three years, the report said.

Rajiva Wijesinha, secretary at the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, said the government would run the camps but the military would have "great involvement."

“When the Tamils work in the villages or in the open prisons, it is going to help the government recover from the hard economic times and the increasing war cost” said a storeowner in Colombo. “It is like unveiling an economic stimulus package for the country while the international aid agencies would feed them free.”

For many Tamils, the proposal is the worst realization of their life long fear. Tamils are united in angry while world blames the victims for the crime committed against them. “The western opinion makers are forcing us to live with the perpetrators of horrendous crimes committed against a groups of people”, said a retired professor who now lives in Colombo. “Would in any civilized society in the west, let their kids and family live under the same roof a rapist or murder?” ask the professor. “But they not only want us to live with them, but they are forcing us”, the professor further explained.

The retired Professor blames the European union and the United States for highly taken it up in the hospitalities and comfort given by the Colombo and not taking any action for the atrocities committed against the Tamils.

The government proposal calls for creating four villages of prisons, totaling nearly 1,000 acres, in the Vavuniya district and a fifth 100-acre camp in the neighboring Mannar area. The village style prisons would have 39,000 semi-permanent homes, 7,800 toilets and 780 septic tanks, as well as parks, post offices, banks, stores and about 390 community centers with televisions and radios, according to the plan.

A second proposal called for the construction of 40 schools to hold an expected 86,171 students. That plan asked international donors to fund everything from a photocopying machine for each school to instruments for the school band, at a total cost of about $14 million.

“These school will be used to teach the Tamil kids with less identity in Tamil and more emphasis in Sri Lanka”, said a military personnel who would play an important role in the running the day-to-day affairs of the prison schools.

I AM SPEECHLESS BY THE LAST ARTICLE.
PEOPLE WE HAVE TO HELP THEM.
GUARDIAN'S VERSION TO THE ARTICLE ABOVE.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/feb/12/sri-lanka-refugees-welfare-camps
This is all part of the government's plan to slowly eliminate the tamil culture and people. They cannot live as slaves.

Karma, injustice will bring karma. Just a lot of innocent lives will be lost.

I couldn't agree more. The Sri Lankan government is not allowing media coverage because it is made up entirely of Singhalese people. They are the ones killing the Tamils, yet they claim that the ones doing the killing are the Tamil Tigers. All the Tigers are doing are protecting their people and fighting back. Who wouldn't?

Sri Lankan Forces murdered 190 Males and 130 Females Sexually Abused - TNA M.P.
Feb 15, 2009, 10:28 Digg this story!
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP S. Gajendran said that at least 190 males were murdered after they crossed to the government controlled ‘refugee camps’ in Vavuniya so far. At least 130 females were taken out of these camps for sexual abuse after screened by the Sri Lanka Security Forces (SF).

The TNA M.P. cited that information he received from the inmates of internment camps and from his contacts in Vavuniyaa. The sources informed him that murdered were secretly buried in Anuradhapura. "Unless there is no immediate international supervision and international monitors, situation turning into another Yugoslavia cannot be prevented," the MP said.

The separation of young men and women 'wanted' by the SF reportedly takes place during the screening process at the so-called 'IDP rescue centres' in the war zone, entirely manned by military personnel.

In mid-90's hundreds of civilians who got into the hands of the SLA in Jaffna were missing. Mass graves of the massacred became known later in a place at Chemma'ni in the Jaffna peninsula. Several instances of rape and murder were proven, whilst the vast majority were not investigated. Those convicted were later released.

The MP expressed fear that a worse situation is faced today.

There are news agencies and websites who claim that the civilians interviewed in the camps accused the LTTE for firing on them and preventing them fleeing. How far these news agencies can expect the civilians living under such terrified conditions to tell the truth other than what is wanted by those who have detained them, asked the MP.

Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports received from Vanni allege a person directing the war without uniform giving an open licence to the SF to every form of atrocity, according to sources within SF who spoke about it.

Another report reaches TNS desk in Colombo says that Vavunia hospital was given verbal authorization by the SF to force pregnant Tamil women to abort their babies. It is estimated around 1000 pregnant Tamil women were brought to Vavunia and Trincomalee.