I rarely watch television in Sri Lanka, but in the long lonely nights in Geneva, when I am too tired to write yet another critique of some silly assault on the Sri Lankan state, I find myself looking for English language programmes. Recently I have been struck by the number of British television dramas dealing with terrorism. Many of them feature police teams fighting for decency as well as the British way of life, sometimes battling politicians who are engaged in all sorts of wicked deals.

It seems as though every man and his dog is worried about Sri Lankan civilians. Opening a newspaper without running into a statement expressing concern at their fate is almost impossible now, and not only in this country. Our civilians are on the minds of the entire world community, apparently from Great Danes to Yorkshire Terriers, and words of concern just keep flooding out of their mouths.

by Jonathan Kay

Jonathan Kay

Yesterday, I put up a blog post (subsequently re-purposed into an editorial) denouncing the pro-Tamil-Tiger protestors who were part of the demonstration that paralyzed downtown Toronto on Monday.

The UN Headquarters on Wednesday (18) asserted that it did not have the exact information to be able to reach even an estimation of civilian casualties, when questioned about the controversy over the casualty figure in Sri Lanka. 

The number of civilians who crossed over to Government controlled area was 47,241 up to date, Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said.

By Sunil Jayasiri and Sandun A Jayasekera

The government yesterday said it had taken note of the recommendations put forward by the United Nations Under-Secretary for Humanitarian Affairs, Sir John Holmes, on his recent visit to the island recently.

A steady and adequate supply of food and other essentials to uncleared areas has been maintained, in the face of various sabotage attempts by the LTTE, which was trying to use food as a tool to discredit the Government, Essential Services Commissioner, S. B. Divarathne said yesterday.

Premasara Epasinghe  

I have seen on television how our Army, Air Force, Navy, Police officers, doctors and nurses looked after our own innocent Tamil brothers and sisters, their children who have been the unfortunate victims of the blood thirsty ruthless LTTE cadres led by Prabhakaran. The above personnel are Good Samaritans.

by Neville Ladduwahetty  

The 38 House Members of the US who sent a joint letter dated March 9, 2009, have urged the Secretary of State to call the President of Sri Lanka "…and press for the full protection of civilians, authorization for active involvement by United Nations agencies in humanitarian relief, and progress towards political settlement that grants ethnic Tamils meaningful participation in national governance…". Referring to the IDP camps, the letter quotes from a Human Rights Watch report that describes them as "internment centres masquerading as welfare villages".

In brilliant investigative pieces of reporting, London's Daily Mail accused Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam's (LTTE) long standing friend and Labour parliamentarian Keith Vaz of "a shameless abuse of power and office."

The newspaper, in two articles and an editorial published on March 16, accused Vaz that he used his position as chairman of the Home Affairs select Committee of the British House of Commons, which has a key role in law and order issues to intervene in a court case looking into the conduct of a conman "lawyer" whose license to practice law was cancelled.

By Seth Mydans  

COLOMBO: Will he kill himself? This is a tactical military question now as the Sri Lankan Army closes in on Velupillai Prabhakaran and the stubborn core of his Tamil separatist insurgency.

There is always the possibility that Prabhakaran, 54, is already dead or that he has fled the military offensive, and those questions, too, are critical as the army seeks a final victory and plans ahead for the aftermath of his 25-year rebellion.

(Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Douglas Devananda, Minister of Social Services and Social Welfare and Chairman of Special Task Committee, Northern Province, visited the “Kathirgamar” Welfare Camp (Menik Farm) on the last 15th and inquired into the health of the internally displaced people temporarily housed in the camp.

COLOMBO (AFP)--Sri Lanka will lodge strong protests with countries where demonstrators have show support for the island's separatist Tamil Tiger rebels, a minister said Thursday.

Sri Lanka's Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said pro-rebel sympathizers have been staging demonstrations in Australia, Belgium, Canada, New Zealand, Switzerland, the U.K. and the U.S., using Tiger propaganda.

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka has refuted the charge made by government doctors in the north eastern war-zone, that there is a severe shortage of medicines and surgical material there, and has contended that the medicines and other materials sent were stolen by the Tamil Tiger rebels to run their own “elite hospitals”.

Challenges, dangers and opportunities

By Dayan Jayatilleka

What is the challenge? To reach the goal of victory and reunification while avoiding the traps set for Sri Lanka. What are these traps and what are our tasks?

Anura MAITIPE  

The Jaffna reawakening project has taken the initiative to rehabilitate the Valukkaiaru scheme at Rs. 268 million to provide clean drinking water for people in Jaffna.  

Valukkaiaru is in the centre of Jaffna peninsula and it is a natural water purification plant.

United Nations (Asiantribune.com): The LTTE websites are propagating a story of a leaked UN document giving a casualty figure of 2863. The UN Secretary General’s Spokesperson today clarified that the so-called leaked document was an estimation done locally and that it was not a verified and published document.

National Post   

As members of this editorial board watched tens of thousands of Tamil Canadians throng downtown Toronto on Monday, we couldn't help but be struck by a curious double-standard that afflicts Canadian ethnopolitics. To wit: Why are Canadian Tamils permitted to express support for terrorism in a manner that would be considered outrageous if the demonstrators were Arab or Muslim? 

by Shamindra Ferdinando 

Angry civilians Tuesday set fire to an LTTE ‘police’ station at Puthumathalan in the civilian safety zone after LTTE cadres shot dead parents of a child whom they made an abortive bid to abduct. They also shot dead the child before retreating amid violent protests, Navy spokesman Captain D. K. P. Dassanayake told The Island last night.