LTTE child soldier Shobasakthi, whose book Gorilla was translated into English earlier this year, talks about life as a refugee, LTTE chief, Prabhakaran, the future of Tamil Eelam and much more.
Sri Lankan troops on Friday captured the strategic town of Ampalavanpokkanai in south of Mullaittivu, after a fierce battle with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, in which two senior LTTE commanders were killed. Advancing rapidly, the Lankan forces have now virtually encircled Puthukudirippu, the last town held by the Tigers, where LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is reportedly leading the rebels.
The bomb, planted on a tree-top, exploded as the crowded bus passed by in the Vavuniya district, 250 km north of Colombo, a police official in the area said over telephone.
The attack came a day after Tamil Tigers carried out their first ever air raid, bombing a military airbase near the international airport here killing three airmen and injuring 16.
'I don't have anger or hatred towards anybody.Of course, I lost my father and for me it was a very difficult time'
Eight months after the death of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran, the proclaimed offender in Rajiv Gandhi assassination case, the Central Bureau of Investigation is yet to receive his death certificate from Sri Lankan authorities. According to information accessed under the Right to Information Act, CBI said it was still awaiting the certificate of Prabhakaran's death from the Lankan authorities.
The navy engaged a flotilla of Tamil Tiger boats off the island's northeast and sank one boat, killing 15 rebels.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam has made application to the POTA Review Committee.
He was accused of making pro-LTTE remarks during a public meeting at Poolathur in the district in 1998.
Two years before Sri Lanka completed a crushing military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a top Indian official had told a United States diplomat that the situation was 'beyond bleak' in the country, with both the government and the rebels having scant regard for the international community. A US diplomatic cable newly released by WikiLeaks quotes a top external affairs ministry official three years ago as saying that the situation in Sri Lanka was 'bad'.
The 42-year-old is suspected to have facilitated members of LTTE in procuring at least six tonnes of ball bearings from Null Bazaar in South Central Mumbai.
Sri Lanka rules out Oslo, Norway as venue for truce talks with LTTE.
General Sarath Fonseka may have violated the official secrets act by accusing Sri Lankan Defence Secretary of ordering the killing of surrendering Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders, a presidential legal adviser has said.
Sri Lankan forces eliminated surrendering Tiger leaders on the orders of the defence secretary who had instructed that 'all Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leaders must be killed,' ex-army chief General Sarath Fonseka has claimed, prompting the government to describe it as a 'great betrayal.'
If the Sinhala chauvinistic ruling elite continue to deny the rights of our people and if the conditions of oppression continue, we have no alternative other than to secede, warned LTTE supremo Prahbakaran.
The mediators also praised India's role in the developments in the island nation.
Sri Lankan Army General Sarath Fonseka, who presided over the military offensive on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has been asked by the United States authorities to testify before them against Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse over allegations of widespread human rights abuse during the war.
Sri Lanka on Sunday said it will release information on those detained by the country's forces since the end of the war with the Liberation Tiger of Tamil Eelam, ahead of External Affairs Minister G L Peiris' visit to the US.
'General Musharraf came to power after an Army coup. After sometime India recognized him. Like that, in future India will have to recognize us.'
An entire platoon of troops and two tanks of the Sri Lankan army were also missing.
Already stripped off his military rank and medals, former Sri Lankan Army chief Sarath Fonseka, was held guilty of corruption charges by a second court martial, sentenced to a prison term of three years. Fonseka had been charged with favouring an arms firm headed by his son-in-law in defence deals during his time as army chief.
Naval gunboats intercepted the Tiger boats leading to the battle, which lasted for six hours, it said.
Defence sources said at least six soldiers were feared dead and 60 others wounded in the battle. However, there was no independent confirmation of the army casualties.
The Sri Lankan Air Force this evening destroyed an artillery gun position of the Tigers at Pooneryn, just south of the Jaffna peninsula.
The blast is supposed to have been triggered by an army unit.
Over five Sri Lankan Air Force personnel were killed and two MI-24 helicopters damaged in a pre-dawn attack by Tamil Tiger rebels on an air base at the North-Central Anuradhapura district in Sri Lanka, the military said. ''First a group of LTTE cadres infiltrated the Anuradhapura SLAF Base and launched the initial attack around 3.20 am. Later, at least two LTTE light aircrafts carried out an air attack on the base, destroying two MI-24 helicopters,'' military spokesman said.
The rebels criticised the government for specifying the extend of the rebels' involvement in the proposed administrative body.
India must recognise our freedom struggle: LTTE
'There is no clarity in the government's offer,' the LTTE said. 'It does not specifically address the concerns raised by the Tigers.'
Now under the custody of the Sri Lankan Army, the former LTTE weapons procurer spoke to VK Shashikumar about the mistakes the outfit made in the past and the need to bridge the gap between the Tamil and the Sinhalese races.
The Lankan president threatened serious action if the LTTE does not stop the killings.
The "message" was given to Norwegian Foreign Minister Jan Petersen during his meeting with LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said it was not bound by a declaration issued by international donors who pledged some $4.5 billion to help rebuild Sri Lanka at a June 2003 meeting in Tokyo.
Sri Lanka's new Foreign Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris, who visited Washington, DC last month, feels the tensions that existed in the United States and Sri Lanka during the height of the conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, when Colombo refused to acquiesce to a ceasefire, have been repaired.
At the Human Rights Councils special session on Sri Lanka last week, High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said that investigating abuses allegedly committed against civilians by both the Government and LTTE will help the country transition into a new future. "There are strong reasons to believe that both sides have grossly disregarded the fundamental principle of the inviolability of civilians," Pillay had stated.
The prime mission behind the new Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Professor Gamini Lakshman Peiris' meeting with US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, is to repair the strained relations between the US and Sri Lanka, which took a beating last year when the Sri Lankan forces were crushing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The US had alleged that there were large scale human rights violations during the military offensive against the tigers.
Sources said Prabhakaran could never have been captured alive because of care he took to have a cyanide capsule on his body 25 years ago. The slain LTTE supremo believed that it was better to commit suicide than to be captured alive and that is why the Sri Lankan army could only recover his body after smashing the LTTE completely.
The International Crisis Group, an advocacy group based in Brussels and Washington, said despite its promises to protect civilians and aid workers, the Sri Lankan government had bombed relentlessly in areas where it knew unarmed people were present. ICR said it has reasons to believe that senior government and military officials were aware of the attacks, but failed to protect the civilians.
Since major fighting between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam resumed in 2006, Sri Lankan security forces and pro-government armed groups have abducted hundreds of individuals, many of whom are feared dead. Under international law, a State commits an enforced disappearance when it takes a person into custody and denies holding them or disclosing their whereabouts.
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