The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam maintains a hostile approach towards the exodus of civilians from the Wanni region, and the casualties caused by it is under-reported, Sri Lankan government told a high-level United Nations delegation on Monday.
'Silence,' says RGV, 'is as effective as sound in film.'
During the two-day visit, Mukherjee will meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and discuss the latest situation in the northern part of the island nation, sources said. Mukherjee is expected to impress upon Rajapaksa government the need for finding a political solution to the ethnic problem to ensure lasting peace.
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was captured alive and 'tortured' by the army before being shot dead in northern Wanni, a Jaffna-based human rights group has alleged in a report that has been dismissed as 'ridiculous' by the Sri Lankan government and military.
Moving to retake the last remaining LTTE bastions in the north, Sri Lankan troops on Monday reached the southern outskirts of strategically vital Elephant Pass after capturing a key town on the road to the rebels' coastal stronghold Mullaittivu, the military said. If the troops recapture the corridor, which was lost to the Tigers in 2000, a vital land link to Jaffna peninsula will be re-established.
The Tamil Nadu chief minister said MDMK's Kannappan was openly supporting the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Vaiko and some others have charged with making pro-LTTE speeches. The LTTE is banned in India.
The "mild-mannered" Veerasamy Thiruvengadam Velupillai, the father of the slain Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Prabhakaran, never endorsed the militant ways of his son and was not even on talking terms with him for a long period, a media report said on Sunday.
India had refused to supply offensive weapons to the Sri Lankan military during its critical campaign against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, forcing Colombo to turn to China for purchases. "India had told us they were not in a position to sell or send offensive weapons or even equipment like radars and basic communication equipment to meet our requirements," Lankan army chief Sarath Fonseka has revealed. "So we had no other option," Fonseka said.
Velupillai Prabhakaran met with a violent death as he ignored pleas to shun violence and join the mainstream, by rejecting recent overtures from the Sri Lankan government for a peaceful settlement, a former close confidant of the slain LTTE chief said. "The body is of Prabhakaran's... there is no doubt about this... Though I am bit saddened that he is no more but the fact is he never listened to anyone," Karuna said.
With a pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam web site raising questions over Velupillai Prabhakaran's death, the Sri Lankan army today released photographs of the guerilla's dead body
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was on Monday shot dead by Sri Lankan special forces as he tried to stage a dramatic breakout from the army encirclement, a military spokesman said.
Polls opened at 7 am local time and would close at 5 pm with some 12,845 polling stations being set up throughout the country for 15.9 million voters, who will choose a successor to President Maithripala Sirisina.
A Pakistani probe team has arrived in Sri Lanka to investigate whether there were any local links, including the possibility of the role of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, on the attack on the Lankan cricket team in Lahore in March.
In an apparent move to placate Sri Lanka's anger over Hillary Clinton's remarks that "rape" was used as a weapon in the war against the LTTE, the US has said it had no recent evidence of women being sexually assaulted while in custody in the country.
Talking tough, the United States on Friday told Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to immediately end the war in the island's north and cautioned Colombo that its unity and reconciliation could be at stake if it continued with its current endeavours to end the ethnic conflict 'militarily'. The White House said it was taking 'very seriously' the allegations of violations of international humanitarian law by both sides.
India on Friday urged the Sri Lankan government to cease its offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and declare a truce in the conflict zone. The Centre also rushed National Security Adviser M K Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon to Colombo to step up its diplomatic pressure.The decision was taken at a meeting in New Delhi on Thursday, attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee.
As the Sri Lankan army prepares for a final assault against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the United States on Monday expressed its deep concern over the humanitarian situation in the conflict zones there, saying 'it is in a terrible condition'."We are very concerned about the humanitarian situation there. It is dire," State Department Acting Spokesman Robert Wood told reporters.
He said the army has captured the entire Pudukudiriyirippu area that was under the control of the Tamil Tigers, who have lost many of their key leaders in the latest fighting. Important LTTE leaders killed in the clashes included Vidusha, Nagesh, Durga, Deepan and Patabi, Nanayakkara said, adding another senior rebel leader Banu was injured.
In the wake of reports that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam might allow civilians to leave the conflict zone, India on Tuesday asked the Sri Lankan government and others to work out 'appropriate and credible' procedures for their evacuation and expressed readiness to help in this direction. India is ready to provide all necessary help to facilitate the process of bringing innocent civilians to safety and to meet their humanitarian needs for relief materials.
Concerned over the 'hostilities' towards civilians in the conflict-hit northern part of Sri Lanka, the United States has asked the island government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to hold negotiations to end the fighting. "We want the government and the LTTE to discuss ways to end the hostilities," said Robert Wood, acting spokesman of the State Department. He said one of their primary concerns is the humanitarian situation in the country. "
At least 21 civilians were killed and over 20 others injured when a group of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels opened indiscriminate fire at them in eastern Sri Lanka, the Defence Ministry said on Sunday. "According to latest reports received, the death toll at the LTTE village massacre on Saturday at Kirimetiya has risen to 21 civilians, while over 20 others including children had sustained serious injuries," it said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has expressed concern over the escalating violence between government forces and Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in northern Sri Lanka and reminded the two parties of their obligation to ensure the safety of civilians.Ban's statement comes in the wake of Sri Lankan government's request that United Nations relief workers relocate from conflict affected areas.
India on Saturday expressed concern over the latest turn of events in Sri Lanka, particularly the air raids by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam aircraft over Colombo, and appealed to the government and the militant organisation to come to a peaceful negotiated settlement. "An LTTE plane has been shot down. This is of concern. Political solution has to be found to the LTTE issue and military action will not do," External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukhjerjee told reporters.
In a daring attack, two LTTE aircrafts tonight carried out strikes in the heart of Colombo dropping bombs near the Army Headquarters ground and on a government building in the high security zone. At least 28 people have been injured, news reports indicate.
AIADMK chief Jayalalithaa is all set to return as Tamil Nadu chief minister for the fifth time following her acquittal in the disproportionate assets case.
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.
Maithripala Sirisena, who scored a stunning victory, was on Friday sworn-in as Sri Lankan president, bringing the curtains down on the 10-year rule of Mahinda Rajapaksa, marking a smooth transition of power.
Sri Lanka, which is poised to capture the remaining strongholds of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, has rejected the plea of the United States-led donor countries for a temporary 'no-fire period' in the island's north, saying this would be detrimental in efforts to wipe out terrorism from its soil.
Concerned over the humanitarian situation in Sri Lanka, United States and Britain have asked both the island nation and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to agree to a 'temporary no-fire period' to allow civilians and the wounded to leave the conflict zone. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and British Foreign Secretary David Miliband also called for a political resolution to the decades-old ethnic conflict in the country.
Fresh from their success in capturing the last urban stronghold of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in Mullaittivu, the Sri Lankan troops are training their guns on elusive Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran who, defence officials feel, is very much in the northern Wanni region, which comprises of Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu.
Police chief Musa Hassan said he had ordered a nationwide alert following reports that Prabhakaran may have fled here or to Thailand, a media report said on Thursday.
The Q Branch police, dealing with cases of extremism and terrorism, arrested a top functionary of the proscribed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Chennai on Wednesday night.
The slain editor of a prominent Sri Lankan newspaper, known for its vocal anti-establishment stand on the war on the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, was buried in Colombo on Monday as the government came under heavy flak, including from a senior ruling party leader, for failing to stop attacks on the media.Former president and ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party leader Chandrika Kumaratunga joined the growing number of opposition politicians and media watchdogs.
'If there is to be real peace in Sri Lanka, the end of Prabhakaran has to be brought about by the Tamils themselves and not by the Sinhalese army.'
The United Nations believes that the civilian death toll in the final war between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam might have been exaggerated in the media reports and were 'not necessarily correct'. But the UN "does not think that the figure quoted in the press is necessarily correct," highly-placed sources said, adding that though the media had quoted UN as the source for the shocking figure, the UN had no idea where the figure had come from.
The news of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam chief V Prabhakaran's death has created ripples across the world, but it makes no difference to Muniyamma, the milk vendor who tipped off the Bangalore police about Rajiv Gandhi's assassins in 1991.What really matters to Muniyamma, 55, is that she is yet to receive the Rs 10 lakh promised to her by the police, for tipping them off about the whereabouts of LTTE operatives Shivarasan and Shubha.
The announcement of the death of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam leader V Prabhakaran by the Sri Lankan army has not created any flutter in the Lankan refugee camps in Rameswaram and Madurai, but most inmates dismissed the reports as false. "Prabhakaran is not dead. He will emerge stronger... nobody can touch even his shadow," Andrews, a refugee at Mandapam camp, said. "Prabhakaran has been fighting for us for more than 30 years, we know his strength," said another refugee.
Prabhakaran strode in, wearing his trademark safari suit. Well built, very sure of himself. He put his hands on the table and looked around the hall scanning the entire area slowly. There was pin drop silence. We had been told not to get up but those on stage had risen.
Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran is dead, the Sri Lankan army stated on Monday.Earlier in the day, the SL army, which had closed in on the last foothold of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, killed several top rebel leaders.The body of Charles Anthony, Prabhakaran' son, was found during mop-up operations in the last rebel-held territory in the no-fire zone on Monday morning.
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