Sri Lanka to keep defence budget despite rebel defeat

The Sri Lankan government plans to keep up record defence spending despite its recent victory over Tamil rebels that ended nearly four decades of fighting, a senior official said.
Defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse said the military needed to be modernised and payments made on hardware bought on credit.

Sri Lanka raised its defence budget to a record 1.6 billion dollars in 2009, and finally crushed the Tamil Tigers separatists in May after months of intense battles.

"I don't see an immediate need to reduce the defence spending next year," Rajapakse told AFP on the sidelines of a meeting on Tuesday. "We have cut down on our ammunition purchases. But we need to bring in new technology to upgrade our military capacity."

Sri Lanka relied heavily on mortar bombs and ammunition purchased from China and Pakistan during the ethnic conflict.

After routing the Tamil Tigers, the government scrapped a 200-million dollar ammunition order from China.

Rajapakse added that nearly 30,000 government forces were killed and 10,000 disabled in the decades of fighting, with 6,000 killed in the last three months of warfare.

The Sri Lankan army intends to recruit tens of thousands of new troops to be deployed in areas previously under rebel control.

© AFP 2009

Read More

Summary only

Vavunia : Over 300 disgruntled families protest at camp's main gate

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Aug. 18 (UPI) -- Refugee camps in northern Sri Lanka are swamped by flooding, endangering Tamils displaced by the country's recently ended civil war, the United Nations said.

The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said three days of heavy rains and flash flooding damaged or destroyed nearly 2,000 shelters and sanitation facilities in the camps, CNN reported Tuesday.

An internal U.N. memo obtained by CNN indicated more than 300 families marched to the main access gate at one camp to protest the conditions.

"Though ... not violent, they seemed disgruntled and agitated due to the sufferings and expressed their resentment by hooting and making noises," the memo read.

The camps, strung across northern Sri Lanka, house about 280,000 people displaced in the final months of the 20-year-long civil war, CNN said. The flooding was ahead of Sri Lanka's monsoon season, typically from October until January.

"If the rain continues, which is very likely, then the overall situation may go out of control of the management and lead to serious security threat," the memo said, adding that contingency plans were being "discussed and worked out."

The international group Human Rights Watch has called for the release of Tamil civilians living in the camps, saying they are being confined against their will, CNN reported.

© United Press International

Related Articles:
Floods hit Sri Lanka refugee camps - CNN

Read More

Summary only

'Detaining people in the midst of floods is illegal and inhumane' - HRW

(New York) - Floods caused by heavy rains unnecessarily threaten more than 260,000 displaced Tamil civilians whom the Sri Lankan government has unlawfully detained in camps in northern Sri Lanka, Human Rights Watch said today.

Permitting displaced families to move in with friends and host families would quickly address the deteriorating conditions in the camps with the onset of the rainy season, Human Rights Watch said.

"The government has detained people in these camps and is threatening their health and even their lives by keeping them there during the rainy season floods," said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "This is illegal, dangerous, and inhumane."

In violation of international law, the government has since March 2008 confined virtually all civilians displaced by the fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in detention camps, euphemistically called "welfare centers" by the government. Only a few thousand camp residents have been released and allowed to return home or to stay elsewhere.

During the last several days, heavy rain fell on northern Sri Lanka, flooding several camps. Zones 2 and 4 of Manik farm, a large complex of camps west of the town of Vavuniya, were particularly affected by rain. More rain is expected with the onset of the rainy season next month, further worsening conditions in the overcrowded camps.

"Aanathi," a 30-year-old woman living in zone 2 with her 1-year-old son, told Human Rights Watch: "Within seconds, the water was pouring into our tents. ... After a couple of minutes, everything was flooded. We lost all of our things. We had no place to cook. We couldn't get help from anybody, because everybody was in the same situation. It was terrible. We were already frightened, and this made it worse."

Seven people from three families were living in Aanathi's tent, which was designed to house five people. According to the United Nations, the majority of the camps are severely overcrowded; zones 2 and 4, with a joint capacity of 50,000 people, held more than 100,000 people as of July 28, 2009. For their protection, the residents who spoke with Human Rights Watch were not identified by their real names.

The rain caused emergency latrines to flood or collapse, causing sewage to flood several areas of the camps, heightening the risk of outbreaks of contagious diseases. "Shantadevi," also in zone 2, told Human Rights Watch: "Some of the toilets are completely flooded. It looks like they are floating in water. The pits have collapsed and raw sewage is floating around with the storm water in a green and brown sludge. It smells disgusting."

Aanathi explained to Human Rights Watch that the area where the camp is located usually floods during the rainy season: "If they don't release us before then, we will be washed away by all the water, there will be outbreaks of diseases here. It will be terrible."

The camps have already suffered from outbreaks of contagious diseases with health officials recording thousands of cases of diarrhea, hepatitis, dysentery, and chickenpox.

Observers report that camp residents are getting increasingly frustrated by the difficult conditions in the camps and that the current heavy rain caused unrest that was quickly defused by the military camp administration without the use of force. In late June, camp residents held at least two protests, which were dispersed by the security forces. Since then, the military administration of the camps, apparently fearing more unrest, has divided the camps into smaller sections, which are easier to control.

Humanitarian organizations have long advocated the release of the displaced from the camps. Many of the camp residents have relatives, including close family members, with whom they can live if they are allowed to leave. Aanathi told Human Rights Watch that she would go to live with her mother in Jaffna or her mother-in-law in Trincomalee if released.

"The camp is like a desert, there are no trees here," she told Human Rights Watch. "When it is sunny, it gets really hot. When it rains, you can't walk because of all the mud. With a 1-year old it is very difficult to move around, and I can't leave him alone in the tent. It is painful to speak about my situation here. I am lonely, very lonely. If I could go to Jaffna or Trincomalee, I would have a good life again."

The government has refused to release the displaced from the camps, contending that it needs to screen them for Tamil Tiger combatants. In response to calls to release them, Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona, recently named Sri Lanka's ambassador to the UN, told the BBC on August 10 that it was "mischievous to talk of rights in the absence of security."

On August 15, the minister of resettlement and disaster management, Rizad Bathiudeen, told the Sri Lankan Daily Mirror that he held UN agencies responsible for the flooding in the camps, saying, "[T]he Government cannot be blamed for the poor condition of the drainage systems which burst and failed."

"The government bears full responsibility for the situation in the camps," said Adams. "Locking families up in squalid conditions and then blaming aid agencies for their plight is downright shameful."

© Human Rights Watch

Related Articles:
Rights group urges Sri Lanka to Open flooded camps - AP

Read More

Summary only

"Condition of IDPs pitiable" - Dr.Nimalka Fernando

Tamils living in make-shift camps in Vavunia are treated not like victims of war, but like war criminals. This scathing criticism has come not from expat Tamils or any pro-LTTE Indian leader, but from a Sri Lankan human rights activist, that too a Sinhalese.

Ms Nimalka Fernando, rights activist and a lawyer from Sri Lanka, has quoted former Attorney-General and Solicitor-General of Sri Lanka Chittaranjan de Silva as having told the local media that the IDPs have been torn asunder and young women forced to stay with unknown men in make-shift tents.

Ms Fernando, who visited the Koodalnagar refugee camp in Madurai last week, told The New Indian Express in an interview that even toothbrush and soap are luxuries for the refugees and they do not even have change of clothes.

Echoing her views, the People’s Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) has expressed concern over possible outbreak of epidemic with the onset of the monsoon as refugees are living in flood-prone areas. It has cited reports that the camps have been flooded following recent heavy rains.

Mr V Suresh, president of the Tamil Nadu chapter of the PUCL, told reporters here on Saturday that ” toilets for inmates are not only inadequate, they also overflow, leading to water contamination”.

He said “the plight of children, the elderly and the handicapped is appalling as they are not able to compete with able bodied persons for essential commodities and toilet facilities”.

Basing his comments on leaked information, Mr Suresh has alleged that the Government is show-casing only Zone 0 and I to visiting journalists and diplomats as the tents are built with tin roofs. Housing units in Zones 2 to 6 are made from UN supplied tents and each tent is shared by two or three families.

Further, supply of cooked food has been stopped two weeks ago and inmates have to depend on dry ration or individual kitchens, he has said.

Mr Suresh has called on the international community to intervene and save the inmates from a possible outbreak of an epidemic.

Ms Fernando, in her interview, has said:”The Tamils are not treated as victims, but as war criminals. If this is the plight of innocent civilians, I can’t imagine the plight of the LTTE cadre, including disabled, who are being detained in special camps”.

Ridiculing the claim of the Sri Lankan Government that it needs time to resettle them as their areas of habitation have to be cleared of mines, Ms Fernando has asked that “if these people could reach the camps without being blown up by landmines, why can’t they return the same way?”.

She has charged the armed forces with having shelled civilian areas to force the people to seek refuge in camps. She has further alleged that the Sri Lankan military is sweeping the shelled areas and dumping bodies into the sea to obliterate all evidence of war crimes.

Ms Fernando has said she could breathe free air in the Koodalnagar refugee camp, something that is missing in the camps in Lanka.

© asiantribune.com

Related Articles:
Update on Menik Camp flooding - Groundviews
SRI LANKA: Heavy rains compound IDP woes - IRIN

Read More

Summary only

'Immediate intervention needed to save the IDPs in north Sri Lanka' - PUCL

Click for more images

PUCL expresses concern about reports from the IDP (Internally Displaced People) Camps in Vavuniya area housing Sri Lankan Tamil about severe flooding of the camps following heavy rains for the last 2 days. PUCL apprehends that the IDP camps will turn into `death traps’ unless urgent measures are taken to safeguard lives of the 300,000 inmates.

Zones 2 (Ramanathan Camp), 3 (Ananda Kumarasamy Camp), 4(No name) of Menik Farm Camps house 65,000, 43,000 and 41,000 inmates respectively. These camps are enclosed by barbed wire from which none can leave without permission of security forces. The camps are constructed in low lying areas susceptible to flooding. Toilets for the inmates are not only inadequate but are also temporary structures oftentimes being mere huge pits dug into the soil. Due to the rains the toilet pits have caved in. As though this is not bad, the toilets have also become full and there is severe water contamination. Flood waters mixed with toilet slush is reportedly flooding the living areas.

Zone 0 and 1 alone are the model zones shown to visiting journalists and diplomats. The habitations are built with tin roofs. Housing in Zones 2,3,4,5 and 6 are made from UN supplied tents shared by 2-3 families, with no privacy.

Supply of cooked food stuffs have been stopped two weeks back. The inmates of these camps have to depend on dry rations and have been forced to have individual kitchens. Due to the rains, the firewood have become wet and unusable. Families are therefore starving.

The red soils of the area have made the camps slushy and unlivable. It is reported that the flood waters are waist deep in some parts posing severe threat to personal safety, health and hygiene. Due to the poor road conditions vehicles are unable to move in the area and thus supply of essential commodities has stopped.

The situation of children and elderly is appalling. Equally horrible is the plight of the injured and handicapped people who are unable to compete with able bodies camp inmates for a share of essential commodities and toilet facilities.

Most NGOs are running out of money and unable to supply food to camps. It is informed that World Food Programme (WFP) is planning to close down its operations in these areas soon.

Epidemics and illnesses due to the poor conditions in the camps and flooding will kill as many as the war did unless the international community steps in and initiates remedial steps on a war footing. The world governments, especially the Government of India have a moral duty to the victims Tamils to ensure that all possible safety measures are initiated.

Government of India has announced that they are going to allocate another tranche of Rs. 500 crores. As members of Indian civil society PUCL demands on behalf of other human rights community that Government of India insist that the IDP camps are shifted to a safer place and all possible remedial measures be undertaken under supervision of Indian groups including experts and independent experts. If this is not done, PUCL fears there will be numerous deaths of Tamils and immense suffering.

Under the circumstances, PUCL urges the Government of India and the International Community to immediately intervene in the administration and running of the IDP camps in Vavuniya region of north Sri Lanka housing close to 300,000 Sri Lankan Tamils affected by the war.

People’s Union for Civil Liberties - (Tamil Nadu & Puducherry)

Released to the Press in Chennai by Dr. V. Suresh, President, PUCL (Tamil Nadu and Puducherry)

Mob: 09444231497

Source - http://southasiaspeaks.wordpress.com/

Related Links:
IDPs swimming in human excreta

Read More

Summary only

AI : Attacks on free media put displaced civilians at risk

Attacks on journalists, relentless intimidation, and government-imposed restrictions on reporting threaten freedom of expression in Sri Lanka and jeopardize the safety and dignity of civilians displaced by war.

The Sri Lankan government actively obstructed reporting on the last stages of the recently concluded armed conflict with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE – Tamil Tigers). Civilians were subjected to artillery attacks and both sides were accused of committing war crimes.

The government continues to deny journalists and media workers unrestricted access to hundreds and thousands of displaced people living in camps, hindering reporting on their war experiences and on conditions in the camps themselves.


At the same time, unprecedented levels of violence against media workers engaged in critical reporting has contributed to a climate of fear and self-censorship that has deprived the people of Sri Lanka of their right to information.

Sri Lankan press freedom advocates say that more than 30 people working for Sri Lankan media outlets have been killed since 2004. Many others have been abducted, assaulted or threatened for their war reporting. Newspapers have been seized and burned, newspaper offices have been vandalized and printing equipment destroyed.

Months after the war in Sri Lanka ended journalists and media workers are still facing murder, abduction, censorship and intimidation. The vast majority of victims were members of the minority Tamil community, but Sinhalese and Muslim journalists have also been killed. The perpetrators of many of these crimes have not been identified, let alone punished.

Sri Lankan journalist and human rights activist Sunanda Deshapriya says the government never recognized that journalists and media workers, (or through the media – the public) had a right to information, but for most of the conflict (which lasted from July 1983 until May 2009) journalists had "mechanisms" to get information.

However, pressure on Sri Lanka's journalists escalated along with the intensity of the fighting, and during the last phase of war, said Mr. Deshapriya, from 2006 onwards, the government tightened restrictions, producing a number of statements saying that journalists were not even allowed to report casualty figures.

Journalists writing about the war without getting approval from the Media Centre for National Security put themselves at risk. "Killing journalists, threatening journalists, abductions, disappearances – all these things happened to journalists who would try and push the limits," he said.

Threats and acts of harassment against journalists and the media have increased unabated in a prevailing culture of impunity, and have blunted reporting.

"If you read Sri Lankan newspapers, you still get the government version. Very rarely, you get a critical point of view," said Sunanda Deshapriya.

"Everyone is self-censoring themselves ...some of them willingly because some of them really support the system – and some of them unwillingly. In Sri Lanka, there is no freedom of press."

“Critical and dissenting voices are more or less silenced in Sri Lanka today.

"So even someone like me, who writes a column from abroad, I censor myself. I always see whether my column is going to offend the government, because they are going to attack me. You know, I have family back at home. So we all, to some extent, censor ourselves when writing about the situation."

Sunanda Deshapriya is a regular columnist for the weekly newspaper Ravaya. He has researched the media's role in the Sri Lankan conflict and has presented papers at national and international media workshops. He has also written and lectured on the code of ethics for journalists in Sri Lanka.

But Sri Lankan journalists are not the only ones under pressure. Foreign correspondents have been denied visas or deported for stories that offended the government.

In July, Ravi Nessman, Sri Lanka Bureau Chief for the Associated Press was compelled to leave Sri Lanka after the government refused to renew his visa. Ravi Nessman reported extensively on civilian casualties in the government’s final assault against the LTTE.

He also broke the story of a government plan to detain hundreds of thousands of displaced people in camps for up to three years, and raised questions about the decision to block media access.

How has this restrictive media culture hurt civilians?

Sunanda Deshapriya recalls that not long ago, both the government and the Tamil Tigers were giving heavily distorted figures for the amount of people living in the war zone in areas under Tiger control:

"Access to information was blocked, and because of that what happened? Tigers said they have 400,000 people in Wanni. That's the Tiger number. Government said: there's 120,000.

"And there was no independent verification, no journalists, no media was allowed. And government [was] asking people to come...they said 'we are ready to welcome you.' And, at the end, it turned out to be nearly 300,000 people."

The government, said Mr Deshapriya, urged civilians from the war zone to flee into its territory, but its own agencies, relying on erroneous government figures, were unprepared for such vast numbers.

When the civilians arrived, "...there were no facilities. Still, after three months, after the war is over and people does not have even basic facilities [in the camps] because there was no freedom of information. Journalists could not report [on] how many people are there, what conditions they are living in," he said.

This also meant that the international community could not effectively address the situation because there was no verification of facts. With no independent verification, the Sri Lankan government and the Tamil Tigers were both able to use the world's appetite for information as a means of promoting their own agendas.

The flow of information from the camps now consists mainly of information provided by relatives of those detained, of individual leaks from aid workers to journalists and of anonymous blog entries.

In almost all cases, those providing the information remain anonymous to avoid reprisals. As a result, the information finding its way out of the camps is often unreliable. This can only hurt the detained civilians.

"There has to be a system, there has to be free access," said Sunanda Deshapriya.

Human rights violations

"Human rights violations of all types have the potential to be ignored by the authorities when access to the camps and their inhabitants is restricted," said Yolanda Foster, Amnesty International's Sri Lanka expert.

"Of particular concern is the potential for abuse against the most vulnerable people in the camps, those needing the most urgent protection such as unaccompanied minors, women, the elderly and people with disabilities.

"Exploitation of vulnerable individuals by government forces has been a longstanding problem in conflict areas and among the displaced; social stigma and Sri Lanka’s pervasive culture of impunity further compound the problem."

© Amnesty International

Read More

Summary only

Amnesty International Launches "Unlock the Camps" campaign

Hundreds of thousands of people displaced by the recent war in North East Sri Lanka and living in camps are being denied basic human rights including freedom of movement, said Amnesty International on Monday. The organization's Secretary General, Irene Khan, launched the Unlock the Camps campaign at the start the organization's International Council Meeting, a gathering of international delegates in Turkey. Two months after the end of the fighting, the Sri Lankan authorities are still not addressing properly the needs of the newly displaced. The camps are overcrowded and unsanitary.

In addition, these are effectively detention camps. They are run by the military and the camp residents are prevented from leaving them; they are denied basic legal safeguards. The government's claim that it needs to hold people to carry out screening is not a justifiable reason to detain civilians including entire families, the elderly and children, for an indefinite period.

Displaced people have even been prevented from talking to aid workers. With no independent monitors able to freely visit the camps, many people are unprotected and at risk from enforced disappearances, abductions, arbitrary arrest and sexual violence.

According to government figures, the fighting between the Sri Lankan army and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) displaced over 409,000 people. At least 280,000 are displaced from areas previously under LTTE control. A dramatic influx of people fleeing the fighting and crossing to government controlled areas took place from March 2009.

The displaced people, including at least 50,000 children, are being accommodated in 41 camps spread over four districts. The majority of the displaced are in Vavuniya District where Manik Farm is the biggest camp.

When United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon visited some of the camps in May, he said: "I have travelled around the world and visited similar places, but this is by far the most appalling scene I have seen."

While some progress had been made on providing basic needs, much still needs to be done on the right to health, food, water, family reunion and access to relatives.

Amnesty International has also called on the government of Sri Lanka to end restrictions on liberty and freedom of movement; ensure that camps are of a truly civilian nature and administered by civilian authorities, rather than under military supervisions; and give immediate and full access to national and international organizations and observers, including aid agencies, in order to monitor the situation and provide a safeguard against human rights violations.

The Sri Lankan government said on 21 May that the displaced will be resettled in 180 days. But very few have so far been allowed to return to their homes or to join friends or family elsewhere, and people remaining in the camps are not at liberty to leave camp premises.

Amnesty International is calling on the Sri Lanka government to end its policy of forcibly confining people to camps, which amounts to arbitrary detention. The Sri Lankan government must allow persons who require temporary shelter in these facilities to come and go freely.

With assistance and support from the international community and the involvement of displaced people themselves, the Sri Lankan government must set up clear benchmarks and timelines to ensure that displaced people can safely return home or find other durable solutions (such as relocation) as soon as possible.

As part of the Unlock the Camps campaign, Amnesty International is posting a video on Facebook, calling on the Sri Lankan government to allow freedom of movement and on the Government of India to monitor the aid pledged to the Sri Lankan government and to press for the immediate transfer of the management of the displaced people camps from the military to the civilian authorities.

© Amnesty International

Related Links:
Unlock the Camps in Sri Lanka: A Briefing Paper

Read More

Summary only

Asia Media Report 2009: Sri Lanka is the 3rd worst country for journalists

Sri Lanka is the world's 3rd worst country for journalists to live in after Iraq and Afghanistan, says the Asia Media Report 2009. The report also reveals details on various Sri Lankan journalists who had been killed, assaulted, abducted and also those who had fled the island since 2006.

The Sri Lankan chapter of the report was compiled by senior journalist Dilrukshi Handunnetti.

The launch of the Asia Media Report 2009 'Missing in the Media', organised by the Asia Media Forum, was held in Colombo on Tuesday, August 4. Many dignitaries including veteran journalists were present at the occasion.

The report issued on Tuesday also touches on the assassination of veteran journalist and editor in chief of the Leader Publications, Lasantha Wickremathunga.

Senior journalist Vijitha Yapa was the chief guest on the occasion. The Asia Media Report 2009 focuses on how media throughout Asia reports on its communities.

The report features articles on press freedom, media commercialisation and new media. It also includes the present day status of media in Sri Lanka.

© South Asian Media Net

Read More

Summary only

JDS condemns Sri Lanka's ban on media coverage of northern elections

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka out rightly condemn the Sri Lankan government’s decision not to allow independent media representatives to cover the first local elections in two main northern cities, Jaffna and Vavunia – which will be the first since 1998. The head of the government security information centre said on Monday the 3rd, the journalists will not be allowed to cover the crucial elections. Therefore the independent media is compelled to rely on information provided exclusively by the government.

Even though the Sri Lankan government’s decision has drawn widespread condemnation from various quarters, it does not come as a surprise for the people who had been closely observing the government’s recent policies towards free media and the democratic rights of the Tamil people.

Following the recently achieved military victory over the Tamil rebels, the government called quick elections in the two northern cities, while more than 280,000 Tamil people were been held against their will inside internment camps run by the state armed forces. The dreadful conditions prevailing inside the camps have been highlighted by various human rights groups and the camps still remain out of bounds for media.

Furthermore, severely militarized environment prevailing outside the camps does not ensure the conditions required for holding free and fare elections. According to a recently concluded survey carried out by the Colombo based Centre for Policy Alternatives, out of the total registered voters who are eligible to cast their votes in Jaffna Municipal Council elections, 11.6 percent are detained in several camps for displaced in Jaffna district while over one fifth of the IDPs are living out of the district. This includes the Tamils as well as the Muslim population who were displaced from the peninsula due to the conflict in the recent past. The entire province has been recently brought under the control of an ex-military officer who was appointed as the Governor. A similar move was earlier implemented in the Eastern province.

While methods of selective terror such as abductions and targeted killings have been frequently exercised against the civilian community in the area, free press has always suffered immensely for voicing the concerns of the victims. On the 23rd of June, thousands of copies of the local newspapers, Valampuri, Uthayan and Thinakkural (Jaffna edition), were burnt into ashes by an armed group backed by the government, for defying publishing an anonymous notice.

In the above context, it is obvious that the outcome of the local government elections in Jaffna and Vavunia, will simply reflect the precarious realities prevailing in the area. The elections will naturally intensify the violence that has already been a part of the day to day life of a community living under the shadow of guns. Hence it is not difficult to understand the true motive behind the government’s decision to bar independent media from covering the elections.

Therefore, while condemning the government’s decision, the JDS calls upon the democratic forces in the country as well as the responsible international bodies to demand that Sri Lanka be open up to media and human rights scrutiny as a first step to restore democracy in the country.

Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) is an action group of journalists, writers, artists and human rights defenders in exile who are campaigning for democracy, human rights and media freedom in Sri Lanka.

Executive Committee
Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka

07.08.2009

Read More

Summary only

Tamil Net : Details emerge on Tamil media workers killed in Vanni

TamilNet recently compiled details on Tamil journalists and media workers confirmed killed during the height of war in Vanni, between March and May. The list is not exhaustive. These media persons, committed to the human cause and engaged in the noble task of bringing out information to the people inside and to the world outside, have laid down their lives in achieving what the international media shamefully couldn't accomplish. TamilNet will be serialising compilations on the losses of other humanitarian workers too in due course.


Maheswaran from Jaffna:

Maheswaran, who was Mullaiththeevu district in-charge for Eezhanaatham daily, the only newspaper that was coming from the LTTE controlled Vanni, was killed on 06 March while travelling on Maaththa'lan - Valaignarmadam Road. He was on journalistic assignment when he was killed.

In addition to his responsibilities with Eezhanaatham, Mr. Maheswaran was working freelance to TamilNet, assisting TamilNet's Chief Correspondent in Vanni.

On the fateful day, he was on his way back after setting up TamilNet's communication equipment to get electric charge at a civilian facility. Such facilities of generators were available only in one or two places inside the 'safety zone'.

Maheswaran was killed in Sri Lanka Army (SLA) shelling that hit his right eye and head. There were many people on the road at that time and 24 civilians were killed in the indiscriminate SLA shelling along with Maheswaran.

Maheswaran joined Eezhanatham as a media worker in 2000 when the newspaper was functioning at Puthukkudiyiruppu of Mullaiththeevu district. He actively contributed relocating the newspaper office to Ki'linochchi. Initially, he was a Purchase Assistant, and later performed several functions, including reporting.

During peace times, he was working in Vavuniyaa district and later, recognised for his talents, he was in-charge of all activities of the newspaper in Jaffna peninsula. He had to face many death threats during this time. When situation worsened in Jaffna, Maheswaran was withdrawn to Ki'linochchi and became manager of the paper for the Mullaiththevu district.

He joined TamilNet for freelance work in 2007.

When there was widespread aerial attack on PTK, large number of people were killed and injured. He was prompt in reporting details to the TamilNet Office in Vanni. Information on several aerial attacks reached the outside world within a couple of hours because of his contribution. During a time when communication facilities were scarce in Vanni, his manual collection of news and reporting made invaluable contribution to TamilNet.

When people were confined to the strip of land between Maaththa'lan and Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal, and when they were killed and maimed in hundreds every day, visiting all places became impossible for the TamilNet's Chief Correspondent. During this time, Maheswaran personally went to Pokka'nai and Valaignarmadam, and his eyewitness accounts of the civilian killings by the Sri Lankan forces were reported to TamilNet.

Maheswaran had already lost one of his legs in an SLA artillery attack in the war before the year 2000.

Antonykumar of Paranthan, Ki'linochchi:

Antonykumar was killed on 14 May 2009 at Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal in an RPG attack by the SLA. He was storekeeper for Eezhanaatham. Because of his efforts, the printing material for Eezhanaatham was preserved until the end even when everything was moved to the safety-zone. He also worked as an assistant to reporters and occasionally as a reporter by himself.

Rooban, 27:

Mr. Rooban also died on 14 May 2009 in SLA attack on civilians. Both Rooban and Antonykumar were killed in front of their family members. Rooban was working as a computer operator in Eezhanaatham. He was working since 2006 for the newspaper and worked hard in bringing out the newspaper under trying conditions. He was also engaged in distribution of the newspaper when people were confined to the safety-zone. Two months before his death, on 07 March 2009, he received injuries to his leg when the SLA was firing on civilians at Maaththa'lan junction.

Sasimathan from Mu'l'liya-va'lai:

Sasimathan, Eezhanatham's distributor for Mullaiththeevu district, was killed in SLA artillery attack on civilians at Ira'naip-paalai. Many civilians were killed along with him. He was working with Eezhanaatham since 2001.

Densey, 25, from Kanakapuram, Ki'linochchi:

Densey and her husband were killed in SLA artillery attack at Pokka'nai while they were at home. The couple had a one-year-old child, which narrowly escaped death. Densey, who joined Eezhanaatham in 2003, was a computer operator. She worked with full commitment at Eezhanaatham even at a time when Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) was continuously bombing the surroundings of Eezhanaatham office at Ki'linochchi.

Anton, 36:

Anton, father of two children, was killed in SLA artillery attack while on media work and riding a motorbike at Ira'naip-paalai area. 11 civilians were killed along with him in the attack. Anton, who joined Eezhanaatham in 2006 as a distributor, became its machine operator later. At a difficult time, he worked day and night, many days neglecting to fulfil the needs of his own family, in shifting the machines and the stores of the newspaper. Eezhanaatham was moved from Ki'linochchi to Tharmapuram first and then again from Tharmapuram to Mu'l'li-vaaykkaal. The last displacement was particularly dangerous amidst torrents of artillery shells and gunfire. Yet, due to the devotion of the workers, most needed items were transported and the newspaper was re-published. During this transportation 9 media workers were almost caught by the SLA, but narrowly escaped. Anton was one of them.

© TamilNet

Read More

Summary only