Sri Lankan military: Last Tamil rebel stronghold captured

[Nikos]

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/as...i.lanka.tamil/

(CNN) -- After three days of gun battles, the Sri Lankan military said it has captured the last stronghold of the Tamil Tiger rebels and killed five rebel leaders.
"Soldiers of 53 and 58 divisions and TF-VIII captured entire Puthukkudiyiruppu area, the last base station of the LTTE terrorists this morning," the military said in a statement posted on its Web site Sunday.
A "couple of hundred" rebels could be "hiding" in a 20-square-kilometer area designated as the "safety zone," military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara told CNN.
There will be no military offensive in that area, he said, as it has a civilian population of about 50,000 people.
Five rebel leaders were killed, the statement said, and a sixth was critically injured. More than 250 dead bodies of rebels were recovered, bringing the total number of bodies recovered during the last three days up to 420, the military said. Weapons were also recovered, according to the statement.
At least 110 rebels have surrendered to the military, army sources told CNN.
There was no immediate reaction from the Tamil Tiger rebels.

The organization has fought since 1983 for an independent homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority. The civil war has left more than 70,000 people dead.

Could this finally be the end of the Civil War? Are the Tamil tigers defeated?

[Virgil]

It's nearly impossible to defeat a guerrilla force which is now effectively what that the LTTE are. They will most likely simply fight out of the no fire zone set up by the govt for civilians. We have to keep in mind that both sides grossly overestimate enemy casualties and the LTTE fought their way back from something like this back in the 80's when they first started.

[IndianPrince]

I am really tired of this nonsense. Sri Lanka has so much potential to rise out of the destruction and misery its people are in. It could've been a good economic partner and powerful economic force in the subcontinent. But this LTTE nonsense is just draining away resources and manpower to something that is counter-productive and destructive. And even India seems not to be interfering in this, since the last time we did that our prime minister got assasinated !!!

Prince

[ShADoW]

Pakistan can learn from Sri Lanka

[Arjun]

There is no smoke without fire; and the LTTE grew out of 4 decades of failed Ahimsa(non-violent) protests by Tamils against the Sinhala dominated Srilankan government's policy against the minority Tamils. Such non-violent protests were met with extreme government-backed violence that resulted in multiple anti-tamil pogroms. So after decades of futile attempts a segment of the Tamil youth started bearing arms to further their cause


For those Interested in knowing about the causes behind this issue; I would suggest the BB documentary "Ethnic Unrest In Srilanka"

its a very comprehensive documentary that gives a very good overview of this issue

Ethnic Unrest In Srilanka -BBC Documentary part 1


part2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GoMJy...A3D21A&index=2

part3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sKRPQ...A3D21A&index=3

part4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XLH5x...A3D21A&index=4




SomeCore events that led up to the civil war

1) Sinhala Only Act

After Independence the Sinhala dominated government Banned Tamil and English as official languages And made Sinhala the Sole official language. This led to the unemployment of English/Tamil Educated Tamil professionals...their posts were filled with illiterate Sinhala villagers who did not know a single word of english....


2)
Government sponsored anti tamil pogroms
Sri Lankan riots of 1958

Sri Lankan riots of 1977

Black July Riots

3)
Burning of the Jaffna Library by Srilankan Government Troops

The burning of the Jaffna library was an important event in the ongoing Sri Lankan civil war. An organized mob went on a rampage on the nights of May 31 to June 2, 1981, burning the Jaffna public library. It was one of the violent examples of ethnic biblioclasm of the twentieth century.The library at the time of destruction was one of the biggest in Asia containing over 97,000 unique books and unique manuscript.







CEylonese Tamils value Education highly, and the Burning of the Library is considered a turning point in the ethnic conflict as this turned all Tamils against the government. The Ceylonese Tamils were known for their academic excellence (Asia's first Surgeon was a Ceylonese Tamil, the First Asian to be Knighted(and the second one too) was a Ceylonese Tamil..amongst other things)



- depriving a section of Eelam Tamils of their citizenship,

- declaring the Sinhala flag as the national flag,

- colonising parts of the Tamil homeland with Sinhala people,

- imposing Sinhala as the official language,

- discriminating against Tamils students seeking University admission,

- depriving Tamil language speakers of employment in the public sector,

- dishonouring agreements entered into with the Tamil parliamentary political leadership,

- refusing to recognise constititutional safeguards against discrimination,

- later removing these constitutional safeguards altogether,

- giving to themselves an authocthonous Constitution with a foremost place for Buddhism,

- and changing the name of the island itself to the Sinhala Buddhist name of Sri Lanka



For a longer List (with sources) pls expand this section

Spoiler Alert, click show to read: 

The Record Speaks...

• Plantation Tamils deprived of citizenship - 1948/50
• Sinhala Lion Flag imposed as National Flag by majority will
• Sinhala colonisation of Tamil Homeland
• Enactment of Sinhala Only Law - 1956
• Tamil Parliamentarians attacked & 150 Tamils killed - 1956
• Genocide - Genocide '58

"What are we left with (in 1958)? A nation in ruins, some grim lessons which we cannot afford to forget and a momentous question: Have the Sinhalese and Tamils reached the parting of ways?" Tarzie Vittachi: Emergency 1958

• Sinhala army attacks Tamil Satyagrahis - 1961
• Tamils squeezed out of Higher Education - 1971
• Discrimination in Education in Sri Lanka - paper presented by Professor C Jeyaratnam Eliezer
• Name of Country changed from Ceylon to Sinhala Sri Lanka
  & Buddhism given foremost place in Constitution - 1972
• Repeal of Constitutional safeguards for minorities - 1972
• Eleven Tamils killed at 4th International Tamil Conference in Jaffna - 1974
• Suppression of peaceful Tamil resistance -1972 to 1975
• Organised pogrom against Tamils - 1977
• Rise of the armed resistance of the Tamil people
• Tamil resistance met with Sri Lankan state terrorism - 1979
• Rigging of Jaffna DDC Elections - 4 June 1981
• V.Yogeswaran - the Story of an MP who Escaped Murder, 9 June 1981
• Destruction of Jaffna Public Library - 1981
• Continued attacks on Tamil civilians - July/August 1981
• Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka, Professor Virginia A. Leary - Report of an ICJ Mission to Sri Lanka in July-August 1981.
• Tamils Under Attack - September 1981
• Plantation Tamils Subjected To Terror
• Anti Tamil, anti Hindu offensive in Mullaitivu - 1982
• Violation of the right to free elections - 1982
• Interference with the judiciary and violation of the Rule of Law - 1982/83
• Tamils detained without charge or trial - 1979/83
• Sri Lanka Terrorism Act -'ugly blot on statute book of any civilised country'
• Torture - almost universal practise of Sri Lankan authorities says ICJ
• University of Peradeniya – May 1983: When Majesty Stoops to Folly - The Beginnings of Mass Mobilisation for the Tamil Militancy UTHR Special Report
• Genocide - Genocide '83...

"Clearly this was not a spontaneous upsurge of communal hatred among the Sinhala people.. It was a series of deliberate acts, executed in accordance with a concerted plan, conceived and organised well in advance. But who were the planners?... Communal riots in which Tamils are killed, maimed, robbed and rendered homeless are no longer isolated episodes; they are beginning to become a pernicious habit." Paul Sieghart Q.C. Report of a Mission to Sri Lanka on behalf of the International Commission of Jurists, March 1984

• International Commission of Jurists - The Review, December 1983

"A government spokesman has denied that the destruction and killing of Tamils amounted to genocide. Under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, acts of murder committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group as such are considered as acts of genocide. The evidence points clearly to the conclusion that the violence of the Sinhala rioters on the Tamils amounted to acts of genocide."

• Chunnakam massacre and extra judicial killings of Tamils - 1984
• Events affecting the Judiciary - 1977 to 1984
• The plea that went unheeded - K.V.Nadarajah, August 1984
• Case Study of Torture, Sri Lanka Style - 1984
• Sri lanka Army terrorises another Jaffna school - November 1984
• Sinhala army murders Christian priests - 1984/85
• Arbitrary killings and torture - 1985
• Synopsis of extra judicial killings by an independent law group - 1979 to May 1985
• Sri Lanka Navy murders passengers on Kumithini - May 1985
• Amnesty Reports on 163 Extra Judicial Killings of Tamils in May 1985
• An Episode of Persecution - Paul Nallanayagam on Special Task Force and Extra Judicial Killings
• The Massacre in Tiriyai - the village that died on 15 June 1985
• 52 Tamil villages in Trincomalee area razed to the ground in two months - September 1985
• Amnesty File on Sri Lanka Torture - October 1985
• Amnesty confronts Sri Lanka's denial of torture - December 1985
• Iruthayapuram Massacre: eye witness account - January 1986
• Akkaraipattu Massacre & Arbitrary killing of Tamils - 1986
• The Kokkadaicholai Massacre - 1987
• Security forces continue to kill, chain and incarcerate non combatant Tamils - 1987
• UN Commission on Human Rights calls for Red Cross intervention - 1987
• Indian army intervenes at invitation of Sri Lanka government - 1987
• Rajiv Gandhi's War Crimes
  "...as an Indian I feel ashamed that under the Indo Sri Lanka agreement, our forces are fighting with Tamils whom they went to protect..."I believe that the Indian Government had betrayed its own culture and ethics...The guilt, therefore, rests entirely on those who sent them to do this dastardly business of fighting in Sri Lanka against our Tamil brothers and sisters..." India's former Foreign Secretary, A.P.Venkateshwaran, speaking in London in April 1988
  "...no Sinhalese, no Sinhalese soldiers were killed... only the Indian soldiers and the LTTE (were killed). Yes, (I had to invite a foreign army to do this on our sovereign soil)... I was doing what so many Sinhala kings had done in the past in similar circumstances." - ex President Jayawardene, Interview with Mervyn de Silva, Lanka Guardian, 15 July 1990
• Thileepan's fast - and Jaffna, September to November 1987
• Two Harrowing Weeks in Jaffna - September/October 1987 - An Eye Witness Account
• Velupillai Pirabakaran On the Arrrest & Death of Kumarappa, Pulendran and Others
• India Must Stop Repression of Tamils - N. Sanmugathasan
• Tamils Killed and Injured by Indian Army in Jaffna between 10 - 16 October, 1987
• The Agony of Urumpiray
• Diwali Day massacre at Jaffna General Hospital - November 1987
• People Face Starvation & Slow Death - Citizens Committee to Indian Prime Minister
• Case of a Mother and Son murdered in cold blood by IPKF
• India's war in Jaffna - Eduardo Marino's Report to International Alert
• Indian army's war crimes - 1987
• Rape of Tamil women by Indian Army - 1987/88
• 3000 Civilians Forced by IPK to Squat under Scorching
  Sun for Nine Hours
• Annai Poopathy's fast for freedom - 1988
• Detention without Trial, Torture - 1988
• Torture & Reprisal attacks by India and Sri Lanka - 1989
• India's My Lai - the Valvettiturai Massacre - 1989
• Sri Lanka's Deputy Defence Minister on the rule of law...
• Kannapuram Massacre, July 1990
• Planned genocidal attack on Tamils in the East - 1990
• 180 Tamils butchered at Saththurukondan - September 1990
• Hundreds of Tamils 'Disappear' after detention by Sri Lanka - 1990
• Sri Lanka bombs Jaffna Hospital & other Tamil civilian centres - 1990
• Calculated disinformation campaign by Sri Lanka government
• Amnesty launches 3 month campaign against Sri Lanka - 19 September 1990
• Thousands of Tamils extra judicially executed says Amnesty - 1990
• Tamil detainees systematically tortured -1991
• Kokaddicholai massacre - June 1991
• On the use of Governmental Aggression to Suppress a Minority's Quest for Self Determination - Deanne Hodgin, July 1991
• Human Rights violations continue at 'an alarming rate' - 1992
• India's Act of Piracy, January 1993
• New spate of disappearances & extra judicial killings - 1993
• The torture of Arulapu Jude Arulrajah - October 1993
• Over 1,000 Tamil civilians killed in the three years bombing of Jaffna says British Refugee Council, July 1993
• 200 Tamils civilians killed in air and navy attacks in 1993 alone, September 1993
• "This is organised State terrorism" say Bishop D.J.Ambalavanar, Bishop Thomas Saundranayagam , and Nallai Thiru Sampandar Atheenam
• Churches and Temples Bombed, January 1994
• Sri Lanka airforce strafes Tamil villages
• Sri Lanka Airforce Bombs Schools in Jaffna
• Sri Lanka Airforce targets Tamil civilian population, March 1994
• Hospitals bombed in Tamil Homeland
• Genocide Genocidal War - 1995 to 2001

The genocidal intent of the Sri Lanka government is proved by -

• the 'broad front steamrollering' attack launched on the Jaffna peninsula;
• the deliberation with which the Sri Lanka security forces have killed Tamil non combatants, shelled densely populated Tamil villages, destroyed Tamil homes and cultivable land, bombed Tamil schools and places of worship, and blocked the supply of essential food and medicine to the Tamil homeland;
• the persistent and frequent breaches by Sri Lanka authorities of the laws and regulations relating to arrest and detention and the unprecedented number of "disappearances";
• the systematic use of torture and rape as instruments of state terrorism;
• the mass graves;
• the use of Tamil civilians as human mine detectors and as forced labour;
• the murder of Tamil prisoners whilst in the custody of Sri Lanka authorities;
• the imposition of a press censorship which went beyond any needs of 'national security';
• by calculated resort to disinformation and war mongering;
• the public pronouncements of President Kumaratunga and her ministers, together with the 'victory' ceremony on establishing 'Sinhala rule' of Jaffna; and
• the failure of President Chandrika Kumaratunga and her government to condemn the gross and systematic violations of humanitarian law by the forces under their command and the impunity afforded to the offenders.

It's nearly impossible to defeat a guerrilla force which is now effectively what that the LTTE are. They will most likely simply fight out of the no fire zone set up by the govt for civilians. We have to keep in mind that both sides grossly overestimate enemy casualties and the LTTE fought their way back from something like this back in the 80's when they first started.

Indeed. Furthermore any military action would result in zero positive result because the core issues remain unsolved.


And last but not the least; The Srilankan Government has been Accused of genocide/massacring of civilians by the Human rights Watch, Amnesty International, Doctors without border's, UNICEF and the Norwegian SLMM(Srilankan monitoring mission).


The US State Department lists Sri Lanka as an investigatory target in the Office of War Crimes. The New York-based Genocide Prevention Project last December labeled Sri Lanka as a country of "highest concern."



a good article from the boston Globe
Genocide in Sri Lanka

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/ed..._in_sri_lanka/



PS: even though i do not give Wiki as a credible source; the following link has many a links to reputable sources and also gives a very good overview of the multiple anti Tamil pogroms carried out by the Srilankan State

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riots_a...s_in_Sri_Lanka

Pakistan can learn from Sri Lanka

lol you mean how to slaughter the minorities and establish a religious theocracy?(albeit Buddhism being the state religion.). Lol they are a Disgrace to true Buddhists...i mean those Srilankan Monks who call for a war against the minorities.

And even India seems not to be interfering in this, since the last time we did that our prime minister got assasinated !!!

Prince

not really....India is providing Arms, Ammunition & Training to the Srilankan government. Your Tax $ pay for the death of 1000s of civilians...and most of India does not even know about it.. Even though i dislike the religious policies of the BJP; at least they did not supply the genocidal srilankan government with weapons.