An official at the District Secretariat, Kilinochchi, Santhalingam Vimalakumar, was killed by a claymore attack of the Deep Penetration Unit of the Sri Lanka military today, July 25 in Kilavankulam, Mankulam, Tamil Daily Virakesari reported on its website, quoting sources in Vanni.
Vimalakumar (33), Development Assistant of Planning Unit, was engaged in assisting the internally displaced families moving into the Oddisuddan area over the past few days, according to Virakesari.
News reports say all officials at district and divisional levels are engaged in serving the IDPs arriving on a large scale exodus from Sri Lanka Army occupied areas of Mannaar, Kilinochchi and Mullaiththivu districts.
Last month, Nagalingam Nanthakumar, Divsional Secretary of Thunukkaay division of Mullaiththivu district was killed in a similar attack while traveling to his office.
The fire that was set 25 years ago is still burning within us, says Mano Ganesan
Statement by Mano Ganesan MP, Leader of Western Peoples Front
The fire that was set twenty five years ago which shattered our lives is still burning within us as the conditions prevailed then are yet applicable and not mended. Tamils are prepared to forgive but not prepared to forget the trauma of 1983 as the Sinhala political leadership has failed provide the sense of accommodation even after all these black historical past said WPF Leader Mano Ganesan MP while addressing the workshop organized by National Peace Council in Colombo today. The workshop was chaired by NPC Executive Director Dr. Jehan Perera and attended by Minister of Constitutional Affairs Dew Gunasekara, Secretary General of Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process and Secretary of Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha and Ven. Buddiyagane Chandraratna, Chief Incumbent Bodhimalu Viharaya, Vanathavilu and President of Puttalam Peace Forum and many others. Ganesan said further in his presentation made in Sinhala.
[Mano Ganesan MP speaks on July 1983 Riots]
[Video Courtesy of vikalpa]
Sinhala film director Yasapalitha Nanayakara deputed by my late father’s friend Vijaya Kumaratunga saved all the members of our family from instant death at Havelock Town in Colombo on the fateful July 23rd in year 1983. I can remember it as I remember yesterday. But from personal experiences we ought to search for the root causes of the issues. Unless and until we address the root cause, basics of the black July are going to remain. What performed then in 1983 against Tamils was initiated by state terrorism and it is what is prevailing against Tamils now in 2008. We cannot also simply by pass the occurrences of 1989. During this period state terrorism ruthlessly performed against Sinhala youths. The Secretary General of the Peace secretariat attempted to condemn then government headed by president J.R. Jayawardena and his minister Cyril Mathew for 1983 July pogroms and stop with that. We cannot do justice to 1983 victims by doing so. Let us together condemn the occurrences of 1983, 1989 and 2008. And not stopping with that we condemn the non state terrorism then and now. That comment is about the terrorism of LTTE and EPRLF, PLOTE, TELO, EROS and then EPDP and the JVP. There are legitimate and illegitimate activities form the side of the state. Similarly there are rational and raw terror activities from the side of the liberation movements. But we cannot selectively condemn according to the present political agenda. The LTTE did not fall from the sky. So are the EPRLF, PLOTE, TELO, EROS, EPDP and JVP. The conditions for the formations of these respective armed violent movements were created by the successive governments in the first twenty five years of the history of Ceylon and then Sri Lanka. This history is being continued. The root cause is that the desire of the Sinhala-Buddhist establishment to own the whole of Sri Lankan island for themselves alone. The adamant refusal to share the sovereignty and political power with the Tamil nationality and Tamil speaking Muslim people is THE root cause. This is the plain truth. Acceptance of this will pave way for mending ways towards a united Sri Lanka. But the root cause is not being addressed today. There is no attempt on that score. Instead there are attempts on certain non-priority issues like teaching Tamil to Sinhala state officials. Yes, the language barrier is an issue. But it is not the number one issue anymore among the Tamils. Those who fought from Anti-War platforms have stepped down. They have given up anti-war slogans. They do not even speak against the human rights violations now. Nobody wanted to antagonize the government. They have taken the language issue now, which is an easier non controversial issue. Most importantly it will not antagonize the government. That is the bottom line. Government too welcomes such issue because through these language programs it has something show up to the international community.
Look at me and my desire. I wanted to live with Sinhalese in a united country. When I went to Western Provincial Council in year 1999, I did not speak Sinhala. I did not speak Sinhala when I first entered Parliament in year 2001. I did not speak Sinhala when I entered Parliament for the second time in year 2004. Believe me, I learned Sinhala after. Now I make speeches in Sinhala in Parliament and in media. Today I am speaking in Sinhala. I am talking of the Tamil aspirations to the Sinhala brothers and sisters in their own language. This is out of my desire. Those Sinhala politicians who come here and make great rhetoric statements regarding Sinhala Tamil communication have never attempted to study Tamil. They may speak some Tamil but I am yet to meet Sinhala politicians who speak Tamil as the way I speak Sinhala.
My message today is very clear. If the refusal to share the sovereignty and political power with the Tamil nationality and Tamil speaking Muslim people continues, I am afraid that I will end up as the last Tamil politician speaking to Sinhalese in Sinhala. That will be end of my desire, the Tamil desire of living together.
The government is not giving the due respect to judiciary and parliament. It is taking measures that are in violation of court orders. People’s freedoms and rights are being snatched away. Recent home demolitions were carried out by government officials despite court order restricting such actions, said Joseph Michael Perera of the United National Party (UNP), and Member of Parliament representing Gampaha district while speaking at the Parliament yesterday.
Joseph Michael Perera, who is also the Chief Opposition Whip in the Sri Lanka Parliament called upon the government to adequately compensate those who are now homeless due to the demolition, according to a news report published in Tamil daily Virakesari.
The newspaper adds that the parliamentarian pointed out to several other international summits was held in Colombo with dignitaries such as Prime Ministers Rajiv Gandhi and P. V. Narasimha Rao attended but public were not expelled from homes.
But the ‘Mahinda Chinthana’ has thrown the people out to the streets from their homes of over sixty years, parliamentarian Joseph Michael Perera said.
Vikalpa is a citizen journalism initiative located in Sri Lanka. It aims to build on the success of citizen journalism pioneered by the Centre for Policy Alternatives by providing content in Sinhala and Tamil that explore oftentimes hidden facets of democracy and governance in Sri Lanka.
Following videos are from Vikalpa on the July 1983 anti-Tamil riots:
A Colombo University student:
Leader of the Western People’s Front, Mano Ganesan MP:
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian R.Sampanthan MP:
The sacred statue of Our Lady of Madhu, which was taken away to Thevanpiddy in April was brought back to the Mannar Bishop’s House on Tuesday across the Omanthai entry / exit point, Colombo Tamil daily Thinakkural reported today.
As war is spreading in the surrounding areas and people in Thevanpiddy also face displacement, the sacred statue of Our Lady of Madhu was brought back to the Mannar Bishop’s House.
[Our Lady of Madhu, file pic]
Renovations of the Madhu church now underway are expected to be completed during the first week of next month, at a cost of Rs. 1.5 million, and the sacred statue of Our Lady of Madhu will be installed in the near future, according Thinakkural.
Sri Lanka Army entered Madhu area after a lapse of nearly ten years on April 25 this year.
Amidst tight restrictions by the Government of Sri Lanka on access to Vanni and coverage by media personnel, the tragedy that has unfolded in Vanni region largely remains untold to the out side world, the Peace Secretariat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said in a statement today.
Fleeing Internally Displaced Persons live in open spaces in Vanni
Full Text of the statement:
IDPs unseen
The latest estimate of the number of IDPs inside Vanni is around 110,000 and 35,000 of them are preschool and school children. People moving with their possessions in carts and tractor-trailers on the roads are a common sight in Vanni.
The rain is multiplying the woes of the IDPs
Indeed several schools have displaced too. Schools that are not displaced must now intake the displacing children and teachers. The chaos and workload has forced the even the schools that are not displaced to halt their end of term examinations.
With the Sri Lankan Government artificially creating severe shortages in Vanni there are long delays in providing even the very basics like food to the displaced people. To bring the IDPs under a decent roof could take several months. Even INGOs are struggling with shortages in their efforts to assist the IDPs as a result of restrictions imposed by the Sri Lanka Government.
As if to multiply the woes of the IDPs, Kilinochchi has already seen several days of rain since the latest wave of displacement to Kilinochchi began. The problems faced by the IDPs must be seen to be believed.
Yet, the woes of the IDPs remain mostly unseen due to the imposition of fuel restrictions because local media personnel in Vanni are also suffering the same fuel shortage faced by everyone else.
Neither are the international media present in Vanni to cover the disaster.
