Tamils stay indoors on Independence Day

Indicating that President Mahinda Rajapakse’s healers will take some time to sink into their psyche, Tamils across Sri Lanka chose to stay indoors while the rest of the society hoisted the Lion flag atop homes and offices celebrating the nation’s 61st Independence Day on Wednesday.

Tamil sources in Colombo said three reasons led to the decision to stay at home, rather than venturing out near the Galle Face Green to try catching a glimpse of the celebrations by the Indian Ocean. “We will have to pass through so many check-posts even if we step out to go to the shop and it’s going to be tougher today with heightened security. Also, we could not bring ourselves to celebrate when our people are dying in the Wanni, whether they are militants or just civilians,” said a Tamil MP, who did not want to be named.

“Besides, the TV at home was relaying the I-Day show live, so why go through the hassles of travelling there?

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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam holds over 200,000 captive

New Delhi's silence was as welcome for Colombo as it was worrying for ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka. As Sri Lankan fighter jets and attack helicopters pounded LTTE positions on Monday, the Tamils fbared for the safbty of civilians in the Wanni area and those others trapped behind LTTE lines in the jungles of Mullaittivu.

While the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance appealed to New Delhi and Chennai in the same breath to intervene and save the lives of civilians caught in the conflict zone, a moderate section represented by the Tamil United Liberation Front directed its anger at Tamil Nadu chief minister M. Karunanidhi for not being vocal enough on the plight of civilians being used as a human shield by the LTTE. The LTTE is holding over 200,000 civilians captive in the jungles of Mullaittivu, its last bastion, in order to recoup its residual fighting capability and thwart Sri Lankan troops from making further advances.

Gajen Ponnambalam, a Member of Parliament and general secretary of the All Ceylon Tamil Congress (ACTC) - a TNA constituent - said what was happening in Sri Lanka today was "genocide".

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24 die in 2 attacks by Tigers in Lanka

At least 24 civilians were killed, nine of them women, in suspected LTTE bombings of two buses: one near Colombo on Friday morning and the second at central Kandy in the evening. President Mahinda Rajapakse condemned the “repeated acts of brutality by the LTTE in its cowardly strategy of targeting innocent civilians” and appealed to the people to stay calm and “not give in to deliberate provocation aimed at fanning communal hatred and violence”. The Tigers have not yet reacted.

According to the Lankan defence ministry, a road side clay more mine placed at a location between the Shailabimbaramya temple and the University of Moratuwa, the top engineering university in Sri Lanka, was detonated to target a packed civilian bus travelling from Kottawa to Mount Lavinia. The explosion took place around 7.30 am. The initial toll showed 22 dead and over 50 wounded.

Another bomb went off on Friday evening inside a bus at Polgolla in Kandy, about 100 km from Colombo, killing two persons and injuring 12 others. DIG Kingsley Ekanayake said a suspect had been picked up for questioning.

The military said it defused a “high-intensity” clay more at Dehiwella, close to the site where the morning blast occurred.

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