Facilities inadequate in Lanka camps: Doctors

Doctors treating displaced Tamils in the government-run welfare camps in Sri Lanka’s north have written a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse complaining about inadequate facilities and shortage of medical staff.

"It is difficult to stay in these shelters. The doctors examine patients from 7 o’clock in the morning to 7 o’clock in the night (in the Menik camps in Vavuniya). They need a proper place to sleep. The doctors do night shift. They are virtually alone there. There is no adequate nurse or staff members," a representative of the doctors told reporters here.

Spokesman for the Government Medical Officers Association (GMOA) Upul Gunasekara said that only 50 doctors were available for treating over 2.5 lakh Tamils in these camps.

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Top Tiger is cremated, India seeks certificate

The Sri Lankan military cremated LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and his senior lieutenants on Wednesday at the same place where their bodies were found by the Army — at a lagoon in the battle zone — the previous day.

“We cremated his body yesterday in the same place. All the other LTTE leaders who were killed along with him were also cremated there at the same time,” the military spokesman, Brig.Udaya Nanayakkara, told this newspaper here.

Asked if the Tiger chief’s remains were subjected to a DNA test to establish his identity beyond doubt, he said, “Our doctors may have taken some blood samples, but we feel there is no need for any DNA testing because there is absolutely no doubt it’s him.”

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Lanka halts combat ops, airstrikes; it’s not truce

Under mounting international pressure, including from India, Sri Lanka on Monday said it would immediately stop airstrikes and the use of heavy weapons in the war zone, but President Mahinda Rajapakse made it clear that it was not a ceasefire.

“It is not a ceasefire. Freeing the people who are kept there as hostages is my duty... Till the last hostage who is there is out from LTTE hold, we will continue... We are not bothered or worried about Prabhakaran (LTTE supremo) or any other person,” Mr Rajapakse said.

India had initially interpreted the Sri Lankan announcement that the combat operations have reached their conclusion and that the forces would not use heavy calibre guns, combat aircraft and aerial weapons as a “cessation of hostilities”.

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48-hour ceasefire begins in Lanka

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Sunday announced a 48-hour ceasefire beginning midnight amid fears that an estimated 100,000 civilians trapped in the crossfire in the northeast could be in deep danger with the troops literally breathing down their refuge in a state-declared “no fire zone”, looking for the remaining Tiger cadres and their elusive chief Velupillai Prabhakaran.

A statement from the President’s office said he had ordered the armed forces “to remain defensive” during the Sinhala and Tamil New Year celebrations starting Monday. Government sources said the ceasefire would be in operation for 48 hours but the troops would retaliate if the Tigers fired at them.

The state-run Sunday Observer newspaper in Colombo claimed that Prabhakaran had agreed to a “rescue mission by a Western country” to evacuate the trapped civilians. Quoting diplomatic sources, the paper said the Tiger chief “has apparently agreed to a rescue mission by a Western country...

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Team India in jeans gaffe, but President smiles

Indian cricketers caused a minor protocol hiccup by wearing jeans and casual team jerseys for a reception hosted by Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse at his Temple Trees residence here on Wednesday as part of Sri Lankan Independence Day celebrations and also to extend the visiting team the courtesy of the head of state.

The Sri Lankan team turned up in the team’s formal wear and many of them seemed distinctly uncomfortable seeing their rivals in jeans.

However, President Rajapakse himself seemed relaxed and in high spirits, still nursing the pride of the morning’s Galle Face Greens parade of his country’s military might. He mixed well with the Indians, posed for photographs and had a special word of warmth for Sachin Tendulkar.

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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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Lanka Offers 48 Hours Truce

Sri Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse late on Thursday announced cessation of hostilities by his troops “for the next 48 hours” to allow safe passage “to a secure environment” for all the civilians trapped in the conflict zone and urged the LTTE to allow the civilians to freely move to safety during this period.

“I urge the LTTE within the next 48 hours to allow free movement of civilians to ensure their safety and security. For all those civilians, I assure safe passage to a secure environment. I also assure all those living in the north, and in conflict areas in particular, that vacating LTTE-held areas will ensure their physical security and enable peace, freedom and rights for all citizens of this country,” President Rajapakse said in a “special statement” here.

The President said it was unfortunate that the LTTE was “exploiting the safe zone, declared by the security forces for the civilians, to use as an artillery launching pad to attack security forces and indiscriminately kill civilians.”

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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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Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam morale plunges as it loses 2 bases

Advancing Sri Lankan troops have intensified the battle near the LTTE-controlled headquarters of Kilinochchi amidst fierce resistance by the Tamil Tigers and are now consolidating their position near Mannar, officials said on Sunday.

Sri Lanka Army offensive divisions in the Wanni theatre of operations are now marching towards the Kilinochchi built up in three frontiers, defence sources said.

They said Army Task Force 1 and 57 Division have launched attacks at the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam held earth bund on the outskirts of Kilinochchi.

According to the latest reports, pitched battles are going on in the north of Adampan, South of Adampan and Therumurikandi areas near Mannar since early on Sunday morning.

Army Task Force 1 launched a pre-dawn offensive targeting LTTE defence in the North of Adampan area.

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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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