Sri Lanka: situation worsens in no-fire zone
For a while it’s been almost impossible to imagine how savage life must be inside the no-fire zone. But now it’s got even worse.
The shelling of the 3km square patch of coastal land has been going on at an accelerated pace, most accounts suggest, since the weekend.
It’s impossible to know how many have died, but most estimates suggest hundreds, others even thousands.
If you look at a satellite image of the area, you can see dozens of craters – the pock marks that one analyst said were consistent with “widespread shelling”. These are areas where, two weeks ago, there were dozens of tents instead.
The mystery of where all the people have gone deepens. Satellite pictures from a week ago show 11,300 tents, one analysis suggests. Aid workers think about eight people lived in each tent – that’s a guess, but one based on the density of people there about a month ago.
After the weekend, a fresher image shows the tents have completely moved. There are now fewer of them, it seems, cramped into tiny pockets on the southern flank of the area.
One aid worker told me they think each tent might account for 16 people. Where the tents used to be, to the north, there are dozens of craters. It’s impossible to know if they were made before the tents moved, or after.
The situation has become so impossible, the Red Cross can now no longer make it in there.
They were taking out the injured, and bringing in what food they could. This was no easy task – the ship having to dock one kilometre off the shore and send small fibreglass boats to ferry back and forth to the shore. Often under fire.
But now that has stopped. The boat cannot function there. The Red Cross today called the situation an “unimaginable catastrophe“. The makeshift hospital there is being hit so often, it has stopped functioning.
And right now, the Sri Lankan army is pushing forwards. They say they are 1.5km away from dominating the entire coastal strip. They say thousands of civilians are fleeing, and continue to do so. They’ve released more aerial drone footage of this exodus.
You can see people are getting out now, but what’s not been clear for a long time, is where are they going?
For about two weeks, there have been very few people arriving at the huge network of internment camps meant to receive these people in the town of Vavuniya, aid workers say.
Only about 3,000, it’s thought, since the weekend. Many are asking, given that the army says it’s ploughing ahead into the heavily populated no-fire zone, where the escapees are going?
There are fears they are being held somewhere between the coastal strip and this set of internment camps. One aid worker told me 3,000 people are thought to be held in the northern town of Kilinochi – it’s not clear how or where.
So the scene is impossibly bleak: the army is set upon moving forwards, “rescuing” civilians that the White House says it is shelling. The Tamil Tigers have nowhere to run to, and thousands of human shields still at their sides. The UN says the next 24 to 48 hours will be critical. They will probably bring the end of this stand-off, but more worryingly the loss of many more lives.
- More Channel 4 News blog posts on Sri Lanka here.
There are 50 comments on this post
You got caught reporting false infomation about Sri Lankan situation and deported from the Sri Lanka.
I think please stop any more false reporting. it is insulting for a pease loving people.
Nick’s account of his deportation is here:
http://blogs.channel4.com/snowblog/2009/05/10/sri-lankas-rajapaksa-tells-channel-4-news-to-leave/
Can you prove it is an false information?.Do you want living proof? If it is false ,why cant the government show around the country and make the country a democratic country , and not be a communist JVP ruling party?. Who are peace loving people? Rajapaksa brothers are not representating peace loving people?.If they are peace loving people ,why every citizen in Sri Lanka have equal rights.? Why bhuddhist monks are in politics? Why bhuddhism is not practiced as preached?.
GOSL claimed that they have finished off LTTE with a cost of more than 25000 innocent civilian’s life, billions worth of destructions to Tamils people’s properties etc. Our people are begging for food, medicine, shelter etc while GOSL and Sinhala people are celebrating our destructions as their victory. Again they have shown their mentality. So there is no possibility where Tamils can live peacefully in their home land.
You brought the war crimes of SLA by taking Video inside the concentration camps. But, Channel 4 must not have published it immediately. They must have published it after you took more videos inside Trinco Nazi concentration camps and other places. Well done Channel 4.
This kind of shameless socalled journalist never report what is going on Afganistan & Iraq. Bcos they want to hide it form their people who gave taxes for unnecessary war in other countries & only thing is make a fuss regarding Sri Lanka. There is no different between LTTE terrorist propaganda & the junk cahneel 4 reports. Do thes people are going to report what is going on camps which in under US government such as Guantanamo? no never , thats why this kind of shameless reporters should deported.
So, you are only interested in your tax payment, be thankful that this country has given you a home.This Tamil community cleancing is done by the name of the LTTE and Bhuddha.
Im wondering why this media make this much of concern over sri lanka & not pay any attenttion on those who killed in Afganistan by US ari rades? UK & US government doing unnecessary war in other countries as war on terror so why these media are against SL government doing it? These media report that those reports comes form rebels held area through a health worker .So can anyone verify it? Think if someone report like this from area in Afganistan then those western media give this kind of priority for that also? These media should unbiased.
LTTE is carefully planed to lable as terrorist group for this ethinic cleansing. Every country is a different issue, be thank ful to Uk to give every human in the UK to have equal rights, but thats not the case in Sri Lanka. Who is this George.Rajapaksa? he was not selected by the public.
The near 4 minute newscast on Channel 4 is a hostile staccato style outburst against the Sri Lanka military and is undistinguishable from the rhetoric originating from LTTE media sources. Even a semblance of a balancing act is absent to give even an iota of respectability; obvious intention is to discredit the Security Forces and prevent its onward march by hook or by crook. It is part of an act by the biased media to save Prabhakaran, the child snatcher.
It cites nameless faceless unknown aid workers or unknown elderly mothers as sources. The words they utter on the footage are not meaningful until presenter decides to carry the narration according to his fancy. The “shots” of the sources on the newscast look patently juxtaposed to the rest of the footage.
The pictures clearly reveal they were not taken in a camp for refugees; the so call aid workers are filmed in a closed location elsewhere. In the absence of any identification, doctoring it with quotes can be comfortably fabricated. Such sources can be easily made to appear and disappear with words put to mouth. Unidentifiably silhouetted in a dark hazy background their identities will forever be unknown. Therefore putting words into their mouth to disgrace Sri Lanka is easy and can never be checkmated.
Incredible statements are made of dead bodies remaining unattended for days…… Girls being removed from the camps……children trampled while waiting in queues…… lack of food and water…..sexual abuse. No complaint of such nature has been made by any person to anybody until the arrival of the foreign journalist from Channel 4.There are 125000 people in these camps but not a single such complaint until the arrival of channel 4 All this makes the story bizarre. It is still not too late to disclose information with specifics in possession of Channel 4 without vague words accompanied by blurred vision.
Wonder boy of channel 4 – Nick Paton Walsh
Even for an inquiry a complaint with specific are a pre requisite in any country with due process of law. Sri Lanka has Commission sitting inquiring into Human rights violations. Why did those “aid sources” wait remaining mum till Channel 4 arrived especially since they are supposed to be aid workers with easy access to foreign sources. They can even now conjure aid workers so that the hazy information can be tested. Strange, they have not even reported these matters to their own aid agency? Surely they would not have been silent for so long?
The camps have been visited by ICRC, UN envoys and officials and several foreign NGOs and dignitaries, including John Holmes. No such complaints have been made to them. The police are ever present and frequent visitors are the GA and other public officer. Most of these officers and NGO officers are of Tamil origin fluent in the Tamil language. Many complaints have been received by them and attended to by them previously; but never anything in the nature of the complaints on Channel 4.
Channel 4 has a history of discrediting Sri Lanka in previous appearance here. Ironically channel 4 is deaf and dumb on the LTTE. Are they patron saints of the LTTE! Did they ask the civilians in the camps of the life they led under terrorist rule. Probably that is a story they desire not to narrate however news worthy.
Does Channel 4 maintain a code of ethics in journalism by admitting they did an act stealthily? If so they could do many more! We can now gauge their authenticity when they report on human rights.
check this out:
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20090515_13
this is how LTTE rerrorists distribute their fake pictures around the world.
So the government do not give distorted stories? then why there is a censorship ?, This site is a government site, .
Rajapkse did the right thing by kicking you. Stop publishing false news please. People will stop watching C4.
It’s a shame that so many lives have been lost in this bloody war. We & the LTTE have been asking for an immediate ceasefire for the past 6 months. But the world was only waiting until the LTTE (if LTTE is a terrorist organisation is debateable) was destroyed. However, nobody cared for the lives of hundreds of thousands of innocent civilians.
Military victory will not solve the Tamil problem but push us back to 1977 situation (when the armed struggle began). The international community should hang their heads in shame for not preventing this GENOCIDE. The Tamils’ problems came into question only because of the street protests and the continuous occupation of the parliament square. We have no intention of causing any trouble to anyone. May be you are held in traffic for 2 hours, but you are sure of getting home safe (in one piece). The people trapped in the strip of land are being shelled and found like bits of “smashed melon”. It is the killings of innocent civilians which is bringing people to the streets. Who else can speak for those voiceless people, if not us (who fled the GENOCIDE)? Since there is no access for independent media and no access for aid organisations we still have no actual count of the dead and the injured. The well driven Sri Lankan propaganda machine, is reaching its final stage in portraying all Tamils as terrorists (and have also succeeded). However, their mask is about to be removed, but at what cost? Must it cost more than 100,000 innocent Tamil lives?
the comments it self is evidence that the sinhalese and tamils cannot live together anymore and a 2 state solution is the only way out. If there is so much hostility living abroad. Just imagine the situation for Tamils living in SL. I still have family and friends and they have no rights what so ever. They are just living: That’s all.
We need more journalists to be brave like channel4. The news are slowly coming out now and it’s not far before the whole TRUTH is out. But will the government let UN observers and Int. media in? They will need to cover a whole range of abuse and it may take a long time before anybody is let in.
Can’t you see why the west treat the war in Sri Lanka and Pakistan. That is just bcoz Pakistan terrorists are the only threat to the west, specially US and UK.
It is a shame on you Channel4 reporting fabricated lies provided by LTTE. Do you have any verification that that so called health worker is not a LTTE cadre who acts as a independant person? Shame on your channel. Absolutly disgusting.
Good for you to be deported from Sri Lanka. You may learn a lession not to provide false information around the world.
As a dual citizen of both the UK and Sri Lanka, I find it appalling to see the one-sided way that the conflict between the Government Forces there and the Tamil Tiger Terrorists is being portrayed.
The conflict there is not a civil war, nor between a Government & its ‘Rebels’, but between a Sovereign Nation and a band of some of the most cunning and ruthless terrorist forces ever to walk the Earth.
The LTTE are an evil cold blooded band of killers who have terrorised this nation for over three decades.
They are funded by the blackmail & extortion of expatriates in the UK, the US, Canada & Europe, whose families are threatened with torture & death, should they not cough up funds of roughly £50 per family, per month.
Their criminal and money laundering activities are notorious.
They are the first terrorist organisation of their type in the modern era. They make the mafia look petty.
They’re responsible for strings of murders and political assassinations including Rajiv Gandhi.
They are hated by their own people and are quite basically the scum of the earth.
Sri Lanka is a civilised country with Education & Life Expectancy Rates comparable with the West.
In this it is a statistical anomaly, in SE Asia.
Their Government, unlike those in some third world countries, is responsible and forward thinking.
For the sake of its people, both Tamil and Sinhalese, it has been willing to take the step of combatting this ruthless organisation.
It is the Tamil People themselves who were most blighted by this Terrorist threat.
Why then do we see, in every news channel bar Reuters, the espousing of the Tiger cause, and portrayal of just their side of the story?
The LTTE propaganda machine is widespread. They have infiltrated Western Journalism, insidiously over the last thirty years whilst an innocent and naieve Sri Lankan Government did little about it – being poorly funded, disorganised & poorly motivated.
The Tigers, on the other hand seem to have representatives in every port.
(Krishnan Guru Murphy & George Allagaya, for example, are none other than Sri Lankan Tamils).
Please tell me that such infiltrations are not the reason for the lack of impartiality in the coverage of the Liberation of Sri Lanka from its scourge?
I think the conflict in Sri Lanka has been the ONLY example of a (successful) war on terror, that has NOT descended into state run terrorism.
The Sri Lankan Government, I am proud to say, protects & upholds the rights of all its citizens to live in a land free of terror.
May your news stories kindly reflect this side of things in reporting, too, in future?
Yours sincerely,
Mr A. C. B. Ranatunga
The first casualty of war is the truth. By denying the world’s independent media free access to the conflict zone, the Sri Lankan government prevents the world from witnessing the grave atrocities it commits on a daily basis against the Tamils. Well done Mr N Paton Walsh and his team for exposing the conditions in the so called ‘welfare camps’. The government’s decision to deport Mr Paton Walsh et al simply confirms the sinister nature of the Sri Lankan government.
Well said Meera. Yet, you could have avoided the last sentence. I strongly feel you are a noble soul of peace. We should be careful not to hurt others, however much we are emotionally provoked.
Am new around here — hope you would forgive my comment if it touches a raw nerve.
Only you get my vote for others are terribly upset and they will all surely calm down in due course.
Thank you,
“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. My sincerest gratitude to Nick Paton Walsh, his crew and the entire team at Channel 4 news for being good men who are doing something.
Where were these reporters when LTTE killing innocent sinhalese ,muslims and their own tamil people?Neither news corrospondonce nor forieghn ministers of UK,France came to Sri Lanka when LTTE terrorizing Sri Lanka. The way ineternational community reacting to this problem is shameful.They all want to justify the activities of a barbarian terrorist group.
hone where were u when the tamils were being beaten for years before the tigers came along who wouls you like to blame for that, read trhe histroy of this stupid country and its leaders before you have the right to talk on these matters
I was absolutely appalled at the coverage of the Sri Lankan conflict on the Channel 4 news at 18:30 tonight.
Given that Channel 4 is an apparently independent news programme, not in the pocket of the government I did not expect the woman from the Tamils Against Genocide to be interrogated in such a manner. While Channel 4 appeared to cover the story quite well i.e. by highlighting the fact that the Sri Lankan government may, quite rightly, be investigated for war crimes, the manner in which the interview was conducted was highly biased. Giving the woman around 10 seconds to answer the question “are those people lying” regarding the apparent Tamil Tiger hostages, and doing so in such an adversarial manner was terrible. The woman could not be expected to answer such a question, which relates back to colonial Britain, partial sources and a very censored media – both in Sri Lanka and the UK, in the time she was given. The interview was clearly one-sided, apparently trying to show that that Tamil Tigers were terrorists and not freedom fighters for an oppressed people.
I would like to see your news readers interrogate the Sri Lankan government, or indeed the UK government, in such a bulldog fashion.
While I agree with the above comments re. Afghanistan and Iraq I think people must remember that the situations are not mutually exclusive – they are all to do with the extended reach of the imperialist West.
Well done Nick, Please bring more News about Sri Lankan Genocide War
Thank you Nick! By you now the world knows that the Sri Lankan Government Forces and Singhalese Thugs are on Tamil Genocide. If any one speak on support on Tamils they will be arrested or killed and who ever fight against the Genocide are called Terrorists as they called LTTE a terrorist. Ignorant or illiterate people only will believe the SL Government’s statements. LTTE is the only hope for Tamils. We have experienced SL Forces dip Tamil Kids in boiling Tars in 70s. and myself I have my own experience with the SL Forces. They are the most Ruthless, Indiscipline Government Forces in the world. First of all every one should think why LTTE was formed? ONLY to save Tamils from the Sri Lankan Government Genocide. A lie will cannot become a truth by repeating it, that is what SL government and Sinhalese are trying to do.
It seems to me that most of international media including you try to make a living from spreading untruth around the world. Don’t you think it is better to beg rather than doing this kind of un-responsible. Because you al should know that if Sri Lankan government did not care about Tamil civilians inside no-fire zone they could have finish this war in 40 seconds by using a multi barrel rocket launcher (its effective damage is 3.7 sq. km). But they did not. So if you even have a tiny little brain think about that. Shame on reporters like you.
Mr. Nick Paton Walsh,
For Your information, all the civillian held hostage by LTTE is rescued by the Sri Lanka Army.
The truth of what happened in NFZ and CSZ will be revealed soon. So as all your false reporting.
Pls stop writing false articles atleast now onwards.
Prabhakaran is killed and LTTE is finished……….Nick what would you like to say about your friends?
well done srilankan government! hail mahinda rajapaksha and his hero’s! we finished the most deadliest terrorist group without anyones help! what a victory! lets see how these LTTE supportes will react now! guess they will have to shut there mouths, stop there useless protests, go home and get back to doing some work, rather than wasting the tax payers money on rubbish!
Hey nick. Prabakaran is dead… What do you have to say?? You’ll need to find another way of earning money now.. I love Mahinda’s way.. Sri Lanka is the greatest country.
As a tamil person im thanking Mahinda and the government for saving our friendly Tamils. Long live Sri Lanka
yes brother! now all Tamils and Sinhalese can live peacefully! its now one nation, one country and all sri-lankans can live happily ever after!
you are absolutely right. we all had enough. All peace loving sri lankans need to live without any violance. All tamil,sinhalese and muslims realized that truth during this bloody war. We all are Sri Lankans.
Sri Lanka is such a friendly contry and people admire british people but People like Nick and john snow ruining that relatinship to make it hostile towards Britan for no good reason.
LTTE is a terrorist organisation and got to go. Did Nick paton and John snow went to Iraq to reporrt against Britain and US when so many died??
That was collateral damage only allowed for the west??
sri lanka is not a peace loving country. I was born and lived in kandy for over 25 years.the sinhalease hate tamils. I have personal experience since a child.
if mr Rajapakse has helped the people in vanni why is he not doing a dance with them
I beg the world learders to intervene ASAP and help these suffering people PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I BEG YOUR PARDON??? KANDY???? EXCUSE ME IM STILL LIVING IN KANDY FOR THE LAST 35 YEARS AND SINHALESE HAVE TREATED ME VERY WELL……I DONT KNOW WHATS WRONG WITH PEOPLE LIKE YOU TRYING TO PROVE THAT SINHALESE ARE WRONG! BROTHER SINHALESE ARE NOT DEMONS! PLEASE COME TO YOUR SENSES…..WE DONT NEED ANY OUTSIDE INTERFERENCE TO BE A UNITED SRI-LANKA! SO PLEASE DONT TRY TO RUIN OUR BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY BECAUSE TAMILS AND SINHALESE NEED TO LIVE PEACEFULLY
This fight is not over yet! I noticed everyone is blaming LTTE for what have they done so far! Till now they never bombed at innocent civilians. They tried to kill only the ministers, MP’s and others who were against there activities. BUT, Sri Lankan Government and Army killed most of the innocent civilians as well as LTTE. Civilians those who surrendered were captured and kept in the CAMP in Vavuniya. That’s the camp NICK captured in his camera. None of them are allowed to come out or meet anyone for any reason. This is ridicules. One of my cousin who is in UK told me that his cousin sister (22 years) is separated from her parents, ever since they went into that Camp. They haven’t seen her till now…. What happen to that innocent girl ? whom did she harm ? How many other girls might have been captured by Army? Is this what you call independence ?
You Blame LTTE ? For what….! Who started all these discrimination? You guys.
Ever since British ruled Sri Lanka, all of us (Tamils and Sinhalese) were under their control. EVERYONE KEPT QUITE. The time they left they gave the power to D.S.Senanayake (Prime Minister at that time), after him for the sake of becoming Prime Minister of Sri Lanka S. W. R. D. Bandaranaike he announced all over Sri Lanka that he will make Sinhala Language as the main Language, Buddhist Religion as the main Religion and first priority is given for Sinhalese people. Then most of the Sinhalese people voted and elected him as Prime Minister of Sri Lanka.
From then on, most of the Tamils were discriminated on everything. On education, at employment, etc etc. Look at this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4eRrYDaPio
Genocide of Tamils and the Struggle for Tamil Eelam
The concept of Tamil Eelam was developed day by day and Tamils all over the world believe that it will become in reality one day. All of the Tamils have been affected some way or the other by alien Sinhala rulers time to time. The struggle for Tamil Eelam first expressed by our leader S.J.V.Chelvanayagam in 1975 and reinforced by the mandate that we gave to the Tamil United Liberation Front in 1977, and reiterated in the Manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance in 2001. It is also about re-establishing the Tamil Kingdom that the Tamil people enjoyed before the British unified the administration of the island of Ceylon in 1833.
The concept of Tamil Eelam was developed based on two fundamental things/believes.
1. Sinhala people do not want to share any power with Tamils instead they are carrying out genocide attack on Tamils time to time (Genocide of Tamils by majority Sinhalese)
2. Tamils will not live under the oppression any more (Struggle for Tamil Eelam/Freedom)
Genocide of Tamils
“I am not worried about the opinion of the Jaffna people… now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion… the more you put pressure in the north, the happier the Sinhala people will be here… Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy.” – President J R Jayawardene, Daily Telegraph, July 1983 [1]
This is the Sinhala ruler’s mentality and we do not see any change on this so far, but their stand becomes stronger with the help of the words “war on terror”. Sinhala rulers want International Community to believe whatever they say and support their genocide attack on Tamils. If the International Community asks any question about their wrong doing, Sinhala authorities will put the blame on the International Community again as supporting the terrorism or called them as terrorist. This is the usual practise these days by any Sri Lanka government official.
“Some 6000 Tamils have been killed altogether in the last few years… These events are not accidental. It can be seen that they are the result of a deliberate policy on the part of the Sri Lankan government… Democracy in the Sri Lanka does not exist in any real sense.” – Senator A L Missen, Chairman, Australian Parliamentary Group of Amnesty International, expressed his growing concern in March 1986 [1]
International Community is giving voice time to time against the genocide of Tamils but again start to believe in the Sinhala ruler’s promises for some reason. When Sinhala rulers have economy problem they start to negotiate with Tamil national leadership, but they could not come up with any short of proposals that will satisfy Tamil’s aspirations. So far they did not implement any of their own promises that they have made to Tamils people whether it satisfies us or not.
Mr Rajapaksa said foreign envoys were “trying to preach to us about civilians”. “We have seen how Afghanistan is bombed. Those who come to preach to us [have] seen how Afghanistan is bombed. It must be made clear that before accusing others, you must have the strength to know what you do yourself,” he said. [2]
Recent western province election result shows that the Sinhala people are giving their support to current government agenda on genocide of Tamils, as President J R Jayawardene predicted in 1983. The main opposition, the UNP, secured 29.6 percent of votes while the JVP had 2.4 percent. The three districts of the Western Province, Gampaha, Kalutara and Colombo have 91, 87 and 76 percent of Sinhala population respectively. Rajapaksa’s UPFA lost all seats in Colombo city where the Sinhalese are only 41.4 percent, showing that the voting was clearly on ethnic lines. The province holds 51 percent of the country’s wealth. So the Sinhala people do not change and therefore genocide will continue.
Struggle for Tamil Eelam/Freedom
Tamils do not have any alternative other than fight against the state terror committed by the Sinhala rulers. The way of resistance transformed into armed struggle in late 70s. We have more than 30 year’s history of armed struggle against state oppression. Now Tamils have one and only freedom movement called LTTE. In Manifesto of the Tamil National Alliance in 2001 we gave mandate to LTTE as our sole representative.
Current genocide attack on Tamils killed more than 7000 innocent civilians including thousands of children and injured more than 15000 including children, women and elderly people since January 2009. This genocide attack on Tamils is now defended by the young Tamil Diasporas all over the world. Tamil Diasporas have become a voice for our voiceless people who are suffering in their homeland. Tamils as whole are angry against the Sinhala rulers and we will not let down our people back in Tamil Eelam. It is now our duty to make sure that they will go back home and live peacefully in our homeland. So our freedom struggle will continue until we get freedom from Sinhala occupation.
Issue of Human Shield by LTTE
My father still in the “fire-zone” which is so called “no-fire-zone” by Sinhala rulers only. We are originally from Kumarapuram, Paranthan which is in Killinochchi district. My father is a retired principal; he knows what is going on and has the capacity to take his own decision. He was living in his own house and he did not want to leave his house. I tried to bring him Colombo in several occasions but he did not want to live in Colombo. I had frequent contact with him via letters and telephone. One of my school mates was working as doctor in Killinochchi hospital and he knows my father well since my father visits the hospital for his medical condition. I have the contact with doctor as well.
After my father displaced from our house, I told my friend to help my father to come to Vanuniya or Colombo, since his body condition will get worse if he does not have regular food and medicine. After the displacement Killinochchi hospital shifted to Puthukkudiyiruppu and my father went and met my friend there. My friend advised my father to get admitted in the hospital then he will be able to send him to Vavuniya so that he can get regular medicine and food. But my father refused to do so and said “it is better to stay here than go to army controlled area”. Since my relatives were also with him, he wanted to stay there. After couple of days my friend came to Vavuniya with medical convey and now working for detection camps, where the displaced Tamils are jailed eventually.
Last month more than 100,000 people came to army controlled area and I was searching for my father in all detection camps through my friend. He found some know people from my village and they said that my father stayed closer to them in the “fire-zone” and would have moved towards LTTE position when army came in. I believe he has moved further into “fire-zone” voluntarily with my relatives. There are lots of friends and close relatives in this detection camps and I heard some of their horrible stories.
What I can understand and say is that Tamils did not leave LTTE as Sinhala rulers claimed. Tamils did not have food, medicine and any basic facility there instead Sinhala army firing shells and bombing the civilians. It is obvious that Sinhala rulers are using food and medicine as weapon of war. So people are running for food, medicine, shelter and to keep away from shelling, chemical attack etc.
Conclusion
Any relationship will sustain for ever, if and only if there is a healthy and win-win relationship. As far as our struggle is concerned Sinhala rulers want to make sure Tamils will lose in this struggle at any cost even if they lost. Current situation is lost-lost scenario. Therefore it is the time for International Community to get involved and give justice to Tamils. Now the both Sinhala and Tamil community hate each other more than ever. I do not understand how long the International Community will keep on asking to both to love each other and I do not understand what human nature made them to keep on asking like this.
It makes me feel guilty for doing nothing to avoid the genocide attack on our people. If we all joined the LTTE and fought against the Sinhala army we would have won the war by now. Now only my friends, lot of Tamils people and I feel we made mistake by avoiding the call from LTTE to join them fight against oppression.
If anything happen to my father, there no any other option than join with LTTE and fight against Sinhala oppression. It is now in the hands of International Community to handle this problem and take the side of oppressed people so that oppression will end soon.
Reference
[1] http://www.blackjuly.info/quotestext.html
[2] http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/8026639.stm
when the LTTE killed 100 odd muslims in the mosque then is it not a genocide? when the LTTE killed 500 odd sinhalese then is it not a genocide? why were you silent when they did that! you and your leader would have never won the war even if all the LTTE supporters like you unite! whats the point of writing long baseless things when now the war is over, UK, USA or no one will come to your help! why not help the poor people in the north to rebuild there life’s rather than wasting your time and effort on baseless things…..dont forget so far only the patriotic muslims, tamils and sinhalese are helping these people…LTTE supporters like you have not given a cent nor cared about the wellbeing of those people…..people have died indeed…my brother was killed by LTTE! its not about war and genocide, now we need to unite and help our own people to come up in life…that is what all true Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalese would do……
One day justice will prevail. It is a shame the Singhalese community are not alligning themselves with the right of the innocent civilians who are in camps, without being allowed visitors. I know there are good Singhalese people are out there helping the victims. More of them should be voicing their concerns. I know people are scared to speak against their Government as seen by what happened to Lasantha the journalist. He will be a hero to a lot of people. Nick Thank you for your work.
Thankyou to the Channel 4 News Team who have portrayed the Sri-lankan gvt for what it is. The internment ‘Nazi’ style camps show a complete violation of human rights for 300,000 people. I do hope you continue to report the balanced viewpoint. Thankyou so much
Continue to educate the world, the truth will come out eventually.
best wishes
Monica
-300,000 people in internment camps with NO medication and sanitation
- Thousands of innocent people dead due to continued daily shelling and bombing by the Sri-lankan military since January.
- Channel 4 reporters deported for trying to portray the truth.
- No western media allowed in to portay the ‘reality’
- The only approved demonstration by the Sri-lankan gvt wasan attack on the British embassy and a burning effigy of David Milliband.
And people are celebrating?
And Sri-lanka is an open and free democracy?
Until the Srilankan gvt recognises that EVERY human being has a right to FREEDOM of speech and thought. There will always be a cause.
Thankyou to the Channel 4 News Team for raising awareness to the world of the plight of the Tamil people. A credible newsworthy organisation.
if your so concerned rather than helping the LTTE and trying to prove a point why not help those people anyway you can? none of the people loving LTTE supporters in UK like you have given anything to these people…..so rather than wasting your time on unwanted things why not do a good deed so atleast they will remember you people for helping them rather than terrorists ….
Do you blame Channel4 for not reporting war in IRAQ,Afganistan and Pakistan? According to you people who died in those countries are not humans.
what UK government did when LTTE mobs attack sri lankan high commission in UK?
Demonstrators may burn effigy of Milliband bcoz we all saw that he did the spokesman job for LTTE.
At last i would say that if british government doesn’t take any action against LTTE mobs in UK, they will demand a seperate state in UK.
Sri Lankan govt says that the war came to an end. And, still there could be unannounced attacks in Sri Lanka. Doctors, nurses and other volunteers MUST BE PROTECTED FROM ANY KIND OF ATTACK. UN, UNICEF and other international organizations should give pressure to SRI LANKAN GOVT to stop all form of attacks.
After watching today’s channel 4 report, which was totally Bias and unfounded. I mean their chief correspondent during the war was a former LTTE Terrorist turned a so called Humanitarian Just to report to channel 4 on the so called shelling by SL Army, which no doubt he would report it as a one sided affair. And highly Un professional of channel 4 to broadcast as these claims cannot be verified and came from a LTTE Terrorist Fighter , Yes even Humanitarians take sides which might have slipped channel 4s ethics and not this reporters. Also your journalist have not reported how the millions of sri-lankans in the south have raised money, Clothes etc for the IDP, and the Tamil Diaspora have not even sent a cent, but only collect for weapons for a new military struggle.
I would highly recommend For channel 4 viewers to Watch NDTV News, Aljazeera , CCTV news, France 24 and Even CNBC, Press TV for a much better prospective and high standards of Investigative Journalism, No matter weather they report what we want or not want to hear from both sides, and even other current affair events. British Journalist and News Organizations’ have forgotten the fundamentals of Journalism.
Let Me REMIND Channel 4 news and their Journalist the ethos of Journalism. TRUTH DEPENDS ON THE STAGGERING FORCE OF FACTS.
Which You and your journalist have BRUSHED OUT
Please note that visitors are allowed to IDP , but not vehicles, because of the difficulty of checking. LTTE second rung operatives, Prabhakarans parents were found hiding amongcivilians. Buried stocks of arms and ammunition still found in the North and the East. Speedy haphazard release of folks would bring LTTE to a position where they can blow up many city centre buildings once again. One LTTE operative committed suicide jumping from his plush 7th floor apartment in Wellawatta, Colombo when Police entered the apartment. Channel 4 should probe into the tentacles of LTTE,
that killed 70,000 in all many rival Tamil groups as well as Sinhala and Muslims folks barly making their sustenance.
We are all children of mother Lanka. And all cannot be both Sinhalese and Tamils at the same time.
Politicians on both sides have divided us to warm their seats in our parliament.
We have had our bad times and good ones too.
We had honest politicians on both sides.
Dudley Sennanayake and SJV Selvanayagam.
Both were respected by all with no reservations.
It was our bad time to have had a Rohana Wijeweera and Thiruvengadam Velupllai Pirapakaran.
We know the heavy toll in lives both of them have caused.
We can take pride in that our culture and languages are similar and have a world language, English, as our link.
If Mozambique and Brazil with Portugese can thrive, why not we ?
In fact we can call ourselves ”lucky” NOT to be mired in a mucked up situation like that of Israel and Palestine.
Or one of any of the 76 conflicts around the world
Or plunged into economic chaos as that of Zimbabwe or Congo.
Is it too much for the elder brother, to give a hand to lift up the fallen younger, Tamil !
Is it too much for us to unite to leave a better Lanka for our children ?
And we can always see the path of friendship and properity.
Am an old man and find solace in Meera here and a tinge of sadness in the vitriolic of others.
Let’s be wary of those that promote hatred for they mean harm to us and laugh behind our backs.
Come on, we are made of better and sterner stuff !
on May 24, 2009 sarika wrote
[[[ sexual abuse. No complaint of such nature has been made by any person to anybody until the arrival of the foreign journalist from Channel 4.There are 125000 people in these camps but not a single such complaint until the arrival of channel 4 All this makes the story bizarre
The police are ever present and frequent visitors are the GA and other public officer. Most of these officers and NGO officers are of Tamil origin fluent in the Tamil language
Does Channel 4 maintain a code of ethics in journalism by admitting they did an act stealthily? If so they could do many more! We can now gauge their authenticity when they report on human rights]]]
on May 16, 2009 joshan wrote
[[[ We & the LTTE have been asking for an immediate ceasefire for the past 6 months.
not preventing this GENOCIDE ]]]
May 16, 2009 joshan wrote:
the sinhalese and tamils cannot live together anymore and a 2 state solution is the only way out. If there is so much hostility living abroad. Just imagine the situation for Tamils living in SL
on May 16, 2009 Rakesh wrote:
It is a shame on you Channel4 reporting fabricated lies provided by LTTE. Do you have any verification that that so called health worker is not a LTTE cadre who acts as a independant person? Shame on your channel. Absolutly disgusting.
on May 16, 2009 Mr Arjuna C. B. Ranatunga wrote:
The conflict there is not a civil war, nor between a Government & its ‘Rebels’, but between a Sovereign Nation and a band of some of the most cunning and ruthless terrorist forces ever to walk the Earth.
They are funded by the blackmail & extortion of expatriates in the UK, the US, Canada & Europe, whose families are threatened with torture & death, should they not cough up funds of roughly £50 per family, per month.
They are hated by their own people
Why then do we see, in every news channel bar Reuters, the espousing of the Tiger cause, and portrayal of just their side of the story?
on May 16, 2009 Meera wrote:
“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. My sincerest gratitude to Nick Paton Walsh, his crew and the entire team at Channel 4 news for being good men who are doing something.
Only one voted for —and commented :::as ben aloysius
[[[ Well said Meera. Yet, you could have avoided the last sentence. I strongly feel you are a noble soul of peace. We should be careful not to hurt others, however much we are emotionally provoked.
Am new around here --- hope you would forgive my comment if it touches a raw nerve.
Only you get my vote for others are terribly upset and they will all surely calm down in due course.
Thank you,]]]
We are all children of mother Lanka. And all cannot be both Sinhalese and Tamils at the same time.
Politicians on both sides have divided us to warm their seats in our parliament.
We have had our bad times and good ones too.
We had honest politicians on both sides.
Dudley Sennanayake and SJV Selvanayagam.
Both were respected by all with no reservations.
It was our bad time to have had a Rohana Wijeweera and Thiruvengadam Velupllai Pirapakaran.
We know the heavy toll in lives both of them have caused.
We can take pride in that our culture and languages are similar and have a world language, English, as our link.
If Mozambique and Brazil with Portugese can thrive, why not we ?
In fact we can call ourselves ”lucky” NOT to be mired in a mucked up situation like that of Israel and Palestine.
Or one of any of the 76 conflicts around the world
Or plunged into economic chaos as that of Zimbabwe or Congo.
Is it too much for the elder brother, to give a hand to lift up the fallen younger, Tamil !
Is it too much for us to unite to leave a better Lanka for our children ?
And we can always see the path of friendship and properity.
Am an old man and find solace in Meera here and a tinge of sadness in the vitriolic of others.
Let’s be wary of those that promote hatred for they mean harm to us and laugh behind our backs.
Come on, we are made of better and sterner stuff !
on May 24, 2009 sarika wrote
[[[ sexual abuse. No complaint of such nature has been made by any person to anybody until the arrival of the foreign journalist from Channel 4.There are 125000 people in these camps but not a single such complaint until the arrival of channel 4 All this makes the story bizarre
The police are ever present and frequent visitors are the GA and other public officer. Most of these officers and NGO officers are of Tamil origin fluent in the Tamil language
Does Channel 4 maintain a code of ethics in journalism by admitting they did an act stealthily? If so they could do many more! We can now gauge their authenticity when they report on human rights]]]
on May 16, 2009 joshan wrote
[[[ We & the LTTE have been asking for an immediate ceasefire for the past 6 months.
not preventing this GENOCIDE ]]]
May 16, 2009 joshan wrote:
the sinhalese and tamils cannot live together anymore and a 2 state solution is the only way out. If there is so much hostility living abroad. Just imagine the situation for Tamils living in SL
on May 16, 2009 Rakesh wrote:
It is a shame on you Channel4 reporting fabricated lies provided by LTTE. Do you have any verification that that so called health worker is not a LTTE cadre who acts as a independant person? Shame on your channel. Absolutly disgusting.
on May 16, 2009 Mr Arjuna C. B. Ranatunga wrote:
The conflict there is not a civil war, nor between a Government & its ‘Rebels’, but between a Sovereign Nation and a band of some of the most cunning and ruthless terrorist forces ever to walk the Earth.
They are funded by the blackmail & extortion of expatriates in the UK, the US, Canada & Europe, whose families are threatened with torture & death, should they not cough up funds of roughly £50 per family, per month.
They are hated by their own people
Why then do we see, in every news channel bar Reuters, the espousing of the Tiger cause, and portrayal of just their side of the story?
on May 16, 2009 Meera wrote:
“All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing”. My sincerest gratitude to Nick Paton Walsh, his crew and the entire team at Channel 4 news for being good men who are doing something.
Only one voted for —and commented :::as ben aloysius
[[[ Well said Meera. Yet, you could have avoided the last sentence. I strongly feel you are a noble soul of peace. We should be careful not to hurt others, however much we are emotionally provoked.
Am new around here --- hope you would forgive my comment if it touches a raw nerve.
Only you get my vote for others are terribly upset and they will all surely calm down in due course.
Thank you,]]]