UN envoy tours Sri Lanka camps. John Holmes, the UN’s senior humanitarian official visited government-run camps in Sri Lanka for the tens of thousands of people fleeing the fighting in the country’s northeast. Holmes urged the Sri Lankan government and Tamil Tiger fighters to do everything possible to avoid civilian casualties, ahead of his visit.
[ad#200×200]About 30,000 ethnic Tamils are currently in government-run camps south of Sri Lanka’s war zone.
“Holmes is here to see whether or not the food and the shelter are adequate…and it seems to me that they are”, he said.
Al Jazeera’s David Hawkins (not Sinhalese) reporting from the Northern Vavuniya district said the camps for Sri Lanka’s displaced appeared to meet international standards. (Comment: There wasn’t a concern about “Genocide”. So where is it you Liberal Terrible 5?)
Catholic priests who got away from the Tamil Tigers, exhausted and terribly tired Rev. Ponnathurai Reginald Navendrapulam, Rev. Manesi Devraj Paul Suresh, Rev. Yoganandan Nevil Ruparaj and Rev. S. Thurairathnam were received by the Sri Lankan Army troops (mainly Sinhalese Buddhists) and made them comfortable after providing refreshments and meals.
These priests accompanied by members of their families have reportedly told the troops that almost all the trapped civilians were silently suffering since they were being prevented from moving into the Safe Zone.
Troops after coordinating their requirements directed them to Vavuniya for re-location on the instructions received from their church hierarchy, The priests thanked the Army for their hospitality before they were transported in buses to Vuvuniya. (Comment: Hm…..where is the much maligned charge of ‘Genocide by the Liberal Terrible 5? I thought as much it was an orchestrated Humbug to save the skin of the Tamil Tigers.)
Protection of children caught in Sri Lankan conflict “First priority” says UN official (Feb.21). Radhika Coomarasawmy, a Sri Lankan Tamil, and UN’s Secretary General’s Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, said in a statement referring to the area where the civilians are trapped and held as a human shield by the LTTE, that “Images of children killed, maimed and wounded from the Vanni area of Sri Lanka are truly disturbing.
She said that the LTTE must release the civilians to safety, especially the children. She stressed that the international community has a duty to work with the Sri Lankan Government to ensure that the treatment of internally displaced children meets international standards, adding the child soldiers must be rehabilitated and not punished.
The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has voiced alarm over the LTTE’s stepped-up recruitment of child soldiers, having recorded some 6,000 such cases between 2003 and the end of last year. (Comment: Where is the ‘Genocide’ my dear Liberal Terrible 5? It was good sense by this UN official to seek cooperation from the International community to work with the Sri Lankan Government, and not being bombastic like the Liberal Karygiannis who wanted Canada to kick Sri Lanka out of the Commonwealth.)
Indian government offers full support for Sri Lankan war. In a statement to the parliament last Wednesday (Feb.18), Indian External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee called on the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Sri Lanka to unconditionally surrender and offered to evacuate Tamil civilians from the war zone in the north of the island.
“As the conflict (the civil war in Sri Lanka) enters what may be the final phase of military operations, the LTTE would best serve the interest of the Tamils by immediately releasing all civilians (in its zone) and laying down arms”, Mukherjee told parliament. He said India continued to back, “a negotiated political settlement”, but the LTTE remained “a proscribed organization in India that has done much damage to the Tamil community”. (Comment: There was no charge of “Genocide” here, which certainly makes the last brush stroke of black soot on the faces of the ‘Liberal Terrible 5’, who charged Sri Lanka of ‘Genocide’ in Canada’s parliament of February 4th. I hope the rest of the Liberals in caucus heard that version of India’s Mukherjee who represents a country which is within the circumference of the compass needle of the geopolitics of the region. So Canada, please take note as your voice has little consequence.)
For info: 613-747-2272 21 February 2009
ASOKA WEERASINGHE COMMUNIQUÉ Ottawa-Vanier Riding
For Canadian Parliamentarians interested in Sri Lanka
Since the Emergency debate on Sri Lanka on Wednesday, 4th February 2009, which elicited a smorgasbord of views on Sri Lanka, which were mainly an amazing array of distortions of fact which diminished the intended sincerity and value of this discussion, I have made an effort to provide you all with facts on the ground on issues that were discussed, hoping to help you all to re-tool your intentions with a certain degree of sincerity, to help the Sri Lankan people, hopefully all ethnic groups and just not only the Tamils whom almost all of you represent in your Greater Toronto Area ridings.
Intended for the Conservatives MPs: Lawrence Cannon (Minister of Foreign Affairs), Deepak Obhrai (Parliamentary Secretary to Minister of Foreign Affairs), Jim Abbott (Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of International Cooperation), Bev Oda (Minister of International Cooperation), Jason Kenney (Minister of Immigration & Citizenship), Pierre Poilievre, Peter Kent (Minister of State of Foreign Affairs). Jay Hill (House Leader for the Government), Peter Van Loan (Minister of Public Safety), Royal Galipeau
Liberal MPs: Michael Ignatieff (Leader of the Liberal Party), Bob Rae, Jim Karygiannis, Maria Minna, Judy Sgro, John McKay, John McCallum, Dan McTeague, Albina Guarnieri, Robert Oliphant, Irwin Cotler, Andrew Kania, Mario Silva, John Cannis, Derek Lee, Mauril Belanger, Mark Holland, Yasmin Ratansi, Borys Wrzesnewskyj
NDP MPs: Jack Layton (Leader of the Party), Olivia Chow, Paul Dewar, Peter Julian, Wayne Marston
Bloc MPs: Paul Crete, Jean Dorion
source:Lankaweb