U.N. rights chief calls for Sri Lanka investigation

26 May 2009: Reuters
The United Nations’ refugee chief called on Tuesday for an international investigation to determine if Sri Lankan government forces and Tamil rebels had committed war crimes. Ensuring accountability for abuses committed in the recent fighting was important for the island nation’s national reconciliation, U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay said.
Full Report: http://in.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idINLQ20048120090526

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Sri Lanka accused of ‘ethnic cleansing’ of Tamil areas

26 May 2009: The Telegraph, UK
Aid officials, human rights campaigners and politicians claim Tamils have been driven out of areas in the north-east of the country by killings and kidnappings carried out by pro-government militias. They say the government has simultaneously encouraged members of the Sinhalese majority in the south to relocate to the vacated villages. One foreign charity worker told the Daily Telegraph the number of Tamils disappearing in and around Trincomalee, 50 miles south of the final conflict zone in Mullaitivu, had been increasing in the last three months.
Full Report: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/srilanka/5382676/Sri-Lanka-accused-of-ethnic-cleansing-of-Tamil-areas.html

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Sri Lanka: Human Rights Council should demand immediate access and accountability

Amnesty International welcomes the decision by the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) to hold a Special Session on Sri Lanka on Tuesday 26 May. �For the sake of hundreds of thousands of vulnerable people in Sri Lanka, as well as its own credibility, the Human Rights Council should ensure that the Sri Lankan government takes immediate and concrete steps to address this crisis, beginning with providing immediate, unhindered access to international aid workers and monitors,said Sam Zarifi, Amnesty International�s Asia-Pacific director.
Full Report: http://www.amnesty.nl/voor_de_pers_artikel/48612

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Blood on our hands – Former Indian Diplomat

May 19 2009 – Rediff ( M K Bhadrakumar, former Indian diplomat who served in Sri Lanka in the
1980s)

As the curtain comes down and we leave the theatre, the spectacle continues to haunt us. We feel a deep unease and can’t quite figure out the reason. Something rankles somewhere. And then we realise we have blood on our hands.

Not only our hands, but our whole body and deeper down, our conscience — what remains of it after the mundane battles of our day-to-day life – is also dripping with blood.

Prabhakaran’s blood. No, it is not only Prabhakaran’s, but also of 70,000 Sri Lankan Tamils who have perished in the unspeakable violence through the past quarter century.

All the pujas we may perform to our favourite Lord Ganesh [ Images ] each morning and evening religiously before we march ahead in our life from success to success cannot wash away the guilt we are bearing — the curse of the 70,000 dead souls.

Our children and grandchildren will surely inherit the great curse. Oh, God, what a bitter legacy!

A long time ago, we created Prabhakaran. We picked him up as an urchin from nowhere. What we found charming about him was that he was so thoroughly apolitical — almost innocent about politics. He was a simpleton in many ways, who had a passion for weapons and the military regimen. He suited our needs perfectly.

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