US-UK responsible for ‘killing field’ war on Eezham Tamils: papers ?

“The war on terror served as a justification for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries which ten years latter are still shattered and fractured, with a rather bleak future. It seems that it has, under the eyes of the International community, also been used as a cover up for a conflict that was nothing more than a racist war,” says Anissa Haddadi writing on Sri Lanka in International Business Times, Friday, asking the question, “Is the US war on terror responsible for Sri Lanka Killing Fields?”

"We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes, as it constitutes one of one of the most serious threat to international peace and security", this UN resolution was adopted in 2005 and set international background in which the Sri Lankan civil war was fought, the International Business Times article said.

“The horror that slowly unfolded in Sri Lanka only became possible because of the silence that surrounded it. In the last phase of the civil war, which was the most violent and brutal, there was almost no reporting in the mainstream international press of what was really taking place there,” the article further said.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Campaign Against Arms Trade (Caat) in UK, Kaye Stearman said "David Cameron and the UK government are calling on the Sri Lankan government to investigate the atrocities but we also need a proper investigation of the UK government's own complicity in selling arms to Sri Lanka, despite knowing how they were likely to be used,” Morning Star reported on Thursday.

Citing UK’s arms sales to Colombo amounting to 18 million pound sterling during the Vanni war and such sales continuing to this day, the Caat spokesperson said, "UK arms sales confer support and legitimacy on the Sri Lankan government, just as they do to Middle East governments who use UK arms against their own people."

At the height of the war, the British Ambassador to the UN said the LTTE was long blighting the Sri Lanka government.

To what extent this policy is changed now, ask Eezham Tamils in UK, citing the UK Defence Secretary calling on Rajapaksa in London when he was not wanted at Oxford, and the UK High Commission in Colombo choosing the eve of the broadcast of the Channel 4 programme to legitimise the Sri Lanka Army, by announcing the ‘reintegration’ of the ex-LTTE combatants through the genocidal Army.

The US embassy in Colombo not only legitimised the Sri Lanka Army, but also approved the paradigm set by it, by participating the genocidal military’s international conference on disseminating the paradigm, last month.

Continue Reading →

US-UK responsible for ‘killing field’ war on Eezham Tamils: papers ?

“The war on terror served as a justification for the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan, two countries which ten years latter are still shattered and fractured, with a rather bleak future. It seems that it has, under the eyes of the International community, also been used as a cover up for a conflict that was nothing more than a racist war,” says Anissa Haddadi writing on Sri Lanka in International Business Times, Friday, asking the question, “Is the US war on terror responsible for Sri Lanka Killing Fields?”

"We strongly condemn terrorism in all its forms and manifestations, committed by whomever, wherever and for whatever purposes, as it constitutes one of one of the most serious threat to international peace and security", this UN resolution was adopted in 2005 and set international background in which the Sri Lankan civil war was fought, the International Business Times article said.

“The horror that slowly unfolded in Sri Lanka only became possible because of the silence that surrounded it. In the last phase of the civil war, which was the most violent and brutal, there was almost no reporting in the mainstream international press of what was really taking place there,” the article further said.

Meanwhile, the spokesperson of Campaign Against Arms Trade (Caat) in UK, Kaye Stearman said "David Cameron and the UK government are calling on the Sri Lankan government to investigate the atrocities but we also need a proper investigation of the UK government's own complicity in selling arms to Sri Lanka, despite knowing how they were likely to be used,” Morning Star reported on Thursday.

Citing UK’s arms sales to Colombo amounting to 18 million pound sterling during the Vanni war and such sales continuing to this day, the Caat spokesperson said, "UK arms sales confer support and legitimacy on the Sri Lankan government, just as they do to Middle East governments who use UK arms against their own people."

At the height of the war, the British Ambassador to the UN said the LTTE was long blighting the Sri Lanka government.

To what extent this policy is changed now, ask Eezham Tamils in UK, citing the UK Defence Secretary calling on Rajapaksa in London when he was not wanted at Oxford, and the UK High Commission in Colombo choosing the eve of the broadcast of the Channel 4 programme to legitimise the Sri Lanka Army, by announcing the ‘reintegration’ of the ex-LTTE combatants through the genocidal Army.

The US embassy in Colombo not only legitimised the Sri Lanka Army, but also approved the paradigm set by it, by participating the genocidal military’s international conference on disseminating the paradigm, last month.

Continue Reading →

People seeking asylum in Sri-Lanka – UNHCR

It is little known by most Sri Lankans that there are refugees and people seeking asylum in Sri Lanka, said UNHCR’s Representative Michael Zwack said.
Issuing a statement to mark the World Refugee Day on June 20, the UNHCR’s Representative said, although numbers are very small in comparison to most countries, Sri Lanka currently hosts 236 registered refugees and 141 asylum seekers.
We appreciate the good cooperation received by UNHCR from government, he said.
According to UNHCR, Sri Lanka is one country refugees are slowly starting to return to after the conflict has ended. Since 201, some 2,900 refugees, mainly from Tamil Nadu in India, have returned with the help of UNHCR, and they continue to arrive at steady numbers. In addition, over 200 refugees returned on their own accord. According to UNHCR’s latest Global Trends statistics for 2010 just released, that there are 141, 063 Sri Lankan refugees and 8, 563 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in different countries around the world – the majority in India.
Currently more than 43 million people are displaced by violence around the world. Europe is no longer home to them. The vast majority – about 80 percent – are hosted and cared for in developing countries, the statement said
Today’s chronicle conflicts are a cause for special concern: What we see is that as new conflicts flared old ones are left unresolved. This leads to new displacement on the one hand and millions of people being prevented from returning home on the other. Fewer than 200,000 refugees went home in 2010, the lowest number in 20 years, the UNHCR statement said.
It is necessary for the international community to step forward and act. Whether it to be keep borders open to those seeking safety from violence or persecution, or to provide solutions to long-term refugees. We need to invest in peace, people need to bpeople to go home, or to be given a chance to start new lives, it further said.

Continue Reading →

People seeking asylum in Sri-Lanka – UNHCR

It is little known by most Sri Lankans that there are refugees and people seeking asylum in Sri Lanka, said UNHCR’s Representative Michael Zwack said.
Issuing a statement to mark the World Refugee Day on June 20, the UNHCR’s Representative said, although numbers are very small in comparison to most countries, Sri Lanka currently hosts 236 registered refugees and 141 asylum seekers.
We appreciate the good cooperation received by UNHCR from government, he said.
According to UNHCR, Sri Lanka is one country refugees are slowly starting to return to after the conflict has ended. Since 201, some 2,900 refugees, mainly from Tamil Nadu in India, have returned with the help of UNHCR, and they continue to arrive at steady numbers. In addition, over 200 refugees returned on their own accord. According to UNHCR’s latest Global Trends statistics for 2010 just released, that there are 141, 063 Sri Lankan refugees and 8, 563 Sri Lankan asylum seekers in different countries around the world – the majority in India.
Currently more than 43 million people are displaced by violence around the world. Europe is no longer home to them. The vast majority – about 80 percent – are hosted and cared for in developing countries, the statement said
Today’s chronicle conflicts are a cause for special concern: What we see is that as new conflicts flared old ones are left unresolved. This leads to new displacement on the one hand and millions of people being prevented from returning home on the other. Fewer than 200,000 refugees went home in 2010, the lowest number in 20 years, the UNHCR statement said.
It is necessary for the international community to step forward and act. Whether it to be keep borders open to those seeking safety from violence or persecution, or to provide solutions to long-term refugees. We need to invest in peace, people need to bpeople to go home, or to be given a chance to start new lives, it further said.

Continue Reading →