|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Army hits out at LTTE following recent civilian slaying
Munza Mushtaq in Colombo,
March 7, 2005, 10.58 a.m..
The Sri Lanka Army today criticized the LTTE and said that the Tigers have failed to stand by their initial pledges. Reacting to the Kolakanawadi slaying, the Army stated, “Continuous murder incidents of Sinhala Tamil and Muslim civilians, contrary to what has been assured by LTTE on number of occasions, go against what the LTTE pledged saying that they would not do any harm to civilians” the army said.
Meanwhile, Military sources also pointed out that the present situation was making many wonder as to ‘for how long can the fragile ceasefire continue to sustain’. A military source also claimed that the LTTE kills but deliberately puts the blame on to some ‘other force’.
Six civilians were killed on Friday night by suspected LTTE gunmen (Wanni faction). The six civilians included four Muslims and one Tamil and Sinhalese each in Kolakanawadi, which comes under the Welikanda police division. Several who were injured in the incident are currently undergoing treatment at the Polonnaruwa hospital.
Published: Sun Mar 6 23:59:00 EST 2005
|
|
|
|
|
Humanitarian Agencies Staging Relief Activities
Domnique De Melo in Colombo,
SLT 6.00 A.M Monday 7 March 2005.
Many International Non Governmental Organisations are staging relief
activities to gain publicity and more funds from donors in many parts of the
country. One aid worker told The Lanka Academic that there is a heavy
competition among these organisations, mainly among the international
organisations. She said “ This is unbelievaible how they compete with each
other. They stage activities and show them as relief efforts. Then they
photograph them and send it abroad and to show their donors and others.
Also what they give cannot be used by our people. We can also see that there
is business interest among them. They carry out business in the guise of
humanitarian work.”
The Tsunami has created employment opportunities to people from the west and
other developed countries. Many of them have landed lucrative job contracts
in Sri Lanka as aid workers and at international organisations such as the
UN and the International Red Cross and other foreign agencies. An expert
Sri Lankan doctor said that Sri Lanka has no proper mechanism to control
and monitor activities of these organisations. He said how he saw a
doctor from a foreign INGO trying to give some kind of body lotion as
medicine to people in camps down south. He called on the government to
take immediate action to curb activities of this nature. He also pointed
out that psychosocial activities must be carried out by local counsellors
and not foreign counsellors who does not understand the language and the
culture of the island.
Published: Sun Mar 6 19:12:32 EST 2005
|
|
|
|
|
Six civilians killed last night, by LTTE?
Munza Mushtaq in Colombo,
March 6, 2005, 3.32 p.m..
Six civilians were killed last night by an unidentified group in Kolakanawadi, which comes under the Welikanda police area (Polonnaruwa District). Three Muslims, two Tamils and one Sinhalese were shot in the Kolakanawadi village in two separate incidents between 8.00 and 8.30 p.m. yesterday night. Sources from the area said that, the reason for the shooting is not known, even though a person in Sinhalese had shouted ‘tigers are coming, tigers are coming, run’, when the shooting had taken place.
The Welikanda police are conducting investigations. Meanwhile, informed sources also revealed that there had been one survivor from the incident, who had gone into hiding but had submitted himself to the nearest police station today morning, where he had revealed details about the incident.
Detailing the incident, the survivor had said that, “at around 8.00 yesterday night they had heard the train passing and along with the train, sounds of gun fire has also been heard. They had thought that the villagers were trying to drive away wild elephants and had come outside, then a tall person had run upto them and said in Sinhalese ‘koti enewa, dhuwanne’. The survivor however did not understand Sinhalese and another Sinhalese person who had been standing close to him had translated it to him in Tamil. They had then together tried to run away to safety, while the survivor ran for cover, he had seen the same tall person who had warned them shooting at the other Sinhalese person who had translated the Sinhalese into Tamil.
Published: Sun Mar 6 04:36:28 EST 2005
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
