The Lanka Academic
 
MARCH 4, 2009 EST, USA
 
QUAERE VERUM
 
VOL. 9, NO. 332
TLA FORUM

Express your opinions, meet others at the TLA Forum!
TLA FEATURE CORNER
Headline Summary
www.MyNetResearch.com
F R E E      C L A S S I F I E D S
T  O  P      H  E  A  D  L  I  N  E
Sri Lanka Army Chief Pledges to Protect Civilians Caught in War
bloomberg, march 5. March 5 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka’s army chief told his commanders to ensure the safety of civilians in the final battles to defeat the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

“Our progress from now onward should be made meticulously, taking maximum precautions, keeping the civilian factor in mind at all times,” Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka said, according to a statement on the Defense Ministry’s Web site late yesterday.

The Tamil Tigers are now “boxed into” an area of less than 55 square kilometers (21.2 square miles) near Mullaitivu in the northeast, the ministry said. Army offensives since January drove the LTTE from its main bases in the north, including its headquarters in Kilinochchi.

A humanitarian crisis is threatening Sri Lanka’s Wanni region where civilians caught in the fighting need food and medicine, the United Nations and international aid groups say. As many as 150,000 people may still be trapped in Wanni, the International Committee of the Red Cross said yesterday.

Military offensives “should be carried out taking all possible safety precautions with the utmost precision, since the number of civilians thronging into the area is now fast swelling,” Fonseka said during a visit to army commanders in the northern town of Vavuniya, according to the ministry. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Mar 4 20:23:05 EST 2009

Sri Lanka not ruling out Tamil role in Lahore attacks: FM
AFP, March 5. ISLAMABAD (AFP) — Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama said Wednesday he could not rule out the possibility that Tamil Tigers were involved in the attack on his country's cricket team in Lahore.

Seven Sri Lankan players, along with an assistant coach, were injured while eight Pakistanis, including six policemen, were killed in the attack launched as the team bus was heading to the stadium on Tuesday.

The foreign minister, who flew to Lahore to oversee the team's evacuation, met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani and Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Mar 4 20:24:40 EST 2009 Back to the top

Umpires stunned, upset and relieved after Pakistan ordeal
cricinfo, march 5. The Australian umpires Simon Taufel and Steve Davis are angry at the lack of security arrangements that led to them being shot at repeatedly during the terrorist attack in Pakistan. Taufel and Davis were travelling behind the Sri Lanka bus on the way to the ground in Lahore when the firing began, leaving their driver and seven others dead.

"I'm angry we were isolated, I'm angry we didn't get the same amount of security the playing staff got, and I'm angry that in our hour of need, we were left on our own,'' Taufel said after landing in Sydney on Thursday.

Davis, who was travelling in the same car as the match referee Chris Broad, said in Melbourne he felt "let down" by the officials in Pakistan. "We were certainly left with no security in our van when we were fired upon, security obviously went with the Sri Lankan bus when they managed to get away but we were left there and no one came back for us,'' Davis said. More...Discuss this story
Published: Wed Mar 4 20:30:09 EST 2009 Back to the top

Sri Lanka: If war ends, can a divided nation heal?
 CSM, March 5. HATTON, SRI LANKA - The long, bloody civil war never came to this market town, deep in the tea-growing highlands... Back to the top
Suspected Tamil Tiger battles extradition ruling
 Missuaga, march 5. March 4, 2009 08:02 PM - A Malton man ordered extradited to the U... Back to the top
UN: Sri Lanka war causing civilian 'catastrophe'
 Associated Press, March 5. COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — Civilians trapped in the war zone in northern Sri Lanka are dying because they lack food and medicine in what the United Nations described Wednesday as an "unfolding humanitarian catastrophe... Back to the top
Warning of attacks on Sri Lanka cricket team was ignored
 Guardian, March 3. Pakistani officials received specific warnings that militants were planning to ambush the Sri Lankan cricket squad, but they were unable to prevent today's deadly attack because of the country's spiralling political crisis, opposition MPs claimed tonight... Back to the top
Zardari apologises for terror attack on Lankan players
 IE, March 4. COLOMBO:The Pakistani leadership today expressed its sincere apologies to the Sri Lankan people for the "very unfortunate incident" in which seven players from the Island nation were injured when masked terrorist attacked the players' convoy in Lahore today... Back to the top
Sri Lankan player tells of being hit by shrapnel in deadly attack
 Sydney Morning Herald, 3 March. The second cricket Test between Pakistan and Sri Lanka has been called off after a deadly gun and grenade attack on the tourists' bus in Lahore, the Pakistan Cricket Board has announced... Back to the top
US calls it attack on Sri Lanka, Pakistan relations
 Dawn, march 4. WASHINGTON: US President Barack Obama on Tuesday expressed deep concern over a terrorist attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team in Lahore while the State Department said it was an assault on ‘positive relations’ between Sri Lanka and Pakistan... Back to the top
Many Sri Lankan Tamils flee from the island
 Associated Press, March 4. COLOMBO: The assailants broke in after the fighting between ethnic rebels and the military erupted again into full-scale war, storming through his family's home and calling his name... Back to the top
Feds eye seizure of Tamil property under anti-terror act
 National Post, 3 March 2009. The government took the first steps Tuesday toward taking over property in Ontario and Quebec that it says is controlled by a terrorist group involved in South Asia's longest-running civil war... Back to the top
RPT-Sri Lanka army captures last key junction from Tigers
 Reuters, 3 march 2009. COLOMBO, March 3 (Reuters) -- Sri Lankan troops on Tuesday seized the last road junction held by the Tamil Tigers, and now have about 3 km left to capture before reaching an expected final showdown in the 25-year-old war, the military said... Back to the top
Indian daily: Sri Lanka LTTE suspected in attack on cricketers
 xinhua, 4 March. NEW DELHI, March 4 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lanka has not ruled out a role by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in Tuesday's attack on the country's cricket players in Pakistan, according to a news report by the Indian daily The Asian Age Wednesday... Back to the top
Pakistan cricket future in doubt
 BBC, 3 March. The future of international cricket in Pakistan is in doubt following Tuesday's attack, the International Cricket Council has said... Back to the top
© Copyright 2000-2005 Lanka Academic Network.