A bus transporting people from Vavaniya to Jaffna was attacked by a Sinhalese mob, reports the Uthayan . Storming the bus at a rest stop in Iranaimadu, the attackers verbally abused the passengers for being Tamil and linked to the LTTE.
Tamil women are being coerced to join the Sri Lankan military said the Northern Province's Chief Minister, CV Wigneswaran, reports the Uthayan . Addressing an event for International Women's Day in Jaffna yesterday, Wigneswaran, said the Sri Lankan army was going into their houses coercing Tamil women, who were too afraid to refuse, to join. Questioning why the Sri Lankan army were only calling on Tamil women to join, and not men, the Chief Minister stressed that Tamil women faced significant insecurity given the extensive militarisation of the North-East.
The Sri Lankan government will not bow down to international pressure said President Mahinda Rajapaksa to Sinhala voters at an election rally held in Gampaha on Sunday, reports the Colombo Gazette . If the people of Sri Lanka demanded an investigation then the government is ready to comply, but the UN Human Rights Council cannot decide if an investigation is needed in Sri Lanka said Rajapaksa. “ Only the people of this country can decide if the war was right or wrong and not the human rights council, " he added.
The Tamil National Alliance on Sunday welcomed the draft resolution on Sri Lanka being circulated at the UN Human Rights Council, calling on the international community to “ move expeditiously towards mandating an international commission of inquiry ”. In a statement released as member states prepare to meet and discuss the resolution in Geneva, the TNA outlined ongoing rights violations occurring the North and East of the island, including “ mass scale appropriation of land by the military ” and “ sexual violence targeting Tamil women in the North and East ”.
The draft UNHRC resolution was a "bit of diplomatic fudge" said the director of 'No Fire Zone: Sri Lanka's Killing Fields', Callum Macrae in an interview with Channel 4 news. Speaking on the news programme following the emergence of more video evidence of Sri Lankan soldiers committing sexual violence against Tamil female fighters, Mr. Macrae said, "An earlier draft [of the resolution] has leaked, which is a little bit of a diplomatic fudge really. It doesn't call for the setting up of an independent mechanism or commission as many people hoped."
The Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, J Jayalalithaa, slammed India's Central government for not addressing the plight of Tamils in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu fishermen. Highlighting Congress’ training of Sri Lankan military amidst allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity, she said , “What did the Congress government to do on the Sri Lankan Tamils Issue? It gave military training and weapons to Lankan government. It was responsible for the killing of Tamils there.“
The draft UNHRC resolution on Sri Lanka, tabled at the Council last Monday, was " deeply dismaying ", said the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) in a statement released yesterday. Criticising the resolution's failure to ensure a meaningful international inquiry, immediate relief from the on-going oppression faced by the Tamil people, and a meaningful political solution to the ethnic conflict, the TNPF called on fellow Tamils in the diaspora and on Tamils in Tamil Nadu, to work towards pushing for a stronger resolution.
The Sri Lankan British Union is holding a protest on Saturday condemning Britain's 'policy of assuring rights to terrorists' through its support for a resolution at the UN Human Rights Council on accountability for mass atrocities in Sri Lanka, Colombopage reports. A poster for the event circulating in press, urges: "Come and show your support to Lanka Matha ... in a peaceful demonstration challenging the resolution against Sri Lanka." Another poster circulated via Facebook says: "Our Motherland Sri Lanka is facing a moment of crisis in Geneva. "We Srilankans living here in the United Kingdom...
Marking International Women's Day, Global Tamil Forum (GTF) called for an international inquiry, to provide justice and accountability for Tamil women for the widespread sexual violence faced during and after the final stages of the armed conflict, and the on-going " sustained assault " endured by them in the North-East. Pointing to the "militarisation of Tamil areas in Sri Lanka since the end of the war in 2009, by state security forces who are almost entirely ethnically Sinhalese" the GTF outlined the on-going sexually violence and insecurity faced by Tamil women at the hands of the Sri Lankan military. " A culture of impunity exists and many women are afraid to report cases of intimidation and ill-treatment to the authorities." The GTF celebrated the "courage and resolve" of women in the North-East who are acting as agents of change, highlighting the work done by Northern Provincial Councillor Ananthi Sasitharan and the Women's Action Network (WAN) in the North-East.
Marking International Women's Day, the Sinhala women's group - Lakmawa Diyaniyo - held a protest outside the US Embassy in Colombo, demonstrating against the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Navi Pillay and the resolution tabled on Sri Lanka at the UN Human Rights Council earlier this week.