Skip to content or view mobile version

Home | Mobile | Editorial | Mission | Privacy | About | Contact | Help | Security | Support

A network of individuals, independent and alternative media activists and organisations, offering grassroots, non-corporate, non-commercial coverage of important social and political issues.

Sri Lankan Army burying the evidence of war crimes?

Act Now! | 20.05.2009 09:53 | Anti-militarism | Repression | Terror War

A day after the conflict was said to be officially over, there are reports coming out of Sri Lanka overnight that over 1000 Tamils were shot on sight in the enclave where civilians & LTTE forces had been confined in the last few weeks. There are reports that Sri Lankan soldiers were using mechanical diggers to dig large holes in the same region (Mullaivaikal - northern Sri Lanka). An estimated 25,000 people are dead since January this year and 30,000 injured. This figure is expected to rise dramatically if the whereabouts of 25 to 50 thousand civilians who were left in the enclave and still confirmed to have been there last Sunday can no longer be verified.
Meanwhile, Tim Martin from Act Now! continues into day-3 of his indefinite hunger strike outside the US Embassy.

The Sri Lankan Army has killed many thousands of innocent Tamils this year, several thousand in the last couple of weeks. This is the most extreme violence that has occurred during the entire 3 decade long conflict. There are allegations of atrocities having being carried out on both sides - the Sri Lankan army and the Tamil Tigers. However, evidence from satellite images of aeriel bombardment of the so-called 'no-fire zone' by the SLA has already been obtained by the UN. Right now, there have been witness reports that SLA troops have been large digging holes with mechanical diggers, as claims of numbers who have fled the area remain unverified. On Sunday 17th, between 25,000 to 50,000 civilians were still stranded on the 7.7 sq km narrow strip of northern coastline where 200,000 civilians had been confined alongside Tamil Tigers fighters in the recent conflict. There are no reports to confirm what has happened to these people since Sunday.

From Tamilnet.com:
"Noting that the slow genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka accelerated to more than 10,000 in the last few months, far exceeding the horrors of Srebrenica, Professor Boyle in conversation with Los Angeles KPFK radio host, Michael Slate, Tuesday, accused Sri Lanka Government of bulldozing and destroying evidence of massacres in the Safety Zone while preventing access to the Red Cross and UN agencies. Boyle added that the United States Government with spy satellites would be knowing exactly what Sri Lanka's actions are in the Safe Zone, and stand implicated along with UK, France, and India in allowing the genocide to happen."
[Ref:  http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=29415 ]

Foreign ministers from the 27-nation EU have already said allegations that international humanitarian and human rights laws were violated and had to be investigated. On Wednesday 13th May, US President Obama denounced the "indiscriminate shelling of civilians trapped with the remnants of the country's Tamil Tiger rebels" in a speech he made about Sri Lanka.

There is a desperate humanitarian crisis facing tens of thousands of people in the country at this time and evidence of the use of chemical weapons by the Sri Lankan Army in the recent conflict. International aid agencies are now being allowed back into the northern Mullaivaikal region, but are said to be overwhelmed by the sheer scale of the human tragedy.

It is this plight facing scores of people which has driven Tim Martin, a non-Tamil British former aid worker who has lived in the northern region of Sri Lanka (where the conflict has been taking place) and now Campaign Director of Act Now! to embark on an indefinite hunger strike each day outside of the American Embassy.

He is calling upon President Obama of the US to intervene in Sri Lanka to ensure independent bodies, including UN monitors and media are allowed to enter the affected area immediately so that civilians are protected and the human scale of the disaster recorded.
Press can contact the numbers provided for more details. A copy of Mr Martin's letter to the President is below*.
END 19/05/09

Site: www.act-now
Email:  info.actnow@gmail.com



* Letter written by Tim Martin for the attention of US President Obama, delivered to USA Embassy yesterday, Monday 18th May 2009:

18th May 2009

Dear President Obama,

I am a former humanitarian worker. I have lived in Northern Sri Lanka where the conflict has been taking place during the good times of peace and the bad times of war. I have witnessed first hand the suffering of the tamil people and the atrocities inflicted by the Sri Lankan armed forces.

After returning from Sri Lanka, I founded a campaign called Act Now to raise awareness about the truth of the suffering of the tamil people. We are working closely with a number of human rights organisations and aid agencies, including ICRC, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, Stop Child Soldiers. We also have the support of over 55 MPs and a number of Members of the European Parliament.

I have been deeply saddened by the international community’s lack of response to this humanitarian catastrophe, especially after the atrocities which took place in Rwanda and the promise of the international community to never let this happen again.

This desperate situation has led me to start a hunger strike without food or water to demand the necessary steps are taken to avoid further suffering. I call upon you today as a man which gave the world hope, a man that promised to bring change, to do everything possible in your power to put an end to the atrocities and meet my requests.

1. International monitors on the ground and satellite imaging effective immediately to verify the true number of casualties and the mop up process.

2. Immediate free access to international media and international organisations throughout Sri Lanka.

3. Emergency medical treatment for tens of thousands of civilians and POWs that are currently not in hospitals and are being held at checkpoints, schools and IDP camps.

4. Public Investigation into Vijay Nambiar, the Special Envoy for the UN Secretary General, as his brother Satish Nambiar is a paid consultant for the Sri Lankan government which suggests a conflict of interest.

Yours Truly

Tim Martin



Act Now!
- Homepage: http://www.act-now.info

Comments

Upcoming Coverage
View and post events
Upcoming Events UK
24th October, London: 2015 London Anarchist Bookfair
2nd - 8th November: Wrexham, Wales, UK & Everywhere: Week of Action Against the North Wales Prison & the Prison Industrial Complex. Cymraeg: Wythnos o Weithredu yn Erbyn Carchar Gogledd Cymru

Ongoing UK
Every Tuesday 6pm-8pm, Yorkshire: Demo/vigil at NSA/NRO Menwith Hill US Spy Base More info: CAAB.

Every Tuesday, UK & worldwide: Counter Terror Tuesdays. Call the US Embassy nearest to you to protest Obama's Terror Tuesdays. More info here

Every day, London: Vigil for Julian Assange outside Ecuadorian Embassy

Parliament Sq Protest: see topic page
Ongoing Global
Rossport, Ireland: see topic page
Israel-Palestine: Israel Indymedia | Palestine Indymedia
Oaxaca: Chiapas Indymedia
Regions
All Regions
Birmingham
Cambridge
Liverpool
London
Oxford
Sheffield
South Coast
Wales
World
Other Local IMCs
Bristol/South West
Nottingham
Scotland
Social Media
You can follow @ukindymedia on indy.im and Twitter. We are working on a Twitter policy. We do not use Facebook, and advise you not to either.
Support Us
We need help paying the bills for hosting this site, please consider supporting us financially.
Other Media Projects
Schnews
Dissident Island Radio
Corporate Watch
Media Lens
VisionOnTV
Earth First! Action Update
Earth First! Action Reports
Topics
All Topics
Afghanistan
Analysis
Animal Liberation
Anti-Nuclear
Anti-militarism
Anti-racism
Bio-technology
Climate Chaos
Culture
Ecology
Education
Energy Crisis
Fracking
Free Spaces
Gender
Globalisation
Health
History
Indymedia
Iraq
Migration
Ocean Defence
Other Press
Palestine
Policing
Public sector cuts
Repression
Social Struggles
Technology
Terror War
Workers' Movements
Zapatista
Major Reports
NATO 2014
G8 2013
Workfare
2011 Census Resistance
Occupy Everywhere
August Riots
Dale Farm
J30 Strike
Flotilla to Gaza
Mayday 2010
Tar Sands
G20 London Summit
University Occupations for Gaza
Guantanamo
Indymedia Server Seizure
COP15 Climate Summit 2009
Carmel Agrexco
G8 Japan 2008
SHAC
Stop Sequani
Stop RWB
Climate Camp 2008
Oaxaca Uprising
Rossport Solidarity
Smash EDO
SOCPA
Past Major Reports
Encrypted Page
You are viewing this page using an encrypted connection. If you bookmark this page or send its address in an email you might want to use the un-encrypted address of this page.
If you recieved a warning about an untrusted root certificate please install the CAcert root certificate, for more information see the security page.

Global IMC Network


www.indymedia.org

Projects
print
radio
satellite tv
video

Africa

Europe
antwerpen
armenia
athens
austria
barcelona
belarus
belgium
belgrade
brussels
bulgaria
calabria
croatia
cyprus
emilia-romagna
estrecho / madiaq
galiza
germany
grenoble
hungary
ireland
istanbul
italy
la plana
liege
liguria
lille
linksunten
lombardia
madrid
malta
marseille
nantes
napoli
netherlands
northern england
nottingham imc
paris/île-de-france
patras
piemonte
poland
portugal
roma
romania
russia
sardegna
scotland
sverige
switzerland
torun
toscana
ukraine
united kingdom
valencia

Latin America
argentina
bolivia
chiapas
chile
chile sur
cmi brasil
cmi sucre
colombia
ecuador
mexico
peru
puerto rico
qollasuyu
rosario
santiago
tijuana
uruguay
valparaiso
venezuela

Oceania
aotearoa
brisbane
burma
darwin
jakarta
manila
melbourne
perth
qc
sydney

South Asia
india


United States
arizona
arkansas
asheville
atlanta
Austin
binghamton
boston
buffalo
chicago
cleveland
colorado
columbus
dc
hawaii
houston
hudson mohawk
kansas city
la
madison
maine
miami
michigan
milwaukee
minneapolis/st. paul
new hampshire
new jersey
new mexico
new orleans
north carolina
north texas
nyc
oklahoma
philadelphia
pittsburgh
portland
richmond
rochester
rogue valley
saint louis
san diego
san francisco
san francisco bay area
santa barbara
santa cruz, ca
sarasota
seattle
tampa bay
united states
urbana-champaign
vermont
western mass
worcester

West Asia
Armenia
Beirut
Israel
Palestine

Topics
biotech

Process
fbi/legal updates
mailing lists
process & imc docs
tech