TAMIL GUARDIAN No. 354 ISSN 1369-2208 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 01, 2007free fortnightly Why Tamils’ suffering is inconsequential PAGE 6 Humanitarian situation worsens WHILE the Sri Lankan govern- displacement, the closure of a ma- ment 'celebrates' the 'liberation' of jor highway, and security-related the east, observers predict that the restrictions on farming and fish- conflict, and the humanitarian cri- ing, IRIN reported. sis in Tamil areas, will only dete- "Food assistance for the inter- riorate. nally displaced and other vulnera- In the east many of the dis- ble groups has been in short sup- placed have been able to return ply for months," the agency said. home, although aid workers fear The Jaffna District Govern- some may have been sent back ment Agent, K. Ganesh, says 51% against their will. of the Jaffna population, who are However many have not re- dependent on farming, have had turned to their traditional homes, their productivity impacted by the and others continue to move, cit- lack of fertilizer and no access to ing local insecurity and fears of farmlands, which have been armed groups. declared security zones. Tamil residents have been Another 9% are impacted by stopped from returning to what the fishing restrictions, with esti- used to be the LTTE areas in mates that their production is Sampur, near the strategic north- 10% of the pre-conflict levels. eastern port of Trincomalee as the About 165,000 people in area has been declared a high Jaffna are highly reliant on food security zone for the military. assistance, including internally "The residents are still stuck displaced people (IDPs) and other in camps," one Western aid work- vulnerable groups. er told Reuters. "The fear is that it The Sri Lankan Commission- could eventually amount to ethnic er General of Essential Services cleansing." says it provides government food The Sri Lankan military is to 45,000 of these IDPs and vul- also blocking shipments of ceme- nerable people and the UN World nt, steel, fuel and other items from Food Programme (WFP) is res- reaching LTTE territory, Reuters ponsible for 120,000 more. reported. But WFP says it has been a This has forced aid groups to challenge to meet its food-assis- shelve post-tsunami housing pro- tance goals for Jaffna. jects as well as plans to build Meanwhile, along with civili- schools and hospitals in the Tamil ans, aid workers are continuing to areas most impacted by the war be targeted, with a field officer of and the 2004 tsunami. the Danish Refugee Council, an And NGOs are to be closely international humanitarian orga- supervised in the east, with the Sri nization in Jaffna, being shot dead Lankan military announcing that last week. Arumainayagam Allo- regional authorities will be ysius, 26, had been with the Halo “supervising” all development Trust, another INGO, but had work by NGOs in the region. switched to the joined the Danish In the north, the shortage of agency when the Halo Trust dis- food and essential items is biting continued its work in the peninsu- hard, with rising levels of acute la recently. More than 13 Halo malnutrition being seen in Jaffna. Trust staffers have been either A mother who lost her child cries and curses as Sri Lanka Army soldiers ride past in a South African Livelihoods and markets have killed, abducted or gone missing made Buffel Armoured Personnel Carrier. The military has been accused of complicity in abductions been disrupted by conflict and in the recent past. and disappearances by young men who have been released after being abducted. Photo TamilNet 2 TAMIL GUARDIAN Wednesday August 01, 2007 NEWS AADDCCHHAAYYAA SRI LANKAN & SOUTH INDIAN RESTAURANT & TAKEAWAY PROMPTLY ATTENDED SERVICE The Best Caterers In South West London Opening Hours: 12 Noon to 11PM 164 Merton High Street South Wimbledon London SW19 1AZ Tel: 020 8540 8192 The Representative Committee, which does not have representatives from the third and fourth largest parties in parliament, is expected to release it’s report in mid August. Photo TamilNet APRC set to report THE final recommendation of a reported. Meanwhile, the co-chairs panel appointed by the Sri Vitharana said the political have decided not to get actively Lankan President to find a politi- parties have reached consensus involved in Sri Lanka's conflict Fresh cal solution to the island's conflict on the three main co-issues of a until the country finds a lasting is expected later this month. future power-sharing structure, solution through the APRC, the The All Party Representative leaving half of its workload fin- Daily Mirror newspaper quoted a Committee (APRC) report is exp- ished. diplomatic source as saying. 59 Kingston Road ected to be prepared in concur- "We have reached consensus The US, EU, Japan and rence with all political parties on three of the most controversial Norway had taken this stance to represented in the Committee. co-issues," Vitharana was quoted enable Sri Lanka to decide by London APRC chairman Prof. Tissa by the Daily News as saying. itself, a top Western diplomatic Vitharana said that the Committee But he declined to spell out told the Daily Mirror. was planning to come up with the the three areas the political parties "Once the parties find a com- final draft by the middle of reached a consensus on. mon solution, then the Co-chairs SW19 1JN August. The Parties which were hav- can actively involve in helping Commenting on the progress ing a marathon of weekly meet- the country to implement it," he the APRC has made in formulat- ings for the past four weeks, after said. UK ing the proposals so far, Vitharana submitting their individual pro- Soon after the last meeting of said that the process was at the posals a month ago, were taking the Co-chairs in Oslo, the donor intermediate level. up each co-issue to weigh among nations urged both President Ma- Tel: 07723 614 183 "We have many areas agreed themselves and reach common hinda Rajapakse and Opposition upon by all political parties as of ground. Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe to now," the professor said. "We have dealt with the most find a solution through the APRC. With Compliments Asked to reveal what the areas difficult ones and others will be During the Oslo meeting on were, he said he did not want to easy to cope as we move along," June 26, it was agreed to put pres- declare them until the draft is he was quoted as saying. sure on Sri Lanka in this regards complete. Vitharana offered 20 main as well. "We have had a considerable proposals, that could be used as a He said some donor members number of meetings over the last basis of a future constitution, pre- had sounded negative on the role few weeks regarding the matter, pared based on the past discus- of the APRC, claiming it might be JJenasenas FFoooodd and were able to reach a consen- sions of the representatives, on a one-sided proposal. sus in many areas," he explained. January 8 and subsequently invit- However, the four nations had Asked if there were any dis- ed the 13 political parties in the finally decided to insist on both parities between the government APRC to submit amendments. the President and the Opposition coalition and the main opposition The proposals in his document Leader to speed up the finaliza- over the unit of devolution, outlined the State - as free sover- tion of the APRC proposals. && WWineine Vitharana said there were differ- eign and independent, form of However the government dis- ent opinions and views regarding government, electoral system, missed any delay by the co- some matters. supremacy of constitution, power chairs. "But all parties represented in sharing at the centre/in the "There is no truth in reports the APRC, can come to a settle- provinces, unit of devolution (9 that the Co-Chairs of the Peace ment regarding these issues by provinces), judiciary, distribution Process have decided to distance 225 Southcroft Road way of discussion, which the of funds, defence and national themselves from Sri Lanka until APRC is doing at the moment," security among other things. the All Party Representative he said. While the Tamil parties repre- Committee finds a solution," London "The APRC is meeting on a sented on the APRC welcomed Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogol- regular basis to discuss these mat- the Vitharana proposals, some lagama said last Wednesday. ters. I think we can reach a con- Sinhalese parties criticised the "As far as we are concerned, SW16 6QT sensus over these outstanding proposals as creating the ground there is no such intimation from areas in the next few weeks to for a federal structure. the Co-Chairs," Bogollagama told Tel: 0208 677 5668 conclude the final draft," he said. The third largest party in par- the Daily News. Meanwhile, a majority of the liament, the Marxist nationalist "The Government is going APRC have rejected the SLFP Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna ahead with the peace process and proposals on the unit of devolu- (JVP), and the largest Tamil party the international community is tion and the nature of the State in Parliament, the Tamil National fully aware of the Government's With Compliments and have decided to drop the Alliance (TNA), are not involved commitment for peace," the word 'unitary', the Daily Mirror in the APRC. Minister said. TAMIL GUARDIAN Wednesday August 01, 2007 3 NEWS Discord grows as opposition rallies THOUSANDS of opposition activists and ruling party dissi- dents in Sri Lanka commemorat- ed the signing of an alliance pact by holding the first of a series of anti-government rallies over high living costs and alleged human rights violations.