THAMIL CREATIVE WRITERS ORGANIZATION

We thank you for the resolution adopted unanimously by the Thamil Nadu Assembly last Thursday (August 18, 2006) condemning the killings of 61 students at Chencholai, Mullaitivu. Speaking on the resolution you have aptly described the SLAF air-strike as an "atrocious, uncivilized and inhumane act" and urged the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to request the Sri Lankan government to hold talks to settle the issue peacefully and stop killing of innocent Tamils.

The victims of the air-strike were girls from various schools in the nearby district of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi staying overnight at the compound attending a course in first aid, leadership skills and self-awareness.

Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission Monitors (SLMM) which visited the site within hours of the air-strike on Monday (August 15, 2006) said they couldn’t find “any evidence of military installations or weapons.” Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson, told MTV television. “We found at least 10 bomb craters and an unexploded bomb. But it was not a military installation, we can see [that]” he further claimed.

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) staff from a nearby office immediately visited the compound to assess the situation and to provide fuel and supplies for the hospital as well as counseling support for the injured students and the bereaved families. Ann M. Veneman, Executive Director UNICEF in a press release on Tuesday (August 16, 2006) said the victims of the incident were innocent children and the killing of 61 schoolgirls a "shocking result of the rising violence.”

"UNICEF visited the site and four hospitals. UNICEF understands that the site was a former children's home which was no longer functioning. "Reportedly school children aged mainly between 16-19 in Mullaitivu District and Kilinochchi District were attending a two-day first aid training course at the site. While visiting hospitals, UNICEF observed more than 100 children undergoing treatment," UNICEF's Colombo office said.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in a press release disputed the Government version and said it saw no evidence of any military facilities there. “We can confirm that 21 civilians were killed consequent to the air strike at Manthuvil junction …The ICRC deplores the fact that the air strikes were carried out in a civilian area” the press release added.

The video footage shown by Government Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella to prove that the bombing site was a LTTE military training camp has been dismissed by Ulf Henricsson, Head of the SLMM.

The Sri Lankan government stung by the string of criticism by Thamil Nadu Assembly, UN Agencies and other human rights organizations continue to maintain that the site was a LTTE training camp. Having told one lie the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) continues to lie through the teeth and has unleashed a vicious disinformation campaign to bury the truth.

The GOSL on Friday (August 18, 2006) took exception to the resolution passed by the Thamil Nadu Assembly. Reacting to the Assembly resolution of Thursday, the Sri Lankan government said:

“The truth of the matter is that the structure referred to in the state Assembly resolution was not an orphanage as claimed by the LTTE but a strategically located long-standing LTTE training camp from which that organization used to induct cadres for its recent attacks against the security forces and the positions established by the ceasefire in the Jaffna peninsula.”

Government Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella also propounded what is by all accounts an irresponsible, vitriolic, and inflammatory proposition that age and sex will be of no concern when it came to killing “child soldiers.” “Since these children were trained to be dispatched to the battle front by the Tigers, if we don’t kill them today, tomorrow they will be fighting the government forces” he further argued. No doubt this is an extreme manifestation of chauvinistic megalomania of the GOSL.

Now, the Goebbelsian style propaganda by the GOSL has been totally discredited by the Director of Education for Kilinochchi district and Director of Education for Mullaitivu district. Both have informed their respective Government Agents the details of the 55 victims ( 51 students and 4 staffers) killed in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing on Chencholai last Monday.

On Thursday, Mullaithivu Principals Association and Kandavalai Principals Association, the organizers of the ten-day program, condemned the aerial bombardment that killed 55 schoolchildren and staffers. "The residential course progressed to its fourth day, when on 14 August at 7:00 a.m. the students were getting ready for the day's program when four Sri Lankan government Kfir jets started showering the area with bombs," the organizers said in a joint press release.

In this connection, we regret the fact that the Indian government is still maintaining stoic silence and has not issued any statement condemning the aerial terror by the GOSL. Not even a message of condolence to the bereaved families. May be with advisors like N.K.Narayanan, a confirmed LTTE baiter who has written extensively against the LTTE, around nothing more could be expected of Delhi.

In conclusion, we reiterate that the bombing of Chencholai is part of the long standing genocidal policy of successive Sri Lankan governments against Thamils.

MK joins issue with Lankan govt [TIS]

Joining issue with the Sri Lankan government which had objected to the Tamil Nadu Assembly passing a resolution condemning the aerial bombing of an orphanage in Mullaithivu, Chief Minister M Karunanidhi today said photographic evidence proved that the orphanage was bombarded by the Sri Lankan Air Force.

Denying the Sri Lankan government's statement that the resolution was based on "fabricated reports" and the orphanage was not subjected to bombing but only a LTTE training ground was bombed, he said "photographs clearly indicate that it was only an orphanage and not a training ground for the LTTE."

Backing Sri Lankan Tamils fully in the current situation in the island nation, Karunanidhi said "if supporting the cause of Tamils is construed as a mistake, the Tamil Nadu government will continue repeating it."

He was replying to the points raised by MDMK leader M Kannappan during zero hour in the House.

"The resolution was not meant only to condole the death of 61 innocent children, but also to draw the attention of the Sri Lankan and Indian governments to the plight of Tamils," he said.

It was distressing to learn that Sri Lankan Tamils were being hunted, Karunanidhi said, pointing out that the very fact that the resolution was passed unanimously in the House, was proof of the unity of Tamils in fighting for the cause of their brethren.

"The state government expects the Centre to spearhead the cause of the Tamils and advocate their safety. At present, there is no yardstick to measure the level of Tamil Nadu's intervention in the issue," he said.

Karunanidhi alleged that MDMK Chief Vaiko's "clandestine" meeting with LTTE leader Prabakaran in Sri Lanka in 1989 came as a stumbling block to arriving at an amicable solution to the Sri Lankan Tamils issue. "The then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had requested me to go to Sri Lanka and hold talks with LTTE leader Prabakaran. He asked me to take either Murasoli Maran or Vaiko with me to Sri Lanka. But before I could co-ordinate with any of them, Vaiko paid a clandestine visit to the LTTE camp in Sri Lanka," Karunanidhi said.

"The efforts made by the Tamil Nadu government towards negotiating with the LTTE for a permanent solution, have since been stalled," Karunanidhi said.

India's outlook towards the problems of Sri Lankan Tamils had to be divided into two parts, one before the killing of Rajiv Gandhi and the other post assassination, he said.

After Rajiv Gandhi's assassination, the Sri Lankan Tamils issue remains deadlocked, he said.

Replying to Opposition Deputy leader O Panneerselvam's query about the safety of Sri Lankan refugees in India waters, Karunanidhi said the state government was holding discussions with the Indian navy to escort them safely to Tamil Nadu. [THE END]

- India asked to condemn attacks on Tamils - Congress MP and General Secretary V Narayanasamy [TIS]

The Centre should condemn the "assault the Sri Lankan Army had been inflicting on innocent Tamils" in the island nation, AICC General Secretary V Narayanasamy, MP, said.

Talking to reporters in Pondy, he said the Tamils, facing an "insecure situation and mayhem" in Sri Lanka, had been moving out of the country and were coming as refugees to India and particularly to Tamil Nadu.

Stating that protection of Tamils was absolutely necessary, he appealed to the Sri Lankan Government to take initiative in this regard. [THE END]

19 students killed as orphanage is bombed in Sri Lanka

The United Nations has confirmed that at least 19 students were killed by a bomb in eastern Sri Lanka.

Hours later, another blast shook Sri Lanka's capital, killing seven people and injuring at least 17 more.

Aid officials say they dispatched investigators to the village in rebel-held territory when it was reported that bombs had been dropped on an orphanage.

U.N. spokesperson Orla Clinton says the agency is still gathering information about the incident, in collaboration with international cease-fire monitors form the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission.

The orphanage was evacuated before recent hostilities erupted, but Clinton says it was being used by another group of young people.

'What we know at the moment is that these seem to have been students between 16-and-18, A-Level students, from the Kilinochi and Mullativu area, who were on a two-day training course in first aid,' she said.

Investigators say it appears that the facility was bombed by 'Kfir' jets, used by the Sri Lankan Air force.

'And apparently, four Kfirs, according to SLMM [the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission], dropped bombs on the area, the center where they were,' added Clinton.

The incident was first reported on a pro-rebel Web page, Tamilnet, which accused the government of deliberately dropping bombs on the facility. It lists the number killed at more than 60.

Sri Lankan military officials have denied responsibility for the incident.

The head of Sri Lanka's Peace Secretariat, Palitha Kohona, warned that the rebels may be trying to distract attention from battlefield losses.

'Now, when they are getting beaten back, they have started, as usual, and this fits into a pattern, a campaign of disinformation and trying to turn the tide by appealing to the heartstrings of the public,' said Kohona.

The government and Tamil Tiger Rebels have been engaged in nearly three weeks of clashes. The violence threatens to plunge the country back into civil war, which first began in 1983, when the rebels demanded independence for the ethnic Tamil minority.

Meanwhile, seven people were killed in the capital Colombo, in a blast directed at the Pakistani ambassador.

Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, R Avudiayappan, brought the condolence resolution and expressed shock and grief over the Vallipunam killings.

Some officials have said a Claymore mine was detonated beneath his motorcade, while others say a three-wheeler taxi had been packed with explosives.

Officials blame the attack on the Tamil Tigers, who may be angry that Pakistan supplies arms to the Sri Lankan government. The ambassador escaped serious injury. The rebel group is a State Department designated terrorist organization.

Commenting at the time, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said: “We can confirm that 21 civilians were killed consequent to the air strike at Manthuvil junction …The ICRC deplores the fact that the air strikes were carried out in a civilian area.”

Lanka objects to TN stand on bombing [TIS]

The Sri Lankan government on Friday took exception to the resolution passed by the Tamil Nadu Assembly condemning the recent Lankan air strike killing 61 girls in Mullaitivu.

Reacting to the Assembly resolution of Thursday, which had condemned the bombing of the orphanage near Mullaitivu, the Sri Lankan government said :

“The truth of the matter is that the structure referred to in the state Assembly resolution was not an orphanage as claimed by the LTTE but a strategically located long-standing LTTE training camp, from which that organisation used to induct cadres for its recent attacks against the security forces and the positions established by the ceasefire in the Jaffna peninsula,” the Sri Lankan deputy high commission in Chennai said in a statement.

· Army tracked LTTE facility since 2004, bombed it after foolproof checks: Government

COLOMBO: Government Defence spokesman and Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told a news conference here on Tuesday that Monday's airstrike was not on a school or orphanage, but a Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam training camp. Army spokesman Athula Jayawardene said the military had been tracking down the facility in Tiger-controlled Mullaittivu district since 2004 and bombed it only after carrying out foolproof checks. The Government also showed purported video clips of the facility prior and after the bombing. "UNICEF tells us they are children. So what, they were assembled by the LTTE for deployment in the north and east." The airstrike killed 200 to 300 inmates.

The LTTE had alleged that the bombing on the orphanage killed at least 61 schoolgirls and boys in the age group of 15 to 18 and injured 150 others.

Mr. Rambukwella said all security installations in the Jaffna peninsula remained safe after militants tried to overrun them in the past few days. The curfew enforced by the police in the peninsula had been further relaxed.

He said troops in Muhhamalai, facing continuous LTTE attacks for the past couple of days, had repulsed the enemy.

Mr. Jayawardene said 88 Army and security forces personnel have died and 150 injured in the renewed violence after the Mavil Aru sluice gate opening on August 8.

The UNICEF, which runs programmes in Mullaittivu district and sent its team to the reported bombing site, said in a statement that victims of the incident were innocent children. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), which also dispatched its team, disputed the Government version and said it saw no evidence of any military facilities there.

The UNICEF said the bombing was a shocking result of the rising violence in Sri Lanka. "These children are innocent victims of violence," said Ann M. Veneman, UNICEF executive director. "We call on all parties to respect international humanitarian law and ensure children and the places where they live, study and play are protected from harm."

Girls from various schools in the nearby district of Mullaitivu and Kilinochchi were staying overnight at the compound, attending a two-day course in first-aid, it said.

"UNICEF staff from a nearby office immediately visited the compound to assess the situation and to provide fuel and supplies for the hospital as well as counselling support for the injured students and the bereaved families. "This latest incident comes amidst escalating hostilities in Sri Lanka in recent weeks, where tens of thousands of children were displaced from their homes. Hundreds of children have been injured, lost family members, and live in constant fear of the violence and continuous shelling of their communities," the statement said.

The Government announced the closure of all schools here ahead of schedule citing the South Asian Federation (SAF) games starting on August 18.

UN officials and truce monitors in Sri Lanka say those killed in a bombing raid in a rebel-held northern area were pupils from local schools.

The target of the air strike has been described by the government as a rebel camp and by the rebels as an orphanage.

The strike took place in Mullaitivu district on Monday. Teams from the UN children's fund (Unicef) and truce monitors went there the same day.

Unicef and Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission officials who visited the site said the victims came from local schools.

Unicef spokeswoman Joanna Van Gerpen told the BBC: "We did see more than 100 [wounded] in the local hospitals, some with loss of limbs, head and shrapnel injuries."

She said most of those injured were girls aged 16 to 19, and there was no evidence that any were rebels.

Ms Van Gerpen added: "From what we understand at this point, these children were from surrounding communities."

A spokesman for the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) - which also visited the area - said no sign of rebel activity had been recovered from the site.

The government says the bombed facility was a training camp run by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and those killed were child soldiers.

On Tuesday Sri Lankan government spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella said neither team had used military experts to reach their conclusions.

"They have not sent people with any war experience to study the place," Mr Rambukwella told reporters in Colombo.

"We have studied this for three years and know what was going on. They used this place to provide combatants to the Tigers."

Meanwhile, fighting has been continuing between troops and rebels in the northern Jaffna peninsula.

The government has also been carrying out a huge search operation, saying the rebels have moved into civilian districts.

Schools have been closed early for holidays after a bomb exploded near the Pakistani high commissioner's car in the capital, Colombo, on Monday, killing seven people.

The Tigers have ruled out peace talks with the government while heavy fighting continues between the two sides.

The recent flare-up in fighting has prompted international alarm that a 2002 ceasefire agreement is unravelling.

The truce aimed to halt more than two decades of war between the government and the rebels, who want an independent homeland for minority Tamils in the north and east.

Director of Education for Kilinochchi district, T Kurukularaja, and Director of Education for Mullaitivu district, P Ariyaradnam, have informed their respective Government Agents the details of the 55 victims killed in the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing on Sencholai campus in Vallipunam Monday.

On Thursday, Mullaithivu Principals Association and Kandavalai Principals Association, the organisors of the ten-day program, condemned the aerial bombardment that killed 55 schoolchildren and staffers.

"The residential course progressed to its fourth day, when on 14 August at 7:00 a.m the students were getting ready for the day's program when four Sri Lankan government Kfir jets started showering the area with bombs," the organisors said in a joint press release.

The final tally of those killed in the Vallipunam school camp aerial bombing (55 killed of which 51 are students and four are staff)

Names of students killed and the school they were attending from Mullaitivu district compiled by the Director of Education for Mullaitivu district, P Ariyaradnam, and sent to the Government Agent for Mullaitivu:

School: Puthukkudiyiruppu Mahavidhyalayam

Thambirasa Lakiya DOB: 26-03-89, Mullivaikal west
Mahalingam Vensidiyoola DOB: 07-10-89, Mullivaikal west
Thuraisingam Sutharsini DOB: 28-07-89, Ward 10, PKT

School: Visuvamadu Mahavidhyalayam

Nagalingam Theepa DOB: 29-03-87, Puthadi, Visuvamadu
Thambirasa Theepa DOB: 07-02-87, Valluvarpuram, Redbarna
Thirunavukkarasu Niranjini DOB: 29-11-88, Puthadi, Visuvamadu
Raveenthirarasa Ramya DOB: 14-11-88, Thoddiyadi, V. madu
Kanapathipillai Nanthini DOB: 05-10-88, Koddiyadi, Visuvamadu
Vijayabavan Sinthuja DOB: 24-05-88, Koddiyadi, Visuvamadu
Naguleswaran Nishanthini DOB: 11-04-89, Thoddiyadi, V.madu
Tharmakulasingam Kemala DOB: 09-09-87, Kannakinagar,
Arulampalam Yasothini DBO: 18-01-88, Puththadi, Visuvamadu

School: Udayarkaddu Mahavidhyalayam

Muthaih Indra DOB: 08-08-88, Suthanthirapuram centre
Murugaiah Arulselvi DOB: 14-07-88, Suthanthirapuram centre
Sivamoorthy Karthikayini DOB: 13-02-88, Vallipunam
Santhanam Sathyakala DOB: 20-08-86, Vallipunam
Kanagalingam Nirupa DOB: 11-02-89, Visuvamadu
Kanagalingam Nirusa DOB: 11-02-89, Vallipunam
Navaratnam Santhakumari DOB: 28-05-88, Kaiveli
Nagalingam Kokila DOB: 12-02-87, Vallipunam
Sivamayajeyam Kokila DOB: Kuravil
Shanmugarasa Paventhini DOB:
Balakrishnan Mathani DOB: 09-05-88, Vallipunam

School: Mullaitivu Mahavidhyalayam

Sivanantham Thivya DOB: 30-05-88, Vannankulam
Thambirasa Suganthini DOB: 18-02-88, Alampil,
S Vathsalamary DOB: 20-11-86, Manatkudiyiruppu
Thanabalasingam Bakeerathy DOB: 03-02-87, Mullivaikal west
Thanikasalam Thanusa DOB: 02-12-87, Kallappadu
Pathmanathan Kalaipriya DOB: 23-09-88, Kovilkudiyiruppu
Markupillai Kelansuthayini DOB: 14-07-88, Vannankulam
Rasamohan Hamsana DOB: 29-05-87, Alampil

School: Kumulamunai Mahavidhyalayam

Vivekanantham Thadchayini DOB: 31-01-88, W 10, PTK
Santhakumar Sukirtha DOB: 08-08-87, Ward 7, Kumulamunai
Uthayakumaran Kousika DOB: 22-08-87, Kumulamunai
Nallapillai Ninthija DOB: 03-03-88, Ward 6, Kumulamunai
Veerasingam Rajitha DOB: 28-02-88, Ward 5, Kumulamunai

School: Vidhyananda College, Mulliyavalai

Thamilvasan Nivethika DOB: 02-12-88, Ward 2, Mulliyavalai
Suntharam Anoja DOB: 12-09-89, Kumulamunai
Puvanasekaram Puvaneswari DOB: 06-06-89, W 4, Mulliyavalai
Kiritharan Thayani DOB: 28-12-89, Thannerutru, Mulliyavalai

School: Chemmalai Mahavidhyalayam

Mahalingam Vasantharani DOB: 23-03-88, Alampil, Chemmalai
Thuraisingam Thisani DOB: 06-12-88, Alampil, Chemmalai
Vairavamoorthy Kirithika DOB: 12-07-87, Alampil, Chemmalai
Chandramohan Nivethika DOB: 04-01-89, Alampil, Chemmalai

School: Oddusuddan Mahavidhyalayam

Sellam Nirojini DOB: Koolamurippu, Oddusuddan
Names of students killed and the school they were attending from Kilinochchi district compiled by the Director of Education for Kilinochchi district, T Kurukularaja, and sent to the Government Agent for Kilinochchi.

School: Muruhananda Mahavidhyalayam

Tharmarasa Brintha DOB: 06-01-89, 189/1 Visuvamadu
Thevarasa Sharmini DOB: 09-03-89, 90, Periyakulam, Kandavalai

School: Tharmapuram Mahavidhyalayam

Varatharaja Mangaleswari DOB: 24-07-89, 577, 13 U, T.puram
Rasenthiraselvam Mahilvathani DOB: 04-12-88, Tharmapuram
Nilayinar Nivakini DOB: 04-04-89, Kaddakkadu, Tharmapuram

School: Piramanthanaru Mahavidhyalayam

Kubenthiraselvam Lihitha DOB: 05-02-87, Kalaveddithidal, Puliyampokanai

Names of staff killed

Chandrasekaran Vijayakumari (Age 27)
Kandasamy Kumarasamy (Age 48)
Solomon Singarasa (Age 65)
S Jeyarubi (Age 20)

Kalaignar M Karunanidhi, the Chief Minister (CM) of the southern Tamil Nadu state of India, has condemned the Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) bombing, in Vallipunam in Mullaithivu district in NorthEast Sri Lanka, where tens of schoolgirls were killed and more than 100 wounded Monday. Describing the SLAF air-strike as an "atrocious and inhumane act", the Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu state, home to 60 million Tamils in India, has urged the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, to request the Sri Lankan government to hold talks to settle the issue peacefully and stop killing innocent Tamils.

The Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly Thursday passed a resolution condemning the recent killings.

Speaker of the Tamil Nadu Assembly, R Avudiayappan, brought the condolence resolution and expressed shock and grief over the Vallipunam killings.

The House condemned the killings, characterising it as "uncivilised and inhumane act" of the Sri Lankan military.

"There should be a full stop to such incidents which cannot be forgiven... There cannot be two opinions on this," Chennai Online reported Chief Minister Karunanidhi as saying.

Referred to as Kalaignar, Karunanithi, the leader of the DMK Party and five times Chief Minister (CM) of Tamil Nadu State since 1969, is known for his oratorical skills, for writing historicals and scriptwriting.

Meanwhile, the opposition MDMK Floor Leader M Kannappan urged the Tamil Nadu Government to convince the Centre to invite the Tamil parliamentarians from NorthEast Sri Lanka, and to send an Indian delegation consisting of Tamil Nadu MPs to Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu is the second most industrialized state in India.

Chennai, Aug 17 (IANS) The Tamil Nadu assembly Thursday unanimously passed a resolution condemning the killing of 61 school girls in Sri Lanka's north by air force jets apparently targeting the Tamil Tigers.

Members observed silence for two minutes to pay homage to the dead children in Mullaitivu district.

Speaker R. Avudiayappan tabled the condolence resolution and expressed shock and grief over the killing of the girls at the 'Sencholai' orphanage Monday.

The resolution termed the mass killings 'uncivilized, barbaric, inhumane and atrocious'.

It said: 'There can be no two opinions on putting an end to the attacks, which cannot be forgiven.'

Sri Lanka says it only targeted a training camp of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and has insinuated that the dead girls were 'child soldiers'. The LTTE said they were school students attending a session on first aid.

The resolution noted that Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had appealed to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to persuade Sri Lanka to 'stop the killing of innocent Tamils ... and find a solution through peace talks'.

'There should be a full stop to such incidents as they cannot be condoned by anybody,' he said.

Members of the Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) walked out of the legislature Thursday, protesting against the Indian government's silence over the air force bombing.

DPI member K. Selvam accused the central government of 'helping the Sri Lankan armed forces' and urged all political parties in Tamil Nadu to fly their party flags at half mast.

DPI leader Thol Thirumavalavan is on a one-day fast here Thursday condemning the Mullaitivu killings.

The parties in the opposition have vowed to take out peace marches every day for a whole of this week.

MDMK leader Vaiko has urged Manmohan Singh to send a delegation of MPs from India to assess the situation in Sri Lanka.

Tamil Nadu Electricity Minister Arcot N. Veerasamy warned: 'No political party in the state will accept the brutalities meted out to the Tamils by the island government.'

He, however, refused opposition demands to disclose the talks the chief minister had with National Security Adviser M.K. Narayanan on Sri Lanka.

The minister argued that the content of their discussion last week 'could not be disclosed by the government as it concerned the security of the country and it was an official secret'.

The site bombed by Sri Lankan jets on Monday had been designated a humanitarian zone and the LTTE had passed its coordinates on to the military via the UN children’s agency, UNICEF, and the International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC), NGO sources said Tuesday.

The Sri Lankan military had been given precise coordinates of where ‘Peace village’ comprising the Senchcholai home hit by Monday’s airstrike and other humanitarian centres is located.

The GPS (Global Positioning Satellite) details were passed to the Sri Lankan military during the last period of conflict, before the 2002 ceasefire, as part of efforts to ensure protection of humanitarian spaces during conflict, NGO sources told TamilNet.

On Monday four Kfir jet bombers dropped 16 bombs directly on the children’s home, destroying several buildings and killing scores of teenagers and wounding 150 others.

The Sri Lankan government says it targeted an LTTE training camp, killing “50-60 terrorists” and Tuesday showed journalists what if claimed was footage.

But UNICEF chief in Colombo JoAnna VanGerpen told AFP Tuesday: "As of this time, we don't have any evidence that they are LTTE cadres."

"These were children from surrounding schools in the area who were brought there for a two-day training workshop on first aid, by whom we don't know yet," Ms. VanGerpen told AFP.

Sri Lankan officials had briefed some journalists claiming the Senchcholai home had a firing range and fortifications.

But the international monitors overseeing the 2002 truce disagreed.

“We couldn’t find any sign of military installations or weapons,” Head of the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM), Ulf Henricsson said. “This was not a military installation, we can see [that from our visit]”

But the Sri Lankan government’s official spokesman, Minister Keheliya Rambukwella, insisted the bombed site was a Tamil Tiger training camp.

He said the accusations that innocent schoolgirls had been killed "was purely a propaganda exercise [by the LTTE] to counter their defeats in the North and East."

I have only recently written an extensive article on the bombing outrage by the Sri Lankan Government of the Chencholai orphanage which killed some 51 Tamil girls and 4 staff.

1. To draw the attention of your readers to a web address sent to me by a fellow Sinhalese with a note “Look at this. Any chance of a translation?” I replied that a translation was unnecessary, the pictures said it all. Please look at:

2. May I suggest that you not only look at this but, more importantly, get your non-Sri Lankan countrymen and women to look at it as an example of what is happening to the Tamil people, even Tamil children, in Sri Lanka. This is a somewhat different Sri Lanka than that found in the glossy tourist brochures. This is “reality TV!”

3. after seeing this ask yourself one question, “Is it feasible or realistic to have an undivided Sri Lanka?” Answer that question honestly. Then get those to whom you show this, to answer it. Then tell them to take it up with their Parliamentarians and the Media.

4. Just one addition to the article I wrote earlier. In an interview given to The Nation on 20 August 2006, Major General Henricsson said, “I think we counted 12 bombs which was confirmed. They were mostly fragmentation bombs which explode in the air and spread out a lot of pellets or fragments”

These ‘fragmentation bombs’ explode in the air and spread a lot of metal fragments, effectively a shower of shrapnel, enough to cause widespread injury (and suffering), not enough to kill. This explains why so many children were injured (some 129), some of whom died later, having undergone tremendous suffering from their injuries. There must be a reason why the Armed Forces, and by extension the GOSL, used these bombs which, with Napalm bombs (which have also been used in Jaffna some years ago – I have photographs), have been banned in many countries, but not in the Democratic Socialist Republic of Buddhist Sri Lanka.

I have argued in my earlier article that what is going on in Sri Lanka is Genocide of the Tamils. There are also features of sadism. Sadism’ is “Pleasure derived from inflicting or watching cruelty”. Many of the killings of Tamil civilians by the Sri Lankan Armed Forces have more than an element of sadism. That is why Tamils are not only killed but their bodies mutilated. That is also why Tamils about to be killed are first tortured and then killed. It all adds up, doesn’t it? The use of ‘fragmentation bombs’, as described by Hendrickson, is yet another example. Hendricsson has been a Major General in the Swedish Army and should know what he is talking about.

5. Just a word of warning to those responsible, all the way to the very top. The principles of the Nuremberg Tribunal established to prosecute Nazi war crimes during World War II and adopted by the International Law Commission of the United Nations in 1950. Article III of the Nuremberg principles states clearly:

“The fact that a person who committed an act which constitutes a crime under international law acted as Head of State or responsible Government official does not relieve him from responsibility under international law”.

This is why the German Foreign Minister was hanged for such crimes in the preemptive attack on Norway[1].

On Monday 14 August 2006, the Sri Lankan Air Force bombed a well-known orphanage in the Tamil North (Mullaitivu). There were some 400 schoolgirls who had gathered for instructions in First Aid and skills training. 51 children and 4 staff were killed on the spot and more than 129 injured some critically.

The Sri Lankan Government claims that what was bombed was a training facility for the Tamil Tigers. UNICEF (which has offices nearby) and the Swedish–led Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) visited the scene soon after. UNICEF’s Joanne van Geiter said “At this time, we don’t have any evidence that they are LTTE cadres”. Major General Ulf Henricisson, the Swedish Head of SLMM, said that his team visited the area and confirmed that the dead were teenage school children and declared “It was not a military installation, we can see (that)”.

It is clear that the Sri Lankan Government’s claim is patently untrue, an attempt to justify the unjustifiable and, more seriously, to deliberately mislead the international community. The reality is that it was a slaughter of school children in one of the worst atrocities of its kind in Sri Lanka. It adds significant weight to the increasing evidence that what is going on in Sri Lanka is genocide of the Tamil people by the Sri Lankan government.

It is mandatory that international action be taken against Sri Lanka (not merely ‘condemnation’) and that the criminals responsible for this outrageous violation of human rights and blot on Sri Lanka, be charged and prosecuted. This will have to be in an international court since it will not be done in that country.

Most of the children killed or seriously injured were from neighbouring schools. They were visiting the orphanage for a 10-day resident seminar. The families of these children have a powerful case to sue the Government for compensation. Since they are poor rural people, this will have to be done by the expatriate community in a class action.

The callous disregard for Tamil civilian lives, which includes the lives of children, has a bearing on possible solutions to the Sri Lankan ethnic problem between the Sinhalese –dominated Government and the Tamil ‘minority’.

The impact of this outrage on a possible solution to the ethnic problem is significant and will be outlined.

The 20 year war between the Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) and the Tamil people in the North and East has left some 65,000 dead (mainly Tamil civilians), hundreds of thousands in refugee camps, thousands permanently disabled, and hundreds of orphaned children.

The Government of Sri Lanka (GOSL) has not had the slightest interest in even looking at this problem, let alone address the major problem of destitute and orphaned children.

As such, the problem had to be taken up by expatriate Tamils, NGOs such as the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) with its international branches (ITRO), the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who have administered the area, UNICEF, and others.

In 1991 the Chencholai Girls Home for orphan children was set up in Mullaitivu. The Home was moved from place to place for security reasons – ‘security’ from the Sinhalese Armed Forces.

In 1998, a more permanent site was found off the Paranthan-Mullaitivu road in Vallipunam in the Mullaitivu district in the Vanni. The site was called the ‘Peace Village’.

A man-made disaster (the war) was compounded by a natural disaster (the December 2004 tsunami) which hit the East and South coasts of Sri Lanka. Some 70% of the damage done was in the Eastern seaboard, especially Mullaitivu which was devastated. The Senthalir Ilam home for orphans, located about Kim from the coast, was washed away completely. Of the 60 orphans (some only tiny tots) only 6 or 7 who were able to climb on to the kitchen pantry shelves, survived. A friend of mine who visited the area soon after, describes the scene – tiny shoes on the floor and notebooks with simple arithmetic (5+3=8).

Post-tsunami, the number of orphans increased significantly. With the GOSL more interested in quickly rebuilding the southern coast which has the dollar-earning tourist hotels (and the votes), the massive task of rebuilding the devastation in the Tamil area, looking after the refugees – and the orphans – fell on those who administer this area, with little or no help from the GOSL. The Chencholai Valaham orphanages in Vallipunam.

Let us look at these orphanages in ‘Peace village’ and see what was going on.

Chencholai Valaham (campus) consists of 5 orphanages for girls orphaned by the war and the tsunami.

5 Senthalir Illam (relocated from Mullaitivu after the tsunami destruction) – 130 girls

The ‘peace village’ in Vallipunam, where the 5 orphanages are located in a 1 km radius area, is not in some hidden jungle where secret weapons training can occur, but is off the Paranthan-Mullaitivu road at Mullaitivu and is readily accessible to anyone who wants to go there. The location is well-known to the GOSL, the Government Agent, and UNICEF. ICRC, and all those who work in the Vanni. Many of my friends in Australia and New Zealand have visited Chencholai Valaham and been impressed by the work done. I have met others in London, just 8 weeks ago, who strongly support the work there.

The site has been designated a humanitarian zone. To make sure it is not ‘accidentally’ bombed, the co-ordinates, obtained by GPS mapping, had been passed on by those concerned with such a possibility, to the Sri Lankan military, via UNICEF and ICRC. (As it so happened, I think this information was invaluable to the Air Force for bombing the facility which was done with pin-point accuracy). In addition to providing a shelter for orphans, Chencholai Valaham carries out some critical teaching functions in an area where education has suffered a serious set-back which the GOSL has no interest in addressing.

Every week-end, girls from the surrounding area come to the orphanage for training in first-aid and skills. They return to their homes on Monday.

In addition, once a year there is a 10-day residential workshop aimed at piecing their lives together, building self-confidence, gender equality (a UNICEF ‘focus area’), life skills (another UNICEF ‘focus area’), interpersonal relationships, helping oneself and others, and in first-aid. This major annual event was initiated by the zonal department of Education, Kilinochchi and funded by the Centre for Women’s Rehabilitation and Development (CWRD). More than 400 GCE A-level students from 18 schools in Kilinochchi, Mullaitivu and Oddusuddan Educational zones, and selected students from other educational organisations, participate.

This year’s workshop started on 11 August and was due to end on 20 August. It had a tragic end much earlier.

On Monday 14 August 2006, at 7am, the time of morning assembly, four Sri Lankan Air Force Kfir jet bombers dropped 16 bombs on Chencholai. As I have said, 51 children and 4 staff were killed instantaneously, 129 wounded, some critically, some of whom have since died not only because of the severity of the injuries and blood loss but because of limited medical facilities especially with the number of casualties. The aircraft did not circle around looking for a target. The bombers flew straight in, dropped the bombs with pinpoint accuracy, and left.

UNICEF, which, as I have said, has an office nearby, was on the spot in minutes. The Swedish Head of the SLMM, Major General Ulf Henricsson and his team arrived at 11 am, made their observations, and spoke to eye witnesses. The following day, UNICEF representative, Joanna van Gerten told the Media “At this time, we don’t have any evidence they are LTTE cadres”. The SLMM Head, appearing on Sisira TV (Colombo), said, “We couldn’t find any sign of military installations or weapons. This was not a military installation, we can see (that).” He said he had seen the bodies of children when he visited the scene on the day of the bombing, and saw no LTTE camps in the area. He said the SLMM had found at least 10 bomb craters and an unexploded bomb. UN spokeswoman Orla Clinton told the media, “What we know at the moment is that these seem to have been students between 16 and 18, A-level students, from the Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu areas, who were on a two-day training course in first-aid”.

The Sri Lankan military immediately denied responsibility for the crime. The Defence establishment admitted to Reuters that the Air Force had attacked “LTTE-held territory in Mullaitivu”, but refused to give details of the targets. With mounting international concerns, Group Captain Agantha Silva told Associated Press that the military had proof that this place was an LTTE base.

Digging itself deeper in lies, the Defence Ministry denied that the Air Force had attacked civilian targets, “The Sri Lankan Air Force bombed pre-identified LTTE gun positions and LTTE camps in the Mullaitivu area this morning, Monday August 14”, adding, “Air Force personnel confirmed that the bombings were precise and well targeted” . Confronted with incontrovertible evidence of a slaughter, a spokesman for the GOSL, Chandrapala Liyanage, told AFP, “It is a lie to say that schoolchildren were targeted. The Air Force bombed a LTTE training centre. We don’t know if they moved child soldiers there.”

We now move from ‘small liars’ to ‘big liars’ who can face prosecution. Keheliya Rambukwella is the Sri Lankan Government Defence Spokesman, and also a Minister in President Rajapakse’s government. At a press conference in Colombo (Tuesday 15 August 2006), he repeated the claim that the ‘former’ orphanage had been used as an LTTE training camp, and that “children trained there had been involved in recent attacks on the Sri Lankan armed forces at Muhamalai over last weekend.

Brigadier Athula Jayawardena, a military spokesman, told the media, “…the camp that was hit is a jungle area with a firing range.” He said that the military had monitored the area for years and had only attacked the site after weeks of gathering intelligence, including from spies, and analyzing the target. I might add that in his enthusiasm, the Brigadier admitted that the military had been planning this attack for weeks, if not longer.

Neither the Minister nor the Brigadier thought it necessary to offer the slightest proof for their claims.

As for the conflicting UNICEF and SLMM evidence, the Brigadier thought it unnecessary to address this. The Minister, however, did. He said that if the SLMM and UNICEF had any doubts, the government would take them to the area. The government does not need to take these people to the area, they can go there themselves, and had, in fact, done so already and given their verdict. Some of the Ministers in Rajapakse’s government are clearly not blessed with, how can I put it, an abundance of intelligence.

The Minister makes up for deficiencies in this area by issuing some worrying threats, laying the foundations for further attacks. This is what he said, “Once trained with arms one cannot count them as normal children. If a child comes with a gun to shoot a soldier you cannot expect them to stand there and hug him. At a time like this we cannot look at their age but instead what they are aiming to do”. A Sinhalese, like myself, but with much more courage, journalist Vilani Peiris, reporting from Colombo, commented on this. I will quote what he wrote since I cannot put it: - “Stripped to its bare bones, Rambukwella’s argument runs as follows: the LTTE trains child soldiers, the Vallipunam orphanage contained children, and therefore it was a legitimate target. In other words, the entire population - children, as well as men and women - is being treated as the enemy. It is the same logic as employed by the Israeli government to justify its war crimes in southern Lebanon. On the basis of destroying “Hezbollah infrastructure”, the military levelled villages, towns and cities, killing hundreds of civilians. After bombing the town of Qana, killing at least 28 people including children, Israeli authorities continued to maintain that the building was used by Hezbollah to fire rockets, despite all evidence to the contrary by journalists and aid workers.”

He ends his outstanding article with, “No one in the Colombo political and media establishment has called the Mullaitivu bombing by its right name: a war crime for which those responsible in the government and the military should be charged and prosecuted”.

As long as there are Sinhalese as brave as Vilani Peiris, Wije Dias (General Secretary of the Socialist Equality Party in Sri Lanka), his outstanding colleagues, K.Ratnayake, Sarath Kumara, Nanda Wickremesinghe, Shantha Ajithan and Deepal Jayasekera, and, outside this group, a Sinhalese journalist with extraordinary courage, Victor Ivan, the outstanding editor of Raavaya, a Sinhala newspaper in Colombo, there is still hope for Sri Lanka. I wish I had the guts to return there and join this incredible bunch.

However, their ability to say what has to be said may be coming to an end. On 16 August 2006, President Rajapakse held a meeting of editors and heads of Media in Colombo. It was ostensibly to explain the “Current situation in the country”. However, the real purpose was to pressure them to faithfully reproduce the Government propaganda on its widening war against the LTTE. The fact that the meeting was called at all reveals a distinct nervousness since the Media in Sri Lanka is already toeing the party line. Virtually all reports of the war are based directly on Government speeches and military statements. There is little independent reporting from the war zone, no exposure of major human rights abuse by the Government, and no opposition to the war, expressed in editorials or commentaries.

The next step is the notorious “Patriotic Act”, courtesy of the USA. That for sure is coming and would spell the end of what ‘press freedom’ there is. It will ensure that the international community and, even more important, the Sinhalese people in the Sri Lanka South, knows nothing of what is being done in their name by their leader to fellow citizens in the North and East. I remind you again, I never tire of doing so, and this is the Democratic Socialist Republic of (Sinhala-Buddhist) Sri Lanka.

Rajapakse has gone further. If he cannot ‘control’ the likes of the people I have cited (and others), he has threatened to bring in legislation that will see their media outlets closed and the owners and journalists jailed. In case you do not appreciate it, we are talking of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Before I comment on the consequences and actions that must be taken with this bombing outrage, let me clarify a point and ask some questions.

Let us take away the trappings, put aside the emotions (if that is possible), and simply look at what was done.

There is a Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) in place which has been violated by both parties (the GOSL and the LTTE). The GOSL continues to maintain that the CFA is still alive; the LTTE has started questioning the validity of it. Article 1.2 states that “Neither party should engage in any offensive military action” and specifically mentions aerial bombardment. So, is this yet another Ceasefire violation? No it is not, it is much more than that.

Is this a “pre-emptive strike”? Well, the girls were not about to attack the Sri Lankan Forces unless they intended to do so pens and pencils. The equivalent of “weapons inspectors” have visited the site and found no ‘weapons of mass destruction’, weapons of any sort, or even training facilities for the use of such weapons. The presence of a ‘firing range’ (claimed by a spokesman for the GOSL), is a figment of his fertile imagination, unless, of course, those who visited the site were blind. You cannot but a firing range under the bed. So, it was a ‘pre-pre-emptive strike’. That is an advance in terminology yet unrecognized by the rest of the world.

The GOSL has, for several months, more so recently, been trying hard to restart the war. This has included the bombing of an area round a sluice gate which was closed by the LTTE. The bombing, was apparently, for ‘humanitarian reasons’ but occurred after the LTTE unconditionally opened the sluice gate (settling the original problem). So, is this something like that? No, it is not – it is much more than that.

Some have described this mass killing of children as “bestial”. I do not think it is. ‘Bestial’ means “of beasts, especially quadrupeds” i.e. 4-legged. They are not beasts. In an earlier life, I was a Zoologist. I know of no beast, with two or four legs, which, presented with 400 children, will kill 51 and injure 129. It simply does not happen that way and to call these people ‘beasts’ is a zoological injustice (to the beasts). They are humans – and of that, there is no reasonable doubt.

If they are, what sort of humans are they? What sort of action is this? What sort of humans act this way? I admit I am now coming to the limits of “describability”. It is an act more barbaric than anything that has happened – even in Sri Lanka- and that is saying a lot in a country where the Sri Lankan Navy has recently slit the throats and bellies of children (? 5 years old) and then hanged them.

We are talking of a Sinhala-Buddhist nation whose predominantly Sinhala-Buddhist Armed Forces have, on the admission of members of those very same Forces, taken some 900 civilians (in 1995), held them in Army custody without charge or trial, tortured them (this was proven by post-mortem), killed and buried them in mass graves. Some were not quite dead when buried. Before the Buddhists complain, I hasten to add that the Brigadier General in charge of this little bit of mass murder was a Christian. We are talking of a country, directed by Buddha, no less, to be the custodian of his teaching, whose earthly followers in saffron robes directed Sinhalese hoodlums, in July 1983, to set fire to Tamil cars with their occupants inside them (“in situ incineration?”), tossed others into burning houses or just slit their throats and bellies. These acts, however barbaric, pale in significance when compared to the pin point bombing, guided by GPS coordinates, of 400 orphans, who had nothing left except their devastated young lives - and some who were even blind. So, this is an incomparable act, even by Sri Lankan standards.

I can think of no country whose Government has bombed its own orphan children in large numbers (400), or small. What sort of people can give the orders to bomb, which were given (according to Brigadier Athula Jayawardene) after monitoring the area “for years“and “weeks of gathering intelligence, including from spies, and analyzing the target”? Make no mistake. It was not the rash act of some maniac but was ‘carefully planned’ and meticulously executed. I would remind you of what the Defence spokesman said, “The bombings were precise and well targeted”. No disagreement.

I do not know who gave the orders but the responsibility lies squarely with the Executive President and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces – who, by good fortune, happens to be the same person. Are we looking at the Sri Lankan version of Pol Pot, Idi Amin or Hitler? I do not know.

From the President, the responsibility goes down the ‘chain of command’ – to the Service Chiefs, the Brigadiers etc – all the way down to those who loaded the bombs into the Kfir jets, set the coordinates to target the orphans, and those who released the bombs. To claim that they were ‘acting under orders’ is no defence, as Nuremberg and the International Criminal Court in the Hague have declared with no uncertainty.

The responsibility goes laterally, to implicate the numerous ‘Defence advisors’ whom the President surrounds himself with in such profusion that there is only standing-room, and without whose knowledge and collaboration, this horror could not have occurred.

Are they mad? No, they are not. Not any more than Hitler’s numerous ‘assistants’ – Ribbontropp, Himmler, and Goering, or the Buddhist monk who assassinated Prime Minister S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike.

So how does one describe these people? I honestly do not know. One way or the other, they must be held responsible and prosecuted – internationally since it will not happen in Sri Lanka. Let us now look at the consequences, which are humanitarian, legal and political.

[1] Report of the International Law Commission on the work of its second session, 5 June - 29 July 1950 (Document A/1316).