NewKerala,  Sun Feb 12 14:14:52 EST 2006

    By M.R. Narayan Swamy, New Delhi: Amnesty International has sought an effective human rights mechanism to end rampant lawlessness in eastern Sri Lanka for which it has blamed both the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and its breakaway Karuna faction.

In a sweeping indictment of armed Tamil groups as well as Sri Lankan authorities, the rights body has documented widespread human rights abuses that have sparked a climate of fear and insecurity in the districts of Batticaloa, Amparai and Trincomalee.

In a report released early this month, Amnesty said although the 2002 ceasefire pact between Colombo and the Tamil Tigers had been violated right from the start, "since February 2005 they (violations) have escalated in number and are now taking place on an unprecedented scale".
Full Story


_________________
- The Academic

Is this another plot of pro-LTTE human rights group trying to support LTTE.

If they are PRO-LTTE ,they wouldn't criticise LTTE.Not only they criticise LTTE but also GOSL,Karuna faction and other groups.Finally someone point finger at GOSL and other hypocritic groups who have commited murders while blaming LTTE.It's funny people who hate LTTE doesn't want to accept the fact that others are committing human right violations too.If someone criticise anyone other than LTTE then they are pro LTTE .Murder is murder regardless of who commits.

Think George Orwell put it rather well:

The nationalist not only does not disapprove of atrocities committed by his own side, but he has a remarkable capacity for not even hearing about them.
"Notes on Nationalism" (1948?)

Everyone is an uncritical cheerleader for his/her own side's actions. The militarists - in Colombo, Kilinochchi, Matara, Sydney and Toronto - who are beating their war drums from a safe distance are quite happy to see hundreds of people die as long as the body count of their enemy's side is slightly higher. Only those blinded by hate, ideology and prejudice can ignore the enormous suffering inflicted on fellow human beings. Their is no greater value (especially in conflict) than searching for objective truth. Perhaps TLA forum discussions will help unearth this truth and lead to greater understanding?

It is ok to be blindly jingoistic about a cricket match but when it comes to the WAR, hopefully we can all take a step back, count to ten and take a long hard look about what the causes for the ethnic conflict are and what we can realistically do about it.

Orwell also said in the same essay: There is no crime, absolutely none, that cannot be condoned when ‘our’ side commits it.
This is SO true even when looking at the British reactions to the brutalization of Iraqi kids in Basra. It has been true of all the horrendous things that have been done in Sri Lanka at least since 1948........

If we are as great a civilization as we like to THINK we are, we should have little difficulty in resolving our national question instead of the same tired old game of "You did this......" and "But you did this....". Of course, this requires maturity and a degree of wisdom expecially among our noble leadership.

Here's hoping ...........