Demonstrators in Toronto, London and Geneva show only LTTE bias

Why have they not demanded the release of 300,000 hostages by the LTTE forthwith?
________________

Report from Geneva

(February 05, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Troops of the 55 division have breached the 3rd and final LTTE defence line at Challai and have advanced into LTTE's last remaining major sea tiger base. Fighting has been going on this area ever since SLA units breached LTTE's second 'earth bund' about a week ago. Soldiers of the 7 VIR (Vijayabahu Infantry Regiment) attached to 55 division today overran the 3rd and final earth bund at Challai and moved further into LTTE held territory.

Heaviest fighting in this area was reported in the past two days, especially during the night. The bund captured today and the one captured last week was located about 2km apart from each other.

According to military intelligence, several senior sea tiger wing members have perished in the Challai fighting. A deputy Sea Tiger leader identified as Vinayagam, a Sea Tiger special commander identified as Kannan and several other regional leaders are said to have been killed in yesterday and today's fighting.

Meanwhile, the only remaining hospital in Udaiyaarkaddu within the safe zone has again come under heavy shelling from both sides on Thursday. At least 7 civilians were killed and 27 wounded in the close vicinity of the makeshift hospital functioning at a school. Two ambulances were destroyed and the medical store of the hospital has been completely destroyed.

The attack comes a day after the US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and the British Foreign Secretary David Miliband urged the warring parties not to fire out of or into the safe zone and in the vicinity of Puthukkudiyiruppu (PTK) hospital or any other medical structure.

According to pro-LTTE Tamil Net web site, at least 500 civilians were killed and 2,000 wounded within the last 3 weeks. The figures, they claimed were based on a conservative estimate as many people have buried their dead, under the prevailing circumstances of heavy artillery barrage, without being able to register the deaths. Statics Tamilnet have been providing highly exaggerated pro-LTTE statistics and their sources are suspect.

In Geneva, Switzerland, thousands of Tamils gathered outside the UN headquarters Wednesday to register their protest against what they claimed as Sri Lankan Government's genocidal activities against minority Tamil community in the northern region in Sri Lanka and to demand help from the UN. Organizers said around 15,000 people took part in the demonstration that ended peacefully.

As in London and Toronto, although many of the known LTTE fund raisers were not prominently seen in these demonstrations, the organizers most of them active LTTE supporters have tried to show that these demonstrations were about humanitarian concerns. The impression of independent observers is that LTTE activists have seized this opportunity to demand ceasefire from the government forces to help the LTTE.

There is a sense of desperation over the feeling that Prabhakaran could be killed and the LTTE totally wiped out. Some LTTE watchers have also stated that Prabhakaran is still in the midst of his fighters and has not fled from Sri Lanka. If he had, then the LTTE cadres would have surrendered by now. The fear, however, is that he may as a last move order the massacre of the hostages and commit what Hitler did in the end.

The demonstrators in Geneva as well as in London and Toronto carried signs with messages protesting the military offensive against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), including those that said 'stop the war' and 'stop killing Tamils immediately'. Other placards showed pictures of dead and injured. But there were no demands that the LTTE should release the hostages. In fact, the attacked the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa for describing LTTE men as terrorists. According to them “they are not terrorists; they are just fighting for our freedom.”

The protesstors burnt an effigy of President Rajapaksa while others stomped on photos of him. In Geneva, the organizers said the protest spilled out of the Place des Nations, the main square in front of the UN building, and for about half an hour hundreds of them staged a sit-down in front of a main gate, blocking traffic on the road in front of the UN Geneva headquarters.-Sri Lanka Guardian