Tamil Leaders Call for an End to Conflict in Sri Lanka

Tamil leaders appealed to the international community to press Sri Lanka’s government to stop its military offensive in the east, saying more than 115,000 people have been forced from their homes in the past week.Army shelling drove civilians from villages near Batticaloa as part of the military’s “attempt to invade” the rebel-held area, TamilNet cited T. Ariyanenthiran, the parliamentary representative of the Tamil National Alliance, as saying Sunday. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam are preventing civilians trying to reach government-controlled areas, the government said last week.“The terrorist outfit, running short of fighting cadres, is conducting an extensive recruitment process” in the east, the Defense Ministry said on its Web site.The LTTE, which is fighting for a separate homeland within the nation, accused the government of trying to impose a military solution after the army captured 16 rebel bases in the northeastern region since January. Sri Lanka’s peace talks collapsed last year when fighting broke out in the north and east, leaving 200,000 people homeless in the past six months, according to the United Nations.Soldiers killed at least 20 LTTE fighters during operations Sunday in the Chenklady and Mahaoya areas outside Batticaloa, the Media Center for National Security said in a statement. The army arrested hundreds of civilians in villages in the area, TamilNet cited Ariyanethiran of the TNA as saying. The party has 22 seats in Sri Lanka’s 225-member parliament.A total of 18,454 people reached areas under government control around Batticaloa since Jan. 23, the Media Center said March 9. Civilians escaped after being forced by rebels to return to their villages where many are used as human shields or made to join the group, it said last week.“The notion of winning means different things to both parties. But, from a human-rights angle, it’s disturbing that both parties define winning in violent terms,” said Sanjana Hattotuwa, senior researcher at the Center for Policy Alternatives, a Colombo-based independent body. “It’s high time they move away from this and return to a political process.”About 600,000 people remain cut off in the Jaffna region by fighting that began last August, UNICEF, the U.N. Children’s Fund, said last week, adding that the violence between the army and LTTE is at the highest level since a cease-fire was declared in 2002.

Tamil Leaders Call for an End to Conflict in Sri Lanka

More from the New York Sun

The 82nd Whitney Biennial Masters the Art of Ideological Grandstanding

Trump Formally Names Kevin Warsh To Head Federal Reserve, but Nomination Faces Uncertain Future

The Battle Over Polygamy Begins

Drill, Baby, Drill

Unprecedented Ties Between the American and Israeli Armed Forces Can Hasten Victory in the Iran War

Trump Calls for Jack Smith To ‘Be Brought to Justice’ as Outrage Grows at Surveillance of President’s Aides and GOP Senators

Republicans Back Trump’s Iran Strikes, Multiple Polls Show, Undercutting Fears of a MAGA ‘Civil War’

Spain Denies Any Involvement With America’s Strikes on Iran, Saying Commitment to ‘No War’ Is Absolute