This photo he sent to me some days before he died - almost knowing it might be for his obituary &when he was executed on 18 May I sent it on to journalists. Always smiling but I remember being shocked at how much weight he’d lost. 14 years & no justice still - I am sorry Pulee.
The last known photo of Pulidevan, forcing a smile amidst the carnage of Mullivaikkal.
Hours later, he walked out of a bunker with hundreds of others waving a white flag. "Hold it very high” they were told.
Sri Lankan troops executed them regardless.
வீரவணக்கம்
#tamilgenocide
BBC says .
@GotabayaR
left
#srilanka
- possibly via
#Maldives
en route to UAE - keen to get out before loosing his head of state immunity. Where is his resignation letter! What role did
@RW_UNP
play &
#lka
airforce & the reward? Shameful. He should face his own ppl in court.
Many can't help seeing the similarities btw
#srilanka
& Gaza - eviction of Tamils from lodges in capital, leaflets, safe zones: hospitals IDP sites schools attacked, brave doctors remaining etc. Only diff is UN is outspoken re Gaza (unlike
#lka
) but even that's not helping.
An amazing collection of
#srilanka
2009 war photographs taken by Amarathaas - mulliviakkal survivor & being launched today in London. Can bookshops in
#lka
sell this?
"I don't know how he was killed - it was a normal incident in that period, every day there was killing" - dad describing his 17 yr old son being killed by Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF)on way home from school in 1989 in
#Jaffna
#srilanka
. A year after his business was torched.
Congratulations to Canadian
#tamils
for pushing this through - it's a huge development on accountability for
#srilanka
- many thanks! My colleagues - Sinhala and Tamil and international lawyers - are all over the moon today.
As part of a historic decision, Minister
@melaniejoly
, has announced that 🇨🇦 has imposed sanctions on the Rajapaksa brothers, along with two other state officials for their involvement in gross human rights violations in
#SriLanka
.
🔗 Full announcement:
#srilankans
expressing how frustrating it is to see diplomats in Colombo suggest the
#lka
Government should hold perpetrators of today's violence accountable - as if the Government had nothing to do with it.
& how's that accountability project going anyway?!
"I want to see them one last time before I die. That's why I'm holding on."
Looking back at the journey of Thangarasa Selvarani, a Tamil protester whose son, son-in-law and grandson were abducted by the Sri Lankan army in 2008.
Dozens of people who were severely injured after being brutally assaulted by
@Sri_Lanka_Army
riot squad personnel on Wednesday (13) night during a protest on the parliament road in
#Colombo
are still being treated in several hospitals.
I'm realising in interviewing survivors of the 2009
#srilanka
war that the UN OISL report (good as it was) hasn't captured so many horrific attacks on civilians. What happened is even worse than we thought. And I learn something new from every survivor. This is unfinished work.
Young protesters hold placards highlighting state led mass atrocity crimes against the
#Tamils
on the streets of
#Colombo
as more crowds are gathering at Galle Face Green calling
#SriLanka
president
@GotabayaR
administration to quit.
#CrisisLK
So elated to have spent the
#srilanka
new year day with 80+
#tamil
#torture
& war survivors in london whose joyous celebration of being alive was awe inspiring! I thank them 4 showing me how the human spirit triumphs over evil.
Two Jaffna Uni security staff have been taken to Koppay police station to give statements on how students were allowed onto the campus and were able to light a flame at the
#Mullivaikkal
monument.
I am being told about a boat with 306
#srilankan
#tamils
on it (30 kids) sinking off Philippines coast. contact now lost. - GPS fix
Lat: N 9 2' 37''
Long: E 111 3' 14''
Time: 00:21:49 UTC
Date: 07-11-2022
Altitude: 8 m
Velocity: 0 km/h
Accuracy
Horiz: +/- 8 m
Vert: +/- 16 m
#srilanka
protests to
@CanHCSriLanka
about sanctions on Rajapaksa brothers claiming it is damaging to reconciliation process - what reconciliation process is that after 14 years of outright denial and impunity?
#lka
🚨 Justice for Alex! Tamils demand accountability for youth murdered by Sri Lankan police
Local protested at the funeral of a Tamil youth who was reportedly tortured to death by Sri Lankan police this week, demand justice for his killing.
Read more ⬇️
I have been given jungle wild honey from mullaitivu in
#srilanka
which I am having on my breakfast yoghurt and have to say it is ambrosial - better than any honey I have ever tasted! Extraordinarily good!!!!
#lka
Proving kanji might harm public health - this is a remembrance of a ppl denied food and medicine which harmed their health to the point of starvation which is a war crime and the remembrance is criminalized - surreal doesn’t even describe it!
Sampur Police has, citing the court order, threatened the Tamil people in Sampur, Trincomalee, asserting, "commemorating the dead in Mullivaikal and providing Mullivaikal kanji (porridge) is illegal and may harm public health."
#mullivaikkal
#Mullivaikalkanji
This is quite extraordinary considering the risks entailed, & the coming together with Muslims and how long people have suffered. Huge respect that this can happen. Formidable. Where is .
@BBCWorld
etc?
@AndrRoy
#lka
THREAD: These are images of some of the 100s who disappeared on 18 May 2009 in
#srilanka
at the hands of
#lka
army.
What's interesting is that this year - the 12th anniversary - they were compiled by a Mullivaikkal survivor I know - who asked me to tweet them.
Alleged war criminal Shavendra Silva with the new
#srilanka
President, alleged war criminal, Gotabaya Rajapaksa being sworn in today.
Embassies & UN in Colombo know what these men allegedly did in 2009. How will they engage & be true to
#humanrights
polices of their nations?
“Landed” - colleague at Velana airport in Maldives relays on
@GotabayaR
flight out of
#SriLanka
adds We have high security here,
@MohamedNasheed
has reportedly arrived here”
Met man sanctioned by Canada 4 his alleged role in war crimes, who isn’t even a minister these days, thus betraying the UN’s commitment to human rights, & proud so took selfie & tweeted! (Never mind the gratitude 4 fixing the economy his family had no role in wrecking!)🤦🏽♀️
Met with Former President
@PresRajapaksa
joined by State Minister of Foreign Affairs
@TharakaBalasur1
, who conveyed gratitude for recent UN support to
#SriLanka
. Discussed avenues for bolstering support to the crisis-affected, ongoing reforms, reconciliation and democracy
Mullivaikkal remembrance poems by
#tamil
women who (all bar one) carried arms, miraculously survived the brutal end of
#srilanka
’s war & endured postwar detention. These are Powerful Voices we rarely hear. Hoping they will be read out at events marking the 15th anniversary.
புதுக்குடியிருப்பு வைத்தியாசலையை இலக்கு வைத்து சிறிலங்கா இராணுத்தினர் தாக்கியதற்கான ஆதாரம். ஆனால் இவற்றுக்கெல்லாம் இந்த உலகு கண்திறக்காது.
Evidence that the Sri Lankan military targeted the PTK Base hospital. But this world will not see all this.
@JDSLanka
@francesharris0n
Today is the birthday of an amazing
#tamil
gentleman who is a mullivaikkal survivor himself &has done so much to help others overcome their trauma. I salute his quiet bravery, his service & compassion in the face of so much grief & continued suffering. 🎂 cake not kanji today.🙏🏻
very very disappointing UN Geneva session on
#srilanka
in terms of accountability for war crimes &crimes against humanity - esp. systems crimes against inter alia
#tamils
.
@UNHumanRights
@UN_HRC
Experts sent private messages saying many of the speeches were like a bad joke.
Mahinda reminds
#lka
of 1989 violence but fails to mention his brother Gota’s role as Matale district military commander ‘The blood of our youth flowed along the streets …Thousands of young people were burned alive in tires ..’
#SriLanka
police rough up activists in
#Colombo
marking 40 years since
#BlackJuly
when a group of
#Sinhala
extremists disrupted their roadside demonstration by vehemently disputing the reference to 'slaughter of
#Tamils
'. The group charged that everyone killed was a terrorist.
These images are so powerful of families of disappeared walking the vadduvakkal Bridge where they last saw their loved ones alive while entering
#srilanka
army custody at war end in 2009.
Here we have the old trope that the
#srilanka
army RESCUED
#tamils
in 2009 war trotted out by the very man responsible 4 setting up a fair truth recovery process! He hasn’t read umpteen UN investigation reports alleging war crimes (not rescue). This is a supreme act of denial.
"Some of the extreme groups with separatist agendas do not wish to see progress in Sri Lanka, as it will jeopardize their livelihood in Canada,
It is the LTTE which used the innocent Tamils as human shields and the government forces rescued them and escorted towards safety !
It was important to give voice to the survivors of
#Mullivaikkal
on Weekend
@bbcworldservice
this morning. Here is the full poem featured on the programme.
🚨Sri Lankan police prohibit use of Tamil national flower at Maaveerar Naal
Sri Lankan police officers claimed that the karthigai poo is an "LTTE symbol" but former Northern Provincial Council member Thurairasa Ravikaran highlighted that these are the same flowers that are used
A secret torture cell in Vaddukoddai police station in
#srilanka
- is torture so normalized that the authorities just shrug this off instead of transparently investigating?
🚨 LEAD: Sri Lankan state terror - Tamil university student hung upside down and brutally assaulted
A Tamil student attached to the Jaffna University has complained to the National Human Rights Commission, after he was detained and tortured at the hands of Sri Lanka police in
Picture of ppl fleeing on 21 april 2009
#srilanka
war - UN says 100,000
#tamils
entered Gvt controlled area but 150,000 stayed in third “No Fire” Zone where use of heavy weapons continued (869) & maybe even intensified despite
#lka
gov saying it stopped.
Bishop Rayappu Joseph who unwaveringly stood up for justice for
#Tamil
war victims despite indiffernce from the church hierarchy has passed away at the age of 80. Final rites will be held on April 5 at the
#Mannar
cathedral. His body is lying in state at the Jaffna Bishops house.
I look at the list of (some of) the
#journalists
killed/tortured in
#Srilanka
& feel horror - in 2000 when I knew BBC Nimalarajan M.’s family I couldn’t have imagined they’d NEVER get justice & so many more would follow. Important to name them all.
I want 2 say how truly impressive & brave this tweet is & honour the unknown person who said it. In different ways this is a conversation that needs to happen among ppl in/outside the island - it’s not abt being right or wrong or a suffering competition but being able to listen.
@francesharris0n
I owe you an apology. As a teen I thought you wrote LTTE propaganda. Now I know better and I want to thank you for not forgetting. And apologies.
Army authorities have released the young lawter Mir Ahmed Bin Quasem, also known as Armaan, after 8 years of secret detention. He was picked up by Awami League government authorities in August 2016 from his home, in front of his family and since then his whereabouts has been
In Tamil tradition, the dead are offered their favourite food.
Yesterday there were lollipops. Biscuits. Sweets and chocolates.
All offered to the children that were massacred.
#tamilgenocide
______
📸 via
@kumanan93
/
@tamilguardian
On a day like this in May 2009, I was 15 and was crossing this bridge with indelible scars & with tens of thousands of Tamils. There was no Buddha or lotuses floating that day, it was dead & bleeding bodies. I was a witness.Pc: Today military's vesak decorations at
#Nandikadal
Today an unbelievably extraordinary
#tamil
woman who finally got asylum after a v long journey decided to celebrate by getting up at 2am to cook amazing lunch boxes for 50 ppl - the young male asylum seekers said it reminded them of their mother’s cooking & took extras home.🍛🧑🍳
On international women’s day I recall the powerful
#tamil
mothers who have led the struggle 4truth & justice while protecting what’s left of their families - starting with in 2000,BBC
#journalist
Nimalarajan Mylvaganam’s mum who sadly died recently before a suspect was arrested.
Remembering all those who died in the tsunami - & those I saw in 2004/5 in the Vanni (N
#srilanka
) who survived it only to suffer the unprecedented horrors of the 2009 war. Honouring their resilience & courage as today many displaced by floods.
#lka
Pls spare 5 mins this w/e to go & show support 4 Richard, the husband of hostage in
#Iran
Nazanin Ratcliffe, on day 7 of his hunger strike in a wet cold tent outside Foreign Office in Westminster. He desperately needs UK 2 do more to bring her & other British hostages home!
It’s lovely to see these poems by the Friday Poets, survivors from Sri Lanka, in print. And my privilege to have translated them.
@francesharris0n
@vindib_
Poems from survivors via
@TamilGuardian
🇨🇭is deeply concerned about the death of a youth after he was in police custody. Any case of alleged custodial mistreatment should be impartially investigated by the 🇱🇰 authorities.
Anita Irannejad, 9yo, one of the Kurdish-Iranian migrants who died in the Channel on Tuesday when a boat they were travelling in sank, wanted to be an actress.
Iranian film director Mohammad Hossein Mahdavian has published this clip of her screen test.
This
#BBC
story on
#Srilanka
glosses over the (UN documented) 2009 alleged war crimes - the shelling of hospitals and food queues, the killing of 10000s of civilians in the no fire zones -as if it never happened! .
@AndrRoy
Looking at some astonishing government figures on land still occupied by
#srilanka
army 12 years after war ended - Jaffna District - more than 8000 ppl waiting to be resettled as of end July 2021!
EIGHT THOUSAND.
ALL TAMILS.
🚨The police ‘laughed and mocked me’ – British national details her harrowing experience of sexual violence in Sri Lanka
'If this is happening to foreigners, how many local women would bother to report sexual assault in this country?'
Former .
@UNHumanRights
Commissioner Pillay Says It is time for the HRC to make a drastic departure from its customary complacency over the failures of the
#SriLankan
government and hold it to account for its non-compliance with HRC resolutions.
Last photo taken of LTTE peace secretariat chief, Puleedevan, alive before he was killed surrendering to
#srilankan
army - for more on
#whiteflag
surrenders see
This is the final nail in the coffin for any last vestige of international ‘credibility’ of
#srilanka
@RW_UNP
government - a sick grim joke that this is ‘reparations’
#lka
style while real victims (of war crimes &
#torture
) weep & go hungry. 😢
SLPP MPs to push for a cabinet paper through the PM’s office recommending 117 million LKR in compensation for state officials who had been subjected to alleged “political victimisation” under the ‘Yahapalana’ government
#SriLanka
Mullivaikkal women - poems translated from
#Tamil
by the ever generous .
@ShashTrevett
- edited by Cheran.
'On the wheel of life
happiness and pain interchange.
Yet for us the wheel seems stuck on permanent suffering.'
😢
#srilanka
#lka
Mullivaikkal remembrance poems by
#tamil
women who (all bar one) carried arms, miraculously survived the brutal end of
#srilanka
’s war & endured postwar detention. These are Powerful Voices we rarely hear. Hoping they will be read out at events marking the 15th anniversary.
Hi
@francesharris0n
, Turn your phone to the right, you can set the first letter in the
#Tamil
alphabet அ within which he has inscribed the word
#Amma
அம்மா in Tamil.
May be he/she is missing their mother a possible victim of war.
I want 2 honour (anonymously)an 81yr English retired social worker who accompanied a
#tamil
torture survivor from
#lka
2his immigration interview today - from crack of dawn 2evening. She supported him - a total stranger - on one of the hardest days. It restores faith in humanity
I just learned the child of a Tamil torture victim in Switzerland just died of cancer in
#Srilanka
- he spent the last decade fighting for asylum and then trying to earn enough money to sponsor his family to join him. I can’t begin to fathom his pain today.
So u can imagine what happens to Tamils who protest in
#srilanka
then. Why this extreme intolerance of dissent at the same time as talking of ‘reconciliation’?
🚨 Sri Lankan government to lodge complaint over Tamil protest in London
Sri Lanka's Foreign Affairs Minister
@alisabrypc
said his government would "express its displeasure with the British government" against the protest held by Tamils in London, at a time when Sri Lanka was
.
@GGPonnambalam
speech in the
#srilanka
Parliament a MMUST WATCH - the most extraordinary thing for ages. for one thing Fonseka admits attacking the mullativu line as late as 16 may 2009.
I asked this
#tamil
father, now an elderly man, in exile, to write his life story & he replied:
"If I write my history I will cry. For many years I have been like a rat living in a hole underground."
#lka
Just do a cursory online search, and try to find equivalence. ISIS maybe? Abu Ghraib? But you won’t find many photos of soldiers in a democratically elected nation treating suspects like that. So please don’t suggest it’s standard practice.
It breaks my 💔 to hear Bashana Abeywardane of
@JDSLanka
talk about his tortured
#journalist
friends at the ppl's tribunal in the Hague & how their work is considered as anti-State & therefore they are still exiled.
HUGE kudos to him for his bravery.
This is so💔 -
#tamils
from
#srilanka
still seeking information & closure on relatives who disappeared/died in the IPKF time (1987-90)
#lka
.
It brings home how much there needs to be a proper accounting for the past - this is really not acceptable by any standard.
🚨 Sri Lanka Army summoned over non-disclosure of LTTE surrenders - where are they, court questions 👇🏽
In a historic court case, the Appeal Court of Sri Lanka issued a notice to the Sri Lankan army to appear before the judge on March 28th for intentionally concealing information
The mostly
#tamil
women who showed extraordinary bravery in returning 2 Iranaitivu Island w/o permission & despite navy presence after decades displaced need practical help with kerosene lamps, toilets & drinking water but seems nobody willing to support them. All talk no action.
🚨New
@itjpsl
report highlights Gotabaya Rajapaksa's 'pivotal role' in 2009 Tamil genocide
The International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP) have released a report highlighting evidence of Gotabaya Rajapaksa's "pivotal role" in the final phase of the armed conflict in which
Remembering ten years ago in
#srilanka
the attacks on Putumattalan Hospital in "No Fire Zone 2”.
“Only the Mattalan government hospital was running...However, the hospital was also bombed. I witnessed dead bodies piled up by hundreds.” - survivor.