Are you still pleased for Palestine? It's funny how less than 2 weeks after this comment Israel unleashed all hell on Palestine. Air strikes that claimed over 380 casualties! Not just that they’re willing for a ground assault as well. All to defend them selves from terrorist attacks. I haven’t heard a single news channel call that genocide.

When Sri Lankan air strikes take far far less civilian casualties (even with primitive technology compared to Israel) commenters here use the word genoiced willy nilly. Propaganda I say!

Barring journalists and humanitarian agents from Northeast is putting it into death. As so many international agents have been vilified, the near-silence of the international community is almost closing the coffin.

Sinhalese, have gala fireworks

And then there are weak arguments equating LTTE efforts to conscription. They just fail to mention that the LTTE is a violent dictatorship which has no authority over Tamil people. I.e. NOT a democratic choice. A militia dictatorship that brutally forces its people. The torture camps found in Mulaitivu jungle of which I posted videos here before are the perfect examples how the LTTE breaks down young women and children through despicable physical and psychological violence. This is exactly the reason eastern Tamils finally took the courage and defected from the LTTE. It is unfortunate the Northern people are still suffering under their brutal clutches. Tamil racist nationalists are still shouting for racist exclusively Tamil state called eelam after much of it was ethnically cleansed by the LTTE. This is the definition of evil – racial segregation. You wonder why the government fights these animals?

Through village-level officials, the LTTE closely monitors families. As soon as a boy or girl turns 17, they are forced to join the LTTE for military training. According to a humanitarian official from the Vanni:

NGO ????
Humanitarian workers have not been exempt from LTTE recruitment, despite
promises by the LTTE that they would refrain from harassing or recruiting NGO and humanitarian workers. During the government-ordered withdrawal from the Vanni, many NGOs and UN agencies had to leave local staff behind.26 Some are known to have been forcibly recruited for service in the LTTE. One female humanitarian worker in her mid-20s was ordered to report for military service by the LTTE the day before she was scheduled to depart from the Vanni. Several others who had prior LTTE military experience from when they had themselves been recruited as child soldiers
were also not allowed to leave the Vanni by the LTTE, probably so they could be called up for military service in case of need.

i was hoping someone at GV coul give a summary of this as article – so that others also understand

"Last year they were taking the people born in 1990; now [they are
taking] those born in 1991. They look at the family identity cards and
take the young ones. If people of military age go into hiding, they will
take younger children or the father, until they get the boys or girls they
want."

Before this time, you could hand over all your assets to the LTTE and
you were free to go. But now they stop everyone, saying, “We are
fighting for the people, but the people have to stay with us.”

In research conducted by Human Rights Watch in Sri Lanka from October through December 2008—including 35 interviews with eyewitnesses and humanitarian aid workers working in the north—we found extensive evidence of ongoing LTTE forced recruitment of civilians, widespread use of abusive forced labor, and improper and unjustified restrictions on civilians’ freedom of movement.

The Shministim – all about ages 16, 17, 18 and in the 12th grade – are a new breed of conscientious objectors in Israel and right now they are taking a stand. They believe in a better, more peaceful future for themselves and for Israelis and Palestinians, and they are refusing to join the Israeli army. They're in jail, holding strong against immense pressure from family, friends and the Israeli government. But they need our support.

Hope young Sinhalese will do the same in Sri Lanka. There is not much hope otherwise.

Compulsory military service to defend America is considered correct and prestigious, though America is not threatened with invasion or genocide.

Tamils of NE are facing a genocidal war by the government. Is it not more necessary for them to be compulsorily trained to defend themselves against the present brutal genocide and survive as a people, when the international community is unable to stop the defiant and arrogant Sri Lankan state? Should the use of cluster bombs on IDP camps, aerial bombings of civilian areas receive mere mention by HRW? Surely, the seriousness of them deserve in depth reports and analyses than reports criticising recruitment of combatants?