MV,

You wrote “It would also be interesting to know where this 11,696 figure comes……”

Did you just get up from a coma or something?
They were hiding amongst the IDP population

You also wrote “…..from since government claimed they had wiped off the entire LTTE”

How can that be when known Terrorists like
Adele Balasingham Commander LTTE Child Brigade and Female Tigers
Nediyavan of the Tamil Eelam Peoples Alliance of Norway
V Rudrakumaran of the TGTE
Suren Surendiran of the BTF
Fr Emanuel of the GTF
Inteligence Vinayagam
amongst many others are still roaming free?

Dear Candidly,

Aparently Dan Burton is guilty of the very thing that he accuses you of.

Not being to the North and East, not after the war, as he accuses you, but before wars end, when it was under Prabahkaran.

Dan Burton. you cite Groundviews coverage of the Grease Yakas phenomenon. I recall that was strong criticism of this and that a couple of people including Dayan Jayatilleke recommended reading my article on the subject.

http://pcolman.wordpress.com/2011/08/15/the-beast-of-badulla-copy-cats-and-mass-hysteria/

You say “You have not been to the Northeast.” Have you? Where are you located as a matter of interest? just asking.

Dan Burton, this shows progress. Previously, under the LTTE dictatorship, very little of this would have been reported, and in any case, the situation was far, far worse.

Anyone who opposed “the leader” would be murdered, usually in public. If you had teen-age children, they would be forcibly recruited to the Tigers (unless you came from a wealthy or “upper” caste family. There were no independent political parties, trade unions or newspapers in Prabhakaran’s “paradise”. So even the examples you cite (leaving aside whether they are accurate or not) show that wrong-doings can now be discussed. Progress of this sort is always slow and step-by-step.

Personally I am now very happy that Tamil teenagers in the north now have the opportunity to be educated in a worthwhile job with opportunities for further advancement, instead of the only opportunity they had under Prabhakaran – the choice between being a Tiger soldier or a suicide bomber. How about you?

You have not been to the Northeast. You have not been reading the news papers in Sri Lanka. You have not been reading Sri Lankan websites. At least you have not been reading this website:

http://groundviews.org/2011/08/25/jaffna-brutal-assault-of-civilians-in-navanthurai/
JAFFNA: BRUTAL ASSAULT OF CIVILIANS IN NAVANTHURAI, WATCHDOG, 25 August 2011:

http://groundviews.org/2011/10/02/grease-devils-and-police-and-army-attacks-on-civilians-in-mannar-and-vavuniya/
Grease Devils and Police and Army attacks on civilians in Mannar and Vavuniya, Watchdog, 2 October 2011:

http://groundviews.org/2011/10/03/re-displacement-of-menik-farm-inmates-to-kombavil-mullativu/
Re-displacement of Menik Farm inmates to Kombavil (Mullativu), Watchdog, 3 October 2011:

A glimpse further down in time:

THE DUAL REALITY OF THE PRESENT TIME, NPC, April 2011: ‘’ An inter-religious delegation from Colombo that recently visited the north was given military escort when they traveled into the interior. This would have dissuaded the war displaced people from being too open in their expression of dissatisfaction for fear of displeasing the military officers who wield great control over their lives. When the delegation met with their religious counterparts in Jaffna, they were able to hear a frank and critical expression of views. Specific issues raised included the militarization of governance in the north. The following night some men had gone to the residence of one of the outspoken clergymen, called him out and flung cow dung and other excreta at him. They had also thrown chillie powder at the face of one of his assistants and assaulted him when he had gone to find out what was happening. The assailants had dropped a mobile telephone with phone numbers on it that would assist in finding out their identity. Although this valuable piece of evidence had been given to the police, no action has been taken so far. The message that freedom of expression has its limits in the north was very clearly made.’’

Things are different these days, of course, so it will be interesting to see what programmes of rehabilitation and reconciliation NATO supports in Libya. If they are half as good as Sri Lanka’s efforts, they will still be good.

Yapa,

It might be true in places where you have subjects, not citizens.
i.e. Sri Lanka

What an incorrect idea dear MV, in every war it is/was so.

Thanks!

There seems to be only negligible difference between the so called intellectuals and the chauvinistic segments.