Word: tamil
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...Lankan army has Asia's longest-running insurgency on the ropes: The separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) movement, long been considered one of the world's most fearsome guerrilla armies, lost its last stronghold at Mullaittivu on Jan. 25, and government officials are now confident of a decisive victory in the civil war that has claimed some 70,000 lives and displaced over a million people since...
...country as government forces advance. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa on Sunday called for the LTTE's surrender, but there is little chance that a rebel movement whose fighters over the years have chosen suicide over capture will go down quietly. (See pictures from inside Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger territory...
...Wijesinha cites a government plan to make Jaffna a national center for information technology, as part of a larger development program for Tamil areas. "The city used to be known for its excellence in education," he says. But, to the tens of thousands who are fleeing their homes as artillery fire rains down across the northeast, this vision of prosperity and peace seems painfully far away...
...government offensive has taken a heavy toll on the Tamil civilian population, leaving as many as 250,000 trapped in the war zone and vulnerable to crossfire. (Colombo insists the figure is closer 120,000). As many as 300 civilians have been killed in the last week of fighting, and human rights groups have accused both sides of abuses. The International Committee for the Red Cross (ICRC) claimed on Sunday that artillery shells landed in a makeshift hospital in rebel territory, killing at least 9 people and wounding 20 injured. And ICRC representative Sarasi Wijeratne in Colombo urged both sides...
...years of war, there has been a corrosion of the state," he admits, "but [in this campaign] we have abided by the rules and taken care of our civilians." Once the LTTE is quashed, Wijesinha envisions elections being held in the north and a gradual devolution of power to Tamils who have joined in the peace process. The Indian government, whose ruling coalition depends upon the support of Tamil parties within India, has urged Colombo to deliver on these promises. And there has been some progress: In Sri Lanka's east, competing Tamil parties, which include former LTTE cadres, successfully...