நாகார்ஜுனன் எனக்கு அனுப்பியுள்ள மெயில்:
பதின்மூன்றாம் தேதி அனுப்பப்பட்டது .
அதன் ஒரு பகுதி கீழே :
Some 250,000 civilians have been trapped by the fighting in the north east of the island. Hundreds have already been killed, either by Tiger fighters firing on them as they tried to escape or by government troops shelling the rebel enclave, now only some 70 square miles. Many of those fleeing the crossfire have been killed by mines. The International Committee of the Red Cross has done its best, but was forced yesterday to evacuate 160 patients from a makeshift hospital where artillery shelling killed 16 people earlier in the week.
The United Nations is planning for an exodus of 150,000 people. But the troops appear intent on holding them, ostensibly for their safety but in fact to root out any supporters or relatives of the Tiger fighters.
The army has good grounds for suspicion. Velupillai Prabakharan, the fanatical leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelaam (LTTE), has apparently escaped, probably by sea, but he has left behind more than 700 zealots, ready to fight to the death, and suicide bombers. Some have already blown themselves up, killing dozens of troops and civilians. For years the Tigers have forced each Tamil family to enlist one of its members in the rebel army. Until the last minute, Tamils have been assembling mortars, grenades and roadside bombs in workshops in Tiger-controlled towns. Prabakharan's reign of terror has used civilians as human shields or forced them to build defences. Few have been able to stay out of the conflict.
Jeremy Page - South Asian correspondant
Times UK longer version on yesterday's detention story - the reporter Jeremy Page is based in Delhi. What's the Indian media in Colombo. Shame!
Dear Rajanayagam, Did he ask you to post it on the web? :-(