Date:08/03/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/03/08/stories/2008030855391700.htm

International

38 Tigers killed, says Colombo

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: The Army on Friday claimed that at least 38 Tigers and four soldiers were killed in continuing fighting in the north. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said the government is responsible for “widespread abductions and disappearances.”

In a statement here, the Defence Ministry said in the Wanni theatre of battle, troops had several confrontations with the LTTE.

The HRW in a 241-page report said the “disappearances” were a national crisis. It urged the government to reveal the whereabouts of the “disappeared,” immediately end the practice and hold the perpetrators accountable.

In another development, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs while responding to a “malevolent propaganda exercise” by the Amnesty International recently charged that the organisation was indulging in a narrow populist rhetoric to denigrate national institutions in the eyes of the international community.

“Threat to media freedom”

The Ministry was responding to a recent AI report entitled “Sri Lanka-Silencing Dissent” on alleged threats to media and media freedom.

“The attention of the Government of Sri Lanka has been drawn to a recent report issued by the Amnesty International entitled “Sri Lanka-Silencing Dissent” on alleged threats to media and media freedom. The Report is totally misplaced - a contradiction between the title ’silencing dissent’ and Government’s sustained policy of open and constructive engagement with the international community and the international human rights mechanisms”, it said.