LTTE Headquarters,
                                                Tamil Eelam.
                                                02. June 1997

PRESS RELEASE
NEWS FROM TAMIL EELAM                                           
                                                
	NOTE: The paradox seems yet to have escaped some observers that a
	government truly motivated to liberate a people would not
	aerial-bomb them, displace half a million of them and impose a
	life-threatening food-siege upon them. Any government with
	genuine feeling for Tamils surely could not contemplate such
	acts. Even during the armed Sinhala JVP uprising, the government
	would never have contemplated aerial-bombing southern Sinhala
	towns (where the JVP was concentrated) to the point where over
	70% of the area's population were turned into refugees and whole
	towns systematically flattened. This is ironically deemed
	'acceptable' as a strategy for attacking Tamil areas. This
	exposes the racism underlying the government's war.
	
"NO MORE FOOD AFTER JUNE 10"  - DEFENCE MINISTRY RULING
	Food lorries to the Tamil Vanni will be completely stopped by
	June 10, Sri Lanka's defence ministry has ordered military
	officials on the ground. Up till then, the ministry has said, the
	amount of lorries being allowed will not be increased, even
	though the quantity of food is desperately inadequate to meet the
	minimum survival needs of starving Tamils. Sri Lanka has imposed
	a food-siege on the Tamil Vanni territory. Civilians - now weak
	with hunger - have been holding mass demonstrations there to draw
	the world's attention but Sri Lanka's two-year news blackout
	means their appeals will go unheard.
	
THREE MORE TAMIL TOWNS VACATED - DISPLACED NUMBERS SOAR
	Sri Lankan forces - through heavy shelling - have created another
	three ghost towns in the Tamil Vanni - Mankulam, Puliyankulam and
	Kanakarayankulam. In the exodus away from these towns, thousands
	more people have been rendered 'homeless refugees'. They will be
	arriving soon in places already brimmed full with displaced
	people from all over Vanni. The army - stalled just north of
	Omanthai - has been pounding distant Tamil towns with long-range
	artillery. All three places were thickly-populated towns and it
	was only a matter of time before panic-stricken residents took
	flight. Sri Lankan authorities knew full well that a mass
	displacement would be the result. Therefore their strategy
	amounts to a wilful criminal act of war intended to disrupt
	civilian life. The Geneva Conventions regarding the protection of
	civilians are in no uncertain terms being violated. The news
	blackout keeps the international community (each time) blinded
	till after the destruction has been wreaked.
	
GOVERNMENT FOOD-SIEGE EXTENDED TO EAST
	The island's eastern Tamil province has also come under the
	government's food-siege. Not even rice is allowed to be taken
	into Valaichchenai and Kiran, both towns in Batticaloa. 
	Residents of these towns can no longer rely on their own paddy
	since earlier Sri Lankan operations involved crop-burning and
	trampling, making this year's harvest extremely poor. The people
	here - like those in the Vanni - are literally stranded.
	
MEDICAL EMBARGO ON VANNI IS TIGHTENED
	Vavuniya's army commander has stepped in to stop any further flow
	of medicines to Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. The two districts
	have run out of medical stocks completely and urgent supplies are
	required to keep hospitals there functioning. The situation is so
	desperate that Kilinochchi's chief medical officer - Dr. Sivaguru
	- has sought ICRC assistance. It remains to be seen what they are
	able to obtain for the sick and depleted Tamil civilians in Vanni
	to whom Sri Lanka has for years denied proper medical supplies.
	
TWO WOMEN AND BOY DISAPPEAR IN CUSTODY
	A Tamil family recovering belongings from their former homes in
	Uruthirapuram (Kilinochchi) were arrested on Saturday by Sinhala
	armed forces occupying the area. The father was badly beaten up
	and left in the sun while the rest of the family - two women and
	a boy - were taken away by soldiers. With the anti-Tamil racism
	prevalent in these Sinhala soldiers - who have been reared on
	notions of Sinhala supremacy - the fate of those taken away
	cannot be enviable. None of the innocent people taken have been
	seen since their arrest.
	
EPDP DEATH-SQUADS WREAK TERROR IN JAFFNA
	Government-sponsored EPDP terror-squads - affiliated to Douglas
	Devananda - have carried out another killing in Jaffna. The
	victim on this occasion was the watcher of the Nedunthivu co-op
	stores, Arumugam. A boat used by the Tamil public was also stolen
	by the thieving gang. EDPD - like all Tamil groups bought off by
	the Sri Lankan government - are deeply resented in the Tamil
	homeland. Not only do they partake in the Sinhala army's torture
	of young men and indecent assaults on Tamil women, they help
	sustain to the illusion (internationally) that Tamil people are
	divided about the need for liberation. By their small-minded,
	cash-motivated support for the government, they do nothing but
	prolong the Tamil nation's urgent need for liberation from
	Sinhala forces.
	
JAFFNA COMMANDER BANS NIGHT-FISHING
	Sri Lanka's army commander in Jaffna has told Tamil fishermen in
	Passaiyoor and Kurunagar they cannot fish at night. They are
	allowed to enter the waters only between 5.30 am and 2.00 pm, a
	measure which is pushing these fishermen to financial ruin. In
	another development the Sinhala commander has banned the
	cremation of the dead in Jaffna's famous Villundi crematorium.
	The holy site has deep religious significance for Tamils.
	
LTTE RECRUITS VOW TO LIBERATE THEIR HOMELAND
	Amid their ancient homeland being blasted to pieces - by the
	government's grotesque notion of liberation - and their rights
	being daily stripped away, Tamil people are recognising the LTTE
	as their only means of salvation. New recruits are flocking to
	the fighting arm of the LTTE every day. Today, tens of thousands
	of Sinhala troops are roaming on Tamil soil. Every day they
	launch shells on populated villages and towns, ruining carefully
	cultivated fields and slaughtering lovingly-reared cattle. Every
	day they round up Tamil people and subject them to humiliating
	and terrifying ordeals. Regularly, they abduct young Tamil girls
	and rape them, sometimes murdering them afterwards. They take
	away young men to chambers and torture them. New LTTE recruits
	during their induction express these sentiments and vow to see
	the back of the last Sinhala soldier leaving their soil.

Political Committee,
Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam

(English translation of the LTTE statement released by
LTTE International Secretariat, 211 Katherine Road, London E6 1BU,
United Kingdom. Tel:0181- 503 4294 / Fax: 0181-470 8593)