Rajiva Wijesinha

“ Fein claims that best estimates from neutral persons in Sri Lanka place the death toll of innocent Tamil civilians in the predominantly Tamil northeast over the past two months at more than 2,000. This figure coincides with that of TamilNet itself, not surprisingly, since TamilNet is the best exemplar of Wittgenstein’s man who bought a second copy of the morning paper to check that what the first said was true. ”

“ Fein exceeds himself in describing ‘the indiscriminate violence that rains down daily on innocent Tamil civilians whether in hospitals, temples, churches, schools, or 'safe zones',' not realizing that even TamilNet, throughout the period in which the forces were liberating the North, has registered hardly any attacks that affected hospitals, temples, churches and schools – whilst the UN itself pointed out that the attacks on the safe zone were ‘most likely .... ”

“ Nevertheless, this government has specifically targeted Tamils and Muslims in its recent recruitments, and the former policeman, Mr Nadesan, who heads the Tiger political wing, must have had the cockles of his heart warmed to see, some decades after his own passing out, pictures of the last batch of Tamil policemen trained at the new facility in the liberated Eastern Province. ”