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Near Sri Lanka’s War Zone, the Injured Struggle to Cope
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by 158 | February 12, 2009 at 02:17 pm
194 views | 3 Recommendations | 8 comments
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The ravages of Sri Lanka’s civil war were on full display Thursday in the crowded wards of the municipal hospital in this eastern port city, 40 miles from the front line. Catholic nuns with bullet and shrapnel wounds, infants as young as a week old, and men with amputated legs were arrayed on beds or lay on the floor.
A total of 368 injured civilians were being treated in the hospital, and more were on the way. A boatload of 160 patients chartered by the Red Cross was due to dock here late Thursday.
This war is almost over.
That is good but it will
still take many years for
all the war related problems
to be resolved.
Patients arrived here after being transferred on Tuesday from a field hospital close to the fighting.
“All the wounds were infected,” said one doctor, who declined to be identified because he was not authorized to talk to a reporter.
The government, which has rejected calls by foreign governments for a cease fire, said Thursday that it had set up a seven-mile no-fire zone along the coast to help channel “humanitarian aid and medical supplies for the people stranded.” The new zone replaces a similar zone further inland.
The government also said its troops advanced further into rebel territory on Thursday, capturing a facility that it described as a factory that made roadside bombs.
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158
St. Louis, Missouri, United States
Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (8)
at 22:05 on February 13th, 2009
Hi Fripouille,
I agree with you. This article doesn't take sides, which is great. That is why I mentioned the Al Jazeera report because I have no reason to believe that they take any sides. Being neutral is a good thing, but not at the expense of omitting evidence to stay neutral.
Shelling happened ? yes. By whom? Nobody knows.
Shooting happened? yes. By whom? By the LTTE as so many civilians have stated. Sky News showed a video of tamil civilian statements. Sky News cannot be called propaganda.
My concern is that, by trying to stay neutral, IF one doesn't write every fact of the scene that is known, a person reading will be misled. That is all. Never meant to say 158 should write a biased story.
Thanks,
Hiranya.
at 10:05 on February 14th, 2009
I think at this point what other countries can do is as a humanitarian Aid they should provide more procession weapons to Sri Lankan Army this way we can minimize civilian casualties. And Sri Lanka Government can restore this Terrorist conflict.
About the LTTE point of view well have a look at the luxuries way they have lived and those how have read Mrs Adala Balasinham (Anton Balasinhams wife) says the hard ships they have had when living in Wanni she even goes to explain when Mr Balasinham wants to go to the toilet he use to go to the jungle and do things inside of a bush HA HA what do we see from the captured area Air-conditioned Luxarios rooms (by the way most of the furniture mite have removed from the place by the time SL army capture it) That’s how they do it inside the bush. From this link you can see how dedicated the SL Army is. Chris Rayan (SAS) British Militory special force describe it.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkomY92FSy8
If the world wants to see the war end quickly and at the same time if they want minimum casualties they will not ask LTTE to start Pease talks instead they will help Sri Lanka government to get one of these http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rxCVfpeuCOE
Thanks Sudarshanaat 14:44 on February 12th, 2009
How tragic this all is. The level of civilian casualties in modern warfare is horrendous and inacceptable.
Modern weapons are potentially accurate enough to avoid the kind of casualties seen in wars fifty years ago, which leads me to think that the reason for much of this carnage lies in the fact that warring countries and factions deliberately use civilian deaths as a tool to be exploited by the media, which in turn means that they ensure that they occur by either funnelling combat into civilian-occupied areas or bombing them deliberately
Atrocious. There is no other word for this uneccesary slaughter.
at 08:49 on February 13th, 2009
@ 158 > I feel that this news story lacks the information given by the above mentioned Nuns as to how they got injured. Al Jazeera reported,
"When we tried to escape with civilians, LTTE fired at me. I got shot in my leg," sister Louise, a Catholic nun who tried to steer civilians away from the fighting, said on Thursday."
These are deliberate injuries and murders. When there are facts, better to put down the facts related to the story.
english.aljazeera.net/news/asia/2009/02/200921293030989823.html
at 08:57 on February 13th, 2009
Hi Hiranya,
Just to say that the article is fine in my opinion. It is about civilian casualties in general, and it carefully avoids partisan opinion. Of course there have been instances of LTTE abuse, but there are equally horrifying stories to tell from the other side too.
If 158 had written this post just to show one side's casualties I would not have commented it, never mind recommended it. But this is a neutral post. I say that's great. There are more than enough propaganda posts and opinion on this conflict, and it needs a little neutrality from time to time...
(One man's facts are another man's lies).
Thanks.
at 08:01 on February 13th, 2009
Good comment. War is horrible. It should be avoid but at times it can't be avoided. Civilians suffer the most and that is tragic. I don't see a real answer.
at 08:43 on February 13th, 2009
"Modern weapons are potentially accurate enough to avoid the kind of casualties"
very true.
at 02:00 on February 14th, 2009
Hello Hiranya,
I see your point very well. There's room for every point of view, I suppose, from the dry and dispassionate litany of anonymous figures "civilians are civilians and who cares who killed them" to one-sided reporting "I write to put over the Tamil/LTTE point of view and don't hide it". Then there's the in-between problem of, as you say, a "neutral" attitude being meaningless if some essential information is omitted.
I prefer the first approach, but I am also quite willing to agree that I would think differenly if I was in some way closely linked to the issue.
This is a complex subject, and it's just as subjective as it is rational.
All of which goes to prove that writing articles can be a thankless task ;)!
Thanks,
Fripouille