Last Updated:09.02.2010

Sri Lanka election loser Sarath Fonseka arrested 
 
The defeated candidate in Sri Lanka's presidential election, General Sarath Fonseka, has been arrested at his office in Colombo.Gen Fonseka was defeated by incumbent Mahinda Rajapaksa last month by six million votes to four million. Gen Fonseka rejected the results and vowed to challenge them in court. The initial allegations brought by the government against Gen Fonseka, 59, were put simply as "committing military offences". The government had earlier been seeking legal advice on bringing a court martial on charges of plotting to overthrow the administration. The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo saysRead More

US concerned on Sri Lanka arrest

The United States on Monday voiced concern about Sri Lanka's arrest of the defeated opposition presidential candidate, fearing it would worsen divisions as the island recovers from war.” We are following the situation closely and we have concerns that any action be in accord with Sri Lankan law," State Department spokesman Philip Crowley told AFP."There is a tremendous need for the government of Sri Lanka to work to overcome the fissures that exist within its society," he said.” It has to be very cautious that any actions it takes are designed to heal the split within Sri Lankan society, not to exacerbate itRead More

The firsthand account of the drama leading to Fonseka’s arrest

Sarath Fonseka, the unsuccessful Presidential candidate arrested for his military crimesThe scene: office of an important person located opposite the Royal College, Colombo. The time: 10 p m on Monday.The Provo Martial of the Military Police Brigadier Wijesri enters the Office with authority. He is accompanied by Maj Gen S R Manawaduge, Commandant of Western Province and Puttalam, and the Colonel of the Commando Regiment. The police top echelons are also present.The Provo Martial of the Military Police Brigadier has an important assignment on hand, that was already talk of the town.Read More

Should India Bat for Tamils in Sri Lanka? by S. Srinivasan

With Tamils in Sri Lanka beaten on all fronts, the time has come for India to intervene decisively With Rajapaksa’s re-election, both the Tamils and neighbouring India, which plays an inevitable but a hesitant role in the happenings on the tear-drop island, are at the crossroads Somebody once said democracy is the right to choose your dictator. For the minority Tamils in Sri Lanka, the Presidential election in late January presented such a baffling dilemma. Should they vote for the man who ordered a bloody war on their homeland or for the military general who actually led the troops into their fields?Read More

Time for national reconciliation, Obama tells Rajapaksa

President Barak Obama has urged newly re-elected President Mahinda Rajapaksa to lead Sri Lanka towards national reconciliation in the post-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) era and heal the divisions created by conflict. The reconciliation, the US President added, should have the essential elements of respect for human rights and rule of law. In a congratulatory message to Rajapaksa on the 62nd anniversary of independence, Obama said for the first time on over a generation, Sri Lanka was not under the shadow of terrorism. Obama said: "The recent end of the war creates a historic opportunity for Sri LankaRead More

Cry for Self-Rule by Tamils Is Muffled by Reality By LYDIA POLGREEN

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — Jaffna is a city of ruins. Some are physical, like the overgrown jumbles of mold-streaked concrete where graceful buildings used to stand. But perhaps the biggest ruin of the Tamil Tiger insurgency against the Sri Lankan government is the very thing the Tigers wanted most: any hope of self-rule.After 26 years of war that ended with a decisive government assault last May, Sri Lanka’s Tamil minority seems no closer to winning a measure of autonomy in a Sinhalese-dominated nation, and Tamil nationalism, the cri de coeur of the Tamil Tiger insurgency, seems all but deadRead More

General elections likely on April 9

Parliament is expected to be dissolved at midnight tomorrow and General elections are expected to be held on April 9, a top government official told Daily Mirror online on the condition of anonymity.The final session of Parliament was held last Friday and President Mahinda Rajapaksa who is currently in Russia is expected to sign the papers tomorrow dissolving parliament in order to conduct the General elections, the official said.Read More

TULF to go solo

The Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) is to contest the forthcoming general election without aligning with any alliance.TULF President V. Anandasangaree said that the TULF would definitely contest alone. “We will be contesting definitely. As it is, we are going alone,” he told The Nation. Anandasangaree said that the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was misleading Tamils, adding that although the Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) of Minister Douglas Devananda was contesting alone, Read More

Fonseka coalition falls; UNP wants Elephant

The coalition of opposition parties that came together to support retired General Sarath Fonseka at the January 26 Presidential Election has collapsed.Its main player, the United National Party (UNP), will go it alone with its Elephant symbol at the upcoming parliamentary elections, though it is prepared to do so under the United National Front banner.“Our district chairmen and party officials have taken a unanimous decision,” party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe told the Sunday Times yesterday.Read More

ACMC may go solo

All Ceylon Muslim Congress (ACMC), a constituent party of the ruling UPFA, yesterday said it would contest in the forthcoming General Elections under its ‘sword’ symbol in certain districts.  Party leader Minister Rishard Bathiudeen, however, told Daily Mirror that no finality had been reached in this regard.“We will go solo in some districts while contesting under the UPFA’s betel symbol in other districts. We have not finalized matters yet,” he said.Meanwhile, party’s National Organizer Eastern Provincial Council Minister M. L. A. M. Hizbullah said that he would ‘most probably’Read More

Kilinochchi 'not ready' for resettlement
 
Jaffna Bishop Rt Rev Thomas Sounderanayagam says that churches, houses and buildings in Kilinochchi and Mullaithivu districts in northern Sri Lanka are badly damaged during the recent war. He made this observation after returning from a conducted tour to these areas for the first time since the LTTE was defeated in May last year. “We were able to see public properties and vehicles damaged during the final battle between the LTTE and the army are strewn all over the places. Almost all the buildings are damaged and they are without roofs,” he said. A team of five priests including the BishopRead More

Jaffna electoral register deceptive: Polls Chief calls for fresh census

Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake stresses the importance of carrying out a census in the Northern Province, as soon as possible, to establish the exact number of voters living there. He says a survey will reflect the actual number of eligible voters, whereas the current electoral register is outdated.According to him, the Election Secretariat was forced to use the 1988 electoral register due to a decision taken by Parliament, though the actual number of voters living in the Northern region had sharply decreased owing to the war.Addressing the media Read More

India to be net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond – US

The US says that India will be a net provider of security in the Indian Ocean and beyond with the growth of its military capabilities.A report entitled The Quadrennial Defence Review (QDR), released in Washington on Tuesday by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, said: "The distribution of global political, economic and military power is shifting and becoming more diffuse. The rise of China, the world’s most populous country, and India, the world’s largest democracy, will continue to reshape the international system." As economic power,Read More