|
|
|||
 |
 |
Srisaba's 21th anniversary Day - 06/05/06 |
|
               |
30 May 2007 Tamils don't belong to Sri lanka, they should fight in Tamilnadu- Racist Rathana thera JHU parliamentarian Venerable Athuraliye Rathana thera says a deputy minister should be appointed to answer the questions that are being raised regarding the presidents conduct and that the executive presidency should not be abolished instead should be amended so that it is answerable to the parliament and the judiciary. Speaking to the media this morning at the Party headquarters before handing over the proposals for the APRC the thera said "Japanese are from Japan, English are from England, Tamil is not a race in Sri Lanka. They have a separate country. They should not fight with Sri Lanka asking for a separate state instead fight in Tailnadu".But the thera said the JHU has proposed to safeguard the rights of the minorities in line with the UN convention on Minority rights. He said the parliament should be comprised of 270 MPs, 200 from the electorates, 40 from the National list, 22 from trade unions, 5 from small parties, 3 from minority groups and one representative for the indigenous Veddha community. The JHU also proposes the cabinet to be cut down to a maximum of 25 and a minimum of 20 while the non cabinet ministries should be erased off. It proposes to have a maximum of 30 deputy ministers in Parliament. When a journalist questioned whether the JHU proposes to abolish the Executive presidency the thera said instead of abolishing it should be amended. He said a deputy minister should be appointed for president's affairs and the president should be held accountable to the judiciary and the parliament. “One language two nations, two languages one nation”—these words of Colvin are the political reality today------Minister Tissa Witharana Minister Tissa Witharana, addressing Colvin R.de Silva memorial day, recalled that it was Colvin who said “one language two nations, two languages one nation”, when late S.W.R.D.Bandaranaiake introduced Sinhala Only Act in the country in 1956. He further stated that Colvin warned that the policy of one language will lead to an emergence of two states and today it is the political reality today. We cannot travel even 90km beyond Vavuniya without permission from LTTE. He lamented that had the people of Sri Lanka accepted Colvin’s philosophy and built a socialist state, we could have averted violence and blood shed. President slams West over human rights charges President Mahinda Rajapakse has in an interview with the Al Jazeera television network come down hard on the West for criticising the Government’s human rights record and said it is India that has a role to play in Sri Lanka’s peace process, it is reliably learned.The interview was conducted by Al Jazeera on Monday at Temple Trees and is scheduled to be telecast on Friday, according to informed sources. The President gave his responses to the questions in Sinhala and was translated to English by Media Director Lucien Rajakarunanayake.The President has told Al Jazeera that it was unfair for the West to criticise Sri Lanka on human rights when other countries accused of such violations are not treated in a similar manner. "Is it because we are a small country?" the President has asked.The President by stating it is India that has a role to play in the peace process is ruling out by implication a role for the Norwegians in the future, an informed source also said.The Morning Leader learns the President has further stated the Ceasefire Agreement was today only confined to paper and was there simply to show the world of its existence.It is learned the President had also criticised the LTTE and blamed it for the human rights violations in the country and for acts of terrorism. Sri Lanka seeks urgent arms supplies from India The arms shopping list includes low level transportable radars and quick reaction ground to air missiles to contain the threat posed by Tigers. Facing fresh attacks from Tamil Tigers like aerial strikes, Sri Lanka today asked India for "urgent weapons supplies" saying if there was no response from New Delhi, it might have to turn to other countries for help.The Island nation's Defence Secretary Gothabaye Rajpakse is on a unannounced visit here since Sunday with an arms shopping list including low level transportable radars and quick reaction ground to air missiles to contain the threat posed by Tigers arming themselves with Light attack aircraft.Defence Ministry sources said Rajpakse had a series of meetings in South Block calling on the National Security Adviser MK Narayanan, his counterpart here Shekar Dutt and three services Chiefs Gen JJ Singh, Admiral Sureesh Mehta and Air Chief Marshal Fali Homi Major. Rajpakse was the offical who created ripples in India recently by his reported remarks that LTTE by its clandestine acquisition of Light Czech aircraft had also plans to hit vital targets on mainland India. The comments were later denied officialy by Colombo. Military, LTTE prepare for major battles Both the Tigers and the government military are on high alert in the north, high ranking military sources from both parties said."The Tigers have been placed on a state of high preparedness in the north anticipating an escalation of confrontations," Tiger military spokesperson Rasiah Illanthirayan told The Morning Leader.The military also said that ongoing operations in the Wanni were continuing as planned. "Our operations are going on and security has also been increased," Military Spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said."They (cadres) have been placed on a stand to (prepared) status in the past few weeks," Illanthirayan told The Morning Leader.Attacks on either side of the northern forward defence lines had increased in the last fortnight. Between May 23 and 25 the military said that 12 Tigers had been killed in the fighting in areas west of Madhu.However, Illanthirayan said that the situation remained calm the last two days. "There has been no aerial bombings or naval attacks, it’s quiet," he said.With the escalation of confrontations in the north, there has been speculation that the stage was being set for a major confrontation. However Illanthirayan declined to give details of the military situation. Kiss or kick Mangala & Sripathi? The Sri Lanka freedom party central committee is due to discuss today whether former minister Mangala Samaraweera and Sripathi Suriarachchi should be removed from the party after holding a disciplinary inquiry or take them back to the party after holding discussions with them.When Suriarachchi was in remand custody he was sent a charge sheet by the party's general secretary to which Suriarachchi replied in writing.Meanwhile a charge sheet was formulated to be sent to Mangala Samaraweera but it was held back by the party general secretary due to an unknown reason. 'LeN' reported that the letter was held back through the intervention of minister Dalas Alahaperuma and when LeN questioned regarding the matter from the party general secretary he said that the letter is still in his possession. He said no one has spoken to his regarding sending the letter to Samaraweera. When we questioned Maithripala Sirisena whether the letter was held back to solve the dispute through discussions the minister replied saying "yeah you never know".Though the charge letters are supposed to be handed over to the disciplinary committee secretary of the committee Attorney at law Champani Padmasekara said it has not still received any such document.When 'LeN' questioned the agenda of the central committee meeting from a number of ministers they said that it was not known to them as they were informed of the meeting only this evening. 2 SLA troopers killed in Thenmaraadchi Unidentified armed men opened fire on troopers of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp at Madaththadi junction, Madduvil in Thenmaraadchi Tuesday around 9:30 a.m, killing two troopers, Madduvil residents said. An exchange of fire between the armed men and the SLA lasted nearly ten minutes SLA troopers took away a 14 year old boy arrested during the cordon off and search launched after the exchange of fire.SLA troopers beat people during the search operation. No official information has been disclosed on the casualties by SLA. India worried by LTTE air, sea power: Narayanan India is "concerned" by the air and sea capabilities of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger guerrillas, a top Indian official said Tuesday.Speaking to reporters after meeting Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi, National Security Advisor MK Narayanan called the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) a "terrorist organisation" and said: "We are always concerned about their air and sea capabilities."He said the LTTE's Sea Tigers "are a threat; otherwise why should we increase (Indian) patrolling" in the sea dividing India and Sri Lanka.The LTTE, now locked in a bitter war against Colombo, has had a vibrant sea wing for years.Its nascent air wing, called Tamil Eelam Air Force, which has been speculated about for years, made its presence felt only in March when it carried out a dramatic attack on Sri Lanka's main air base near Colombo.Subsequently, LTTE planes have carried out more attacks, unsettling the Sri Lankan state and heralding a new dimension to the dragging separatist conflict. Narayanan, who was with the chief minister for about 20 minutes, added that coordinated naval patrolling between India and Sri Lanka in the sea that divides them was yet to start.Asked if Karunanidhi had any objection to such patrolling, Narayanan replied: "I don't find any problems for that."Karunanidhi, who later spoke briefly to journalists, however, denied discussing the issue of "coordinated patrolling" with Narayanan.The chief minister, who is here to attend a meeting of the National Development Council, said Narayanan called on him to discuss the problems faced by the Tamil Nadu fishermen -- on the suggestion of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.The chief minister said Narayanan would travel to Chennai again to take forward their discussions on the security situation related to Sri Lanka.Tamil Nadu Chief Secretary LK Tripathi was present during the Karunanidhi-Narayanan meeting.Narayanan, an Indian Police Service officer of Tamil Nadu cadre, has in recent times come under attack in the Tamil Tiger media on charges of pursuing a tough line vis-à-vis the LTTE. Special vehicle search in Colombo, 60 arrested After the recent bomb attacks in front of the Colombo harbour and Rathmalana air port the security forces conducted several search operations in the entry-exit points of Colombo this morning.60 persons have been arrested on suspicion during the searches that were conducted in the areas of Colombo North, Central Colombo and Mount Lavinia.A special vehicle check was conducted in most of the roads in the capital which caused a massive traffic congestion until 12 noon.It was seen that thousands of school children and employees who were traveling to Colombo facing severe difficulties due to the search operation. Some say that they had to remain in their vehicles for three-four hours.Police say the detained are being interrogated. Colombo becoming a ghost city - UNP MIG fighter jets Security has been tightened for powerful Gotabhaya Rajapaksa after he was targetted allegedly by LTTE suicide bomber in December, last year.But the UNP says his security men are harrasing civilians as a result.The UNP accused President Rajapaksa's political allies, Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) of being silent about '"idespread corruption" in the government.Parliamentarian Jayalath Jayawardene challenged the government to appoint a Parliamentary Select Committee to probe into the alleged corruption in buying MIG fighter planes from Ukraine.The government, for their part, has challenged the UNP to prove their allegations. PA government Minister Rajitha Senaratne, who is still a member of the UNP, told BBC Sandeshaya that the UNP should take actions to prove allegations than holding press conferences."Jayalath Jayawardene himself was accused of corrupt deals," he said.When he accused the then PA government led by President Chandrika Kumaratunga, Senaratne said, he managed to prove the allegations in the parliament.However, no member of the PA government was brought into justice despite UNP's repeated allegations of corruption and mishandling of public finance.Those accused by Senaratne for corruption are currently members of the Cabinet of Ministers in which Senaratne holds Construction portfolio. Military: Sri Lankan air force bombs northern Tamil rebel base; rebels say civilian killed Sri Lankan air force jets pounded a Tamil rebel base in the north Tuesday, the Sri Lankan military said, a day after a roadside bomb triggered by suspected rebels near the capital killed eight people. Air force planes hit the base in Puthukudiyiruppu village in the rebel stronghold of Mullaithivu district, an official at the Defense Ministry media center said. However, the rebels said in an e-mail that the warplanes hit civilian settlements in Mullaithivu, killing a woman, 56-year-old Meiyappillai Alaku, and hurting two more civilians. There was no way to independently verify the details because the area is restricted. Monday's evening rush hour bombing in Ratmalana, a suburb of the capital, targeted a truck carrying police commandos. A commando and seven civilians died in the blast while 32 others, including 29 civilians, were wounded, according to military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe. "We suspect that the bomb had been planted on the roof or the wall of an abandoned shop," Samarasinghe said. Guerrilla spokesman Rasiah Ilanthirayan denied that Tamil Tiger rebels were responsible for the bomb. "We have nothing to do with it," Ilanthirayan told The Associated Press. A worsening separatist conflict has killed more than 5,000 people in the past 18 months, shattering a five-year-old Norwegian-brokered cease-fire, viewed as the best opportunity to solve the island's two-decade-old conflict. The Tigers have fought the government since 1983 to create a separate homeland for the country's ethnic Tamil minority who have faced discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-dominated state. More than 70,000 people have been killed in the fighting. 29 May 2007 Lankan Army's game plan: Seize East and weaken LTTE in North EnlargeGeneral The Sri Lankan Army's game plan is to drive the LTTE out of the Eastern districts completely, and weaken it in the Northern districts, to pave the way for talks to find a permanent political solution to the Tamil question, says its Commander, Lt. Gen. Sarath Fonseka."In five to six months we will completely mop up the LTTE in the East," the General told select foreign journalists here on Monday. But to one's surprise, he added: "We have no plan to take the North.""Our plan in the North is to weaken the LTTE militarily so that we are able to maintain our positions there," he explained.He believed that there should be a political solution, a permanent settlement of the ethnic conflict which had been dogging the island country for more than two decades.But that could not happen so long as the LTTE was militarily strong, he argued. The LTTE Supremo, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was not interested in peace and would have to be forced to come for a settlement, the General said.Prabhakaran dreaded peace. " He would not be able to move around freely if there was peace. He would have to be in hiding and ruling like a military dictator," the Sri Lankan Army chief said.Therefore, the Sri Lankan Army and its sister forces were on the job of militarily weakening the LTTE, he added. POLITICAL GRIEVANCES HAVE TO BE ADDRESSED Asked why there was a need for a political solution after neutralising the LTTE, which he believed did not enjoy support among the Tamil people, Gen.Fonseka said that the people in the North-East had political grievances and these needed to be addressed, if there was to be permanent peace."We are convinced that there should be a political solution," he stressed.Even in the East, which had been cleared of the LTTE almost fully, one could not say that there had been a "victory", Gen.Fonseka argued."There can be real victory, only when there is a political solution under which people can lead normal lives," he said. If the political issues were not addressed, war could go on for another two decades, the General warned.The Tamil people had a choice, either to follow Prabhakaran and keep on fighting or follow moderate leaders like V.Anandasangaree and Douglas Devananda and return to peace, he said. The government was thinking of a political settlement, and President Mahinda Rajapaksa had already made an offer, the General said, referring to the devolution proposal made by Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP). CURRENT POSITION IN EAST Gen.Fonseka said that the LTTE now held only a small part of the Toppigala jungle in the East, barely 10 square kilometres out of a total area of 50 sq.km."It can be flushed out of this area in a couple of weeks and then the mopping up operations would have to be carried out to completely clear the area, and that may take five to six months," he said.But the LTTE is dogged. "It has not given up hopes of holding Toppigala," the General noted. And the cadres are desperadoes. "Every Tiger cadre is a suicide cadre, in as much as he is forced to fight to the last bullet." In Gen.Fonseka's estimation, there are only about 300 LTTE fighting cadres left in the East and they are holed up in the Toppigala jungle. ARMY'S AIM IN NORTH As for the North, comprising the districts in the Wanni region currently controlled by the LTTE and serving as its headquarters, the General said that the Army's basic objective was to secure and strengthen its current defence lines and pre-empt attacks by neutralising the LTTE's gun positions on the other side."We want to create conditions in which we are sure that we are not under threat," the General said.Asked specifically, if the Army was planning to march into the Wanni region as it did under Operation Jayasikurui (Victory Assured ) in 1997-1999, Gen.Fonseka said that it was an "absurd" idea."There is no point in entering areas under LTTE's control before it is weakened militarily." Operation Jayasikurui was the longest, costliest and the most disastrous operation in Sri Lanka's military history. The Army's units were so thinly spread out in the bid to hold a vast swathe of captured territory, that they became easy prey to marauding LTTE squads in the latter phase of the campaign. The camps, mostly small, fell like nine pins in 1999. The LTTE is expected to pitch in and fight ferociously in the Wanni. Most of its artillery and mortar pieces were now in the North, Gen. Fonseka said."Moreover, the LTTE cannot afford to lose control over an estimated 350,000 people there," he pointed out.The LTTE has 4,000 fighting cadres in the Northern districts of Mannar, Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, the militant group's heartland."But they are not its best cadres," Gen.Fonseka said. "If they lose 2,000 cadres, they are finished." The LTTE has also lost a large number of cadres. 565 were killed in the last four months, including a leader like "Col" Nagulan, the Number 2 in the elite "Charles Anthony Regiment. The Army, in contrast, had lost only 45.Defending the continuous aerial bombardment of the LTTE- held areas which had created 150,000 to 200,000 refugees in a few months, Gen.Fonseka said that the aerial bombardment took on only military targets and that they were "dead accurate."He defended the controversial decision to buy MIG 29s, saying that these had 3D radars which could help locate LTTE planes.The General attributed the fall in suicide bombing incidents in Colombo and Jaffna to the army's "covert" operations, which had broken into the LTTE networks. NOTHING TO DO WITH KARUNA Gen.Fonseka maintained that the Armed Forces had little or nothing to do with the LTTE's breakaway group led by Karuna, which is accused of harrassing the people of Batticaloa.According to the General, the Tamil establishments next to the army's camps in Batticaloa, were "political" offices of the para-military groups like the EPDP and PLOTE."I don't know if Karuna has registered his political party," the General said. According to him, LTTE chief Prabhakaran's son, Charles Anthony, is the head of the outfit's new Air wing, the Tamileelam Air Force. Charles Anthony had apparently done a course in aeronautical engineering. Gen.Fonseka said that the Ceasefire Agreement signed in February 2002 had helped the LTTE increase its arsenal ten to 15 times. "Their firepower has increased many times." Government must stop attacks in Madu areas since it is a sacred area Jayalath Jayawardene , UNP MP told The Sudar Oli that he has requested the UNP to actively canvas to prevent the government from conducting its military operations in the Madu area in Mannar. He further stated that Madu Church is a 600 year old shrine which is sacred not only to the Christian but also for the people of other religious faiths. UNP must agitate strongly against such war efforts which have already destroyed several places of worship of the north-east. Sri Lanka Marxists reject electoral reforms Sri Lanka's Marxist People's Liberation Front (JVP) has rejected electoral amendments to be proposed by the government.The party said the government is going to table draft amendments that do not have the consent of the majority parties. The JVP said the reforms do not represent the needs of the multiple sectors of society. It also argued that if the majority party vests more power in the Parliament, the executive presidency should be abolished. The chairman of the parliamentary committee on electoral reforms, Minister Dinesh Gunawardena, has decided to table the final draft of the proposal in Parliament in the first week of June. Minister Gunawardena said the report had the majority support of 20 of the 31 committee members, including four UNP dissidents and a JHU MP. However, the United National Party, the People’s Liberation Front, and the Tamil National Alliance, as well as government allies the Upcountry Tamil Ceylon Workers’ Congress and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress, have opposed the presentation of the interim report on the grounds that it should not be done without a consensus. The draft proposes to replace the current proportional representation by a mixture of a first past the post system and district and national proportional representation. Sri Lanka to purchase two ships from Iran The Sri Lanka government is to purchase two ships from Iran at an estimated cost of US$ 15-20 million. The Sri Lanka Foreign Ministry said Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama, who is currently in Teheran, held talks with Iranian Finance Minister Davood Danesh Jafari to discuss the matter. “The Ceylon Shipping Corporation has already made a proposal to purchase two ships from Iran at the estimated cost of US$ 15-20 million, and [the] government expects the credit facility for this purchase as well,” the Ministry said. The Iranian Minister assured his country would consider the request very positively and inform the Sri Lankan government of the arrangements shortly. Sri Lanka money printing debate takes new turn as controversy erupts over inflation graph A controversy has erupted over a graph published in Lanka Business Online, which shows a co-relation between inflation and central bank credit, or money printed by the Central Bank to finance the budget deficit. The first shots were fired at an economic policy debate organized by the Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), when economist Harsha de Silva, a fierce critic of Central Bank money printing, drew attention to it. Babes and Sucklings "Inflation forecasting in this country is very easy. You don't need a Ph.D or anything to do that," de Silva said. "You look at central bank net credit to government. When it goes up, inflation goes up. When it goes down inflation goes down. It's very child-like." Central Bank's Assistant Governor H N Thenuwara said the relationship was 'spurious'. Governor Nivard Cabraal joined the fray last week saying statistics needed to be interpreted carefully, soon after saying that the Phillips Curve, which purported to show a relationship between inflation and employment, was later shown to be unrelated. "I was told by Dr. Thenuwara a few days ago an interesting episode, where when Africa was being colonized, the number of churches that were being set up were increasing," Cabraal told a gathering of regional central bankers in Colombo. "At the same time the number of bars that were set up was also increasing. So people said when the number of churches increased the number of bars also increased. "Recently we did have an instance of statistics being used where the total amount of money being printed and inflation was being shown in a certain co-relation, which has actually no co-relation as such." Offending Graph Thenuwara also disputed the 'money printed by the central bank' of 38.5 billion in 2006 to finance the deficit saying Treasury bill purchases were needed to conduct 'monetary policy' and open market operations. He said reserve money is actually the total money printed by the bank and it was based on the needs of the economy. But critics say open market operations are similar to digging a hole and filling it up, which is part of the 'central bank disease' rather than its cure. It is an ill that currency boards have sought to avoid. LBO's economics columnist, Fuss-Budget, first used the controversial graph showing the co-relation between inflation and printed money in the form of central bank-held Treasury bills in 2004, quoting from a speech by Singapore finance minister Goh Keng Swee. (Read The Thrift Column - Invitation to Disaster) Goh said Singapore decided to retain the colonial relic of a currency board after independence from Britain, instead of starting a central bank because its rulers did not want to be tempted to print money to finance budget deficits. "The way to better life was through hard work, first in schools, then in universities or polytechnics and then on the job in the work place. Diligence, education and skills will create wealth, not Central Bank credit," he said. "Democratically elected governments the world over are exposed to the temptation of winning votes through promising better and cheaper services and at the same time lower taxes. "…in poor countries, punishment comes quickly in a cruel way - high rates of inflation, economic decline and political instability. These three factors reinforce each other in a way which makes escape from misery difficult," Goh added. Fuss-Budget says he is happy that the Central Bank is picking holes in the graph because it promotes debate, even though such reactions have been typical of monetary authorities throughout history. He says there is a sound theoretical basis for using the controversial graph of which two variations were used and for ignoring the effect of net foreign assets. "In essence the graph captured the difference between a currency board and a central bank," Fuss-Budget said. "In late 2004 Treasury bill purchases by Central Bank was used in the graph, which was the biggest component of printed money. Also it made sense because in the period under review T-bill holdings came down to zero, so net changes were sharply seen." Total central bank credit also includes provisional advances, a deadly kind of printed money, but because it had accumulated over the years, it tended to blunt the short-term co-relation. "LBO has also used a total central bank credit number, especially during the early part of the year when new provisional advances come into play," says Fuss-Budget. In both graphs, printed money was compared with point-to-point or unadjusted inflation, rather than the seasonally adjusted inflation or the moving average. Status quo Bias "Central bankers like to use seasonally adjusted inflation, which is, roughly speaking, an average spread over 24 months. This type of measure tends to distance the relationship between printed money changes and inflation." Fuss-Budget says the more the numbers are 'averaged' out the more difficult it is to find a relationship with 'printed money', giving the effect of a time lag. For example, the seasonally adjusted inflation is still rising, but the point-to-point has started to fall, while the absolute numbers responded earliest after the central bank tightened policy at the beginning of the year. "To compare the point-to-point over 12-months and the central bank credit over 12-months makes sense in another way because we are also following a 12-month budgetary cycle, which is the primary cause of the whole trouble," says Fuss-Budget. Fuss-Budget says central banks throughout monetary history have used devices such as seasonally adjusted inflation to fudge the relationship between money printing and inflation, in order to hide their guilt and have also disparaged contrary research. "In many countries monetary research is the exclusive preserve of central banks, and because they do not like to be found fault with, they manipulate it," says Fuss-Budget. "Lawrence White, Professor of Economic History at the University of Missouri has done an interesting paper on the 'status quo bias' on monetary research and how the Federal Reserve influences research and clamps down on negative comments." History Repeats Fuss-Budget says similar reactions were seen from the Bank of England after the publication of the Bullion Report in 1810 which was commissioned by Britain's parliament, when the price of gold rose suddenly. The report concluded that rather than a rising gold price it was the falling value of the pound, through excessive printing that was the cause of the trouble. The Bullion Report also came up with the original definition for inflation which was "an increase in the supply of money." "The inquiry was triggered by a series of articles by David Ricardo in a paper called the Morning Chronicle," says Fuss-Budget. "Ricardo was not a central banker but a market participant like Harsha de Silva or Fuss-Budget who suffered from the excesses of the Bank of England. "So what we are seeing today is something similar and it is to be expected. This is simply history repeating itself. "But it is good because eventually the poor people will benefit from all this, because monetary policy will be de-mystified in the process." Karuna says no split but Pillayan stands by DM story Our page one story titled ‘Pillayan gives final warning to Karuna’ in yesterday’s Daily Mirror has rattled the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pullikal (TMVP) with Karuna Amman himself contacting the Daily Mirror via telephone to say there was no truth in the report.However within minutes of the telephone call from Karuna strong loyalists of Pillayan, whose authenticity was verified, contacted the Daily Mirror and insisted that all was not well within the organization as was mentioned in the news report.According to the report a new factional war was threatening to erupt in the East as former TMVP commander Pillayan issued a final warning to Karuna Amman to leave the outfit or face the ignominy of being removed by force. The warning comes as repeated attempts to reconcile the factional dispute between Pillayan and Karuna failed following allegations that Karuna continued to misuse TMVP funds and placed some of his enemies under house arrest as the support base for Pillayan continued to grow.“Some elements are attempting to divide the TMVP by making all these claims mentioned in your story yesterday. There is no problem between me and Pillayan now. Everything is sorted but some people are trying to get involved in the internal matters of the TMVP to scuttle things,” Karuna Amman told the Daily Mirror. Karuna said he was unanimously re-appointed the leader of the TMVP at a recent meeting of top officials from the organization which he said proved without doubt the unity within the TMVP that is involved in fighting the LTTE.However contrary to Karuna’s claims a loyalist of Pillayan questioned if there was no issues within the TMVP why Pillayan was removed from his original position of supreme commander which made him second in command to Karuna.“If Karuna could go ahead and remove his deputy and replace him with someone else it shows there is a problem. Pillayan wants me to tell you there is a problem and within the space of one month he himself will come out with a public statement about his split with Karuna,” a spokesman for the ‘Pillayan faction’ told the Daily Mirror. Amman however said the position of ‘supreme commander’ was not important as the TMVP was aiming to be a political entity and not a military unit which was why the organisation put forward proposals to the APRC for a political solution.The Pillayan spokesman meanwhile said they stood ready to work with Karuna if he admitted the mistakes including the alleged killing of Pillayan loyalists and the detention of several others as a result of the split. “But we will not wait too long,” the Pillyan faction warned. India must contribute meaningfully in resolving the Tamil problem---Minister Hakeem at World Islamic Tamil Literary Conference in Chennai Minister Rauff Hakeem, addressing the 7th World Conference Islamic Tamil Literary Conference at Chennai, appealed to India to make meaningful contribution in resolving the Sri Lankan ethnic problem. He also spoke at length about the contribution made by Sri Lankan Muslims to the blossoming of Tamil literature and the development of the Tamil language. IP, Sergeant, home guard arrested The Special Investigations Unit of the Mirihana Police arrested an Inspector of Police, a Sergeant and a Home Guard, over their alleged involvement in criminal activities. They were arrested after Police questioned seven members of a gang taken in on suspicion of robbing a jewellery shop. Police sources said a member of the gang had in his possession a .38 revolver and the police traced it to an Inspector attached to the Kohuwala police.On questioning, the inspector had said his revolver had gone missing a few days ago. However, he had failed to make an entry to that effect in the police station records. The Home Guard is suspected to have given the revolver to the gang, sources said.The Sergeant, who was in charge of the weapons at the Kohuwala police station was arrested as he was responsible for the custody of the firearms, the sources said. TMVP calls for solution within a united Lanka The Karuna faction, also known as the Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), has recommended, in a set of proposals submitted to the APRC, a permanent resolution within a united Sri Lanka. The proposals were submitted to APRC chairman Minister Tissa Vitharana yesterday. A significant part of the proposals is that it recognizes a de-merged North and East. The TMVP believes that the solutions to the so-called 'Tamil problem' could be found by extensively devolving political, administrative and financial powers from the centre to the peripheral units of governance. “Our recommendations are restricted to certain fundamental issues that need to be considered by the APRC,” the TMVP said.“The Provincial Governments should be able to administer and develop their respective provinces independently, but with the support of the Central Government. The TMVP is convinced that the devolution of political powers from the Central Government to the Provincial Councils under the Indo-Lanka agreement should be the bottom line and basis to evolve solutions to the current crisis in Sri Lanka.”The TMVP says the root causes of the Tamil problem have to be identified and appropriate solutions found, taking into account historical realities. Tamil individuals and political formations agreeable to a negotiated political settlement should be consulted and their views taken into consideration. The proposals call on the government to make new constitutional arrangements to devolve power to the Tamils and other minorities appropriately and adequately and seek a Southern consensus for this step. The TMVP states that in addition to funds allocated by the Central Government, the councils should have powers to raise additional finances independently, locally and internationally. The councils should be empowered to raise finances through local authorities and the authorities coming under the Provincial Council.In relation to the Central Government, the TMVP says the Cabinet Ministers of the Central Government should not exceed the number defined by the constitution, the President and the Prime Minister should be answerable to Parliament and that independent regulatory bodies should be set up to investigate complaints, oversee operations and appoint officials and provide recommendations.The TMVP also says the present parliamentary system should be changed to incorporate an elected parliament and second chamber consisting of appointed members who be nominated members from the Provincial Councils. Who gains by war in Sri Lanka? The Sri Lankan scenario Let us now look at the situation in Sri Lanka. According to Mugabe, a researcher for the Small Arms Survey, there is an estimated fifty two thousand deserters from the Sri Lankan Army and many thousands from the LTTE who have either acquired weapons after deserting or left their posts with their firearms. The survey estimates that there are approximately 300,000 illegal weapons owned by civilians. It is no wonder that the crime rate in Sri Lanka is so high and contract killings have grown astronomically.Sri Lanka is the most militarised state in South Asia. Sri Lanka’s defence expenditure as a percentage of its GDP is the largest not only in the South Asian region, but overall in the world. Reports indicate that defence expenditure has gone up to Rs. 100 billion a year and is set to increase further, given the new dimension the war has taken in the recent weeks. In the last decade, Sri Lanka has spent almost Rs. 400 billion on defence as a result of the conflict.At the same time however, the expenditure for education for the year 2005 was a mere Rs. 26 billion, whilst for the same year for the entire health service it was Rs. 30 billion. Just imagine if the money spent on arms purchases was diverted to health and education. Whilst Sri Lanka boasts that 90% of its population is literate, a deeper analysis shows that a majority of our children do not have access to good schools, school text books and sufficient numbers of qualified teachers. It is the same for health services. Our hospitals are over crowded and citizens suffer enormously in obtaining proper health services. Often pregnant mothers have to wait in line to be admitted. There is a shortage of hospital beds for patients. Still, it is the very same citizens, who bear the cost of these arms purchases. The figures given below give a very graphic picture of the staggering increase in military expenditure in Sri Lanka for the period 1983 – 2007. 28 May 2007 5 killed in bomb blast near Sri Lanka's capital, doctor says Sri Lanka: Five people have been killed in a bomb blast near Sri Lanka's capital, the military and a physician said.Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse of the Defense Ministry information center said a truck carrying police commandos to the capital was hit by the blast in Ratmalana, a suburb of capital, Colombo.He blamed the Tamil Tiger rebels for the blast.Dr. W.G. Gunawardena said 25 people were brought to his hospital for treatment, and five of them died.It is immediately not clear whether those killed were police commandos or civilians.Rajapakse had said earlier that at least 15 civilians were among the wounded.The blast comes as part of a worsening separatist conflict in Sri Lanka that has killed 5,000 people in the past 18 months, shattering a 5-year-old, Norway-brokered cease-fire viewed as the best opportunity to solve the two-decade crisis.Last Thursday, a bomb blast blamed on Tamil Tiger rebels in the heart of the capital of Colombo killed one soldier and wounded six people.Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought the government since 1983 to carve out a separate homeland for the country's 3.1 million ethnic minority Tamils who have suffered decades of discrimination by the majority Sinhalese-dominated state.About 70,000 people have been killed in the two-decade conflict. 'Learn from Rwanda' - Bishop Rwanda genocide The Bishop urged the refugees not to try to flee the country despite hardships they currently face.Citing examples from his own country's path to recovery, he accused world leaders of failing to help Rwanda in a critical moment of its history."Specially the Western nations they were talking about Rwanda being a failed state, banana republic, people were killing each other, forget about them, they will never come out of it".Between April and June 1994, an estimated 800,000 Rwandans were killed in the space of 100 days. Most of the dead were Tutsis - and most of those who perpetrated the violence were Hutus. The genocide was sparked by the death of the Rwandan president Juvenal Habyarimana, a Hutu, when his plane was shot down above Kigali airport on 6 April 1994. Reconciliation plan Within hours of the attack, a campaign of violence spread from the capital throughout the country, and did not subside until three months later. Ethnic tension in Rwanda is nothing new. There have been always been disagreements between the majority Hutus and minority Tutsis, but the animosity between them has grown substantially since the colonial period. Rwanda is working on a reconciliation plan after years of bloodshed, Bishop Bagobo told refugees in Batticaloa."The plan is of course for every citizen to enjoy to be a citizen of his own country without being made to feel that I am a second class citizen," he said.He expressed hope that Sri Lanka will also be able to find a solution that will lead to long lasting peace.Rt. Rev. Alexis Billinda Bagobo is to visit war orphanages in Batticaloa on Monday. CMC to intensify action on killings and disappearances: Mano Ganeshan Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) on extra judicial killings and disappearances is to intensify its action against the increasing trend of disappearances in the country. CMC Convenor MP Mano Ganeshan told the Daily Mirror that the commission is currently discussing its future strategies to arrest the dangerous trend.Mr. Ganeshan said necessity to take intensified action arose at the discussions it had during the last few days. “Decisions of the future actions will be taken next week,” he said. He said the trend is becoming increasingly dangerous with the terror being extended to Muslims and Sinhalese businessmen as well. Mr. Ganeshan was critical of the statements reported to have been made by the Minister of Environment and JHU Member Champika Ranawaka which said any future proposals to solve the national issue should be based on a Sinhalese foundation. He has reportedly told that the existing society is based on Sinhalese. “We totally oppose this statement and forces like this should be responsible for the present situation of the country,” he said. Several leading Muslim businessmen and one Sinhalese businessman from Wadduwa were abducted recently making the total number of abductions exceeding 100. The first lot of eleven (11) complaints forwarded to UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) by the Civil Monitoring Commission has been accepted for investigations. Associate Human Rights Officer of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances Claudia de la Fuente has been informed by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights at Geneva Switzerland in this regard. Doctors, patients plea to open Sri Lanka's check point Sri Lanka's doctors and patients alike have called for urgent action from both Tamil Tiger rebels and the government to reopen a key entry-exit point between the rebel territory and areas of government control in the island's north, officials said Monday. The Omanthai entry-exit point was closed last Tuesday when International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) officials withdrew citing security fears as mortar and artillery exchanges intensified between Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels and government troops in the northern Vavuniya district. S. Sadanandan, the district medical officer in the government hospital at Kilinochchi, an area under LTTE control said the closing down of the check point has led to a serious situation. "We have to send serious patients to the hospital in Vavuniya ( in government controlled area). The facilities (in Kilinochchi) are inadequate. We have 43 seriously ill patients and six of them are critical," Sadanandan said. He added that an infant had died in the hospital on Tuesday as they were unable to send the child to Vavuniya for urgent treatment. A mother who had arrived in Vavuniya for treatment and now unable to return to Mallavi in the LTTE territory said that she has an infant to feed back home and all she wants now is for the LTTE and the government to open the check point. The military accuses the LTTE of continued fire of mortar and artillery which caused the withdrawal of ICRC personnel. The ICRC says their return to the check point will not happen until both sides give adequate safety guarantees for their staff. The check point was also closed twice before at different times but it came back functioning once the ICRC returned to the place with security guarantees from both sides. The closure of the A9 highway to the northern Jaffna peninsula through the rebel territory in the north and the closing down of the civilian entry point at Omanthai are all part of the growing escalation of violence since the end of 2005. About 5,000 troops, rebels and civilians have been killed since then despite the Norwegian-arranged truce in place. Claiming discrimination at the hands of the majority ethnic Sinhalese-dominated government, the LTTE has been fighting for an independent homeland for Sri Lanka's 12.5 percent Tamil minority since the 1970s. Mothers from LTTE controlled areas leave behind two infants It is being reported that two mothers have left over two infants in the Vavuniya hospital and fled the area.District hospital director Doctor Navan Pasupathipillai said that the infants are 700 and 950g in weight and are being treated in the Vavuniya hospital's intensive care unit.However the hospital director refused to grant permission to photograph the two infants as the police are investigating the matter.The two mothers who have left the infants back have been transferred to the hospital from the Kilinochchi and Pudukudirappu areas. As the police cannot go those respective areas a special police team has been set up to carry out the investigations. Sri Lankan military discovers powerful roadside bomb as violence kills 6 Sri Lankan troops defused a powerful roadside bomb believed planted by separatist Tamil Tiger rebels in the east, the military said Monday, just hours after a similar explosive killed three civilians in the region.Police commandos found the 25 kilogram (55.12 pound) bomb while on patrol in Batticaloa district on Sunday evening, said Lt. Col. Upali Rajapakse, a senior military official, adding it was planted by rebels to target passing military convoys.No comment was immediately available from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, but roadside bombs that can be triggered by remote control have been a commonly used weapon in their fight for a Tamil homeland in Sri Lanka's northeast.Earlier Sunday, a roadside bomb triggered by suspected rebels hit a civilian truck in eastern Ampara district, killing three people, military spokesman Brig. Prasad Samarasinghe said.Separately on Sunday, Navy sailors killed three suspected rebels during a ground operation in a jungle area north of the eastern port town of Trincomalee. Pillayan gives ‘final warning’ to Karuna-Source:The Daily Mirror A new factional war is threatening to erupt in the East as former Thamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) commander Pillayan issued a final warning to Karuna Amman to leave the outfit or face the ignominy of being removed by force.The warning comes as repeated attempts to reconcile the factional dispute between Pillayan and Karuna failed following allegations that Karuna continued to misuse TMVP funds and placed some of his enemies under house arrest as the support base for Pillayan continued to grow.A top TMVP source, speaking to the Daily Mirror on the condition of anonymity, said the government military was also unable to takes sides as it required the support of Pillayan to retake Thoppigala in the East and Karuna to capture Elephant Pass in the North.According to the source Pillayan was instrumental in providing ground intelligence to the military for the successful Eastern operations but is not familiar with the terrain in the North as much as Karuna who will be useful as the military makes attempts to wipe out the LTTE from Elephant Pass. The Daily Mirror also learns that several top aides of Pillayan and Karuna, including the official spokesman for the TMVP Azad Moulana, had fled the country once again as the animosity between the two sides began to flare up and cadres were being forced to decide who they would offer their allegiance to.Of the 1200 TMVP cadre base, 800 are now said to be in Trincomalee supporting Pillayan, which includes Thuyavan, Markan, Jeyam, Seelan and Ajith, while 400 are siding with Karuna Amman including Mangalan Master, Bharathi, Thileepan and Sinnathambi.A meeting held recently to reconcile the two sides had reportedly failed, despite Moulana saying otherwise to the media, and according to the source Karuna had used the opportunity to target several Pillayan associates including former spokesman Thuyavan who narrowly escaped death. A release issued by the Colombo office of the TMVP following a recent central committee meeting further added light to the continuing split as it was announced that Karuna had been reappointed TMVP leader and Mangalan Master as commander, replacing the position held by Pillayan.“Several Pillayan supporters including some female cadres are now under house arrest in Ampara and Batticaloa. The TMVP is in disarray. Amman has started killing some of Pillayan’s cadres and Pillayan has now decided to take control of Karuna camps,” the TMVP source told the Daily Mirror.The split initially erupted as allegations were levelled against Karuna Amman saying that he began to divert some Rs. four million of the TMVP funds to his family who are overseas despite the organisation only agreeing to allocate Rs. 1.5 million. According to the source, the TMVP had a monthly income of Rs. 160 million out of which Rs. 80 million was spent and the balance saved for future needs. However Karuna is learnt to have recently placed his close aide Iniya Bharathi in charge of the funds and allegedly swindled the money.An angry Pillayan questioned the move, which resulted in the split. The source further revealed that Karuna was now in the process of strengthening his base by abducting and recruiting adults and underage children. LTTE Trincomalee intelligence leader 'Bharathi' killed The media centre for national security says that LTTE intelligence unit head in Trincomalee Bharathi and three others have been killed in an attack launched by the Navy and the Special Task Force this morning.The attack has been carried out in Iluppukulam, in Nilaweli at around 8:30 this morning. The MCNS said that the death of Bharathi was confirmed by listening to LTTE radio transmitters.In a subsequent search operation security forces have discovered a Micro Pistol, a Magazine, a mobile phone and a Binoculars. 11 Tamils arrested in Bandarawela The Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and police arrested eleven Tamil civilians in a cordon and search operation conducted on Saturday evening in Poonagala estate in Bandarawela division in the central province. The suspects are now detained in Bandarawela Police and being interrogated, sources said. A group of soldiers from Diyatalawa army detachment and police personnel from Bandarawela Police Station conducted the combined operation on a tip off that several LTTE cadres had infiltrated in the tea estate, sources said. Ex-Speaker’s Luxury car for a Pvt. Secy UNP will not support President – Ranil UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has said neither he nor his party would extend any support to President Mahinda Rajapakse."Supporting the President means supporting the Medamulana Chinthana. I do not want to support the Rajapakse and Brothers Company. There are many who request me to support the President. Yet, extending our party’s support to the President would not do either the country or its people any good. It would only help further the interests of the Rajapakses, he said.The Opposition Leader was addressing the Ex-Co meeting of the National Education Commission’s Employees Union on Saturday at Sirikotha.Wickremesinghe said he had tried several times to extend his party’s support to the President but all such attempts were sabotaged by the President himself. "Therefore, I have decided not to give any support to the President. "President Rajapakse missed a great opportunity to win our support. We entered into an agreement with him, yet, he was the one who violated that and how could we continue our support after the President spurned that opportunity?" Wickremesinghe said.He said that time had proved that the Medamulana Chinthanaya had been a failure. "He won the Presidential election with the support of the LTTE and is now asking the public to tighten their belts. On the other hand, the Rajapakse Brothers and Company and the LTTE are ruining the country. We will not allow this to continue any longer," he said.The UNP would take action to save the country from the corruption, terror, the Opposition leader added. Conflict between UNP general secretary & party leadership intensifies As the internal conflict between UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and Tissa general secretary Attanayake intensifies the Ranil group has pulled out from supporting Attanayake's political moves.Tissa Attanayake has organized a massive campaign to join in 10,000 party members from his electorate which is Kundasale and has invited several minister and provincial councilors but Akila Kariyawasam and Sagala Rathnnayake who are working under the instructions of the UNP leader have refused the invitation.The general secretary has told some of his close friends that the opposition leader wants people like him to be peons of his.Johnston Fernando, Vajira Abeywardena, Laksman Senevirathne and Thalatha Athukorala have informed that they would be present at the function in Kundasale.It is also being reported that Johnston Fernando, who was working tirelessly for the restructuring process of the party, is not in good terms with the leadership. One of the reasons for it is the orders that were sent to him and the party's general secretary to stop a news letter that was being published for the circulation among the party members. The UNP leadership has also told those relevant persons not involve Attanayake for the future press conferences as well. Army Commander says Tigers now very weak Army Commander, Sarath Fonseka, said the Tamil people should be fed up with terrorism. He made this statement when he paid homage to the Mahanayake of the Malwatte chapter, Most Venerable Tibbatuwawe Sri Siddhartha Sumangala Thera at Malwatta Viharaya in Kandy on Saturday (26). Speaking further he said one hundred and fifty Tiger terrorists surrendered to the army and once rehabilitated six child soldiers who surrendered to the army are requesting permission to join their families. “Tiger terrorists are now very weak both in terms of man power and arms, operations are going on successfully in the north and east while terrorists are detested by the Tamil community. However there are still critics who blame the security forces without realizing the actual facts”, he said adding that the decades long war will not end until terrorism is eradicated. The prelate said he appreciated the action taken by the government to bring peace to the country. “Development activities should be accelerated after creating an environment for the ordinary people to live peacefully” he said. Asgiriya Chapter Mahanayake, Most Venerable Udugama Sri Buddharakkhitha Thera said that as Buddhists horrendous killings cannot be condoned but the action taken by the forces to maintain peace and order should be appreciated. “Those who give the wrong impression on action being taken by the forces should be made to realize the amount of hardships they undergo in the war front”. The prelate said.Senior officers of the army accompanied the Army Commander. He also met the Diyawadana Nilame, Pradeep Nilanga Dela and offered flowers to the sacred Tooth relic. Tamil Tiger Rebels Recruit Fighters in Indian Refugee Camps (Bloomberg) The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebel group is recruiting fighters, including children, from among refugees living in camps in India's Tamil Nadu state, Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry said. ``It is believed that the LTTE terrorist outfit has infiltrated the Tamil Nadu refugee camps in the guise of displaced and asylum seekers,'' the ministry said on its Web site. LTTE operatives are trying to persuade families to ``get the youngsters to return'' and boost recruitment. The LTTE hasn't commented on the Defense Ministry statement. It has said it is taking steps to return any minors in its ranks to their families. More than 16,000 people have fled across the Palk Strait to Tamil Nadu to escape the fighting in Sri Lanka since January 2006, the United Nations said last November. An estimated 60,000 Sri Lankans are in camps in the state that lies about a two-hour boat ride from the South Asian island nation. The LTTE and a breakaway faction known as the Karuna group are continuing to forcibly recruit people, including children, Unicef, the UN Children's Fund, said in March. By the end of January, 6,006 children had been recorded as abducted by the Tamil Tigers during the conflict with 1,710 of them still being held. Registered abductions of children by the Karuna group were 235 with 169 still being held, it said. The splinter group takes its name from Colonel Karuna, a former LTTE commander in the island's east, who in March 2004 broke away from the main faction in the north. The Tamil Tigers say the government is supporting Karuna, an allegation the military denies. UN Call The UN earlier this month demanded that parties in Sri Lanka demobilize all child soldiers without delay. The factions must create safe zones for children and guarantee humanitarian access to all areas, the Office of the Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict said in a May 11 statement. The LTTE said May 9 it asked parents of children under 17 years of age who are still with the group to contact a special panel it has set up, TamilNet reported at the time. The Tamileelam Child Protection Board has been working to identify child recruits since 2006, it said. Indian police in April arrested three members of the LTTE's naval wing at a refugee camp in Tamil Nadu, Sri Lanka's Defense Ministry said at the time. India and Sri Lanka stepped up sea patrols in the Palk Strait to try to prevent the LTTE smuggling weapons. The Indian navy in February began round-the-clock patrolling of its waters off Tamil Nadu and its coastguard vessels are monitoring the International Maritime Border, India's state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported at the time. Naval Unit The navy last week deployed six vessels in the Palk Strait, the Gulf of Mannar and Palk Bay as part of an operation to control smuggling and infiltration. India must boost its sea defenses to fight terrorism, A.K. Antony, the country's defense minister, said last week. Fighting in the South Asian island nation escalated last year as two attempts at peace talks in Geneva failed to make progress toward ending the two-decade conflict between Sri Lanka's government and the LTTE. The Tamil Tigers, who want a separate homeland in areas of the north and east they control, have an estimated 12,000 fighters, including 4,000 members of their Sea Tigers force. JHU proposes devolution at VC level The Jathika Hela Urumaya will suggest a 200-Village Council system, as a means of devolving power and a 270-member Parliament with a 20 to 25-member Cabinet in their proposals to the All Party Representative Committee. The proposals are to be submitted tomorrow (29), a party spokesman said.He said that their proposals would suggest the division of the country into 200 Village Councils whose chairpersons would enter parliament as nominated members. The rest of the membership of the Parliament would consist of 40 members from the national list, 20 to represent trade unions, five representing small parties and five members representing small minority communities, such as the Burgers, Malays and Veddas which don’t have strength to elect their own members."The boundaries of the Village Councils should be decided in considering relevant factors such as the composition of the population, availability of resources, geography and distribution of water resources in the area" the source said "In the proposal, we strongly insist that there is no ethnic conflict in the country, but some ethnic friction in Northern and Eastern provinces, created by the LTTE terrorism," the source said.He said that the preamble of the proposal rejects the idea of ethnic conflict and persist that the Sri Lanka should remain as an independent sovereign and unitary state."The proposals denote that Sinhalese are the majority community and Buddhism is the official state religion," the source said.He said that the JHU insists that the Executive Presidency shall be continued without trimming any of the existing powers but it should be brought under the realm of law and made accountable to Parliament. SRI LANKA: IMPLICATIONS OF LTTE'S DELFT ATTACK - By Col R Hariharan (Retd.) The Sea Tigers, the naval arm of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) carried out a successful strike on the Sri Lanka Naval detachments located in Delft Island (Nedunthivu in Tamil) on the night of Thursday, May 24, 2007. The Sea Tigers lost seven cadres and made away with weapons and equipment of the naval detachments. Though the LTTE has claimed killing 35 sailors, the Navy also probably lost an equal if not a little more seamen manning the posts. In the sea and air operations that followed, the navy has claimed knocking off at least two LTTE boats. However, the importance of the operation does not lie in the body count or the number of boats sunk as made out by both sides playing for the media galleries. It has dealt an invigorating dose of confidence to the LTTE. Coming in the wake of its successful air operations, this dose of confidence is more lethal in the long term. There is a need to understand this raid in the emerging overall operational scene in the north, particularly in Jaffna. The island territories of Jaffna peninsula are important outposts that provide early warning of sea movements, infiltrations, and impending sea, land and air attacks. The largest chain - Kayts group of islands - extending from Karaithivu in the north to Mandaithivu in the south, with Poonkudutivu on the south west forms a formidable barrier to seaborne infiltration into Jaffna peninsula from the west. Other than Delft, which stands on its own as the south western sentinel, these islands are well connected with causeways to the peninsula which make them part of the peninsular defence system. However, the lagoon waters around are shallow and restrict naval movement. Understanding the importance of the Kayts islands complex to the overall scheme of things, security forces had managed to control and dominate them for a long time. The Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) is present there to assist the government in ensuring that the LTTE activity does not get out of hand. Security forces had always been sensitive to LTTE infiltration into Kayts and had ruthlessly dealt with any civilian of the island suspected of LTTE affiliation. It might be remembered that Kayts islands had been one of the important targets of LTTE when it launched the multi-pronged offensive in August 2006 that failed. [See SAAG Note No 325 dated Aug 15, 2006 "Sri Lanka - LTTE Strikes Back -Update No. 98 available at http://www.saag.org/%5Cnotes4%5Cnote325.html for detailed analysis]. Almost all the LTTE infiltrators who had landed on the island were eliminated in the search and destroy operations of the security forces that followed after the LTTE attack. Delft Island, the largest inhabited island of the peninsula, is conveniently located almost equidistant from Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu and Jaffna. Thus it is a valuable outpost to monitor sea and air movements not only towards Jaffna but also between Mannar and Tamil Nadu coast. It had always been under the control of navy which has anti aircraft, surveillance and security elements located there. In fact Delft Island acts as the cockpit of navy to monitor the sea traffic to Tamil Nadu from the Mannar coast and Indian boat movements around Kachchativu. In the present context, when LTTE's international supply chains are in disarray, the sea lanes of supply from Tamil Nadu have become essential in sustaining its operations. Thus the naval surveillance elements at Delft are a valuable part of peninsular defence. The LTTE's newly acquired air capability has perhaps made it also an important point in the air defence network of Jaffna. The Delft attack also needs to be seen in the setting of following developments in the north: During the last eight months or so, the Navy has strengthened its presence in these waters and successfully managed to keep a check on LTTE Sea Tiger operations off Mannar coast. Despite repeated efforts, the Sea Tigers had not been able to make much headway. In all likelihood, surveillance elements in Delft had been playing an important role in this. This was perhaps the reason why the LTTE wanted to put them out of action. The small force of about 16 LTTE boats used to carryout the strike and the completion of the actual operation in an hour (though the disengagement process appears to have taken much longer) would indicate that it was a commando raid rather than a full scale operation to capture and hold territory. (In any case, it is doubtful whether at present the LTTE has the capability to capture and hold the island which has an area of about 42 square kilometres.) LTTE had been infiltrating its cadres in penny packets into Jaffna for sometime now. They had been establishing cache of weapons and taking up opportunity targets, using irregular tactics. Aware of the danger of allowing free run to such elements security forces have been carrying out vigorous search operations frequently. Even as we write there is a search operation in progress in Thenmarachi. The security forces have also killed a few cadres in encounters in the region. A few cadres have been apprehended in round ups and security screenings. By and large these LTTE cadres appear to operate in small teams of three-four persons armed with rifle, grenade and, at times Claymore mines. Weapons stashed away for their use in Jaffna have also been recovered in quite a few cases. LTTE snipers and operatives have also managed to inflict some casualties on troops along forward defended lines particularly in Thenmarachi area. Apart from this, one can see the hands of LTTE agent provocateurs in acts like the torching of a bus in Jaffna, and stirring up of student trouble in the university, in order to prevent Jaffna from coming to terms with a restricted life disrupted after the closure of A9 highway. Security forces operations to open up the Omanthai-Madhu-Mannar axis have been inching their way forward for sometime. In the course of these operations, LTTE has lost some important leaders though the claims of inflicting high casualties by both sides could not be corroborated. As I had stated in my earlier papers, further advance of security forces along this axis could threaten LTTE's freedom to dominate the coast along areas north of Talaimannar. At some stage in the near future, LTTE will perhaps be compelled to contain and push back the advancing security forces. This would further reduce LTTE's reserves available for offensive operations in the north. In Mullaitivu area, relentless air strikes have destroyed many LTTE assets. LTTE's efforts to infiltrate into Pulmoddai area of Trincomalee had come to naught more than once, causing loss in men and material. Similarly, LTTE's probing forays into Welioya area also have not made much headway. Sea Tigers in Mullaitivu sector have been virtually hemmed in.Given the above operational setting, LTTE with its morale buoyed by the disproportionately high impact of its successful air operations, had to reassert itself in a sea or land operation. The isolated surveillance and sentry posts in southern part of Delft Island offering better chances of success perhaps suited the needs of LTTE. This attack was also perhaps to remind the Jaffna citizens that LTTE is still in the reckoning, despite its seeming inability to fulfil its much touted desire to recapture Jaffna. A few hours after the Delft attack, LTTE carried out a claymore blast near the Colombo Port, hitting an Army bus and killing one soldier and injuring three civilians. Possibly the Army bus was the target. However, the timing of this attack soon after the Delft strike is apparently aimed at increasing the feeling of insecurity among the population. The Delft attack has shown that the surveillance post was not able to detect the approaching LTTE fleet of boats. Is this one more case of radars switched off in the night or the radar remaining unserviceable for want of spares? In any case it reflects poorly on the professionalism of forces manning the post. The absence of adequate response to the attack from the naval base indicates either the absence of or deficiency in contingency plans on handling surprise attacks. On the other hand, LTTE has shown considerable thought in the choice of target, and in meticulous planning and execution of operations. According to the LTTE spokesman LTTE had captured two anti aircraft machine guns, two machine guns, one RPG launcher and eight rifles in the Delft operations. According to the well known columnist DBS Jeyaraj, the LTTE had also managed to carry away the radar unit in addition to seizing the weapons. If this is correct it is a sizeable gain, particularly as it deprives the post of radar surveillance capability. The loss of anti-aircraft machine guns is also a serious one, as it is an extremely useful weapon for taking on targets both at sea and air. Thus Delft will be depleted of some of its surveillance and anti aircraft capabilities till the losses are made up, which could take some time. Thus it is clear that the LTTE intention was two fold to knock off the anti-aircraft and surveillance capability of Delft and augment its own anti-aircraft arsenal. Is the Delft attack is a curtain raiser for LTTE's Jaffna operations as some commentators have speculated? To hazard a guess, so far the ground indications of LTTE's activity appear to be more aimed at keeping the security forces at bay rather than launching an all out offensive. However, of greater interest to us is the increasing LTTE assertion in the neighbourhood of India. Delft has demonstrated what a surprise LTTE strike could do. Two weeks back an Indian trawler 'Sri Krishna', hijacked by LTTE in March, 2007, was sunk in Maldivian waters. On their release from custody, 11 members of its original 12-member Indian crew have confirmed that it was LTTE that had arrested them after taking over their vessel. The Tamil Nadu government had no hesitation in publicising this information, much to the dismay of LTTE sympathisers and fellow travellers in Tamil Nadu. Information from Maldives indicates that the LTTE probably seized the vessel to tranship weapons from another ship in an area well outside the beat of Indian and Sri Lankan navies. This would indicate the conscious effort of LTTE to elude Indian and Sri Lankan navies' ocean surveillance to bring in its weapons. With all these happenings in close proximity of Indian waters involving Indian vessels and citizens, one would have expected the Government of India to react more visibly. However, it had continued to follow its policy of maintaining a stony silence despite the act of piracy by an insurgent group involving a vessel flying the Indian flag. This is not the first act of LTTE piracy involving Indian assets. LTTE had hijacked a Jordanian ship Farah III in distress off the coast of Mullaitivu on December 23, 2006. It was carrying 14,000 tons of rice from India to South Africa which had been seized by LTTE. Then also the Government of India had ignored the whole affair. This attitude is all the more surprising, considering the readiness with which it had expressed its "concerns" as and when Indian fishing boats trespassing into Sri Lankan waters are rounded up or driven off by the Sri Lankan navy. Is there a political angle in this issue involving national security? It should not be. If so, it would be dismal because it is at the cost of national sovereignty, and security of vessels flying the Indian colours. 27 May 2007 EPDP cadres were enlisted in the army at one stage. They were given uniforms and food. Firearms were given too and they were looking after the entire Kyts Island under the leadership of Minister Douglas Devananda.- Major General Sarath Munasinghe “Defeating the LTTE’s conventional ability is a difficult task right now. But that should be the goal of the military. Defeating terrorism is a very, very difficult task. I believe the youth who indulge in terrorist activities have to be psychologically approached and we have to offer a political solution to the Tamil people to eradicate terrorism some day. But, in my opinion, that should be the second stage. The first is to defeat the conventional ability of the LTTE”Soldier-turned-politician Major General Sarath Munasinghe has predicted that the LTTE was planning a major onslaught to capture Jaffna peninsula. His prediction comes in the wake of his 30 year experience in the battlefield and he said the LTTE would strike where it could create an impact.He further said such an impact could be created only by capturing the peninsula as Jaffna had the highest Tamil population of some 800,000 people. The UNP Polgahawela Organiser and former Military Spokesman, Maj. Gen. Munasinghe was the Jaffna security forces commander in 1999.In an interview with The Nation he said it would be “very, very difficult” to defeat the LTTE militarily and added only a political solution could solve the ongoing conflict. “We are fighting a senseless war. The innocent lives of the Tamils, Sinhalese and Muslims are killed because of this. We must find a political solution,” he reiterated.He also said the cadres of the Karuna faction must be enlisted into the army and should be recognised as government forces, instead of letting them operate as a paramilitary. “This is what the former government did to the EPDP cadres,” he added. He also said if Karuna had been properly used by the government, the results could have been better than what is has produced now in the battlefield. WHY LTTE ATTACKED DELFT NAVAL BASE? INTERNATIONAL TERRORISM MONITOR---By B.Raman Till March 26,2007, the Sri Lankan Air Force (SLAF) enjoyed the command of the skies. There was no opposition to its punitive strikes against the positions held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Eastern and Northern Provinces and to its intimidatory strikes against the Sri Lankan Tamil population, inflicting a large number of civilian casualties. The LTTE faced difficulty in countering the punitive and intimidatory air strikes of the SLAF. This was due to a serious depletion of its anti-aircraft capability and the difficulties faced by it in procuring anti-aircraft guns and ammunition and surface-to-air missiles. 2. As a result of this, the Sri Lankan authorities did not consider it necessary to provide strengthened anti-aircraft defences to their army, naval and air force stations in the Tamil areas. They feared only land-based threats to them. They did not anticipate any threat from the air. 3. The position has since changed as a result of the LTTE's Tamil Eelam Air Force (TAF) going into action since March 26,2007, and demonstrating its capability for conventional air operations on ground-based targets and to evade the anti-aircraft defences. The TAF has already carried out three successful air strikes on ground targets of a strategic significance----two in the Colombo area and one in the Jaffna area. 4. The psychological and economic impact of these strikes has unnerved the Sri Lankan authorities. The psychological impact has been in denting the self-confidence of the Sri Lankan security forces and affecting their credibility in the eyes of the public. The economic impact has been on tourism. Flights of nervous international airlines were affected and there was a decline in tourist arrivals. 5. The expected operations of the armed forces to recover territory under the control of the LTTE in the Northern Province have not yet materialised. The SLAF has not been as active as it used to be before the TAF went into action. Fearing more strikes by the TAF, the Government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has given priority to strengthening the anti-aircraft defences in Colombo and Jaffna. Apart from taking conventional measures such as providing anti-aircraft guns and ammunition to all major military posts in the Northern and Eastern Provinces, it has also entered into negotiations with Pakistan and China for the purchase of surface-to-air missiles. 6. Taking advantage of this, the LTTE has embarked on a policy of identifying military posts where anti-aircraft defences have been set up, raiding them and capturing the anti-aircraft weapons supplied to them. It was in pursuance of this tactics that the LTTE raided a strategic naval base at Delft, an islet off the northern Jaffna peninsula, shortly after midnight on May 24,2007, dismantled its anti-aircraft defences and took away two anti-aircraft guns with ammunition, two Israeli machine guns, one rocket-propelled grenade launcher and eight assault rifles. They badly damaged the base infrastructure and withdrew after killing over 20 sailors of the Sri Lankan Navy. The raid lasted about two hours. The officers at the base frantically kept asking for an air strike against the raiding Sea Tigers and their boats, but the SLAF did not come to their help. Later, it claimed that the SLAF went into action and attacked the Sea Tiger boats as they were withdrawing and inflicted casualties and damage. There has been no corroboration of this so far. 7.The Government has not yet been able to remove the nervousness caused in Sri Lankan and foreign business circles----particularly among those in the civil aviation and tourism sectors---in the wake of the TAF's air raids in the Colombo area. Fear of an LTTE retaliation from the air continues to have a negative impact on the Government and the Security Forces. Pawar's plea to Rajapaksa on devolution package Sharad Pawar, Indian Minister for Agriculture and political veteran, has urged President Mahinda Rajapaksa to offer a devolution package which will satisfy the political "moderates" in Sri Lanka.In his meeting with Rajapaksa in Colombo earlier this week, Pawar emphasized the need to find a political rather than a military solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, and urged the President to fashion a devolution package that would satisfy at least the moderates among the Tamils and Sinhalas, reliable sources told Hindustan Times on Saturday.Pawar had met the Tamil moderates V Anandasangaree and Douglas Devananda, and the Sinhala moderate Prof Tissa Vitharana.The Indian Agriculture Minister held talks with his counterpart Maithripala Sirisena on India-Sri Lanka cooperation in agricultural development. Moderates felt let down India and the Sri Lankan moderates, cutting across ethnic lines, were dismayed by the devolution proposal made by Rajapaksa's Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) which rejected the concept of a federal state, and made the "district" the unit of devolution instead of the larger "province".The Tamil moderates had had an additional complaint - that the proposal did not envisage an autonomous and united Tamil-speaking North-Eastern Province. Lankan defence secretary in Delhi While Pawar was tendering political advice to the Sri Lankan President, the latter's brother and Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa was in New Delhi negotiating the delivery of modern radars and other air defence systems against the threat posed by the fledgling air force of the LTTE.Sri Lanka, India and the US are worried about the LTTE's air capability as it has taken the armed conflict in Sri Lanka to a new and more dangerous level, with international ramifications.Richard Boucher, who heads the South Asia office of the US State Department, said in Colombo recently, that the Sri Lankan government had the right to destroy the LTTE's planes. Navy Intelligence officer who helped Mahinda cannot stay in the island Commander Rohana Gamage who was serving in the Navy intelligence unit as its coordinator in the Vavuniya district on the request of the president and the defence ministry, and then remanded and freed on the charges of having connections with the LTTE, has requested the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and JVP leader Somawanse Amarasinghe asking them to intervene and make sure that nothing of that sort happens against. In his letter the Major reminds that the government media seriously criticized him charging him of divulging information of defence matters. He goes on to say that though he was later released saying that he had no such connections or divulged any information to the terrorist the damage caused to his character has not been repaired. He goes on to say that he was planning to sit for his master’s degree after the bachelor’s degree but is not in a position to carry out his education as he has been labelled as a terrorist ally. Commander Rohana Gamage goes on to say that his wife and children even cannot travel on road as they have to under go verbal harassment which means he cannot even live a normal life. He say due to this he has to now live hidden and secretly. Speaking to 'LeN' He said due to this situation, he cannot obtain visa to fly abroad and that he is receiving constant death threats. He said not only him the two theras who participated at the media briefing held by his wife are being threatened.Rohana Gamage therefore requests all concerned to make an effort to stop such things happening here after. Never fear to negotiate The proposals the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) submitted to the All Party Representative Committee (APRC) as a means of resolving the ethnic issue were summarily rejected by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) last week.That didn’t make headline news because it was only to be expected. The SLFP proposals envisaged the district as the unit of devolving power, a concept tried and tested during the tenure of late President J.R. Jayewardene in the eighties with not much success.The ethnic issue, and parallel to it the Eelam War, has evolved considerably since then. The LTTE has grown from a fledgling terrorist outfit to a global war machine with even light aircraft at its command. It is now recognised as arguably the most ruthless terrorist organisation in the world.The impact of this has been relentless terrorist attacks in the south of the country, compelling successive governments in Colombo to accommodate the LTTE in various bouts of negotiations and peace talks, albeit with limited success.Yet, it would be fair to say that thinking in the corridors of power had also changed. J.R. Jayewardene himself risked his political popularity to grant provincial councils as the unit of devolving power under the Indo-Lanka Accord and even went to the extent of amalgamating the Northern and Eastern Provinces, a key demand of the Tigers. That the provincial council system was not a success is history. But that did not deter governments in Colombo from pursuing a broader unit of power sharing in their attempts to redress minority grievances. Chandrika Kumaratunga, from her halcyon days in the Sri Lanka Mahajana Party ideologically believed that minority communities should be better accommodated and represented in Sri Lanka’s socio-political fabric and brought forth a set of devolution proposals that were dramatically torn up and discarded by the then opposition, United National Party (UNP) in Parliament. Those proposals never saw the light of day.When there was a lull in the Eelam War during the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) brokered by the United National Front (UNF) regime, models of devolving power were studied very extensively. At one time, even an Interim Self-Governing Authority (ISGA) was being discussed although the issue drew sharp criticism. The UNP proposed similarly comprehensive proposals for the devolution of power at the last presidential election where the catchword was federalism. Mahinda Rajapaksa, ever the shrewd politician, latched on to the slogan declaring that the unity of the country was at stake, swayed the majority community voter and won the election, helped by an LTTE enforced boycott in the north and east. Now as President and President also of the SLFP, he must be supporting the proposals aimed at retaining districts as the unit for devolving power. Ironically, two of his allies in the government, the nationalist Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and the leftist Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) claim that even this is too much of a concession that imperils the unity and integrity of the nation!It is obvious though that for devolution of power to have any meaning, may be not for the LTTE, but for the minority communities, such devolution must be tangible and appear genuine as well. Thus, it must necessarily follow that they must be more than what has already been offered to these communities. Sadly, the current SLFP proposals fall far short of this benchmark. In fact, what it does is to send a loud signal to all concerned – millions of masses in the minorities, the international community and also to the LTTE – that the current government in Colombo is not genuine in seeking a lasting solution to the ethnic issue in Sri Lanka. It is the wrong message to get across at a time when Colombo’s human rights record has come under the microscope, probably as never before.It is also a message that one man will like – a man named Velupillai Prabhakaran. For, if there is one thing that Prabhakaran fears it is peace. Peace was thrust upon him once by Rajiv Gandhi in the Indo-Lanka Accord and Prabhakaran sabotaged it deliberately and without being content with that, took revenge from Gandhi by killing him. Nearly 20 years later, Velupillai Prabhakaran hasn’t changed his stripes. Peace was again thrust upon him by the international community at the behest of Ranil Wickremesinghe in the form of the CFA. He responded by ensuring its collapse and ensuring Wickremesinghe’s defeat at the presidential poll, just to make sure he wouldn’t be caught in a peace trap again.With President Rajapaksa at the helm, Prabhakaran probably has no such worries. His concern must be to guard against Rajapaksa’s military adventures. He must know that the SLFP devolution proposals will be dealt with by all concerned, with the contempt it deserves.Of course, both the President and the SLFP is on record saying that the SLFP proposals are not a final document, but only a basis for discussion. If so, there would have to be much discussion and more amendments for the proposals – and indeed the APRC – to move forward. Or else, it will go the way of all the other numerous all party conferences that have been held earlier: beginning with much fanfare, outliving its usefulness and then dying a natural death with no one mourning its loss.With hindsight it is easy to say now that past leaders such as S.W.R.D. Bandaranaike and J.R. Jayewardene let slip golden opportunities to bridge Sri Lanka’s ethnic divide. Mahinda Rajapaksa, we are sure, will not want history to remember him as such. Therefore, he must never fear to negotiate, especially when he has already demonstrated that he will not negotiate out of fear. Chandrika informs President in writing regarding her return at the end of July It is being reported that the President is a bit shaken after former President Chandrika Kumaratunga informed President Mahinda Rajapakse in writing that she is going to return to the island at the end of July.Writing to the president regarding the Supreme court decision to cut down on the privileges given to her and her security, the former president has informed Mahinda Rajapakse in this regard.Sources close to her say that she might enter politics in some way or the other and that she has a good rapport with most of the politicians and is in constant touch with them.She is still a patron of the SLFP and the Chairman of the Gamapaha district for the party.It is also being reported that Mangala Samaraweera who is in London at the moment is due to meet with the former president to discuss regarding the future of their politics. Some say that there are 21 MPs in the government including Samaraweera who are supportive to the former president.Former Presidential secretary Piyasena Dissanayake told 'LeN' that though the former president is due in the island end of July, he knows nothing regarding her political plans. Food crisis looms in the Wanni Fears of a humanitarian crisis including food shortages loomed large in the Wanni as Government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) traded charges against each other over re-opening of the only entry-exit points at Omanthai and Uyilankulam.The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) is refusing to position its personnel at these points until security guarantees are obtained from both sides. A prolonged delay would mean supplies of food and medicine cannot be moved into the area. The Entry-Exit Point at Omanthai remains the umbilical cord for all supplies into Wanni after the Government closed the Muhamalai Entry-Exit Point. It is located south of the Jaffna peninsula and all supplies moved by sea were transported to Wanni through this point. ICRC spokesman Davide Vignati told The Sunday Times they discussed the issue with LTTE Deputy Political Wing leader, Thangan. His position was that the guerrillas would refrain from attacks if the Security Forces followed suit. The Security Forces in turn blamed the LTTE for the closure and said they did not get the points shut down. Vignati said the LTTE response was now being discussed with the Government. An ICRC team was due to meet Defence Ministry officials in this regard last night. Details of the outcome of the discussions were not known immediately, but a military spokesman said that the army was maintaining the position that the road was never closed by the army.“The army is not obstructing the movement of civilians and the other essential items”, the spokesman said. The two entry-exit points were closed after the military accused the LTTE of firing mortars in the direction where the ICRC officials were present.“We will not deploy the staff until we get a firm assurance about the safety. We will not risk the lives of the staff until that,” Mr. Vignati said.The Uylankulam point was closed on May 18 while the Omanthai point was closed on Tuesday. The Omantahi check point was closed after a civilian vehicle trying to enter the government controlled area had been fired upon by the LTTE. One of the bullets had hit the ICRC post.Mullativu Government Agent Emelda Sukumar told The Sunday Times that 35 lorries carrying essential items including food and kerosene were held up at Omanthai due to the closure of the road.“If the entry-exit point remains closed for the next two to three days there will be a serious food shortage,” she warned. Vavuniya’s Additional Government Agent P.S.A. Charles told The Sunday Times that in addition 50 more private lorries carrying food and other essential items were also held up in Vavuniya. The closure of the road prolonged as the fighting around Omanthai also continued. At least 12 Tiger guerrillas have been killed around Omanthai between Thursday and Friday while a series of other confrontations also have taken place in the area interrupting the movement of civilians Who is Ananda Krishnan? In 2003 when senior officials of the Board of Investment went shopping for investment from Malaysia, they were told that two of the country’s most successful entrepreneurs had Sri Lankan roots and were keen to invest in Sri Lanka.According to a report then by Bernama News Agency, the grandfathers of Tan Sri T. Ananda Krishnan and Tan Sri G. Gnanalingam had been brought to Malaysia from Jaffna by British colonial rulers to work in Malaysia’s Public Works Department, a common practice then as Jaffna produced some of the most educated people in the whole country. "Tan Sri Gnanalingam himself told one of | ||
