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Tamil Nadu Chief Minister and DMK President M Karunanidhi today said he would be happy if the problems of Sri Lankan Tamils were solved through formation of a separate Tamil Eelam (Tamil homeland) or by a negotiated settlement within a unified Sri Lanka.Asked for his comments on LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran's recent statement that only a separate Tamil Eelam could bring an end to the ethnic strife in the island, he told reporters here that the "DMK had been saying this for long"."However, we are not averse to a negotiated settlement," Karunanidhi said.On the despatch of humanitarian aid such as rice, sugar and milk powder to suffering Sri Lankan Tamils, as promised by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a recent letter to him, Karunanidhi said he did not know about its status. "I only presume from media reports that the articles are ready for despatch," he said.On Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon's remarks that the modalities for the despatch of the assistance had to be worked out, Karunanidhi said, "Our views on this issue are the same as that of the Centre."

There is no question of the Indian Navy conducting joint patrols with the Sri Lankan Navy, an Indian paper reported citing sources close to the Indian External Affairs Ministry which today held a closed door meeting with the visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse.Indian ships were patrolling their territorial waters, and the idea of "joint patrolling" was not on the cards, sources were cited as saying. India's position on joint patrolling is significant given that the Sri Lankan President announced his intention of raising the issue with New Delhi just before he left Colombo last week, the paper said. External Affairs Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee is to have raised concerns at the rising toll on civilians in Sri Lanka’s military campaign, human rights abuses and the food shortages. India’s offer to send relief material to deal with the humanitarian situation to the north and east was rejected by President Rajapakse, according to the Paper A large food convoy which was making its way to parts of Sri Lanka’s East yesterday was forced to postpone its mission after heavy shelling was reported. The convoy had to abandon its mission after the military told officials to turn back, according to INGO sources. The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) refused to facilitate the movement of the aid convoys yesterday. SLMM spokesman Thorfinur Omarsson said that the ceasefire monitors required clear security guarantees from the military before agreeing to any such measure.Mukherjee conveyed to the President that there was no military solution to Sri Lanka’s conflict.

A food convoy finally reached LTTE-controlled Vakarai yesterday after a UN team was first sent to the location to ensure there was no shelling during the humanitarian operation to provide relief to more than 40,000 trapped civilians.Military spokesman Prasad Samarasinghe said a convoy of vehicles loaded with food and medicine crossed the Marnkerni Army camp in batches and reached Vakarai yesterday after security clearance was obtained.“The convoys went to Vakarai after they were checked in Marnkerni,” Brigadier Samarasinghe told the Daily Mirror.A 16-man UN team preceded the convoy to Vakarai after both the military and the LTTE called for the measure as part of a security guarantee with both sides trading charges over the postponement of the operation which was earlier scheduled to take place on Tuesday.

“The 16 aid staff first went to Vakarai and spoke to the LTTE and stayed there until the convoys reached the area,” Brigadier Samarasinghe said.Some 115 lorries were expected to reach Vakarai during the day and after unloading will return to Batticaloa following which a temporary cease-fire in the area agreed upon by both the LTTE and the military will come to an end. The convoys were earlier scheduled to reach Vakarai on Tuesday but were forced to abandon the mission after heavy shelling was reported in the area with the Army and the LTTE trading charges as to who fired first despite a pre-arranged humanitarian ceasefire.As a result of the closure of the road connecting government and LTTE territory, thousands of IDPs in Vakarai are without food, medicine and basic sanitation needs forcing most of them to attempt to make the dangerous trek out of the rebel territory.

Norwegian special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will visit Sri Lanka this week, but Oslo has decided not to take any more peace initiatives following a virtual state of war in the island nation.Hanssen-Bauer will be in Colombo shortly after President Mahinda Rajapaksa returns from New Delhi and shall also travel to the northern town of Kilinochchi to meet leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).Informed sources told the agency that the visit was to tell the two protagonists that while Norway would remain in touch with them directly and indirectly, it has no further intention of launching any peace move unless they genuinely decide to shake hands.

"Colombo and LTTE are not ready for any peace process," the source said dismissively, reflecting the deepening despondency in the international community overseeing Sri Lanka.India, which has vital stakes in Sri Lanka, is being kept informed of the Norwegian decision that follows months of relentless fighting involving the military, the Tigers and Tamil groups opposed to LTTE, which has claimed some 2,500 lives and displaced many thousands this year alone, stifling the peace process.The latest twist in the bloody Sri Lankan drama follows a virtual declaration of war by LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran Monday when he called the 2002 Norway-sponsored ceasefire agreement (CFA) defunct and Colombo's desire to know if Oslo would remain the peace facilitator or not.

Norway has faced tough times in Sri Lanka as the peace process progressed since the signing of the truce.But criticism against Oslo began to soar from about 2004, the year when the LTTE suffered a paralysing split with its former regional commander Karuna breaking away with his supporters and covertly teaming up with Colombo.While LTTE's opponents accused Norway of bias towards the Tigers, the Tigers complained that Oslo was not doing enough to rein in Colombo's military aggressiveness that was claiming scores of civilian lives in the island's northeast.On occasions Norwegian diplomats felt insulted by the conduct of representatives of both sides but decided not to make a public issue, the sources said.

The assessment in Oslo is that it is a waste of time, energy and resources doing peace facilitation if the two main parties are determined to fight it out and not make meaningful compromises that can end one of the world's longest running and complex conflicts.Already, some sections of the Western community are testing the waters to see if any other peace process can be started to help bridge the yawning gulf between Colombo and LTTE.India is, however, clear that if there is any internationally driven peace process in Sri Lanka, Norway alone should steer it in view of its proven expertise in peace making and despite whatever mistakes that may have occurred.The LTTE is fighting to carve an independent homeland called Tamil Eelam out of Sri Lanka's northeast. The campaign has claimed over 65,000 lives since 1983 and shows no signs of ending any time soon.

Sri Lanka: Peace-broker Norway on Wednesday denied a report that it gave a six-foot (1.8 meter) television to Sri Lanka's reclusive rebel leader, who is said to like watching Hollywood movies and copy methods for attacks and assassinations.A statement from Norway's Foreign Ministry called the allegations carried by state-run Daily News "misconceptions and lies."The paper on Monday carried an interview of a breakaway Tamil Tiger leader named Karuna, who alleged that Norway's Aid Minister Erik Solheim had given the television to rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.Karuna, a one-time confidante of the top guerrilla leader, said Prabhakaran liked watching movies. Karuna told the interviewer that Solheim had given "a six-foot (1.8 meter) TV screen to Prabhakaran to watch films."
The Norwegian Foreign Ministry emphatically denied the claim."The ministry would again like underline that it is surprised to see that such blatant lies are being printed by the Daily News. Mr. Solheim has certainly not bought a television for Mr. Prabhakaran," the statement said.The Norwegian Foreign Ministry also denied Karuna's claim that Solheim gave the rebel group money.Solheim was instrumental in arranging a cease-fire between the government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels in 2002 aimed at ending a two-decade civil war that had killed 65,000 people.The guerrillas split in 2004 when Karuna broke away with some 6,000 fighters.

The JHU requested the UNP leadership in Parliament yesterday to state their stand on the de-merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces.JHU Parliamentary group leader Ven.Aturaliye Ratana Thera said that the UNP should state its stand on the Supreme Court judgment nullifying the temporary merger of the two provinces in 1987.The Ven. Thera said that President J.R. Jayewardene merged the two provinces only due to international pressure.UNP MP Dr. Jayalath Jayawardena replied that the party leader was currently abroad and would inform the stand of the UNP on the de-merger, upon his return to the country.The matter was raised during the debate on the vote of the Nation Development Ministry in the House yesterday.

Commenting on the resettlement of war affected people, Ven. Ratana Thera said the National Development Ministry should consider resettling Sinhala people as well.The JHU said that the Ministry should ensure benefits to Sinhala people through the Rs 64 billion allocated for medium-term development programmes. He said that there should be a monitoring mechanism to determine whether development funds earmarked for the uncleared areas, were used for terrorist activities or public benefit.“He said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa should improve the conditions of the Sinhala people in the upcountry, without nurturing racist elements.Ven. Ratana Thera criticized certain human rights organisations for their silence on the ethnic cleansing of Sinhala people of the Northern Province.He asked as to why these organizations remain tightlipped on the killing of Sinhala businessmen who went to Vavuniya to sell paddy and mangoes, despite being vociferous about the abduction of Tamil businessmen in Colombo.The JHU reiterated the North and Eastern Provinces were the historical homeland of Sinhala Buddhists, as proven by the numerous archeological monuments.

A coalition of over 80 expatriate Tamil community organisations in the United Kingdom this week appealed publicly to the British Prime Minister Tony Blair to intervene diplomatically to end the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka's Northeast. The appeal was published in a full page advert placed in The Times newspaper on Monday by the British Tamils' Forum and signed by 88 expatriate Tamil welfare associations, religious societies, cultural and arts societies, sports clubs and rehabilitation organisations. "As British Tamils, we implore you not to sit by and allow evil to triumph in Sri Lanka," the petitioners said in their letter to the Prime Minister, citing English philosopher Edmund Burke, who famously said all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.

"We urge you and your government not to turn a blind eye to the on-going human rights violations being carried out against the civilian population and to do more to oppose those who target civilians with violence and deprivation.""This appeal has the backing and support of a wide range of groups and organisations working to support the advancement of an estimated 150,000 strong Tamil community in the United Kingdom," they said.The petitions urged the British Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary to intervene and compel the Government of Sri Lanka to:

"Take immediate action to open the arterial routes and to ensure that the passage of all food, medical and other essential humanitarian relief supplies reaches Vakarai and the Jaffna peninsula."Ensure that the civilian population is respected and protected in all circumstances, in accordance with the principle of distinction between civilian and military targets and thus avoid indiscriminate attacks."Allow and respect the freedom of movement of the Tamil population in the North and East of the island."Ensure the safety of all Aid workers, health professionals and others and allow all such personnel free access to all war affected areas."Stop attacks on hospitals and all other health institutions and their surroundings and to recognise and regard such sites as safe zones."

The petitioners wrote the Premier, "you will be aware North and East of Sri Lanka is where Tamil people traditionally lived in Sri Lanka and it is our collective belief that since independence from Britain in 1948 the British Government has had a duty to recognise the long-standing suffering of Tamils in Sri Lanka."The Forum said its constituent member organisations represented "amongst others, some 3,000 acocuntants, 2,500 doctors, 5,500 nursing and other health and social care professionals, 3,000 engineers, 5,000 small businesses, 250 solicitors and legal practitioners, and over 10,000 other Tamil graduates working in key positions in UK's public, private and voluntary sectors.

UNP MP, Prof. G.L. Peiris told parliament yesterday there are certain factors in the Indian constitution to be extracted as the foundation for resolving the ethnic conflict here.Speaking during the debate on the Investment promotion and Industrial Development ministry, Prof. Peiris said there are certain other points in it which are not absolutely helpful in resolving the problem. Referring to the MOU signed between the UNP and the ruling SLFP, he said the two parties had a point of departure by signing the MOU on October 23.However, he emphasized the common National Agenda between the parties and a mechanism to implement the MOU, as absolutely essential to achieve the desired targets.“Otherwise, it will be a political document devoid of practical substance,” he said.Prof. Peiris said the perception of stability in the country is a pre-requisite for attracting investments to the country.He said the ceasefire agreement should be maintained perfectly to create a conducive atmosphere for this purpose.“It will take time to find a final solution to the problem. The CFA is not a final solution at all, he said,

Thulip Harikumar a 21 year student living at Hena Road Mt. Lavinia has been abducted yester day. He has been abducted and taken in a van bearing registration number 25 � 3486. This has been reported by his parents to Mt. Lavinia police.When inquired from the police they confirmed having received of complaint to that effect, but the vehicle number given by the complainant belongs to a private concern. The police are conducting further investigations.

Sri Lanka's inflation rate in November probably slowed from a four-month high, easing pressure on the central bank to increase its benchmark interest rate for a fourth time this year. Consumer prices in the capital Colombo gained 16.8 percent from a year earlier, after increasing 17.2 percent in October, according to the median forecast of seven analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. The Department of Census and Statistics index, the key inflation gauge watched by the central bank, is due to be released tomorrow at 3 p.m. in Colombo. The Central Bank of Sri Lanka, which has increased borrowing costs three times this year to rein in inflation, left its key rate unchanged in October and this month to help the island's economy sustain growth. Central Bank Governor Ajith Nivard Cabraal said last week the $24 billion economy can grow 8 percent next year on record spending on roads and ports.

``The inflation gauge is mostly on food items, and it has seen some easing due to prices remaining stable,'' said Ghazzali Saduk, head of research at Capital 1st Research in Colombo. Cabraal and his fellow policy makers are ``more biased towards the growth numbers,'' he said. The central bank on Nov. 14 warned banks against excessive lending as it held its benchmark interest rate at 9.625 percent, a 3 1/2-year high and the second-highest in Asia. Cabraal said Nov. 15 lenders should channel funds to exporters and curb excessive consumer and property loans. Borrowing by companies for working capital and investment, and credit for private consumption, has been spurred because interest rates are below the pace of inflation.

``We will keep our options open, what we have done so far is sufficient to keep inflation in control for growth'' the central bank governor said. Cabraal's optimism about the island's economic prospects comes as Sri Lanka grapples with renewed violence in its two- decade civil war between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels. Growth in the island nation's economy slowed to 7.6 percent in the second quarter from 8.3 percent in the previous three months. Sri Lanka's policies should focus on slowing inflation, and higher interest rates may be needed to curb lending, the International Monetary Fund said in a report Nov. 13. The central bank's next meeting to review its interest-rate policy is scheduled for Dec. 15. ``Looking at the Governor's point of view, his concern is over growth, so monetary policy may take a short term view,'' said Gihan Hemachandra, head of trading at Capital Alliance Ltd. in Colombo.

Sri Lanka's annual average inflation rate probably accelerated to 12.3 percent in November, compared with 11.8 percent last month, according to the Bloomberg News survey. Inflation is expected to ease to between 7 percent and 8 percent by the end of 2007, Cabraal said last week. The central bank on June 30 forecast annual inflation will average as much as 10 percent this year, compared with 11.6 percent in 2005. Sri Lanka may start using a new core inflation index to help damp price rises in the economy, the central bank said in a report Nov. 16. Sri Lanka's core inflation may exclude items whose price movements are volatile such as some food articles, and prices of items that are fixed by the state such as fuels, electricity, tobacco and liquor.

LOS ANGELES - A federal judge struck down President Bush's authority to designate groups as terrorists, saying his post-Sept. 11 executive order was unconstitutional and vague, according to a ruling released Tuesday. The Humanitarian Law Project had challenged Bush's order, which blocked all the assets of groups or individuals he named as "specially designated global terrorists" after the 2001 terrorist attacks."This law gave the president unfettered authority to create blacklists," said David Cole, a lawyer for the Washington, D.C.-based Center for Constitutional Rights that represented the group. "It was reminiscent of the McCarthy era."The case centered on two groups, the Liberation Tigers, which seeks a separate homeland for the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, and Partiya Karkeran Kurdistan, a political organization representing the interests of Kurds in Turkey.U.S. District Judge Audrey Collins enjoined the government from blocking the assets of the two groups.

Both groups consider the Nov. 21 ruling a victory; both had been designated by the United States as foreign terrorist organizations.Cole said the judge's ruling does not invalidate the hundreds of other designated terrorist groups on the list but "calls them into question."Charles Miller, a spokesman for the U.S. Department of Justice, said, "We are currently reviewing the decision and we have made no determination what the government's next step will be."A White House spokeswoman declined to immediately comment.The judge's 45-page ruling was a reversal of her own tentative findings last July in which she indicated she would uphold wide powers asserted by Bush under an anti-terror financing law. She delayed her ruling then to allow more legal briefs to be filed.

She also struck down the provision in which Bush had authorized the secretary of the treasury to designate anyone who "assists, sponsors or provides services to" or is "otherwise associated with" a designated group.However, she let stand sections of the order that penalize those who provide "services" to designated terrorist groups. She said such services would include the humanitarian aid and rights training proposed by the plaintiffs.The Humanitarian Law Project planned to appeal that part of the ruling, Cole said."We are pleased the court rejected many of the constitutional arguments raised by the plaintiffs, including their challenge to the government's ban on providing services to terrorist organizations," Miller said Tuesday. "However, we believe the court erred in finding that certain other aspects of the executive order were unconstitutional."The ruling was still considered a victory, Cole said."Even in fighting terrorism the president cannot be given a blank check to blacklist anyone he considers a bad guy or a bad group and you can't imply guilt by association," Cole said.

The humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka is getting from bad to worse with every passing day. NDTV travelled to the Jaffna University, which the Sri Lankan government claims is a breeding ground for training the LTTE.The Sinhalese perception of Jaffna University is that it's a nursery for Tiger cubs. The university, which was unable to feed its students, was forced to close in August.Also closed to students was their road to learning - the A9 highway - which brought many of them to the temple of Tamil studies from LTTE controlled Kilinochchi and Mulativu districts.

About 1,300 students have not returned to Jaffna after the war resumed on August 11 - all because the Sri Lankan government believes the university is the biggest recruitment base for the LTTE."The road was closed because there was information that the LTTE was going to recruit 6,000 students from Jaffna and going to send them for training. Now the university has been closed," said Dr Palitha T B Kohona, Secretary General, Peace Secretariat, Sri Lanka.Jaffna commander Major General MA Chandrasiri also considers the university a dangerous zone."When we raided the university, we found grenades, satellite phone and a cutout of Prabhakaran. There are some hardcore LTTE cadres in the university, who are also student leaders. We cannot allow that," he said.However, it's a different story at the university. Those supposed to be hardened LTTE cadre and supporters don't even face the camera.They are truly afraid that they could be the next target after a student, they claim, was brutally killed by the gangs unleashed by the Sri Lankan forces to counter the Tigers."Truth has died here. Those who speak the truth are targetted. That's why we are scared to speak out or show our faces," said a student.

However, Prof R Kumaravadivel, Vice Chancellor of Jaffna University, rubbishes the government claim, pointing out that there aren't even 6,000 students in the university."There are just 5,300 students, of which 75 per cent are from the LTTE controlled area of Vanni. They would have joined the LTTE there. They don't have to come to Jaffna to join the LTTE," countered Kumaravadivel.In a community that is spread across the world from Australia to Norway and has been reduced to half of its original population, these Tamil students stand out.They speak of their alienation - the divide between the Sinhalese and the Tamil nations and their total commitment to their cause - a separate Tamil homeland."Tamil Eelam is not an LTTE proposal. It became our demand after the death of Thanthai Selvam in 1977. It is our need. We'll always seek a homeland and the LTTE is also part of that struggle," said a student.Moreover, they consider themselves special - the educated youth in a war torn community who have a historic role to achieve the dream of a Tamil homeland.

Sri Lanka Army has bulldozed the Alankulam Heroes' Cemetery in Muthur East, on November 25, said LTTE's Trincomalee District Political Head, S. Elian Wednesday. "Sri Lankan military has once again desecrated a war cemetery. No military in the civilized world, would engage in a such act," charged Mr. Elilan. Headstones were bulldozed away and the resting place was destroyed by the military two days ahead of Heroes Day, he further said.All the civilians have fled the area towards Vaharai following SLA offensive towards Sampoor and Muthur East.Alankulam Heroes' Cemetery, the district's largest Heroes Cemetery where memorial stone of Major Ganesh, a senior LTTE commander who died in a battle with the SLA in 1986 and the tomb of Lt. Col. Kunchan, one of the commanders to die recently were located in Alankulam in Muthur East.In 1995, the Sri Lanka Army destroyed three Heroes' Cemetaries, located in Kopay in Valikamam, Kodikamam in Thenmaradchi and in Ellankulam in Vadamaradchi. These were re-built following the February 2002 Ceasefire Agreement.

A day ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's crucial talks with Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse, Indian officials are increasingly irked by what they term the Sri Lankan government's "intransigent" attitude towards the country's ethnic problem.Having urged Colombo to come up with a concrete devolution formula and outline a specific road map to grant maximum autonomy to the ethnic Tamil minority in the north and east of Sri Lanka, New Delhi is finding its advice increasingly ignored.India has been telling everyone who will listen that both the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE need to get back to the negotiating table. It was not only important to maintain the ceasefire (in place since February 2002 and now all but abandoned), but also to seek a just and federal solution within the framework of a united Sri Lanka, former Foreign Secretary Shyam Saran said.

LTTE chief Vellupillai Prabhakaran's statement on Monday, again seeking independence from Colombo, has not helped matters, officials said. But, according to a former Indian envoy to Sri Lanka, ever since the Rajapakse government came to power a year ago, the path they have chosen has been "one of confrontation with the LTTE," not conciliation with the ethnic minority.President Rajapakse is on record as saying the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) does not represent the will of the Tamil population of Sri Lanka. But his government's policy has been to "militarily resolve the problem," an official said, creating a humanitarian crisis in the island nation.The vicious cycle of bombardment and counter-attacks along the blocked A-9 highway (the lifeline to Jaffna in the north) have created massive shortages of basic commodities, left a large population of Sri Lankan Tamil citizens caught in the cross-fire and fleeing to India for refuge.

With the DMK government in Chennai as a close ally, pressures on the UPA government in New Delhi are rising. UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi, whose husband Rajiv Gandhi the LTTE is accused of killing, met Rajapakse as he began his political tete-a-tete with Indian leaders.Political entities in Tamil Nadu are adamant India should not enter any defence pact or any agreement on the joint patrolling of the Palk Straits, mooted by Colombo and have urged Singh to be firm with Rajapakse.On Tuesday, External Affairs Minister, Pranab Mukherjee, called on Rajapakse and held detailed discussions on India-Sri Lanka bilateral relations as well as the peace process in Sri Lanka. Mukherjee, who also held delegation-level talks with the Lankan Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, hoped "there would be early progress in the peace process so that all ethnic communities in Sri Lanka can live harmoniously and are able to achieve their aspirations," MEA spokesman Navtej Sarna said.India seeks not only a cessation of overt hostilities, it also wants a time-bound commitment from the government in Colombo outlining a definite 'road map' towards a federal structure in Sri Lanka.

Norwegian special envoy Jon Hanssen-Bauer will arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow to discuss the future of the peace process.Hanssen-Bauer is expected to meet with both government representatives as well as the LTTE during his visit.The visit was planned prior to the speech made by LTTE Leader Velupillai Pirapaharan.Informed sources said the envoy’s visit had gained added importance in view of Pirapaharan’s statement declaring his intention of pursuing the goal for a separate state.The envoy is expected at his meetings with the government and the LTTE to inquire their commitment to the CFA and the peace process.

The Sri Lankan government is seeking clarification from the Norwegian peace facilitators whether the Ceasefire Agreement is still in effect. In reference to LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran’s Heroes’ Day Speech, defence spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella said, “We want a clarification from the Norwegians if the peace process is still on.” The Minister said his government is committed to peace. “We are pursuing peace. But we will respond if we are attacked,” he said. Mr. Rambukwella, referring to Prabhakaran’s claims that the LTTE followed a peaceful path during the period between the Thimpu and Geneva talks, said, “The terrorist leader had [attacked] venerated places of Buddhists at Dalada Maligawa (Temple of the Scared Tooth) and Sri Maha Bodhi and at Aranthalawa where Buddhist monks and the Muslim worshippers at two mosques were brutally hacked and chopped to death. Even within two weeks of [the first] Geneva peace talks, the LTTE attacked a government Dvora vessel.” He said the Sri Lankan government acted with “utmost patience” and refrained from retaliatory attacks until an attempt was made on the life of Army Commander Lieutenant General Sarath Fonseka last April. Only then did the government decided to respond to LTTE attacks in a proper manner, he added.

The LTTE yesterday assured it had not withdrawn from the ceasefire agreement or had any immediate plans to terminate the peace deal signed in 2002 despite terming the agreement as being defunct, the SLMM told the Daily Mirror.SLMM spokesman Thorfinur Omarsson said LTTE political head S.P. Thamilselvan had given the assurance when the ceasefire monitors yesterday sought a clarification on the policy speech made by LTTE leader Vellupillai Prabhakaran.“Mr. Thamilselvan wanted us to convey that the LTTE would not terminate the CFA and remained committed to the agreement. This is a positive response and we hope the government remains committed as well,” Mr. Omarsson told the Daily Mirror.

According to Mr. Thamilselvan the LTTE leader had termed the CFA as being defunct mainly due to the closure of the A9 route at Muhamalai and other issues which had violated the agreement.Meanwhile Anna Johannsdottir, Head of the Crisis Response Unit of the Iceland ministry of foreign affairs, held a familiarization meeting with Mr. Thamilselvan yesterday with SLMM chief of staff, Jon Oskar Solnes, and SLMM spokesperson Thofinur Omarson also in attendance. Mr. Thamilselvan thanked the Icelandic government and its people for their contribution towards the SLMM.

Mr. Prabhakaran in his policy speech on Monday said they were recommencing their freedom struggle and called on the international community and the countries of the world to respect the move as President Mahinda Rajapaska had rejected the final call for peace."It is not possible to find a resolution by marginalizing and destroying the freedom movement with which talks must be held to find the solution. This is political absurdity on the part of the Sinhala leaders. Due to this strategy of the Rajapaksa regime, the CFA has become defunct,” he said.

Government Defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwelle yesterday said the government was also not at war with the LTTE and would keep the door open for the rebels to enter the democratic stream while pursuing a peaceful solution.“We are not at war. We are for peace and will pursue a peaceful solution. The door is open for the LTTE to enter the democratic stream,” Minister Rambukwelle said.He termed the LTTE leader’s speech as a “camouflage” to deceive the Tamil community as they were being distanced owing to the terror tactics of the rebels while the government was making every effort to resolve the issue.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake yesterday called on the LTTE to lay down its arms and continue negotiating for peace. ''There is terrorism and there is negotiation,'' the Premier told reporters during a visit to Vietnam.''Terrorism must be stopped by them, not by us. We are not terrorists.''Premier Wickramanayake said all the political parties in Sri Lanka supported a negotiated settlement expect for the Tamil National Alliance, the political proxy for the rebels.''We want dual power, dual authority... so all can share administrative powers and authority,'' Mr. Wickramanayake said

The United States yesterday rejected LTTE leader Velupillai Prabakaran’s claim that the Tamil people had no option but to fight for a separate state and called on the LTTE to get back to peace talks.“We believe that the government and the LTTE should sit down and discuss a peaceful solution through sharing of power. US sees a clear path to end the ongoing conflict,” U.S. Ambassador Robert Blake said.The Ambassador said the US would take a strong stand against any LTTE bid to go for a separate state.

With the trust placed by the government on war, the authorities are reluctant take any action on Para military groups sais Mr. Siritunga the President of the civil monitoring committee. He said that they are compelled accuse the government that it provide space to para military groups to operate.Mr. Siritunga has written the above to the President Rajapakse and stated that the leader of the Western Peoples front Mr. Mano Ganeshan had to leave the country due to insecurity and the government has failed in its duty to provide security.After the killing of Nadaraja Raviraj he said that Mano Ganeshan and himself had been receiving death threats and though complaints were made nothing emerged out of it. While blaming the government as no credible investigation has been conducted on the person who was taken into custody over killings and abductions, the para military groups responsible for abductions and killing are roaming freely in the city and it is very unfortunate to see the government remaining inactive.

Sri Lankan aid convoy turns back

An aid convoy to Vaharai in eastern Sri Lanka has been forced to turn back because of fierce fighting between government forces and the Tamil Tigers. Each side blames the other for the fighting, which has left around 30,000 people in desperate need of supplies. Aid agencies have being trying frantically to bring relief to the town of Vaharai for much of the past month. The clashes come just a day after the rebel leader, Prabhakaran, said Tamils must push for an independent state. On Tuesday, the government asked Norwegian mediators to clarify whether the island's peace process still exists after the Tiger leader said it was "defunct".

The BBC's Dumeetha Luthra in Colombo says that Vaharai was cut off after fighting escalated in the eastern district of Batticaloa last month. Thousands of displaced people are taking refuge in schools and makeshift camps. The UN says that the situation is "desperate", with many people not receiving any help since the end of October. After weeks of negotiations, both the government and Tamil Tiger rebels had agreed to a temporary ceasefire. A convoy of 100 trucks was to go in packed with food, medicine and fuel for the next month. However after heavy fighting on Tuesday, the convoy was forced to stop and turn back. The UN spokesperson, Orla Clinton, said that the people of Vaharai are trapped because of the fighting, and agencies need sustained and continuous access to help them. Fighting between the rebels and government troops has intensified in the island's east since Monday.

The artillery and mortar attacks of both sides come a day after rebel leader Prabhakaran said the Tamil Tigers had "no option" but to push for an independent state. "We want a clarification from the Norwegians if the peace process is still on," defence spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told the AFP news agency. The government has also written to the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) of Scandinavian truce observers to ask if the ceasefire remained intact, Mr Rambukwella said. "We are waiting a response," he told reporters. The army accused the rebels on Tuesday of starting the latest fighting by targeting their defences in Batticaloa district. They say that the Tigers shelled their forward positions, killing one soldier and injuring two others. "Our defence lines have been mortared and shelled," said Major Upali Rajapakse, a spokesman with the Media Centre for National Security. "They are using heavy, heavy guns. The army is retaliating with artillery."

Commentators say that the current monsoon may give the rebels a military advantage over the army, because they are not so reliant on heavy artillery and armour which is harder to move in the rain. Correspondents say that the fact that Prabhakaran's speech was totally ignored by Sri Lanka's government-owned newspapers is a sign of the widening gulf between the two sides. Meanwhile the international campaigning group, Human Rights Watch, has said that the Sri Lankan security forces must immediately stop assisting abductions of boys and young men by the renegade Tamil Tiger leader, Colonel Karuna. It said that the military and police are complicit and, at times, directly co-operating with the Karuna group in abducting hundreds of boys and young men in the east this year.

President to Prabha: Let’s meet LTTE leader’s Eelam war threat not being taken seriously

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said he was not taking "seriously" Tamil Tiger chief Velupillai Prabhakaran's threat to resume his armed campaign for an independent Tamil state.The president told the CNN-IBN television channel he was ready for direct talks with Mr. Prabhakaran instead of involving "others" to end an ethnic conflict that had claimed over 65,000 lives and showed no signs of ending.In his annual Martyrs' Day speech on Monday, Mr. Prabhakaran said the 2002 Norway-brokered ceasefire agreement (CFA) was "defunct" and pledged to fight for a free Tamil state in the northeast.President Rajapaksa said he had not yet studied the speech. "I was here and I got it in the morning. But I have not taken it seriously. Because he has always been saying these things.

"He says there is no CFA. For me I have always believed in a negotiated settlement. Because I know the LTTE and Prabhakaran are different from the Tamil people in Sri Lanka, their views are different."Asked if he saw Mr. Prabhakaran's speech as a declaration of war, President Rajapaksa said: "He has been talking like this from the start. He has been saying these things even though he came for talks. He always wanted to kill people. He has killed more Tamils than Sinhalese. Just count the number and you will know."What can Sri Lanka do to convince the LTTE leader to return to the negotiating table, the President was asked.

"I don't know," the President replied. "I always tell him 'why do you want others to get involved in Sri Lanka?' I can talk to him straight. So let us talk. "I have said this in public, from election platforms. I have been voted by the Sri Lankan people, and I am ready (for talks)."At the same time, President Rajapaksa, whose four-day visit to India ends Wednesday, referred to the Sinhalese-nationalist groups supporting him that are opposed to any negotiations with the LTTE."I am taking a political risk by offering to negotiate with Prabhakaran," the President said.In his speech Monday evening, Prabhakaran said: "It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders will never put forward a just solution to the Tamil national question.Therefore, we are not prepared to place our trust in the impossible and walk along the same old futile path.“The uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam."

The Sri Lankan security forces must immediately stop assisting abductions of boys and young men by the Karuna group and help those abducted return safely to their families, Human Rights Watch said yesterday. A Human Rights Watch report to be published next month finds that the Sri Lankan military and police are complicit and, at times, directly cooperating with the Karuna group, an armed faction that split from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 2004. Led by V. Muralitharan, a former Tamil Tiger commander known as Karuna, the group has abducted hundreds of boys and young men in eastern Sri Lanka this year. "We have clear and compelling evidence that government forces are helping Karuna forces abduct boys and young men," said Jo Becker, children's rights advocate at Human Rights Watch. "The government should stop the abductions and help kidnapped children go home."

The allegations of government involvement gained major media attention on November 13, when Ambassador Allan Rock, a United Nations advisor on children and armed conflict, reported in Colombo that the Karuna group was abducting children in government-controlled areas of the east. Concluding a 10-day visit to Sri Lanka, Rock found "strong and credible evidence that certain elements of the government security forces are supporting and sometimes participating in the abductions and forced recruitment." The ambassador also condemned the Tamil Tigers for continuing to recruit children as fighters. Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa said he would order an immediate investigation into whether abductions with government involvement were taking place. The government would hold accountable those found to have violated the law, he said. But the military dismissed the charges as "biased" and the foreign minister called them "unfounded." At a demonstration last week outside UN headquarters in Colombo, protesters accused Rock of sympathy for the Tamil Tigers.

Human Rights Watch has long criticized the Tamil Tigers, including in a 2004 report "Living in Fear," for abducting thousands of boys and girls for use in its forces. On Monday November 27, Human Rights Watch urged the UN Security Council to impose sanctions against the Tamil Tigers and armed groups in other countries long known to recruit and use child soldiers. The Security Council debates the issue today. In October, researchers from Human Rights Watch found that, by cooperating with the Karuna group on abductions, the Sri Lankan government has been complicit in the same illegal methods long used by the Tamil Tigers.

The UN children's agency UNICEF has recorded more than 130 child abductions by the Karuna group in eastern Sri Lanka's Batticaloa district alone this year. Other abductions are reported in the districts of Ampara and Trincomalee. UNICEF estimates the real number of child abductions is three times higher, because many families are too afraid to report the kidnappings for fear of reprisals. Human Rights Watch investigated more than 20 child abduction cases by interviewing witnesses and the parents of abducted children in government-controlled areas. In one case, the Sri Lankan army surrounded a village, gathered the young men and boys, recorded their names, and took their photographs. Karuna forces came later that day and abducted eight of the boys and young men.

Parents frequently saw their children, just after they had been kidnapped, in the local offices of the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP), the political party recently founded by the Karuna group. In Batticaloa and Ampara towns, the TMVP offices are guarded by police. In other places, they are situated less than 100 meters from a Sri Lankan military camp. Government forces would therefore have seen the children in these offices and camps. Some parents told Human Rights Watch they were allowed to see their children in Karuna camps, which are mostly located north of Welikanda town in Polonnaruwa district. Some had traveled through more than 10 Sri Lankan police and military checkpoints to reach the camps where the children were held, including one at the intersection of the main road and the road that leads to the camps. "There's no way the Karuna forces could transport vanloads of abducted children along these roads without government forces knowing," said Becker. Human Rights Watch's report will include maps of the area, with camp and checkpoint locations to illustrate the point.

The government has known about Karuna child abductions since at least June 2006, Human Rights Watch said. That month UNICEF issued a public appeal, saying the forced recruitment of children by Karuna forces had increased since March. The agency appealed to the government "to investigate all abductions and ensure that children in affected areas are given the full protection of the law," a UNICEF statement said. In July, a group of more than 40 mothers of abducted children filed a detailed petition to the chief justice of the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, seeking an inquiry. Copies went to the president and the minister for disaster management and human rights. "Official surprise at Ambassador Rock's allegations is not genuine," Becker said. "The government has known about Karuna abductions at least since June, if not earlier, and it has failed to stop the kidnappings or investigate the culprits."

Human Rights Watch called on the Sri Lankan government to take three immediate steps: -Publicly order military and police forces to stop abductions by the Karuna group; -Facilitate the release and safe return of all children and young men abducted by the Karuna group; and, -Investigate and hold accountable all individuals found to have ordered or participated in the abduction of children and young men, including members of the Sri Lankan security forces, regardless of rank. Human Rights Watch called on the leadership of the Karuna group to cease abductions and release all abducted children and young men in its custody. "And routine promises are not enough: the Sri Lankan government must act now to protect its children," Becker said.

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse met External Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Tuesday. Rajapakse, who is on a five-day visit to India, also met UPA Chairperson Sonia Gandhi later in the day and briefed her about the latest flare-up in Sri Lanka. Rajapakse is also scheduled to meet senior BJP leader L K Advani this evening. On Wednesday, he will meet Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to seek greater cooperation from India for patrolling the Palk Straits to curb the influx of arms by the LTTE into Sri Lanka. Earlier, India had voiced its concern to Rajapakse about the plight of hundreds of thousands of people affected by the fighting in Sri Lanka.

Foreign Secretary Shi Shankar Menon has already articulated India's concern over the humanitarian crisis in Sri Lanka, during his recent visit to Colombo. Sri Lanka will also raise the issue of joint patrolling of the seas by Indian and Sri Lankan navies, and would seek an early agreement over this. Rajapakse, who is concerned over the LTTE's fast emergence as a potent sea force, will make India aware that the rebels are "posing a serious threat to not only Sri Lankan interests, but also to India and the world". Rajapakse may also emphasize that the "LTTE does not represent Tamils and that all Tamils are not supportive of the banned group".

Vaiko, Chief of Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK) party and member of the ruling UPA coalition had met Prime Minister Manmohan Singh recently and asked the latter to prevail upon the Sri Lankan President to stop the alleged atrocities on Tamils in the island nation. Trade and economic matters are also expected to figure in Wednesday's discussions.In Dehradun, Rajapakse said that an inclusive all-party approach and a consensus is necessary to achieve a lasting solution to the ethnic problem in his country. This is Rajapakse's second visit to India after assuming office. He visited India in December 2005.

Unidentified gun men following a young woman on motor cycle shot her dead Tuesday around 11:00 a.m on Aathisoody Road in Thirunelveli Jaffna, on her way out from her home. In a separate incident, Jaffna police recovered the bodies of two youths with knife wounds, dumped in a deserted plot of land, Monday morning at Thavadi north in Inuvil Palamodai area in Valigamam. The young woman killed was identified as Uthayakumar Rajitha, 34, a resident of the area near Jaffna University.

Jaffna police who recovered Rajitha's dead body Tuesday have handed it to Jaffna Teaching Hospital morgue. Meanwhile, the two dead bodies of the youths, with cut injuries on throats and hands, are yet to be identified. Ms. Sarojini Illankovan, Mallakam District Magistrate visited the place where the youths' bodies were found and conducted investigation. The magistrate ordered the bodies to be kept at the Jaffna Teaching hospital morgue for identification. Residents of Inuvil said the youths found dead are suspected to be from Kodady and Kondavil and were the accused in criminal cases against them in Mallakam District Courts.

More than 50 people are being killed every month in the Jaffna peninsula, the Human Rights Commission (HRC) in Jaffna said.An official at the HRC office told The Morning Leader the statistics were based on the complaints received by the organisation alone and added there were many instances where cases were not brought to the notice of any humanitarian organisations."There are many cases which have not been reported to the HRC and have gone unnoticed," the official said.The official said the killings and abductions increased drastically after the closing of the A9 road in August. "The number of complaints increased drastically after August. The people are basically trapped here and are not in a position to leave the peninsula. The situation is very bad for the people who are already under threat. The killings and abductions have been continuing for many months but worsened recently," the official said.

The HRC said more than 30 civilians had come to the organisation seeking protection, fearing for their lives, during the same period of time.The HRC stated the civilians were handed over to the police, as it was not in a position to give them protection."The persons who have escaped attacks and those who are under threat have complained to the HRC and have asked for protection. More than 30 people have requested protection from us. We can only look into the complaints and investigate. We are not in a position to give them protection. Therefore, we handed the civilians over to the police stations. That is the maximum we could do for the civilians," the official added.The HRC said it was in the process of filing the list of complaints received this month."The figures will be given to the HRC Head Office in Colombo early next month," the official said.

The Colombo Magistrate yesterday ordered not to release the vehicles which were at the scene of killing of TNA MP Nadarajah Raviraj until the special team of investigators from Scotland Yard inspects them. Additional Magistrate Mohammed Irshadeen made this order when a vehicle owner requested the release of his vehicle which was damaged during the shoot out. The Magisterial inquiry into the Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarian and his security guard Lakshman Lokuwella was held in camera and the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) filed an investigation report. The police informed court that it was awaiting the Government Analyst’s report with regard to two vehicles and other items found at the murder scene at Narahenpita.

The CID objected to the application made by Attorney-at-Law, Anton Senanayake that the vehicle bearing number 253-43480 be released to its owner. The Police informed court that on the direction of the President a team from Scotland Yard was to arrive and asked not to release the vehicle until they examine them.In its report the CID stated that two persons had to be interrogated with regard to the motorbike on which the assailants had fled after the murder. Attorney-at-Law V. S. Ganeshelingam, an uncle of the late N. Raviraj and L. Dharmasiri, the cousin of late police officer, Lakshman Lokuwella who had identified the bodies at the police morgue, Colombo gave evidence. The court ordered to file report on the investigation on December 5.

More than 5,000 people in Jaffna have been affected with viral flu that medical authorities suspect to be Chikungunya.So far three deaths have been reported due to the flu and according to medical sources in the peninsula, many more lives are at risk if heavy rains continue."The viral flu, suspected to be Chikungunya, is fast spreading to Jaffna town. Last week, more than five people were admitted from the town to the Jaffna Hospital for urgent treatment," District Director for Health Services in Jaffna, Dr. Armugam Ketheswaran told The Morning Leader. The flu, which began in the villages within the peninsula a month ago, is also fast spreading amongst the women and children in IDP camps. Suffering from malnutrition, more than 2,000 refugees are also currently suffering from symptoms of Chikungunya, which authorities fear has led to an outbreak."The only way this disease can be controlled is by keeping the area clean. Due to heavy rains, it is very difficult to control this disease from spreading amongst the people, especially the civilians," Dr. Ketheswaran said.

Eradication programmes have already begun in the peninsula from November 13 and special teams have been deployed to educate the people in keeping the areas clean. Control activities have also begun in many villages within the peninsula and according to Dr. Ketheswaran, leaflets have also been distributed within the schools."Many more lives will be at risk if urgent steps are not taken to control the disease. It has already claimed three lives and more than 5,000 are suspected to be affected by it," Dr. Ketheswaran said.Meanwhile, dengue is also spreading within other districts in the north and east. According to statistics available at the Jaffna Hospital, 150 deaths due to dengue have been reported from Kilinochchi, Trincomalee and Mannar in the past one month.

Jaffna only has essential supplies to last a month, high ranking government officials in the peninsula warned last week."The essential shipments provided to the peninsula and adequate quantities of supplies are still not quite enough to last a month," he said.The civilians in the peninsula complained they were not getting relief items on a regular basis.An official said humanitarian aid continued to come in to the north despite the problems faced in transporting the goods by seaThe GA said the people displaced were suffering the most.The civilians said they were also facing shortages of fuel and therefore, most of their work had to be limited.

An official at the Jaffna Kachcheri told the Morning Leader that there was fuel shortage in the peninsula, but added that arrangements had been made to rectify the issue."The vehicle owners are given a card to buy fuel. The amount of fuel given to them depends on the vehicle," the official said.The official however said the people had to pay money to buy extra fuel.Petroleum and Transportation Minister A.H.M. Fowzie told The Morning Leader that fuel distribution in the north was running smoothly and that no complaints were reported on this issue. Fowzie further mentioned that drums of fuel to the east are sent directly and fuel is sent to the peninsula and to the east every other day.The Minister said the fuel distribution in the LTTE-controlled areas was handled by the military.However, Military Spokesperson Brigadier Prasad Samarasinghe said he was not aware of fuel transportation to LTTE-controlled areas.

Ayubowan, vanakkam, Assalam Alikkum and best wishes as we move into December with the country still being tossed about and torn apart in the stormy seas of the ethnic crisis and economic conflict and other crises within conflict. On Monday the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran delivered his much awaited or much feared Hero’s Day message — a sort of state of Eelam message— you and the opposition UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe were both in India in a strange turn of events. The visits by you and Mr. Wickremesinghe to India came after India’s new Foreign Secretary Shiv Shanker Menon reportedly did some tough talking with you in Colombo last week. According to reports, Mr. Menon said the Indian government was insisting that the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces should be legalised by you. Our giant neighbour or big brother’s policy is that the North-East merger is part of the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement of 1987 and that such an agreement between two sovereign governments is now international law and cannot be nullified through a domestic process.

That means India is virtually demanding that you take action to merge the two provinces and prime minister Manmohan Singh is likely to reiterate this demand when he meets you today. UNP leader Wickremesinghe said before leaving for India his party was ready to support any constitutional amendment for the merger of the North-East and with TNA support, the amendment could get a two-third majority. The Tokyo donors’ conference co-chairs and the rest of the international community are also likely to support such a move as part of an overall political solution to the ethnic conflict. But if you decide to introduce such a constitutional amendment it would mean for you an open clash with the JVP, the JHU and other Sinhala hardline groups which are likely to play havoc on the streets. But with the SLFP, the UNP and other moderate and socialist parties supporting the move it would mean that up to 85% of the people are behind it. That should give you the courage and inspiration to go ahead and take the highroad.

While India is pushing hard for the North East merger largely because it serves New Delhi’s political strategy the co-chairs last week gave you no byways regarding the dispute over the reopening of the A9 highway at the Muhamalai checkpoint. After two days of talks in Washington with two top US administration officials Nicholas Burns and Richard Boucher in attendance, the co-chairs issued a strong statement calling for the immediate and permanent reopening of the A9 highway and other supply routes. The use of the word permanent was seen as a rejection of the government’s decision to temporally reopen the highway at Muhamalai. Until Monday government spokesmen such as Keheliya Rambukwella were still talking of a temporary reopening while the LTTE has warned it would take decisive action of its own to forcibly reopen highway. Mr. Rambukwella and the Media Centre for National Security, apparently plagued by amateur if not immature or prejudiced upstarts are turning out to be increasingly irrelevant or ridiculous as they try to hide the truth with various reports that amount to misinformation if not disinformation. These and other issues have brought you to a point of no return and you are now called upon or virtually forced to take decisive decisions instead of trying to go this way and that or please all the people all the time. The principle of being all things to all people is valid - but not when it is done for political survival, personal gain or glory.

If you decide to introduce a constitutional amendment for the merger of the Northern and Eastern provinces you are likely to run into hellfire not only from the JVP and the JHU but also face the consequences of going against a ruling given by a Supreme Court bench headed by Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva. We can’t or won’t say more on that issue for obvious reasons.On the A9 highway, the “highroad” would mean giving priority to the humanitarian catastrophe where some 700,000 people are languishing in varying degrees of degradation, destitution and deprivation. More than threats from the LTTE, more than pressure from the international community, the key factor needs to be the humanitarian issue which needs to be looked at beyond party politics, racial or religious barriers.

As we begin the Christmas season the normal habit or tendency is to focus on shopping. TV reports on Monday said the United States Christmas shopping season which began on the Thanksgiving Day last Friday brought about a turnover of hundreds of millions of dollars on the first day, and the chain stores are expecting a boom time despite the ominous signs of doom. At least three areas in West Asia—Iraq, the Lebanon and the Israeli Palestinian sector are on the brink of an end--times civil war. So is Sri Lanka. If the ceasefire is not restored and peace talks restarted Sri Lanka is also on the brink of a civil war with the added danger of being declared as a failed or ungovernable state. So much for more than 2500 years of a hallowed civilization and culture. When that civilization was launched we saw Arahath Mahinda--an apostle of peace from Indian emperor Asoka introducing the ways and values of the Buddha Dhamma. Historical records say that Arahath Mahinda saw king Devanampiyatissa on a deer hunt and virtually commanded him by saying; “Stop Tissa, do not kill”. Today tragically or horrifyingly, we see monks who claim to follow the Buddha Dhamma taking to the streets and virtually telling you: “don’t stop Mahinda, go on killing”.

Leaving that at that, as we move into December, let us hope that at least this year most people will stop their traditional shopping spree. If a family which normally spends about Rs. 20,000 for Christmas could cut down the expenses to Rs. 10,000 and share the remaining Rs. 10,000 to restore the dignity of another family, then Christ will re-emerge into Christmas. If 10,000 families could reduce expenses and restore the human dignity of 10,000 dispossessed families then Jesus Christ who was born in a cattle shed will be given space to come alive and resurrect the Christmas that is buried in cakes and crackers, balloons and bonbons.

Currency	Buying (Rs.)		Selling (Rs.)
US Dollar	107.22		108.74
Sterling Pound	207.47		211.42
Euro	140.42		143.43
Swiss Franc	88.52		90.66
Australian Dollar	83.01		85.23
Singapore Dollar	68.82		70.45
Japanese Yen	0.9201		0.9431
Country		Currency		Indicative Rate(RS.)

Bahrain	Dinar	286.29
Kuwait	Dinar	373.21
Oman	Rial	280.34
Qatar	Riyal	29.64
Saudi Arabian	Riyal	28.78
UAE	Dirham	29.38

Sinhala leaders’ duplicity of war and peace has left Tamils with no choice but political independence

The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Vellupillai Pirapaharan, in his annual Heroes’ Day statement, expressed extreme frustration at the unchanging attitude of successive Sinhala regimes towards resolving the burning Tamil national question and, in particular, at the deceitful handling of the current peace efforts by three successive Sinhala regimes.“Both our liberation movement and our people never preferred war to a peacefulresolution. We have always preferred a peaceful approach to win the political rights ofour people. We have never hesitated to follow the peaceful path to win our political rights. That is why we held peace talks, beginning in Thimpu right through to Geneva, on several occasions, at various times, and in many countries,” he said.The LTTE leader went on to say that President Mahinda Rajapakse has rejected his final call in his Heroes’ Day statement last year to find a resolution to the Tamil National question with urgency. He said that President Rajapakse had instead intensified the waron the one hand and whilst on the other hand talking about finding a peaceful resolution.The LTTE leader said that this dual war and peace approach is fundamentally flawed. “It is not possible to find a resolution by marginalizing and destroying the freedom movement with which talks must be held to find the resolution. This is political absurdity on the part of the Sinhala leaders.” Due to this strategy of the Rajapakse regime, the CFA has become defunct, he said.The LTTE leader said that the present regime, which is denying food and medicine to the people to the extent of starving them, cannot be expected to show compassion and give the Tamil people their political rights. He said that the Sinhala nation, eternally trapped in the mythical ideology of the Mahavamsa, has failed to think afresh and has left theTamils with only one option, political independence and statehood for the people of Tamil Eelam.
The full text of the official translation of his speech follows:
“We are at a cross roads in our freedom struggle. Our journey has been long and arduous,and crowded with difficult phases. We are facing challenges and unexpected turns that no other freedom movement had to face. Unprecedented in history, we are dealing with war and peace talks at the same time.Six years have passed since we dedicated ourselves to find a solution to the ethnic conflict through peace talks. In this long time span, has a solution been found to the burning Tamil national question? Was there any visible change in the mindset of the Sinhala leadership that continues to inflict unrelenting cruelty on the Tamil people? Were any of the justifiable requests of the Tamils been fulfilled? Were our people able to find relief from the daily harassment and misery at the hands of the occupying military? Were the daily basic problems of our people resolved? None of these has happened. Instead, death and destruction were heaped on the Tamils who hoped that they would receive justice.While the countries that preached peace maintain silence without conscience, a great tragedy is unfolding in the Tamil homeland. The Sinhala government has imprisoned the Tamils in their own land after closing its main supply routes. Having removed their freedom by restricting their movement and constrained their lives, it is inflicting great suffering on them. It has split the Tamil homeland, set up military camps, bound it with barbed wire, and has converted it into a site of collective torture. The Sinhala government has unleashed a two pronged war, military and economic, on our people. Our people are subjected to unprecedented assaults. Arrests, imprisonment, and torture, rape and sexual harassment, murders, disappearance, shelling, aerial bombing,and military offensives are continuing unchecked. At the same time our people are subjected to an inhuman economic embargo on essential items including food and medicine.Even after the ceasefire, negotiations and the five years of patiently keeping peace, thedividends of peace have not reached our people. Instead our people are faced with unbearable burdens in their daily lives. Thousands of our people have been forced out of their homes and are languishing with disease and hunger in refugee camps. No one should expect that this Sinhala government which is denying food and medicine to our people to the extent of starving them would show compassion and give them their political rights.The monumental growth in knowledge and the resulting global outlook is taking humanity into a new era. Ideas, views and philosophies are changing in tandem with this growth in knowledge and this is resulting in changes in society. Yet, within the Sinhalanation, there is little change in its ideas and philosophies. The Sinhala nation is refusing to broaden its thinking and take a new approach. The Sinhala nation remains mislead by the mythical ideology of the Mahavamsa and remains trapped in the chauvinistic sentiments thus created. Unable to free itself from this mindset, it has adopted Sinhala Buddhist chauvinistic notions as its dominant national philosophy. This notion is spread in its schools, universities and even its media. The domination of this Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism is preventing its students, intellectuals, and writers from stepping out of and thinking free from its domination. This, unfortunately, is preventing the Sinhala nation from undertaking a genuine attempt at resolving the Tamil national question in a civilized manner.Both our liberation movement and our people never preferred war to a peaceful resolution. We have always preferred a peaceful approach to win the political rights of our people. We have never hesitated to follow the peaceful path to win our political rights. That is why we have tried to hold peace talks beginning in Thimpu right through to Geneva on several occasions, at various times, and in many countries. The currentpeace efforts, with Norwegian facilitation and with the blessings of the international community, taking place in the capitals of various countries are unique.This peace journey began on 31st October 2000, when the then Norwegian special envoy Eric Solheim visited Vanni and met us. This peace journey is taking place in a unique period, under unique historical conditions, in a unique format and on a unique path. It is moving on two fronts, peace talks, on one hand, and a war of occupation by the Sinhala government, on the other.During the six years when we kept peace, we were sincere in our efforts. Indeed, we initiated the peace efforts. We created a strong foundation for peace efforts by unilaterally declaring a ceasefire. We refrained from putting conditions or time limits for peace talks. We did not undertake these efforts from a position of weakness. We had recaptured the Vanni mainland and the Iyakkachchi-Elephant Pass military complex. We had beaten back the ‘Operation Fire’ of the Sinhala military. We carried out great military feats in the history of our struggle. It was from this position of strength that we undertook this peace effort. The situation was just the opposite in the south. The south had faced defeat after defeat and was losing its will to face war. Its military had lost its backbone. The economy was very shaky. It was only under such conditions that the Sinhala nation agreed for peace talks. In this five years since the peace efforts began, three governments have come to power, that of Wickremasinghe, Bandaranayake and Rajapakse. Each time the government changed, the dove of peace moved from one cage to another but it was never able to fly freely. Stabbed many times, the dove is now struggling for its life.We held talks with the Wickremasinghe government for six months after signing the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) with him. Like all previous Sinhala regimes, the Wickremasinghe regime dragged time without implementing the clauses in the CFA and the agreements reached at the talks. Its military failed to move out of people’s homes, schools and hospitals and instead declared these vast areas of land as military security zones and permanently prevented the people from returning to their land. The subcommittee for De-escalation and Normalization became dysfunctional. The subcommittee created to solve immediate humanitarian needs of the people also become defunct due to planned sabotage by the government. The Wickremasinghe government that refused to solve the humanitarian problems facing our people, secretly worked to marginalize our movement on the world stage. Even before setting up a working administrative structure in the Tamil homeland, it conducted donor conferences to obtain aid for the south. By failing to facilitate our participation in the donor conference held in Washington, it marginalized and humiliated our movement. As a result we were forced to stay away from the Tokyo conference. The Wickremasinghe regime did not stop with this. It plotted to trap our freedom movement in an ‘international safety net’ and destroy us. When we put forward the proposal for an Interim Self Governing Authority (ISGA), startling changes occurred in the southern politics. The Kumaratunge government took over the reins of power. While refusing to hold talks on the basis of our proposal, her government, using the paramilitary phenomenon, intensified the shadow war against us. The paramilitary factor turned the Tamil homeland into a violent blood stained theatre.Intellectuals, political leaders, journalists, LTTE members, supporters and civilians were all murdered. We were forced to halt the political work, carried out according to the CFA clauses by our members in Sri Lankan military occupied areas of the Tamil homeland. As a result, our people were left alone in the cruel grip of the occupying military. Finally the Kumaratunge regime failed to implement even the Joint Mechanism (PTOMS) agreement signed by her regime for tsunami rehabilitation. The Supreme Court, unable to step outside the Sinhala chauvinistic notions, rejected this purely humanitarian focused agreement citing the unitary constitution. It was at this time that the Sinhala nation elected Rajapakse as its new President. Like the Sinhala leaders of the past, he too is putting his hopes in a military solution. He rejected our final call in our last year’s Heroes’ Day statement, to find a resolution to the Tamil National question with urgency. Instead, he intensified the war, on the one hand, with the view to destroy our movement and, on the other hand, he is talking about finding a peaceful resolution. This dual war and peace approach is fundamentally flawed. It is not possible to find a resolution by marginalizing and destroying the freedom movement with which talks must be held to find the resolution. This is political absurdity on the part of the Sinhala leaders.The Rajapakse regime hopes to decide the fate of the Tamil nation using its military power. It wants to occupy the Tamil land and then force an unacceptable solution on the Tamils. Due to this strategy of the Rajapakse regime, the CFA has become defunct. The Rajapakse regime, by openly advocating attacks on our positions, has effectively buried the CFA. The Rajapakse regime’s attacks have expanded from land to sea and air. It has given a free hand to the paramilitary groups to kill at will. It has occupied Mavilaru and Sampur blatantly breaking the terms of the CFA. The Sinhala military misjudged our strategic withdrawal from Mavilaru and Sampur. It used heavy firepower and launched large scale offensives to bring Tamil lands under its control. Tamil land was soaked in blood. It is at this time we decided to give a shock to the Sinhala regime. Our forces conducted a massive counter-offensive on the Sinhala forces that attempted to move from Kilali and Muhamalai. The military sustained heavy losses and was forced to abandon its offensive temporarily. This, however, did not persuade the Sinhala regime to give up its military plans. It continues on its military path. The Rajapakse regime, while conducting genocide of the Tamils, is portraying our movement which is waging a struggle to save the Tamils from this genocide as a terrorist organization. It has launched a malicious propaganda campaign to defame our movement. Ignoring the unanimous opposition of our people and the objection of the Sri Lankan Monitoring Mission (SLMM), the European Union and Canada have yielded to diplomatic pressure from the Sri Lankan government and listed our movement as a terrorist organization. They isolated us as undesirables. This hasty decision, arrived at without considering the prevailing context, has created serious repercussions. It has gravely disturbed the parity of status and balance of power we held with the Sinhala regime. It encouraged the hard line stance of the Sinhala regime. It weakened the SLMM and facilitated the war plans of the Sinhala regime. Some countries that proclaim to be helping the peace efforts, have not only failed to condemn the genocidal attacks on our people but are also giving military and financial aid to the Sinhala regime to support its war plans. These are external factors that are encouraging the Rajapakse regime to carry on with its brutal military offensives in the Tamil land with absolute impunity. The Rajapakse regime is not giving due importance to the peace talks because it has confidence in its military approach. The two Geneva talks were unproductive because of its lack of interest in the peace front. At the first Geneva talks, we placed evidence of military-paramilitary cooperation in the form of documents, statistics and incident reports. Unable to reject the solid evidence, the Sri Lankan government agreed to implement the CFA clause by removing the paramilitary groups from the Tamil homeland. After this first Geneva talks, there was only one change. State and paramilitary terror in the Tamil homeland escalated. The second Geneva talks were also a failure. At these talks, we gave priority to the humanitarian issues facing our people and requested that the A9 road be opened and the SLMM be given freedom to function. The Sri Lankan government, putting military advantage ahead of humanitarian concerns, rejected both requests. The Sinhala government that failed to show mercy to the people affected by a natural disaster is never going to budge on a humanitarian crisis that it planned and created. How could the peace talks move forward when the peace delegation is made up of people who proclaim that they will wage war and hold peace talks at the same time? How can trust be built? How can peace be arrived at like this? To improve his posturing as a peace dove, President Rajapakse staged a deceptive ‘All Party Conference’. The Sinhala leaders have practiced this infamous political tradition of initiating commissions of inquiry, parliamentary select committees, all party conferences, or round tables to procrastinate whenever it is unable to face up to a situation and wants to drag time until attention is diverted. This is exactly what he is doing now. Rejecting our call to speedily find a resolution to the Tamil national question, he is hiding behind the All Party Conference. For the last ten months, the all party committee is looking for the Tamil question, like searching for a black cat in a dark room. Once the All Party Conference lost its deceptive power, President Rajapakse has taken up his next card, the MoU between the two major parties. These two major parties that effectively have hegemonic control over the south are both essentially chauvinistic parties. Both these parties are born of Sinhala Buddhist chauvinism and compete with each other to carry out genocide of the Tamils. This MoU is a temporary opportunistic move by Rajapakse regime to avoid the multiple problems of international pressure to find a peaceful solution, the declining economic situation, and the opposition of his political partner, Janatha Vimukthi Perumuna (JVP). There is no sincere motive in this MoU agreement. These two parties will never put forward a just solution to the Tamil issue. Despite this, the Rajapakse regime continues to show interest in keeping the all party conference alive simply to deceive the world.

A long time has elapsed since we embarked on this journey for peace with Norway’s facilitation. We have tried our best to take forward this peace effort. We have practiced patience. We gave innumerable opportunities for finding peaceful resolution. We postponed our plan to advance our freedom struggle twice to give even more chances to the peace efforts, once when the tsunami disaster struck and again when President Rajapakse was elected. It is now crystal clear that the Sinhala leaders will never put forward a just resolution to the Tamil national question. Therefore, we are not prepared to place our trust in the impossible and walk along the same old futile path. The uncompromising stance of Sinhala chauvinism has left us with no other option but an independent state for the people of Tamil Eelam. We therefore ask the international community and the countries of the world that respect justice to recognize our freedom struggle. At this historic time when the Tamils are recommencing their journey on the path of freedom, we seek the unwavering support and assistance of the world Tamil community. We express our gratitude to the Tamil Nadu people and leaders for voicing their support and ask them to continue their efforts to help us in our freedom struggle. We express our gratitude to the Tamil Diaspora, our displaced brethren living all around the world, for their contribution to our struggle and ask them to maintain their unwavering participation and support.”

This year's "Maaveerar Naal" or "Great Heroes Day" oration by Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Velupillai Pirabakaran on November 27th will be of poignant significance due to a very, special reason.The annual address has now come to be regarded as an unofficial policy statement of the tigers. LTTE political commissar Suppiah Paramu Thamilselvan has stated that his leader's speech this time will outline the position of the LTTE on the current situation.Given the prevailing tensions and hostilities the LTTE chief's speech will be eagerly anticipated by all those immersed, involved or interested in the on going Sri Lankan conflict.What is significant about this year's "urai" or oration is that it would probably be the last speech to be written for him by tiger ideologue and political adviser Anton Stanislaus Balasingham.Balasingham or "Bala annai" (elder brother) as he is known has been writing the Great Heroes Day (GHD) speech for Pirapakaran since 1990.

The first GHD was held on Nov 27th 1987 in the Wanni during the Indian Army period. A truce declared on Sep 21st was in force then.It was then that Prabakaran addressed his cadres directly and spoke without notes in Tamil. Balasingham was in London then.I think some points were sent to the LTTE leader who dwelt on them in his own way Thereafter all GHD addresses have been written by Balasingham.Some years ago a particular GHD speech was full of poetic language and imagery. I wrote then that the speech may have been polished by LTTE cultural commissar "Puthuvai" Rathinathurai the well - known Tamil poet.Balasingham was to remember this and in a subsequent conversation years later set the record straight. He told me that the speech had been written by him alone and that no one else had touched it let alone polish it."I told Puthuvai DBS is giving you credit" he said and went on to add "Naangal ninaithaal Kavithuvathodeyum eluthuvom" (If we want we can write poetically also).I realised then how proud Balasingham was about the GHD speech and his role in it.

He prepares elaborately in writing it and cuts off communication with others for a few days. Balasingham communicates with "Thamby" Praba and formulates the address according to guidelines set by the tiger supremo.But this year will be "Bala Annai's swan song.The "Tamilnet" announced on Nov 22nd that Balasingham was terminally ill. This is what the news report said ."Mr. Anton Balasingham, theoretician and political advisor of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) has been diagnosed with bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma), a rare and aggressive malignancy of the biliary system. The cancer is in an advanced stage and has spread to his liver, lungs, abdomen and bones, doctors have informed Mr. Balasingham, who is now resting at home, cared for by his wife, Adele.

Mr. Balasingham has had various medical investigations and is consulting oncologists about the possibility of treatment and the prognosis.Commenting on his illness to TamilNet, Mr Balasingham said that, "it is an unfortunate personal tragedy. However, when compared to the vast ocean of the collective tragedy faced by my people, my illness is merely a pebble. I am deeply sad that I am crippled by this illness, unable to contribute anything substantial towards the alleviation of the immense suffering and oppression of my people."Mr Balasingham is 68 years old and has been suffering from diabetes for 35 years and in the late nineties developed renal disease, for which he underwent kidney transplantation. He has been associated with the Tamil liberation struggle for more than 30 years and participated as chief negotiator on behalf of the Liberation Tigers in almost all political negotiations, beginning with the Thimpu talks in 1985".

I had heard some weeks ago that Balasingham was seriously ill and would not live long. I did not expect that news to be made public but LTTE media organs came out with it a few days ago.With Doctors giving Balasingham a time span of 4 - 6 weeks I thought he would not be writing the speech this time.But I hear that Balasingham has written the text despite his pain and suffering. One reason is because of the importance as it comes at a critical juncture in the history of Sri Lankan Tamil people. Another reason is Balasingham's dedication and pride in what has come to be an annual event of great importance.This year's GHD speech therefore is written by Balasingham and delivered by Pirapakaran.Another event in recent times has been a GHD ceremony in London addressed by Balasingham.He has been doing it since 1999.

Balasingham speaking in Tamil addresses the crowd for about an hour or so. He expands on the speech written by him and points out the important aspects of the GHD address. The speech is also laced with humorous cracks.Given his illness will Balasingham make an appearance this time?It all depends on his current health. But knowing the man I think if there is the slightest possibility Balasingham would make an appearance.He may talk while being seated for about 10 minutes at least.That could be his final appearance before a mass audience.

The main opposition UNP yesterday condemned LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s Heroes’ Day speech vowing to carve out a separate state. Party General Secretary Tissa Attanayake told the Daily Mirror his party would never accept the division of this country at any cost.However, Mr. Attanayake said the UNP always stood for a negotiated political settlement within a united Sri Lanka, accommodating genuine aspirations of the Tamil people.TNA leader R. Sampanthan said S.J.V. Chelvanayagam who was a totally non-violent person called for a separate state in 1976 and the LTTE leadership was making the same demand only after 30 years.“Let’s wait and see how the government is going to react,” he said.The JVP which had been calling for the defeat of the LTTE said it was high time the government took steps to defeat the Tigers both militarily and ideologically. JVP MP Vijitha Herath told the Daily Mirror the government should remove Norway from the role of facilitator of peace at least now.

From MuhamaLai in the northern Jaffna Peninsula borderline and from the main Thallady Army base in North-western Mannar, Sri Lanka army commenced heavy artillery shelling towards civilian villages late Monday.Details of casualties are not yet available. However, shelling from the Muhamalai base was continuing till midnight.Meanwhile, an attack on the Yathuwewa STF camp is also reported. The camp is situated on the Mannar-Vavuniya Road at Murungan. Civilians in the area have reported of close range exchange of fire for a long time.The attacks have commenced a few hours after the Tamil National Leader had made his Annual Heroes' Day proclamation.

A trawler travelling in a suspicious manner 50 nautical under off Chilaw was destroyed by the Navy today (27). It has sunk with a loud explosion.According to Navy sources this has happened around 10.45 am.A navy Dovra craft in a routine inspection has observed the suspected craft and ventured to inspect it. When the Navy ordered to halt they have tried escape without heeding to the order and had fired at the Dovra. The Navy too has returned fire and the trawler has exploded with a loud noise and sunk. It is believed about 6 cadres were in the craft.The Navy suspects that the trawler was carrying explosives.

The CID will probe death threats received by Batticaloa district TNA MP Tangeswari Kadiragamanathan last week, Speaker W.J.M. Lokubandara told Parliament yesterday.The Speaker said he had contacted IGP Victor Perera on the matter after Chief Government Whip Jeyaraj Fernandopulle brought it to his notice for necessary action.Earlier, six TNA members representing districts in the Eastern province informed the Speaker about death threats received by them.In a letter handed over to the Speaker, the MPs said a group identifying themselves as gunmen in Batticaloa threatened them to resign from parliament or face death.The death threats have come in the wake of TNA MP N. Raviraj being gunned down by an unidentified gunman in Colombo.

Bolstered by Pakistan's military support and the US diplomatic support to its military operations against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the Sri Lankan government of President Mahinda Rajapakse has been increasingly insensitive to India's concerns over the humanitarian catastrophe facing the Sri Lankan Tamil community. Even while describing India as Sri Lanka's "best friend", Rajapakse continues with his policy of targeted killings of innocent Tamil civilians through punitive air strikes and the use of heavy artillery, and has even been trying to bring them to their knees by starving them. His indifference to India's anxieties over this became evident after the meeting of the representatives of the Co-Chairs of the Tokyo Donors' Conference of 2003 -- Japan, Norway, the European Union and the US -- held in Washington on November 21.

While articulating the usual criticism of the acts of violence and indiscriminate killing of civilians by the Sri Lankan government and the LTTE, the participants came out strongly in support of the Sri Lankan government and showed a calculated indifference to the plight of the Sri Lankan Tamils. The US Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs, R Nicholas Burns, was particularly forthcoming in support of the Sri Lankan government during the joint press briefing by the participants at the meeting. His remarks and that of others have been interpreted by hardliners in Sri Lanka as an indirect endorsement of the methods followed by the security forces in their operations against the LTTE.

There has been a revival of the pre-1983 interest of the US Navy in acquiring a presence at Trincomalee Port, and hopes of achieving this the Rajapakse government's support should at least partly account for the growing US support for Rajapakse. Trincomalee has acquired a new importance in the eyes of the US and the NATO forces fighting against the Taliban as an alternative naval base for logistical support to the NATO operations in Afghanistan, should instability in Pakistan after next year's general elections there make the continued use of Karachi Port untenable. Burns showered encomiums on what he described as India's responsible attitude on Sri Lanka -- which is nothing but an euphemism for its inactivity. While issuing routine statements hoping for a more active role by India, the US and Sri Lanka seem happy with the present inactivity by New Delhi.

When Rajapakse talks of the need for Indian activism, what he has in mind is military activism in support of the operations of his security forces against the Sri Lankan Tamils and the LTTE -- in the form of more training for the Sri Lankan police and security forces, supply of military equipment, intelligence-sharing and joint patrolling by the Indian and Sri Lankan navies to prevent arms smuggling by the LTTE. He does not want Indian activism in political and humanitarian fields. While India has never sought an activist role in the political field, the initiatives recently taken by Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, for humanitarian activism under pressure from Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi and other leaders were given a short shrift by Rajapakse.

While welcoming the Indian offer of humanitarian supplies, Rajapakse is reported to have turned down suggestions that these should be routed to the Tamils through the International Red Cross, and insisted that these should be sent to the Sri Lankan government, which would decide how they would be distributed. The Indian predicament in the face of the strong line taken by Rajapakse after the Washington meeting was obvious during the press briefing held at Chennai on November 24 by Dr Singh's National Security adviser M K Narayanan and foreign secretary Shiv Shankar Menon, after a meeting with Karunanidhi.

Menon was on his way back to New Delhi after meeting Rajapakse in Colombo, and Narayanan had specially flown in from New Delhi for the meeting. "We will decide if there is a necessity for it (sending humanitarian aid) at all. And, if so, we will decide what will be the modalities," Narayanan said. According to the Deccan Chronicle, November 25 when Menon raised the possibility of humanitarian assistance being sent through the Red Cross, Rajapakse "said a big no'' arguing that such an action would mean damning his government as untrustworthy, apart from interfering with the island's sovereignty. But at the same time, he issued an appeal to all local and international non-governmental organisations to get involved in the distribution of food.

How can we address the humanitarian catastrophe facing the Tamils without seeming to support the present leadership of the LTTE, which was involved in the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi? That is question of immediate relevance to India. India should seriously consider organising a meeting of Sri Lanka, the US, EU, Norway, Japan, the UN High Commission for Refugees and the International Committee of the Red Cross to discuss only the humanitarian aspects of the present situation in Sri Lanka and find out ways of assisting the Tamils. India should also take over the leadership role in mobilising the international community on the humanitarian issue. The strong support for the Sri Lankan government at the Washington meeting has had two reactions in the Sri Lankan Tamil community -- desperation and total disillusionment with the international community on the one side and a trend towards a greater radicalisation of Tamil opinion and a greater determination to keep up their armed struggle against the government on the other. What impact it will have on the ground situation remains to be seen.

The LTTE yesterday announced a 32 ½-hour humanitarian ceasefire in Vakarai to assist the movement of urgent food supplies to thousands of displaced civilians living in the area, LTTE Military wing spokesman Rasiah Illentheriyan told the Daily Mirror.He said the ceasefire would be effective from 9.30 this morning till 6 pm tomorrow following a request by the ICRC. However ICRC spokesman Davide Vignati said they were still awaiting security clearance from both sides to carry out the humanitarian operation.“This is good news after a long time,” Mr. Illentheriyan said of the temporary ceasefire in Vakarai adding that the Batticaloa Government Agent had confirmed to the LTTE some 60 lorry loads of supplies were being prepared to be sent to Vakarai.

The spokesman for the government Media Centre for National Security (MCNS), Major Upali Rajapakse said concerns still prevailed over the Panichchenkerni bridge which the convoy would have to use to reach Vakarai. Civilians who fled rebel controlled Vakarai said the bridge was heavily mined.If all goes well the supplies will help assist some 36,000 civilians in 5 IDP camps in rebel controlled Vakarai for at least one month. Most of these people are villagers who fled the August fighting in Sampur and the adjoining villages.The closure of the road leading to rebel controlled Vakarai as a result of frequent shelling had forced the IDPs to starve as the land route is the only available access to the LTTE territory.

Tomorrow, the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) celebrates the 20th anniversary of it being officially declared as a political party.A special function would be held at the Moors Islamic Cultural Home’s ‘Pasha Villa’ at Dematagoda Road with its leader Rauff Hakeem as the chief guest. A large number of senior SLMC members are expected participate in the event to be held at the same venue that the party was declared by its late Leader A.H.M. Ashraff 20 years ago.

Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a retired Grama Sevaka officer, Ganeshapillai Shanmuganathan, 64, on College Road in Point Pedro Sunday. The victim, Mr. Shanmuganathan, was a translator fluent in three languages, residents said.

The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) carried out fresh air raids yesterday over LTTE targets in the Pallai area, the military said.“The SLAF bombed LTTE artillery positions to neutralize further attacks on the military’s Forward Defence Lines (FDLs) at Muhamalai and targets were successfully destroyed,” a military spokesman said. He also said that the LTTE continued its attack on military FDLs during the last few days.

Armed persons riding in a van shot and killed three Tamil youths at Palaiyootu, a suburb in Trincomalee town Sunday night between 7 and 7.30 p.m. at two separate locations. Two of the victims had been working in a cement factory located in Chinabay Police division, sources said.The two slain employees of the cement factory incident were identified as Vinojan Ramesh and Viji. They were gunned down when they were returning home after work. The third youth was dentified as Ramesh, medical sources said.Uppuveli Police rushed to the sites and began investigations.

Unidentified armed men arriving in a 'white van' Sunday around midnight to a house on Navalar street in Navanthurai, Jaffna, sprayed bullets killing two brothers on the spot while seriously injuring the twin sister of one of the brothers, all siblings displaced from Allaipiddy, Jaffna police said. The seriously injured sister was rushed to Jaffna Teaching hospital. Mariyathas Jude 32 and Mariyathas Julias 30 were identified as the brothers killed. Maiyathas Jasmine 32, the seriously injured, is the twin sister of Mariyathas Jude, hospital sources said.The siblings, originally from Allaipiddy in the Jaffna islet of Kayts, where 8 persons were massacred on August 17th allegedly by the Pro-Government Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP) paramilitary members along with the Kayts Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) cadres, had fled to Navanthurai in Jaffna in fear of the killers, Navanthurai residents said.The killings may be connected to the refusal by the siblings to comply with the wishes of a Tamil minister to re-settle them back in Allaipiddy, the Navanthurai residents added.

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake, who is on an official visit to Vietnam, yesterday urged the Vietnamese government to help Sri Lanka combat LTTE arms smuggling operations.He called for close cooperation between the Vietnam and Sri Lankan intelligence services to tackle LTTE operatives looking for arms, ammunition and equipment. The Prime Minister is on a ten day visit to Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia where he would solicit the support of government authorities to curb LTTE operations. Arms acquired in the region are smuggled in vessels, transferred in international waters and moved in large trawlers to northern and eastern Sri Lanka.

A soldier was arrested with a T81 rifle and several rounds of ammunition while on his way home on vacation, at the Army-Police road block at the Wellawatte Bridge in Hikkaduwa in the early hours of yesterday, SSP Galle Keerthi de Silva said. According to the SSP the soldier was travelling in the Colombo-Matara private Intercity bus incognito when the vehicle was stopped at the check point. During a search the soldier was detected having in his possession a T81 gun, 90 rounds of ammunition and three magazines. Upon questioning the suspect revealed that he was a soldier who served at the Mattakkuliya army camp and was on his way home to his native Akuressa on vacation, SSP Silva said. According to the soldier he was taking the weapon to settle a score with a villager who set fire to his home in 2004 and that he had enlisted in the Army solely for this purpose.

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Lanka looking at India’s model of devolution: President

President Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday said the reforms based on India’s Panchayat Raj System in the past two decades had devolved powers effectively to the local communities, and that was why Sri Lanka was studying the Panchayat Raj experience to evolve its own model of maximum devolution within a unitary state as a solution to the ethnic conflict.Addressing The first Asian Mayors’ conference, organized by the All India Council of Mayors at Dehradun in India he said “urban good governance also calls for an ‘inclusive’ approach to the solving of urban problems. “Most towns consist of a diversity of persons and groups. To most towns, people have migrated in the past from different parts of the local region, bringing with them their own traditions and cultural practices. Many towns are multi - ethnic, multi - religious and multi - cultural in nature. They are also invariably stratified according to economic grade and class. Urban populations are also known to belong to different political persuasions.

“The challenge before you is to craft an ‘inclusive’ approach through which all these diverse groups can join together, work together, trust each other with a policy of ‘give and take’, and evoke a positive consensus on the vital issues faced by their cities and towns. I admit this is not easy. I admit the process is slow and it takes time and great effort to achieve. But if the solutions to your urban problems are to be sustainable in the long run, such an inclusive process of consensus building is absolutely essential.“This is exactly what my government has been doing in Sri Lanka in the last 12 months, not with regard to urban problems as such but with regard to our national problem. The basic principles of good governance are the same, whether it concerns towns and cities or entire nations.

In our country we are crafting an all-party approach to our national problem with great success, We have an All Party Conference, a