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31 July 2010 UK says Lanka now safe The United Kingdom has updated its travel advisory on Sri Lanka by removing the advise against travel to the four northern provinces of Mullaitivu, Killinochchi, Mannar and Vavuniya.The British High Commission in a statement said that the advice follows a security assessment carried out by a High Commission delegation, led by Deputy High Commissioner Mark Gooding, which visited the Northern provinces in June. Commenting on the changes British High Commissioner, Dr Peter Hayes said, “This latest change means we no longer advise against travel to any part of Sri Lanka. Britons wishing to travel to the north should be aware that there remains a risk from mines and unexploded ordinance and that they need to obtain permission from the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence before they travel.” ‘In border disputes, India protects the rights of Gujaratis and Bengalis, but not Tamils’ Tamil Nationalist Movement leader P Nedumaran demonstrated outside the Sri Lankan Deputy High Commission in Chennai to protest the alleged killing of Tamil fishermen. He explains his motive to SHAHINA KK The situation is extremely bad. A very systematic ethnic cleansing is being carried out by the government in Tamil areas like Jaffna. The government has enhanced deployment of the army. Tamils are forced to flee to refugee camps where their human rights are grossly violated. In the northern and eastern provinces, the agricultural lands owned by Tamils are being taken over by Sinhalese. What is the situation at the refugee camps in Jaffna? It is horrible. They don’t keep any records of the inmates in the camps. Nobody knows who are there in the camps, and who are missing. We keep getting information that inmates are often taken away by the army on the pretext of interrogation, and do not return. What is happening to these people? No inquiry whatsoever is taking place. It is time for active intervention by international agencies like the UN and Amnesty International. What is the role of the Indian government in this scenario? It is quite unfortunate that the Indian State shows little interest in the welfare of Tamil people. Around 600 Indian Tamil fishermen have been killed by the Sri Lankan Navy in the past 30 years. See, they are not Sri Lankan citizens, but very much belong to this country. Even then, the Indian Navy does nothing to guard their lives. There is clear discrimination from the Indian government towards Tamil people. When two fishermen from Gujarat were detained by the Pakistani forces, we all witnessed the proactive measures taken by our government to release them. We also witnessed the steps taken by the government when Biharis were attacked in Mumbai.The Indian Navy does nothing to guard the lives of Tamil fishermen. There is a clear discrimination towards them Is there any reason for the Union government to discriminate against Tamils? The Indian Government is not supporting the Sri Lankan Tamils because both the governments want to eliminate the Tamil Eelam. As a result of this policy, the Indian Navy maintains silence towards the atrocious acts of the Sri Lanka Navy against our men. In the Bay of Bengal, fishermen from West Bengal often cross the Bangladesh border. The Bangladeshi Navy never shoots them, and neither do the Indian Navy shoot Bangladeshi fishermen who cross over. What does it mean? This is a deliberate action by the Sri Lankan Navy, which is silently supported by the Indian government. But thousands of Lankan Tamils are living in Tamil Nadu without any documents... Around 100 Lankan Tamils were arrested and detained in a special camp in Chengalpattu for allegedly having LTTE connections. They were kept in illegal custody for two months, and produced in court only after they started a hunger strike. They were beaten up by the police and were shifted to Vellore prison. Do you have any idea about a possible regrouping of the LTTE? No movement can be completely crushed forever; it will arise in different forms until the cause is addressed. DMK has never been against the cause of Tamil Eelam. Why would it invite the wrath of the people by being hostile to Lankan Tamils? They have to satisfy the Congress. It is nothing but bitter politics. Gang torches Sri Lanka broadcaster's office An unidentified gang set fire to a Sri Lankan broadcaster owned by a businessman who had backed the opposition in a presidential election, destroying its main control room, police said on Friday.The arson attack on the Siyatha media group forced broadcasting to stop and hurt at least one person, police and a witness said. Siyatha has a TV channel and three radio stations.A witness said the gang held one journalist and a news editor at gunpoint before burning the control room."Once the gang left, I saw the security guard had fallen unconscious with blood on his head," said a Siyatha journalist who requested anonymity out of fear of reprisal. "They just came, attacked, burnt and went within 15 minutes."The attack echoed one that destroyed the main control room of the island nation's largest private broadcaster MBC/MTV, viewed by the government as a pro-opposition outlet.Siyatha was a pro-government media channel, but its owner backed the opposition at the last presidential polls, in which President Mahinda Rajapaksa was overwhelmingly re-elected.The owner has since left the country and his brother was at the time the head of the country's Telecommunications Regulatory Commission, but was replaced soon afterward.Later, the government stopped all advertising from state institutions to the broadcaster, forcing financially-hit Siyatha to close down a weekly newspaper.Rights group blame Sri Lanka's government for tolerating or orchestrating attacks on media institutions and the harassment, assault or even the murder of journalists deemed critical of it.Rajapaksa has vowed to bring perpetrators to justice, but so far no one has been held accountable for dozens of attacks. Japan urges Sri Lanka to allay human rights concerns Japanese Cabinet ministers yesterday urged visiting Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris to allay international concerns over alleged war crimes committed last year by Sri Lankan forces in the country, Japanese officials said. Foreign Minister Katsuya Okada and Deputy Chief Cabinet Secretary Tetsuro Fukuyama separately told the Sri Lankan minister that Colombo should be accountable about the human rights issue, which has raised concerns in the international community. The United Nations has reported that at least 7,000 Tamil civilians were killed in the final months of fighting between Sri Lankan troops and Tamil Tiger guerrillas last year. UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has set up a panel to look into the alleged war crimes. But Sri Lanka has repeatedly resisted international calls to investigate allegations of crimes against humanity and gross human rights abuses while battling the Tamil rebels who were defeated in May last year. The defeat ended more than 25 years of conflict between the Sri Lankan government and ethnic Tamil insurgents. Earlier this month, Ban decided to close UN offices in Colombo following protests led by a Sri Lankan Cabinet minister against the world body. Okada urged Sri Lanka to cooperate with the United Nations to settle the matter, while Peiris said his government is maintaining dialogue with the world body and hopes to improve the situation. Fukuyama also expressed hope that the resettlement of internally displaced people in Sri Lanka will be completed at an early date. Peiris said Sri Lanka has been strongly promoting national reconciliation and expects Japanese companies to invest in his country, claiming that peace and stability have been restored. He said the number of internally displaced people sank to 35,000 from 300,000 a year ago. Okada, meanwhile, expressed gratitude to his Sri Lankan counterpart for the planned donation of two elephants to Japan. Separately, Japanese Economy, Trade and Industry Minister Masayuki Naoshima met with Basil Rajapaksa, Sri Lankan minister of economic development. While the Sri Lankan minister proposed that Japan and his country launch preparatory talks on the possibility of signing a bilateral free trade agreement, Naoshima said he will discuss the matter with other Cabinet members, a Japanese official said. Sri Lanka has a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with India and Pakistan. UNP Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe on conclusion of Indian tour returns Sri Lanka United National Party Leader Ranil Wickramasinghe on conclusion of his Indian tour returned to Sri lanka on Thursday at 11.00 p.m by Sri Lankan Airlines UL.196 from New Delhi. His visit to India was last 20th, and on his 20 days tour, he had many meetings with Indian high level officials, officially it was not informed. According to unofficial reports, he had met Indian Prime Minister Man Mohan Singh including many diplomats. Further reports states, he met the main opposition party leaders and had discussions about the reforms which are decided to introduce in the United National Party USTPAC Commemorates Black July and Calls for Justice to Tamils in Sri Lanka Twenty seven years ago on a sunny July day, the lives of the Tamil people living in the island of Sri Lanka turned upside down without any warning. Under the pretext of retaliating for the deaths of 13 soldiers belonging to the ethnicity of the ruling elite, Sinhalese soldiers and hoodlums were set loose on innocent Tamil civilians living in the south. Tamil homes and businesses were looted and burned. Tamil political prisoners under State custody were butchered. Nearly 3,000 Tamil men women and children were murdered, many burnt alive. Tens of thousands of Tamil survivors were shipped to their homeland in the Northeast, having lost all their possessions and livelihood. Western countries shocked by the horror opened their doors to the fleeing Tamils. Thus began a massive exodus of the Tamils from the island. That was Black July, the July of 1983. Communal violence against the Tamils by the Sinhalese had become a regular occurrence ever since the country of Ceylon attained independence from Britain in 1948. The 1983 violence was not only the worst thus far but also was condoned by the State. In 1984 Paul Sieghart, the Chairman of the International Commission of Jurists published his findings on Black July titled: "Sri Lanka: A Mounting Tragedy of Errors". In that report Sieghart stated that Black July was not a spontaneous upsurge of communal hatred among the Sinhalese people, but a series of deliberate acts, executed in accordance with a concerted plan, conceived and organized well in advance."Unto this day, 'nineteen eighty three' is etched in the heart of every Tamil," said a survivor now living in California, USA adding, "Twenty seven years have gone by without justice or compensation, and the peace, dignity and political rights that Tamils have been longing for are still proving elusive." If the 1983 violence was condoned by the State, there were no pretensions when early last year the Sri Lankan government forces bottled up 400,000 civilians in a 40-square-mile "no fire zone" and bombarded and shelled them indiscriminately, culminating in the deaths of 40,000 Tamil civilians. It was the then UN spokesman Gordon Weiss who placed the death toll at 40,000; the International Crisis Group in its report records a number between 30,000 and 75,000 casualties. Bowing to pressure by human rights groups, the United Nations Secretary General has appointed a three-member panel to advise him on how best to deal with the alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka. The USTPAC calls on all governments respecting human rights and rule of law, and especially our own United Sates, to support and strengthen the mechanisms of the UN for international independent investigations of the war crimes and crimes against humanity committed against the Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka.Although in sheer numbers the destruction caused by the war in 2009 surpasses 1983 many times, it is 1983 that marks the beginning of the attempted destruction of the identity of Tamils in the island of Sri Lanka, now accelerated by an army of occupation along with forced demographic changes to the Tamil homeland.USTPAC calls on everyone to join in remembering Black July 1983, its significance to the Tamils of Sri Lanka, and take up "Never Again" as a sacred call to humanity. Military from China reach Sri Lanka in the assignments of land mines excavation. The Chinese Government is in the attempt of sending Chinese troops in the name of excavation of land mines in the northern part of Sri Lanka. A Chinese military officials team will reach Sri Lanka to expedite the land mines assignments in the north and eastern province Required activities are processed in the 1500 square kilo meters land in the north and eastern province for land mines excavations is according to reports. Reports states there is a necessity of removing land mines in these two provinces in the area of 2400 square kilo meters. Northern province fishermen and the Tamilnadu fishermen had informed that large quantity of Chinese troops are staying in the Kachchatheevu areas including many localities in the northern province. Such activities of China had disappointed the Indian government to a greater extent. Sri Lanka main opposition suspends member from working committee for supporting government Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has decided to suspend its Kandy District parliamentarian Abdul Cader from the party's working committee for supporting the government in parliament. UNP General Secretary Tissa Attanayake in a letter has informed Cader that the party has taken a decision to suspend him from the working committee at the last committee meeting for voting with the government. Cader voted in favor of the budget proposals along with the government earlier this month. He has also voted with the government for extending Emergency Regulations. Attanayake has reportedly informed Cader that he may have to face a disciplinary committee in the future. 29 July 2010 Land grab in Mullaitivu - villagers complain New Lands It says new lands should be given to those whose lands are acquired by government.When asked about the land acquisition, the government agent in Mulativu said that was unable to comment as he is not authorised to do so. However, a group of Tamil MPs who visited Murukandi told villagers that they would give a satisfactory solution for the problems they have faced within two weeks, reports our correspondent, Dinasena Ratugamage Sri Lanka can face the loss of GSP+ facility Tamil parties desire to meet Tamil National Alliance The Tamil parties headed by Minister Douglas Devananda met in Colombo yesterday and decided to discuss about a settlement to the racial crisis and the practical issues. Minister Doughlas Devananda said, a decision which could be accepted by everyone should be decided, which was agreed by all the party leaders. Meanwhile Minister said, all Tamil parties showed their desire, that the attempts processed by them towards the issues, Tamil National Alliance also should participate for the discussions. Hence all the parties today decided to meet the Tamil national Alliance at a locality where they decide. Minister Douglas said, all parties agreed to dispatch a letter to TNA leader R.Sambanthan establishing their desire to meet the TNA party. In the meantime PLOTE Movement leader Dharmaligam Sitharthan said, all the party leaders agreed to hold the next meeting on the 14th, at Batticlaoa KP speaks out By Shamindra Ferdinando Prabhakaran’s successor, T. S. Pathmanathan or simply ‘KP’ as he is better known has thrown his weight behind Sri Lanka’s post-LTTE efforts to restore peace in the Northern and Eastern provinces.In an exclusive interview with The Island in Colombo yesterday, Pathmanathan, former confidant of the slain LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and the outfit’s main arms procurer, discussed a wide range of issues, including his capture last August, breakdown of various attempts to negotiate peace and a desperate bid to thwart annihilation of the LTTE‘s military leadership in May 2009.Pathmanathan, in a light brown kurta, black slacks and matching shoes could have easily walked the streets of the city without being identified as one of the key LTTE leaders, who had helped build the organisation as a ruthlessly efficient terrorist group over the past three decades. He sat on a couch asking the writer to fire away in what turned out to be a three-hour interview in which he spelt out his plans in support of on-going rebuilding efforts of the government.The onetime most elusive man from Jaffna said he was confident that a group of likeminded Tamils based in various parts of the world would support the initiative for the benefit of Sri Lankan Tamils.Fielding questions with a smile, KP said what he expected of the Tamil Diaspora and what the Diaspora expected of him was to step up the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement programmes now underway.Born on April 6, 1955, KP had played different roles before succeeding Velupillai Prabhakaran after the latter’s death at the hands of the Sri Lanka Army on the banks of the Nanthikadal lagoon in May last year. Excerpts of the interview: Q: Are you confident that the Tamil Diaspora could work with President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government? A: President Rajapaksa is genuine in his efforts to settle differences among communities and help re-build war devastated regions in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Within a year of the conclusion of the war, the majority of the people displaced by the conflict are back at their villages and ex-combatants of the LTTE are undergoing rehabilitation and the international community, too, is supportive of Sri Lanka’s efforts. None of these would have been possible without the political leadership given by President Rajapaksa.KP said it was essential for the Tamil Diaspora to realise the ground reality in a post-LTTE era and review its strategy to meet the new challenges. He said he had stepped in as he felt there was a leadership vacuum to be filled. Emphasising his determination to go ahead with what he called a tangible action plan, the LTTE veteran said everybody should have come forward and assist in the rebuilding efforts without trying to live in the past. The media should play a positive role in the post-LTTE period and strengthen the ongoing reconciliation efforts. Nothing could be as bad as negative reporting, though no one would dispute the right of the media to cover any issue the way it deemed fit, KP said. However, he said their focus should be on development and peace building efforts such as rebuilding, speedy resettlement of the war displaced and rehabilitation of ex-combatants. Q: You recently set up an NGO to collect money from the Tamil Diaspora to help the re-building process. Would the Diaspora respond to your move as there were others who claimed to represent the interests of the LTTE? A: The North-East Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NERDO) is ready to play a key role in the rehabilitation, reconstruction and resettlement processes. With its main office situated at No 10, 1st Lane, Kathiresu Road, Vairavaputiyankulam, Vavuniya, NERDO is engaged in various activities in support of the Tami speaking people. We are only concerned about the welfare of the people, particularly children, though some seek fresh funding to cause mayhem. People are fed up with war and every effort should be made to alleviate the suffering of the people without playing politics with a purely humanitarian issue. We are appealing for funds - -$1 from each Tamil living abroad on a monthly basis. To facilitate fund raising activity, we recently opened an account at the Vavuniya branch of the Commercial Bank bearing 1610046482 (Code CCEYLKLX). Our e-mail is info@nerdo.lk/www.nerdo.lk. Q: What was the turning point in the eelam war IV? A: Multi-pronged Al-Qaeda 9/11 attack on the US changed it all. Within 24 hours, the international community led by Western powers moved against all armed groups causing immense damage to our operations. There are many other factors, but the primary reason is nothing but the rapid rise of Al-Qaeda, which prompted the West to change its attitude. This brought about a drastic change in the attitude of political leaders in the other parts of the world. Circumstances made propagation of separatist sentiments extremely difficult in many parts of the world. Unfortunately, an influential section of the LTTE, including its leader Velupillai Prabhakaran did not realize the urgent need to change its strategy. Had he done that the situation would have been different today. There is a New World Order today, which does not tolerate armed campaigns and that is the hard reality. Q: Are you satisfied with the progress in resettlement and reconstruction following the conclusion of war in May last year? A: The situation is much better than I expected. Although, there is lot to be done by way of confidence building, we should appreciate what the government has done since the conclusion of the war. The Tamil community should not solely depend on the government, UN agencies and NGOs for their needs. We have a duty by the people to act swiftly and decisively to bring immediate relief to war affected people. During a recent visit to the North, we had an opportunity to provide immediate assistance to several hundreds of GCE (Advanced Level) students sitting for the forthcoming examination. No one would have believed a common programme involving the Tamil Diaspora and the government was possible, but today we are cooperating with the government and working for the people. We are already receiving requests for assistance from the Tamil community, a case in point being that two school principals recently obtained financial assistance for students who needed to pay for examination papers at term tests.Now that the war is over, we can go flat out to implement development programmes. Recently, we donated Rs. 500,000 for the provision of buns and tea for the Advanced Level students at the Sundaralingham Tamil Maha Vidyalaya, Vavuniya, sitting for examination in August. Q: When did you first hear of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran’s death on the Vanni front? Where were you at the time of the final battle? A: I was abroad when I first heard of Prabhakaran’s death on May 19. The international press reported the final confrontation, though some continued to dispute the fact. I was Prabhakaran’s best friend and felt sad about the loss of his life. Had he listened to me and reached an agreement with the government before it was too late, the final battle could have been avoided. The LTTE suffered a massive setback on May 10 on the Vanni (east) front, where some 400 experienced cadres perished while trying to break the army lines. Following that tragedy, I discussed with the then political chief Nadesan a way out of the quagmire. But unfortunately they believed the army could be somehow forced to stop the offensive and a deal worked out through a third party. We also talked to various people and organizations, including the UN in a bid to work out some arrangement but nothing happened due to the failure on the part of Prabhakaran to make his move earlier. Q: When did you first leave Sri Lanka? When did you last visit Sri Lanka before being taken in abroad shortly after the end of war? A: I fled to India with Prabhakaran in 1980. The military searched for me and arrested me forcing me to think of my future. Intensified military activity demoralized the community. When the pressure was mounting, we took a boat from Valvettiturai and sought refuge in India. At that time crossing the Indo-Lanka maritime boundary was no problem. The then TULF leader A. Amirthalingham introduced me to Prabhakaran in mid 70s, most probably in 1976 and since then we worked together. At that time TELO and the LTTE were the dominant militant groups and they worked with the Jaffna-based political leadership for the eelam project. I studied at Mahajana College, Jaffna but gave up University education to fight for our rights, which we believed were violated by successive governments. But today we are in a unique position to bring about a permanent peace in not only Northern and Eastern Provinces but the entire country.Following the then Jaffna Mayor Alfred Duraiappah’s killing by Prabhakaran, the decision makers of the politico-militant movement at that time had removed Prabhakaran from the outfit. When he came to me, I was just an Advanced Level student, though I had to accommodate him in my room. There had been moves to kill him by some individuals, including the then TELO leader Thangadurai. Q: Were you in contact with the LTTE during the last few months of eelam war IV? Did the LTTE leadership trapped in the Vanni ever openly acknowledge that the army could not be stopped? A: Prabhakaran, his key commanders and an influential section of the Tamil Diaspora felt that Tamil Nadu would come to their rescue. They believed Tamil Nadu political parties could exploit a dicey political situation to compel Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to intervene in Sri Lanka. We also sought the assistance of some UN officials and President of East Timor to arrange for a truce before the Army overran the last few sq km of territory held by the LTTE in the third week of May 2009. Q: Do you believe the Tamil Diaspora can reach an understanding with the government due to the absence of LTTE’s military muscle? A: There is a need for changing our attitude. The destruction of the LTTE’s military capability has not left room for us to do anything other than reviewing our position. The Diaspora must realize the ground situation in a post-war era and act accordingly.Any fresh attempts to revive separatist sentiments would only cause trouble and therefore a tangible action plan is necessary to re-build the Northern and Eastern Provinces. The absence of military power would make things easy on the negotiating front.The North-East Rehabilitation and Development Organisation (NERDO) is ready to facilitate those living abroad to visit Sri Lanka. They should not ignore this opportunity. About a year ago no one would have believed that freedom of movement in the Northern and Eastern provinces was possible. Q: You are widely credited with running a highly successful procurement operation overseas? But some have claimed that you were replaced several years ago by another senior cadre? When did Prabhakaran replace you and why? A: I was taken out in 2003. Prabhakaran personally handled the network through Castro. I had to play a low key role due to increased surveillance mounted by intelligence services.KP acknowledged that Sri Lanka’s premier intelligence service had brought LTTE overseas network under heavy pressure. Q: Why did LTTE engineer Ranil Wickremesinghe’s defeat at the November 2005 presidential election? A: Prabhakaran felt that the then Prime Minister wasn’t strong enough to meet the challenging task of solving the national issue. Prabhakaran had successfully dealt with several Sri Lankan leaders before the advent of President Rajapaksa. Q: Did LTTE consult you before resuming hostilities in August 2006. A: I was not consulted by Prabhakaran before launching a massive multi-pronged attack on the security forces. Prabhakaran wanted me to help acquire urgently needed armaments and also explore the possibility of bringing international pressure to bear on Sri Lanka during the last few months of the war.Prabhakaran never felt the need to consult anybody as long as he believed his military machine could help him pursue the eelam project. Q: Some Tamil politicians feel threatened by your presence in Colombo and the possibility of you (LTTE rump) reaching an understanding with the government. Is there any likelihood of all Tamil political parties both in and out of parliament seeking a consensus on a common programme? A: No one should feel threatened by my presence in Colombo. The need of the hour is a practical approach to the post-war issues. Let us take tangible action to provide assistance to the war displaced and help re-build the Northern and Eastern Provinces. I have absolutely no intention of competing with any politician or any other faction. For the benefit of the Tamil community, the Diaspora and political parties and groups active in Sri Lanka should forge a common alliance to uplift the living standards of the people. I have no political agenda or expect propaganda mileage at the expense of the long suffering civilians.KP defended his decision to work with the government following his capture in the first week of August last year. He said it was ludicrous if anyone though anything could be done without engaging the government of Sri Lanka. Depending on the circumstances, he said "we would have to work with the relevant ministries, including Defence, External Affairs and the Commissioner General of Rehabilitation". Q: Would you mind commenting on LTTE fund raising activity during the CFA? A: The CFA gave a mega boost to our fund raising activity. There was no shortage of funds as we received vast amounts of money from various sources. Tsunami, too, brought us funds, though I could not comment specifically as I wasn’t involved in procurement. Castro, who ran our international branches from his base in Vanni, never cooperated with me. Following Prabhakaran’s killing in May last year, the Tamil Diaspora discussed all the issues including funds. Some of those who had controlled funds declined to cooperate, thereby causing a great deal of friction. Q: How did your first meeting with the Defence Secretary go? A: When I was apprehended and flown to Katunayake, I felt demoralized. I was anxious and believed my end was near. The collapse of the LTTE fighting formations in May and my capture in the first week of August 2009 caused me immense heartache. From Katunayake, I was driven to the residence of Defence Secretary Gotabhaya in Colombo, where I had the opportunity to meet the man widely believed to be an indefatigable and brilliant strategist. But within minutes, he allayed my fears and we had some tea and cake before I left the place. There were a few others including those who had planned my capture and brought me to Colombo.As I entered the Defence Secretary’s residence, I saw a Buddha statue and felt confident that nothing bad could happen to me there.With the blessings of the Defence Secretary, I brought nine Diaspora activists from Canada, UK, France, Switzerland, Australia and Germany to explore the possibility of cooperating in relief efforts. There is an urgent need to bridge a big gap between the ground reality and the thinking of the Diaspora. I had many sleepless nights before I went ahead with a plan to bring in the Diaspora activists to facilitate an understanding with the government. A section of the Diaspora is opposed to our move but at the end of the day there’ll be no way out. We’ll have to come to terms with an unprecedented situation in which the LTTE no longer wield military power. To the credit of the government, we were allowed to meet senior officials, including top Security Forces Commanders to exchange views. We never expected the army to welcome us warmly, particularly at Palaly, the main air base in the Jaffna peninsula. (Final part will be published tomorrow) Tamil hunger striker wins damages for burger claims LONDON — A Sri Lankan Tamil demonstrator who went on hunger strike outside London's Houses of Parliament accepted damages on Thursday from British newspapers who accused him of eating burgers during his fast.Parameswaran Subramanyam will receive nearly £80,000 (95,000 euros, 125,000 dollars) from the Daily Mail and the Sun, his lawyers said.He spent 23 days last year fasting as part of a protest by thousands of British Tamils about the treatment of their people in Sri Lanka. He later spent five days in hospital recovering.The two newspapers falsely alleged that the 29-year-old had secretly eaten burgers from McDonalds during his hunger strike.Parameswaran sued them for libel at the High Court in London and the newspapers have now apologised, withdrawn the allegations and agreed to pay damages totalling nearly £80,000.A statement read out in court said Parameswaran "did not consume any food at all throughout his hunger strike" and that he had been "ostracised" by Tamils after the untrue stories were published because they believed he had "betrayed" them and "undermined the Tamil struggle globally".Parameswaran said he had thought about committing suicide after the newspapers published their stories because of the criticism he faced from other Tamils."I had death threats through mobile and text and all over the Tamil community they were spreading texts like 'kill Parameswaran' and 'bastard'," he told AFP.His solicitor Magnus Boyd added: "We are delighted that both newspapers have at last seen sense, climbed down and apologised publicly to Parameswaran for the hurt and distress that they caused him." Velanai officer Dharshika’s corpse exhume Reports states, the corpse of Jaffna Velanai Family Planning officer Dharshika’s corpse was exhumed on Thursday afternoon at Kaithadi. The body was exhumed as the diseased mother submitted a petition suspecting foul play in her daughter’s death.The corpse was handed over to the Colombo legal medical officer for medical examination. Meanwhile the Sinhalese doctor who was suspected in regard to the death, had been arrested and was later given bail. Sri Lanka ex-army chief faces new trial Sri Lanka's former army chief and defeated presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka was brought before the Colombo High Court on Thursday to answer charges of provoking violence.Fonseka, who already faces two courts martial and two more criminal cases, was taken before a three-member "trial-at-bar" for the first time and charged, his attorney said."The main charge is inciting people to violence," lawyer Nalin Laduwahetti said. Some 20 witnesses will be called during the next hearing, on September 27.The trial-at-bar dispenses with the normal practice of trial by jury, and is normally used by the state to fast-track legal proceedings in high-profile cases. If convicted, Fonseka could be jailed for five to 20 years.Fonseka was charged under tough emergency laws in relation to accusations he incited violence by commenting to a newspaper that surrendering rebel leaders were executed during the country's civil war, which ended in May 2009.Fonseka maintained that the published comments -- which suggested defence secretary Gotabhaya Rakapakse, the younger brother of the president, had ordered the executions -- were in fact misquotes. Rajapakse has denied the charge.A retired four-star general, Fonseka led the Sri Lankan army to a spectacular victory against Tamil Tiger rebels in May last year, ending the island's 37-year separatist conflict.But he has since fallen out with the government and says the legal cases against him are politically motivated.Fonseka made an unsuccessful bid to unseat Rajapakse at elections in January, but went on to win a seat at April parliamentary polls.He is currently in military custody, facing two courts martial for allegedly dabbling in politics while in uniform and illegally awarding contracts to a company in which his son-in-law had an interest.Fonseka's party has said the cases against him are fabricated and form part of a political vendetta. The Elections Secretariat has decided to omit from the 2010 electoral register, the names of voters in the Jaffna district who have left the country during the conflict period. Elections authorities are currently enumerating the voters to prepare the electoral list for 2010.According to the 2008 electoral register there had been 722,000 registered voters in the Jaffna district. In the 2009 register this had increased to 816,000. However, many of them now live outside the country. The People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL), said yesterday that the actual number of voters staying in Jaffna could be placed roughly at 400,000. PAFFREL Executive Director Rohana Hettiarachchi told Daily Mirror that the election authorities would come up with the exact figures very soon. Besides, he said that there is a lack of enthusiasm among people in the North to be registered as voters.“People are not keen on this. The political parties also do not play a proactive role in this case,” he said. Mr. Hettiarachchi said that the voter registration in the North would continue for another few months due to such practical problems. “People also do not like to be registered as voters in their new areas fearing that they will lose their previous residential lands. Anyway, people are not interested in the electoral process,” he said. Looking back at the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord-R. Hariharan It is 23 years since the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement was signed on July 29, 1987. The agreement is popularly referred to as the Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord, after its architects — Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi and President J.R. Jayewardene.Unfortunately, the event is today remembered only for its unpleasant fallout after India unwittingly got entangled in a counter-insurgency war with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) from 1987 to 1990. After sacrificing the lives of over 1,200 of its soldiers, India felt cheated when President Ranasinghe Premadasa joined hands with the LTTE to send the Indian troops out of Sri Lanka before they had completed their job.But India had an even worse experience after the troops were pulled out: in 1991, an LTTE suicide-bomber killed Rajiv Gandhi at the venue of a public meeting near Chennai. The killing, masterminded by LTTE chief V. Prabakaran, had more than a symbolic impact. It ended the popular support Tamil militants had enjoyed in Tamil Nadu. India scaled down its active involvement in Sri Lanka, and adopted a passive approach to the Sri Lankan Tamil issue. Prabakaran's strategic blunder ultimately cost him his life: Sri Lanka, helped by India, crushed the LTTE in the fourth round of the war in 2009.The Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord was perhaps too ambitious in its scope as it sought to collectively address all the three contentious issues between India and Sri Lanka: strategic interests, people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka and Tamil minority rights in Sri Lanka. Its success depended on sustained political support from both the countries. So the Accord got sidelined when political leaders who were unhappy with the Accord came to power in both countries almost at the same time. As a result, the Tamil minorities, who had put their faith in it, were in limbo. These unsavoury developments have clouded the understanding of the positive aspects of the Accord. After all, it was the Accord that enabled Sri Lankan Tamils to gain recognition for some of their demands in Sri Lankan politics and in the Sri Lankan Constitution.The Accord was unique as it marked a new beginning with respect to India's articulation of power, never exercised after India's war with Pakistan in 1971 that helped the birth of Bangladesh. India's Sri Lanka operation was more complex than the Bangladesh war on a few counts. The operation had to be carried out in an island-nation; this imposed severe strategic constraints. It was an unconventional war waged against a Tamil insurgent group with strong connections in Tamil Nadu. And, India's vague articulation of its military intervention in support of the Accord triggered an emotional backlash against it in both countries.The focus of the Accord, signed in the waning years of the Cold War era, was undoubtedly strategic. It aimed to keep Americans from gaining a foothold in Sri Lanka. This was a departure from India's traditional policy that was fixated largely on two issues — the status of people of Indian origin in Sri Lanka, and the Tamil minority's quest for democratic rights. India's new-found articulation of military power in Sri Lanka, though halting and probably unintentional, sent a strong message to its neighbours and global powers. This was further reinforced in 1989 when India sent a military contingent in response to a request from the government of Maldives — another island neighbour — and crushed an attempted coup there.India's military intervention also demonstrated the country's readiness to fulfil its commitments to its neighbours. Significantly, it delineated India's strategic zone of influence in the Indian Ocean region. Since then, India has expanded its real-time naval capability. This was seen during the December 2004 tsunami strike: an Indian naval ship was at the scene on the Sri Lankan coast within a matter of hours to bring succour to the affected people.India's strategic strength in this part of Indian Ocean is now recognised by the major powers. Perhaps this influenced the U.S. decision to build its strategic security relationship with India. India's keenness to find a lasting solution to Sri Lanka's Tamil issue was again demonstrated during the international peace process in Sri Lanka in 2002. Though India was not actively involved in it, the sponsor-nations, notably the U.S. and Norway, regularly sought India's counsel during the implementation phase. It is a pity that India failed to use its influence to ensure the success of the peace process.India's military foray into Sri Lanka also proved to be a unique learning experience for the Indian armed forces in conducting operations across the seas. It brought home the nitty-gritty of joint operations command for smooth overseas operations. Carrying out counter-insurgency operations that had political ramifications both at home and abroad highlighted the limitations of New Delhi's decision-making process. The absence of a structure at the top to coordinate political and security decision-making did affect India's campaign. These lessons have greater relevance for India now as global and South Asian regional strategic security architectures change rapidly.India had consistently affirmed its support for a unified Sri Lanka and opposition to the creation of an independent Tamil Eelam. At the same time, India was sympathetic to the Tamil quest for equitable rights in Sri Lanka. Even the Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord had its roots in India's effort to give form and substance to it. The strong sympathy of the people of Tamil Nadu for their brethren in Sri Lanka was an important factor in shaping India's policy on this issue. Sri Lanka had to reckon with this factor in its strategic calculus in its three military campaigns against the Tamil militant group.However, India's benign Sri Lanka posture after its ill-fated military intervention and gory aftermath enabled Sri Lanka to build bridges with India. Wisely, India also did not allow the frictions of the intervening decades to come in the way and reciprocated Sri Lanka's efforts. Both countries have adopted a win-win strategy to build upon the positives of their relationship. These efforts culminated in the signing of India's first-ever free trade agreement with Sri Lanka in 2000. As a result, India-Sri Lanka relations now have a unique status in South Asia.Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa was elected President in 2005; his campaign focus was on defeating the LTTE and crushing Tamil separatism. The advantages of close relations with India came in handy when he decided to clip the LTTE's wings after the peace process of 2002 failed to make progress even in three years. Though India was not a significant arms-supplier during Eelam War 2006, it had helped train the Sri Lankan armed forces and provided valuable intelligence inputs on the LTTE's intricate international logistic and support network. Sri Lanka managed to dismantle this apparatus and crippled the Tigers, paving the way for their defeat. More than all this, the governments in New Delhi and Chennai together managed the tricky fallout of the Eelam war in Tamil Nadu and saw to it that things did not get out of hand. This thwarted the efforts of the pro-LTTE parties and supporters in Tamil Nadu to create a pro-Tiger upsurge.As a result, the LTTE could neither use Tamil Nadu as a logistic and support base nor influence India's political decisions during the war. India's own bitter experience with the LTTE probably shaped its public posture during Sri Lanka's war. At the same time, perhaps India realised that it would be untenable to allow the LTTE, which had grown into one of the world's strongest insurgent groups, to operate as a loose cannon in its strategic neighbourhood. This was perhaps one of the reasons for India's hands-off attitude as the Sri Lankan Army relentlessly pursued and ultimately crushed the LTTE.Unfortunately, India was unable to significantly influence the Sri Lankan government in the aftermath of war. Even a year after the war ended, a political solution to meet the Tamil minority's demands has not been evolved. Normal life has not been restored to a sizeable population affected by the war in the Northern Province. They are yet to recover from the trauma of war as the pace of reconstruction is not consistent with their colossal needs.It is people, not treaties, which make relations between nations meaningful. Unless India makes a difference in the lives of the people of both countries, its relations with Sri Lanka will not address the broader aspects of strategic security. This is the important takeaway as we look at the Rajiv-Jayewardene Accord after over two decades. Is LTTE ideologue Balakumar dead or alive? Velupillai Balakumar or Balakumaran was the one time leader of Ealam Revolutionary Organization of Students (EROS). He was also a member of Sri Lanka parliament for a brief period.In late 1980s or early 1990s, he split the EROS and joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam (LTTE) with a number of his associates. He is believed an influential adviser to the leader of the LTTE Velupillai Prabakaran. The importance of this man is that he is famous as a Marxist. If he is alive like the former LTTE chief of international relations, he may speak one day how his Marxist ideas influenced the Tiger leader.Asked by The Island today whether among the detained terrorists were Yogiratnam Yogi, one-time LTTE negotiator and Balakumaran of the EROS, who threw his weight behind Velupillai Prabhakaran, Rehabilitation Commissioner Brig. Ranasinghe said that he did not have them.A controversial media report posted in state-owned Sinhala daily The Dinamina on June 11, 2009 said that Balakumar was arrested while hiding in a refugee camp in Vavuniya. On May 31, 2009, Lankafirst.com website quoting Government Information Department sources, reported that some top Tiger leaders who were in the military hand, were going through series of serious investigation by the security forces.“Former eastern province political wing leader and subsequently in charge of the economic division Karikalan, former spokesman of the LTTE Yogaratnam Yogi , former EROS MP turned advisor to the LTTE V. Balakumar , a former spokesman of the LTTE Lawrence Tilagar, former Deputy political section leader Thangan , former head of the political section for Jaffna district Ilamparithi , former Trincomalee political wing leader Elilan, former head of the LTTE sports division Papa , former head of the administrative division of the LTTE Puvannan and deputy international head Gnanam are in custody,” it said.A report by the University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) also said December last year that Balakumar and his son teenaged Sooriyatheepan surrendered to the 53 army Division near Irattaivaykkal, along the Nanthikadal lagoon on May 16.“Like Balakumar, many top LTTE leaders reportedly surrendered in the last three days of the war, between May 16 and 19 (2009)”.The UTHR-J report mentioned the following top leaders as having surrendered: Karikalan (former eastern province political wing leader and subsequently in charge of the economic disivion), Yogaratnam Yogi (former spokesman of the LTTE), Lawrence Tilagar (a former spokesman of the LTTE, a one time head of LTTE office in Paris and later in charge of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation), Thangan (former Deputy political section leader), Ilamparithi (former head of the political section for Jaffna district), Elilan (former Trincomalee political wing leader), Papa (former head of the LTTE sports division), Puvannan (former head of the administrative division of the LTTE), Gnanam (deputy international head) and Tamilini head of the Women’s political wing. However, bn January 29, 2009 it was reported that Balakumaran was critically wounded. 28 July 2010 Sri Lanka's major Tamil and Muslim constituencies to discuss constitutional reforms Lanka to oppose Ban The Sri Lankan government is to oppose the re-election of Ban Ki Moon as the UN Secretary General and will also seek the support of several other countries for this move, a senior government minister told Daily Mirror online on the condition of anonymity.The cabinet minister said that Sri Lanka will seek the support of countries such as India, Russia, Brazil, China and other developing countries and will launch campaigns in these countries soon, to oppose the re-appointment of Ban Ki Moon to the post of UN Secretary General.“Sri Lanka will not vote him in after his latest decision to appoint his expert panel. Sri Lanka will also discourage other countries in the region from voting for him,” the cabinet minister said. “The government will begin the campaigns soon after discussions with the respective governments,” the minister added. The term of Ban Ki Moon as the UN Secretary General will expire on December 31, 2011 and he is eligible for re-appointment into a second term.Ban Ki Moon has been in troubled waters with the Sri Lankan government especially after his decision to appoint an expert panel to advise him on accountability issues relating to Sri Lanka. Despite repeated calls from the Sri Lankan government stating that such a panel was ‘unwarranted’ and ‘uncalled’ for Ban Ki Moon has maintained that his panel will remain and will submit a report to him within a period of four months. Red Cross in urgent need of funds to assist Sri Lanka's displaced The International Federation of Red Cross (IFRC) is in urgent need of funds to enable Sri Lanka Red Cross (SLRC) to provide assistance to the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) of Sri Lanka as only 40 percent of an emergency appeal made in April was covered with contributions received to date, including pledges in the pipeline. In a report released by the IFRC yesterday, the organization said an emergency appeal was launched in April seeking USD 3.4 million to enable the Sri Lanka Red Cross Society to provide assistance to about 5,000 families (25,000 people) for 24 months. The IFRC says the United Nations' decision to close the UNDP regional office in Colombo over the protest outside the UN compound in Colombo will bring potential ramifications to much needed support to Sri Lanka including to post-conflict affected areas. Though the situation needs to be closely monitored for any potential impact on humanitarian aid operations in the country, there have been no disruptions to Red Cross operations so far, the IFRC says. However, the relevance and importance of the post conflict recovery programme and SLRC's unique position has come into play now more than ever, the report adds. Solution under President’s aegis – Minister Devananda The Tamil people of the country will soon have a honourable political solution for their problems under the leadership of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Traditional Industries and Small Enterprise Development Minister Douglas Devananda said addressing the centenary function of the Kokuvil Hindu College recently. The Minister addressing the students said there were many opportunities in the past to find a solution to the problem like the Indo-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987 but one Tamil political leader of the time had not made use of the opportunity and pushed the Tamil people back to the fire. But now President Rajapaksa is making efforts to arrive at a solution, Media Secretary to the Minister Nelson Edirisinghe told Daily News yesterday. The Tamil people should be grateful to President Rajapaksa for bringing democracy back to them when they were on the brink of destruction at the hands of a fascist dictatorship. He is also working to bring back economic development to the Tamil people, he said. Jaffna Mayor Yogeswary Pathkunaraja was also present at the function. Marxist union accuses Sri Lankan government of acting foolishly with Northern civilians Cops rape ex soldier A senior police team has been appointed to investigate a complaint by a woman army deserter who alleged that she had been raped by three police officers including an Inspector from the Buttala Police Station when she went to lodge a complaint against her lover.Uva Province DIG, H.N.G. Ambanwela has appointed an investigation team under an ASP to hold a formal inquiry into the alleged incident. The woman soldier attached to the Gajaba Regiment is a resident of Udugama in Galle. It is alleged that she had been in love with a young man from Buttala and had been living with him at his relative’s house after she deserted the army. In June this year, her lover insisted she undergo an abortion after she told him she was pregnant but as she refused, it led to a dispute between the couple. The ex solider visited the Buttala Police to lodge a complaint and at the inquiry the couple came to a settlement that they would get married. However, her lover and his parents chased her away at the dead of night from the house and she had once again visited the Buttala police seeking legal remedy. It is alleged that instead of helping her, three police officers on duty had raped her and produced her after two days later before Wellawaya Magistrate for deserting the army. She was later handed over to the Military Police who recorded her complaint against Buttala police. The victim was admitted to Diyathalawa hospital and was later transferred to the Badulla Hospital. Hartal in Vavuniya Traders staged a hartal in Vavuniya on Tuesday morning against the alleged inaction of the police to conduct an inquiry into the abduction and later release of a businessman in the area for a Rs.600,000 ransom. The Vavuniya traders closed shop during the hartal demanding the police to probe the abduction and arrest those responsible Sri Lanka opposition man in self-immolation Comments 60-year-old activist of Sri Lanka's main opposition United National Party (UNP) has died in self-immolation, party and medical officials said here Tuesday.Rienzie Algama set himself in fire opposite the UNP headquarters at the Colombo suburbs of Pitakotte around 5:30 p.m. local time (1200 GMT) on Monday. He was rushed to the local Kalubowila hospital with severe burn injuries and was later transferred to the General Hospital in the capital."He passed away around 1:30 a.m. (2000 GMT) on Tuesday morning," Dr. Hector Weerasinghe of the General Hospital said.Algama, a diehard UNP supporter from Weligama in the south was demanding that the UNP should not be allowed to be split as a result of the current reorganization of the party.Since the party's crushing defeat in the April parliamentary election UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe has been under fire to resign.He appointed a six-member committee to recommend party reforms. Wickremesinghe has resisted a proposal to have elections to elect office bearers. Global Insider: India-Sri Lanka Relations India's chief of naval staff called for increased bilateral cooperation with Sri Lanka during a visit to the country late last month. In an e-mail interview, Eurasia Group's Asia analyst, Maria Kuusisto, discusses evolving relations between India and Sri Lanka. WPR: What is the historical context of India-Sri Lanka relations? Maria Kuusisto: India-Sri Lanka relations have been marked by both tension and cooperation. The relationship has been historically driven by the shared Tamil ethnic community: India has a Tamil community of 60 million and Sri Lanka has a Tamil community of three million. When the Tamil ethnic insurgency in Sri Lanka arose in the 1980s, it spread to southern India. Anti-Tamil violence in Colombo in 1983 thus prompted New Delhi to mediate a peace agreement and send a peacekeeping mission to enforce it. The accord gradually broke down, but during that time, the Indian peacekeeping force became part of the conflict, triggering calls for India to disengage. The Indian intervention -- which culminated in the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi by suspected Tamil militants -- dampened New Delhi's interest in the internal matters of Sri Lanka and furthermore limited the scope of their cooperation. WPR: What is the current status of bilateral relations, including priorities, opportunities and challenges? Kuusisto: Since the 1980s, the India-Sri Lanka relationship has gradually improved, driven by the 1998 Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries. The agreement brought a rapid expansion in India-Sri Lanka trade, which totaled $2.02 billion in 2009, and particularly benefitted the Sri Lankan economy. Prior to the agreement, India was a key source of Sri Lanka's imports, accounting for 8.5 percent of total imports in 1999, but only fourteenth on the list of export destinations. India is now fourth in the list of export destinations (behind the U.S., U.K. and Italy), accounting for 5 percent of all Sri Lankan exports. India is also now the fourth-largest investor in Sri Lanka (after Singapore, the U.K., and Australia). India and Sri Lanka are in the process of negotiating a new, more extensive Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will abolish the remaining non-tariff barriers. WPR: How does this relationship fit into the larger context of India-China rivalry? Kuusisto: Indian threat perceptions have grown as China has become more active in South Asia. Sri Lanka is no exception. Chinese investment has expanded rapidly, including the strategically situated commercial deep-sea port in Hambantota -- which is President Mahinda Rajapakse's home constituency -- and the two-phase coal power plant in Norochcholai. During the civil war in Sri Lanka, Beijing provided unconditional diplomatic, economic and military support to the Sri Lankan government, winning significant goodwill in Colombo. And China is now offering to provide financing and technical expertise to the Sri Lankan government, which is pursuing an aggressive, multi-million dollar reconstruction program. New Delhi sees this Chinese maneuvering as an incursion into its historic sphere of influence, and is consequently trying to outbid the Chinese for strategically important infrastructure projects. Lanka 'welcome' Indian envoy Chaavakachcheari magistrate express discontent over for police noncooperation Chaavakachcheari magistrate A. M. Mohamed Riyal expressed strong discontent over police noncooperation Monday when Jaffna police authorities failed to submit the statement of the suspect, Allexander Soosaimuthu alias Charles, Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) Thenmaraadchi organizer and its candidate in the last general election, in the killing of student Kapilnath in Chaavakachcheari, sources in Jaffna said. Former Chaavakachcheari magistrate K. Pirapakaran who inquired into the case initially was issued with death threats allegedly by EPDP men and then transferred to Akkaraipattu in Eastern Province. Present magistrate Abdul Majid Mohamed too is to be shortly transferred from Chaavakachcheari magistrate court to East and it appears that Sri Lanka police top officials are attempting to upset legal proceedings, legal circles in Jaffna said. It was Jaffna police who had arrested the suspect on the orders of Jaffna Assistant Superintendent of Police (ASP) and his statement was recorded by Criminal Investigation Department (CID) officers.The ASP, summoned to Chaavakachcheari court Monday, had failed to bring along the statement of the suspect as directed by the court.Magistrate Mohamed Riyal expressed his strong discontent over the behaviour of the police and postponed the inquiry into the case to 2 August. 27 July 2010 Singh to send envoy India is deputing a senior official of the Ministry of External Affairs to Sri Lanka to assess the progress of restoration of normal life in Tamil-dominated northern and eastern parts of the island at the end of the war against LTTE.Prime minister Manmohan Singh has conveyed this in a letter to Tamil Nadu chief minister M Karunanidhi who had recently urged him to send a special envoy to assess the "real situation" in the Tamil areas."As a measure of our continuing interest and the importance that we attach to this (Tamils) issue, I am sending a senior official from the Ministry of External Affairs to visit Sri Lanka and to consult with our High Commissioner and the local authorities, visiting the northern and eastern provinces to measure progress in these areas," Singh said.A copy of Singh's letter, in response to Karunanidhi's July 17 missive expressing concern over the slow progress of the rehabilitation measures for the ethnic Tamils, was released to the media in Chennai.The slow progress had consequently made people continue to undergo the "ordeal" of camp life, Karunanidhi had said adding India should itself review the ground situation. Lanka-India talks on vital issues Sri Lanka and India will hold top-level consultations over a series of bilateral and international issues when a high-powered delegation visits New Delhi next month.The team headed by Basil Rajapaksa, Minister of Economic Development cum Senior Presidential Advisor, will include Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa. The delegation is expected to brief their Indian leaders on measures taken by the government to address Tamil grievances, development projects launched after the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas, the resettlement of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) and related matters.On the international front, the government’s official position in respect of the advisory panel set up by United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon is to be explained.External Affairs Ministry sources said the visit was expected to take place by mid-August. This is after Minister Rajapaksa who undertakes a visit to Japan today accompanied by External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris returns to Sri Lanka. Defence Secretary Rajapaksa, who is now in the United States, is also expected to return to Colombo in the first week of August. The same delegation visited New Delhi in December last year -- their first visit since the military defeat of Tiger guerrillas in May last year. During this visit, the delegation thanked India for assistance rendered in the military campaign against the guerrillas. They also briefed Indian leaders and officials on the re-settlement of IDPs. UNP activist sets himself on fire Party reforms Mr. Algama was transferred to Colombo National hospital, after being admitted to Colombo south hospital with severe burn injuries, Director Dr. Anil Jayasinghe told BBC Sandeshaya. UNP Deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya has told Daily Mirror newspaper that Mr. Algama contacted him to express his "disgust" over the absence of unity in the party. The UNP that has experienced a series of defeats at national elections is discussing reforms to party hierarchy and constitution.The ruling Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) led coalitions have defeated UNP led coalitions since 1994, except in 2002.President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumarathunga used her executive powers to dissolve the UNP led government in 2004 that enjoyed the majority in the parliament. British Tamil embarks on Sri Lanka justice walk A British Tamil has embarked on a two-week walk from London to Geneva to ask the UN to initiate an independent investigation into allegations that war crimes were committed when the Sri Lankan government crushed the Tamil Tigers last year.Gobi Sivanthan, 29, a businessman from Hayes, west London, left Downing Street at midnight on Saturday morning. As part of his "walk for justice", which is due to end outside the offices of the UN human rights council on 6 August, Sivanthan is also calling for a boycott of Sri Lankan goods, for internally displaced persons to be allowed to return home, and for access to be granted to prisoners of war.The UN estimates that about 7,000 people died in the final months of fighting that culminated in the defeat of the Tamil Tigers and the end of the island's 25-year civil war. Human rights groups have accused government forces and Tamil Tiger rebels of targeting civilians.The UN closed its main office in Sri Lanka this month after crowds descended on the mission to protest against the UN secretary general's decision to set up a panel to advise him on the alleged atrocities.Sivanthan, who lost his father and many friends in the fighting that swept the north of the island in spring last year, said the world needed to know what had happened in Sri Lanka.Speaking from Dover today, he said: "I just want justice for all the war crimes that have been committed … people there need medication and food and they need people to investigate what happened. It was a genocide of Tamils."Sivanthan added: "I'm protesting in a peaceful way and not disturbing anyone. I just want to make people in the UK and France and Switzerland aware of what's happening and why I'm walking."The walk is not the first time the Tamils have taken their pleas to Geneva. In February last year another British-based Tamil burned himself to death outside the UN complex there to draw attention to his people's plight.Suren Surendiran, a spokesman for the British Tamils Forum, said: "Gobi has lost many of his family during the war, particularly during the last days of the war. There are many Gobis in Sri Lanka and overseas who have lost mums and dads, brothers and sisters. Some of us don't know whether our family members are living or dead. We want justice for all those who perished and for those still living." Govt. urged to recall Donald Several opposition political parties who threw a challenge at the government yesterday said the latter should recall Sri Lankan ambassador in Israel Donald Perera and make a clear clarification on the government’s position on Israel. These parties told a press conference organized by the Friends of Palestine in Colombo that the government should do this to prove that it did not follow double standards when it comes to its foreign policy. SLMC Strongman Shafeek Rajabdeen said the former Ambassador should come out openly and correct the situation and put things in order. He said the Muslims in Sri Lanka are deeply hurt by what the Sri Lankan Ambassador in Israel had reportedly said. Mr. Rajabdeen questioned as to why the Sri Lankan ambassador speaking in support of Israel while President Mahinda Rajapaksa had pledged sociality with Palestine. While recalling that Prime Minister Sirimavo Bandaranaike was able to hold the Non Allied Conference successful without inviting Israel, he said the present government is creating blunders which can be harmful to Sri Lanka internationally.. He warned that that this statement will hurt the nations such as Palestine which had stood up Sri Lanka against UN and EU. New Left Front leader Dr. Wickremabahu Karunaratne charged that the Sri Lankan government is being controlled by conservative nations such as Israel, India and USA. He said the Ambassador’s statement clearly proves this point. “What the Ambassador said was not his view point but the government’s” he said and questioned as to what kind of freedom which the government is trying to achieve for the people in Sri Lanka by bowing down to these nations. He therefore charged that lands in the North are being sold out to countries such as India and Israel.Friends of Palestine Secretary and UNP member of the Western Provincial Council Mujimul Rahuman said the government had made its stand clear by allowing the Israel Ambassador in India to hold the Israeli national day in Sri Lanka recently. He said several Ministers also participated in it. Mr. Rahuman also alleged that the government had purchased arms from Israel which had also sold arms to the LTTEMr. Rahuman also questioned as how a government which backed the Palestine Solidarity Front back Israel today. This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . IGP should resign - JVP Tamils rally at Queen's Park Hundreds of Tamil-Canadians gathered at Queen’s Park Sunday afternoon to remember countrymen who were killed 27 years ago during Black July — a time when a wave of violence swept through Sri Lanka.“During the riots that took place in July 1983, nearly 3,000 Tamils lost their lives, hundreds of thousands had to flee the country or became displaced, and millions of dollars worth of property was destroyed,” said Siva Vimal, of the National Council of Canadian Tamils.He said the council was formed in the wake of the protests that swept through Toronto last year in an effort to unite Tamils across the Canada.“To date, there have been no reparations ... no apologies and no justice,” Vimal said.Those in attendance say that hatred toward Tamils led to another wave of violence in 2009 that saw thousands more Tamils die, many of them civilians, in fighting between the Tamil Tigers and the Sinhalese-led government.A recent decision by the U.N. to investigate alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka is “a step in the right direction,” he said, adding the country can’t move forward until there is “accountability.”Although the civil war finally ended last year, the battle to rebuild has just begun, said Vimal.He and others at Queen’s Park also demanded the Sri Lankan government do something about the thousands of Tamils who were displaced during fighting.They also called on the Canadian government to take a more active role.There are some 300,000 Tamils Canada, most of whom live in the GTA. Many have lost friends and family in the fighting in their homeland.Once it was dark, the south lawn at Queen’s Park was filled with candlelight as the Tamil-Canadians continued their vigil. No politics for KP Former LTTE chief arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) who is now under Sri Lankan custody and is reportedly assisting the government will not enter politics, Government Minister and former rebel Karuna Amman told Daily Mirror online.Amman, now known as Vinayagamurthi Muralitharan, says KP does not have any political knowledge as he was purely acquiring weapons for the LTTE before its military defeat last year.“There is no plan for him to enter politics. The Government has no plan on that. This issue was raised in the Parliament by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) who said that he was going to be made the chief minister of the Northern Province. KP is not a politician and he will not become one. He is under custody and he supports the government while being in custody,” Minister Muralitharan told Daily Mirror online. Priority to renovate Jaffna Fort The National Heritage and Cultural Affairs Ministry has launched a program to preserve the Sri Lankan heritage of Northern and Eastern Provinces. The Ministry has given priority to renovate the Jaffna Fort under this Program, National Heritage and Cultural Affairs Minister Pavithra Wanniarachchi told the Daily News. The reconstruction of the Jaffna Fort will be launched with Rs 104.5 million granted by the Netherlands government. The Ministry expects to launch the construction program under the guidelines of history experts. The armouries and barracks used by soldiers hundreds of years ago together with tunnels situated in the Jaffna Fort which were destroyed by terrorist activities over the past three decades would be reconstructed under this program, the Minister said. The building known as the Queen's House and the Roman Catholic church were badly damaged due to the terrorist war. A canal which was used for the inner security of the Fort and was destroyed due to terrorist activities will also be rehabilitated. It has been discovered that this canal is a kilometre in length, forty metres in width and three metres in depth, Minister Wanniarachchi said. These buildings will be reconstructed and renovated to recapture their past glory. Monuments inside and outside the Fort will be preserved and conserved under this program. It is also planned to remove mud and landmines from the ancient canal and preserve it. Canadian officials refuse to comment on MV Sun Sea Canadian officials had refused to comment on the Thai ship approaching the coast of British Columbia with more than 200 Sri Lankan migrants aboard, CBS news reported yesterday.After outlining Canada’s approach to dealing with migrant vessels, including “stopping illegal migrant‐smuggling ships that are destined for Canada at their points of departure” and prosecuting those responsible, Canadian Foreign Affairs Department spokesman Alain Cacchione would only say that “Canada is aware of press reports suggesting that a vessel has departed South East Asian waters and may be destined for Canada.”“This is the only information available at this point in time,” Cacchione said in an email.Officials in the United States have taken a similar approach.U.S. Coast Guard officials told CBC News on Saturday a law enforcement file had been opened, so they cannot speak about it.However, on Friday a spokesman with the U.S. Coast Guard’s Pacific division told the Globe and Mail that a sighting of the MV Sun Sea had been confirmed.“All I can say is that it is carrying the Thai flag and it is believed to be travelling towards British Columbia,” Adam Stanton said. According to news reports in Asia, the cargo ship has been tracked since May when it made an unsuccessful attempt to land in Australia. 24 July 2010 REMEMBRANCE DAY STATE TERROR BLACK JULY OF 1983 REVISITED At a time when Sri Lankan Tamils were seeking refuge from the violence and political persecution of Sri Lanka’s Anti-Tamil Pogrom of July 1983, there is one day in the year when we make a special effort to remember upon this one day, we remember those that suffered, those that fought, and those that died. TELO Leaders and Fifty three Tamil prisoners were murdered in the maximum security Welikade prison and 3000 Tamils were slaughtered for no reason other than the fact that they were Tamils. Just two weeks before the attacks on Tamil people and property, President J R Jayawardne was quoted by the (London) Daily Telegraph of 11 July 1983 as saying “I am not worried about the opinion of the Tamil people.. now we cannot think of them, not about their lives or their opinion ... Really if I starve the Tamils out, the Sinhala people will be happy”. Nothing was heard from the President for 5 days into the pogrom, and when he appeared on television it was to say that the attacks were “not a product of urban mobs but a mass movement of the generality of the Sinhalese people and that “the time had come to accede to the clamour and the national respect of the Sinhalese people”. The Madras Hindu of 10th August 1983 “Selvaraja Yogachandran (TELO), popularly known as Kuttmuni, a nominated member of the Sri Lankan parliament who was one of the 52 prisoners killed in the maximum security Wellikade prison in Colombo two weeks ago, was forced to kneel in his cell, (where he was under solitary confinement), by his assailants and ordered to pray to them. When he refused, his tormentors taunted him about his last wish, when he was sentenced to death. (He had willed that his eyes be donated to someone so that at least that person would see an independent Tamil Eelam.) The assailants then gouged his eyes. He was then stabbed to death and his testicles were wrenched from his body. That was confirmed by one of the doctors who had conducted the post-mortem on the first group of 35 prisoners. According to S.A David,[iii] the thirty-five Tamils were then heaped in front of the statue of Gautama Buddha in the yard of the Welikade prison and when some yet alive raised their heads they were clubbed to death.The second round of killings on July 27 was lead by Sepala Ekanaike, undergoing life imprisonment for the hijacking of an Alitalia plane on its flight from Delhi to Bangkok a year previously. Sinhalese prisoners convicted of murder, rape and burglary charges were handpicked by the warders, who after plying them with liquor, let them loose on the remaining Tamil political prisoners. Seventeen prisoners were killed on this occasion. London Daily Telegraph, 26 July 1983 "Motorists were dragged from their cars to be stoned and beaten with sticks during racial violence in Colombo, the Sri Lanka capital yesterday (24 July). Others were cut down with knifes and axes. Mobs of Sinhala youth rampaged through the streets, ransacking homes, shops and offices, looting them and setting them ablaze, as they sought out members of the Tamil ethnic minority... A Sri Lankan friend told me by telephone last night how he had watched horrified earlier in the day as a mob attacked a Tamil cyclist riding near Colombo's eye hospital, a few hundred yards from the home of Junius Jayawardene, the nations 76 year old President. The cyclist was hauled from his bike, drenched with petrol and set alight. As he ran screaming down the street, the mob set on him again and hacked him down with jungle knifes.." Guardian, 26 July 1983 ''Pillars of smoke and flame rose over the Sri Lankan capital, Colombo yesterday as mobs attacked the minority Tamil community and looted their homes and stores...Some of the worst rioting erupted in the morning only 200 yards away from President Jayawardene's house... All over the city by mid-morning lorries jammed with young men shouting anti Tamil slogans, were moving into Tamil areas and into shopping centres picking out Tamil shops... Petrol was siphoned from cars into buckets and plastic bowls to speed the work of arson.. By noon Colombo resembled a city after a bombing raid. Smoke obscured the sun, main roads were blocked by burnt out vehicles.. The rioting surged into the heart of the city. In area after area Sinhalese rioters systematically picked out Tamil homes and shops, whether occupied or empty, and looted and destroyed them...'' London Daily Express, 29th August 1983 a tourist told yesterday how she watched in horror as a Sinhala mob deliberately burned alive a bus load of Tamils... Mrs.Eli Skarstein, back home in Stavanger, Norway, told how she and her 15 year old daughter, Kristin, witnessed one massacre. 'A mini bus full of Tamils were forced to stop in front of us in Colombo' she said. A Sinhalese mob poured petrol over the bus and set it on fire. They blocked the car door and prevented the Tamils from leaving the vehicle. 'Hundreds of spectators watched as about 20 Tamils were burned to death'. Mrs. Skarstein added: 'We can't believe the official casualty figures. Hundreds may be thousands must have been killed already." The Guardian, 28 July 1983 "Smoke from hundreds of shops, offices, warehouses and homes blew idly over Colombo yesterday. Any business, any house belonging to or occupied by a Tamil has been attacked by gangs of goondas and the resulting destruction looks like London after a heavy night's attention from the Luftwaffe. The sharp smell of destruction fills the nostrils and the roads beneath the feet crunch with broken glass. Cars and lorries lie at ungainly angles across the footways. In Pettah, the old commercial heart of the city, row after row of sari boutiques, electronic dealers, rice sellers, car parts stores, lie shattered and scarred... government officials yesterday estimated that 20,000 businesses had been attacked in the city." London Times, 22 August 1983 ''Considerably more people died during the recent violence in Sri Lanka than the 380 deaths the government there has admitted to, according to an aid organisation. Dr.Sjef Teuns, General Secretary of Novib, the leading private development aid organisation in the Netherlands, said between 1000 and 2000 people lost their lives. He returned to Netherland on Saturday. He accused the Sri Lanka government of serious human rights violations against the Tamil population and called the Dutch government to reconsider its development aid policy towards the country.'' Patricia Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary, Lawasia Human Rights Standing Committee Report -Democracy in Peril, June 1985 ''Estimates of the number of persons killed in the week of violence vary. Official estimates are just under 400 killed. These estimates are conservative. Unofficial estimates are as high as 1500 to 2000. It is probable that many bodies were not at first discovered because they were burned in houses. Also some bodies were hidden and buried privately by people who were frightened by the prospect of further reprisals should the bodies be discovered, or scared to attract attention to themselves by reporting the deaths. At the date of our departure from Sri Lanka, September 1st, there were many people still missing or not accounted for.'' Sri Lanka - The Unfinished Quest for Peace - L.Piyadasa, Marram Books, 1988 ''The police and the government made no attempt to stop or hinder small gangs of men who went about with lists, burning the houses and flats (in Sinhala owned dwellings only the contents), grocery stores, pharmacies, textile shops, tailoring establishments, restaurants, bookshops, hardware shops, lawyers offices, studios... as well as tourist hotels. They also burnt trucks, vans and cars. They went for only those things which were owned by (Tamils)... They did this expertly.... within sight of President's House in the administrative and business centre, a few yards away from the Prime Minister's official residence, near the UNP headquarters, in blocks immediately adjacent to or opposite major police stations - taking care, on a hot, dry morning, not to start fires which would spread to adjacent Sinhalese owned or state property. Accidents and violations of 'discipline' were few.'' Patricia Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary, Lawasia Human Rights Standing Committee Report -Democracy in Peril, June 1985 eye witnes and victims reported that on the streets cars were stopped by gangs and the people inside were asked whether they were Sinhalese or Tamil. Some Sinhalese words are extremely difficult for people who do not speak the language fluently to pronounce, people were tested by being made to pronounce these words. The mobs were also demanding to see identity cards to establish whether or not people were Tamils... People identified as Tamils as a result of the questioning were told to get out of their cars and their cars were set alight... In cases where any resistance was offered, killings were likely to take place... It was reported by many people that in some instances students from Buddhist schools followed on behind the first rioters and that some Buddhist monks were seen amongst the gangs'' The London Times, 2 August 1983 Tamil owned businesses account for between 50 and 60 percent of the commercial life of the capital and they have been destroyed - scientifically extracted from among their neighbours and burned." Eye witness account, Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race and Class, Volume XXVI, A.Sivanandan and Hazel Waters, Institute of Race Relations ''A most distressing aspect of the vandalism was the burning and the destruction of the houses and dispensaries of eminent Tamil doctors - some with over a quarter of a century of service in Sinhala areas...'' The Guardian, 9 August 1983 ''About 100 industrial plants were severly damaged or destroyed, including 20 garment factories. The cost of industrial reconstruction was estimated at 2,000 million rupees (£55 million). This did not include damaged shops.'' The New York Times reported in early August: ''The shells of (Tamil owned) businesses line Galle Road, the main waterfront thoroughfare advertising the names that marked them for destruction. Lakshmi Mahal, pawbroker, or Ram Gram stores and florist.. Damage estimates are uncertain and incomplete, but the total economic loss has been placed at $300 million.'' Eye witness account, Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race and Class, Volume XXVI, A.Sivanandan and Hazel Waters, Institute of Race Relations. ''Seventeen industrial complexes belonging to some of the leading Tamil... industrialists were razed to the ground... Several cinemas owned by Tamils were destroyed... Probably the worst affected area was the Pettah, the commercial centre of Colombo, where Tamil and Indian traders played a dominant role. Hardly a single Tamil or Indian establishment was left standing.'' Wide spread attacks in Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and elsewhere The attacks were not confined to Colombo alone. They spread to Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla, Bandarawela, Negombo, and many other areas where Tamils lived amongst a predominant Sinhala population."Violence also erupted in places such as Kandy, Matale, Nuwara Eliya, Badulla and Bandarawela. On each of these occasions it followed a similar pattern. The incidents were started off by people coming in from outside the districts, lists were used to identify Tamil property and systematic attacks were made on it: the local people were then encouraged to follow with further depredations..." (Patricia Hyndman, Senior Lecturer in Law, University of New South Wales and Secretary, Lawasia Human Rights Standing Committee - Report on the Communal Violence in Sri Lanka, July 1983) ''(A British tourist) said: 'Last Wednesday a taxi driver took us into Negombo... and the whole town was smouldering. All the Tamil property in the centre of the town had been burnt down. The cigarette factory had gone up together with a cinema and a garage. There was smoke everywhere and the whole area was a burnt out mess. ..there was no sign of any Tamil anywhere. We were told that Tamils were being grabbed off buses by groups of people wielding iron bars. We also saw young Sinhalese stopping cars to siphon out the petrol so they could use it to start fires.'.. '' (London Times, 2 August 1983) ''...the looting burning and killing that began last week end in Colombo spread to the cities of Kandy and Gampola in the central hills... In Kandy, 62 miles northeast of Colombo, mobs burned and sacked at least 55 stores owned by members of the Tamil minority in attacks that began Tuesday night and continued Wednesday...'' (The Guardian, 28 July 1983) "The town (Kandy), which lies at the centre of the tea and rubber plantations of the central highland area of Sri Lanka has witnessed rioting and fire bombing against Tamil owned homes and businesses for the past four nights. And the presence of the rows of burnt out shops and of the 6000 Tamils in five temporary camps shows that the communal terror which has been unleashed in Sri Lanka is much more widespread than at first reported. The testimony of similar outrages in the villages in the steep sided hills and dense green country around Kandy reinforces that impression...The Sinhala District Inspector General of Police for the central range said: 'We usually expect what we call the soda bottle effect in these things. A sudden foaming up and then going flat but that hasn't happened yet.'... Two unidentified bodies were fished from the artificial lake in the centre of Kandy and a third body was found on a railway line close to the town. The body, which had been cut and chopped, was evidently thrown from a train..." (The London Times, 30 July 1983) "...News of the extent of the violence directed at the centre of Nuwara Eliya by Sinhala mobs was somehow contained by the town's remoteness... But no point in Colombo or the surrounding suburbs matches the mess... Whole blocks have been reduced to charred rubble. Only a handful of provision shops belonging to Sinhala traders remained... Remarkably, only sixteen people died in the inferno..." (London Daily Telegraph, 6 August 1983) ''Two weeks ago (Nuwara Eliya).. became the focal point for much of the communal violence that has engulfed the island... We had already been in Sri Lanka for 10 days... before the events of 29 July. We had started in Colombo; we then fled to Kandy to escape the violence; when it followed us there we moved to Nuwara Eliya. Yet subsequent reports confirmed that the damage done to Nuwara Eliya was at least the equal of anything experienced elsewhere.. By dusk on Friday 29 July, not one building in the central street was left standing; fire had spread to the hills too, engulfing shops, homes and buses...''(Peter Hartnell, New Statesman, 12 August 1983) ''In the relatively small town of Lunugala in the Badulla District, 67 houses, 35 business establishments and two vehicles belonging to Tamils were burnt. A leading businessman and a nun were murdered.. In Badulla itself, according to a report in Virakesari of 1 October 1983, quoting the government agent, 127 houses, 252 shops, four Hindu temples, four printing presses, two cinemas, one tavern, three Tamil schools, 79 vehicles and a rural bank were destroyed. There were 20 murders. In the nearby small town of Passara, in the sam district, 63 houses, 21 shops, 16 vehicles and printing press were burnt and destroyed. There were two murders...'' (N.Shanmugathasan,Sri Lanka: Racism and the Authoritarian State - Race and Class, Volume XXVI, A.Sivanandan and Hazel Waters, Institute of Race Relations, London) ''Holiday makers who returned to Dusseldorf said hundreds of Tamils had been murdered and even their hotel waiter told them proudly, 'we have killed several of them." A business consultant said a dozen houses had been burned down near the popular seaside resort of Bentota, among them the local chemist shop...''(Oslo Report dateline 29 July 1983 in Madras Hindu) ''Fearing adverse international reaction to photographs and TV footage depicting the aftermath of the violence, the authorities yesterday imposed strict censorship on all still and moving pictures.'' (London Daily Telegraph, 2 August 1983) David Beresford reporting in the Guardian, 7 August 1983 ''...the latest incident to be reported took place (in Badulla).. The survivor's account was given by Mrs.Sivamany Ganesan, aged 36, a mother of three children who belonged to one of two Tamil families attacked. Mrs.Ganesan said that she was a weaving teacher, married to a used car salesman, living with her family atMuthieyangama Road, Badulla, a well to do street which included three Tamil homes. At about 10 a.m. on Wednesday, July 27, a crowd gathered outside a bus depot 100 yards away, attacking passing vehicles. She said that her family telephoned the police to evacuate them but they did not come. The crowd then began to attack the home of a neighbour, Mr.Ramanathan, who had a shotgun and who fired a single round into the air through a window to try to frighten them away. The army then arrived.. and took up positions behind the crowd which began the attack again... Mrs.Ganesan said that a son of Mr.Ramanathan, aged about 15, climbed onto the roof of their house... and was shot by a soldier from the street and fell to the ground. She fled to her aunt's house nearby with her children, hiding with them in the bathroom. She heard firing and then an explosion. They ran out of the bathroom to find that the house was on fire... On the main road in front of Mr.Ramanathan's house there was a pile of bodies including those of her husband, brother in law, father in law and her sister in law's husband... her husbands intestines (were) falling out and his head staved in... The Ramanathan menfolk had been hacked and beaten to death by the crowd she said... Diesel oil was then poured over three lorries, a van and a motorcycle parked around the house. A brand was lighted and handed to Mr.Ramanathan's daughter who was made to set... the vehicles on fire...'' Impunity, a debilitating fixture in state culture 25 years after Welikada massacre - by Rajan Hoole -commemorative Article for Black July 83- Colombo’s Welikada high security prison was the scene of two massacres of Tamil political prisoners during the communal violence of July 1983, first after lunch on July 25 claiming 35 prisoners and second, about 4.00 PM on the July 27 claiming a further 18. On both occasions Secretary of Justice Mervyn Wijesinghe asked Colombo Magistrate Keerthi Srilal Wijewardene to hold inquests with the assistance of Tilak Marapone and C.R. de Silva (the present AG) from the Attorney General’s Department. No culprits were identified and the case was hushed up.The massacres made life a living hell also for those on the spot, who driven by moral aversion tried unsuccessfully stop them, but were not even allowed to clear their names. The inquest One of them, Superintendent of Prisons (SP) Alexis Leo de Silva, upon hearing the alarm on the 25th, rushed into the mob in the Chapel Section with ASPs Amarasinghe and Munaweera, followed by Deputy Commissioner (DC) Cutty Jansz, but to little avail. Leo felt very angry that the army unit at the prison headed by Lt. Mahinda Hathurusinghe, 4th Artillery, did nothing to stop the murder, and later also blocked emergency hospitalization of injured survivors. A lieutenant would hardly have dared to override DC Jansz and doomed the survivors, without prompting from Army HQ. While some prison staff protected Tamils, others, including a jailor, attacked the survivors in the compound.At the inquest on the 26th, Leo wanted to place the truth on record. Magistrate Wijewardene left out chunks of his testimony. Leo’s son Lalanath de Silva recently told us, “An AG’s department counsel called my father outside the room where the inquest was being held and attempted to persuade my father to go along - pleading that the truth would place Sri Lanka in a very adverse position internationally.” At one point the Magistrate became so angry that he refused to take down Leo’s testimony.The Police under Detective Superintendent Hyde Silva questioned the survivors on the 26th following the Magistrate’s order. To Suriya Wickremasinghe of the Civil Rights Movement belongs the credit for painstakingly seeking out survivors of the massacres, interviewing them and keeping the issue alive. She told us that survivor Manikkadasan in his statement to the Police, blamed two jailors of active complicity. A thin jailor warned him that mention of names might lead to similar jeopardy from inmates. Eyewitnesses Suriya believes that the second massacre owed to earlier survivors being also eyewitnesses. On the 27th Lt. Nuvolari Seneviratne of Army Engineers commanded the platoon outside the prison. Hearing a commotion where the survivors had been re-housed, Nuvolari radioed the Duty Officer (DO) at Army HQ. He told the Junior DO who answered that he wanted authority to go into prison and disperse the mob. The Junior DO gave him a telephone number and asked him to phone the DO (a colonel). Nuvolari used the coin phone at the entrance to ring the number at Army HQ. The DO told him to stick to standing orders and stay outside prison, or would face court-martial if he went in. Nuvolari asked for the Army Commander. He was refused, being told the Commander was with President Jayewardene, and relief was being sent to deal with the problem. (Cutty Jansz had also phoned Army HQ.) The relief, commandos under Major Sunil Peiris, promptly went in and saved 19 of the 37 prisoners. Nuvolari felt the deaths to be sheer murder, which his platoon could have prevented if not constrained by HQ. At the second inquest, the AG’s men, Marapone and de Silva, were keenly selective. Leo who was in prison the whole day, had at the first forebodings asked DC Jansz to expedite the removal of the survivors to safety. As if by design, the attack began when he went for a late snack in lieu of lunch, causing him to rush back. Neither he nor his ASPs were called upon to testify at the inquest.The AG’s men and Magistrate tried to frame a jailbreak attempt that supposedly left inadequate resources to prevent the massacre. The AG’s men and Army’s lawyers importuned Lt. Seneviratne to tell the inquest that he was outside the prison controlling a jailbreak. He refused. The world had crashed around the 22-year-old sportsman from Trinity College who joined the Army with high hopes. Major Sunil Peiris stepped in saying not to harass Nuvolari and if he won’t, he won’t, and if their object was having someone from the Army testify, he would.To a leading question, Major Peiris answered with professional precision, “I did not notice any prisoners attempting to break out. Therefore I gathered that the attempted mass jail break had been contained before our arrival!” Undeterred by Peiris’ refusal to perjure, the Magistrate summed up, “...prompt and efficient steps taken by the special unit of the Army under witness Major Peiris had effectively prevented the jail break ... and helped quell the mob which might otherwise have caused [even greater death].” Taming scandals and condemning posterity In July 2001, President Kumaratunge appointed the Presidential ‘Truth’ Commission on Ethnic Violence headed by former Chief Justice Suppiah Sharvananda, with S.S. Sahabandu and M.M. Zuhair. Suriya Wickremasinghe had repeatedly been thwarted in her efforts to obtain from the Police, testimony they received from the survivors of the first massacre. The Commission, which relied heavily on Suriya’s work, could have followed this up to further its investigations, but did not.Tamil survivors named to us Jailor Rogers Jayasekere, Jailor Samitha Rathgama and Location Officer Palitha as the protagonists on the ground. Senior prison officials have indirectly affirmed Jayasekere’s culpability. His family were strong UNP supporter from President Jayewardene’s old Kelaniya electorate, shared in 1983 by Ranil Wickremasinghe and Cyril Mathew. Rumours charged that gangsters under Gonawala Sunil of Kelaniya UNP fame were brought into prison to assist the second massacre. Vehicle check Nuvolari Seneviratne’s testimony bears relevance here. His soldiers at the entrance checked the vehicles going into the prison to ensure they were the government’s. Jail guards just inside the entrance did the identity checks. The soldiers at the entrance told Nuvolari that some of the official vehicles entering took underworld figures, but exited without them. Asked who the underworld figures were, Seneviratne replied, “I did not see them myself and there is no way my men would have known them. But the jail guards knew them as persons in and out of jail. They told my men.”During the second massacre, Journalist Aruna Kulatunga wrote recently, he saw airline hijacker Sepala Ekanayake coming out of the prison gates screaming “kohomada ape wede” (How is our job?), felled by a thundering blow from Major Sunil Peiris. Peiris had told me something more, that Sepala was carrying a severed human head.Senior prison staff dismissed this as fantasy. I published it in my book Arrogance of Power, since I knew Peiris. I had checked back with Peiris, who, a little hurt, explained, ‘You know your Bible? It was like John the Baptist’s head on a charger’. It happened before Peiris saw the scene of crime. Peiris’ action makes sense only if Sepala’s utterance, reported also by Kulatunga, drew his attention to something revolting. Peiris’ testimony at the inquest speaks for truthfulness and accuracy that are hallmarks of a good officer. Nuvolari’s refusal to perjure again stands his testimony in good stead.About when Peiris’ party arrived, Nuvolari’s men drew his attention to a fresh hole in the prison wall near the cricket ground. Upon inspection he saw an Air Force truck standing by. No words were exchanged. The Army’s legal unit also removed Nuvolari’s standing orders and the logbook with records of vehicles entering. On 27th, the Tamil detainees fought back, some attackers were mauled and soldiers shot some, but there is no account of casualties. SP Leo de Silva felt impelled by his honour to place the truth on record. His later investigations were stalled by an order from Commissioner Delgoda. Then Justice Minister Nissanka Wijeratne threw Leo out of service at the age of 56 by refusing a routine extension. The total cover up and a diversity of coherent testimony pointing to the nefarious deployment of broader resources, gives surely the lie to representing the massacres as an outburst of subaltern patriotism. No perpetrators were named and Sepala walks free. Is it not because they have beans to spill? Whether or not directly intended, what our commissions and AG’s Dept. achieve is to protect the State’s inbuilt abuses that have gone over tolerable limits. The blame for its repeated crimes is invariably shuffled off to subaltern sectors. The routine official prevarication also leads to Sinhalese seeing the ethnic problem as Tamils making mountains of molehills, and the solution as being to knock them about, pat them on the head and give them sweets to suck.Regrettably, few Sinhalese would be shocked that Attorney General C.R. de Silva guides important commission proceedings such as the ACF investigation. He, or Marapone, tried to stop Leo de Silva 25 years ago, pleading that ‘the truth would place Sri Lanka in an adverse position internationally’. Lanka would have redeemed itself had all such crimes been faced squarely long ago, rather than make fixers of truth a permanent feature of the State. On a further point, the prison murders of rising Tamil leaders Dr. Rajasundaram, Kuttimani and Thangathurai led to the fracture of the original Tamil youth leadership and the rise of Prabhakaran. That is another intricate story. 22 July 2010 One more panel to Sri Lanka an admission of guilt: Jayalalithaa AIADMK general secretary Jayalalithaa on Thursday alleged that by asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to send another delegation to Sri Lanka to assess the real situation, Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi had admitted that the delegation he had sent earlier was counterfeit and their assessment was untrue.Recalling the Chief Minister’s letter to the Prime Minister crying out for immediate and urgent rehabilitation of the Internally Displaced Tamil people of Sri Lanka, she said it was an open admission that the Tamil people of Sri Lanka were still in a state of acute distress. In a statement here, Ms Jayalalithaa said that both the Chief Minister and his hand-picked delegation, including his daughter, had lied to the people of Tamil Nadu and to the Tamils all over the world that the Tamil people of Sri Lanka were doing just fine. Ms. Jayalalithaa said “with some more months to go for the State Legislative Assembly elections and with defeat looming large, Mr. Karunanidhi is sure to introduce several desperate twists and turns in his script.” “But he should realise one truth. The people have seen through him. The writing on the wall is clear,” she said. A solution to the ethnic crisis in Sri Lanka is through reconciliation states Robert O Blake US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O Blake met Foreign Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris. He met President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday in the morning, met opposition party members, business society and civil social groups. The meeting between Robert Blake and President was lasted for one hour. More attention was focused in expanding relationship between the two countries. American Deputy State Secretary who came in the early morning hours met Foreign Affairs Minister G.L.Peiris in the afternoon and held discussions. Robert Blake who has come on a one day visit to Sri lanka departed to Maldives is according to reports.While he spoke at a media briefing yesterday evening he said, America and Sri Lanka have a long term relationship. America welcomes the victory achieved by President at the last Presidential and general election. This will make ways to find a final settlement to the racial crisis in Sri Lanka and to the future reconciliation was mentioned by him. Blake noted that achieving reconciliation will be a key element in peace and one part of achieving reconciliation. He said, America wil given its continuous assistance to finish resettling all internally displaced persons, excavation of landmines. The coordination of America will be for trade opportunities to the resettled people, investments in the north was mentioned by him. He said, during the past two years, America has granted 142 million dollars to Sri Lanka for humanitarian assistance. He said, government has progressed to an extent of resettling the displaced persons. Such advancements are welcomed by America. He said, while he had discussions with the business society, he was able to understand mainly the developments in the fishing sector, bank and tourism industry. Robert Blake said, America will certainly encourage to these trades. He said, in regard to the United Nation Expert panel, generally a wrong impressing is prevailing, but the panel is only originated to provide advice to Ban Ki Moon. He said the experiences acquired by this group will assist the panel which is originated by President. He said the crisis between the Untied Nation Organization and Sri Lanka has come to an extent to a settlement. Meanwhile devolution of powers between the provinces in Sri Lanka and the implementation of the amendment to the 17th constitution will pave way for reconciliation, media freedom, peace and will protect humanitarian rights which America feels was mentioned by Robert Blake. Give democracy! Otherwise be ready to face people's opposition!- Tilvin Silva warns government. Unless the country is granted democracy the government should get ready to face people's opposition said the General Secretary of the JVP Tilvin Silva. He said this while addressing a protest campaign organized by DNA in Colombo yesterday evening.Mr. Silva further said that Rajapaksha regime uses power which was plundered from people to abolish democracy. Although at first President Mahinda Rajapaksha wanted to increase the number of terms for him to attain executive presidency, due to people's opposition he had to reverse the idea. Now he is trying to modify the constitution as he wishes Mr. Tilvin Silva further stated."If the constitution is to be modified as they wish and if 'the king' attempts to retain power as long as the 'crown price' attains his appropriate age, such moves should be defeated. When big criminals and those who plundered public properties are enjoying ministerial portfolios General Sarath Fonseka who fought devotedly to save the country is still kept in jail. What is the offence he did? The reason is he contested the last presidential election against Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksha to abolish executive presidency. All those political revenges emerged after that. We go before court against these injustices. However those issues can not only be settled at the court. We are ready to fight for that. So we demand the government to establish democracy, otherwise get ready to face people's opposition. The people in the north are not given democracy yet. Already one year has passed since the end of the war. Still the country is ruled on emergency regulations. The rulers are so weak that they are unable to manage the country on civil laws. These emergency regulations should be revoked. Democracy is essential to the country at this moment. Therefore we force the government to abolish executive presidency, to establish democracy. Sri Lanka government and opposition discuss implementation of 17th Amendment Expert Panel appointed to provide advice to UN Secretary Ban Ki Moon met high officials The Expert panel which was originated to grant advice to United Nation Organization Secretary Ban Ki Moon met the United Nation Senior officials. The first meeting was held by the panel yesterday. The Spokesperson of United Nation Organization, Martin Nesaki while commenting in regard to this said, the panel members met United Nation Senior Official Vijai Nambiyar, Deputy Secretaries John Homes and Patricia Obrain. The expert panel will meet the United Nation Organization political division secretary Lyn Bosco and Humanitarian rights Commissioner Richard Bernard was mentioned by the spokesperson. SF to face trial-at-bar for divulging military secrets The Chief Justice J. A. N. de Silva has appointed a High Court Trial-at-Bar to investigate the charges pertaining to former Army Commander General (retd) Sarath Fonseka divulging military secrets to the Sunday Leader newspaper.The Trial-at-Bar comprises High Court Judges, Deepali Wijesundera, W. T. M. P. B. Warawawa and M. Z. Razeem.Fonseka was indicted by the Attorney General for having told the editor of the Sunday Leader Frederick Jansz that the Sri Lanka Army had shot at sight the LTTE cadres who displayed white flags and surrendered to the Sri Lanka Army. He is also indicted for having given away military information to the editor and of having incited the people against the State of Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka's envoy to Israel says government supportive of Israel's fight against terror Sri Lanka's envoy to Israel, former Chief of Defence Staff Donald Perera has been quoted in the media saying that Israeli defence forces need public support to successfully eradicate terror. In an interview to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth (Ynetnews) Air Chief Marshal Perera has noted the similarities between the LTTE and the Hamas and said Sri Lanka is a staunch supporter of Israel's fight against terror. "No one wants bloodshed. The other side (Palestinians) should be offered direct negotiations, without preconditions, to determine its level of seriousness. These talks should focus on trying to reach a compromise that would allow both sides to sign an agreement," he has told the daily. He has also been quoted as saying, "In case the other side shows it is not interested in a compromise, (Israel) must move on to the military phase with full force. (The government) will have to explain to the citizens that (Israel) is headed for a long and difficult struggle that will exact a heavy price, but at the end of this struggle the country's situation will be much better." "Once you have the public’s support, you should fight relentlessly until all of the terror hubs are destroyed. There is no going back," Yedioth Ahronoth quoted the Ambassador. Referring to the May 31 commando raid on a Gaza-bound Turkish ship, Perera has said, "As a military man I can understand that Israel had to protect itself. Due to Sri Lanka's vast experience in fighting terror, I can say that it will always support countries that also oppose (terror)." SLA soldiers sexually abuse resettled women in Mannar Young women recently released from Vavuniyaa internment camps and resettled in Mannar district are living in fear of their life, and are living are being sexually abused by members of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) occupying the Mannar area, sources in Mannar said.. Parents of the women undergoing harassment are unable to make official complaints because of fear of retribution, and are relocating, in increasing numbers, their daughters to relatives' houses located elsewhere for safety, civil sources from resettled areas say. Resettled areas are in complete control of the SLA, and in many areas residents number less than eight per soldier, sources say. During nights unidentified men alleged to be members of the SLA have been frequenting houses where young women stay, and when the women answer, the soldiers forcibly enter the house and abuse the women, civil sources said.Many young women have been widowed in the war, and some husbands are still under detention. Men and women disabled by war are also a major problem in resettled areas, civil sources added. Businessman arrested for building apartments with LTTE funds The Criminal Investigation Department yesterday arrested a leading businessman who had constructed an up-market condominium complex in Wellawatte allegedly with the money received from the LTTE.The alleged deal came to light following a CID probe into 11 condominium complexes in Colombo. The suspect Sivakumar, alias Siva, is a Canadian citizen. He had lived in Wellawatte for a long time after his return to Sri Lanka and engaged in the construction of luxury apartments, sources said.The suspect’s apartment complex consists of 78 units and 40 of them have already been sold at Rs. 15 million each, according to the police.The condominium project was launched in 2005 while the CFA between the LTTE and the government was in force. Investigations have revealed that the suspect had deposited large amounts of money with several banks. Ex-LTTE Cadres Help Air Force Recover Hidden Arms The Sri Lanka Air Force (SLAF) Regiment troops based at Trikonamadu found 2 caches of hidden arms in the general area of Iranapallai, Pudukuduirippu, on the 15th and 19th of this month, said SLAF spokesperson Group Captain Janaka Nanayakkara. The recovering of these arms was made possible with the help of rehabilitated former LTTE cadres.Among the arms found on the 15th were 5 LTTE-made aircraft bombs, 2 LTTE-made 40 mm mortars, 6 40mm RPG bombs, 2 120 mm mortar bombs and 2 hand grenades.The arms recovered on the 19th included 100kg of C-4 explosives, 90kg of RDX explosives, 100kg of propellant tube form explosives, 14 claymore mines, 3 anti tank mines, 2 LTTE-made hand grenades, 11 81mm mortar smoke bombs, 20 81mm mortar trapping bombs, 15 40mm RPG bombs and an LTTE-made rocket bomb.The troops involved are commanded by Squadron Leader Vajira Senadeera. Pilot Officer P.S.D.D. Rupasinghe was responsible for conducting both successful clearance operations. Muttiah Muralitharan reaches 800 Test wickets landmark Muttiah Muralitharan became the first bowler to take 800 Test wickets on the final day of his Test career in Galle.The Sri Lanka off-spinner, 38, who made his Test debut in 1992, began his final match against India on 792 wickets. He ousted record Test run-scorer Sachin Tendulkar on Tuesday and went on to take 5-63 as India had to follow on. Team-mate Lasith Malinga took 5-50 but with the last pair together, Murali had last man Pragyan Ojha caught by Mahela Jayawardene at slip to reach his 800. It left Sri Lanka needing to score 95 to win the match and take a 1-0 lead in the series, which their openers did with little fuss, but Muralitharan's achievement - reached in his 133rd Test - will overshadow the game.Needing three wickets in the second innings to reach the magic 800 mark, he removed Yuvraj Singh with the last ball of the fourth day, and trapped fellow off-spinner Harbhajan Singh lbw early on day five. With paceman Malinga liable to blast the Indian tail away at any time, Murali had to wait for his moment - having lbw and stumping appeals turned down, while seeing VVS Laxman, India's last recognised batsman, run out off his bowling. Last pair Ojha and Ishant Sharma resisted for 15 overs, but the safe hands of Jayawardene, one of the most reliable slip fielders of the modern era, fell to his left and pouched his 157th Test catch to begin the Sri Lankan celebrations. "Galle is my favourite ground and this is the opportunity I was waiting for to win the match and finish it nicely," said Muralitharan after finishing with match figures of 8-191. "My knee is not that great to bowl 50 or 60 overs, I thought." Among the first of many former and current players to congratulate Muralitharan was his former rival Shane Warne, who admitted: "I don't think anyone will get there, so well done to Murali for getting his 800. "The way he's gone about it has been amazing." Earlier in July, the BBC Sinhala Service revealed Muralitharan's retirement plans - and he later confirmed that this Test in Galle, the first of a three-game series, would be his last. He is expected to continue to play limited-overs internationals, including next spring's World Cup which will be staged in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh. Born in Kandy, Muralitharan has also taken 515 wickets in 337 one-day internationals, and a further 13 in Twenty20 internationals. His unique bent-arm bowling action, caused by a deformity from birth, has meant that he has courted controversy at times during his career. Some umpires and former players have questioned his action's legality - notably in Australia, where umpires Darrell Hair and Ross Emerson no-balled him for throwing, and former prime minister John Howard once called him a "chucker", although he later apologised. The mechanics of his bowling action have been investigated and cleared on more than one occasion by the International Cricket Council, although in 2005 the ICC amended its rules to allow bowlers to straighten their arms by up to 15 degrees. Throughout most of his Test career, he battled Australia leg-spinner Shane Warne for the title of Test cricket's leading wicket-taker, and the Sri Lankan took top spot ahead of Courtney Walsh and Warne in May 2004 with his 520th wicket, before an enforced spell on the sidelines after having shoulder surgery allowed Warne to forge ahead. But after Warne's international retirement, Muralitharan reclaimed the crown on his home ground in Kandy in December 2007 by bowling England's Paul Collingwood for his 709th wicket. Away from the international game, he has had spells with English counties Kent and Lancashire, and also starred for Chennai Super Kings in the lucrative Indian Premier League - taking 1-17 from his four overs as Chennai won this year's IPL final. Speaking before the Test, he explained that his decision to quit five-day cricket was because of the wear and tear on his body. "I've played for 19 years, I'm getting tired and getting old," he told the BBC. "There are a lot of good spinners waiting for their chance, and hopefully they can become like me one day." 20 July 2010 TNA delegation meets Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi US Assistant Secretary Blake to arrive in Sri Lanka tomorrow The United States Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asian Affairs Robert O. Blake, Jr. will travel to Colombo, Sri Lanka July 21 and Male, Maldives July 22, the State Department announced Monday. The former US Ambassador to Sri Lanka is expected to have consultations with the Sri Lankan government, political parties, business leaders, and civil society. Blake met Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa recently in April at the SAARC summit in Thimpu, Bhutan. This is Blake's first visit to Maldives since he was appointed as the Assistant Secretary. Final APRC report recommends unitary state concept for Sri Lanka while sharing powers between center and provinces The final report of Sri Lanka's All Party Representative Committee (APRC) that was released to the media by the main opposition United National Party (UNP) and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress has recommended that Sri Lanka shall be a unitary state while the state powers are shared between the center and the provinces. UNP MP R. Yogarajan said the final report of the APRC would be tabled in parliament today (20). The UNP and the SLMC told the media yesterday that the President had failed to publicize the final APRC report even a year after it was handed over to him by the head of the committee Minister Prof. Tissa Vitharana. Some highlights of the report are as follows: 1.A Parliamentary system of government. Need for political settlement in the Sri Lankan Tamil issue Internally-displaced Tamils in Sri Lanka should be settled again in their original places, R. Sampanthan, leader of the parliamentary group of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) of Sri Lanka, said on Tuesday."This is the most important demand now in the absence of a political settlement," Mr Sampanthan told reporters after calling on Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi at his Gopalapuram residence along with four other TNA Members of Parliament.He was responding to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s observation on the need for finding a political settlement for the Sri Lankan Tamil question.Welcoming the Chief Minister’s suggestion of sending a special envoy to Sri Lanka for studying the situation in the affected areas, the TNA leader said that if this suggestion fructified, a way could be found for the resolution of the Tamil question. He recalled that when Indira Gandhi was Prime Minister [during 1980-1984], Mr Karunanidhi had made a similar suggestion. Describing the meeting as satisfactory, the TNA leader said the Chief Minister had assured the delegation of all possible help. While a political settlement had to be arrived at [as a long term measure], basic amenities had to be provided now to internally-displaced Tamils. He complained that the work of building homes for the Tamils was going at a slow pace. The Sri Lankan government had not made constructive efforts to find the political settlement. Thanking the Union government for providing financial assistance for rehabilitation of the Tamils, Mr Sampanthan said such measures had not been undertaken in many areas. Though a year had lapsed [since the end of the war], the displaced people were yet to lead their normal life. He also called for an end to the attacks on fishermen of Tamil Nadu. ITAK Leader M.S. Senathirasa,TELO Leade Selvam Adaikkalanathan, M.A. Sumanthiran and EPRLF LeaderSuresh K. Premachandran of the TNA participated in the meeting, which lasted over an hour. ‘Prabha would have been uncrowned monarch’ Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram has said slain LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran would have been ‘Mudisooda Mannan’ (uncrowned monarch) of the northern and eastern provinces of Sri Lanka had he accepted the 1987 Indo‐Sri Lankan agreement as requested by former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.Addressing a public meeting here last night, Chidambaram said he had met Prabhakaran and talked with him for hours. “He (Prabhakaran) was not our enemy. We were opposed to the path chosen by him.” Virudhunagar is the home constituency of MDMK chief Vaiko, a known LTTE supporter. Vaiko was defeated by Congress nominee Manick Tagore by 15,000 votes in the 2009 Lok Sabha elections.Mr. Chidambaram said a country needs peace for development. “Violence and rioting will not develop a country.”There had been heavy loss of lives and properties in Sri Lanka (during the war against the LTTE).Claiming that peace had returned to the island nation, he said India had given Rs. 3,600 crore for the benefit of the internally displaced Tamils. The government had also allocated Rs. 1,000 crore for the construction of 50,000 houses in northern Sri Lanka.The Home Minister said efforts were underway to renovate Kankesanthurai harbour and repair Palali airport.He said he was confident that within two years, 2.5 lakhs of displaced Tamils would get their houses and they would be rehabilitated. Chidambaram was participating in the 108th birth anniversary celebrations of former Chief Minister Kamaraj and 125th anniversary of the Congress party. Suspected Tamil Tigers headed for Canada OTTAWA - A ship believed to be carrying 200 Sri Lankan nationals, some of them suspected members of the terrorist Tamil Tigers, could be headed for Canadian shores. If the ship does reach Canada it is expected that those on board would attempt to claim refugee status.Officials with the foreign affairs department in Ottawa say they are monitoring the situation which they believe to be a case of human smuggling.“Those responsible for migrant smuggling will be pursued, investigated and prosecuted to the full extent of Canadian law and in accordance with the provisions of international Conventions and Protocols,” said Melissa Lantsman, a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs Minister Lawrence Cannon.Security analyst Michel Juneau-Katsuya says he would not be surprised if the Tamil Tigers are involved with the ship. “The Tamil Tigers have been trying for some time to flee Sri Lanka,” Juneau-Katsuya told QMI Agency. The former intelligence officer with CSIS says human smuggling has long been a part of the Tigers repertoire.“The Tigers have been very well known for their counterfeit travel documents. That was one of their main sources of financing in the past,” said Juneau-Katsuya.Canada has a strong Tamil community, one that has often been a victim of fundraising and other illegal activity by the Tigers. In 2006 the Harper government joined the United States, Britain and the European Union in designating the Tigers as a terrorist group.Over the weekend the Canada Revenue Agency issued a statement that an Ottawa-based charity group was having its status revoked. Officials say that the Tamil (Sri Lanka) Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa transferred $713,000 to a Tiger front group.As a designated terrorist group it is illegal to raise money for the Tigers and members are denied refugee status based on rulings citing crimes against humanity committed during the 25 year Sri Lankan civil war.Academic Michael Byers says even if the ship currently headed for B.C.'s coast does have members of the terrorist group onboard, it should be allowed to enter Canadian ports.“We should let the ship in, detain anyone who we have good reason to believe is a Tamil Tiger and run all the passengers through a refugee determination process,” said Byers in an e-mail from Oslo. “That's the only way to ensure that we're not sending innocent people back to torture or worse.” The University of British Columbia political science professor and former NDP candidate says similar ships that have reached Australia were found to mostly be innocent civilians, with only 25% of passengers connected to the Tamil Tigers. Interpol notices for two LTTE leaders Documents recovered from a former LTTE base in the jungles of Northern Sri Lanka have revealed important information about its intricate international network. The base was used by a senior Tiger leader, Veerakathy Manivannam also known as Castro, who was one of the outfit’s major international linkmen.Following the recovery, the Sri Lankan government sought help from the Interpol and international police forces to arrest two persons including one currently residing in the US, newspaper reports in Colombo have said. ``Interpol has already issued two red notices…based on secret documents recovered from LTTE’s international link Castro…,’’ the government-run Sunday Observer reported.One of the two suspects is said to be the US-based 60-year-old Ponnaiah Ananda Rajah. Originally said to be from Jaffna, he was known to be involved with the LTTE’s arms procurement and shipping activities since 2003, reports said. The other person under Interpol probe was identified as Atchchuthan Sivarajah. ``He is said to have obtained pilot training from an aviation school in France. Later he had obtained French citizenship, married and is currently said to be living with his two children in a West Asian country,’’ the Ada Derana website said. Sivarajah was allegedly involved in procuring planes and aircraft parts for the LTTE Between April 2007 and February 2009, the LTTE – the only extremist outfit to do so -- carried out several air attacks on Colombo and installations belonging to the armed forces across the country. They operated light aircraft which were reassembled after being smuggled into Sri Lanka, most probably by the sea route. Colombo is also pursuing several governments to dismantle three broad groups that are now assumed to be controlling the remaining pro-LTTE international factions: the US group is said to be headed by V. Rudrakumaran, the UK group by Aruththanthai Emmanuel of the World Tamil Forum (WTF) and the Norway group by Nediyavan. At least eight persons in the Netherlands and five in Germany were arrested recently by the respective government agencies on suspicion of having links with the LTTE. Tamil charity shut over links to arms buyer At a New York warehouse, a Canadian named Thiruthanikam Thanigasalam watched as a wooden crate was pried open to reveal the tubular frame of a Russian SA-18 missile launcher.An engineer from Toronto and a weapons buyer for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels, Thanigasalam had agreed to pay almost $1-million for 10 of the launchers, 20 Igla missiles and 500 AK-47 assault rifles."This is all excellent stuff," he told the two young Canadians who had accompanied him by car from Toronto to close the illicit arms deal on Aug. 19, 2006. "We will be able to give a good thrashing."But it was Thanigasalam who got the thrashing; the married father of two is now serving a 25-year prison sentence in the United States after pleading guilty to his role as a rebel arms purchaser.The fallout from the weapons deal continued on the weekend as the Canada Revenue Agency shut down the Tamil (Sri Lanka) Refugee-Aid Society of Ottawa, the charity with which Thanigasalam was loosely affiliated.Yesterday, the CRA released 33 pages of documents explaining why it had taken action against the charity. They allege that Thanigasalam's name appeared on the charity's letterhead as the representative of its "Toronto office" and that he was the director of the charity's tsunami relief fundraising campaign."The government of Canada has made it very clear that it will not tolerate the abuse of the registration system for charities to provide any means of support to terrorism," reads a letter signed by Cathy Hawara of the Charities Directorate.Two of the charity's directors have resigned.The revocation of the Tamil refugee society's charity status is the government's latest strike against the Canadian fundraising network of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, or LTTE, separatist rebels who fought a three-decade war for independence until they were defeated just over a year ago.In 2008, police seized the assets of the World Tamil Movement, a Toronto-based group implicated in fundraising for the rebels. In May, B.C. Supreme Court sentenced Prapa Thambithirai to six months for collecting money for the Tamil Tigers. Canada has also ordered the extradition of three Canadians charged by the U.S. with aiding the rebels.But the Tamil refugee society may be the first Canadian registered charity to lose its status over allegations of funding the rebels (although the CRA had earlier refused to grant charity status to the Toronto-based Tamil Rehabilitation Organization).The CRA action comes a month after the release of the report of the Air India inquiry, which devoted a volume to terrorist financing. "If Canada had listed the LTTE earlier, the group would likely have moved its fundraising activities to a country where it was unlisted," the report concluded.The head of the Tamil refugee society, Reverend Philip Ratnapala, is an elderly Catholic priest who has lived in Canada since 1972, according to a biography on the website of the National Capital Region Tamil Association, which gave him a humanitarian service award in February."He was one of those who was instrumental in the creation of Tamil Refugee Program in Canada by Hon. Brian Mulroney. This program enabled Tamils in their thousands to enter Canada as refugees," it reads.It says the society "collects funds and helps poor and the needy in Tamil areas in Sri Lanka." But when federal auditors examined the charity's books, they developed "serous concerns" about how the money was spent.In particular, the CRA said the group had sent $713,000 to SEDOT (Social and Economic Development of Tamils), which was headquartered in the rebel capital, Kilinochchi. The CRA says was SEDOT created by the late Tamil Tigers leader Velupillai Prabhakaran and "is or was a front organization" for the rebels.The CRA said SEDOT had accounted for less than two-thirds of the money it received from the Canadian charity. "This leaves $249,716 unaccounted for," the CRA letter says. The agency noted that most of the money was directed to Chundikulam Village, which it said was "the home of a LTTE naval base for the Sea Tigers." The Sea Tigers were the naval wing of the Tamil Tigers.In an interview conducted on Jan. 26, 2009, the CRA asked: "How does the charity exercise control and accountability over the use of its funds and activities, if involved with a foreign organization?" The reply did not inspire confidence: "No control, given in trust."Rev. Ratnapala could not be reached yesterday. Those who know him say he is in bad health. The CRA does not suggest Rev. Ratnapala was aware of Thanigasalam's involvement with the Tamil rebels or arms dealing.Thousands were killed during the final months of the Sri Lankan civil war. The United Nations is looking into a possible war crimes investigation of alleged abuses committed at the end of the conflict. 15 July 2010 Can panel heal Sri Lanka’s wounds? Sri Lanka’s cabinet met yesterday in a town formerly held by Tamil rebels during the country’s 30-year civil war in the latest effort to try to heal the wounds left by the bloody conflict.The meeting in the northern town of Kilinochchi came as details emerged of a government reconciliation panel set up to search for answers to the conflict, which ended in May 2009.However, political analysts and politicians believe such measures aimed at reconciliation and healing are futile unless they are accompanied by a political solution to end Tamil claims of neglect. Others also claim the commission will have little impact and has been set up purely to appease the West and the United Nations, which have been seeking a response to claims of atrocities by government troops against civilians in the closing months of the war.In May, the Sri Lankan president, Mahinda Rajapaksa, appointed the Commission of Inquiry on Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation, aimed at examining the conflict between February 2002 and May 2009.The eight-member panel, chaired by the former attorney general, CR de Silva, has been charged with reporting whether any person, group or institution directly or indirectly bears responsibility “in this regard”. It is also responsible for reporting on measures to be taken to prevent conflict or ethnic unrest in the future and promote national unity among all communities.Mr de Silva told The National yesterday that public sittings will commence next month and the commission will permit witnesses to give evidence via a videotape to protect identities.“Our mandate is to study and learn the causes that led to the conflict and recommend measures that won’t see a recurrence of this situation,” he said.Mr de Silva added that unlike South Africa’s Truth Commission, which had a much wider mandate, the Sri Lankan panel will not have the authority to penalise anyone deemed responsible for the war.He said sittings will move between districts to minimise inconvenience for witnesses from the north and the east.SI Keethaponcalan, the head of political science at the University of Colombo, said many in civil society believe the commission will have a similar outcome to half a dozen presidential commissions that have probed similar issues in the past but led to no action being taken.“In one instance, a panel concluded that no human rights abuses had occurred, when clearly there had been instances,” he said.E Saravanabhavan, a parliamentarian from the Tamil National Alliance and the publisher of the popular Tamil-language Uthayan daily, said the commission is just to satisfy and impress the West.“Nothing will come out [of it]. How do you expect people to go to offices of the commission in northern Jaffna, for example, when armed cadres of government politicians are still lurking around?” he said. “A truth commission is a good idea but not the way it has been structured in Sri Lanka.”Questions are also being raised about the period of investigation as it covers the 2002 ceasefire agreement between the rebels and the main opposition United National Party (UNP), which was in power at the time. One main issue of concern was over allowing top rebel leaders to travel abroad as VIPs. There were also allegations that supplies of arms carried on LTTE ships were allowed free access.“It’s very vague. It appears to be more a pre-emptive measure against the formation of the UN Panel of Experts than a serious attempt to find the truth,” said Mohamed Ayub, a journalist on the Colombo-based Daily Mirror newspaper.Yesterday in Killinochchi, ministers led by the president made a “hearts and minds offer” to reduce the price of petrol and kerosene by three rupees (Dh10 fils) per litre in the northern Jaffna peninsula.Amid tight security, ministers accompanied by dozens of officials met in the region’s security headquarters, once the regional office of the rebels.On June 24, the government decided to rotate cabinet meetings between each district to give ministers the opportunity to study the development needs of the provinces, an official at the president’s office said.But Mr Keethaponcalan said the government’s gestures would not reconcile the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils, nor the underlying problems that led to the conflict. Even before the war began in July 1983, Tamils had for years claimed they suffered discrimination in jobs, land use and education, and called for greater control of the areas in which they live.The rebels’ demands included greater civil, political and social rights for their community.Thousands of Tamils, Sri Lanka’s largest community after the Sinhalese, suffered injury, abuse, trauma and loss of land or property during the conflict. “Proper reconciliation will come only after a political settlement of the Tamil issue is found,” Mr Keethaponcalan added. “The government reconciliation panel is just an attempt to appease the international community.” Sri Lanka has previously responded with its own panel whenever the international community has called for accountability on human rights issues during the war.Soon after the US State Department’s October 2009 publication of a report into alleged human rights abuses between January and May 2009, Mr Rajapaksa appointed a panel to probe the claims. The local panel report has yet to be published. Last month, after the UN Secretary-General, Ban ki-Moon appointed a panel to look at Sri Lankan accountability, the government responded by setting up the “lessons learnt and reconciliation” tribunal. 'Sink differences' to rebuild north President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka has called for people in the north of the island to sink their political differences and rebuild the region. He was speaking after chairing an unprecedented cabinet meeting in the town of Kilinochchi, which was the headquarters of the separatist Tamil Tigers until just before their military defeat last year. The government has confirmed that northern Sri Lanka will now host permanent military garrisons. President Rajapaksa told public servants in Kilinochchi that local lives must be rebuilt, saying that the authorities were resettling displaced Tamil civilians in their homes with unparalleled speed. Resettling IDPs This comes after international criticism that they were being kept in closed camps for too long. Meeting about two thousand recent returnees, the president made a presentation of farming equipment and sewing machines. As he is done on key occasions before, the president used a combination of languages – the local Tamil language, English, and his own Sinhala. By holding these meetings and a cabinet session in the former Tamil Tiger headquarters, Kilinochchi, the government is stressing that its writ runs all over the island and the days of separatism are gone. “Previously, one could not move in that place,” a government spokesman told the BBC. Normalisation in the mainly Tamil north is only just starting. Some of those returning home complain at the heavy military presence there. But the defence secretary has just told officers in the north that there will be permanent garrisons in the former rebel strongholds of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu to strengthen security. There will also be new homes there for officers of the mainly Sinhalese army. Indian Ocean sea level rise threatens millions -study Sea levels are rising unevenly in the Indian Ocean, placing millions at risk along low-lying coastlines in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Sri Lanka, scientists say in a study.Researchers from the University of Colorado and the National Center for Atmospheric Research say the rising sea levels are caused in part by climate change and are triggered by warming seas and changes to atmospheric circulation patterns.In his acceptance speech for the Nobel Peace Prize last year, U.S. President Barack Obama warned that if the world does nothing to confront climate change, "we will face more drought, famine and mass displacement that will fuel more conflict for decades".The authors of the latest study say higher seas could exacerbate monsoon flooding, placing crops, homes and livelihoods at greater risk. They argue a better understanding of the changes are needed to improve risk assessment planning for the future.Sea levels in general are rising globally by about 3 mm (0.1181 inch) a year. Scientists blame rising temperatures caused by the growing amounts of greenhouse gases, such as carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels, that trap heat in the atmosphere.Oceans are absorbing a large part of this extra heat, causing them to expand and sea levels to rise. Warmer temperatures are also causing glaciers and parts of the ice blanketing Greenland and West Antarctica to melt.The team of researchers in their study used long-term tide gauge data, satellite observations and computer climate models to build a picture of sea level rises in the Indian Ocean since the 1960s. They found that sea-level rise is particularly high along the coastlines of the Bay of Bengal, the Arabian Sea, Sri Lanka, Sumatra and Java and that these areas could suffer rises greater than the global average.But they also found that sea levels are falling in other areas. The study indicated that the Seychelles Islands and Zanzibar off Tanzania's coast show the largest sea-level drop. WARM POOL "Global sea level patterns are not geographically uniform," said co-author Gerald Meehl of NCAR in Boulder, Colorado.The study is published in the latest issue of the journal Nature Geoscience.A key player in the process is the Indo-Pacific warm pool, a large oval-shaped area spanning the tropical oceans from the east coast of Africa to the International Date Line in the Pacific.The pool has warmed by about 0.5 degrees Celsius (1 degree Fahrenheit) over the past 50 years, primarily because of mankind's greenhouse gas emissions. The warmer water has strengthened two major atmospheric circulation patterns that have a major impact on sea levels."Our new results show that human-caused atmosphericoceanic circulation changes over the Indian Ocean, which have not been studied previously,contribute to the regional variability of sea-level change," the researchers say in the study.The two main wind patterns in the region are the Hadley and Walker circulations.In the Hadley circulation, air currents rise above strongly heated tropical waters near the equator and flow poleward at upper levels, then sink to the ocean in the subtropics and cause surface air to flow back toward the equator.The Walker circulation causes air to rise and flow westward at upper levels, sink to the surface and then flow eastward back toward the Indo-Pacific warm pool. Strengthening of these two patterns could have far-reaching impacts on AsianAustralian monsoons, Indonesian floods and drought in Africa, the study says. ‘A state within the state’ of a paramilitary leader and the government minister Douglas Devananda - Sri Lanka Guardian Following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers in May 2009, the LTTE branded Tamil quisling group under the pseudo political party name Eelam Peoples Democratic Party (EPDP), headed by the government minister Douglas Devananda is stretching its wings violently and clandestinely to stranglehold the Tamil people in the north.Douglas Devannanda’s political party is heavily embroiled in violence to exercise its control over the Tamil politics and livelihood in Sri Lanka. What is manifesting is that Douglas Devananda’s paramilitary rule is progressively throttling the people and the government too is subtly oxygenating this group to help keep the northern Tamils under its absolute check, balance and violent dictates.It is well known that Douglas Devananda is the man who first introduced the white van abduction culture in Sri Lanka. This has now become a well established practice of the state and the government remains exposed of legitimizing this culture through its intelligence, military, underworld and paramilitary groups activities. Many people have lost their lives (mainly Tamils) to the extra-judicial white van abductions and the heavily politicized and incompetent police service in Sri Lanka too has contributed towards the establishment of the white van culture as inherent part of the rule in Sri Lanka.Despite the outright military defeat of the LTTE, the paramilitary groups associated with the government are allowed to carry arms. When analysing the violence post LTTE defeat, it is clear the widespread cruelties are carried out by paramilitary groups and Douglas Devananda has a major stake in this.Douglas Devananda’s activities stretch beyond his ministerial duties. One wonders whether he ever performs his ministerial duties in Colombo or is abusing his position as Minister to expand his violent and selfish paramilitary activities in Jaffna. Over obsessed Devananda’s paramilitary group is embroiled in clandestine socio-economic-violent activities in the north and the government engineered fear psychosis in the island is helping him to nurture his clandestine rule without any worry or even retribution from the state. He is trying to establish himself as the ‘His Masters Voice’ in the absence of the LTTE.In the post LTTE era, the world is carefully scanning the violence in Sri Lanka and the government’s extended arms like Douglas Devananda’s paramilitary group. According to information, this has led to Douglas becoming a persona non grata in some EU countries including Britain. His latest visit to India exposed that he is a wanted man on murder charges in that country. Whether he will be able to visit India again without any special diplomatic arrangements will be an interesting development to watch in the future.Government Minister Douglas Devananda’s hands are equally and heavily soaked in blood like the LTTE. In the recent parliamentary debate, the slain former Minister Maheswaran’s wife pointed her finger directly at Douglas Devananda for the murder of her husband ‘Everyone knows who shot Maheswaran’, declared Mrs. Wijayakala Maheswaran (MP) in parliament. She made this statement during a heated debate which took place at the second reading of the Budget. “Do not be afraid if you are not at fault. Please be silent. Wait for a while. You are the person who shot Maheswaran. You should prove it. Do not speak. If you are not at fault, do not be afraid’.Wijeyekala’s fiery revelation rattled Douglas Devananda, and for the first time he went out of the way to respond to the charges by demanding the Speaker to shut the mouth of Mrs Wijayakala Maheswaran in the parliament. He further went on to apportion the blame on the LTTE for the murder in the progressively failing state police and judicial machineries that are deliberately avoiding provision of justice due to heavy political interference in their affairs. LTTE guinea pigs are languishing in the prisons to become the roosters to save Douglas Devananda if pressure further builds up against him. The writer of this soul searching article is not publishing his name due to fear of reprisals in the hands of Douglas Devananda’s murderous mission in Sri Lanka and India. I have on many occasions revealed the privileged information about Maheswaran’s murder by his group in my writings, but these did not concern him and only when Mrs Maheswaran revealed the facts in the parliament he became very jittery.Douglas Devananda’s empire with his clandestine resources is stretching in faster progression for the past few years under Mahinda’s presidency. His crave for money and his interest in the hegemonic control of the Tamil people is creating another dangerous circumstance for the minorities in the post independence era. Even the President hates to respond to Douglas’s request for appointments as the paramilitary leader and the Minister only has one known agenda of pleading for large sums of money from the President for his clandestine activities.During my recent visit to Jaffna, I was able to see and hear from the people firsthand about the emerging violent and clandestine rule of Douglas Devananda. I viewed a mirror image of a LTTE rule emerging with the backing of the government. A dangerous situation is developing for the already brutalized people and to this date none of the Sri Lankan or international media has focused on the disparaging development with these paramilitary groups in particular Douglas’s EPDP.My soul searching mission to Jaffna only revealed part of the problems experienced by the silently suffering people there. Unfortunately, I could not visit the lair of the EPDP leader Douglas Devananda. But my findings authoritatively confirmed he is managing his affairs with the heavy presence of the gun wielding paramilitary men.When I met the relatives of the owners of the Sridhar Theatre in Stanley Road, that Douglas Devananda is forcefully occupying and running his clandestine paramilitary office without payment of rent, they angrily said that the government is not doing anything to oust him from the place. One person rightly stated the contradiction of the president. He said ‘President is boasting about development of the north. When we want the theatre for development, the government is disregarding our appeal for the vacation of Douglas and his men’. Douglas Devananda’s extended authority post LTTE Anyone purchasing sand for construction in Jaffna is put through a hectic process. Douglas has devised his own three stages of taxation on the sale of sand. Donations have to be paid to the 'Maheswary Trust' of the EPDP, as a preliminary to obtaining a permit to mine sand. Maheswary Trust is being created by Douglas following the assassination of his personal/private secretary Miss Maheswary Velayutham by the LTTE two years ago. Without the unspecified donation, permit will not be given.One has to progress through the Government office (Kachcheri) in Jaffna with the donation for the ‘Maheswary Trust’ and there in addition bribes have to be paid to the Kachcheri staff to get the permit.Douglas’s men have established 'Kappang' (bribe) points in the roads. ‘Kappang’ has to be paid to gangs of EPDP cadres at various road points, while transporting the sand.Taxing and bribing process is copycat of LTTE rule and what intrigues is, it is carried out like a legitimate practice of the state.Douglas has the full backing of state military forces in Jaffna to carryout his clandestine money laundering activities. The Sri Lankan Navy has facilitated him a dock in a demarcated area in the Karainager navy jetty for him to exclusively handle his clandestine cargoes brought in by his men from Tamil Nadu and the other parts of Sri Lanka.An important TNA personality is leading a land grab movement in Jaffna with the backing of Douglas Devananda, involving his supporters and the Kachcheri staff. False land deeds are being produced with the help of Kachcheri staff.The entire operation of government services (kachcheri), and other government undertakings- in Jaffna are riddled with corruption, high handedness and lethargy due to interference of Douglas’a paramilitary group and its associates.In one instance the electricity board in Jaffna had demanded 'old documents including receipts' to reconnect electricity to a house that was reconstructed after being ' damaged and extensively looted' during years of war. The occupants had been killed during the war. A sum of almost Rs. 70,000/=had to be paid to get the connection, after the re-building contractor traced the old files at the Chunnakam office. The electricity board staffs were very unhelpful and insensitive and were mainly interested in taking bribes. This example illustrates the problems the poor and powerless are facing in Jaffna, particularly at the hands of Tamil public servants who are being controlled by the sidekicks of the government like the EPDP.The EPDP is using a mix of overt and subtle violence, along with well publicized efforts at presenting a 'Decent and humane face', to present itself as a force in Jaffna. The EPDP has become a government within government in Jaffna and is perceived as a curse by most people.The EPDP is also engaged in extensive influence peddling, bribery and commission collection in Jaffna. The EPDP interferes with everything in Jaffna and prevents anyone who does not go along with it, from proceeding further.The Jaffna university is also coming in for heavy criticism from some enlightened quarters. It has become a haven for a mediocre, self-seeking and non-progressive faculty. The faculty is incapable of improving standards at the Jaffna University. They care more about their own positions and EPDP’s encroachment into its functioning is felt and being resisted by LTTE sympathisers.Douglas’s clandestine dealings involve dealing in wide ranging goods and services including monopoly on cement import and heavy control on luxury bus service between Colombo and Jaffna. His enterprises and trusts are out of the scope of the Sri Lankan laws resulting in the Inland Revenue maintaining a distance over his business activities.Whomever I met is Jaffna were very critical of Douglas Devanada and his paramilitary group. They say Douglas’s men have carried out murders, abductions and tortures. They say the young women are vulnerable to Douglas’s men. Some asserted the comment of Mrs Wijayaka Mahendran’s MP’s charge in the parliament the Douglas’s men are having multi-sexual relationship with women under duress.It appears the existing institutions in Jaffna are unable to meet the needs of the people due to heavy political and paramilitary interference. In fact, they are a horrible burden on the people. Even the good intentions of the government are being subverted by parties such as the EPDP, TNA and the Tamil public servants.Tamils continue to be the curse of the Tamils yet. Sri Lanka Buddhist party to appoint a diplomatic mission to lobby against second term of Ban Ki-Moon Crucial UNP meeting on July 19 A crucial meeting among the UNP Working Committee and the Parliamentary Group will be held on July 19 to consider the proposed changes submitted by the Reforms Committee. UNP media spokesman, Gayantha Karunathilaka MP said the meeting will decide whether recommendations are progressive or irrelevant to the development of the party. If the final report is unacceptable new suggestions would be welcomed from the members attending the meeting on the same day, he said. “Therefore, no exact date can be fixed for the special UNP convention which had been scheduled to be held on August 7. We have not yet come to a conclusion on the final report,” Karunathilaka said. He said a workshop was held for all UNP Parliamentarians and Provincial Councillors at the Galle Face Hotel yesterday on how to deal with the Government in the future and take the party forward leaving behind all setbacks faced by the party in the recent past. The Ratification of the reforms suggested by the Reforms Committee appears to be invalid since there is overwhelming protest among the party members. Prominent UNP leaders have already reserved their hostile standpoint over the reforms claiming the attempt was totally an eyewash.” We wasted time and gave other parties a chance to ridicule us and to create splits among the party men” they had said. Seemingly, there has been many discussions among the UNP party members for the proposed UNP Advisory Council and giving the opportunity for only a certain group in selecting the leaders of the party. They have vehemently opposed for the Reforms Committee members not listening to grassroots level UNPers when decision-making. “We are dedicated to the party even without enjoying benefits. But we have deprived our right to vote in selecting leaders,” they had said. Meanwhile, UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe will hold talks with other opposition political parties represented in Parliament on the Government’s proposed Constitutional Reforms and the abolishing of the Executive Presidency. 14 July 2010 Q+A - Sri Lanka's new deal on constitutional changes Sri Lanka's president and opposition leader have struck a broad deal on constitutional changes, chief of which is a plan to return the Indian Ocean island nation to leadership by an executive prime minister. Here are some questions and answers about the agreement: IS THIS A FINAL AGREEMENT? Not at all. It's a broad agreement in principle. President Mahinda Rajapaksa enjoys sweeping and largely unchecked powers, but has long promised to reduce them.With a big parliamentary majority, he needs only six opposition votes to change the constitution, and there are fears Rajapaksa will act in his own interest and not the country's.It's worth noting that a similar deal failed in 2000 when the main opposition, headed then as it is now by United National Party leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, pulled out. HAS RAJAPAKSA GIVEN UP PLANS FOR A THIRD TERM IN OFFICE? Yes and no. If the deal goes through, he will serve only two terms as president, the maximum now allowed.But there is unlikely to be any prohibition on him running for the post of prime minister, which would give him a third crack at leading the nation if his present popularity holds. He's said publicly he would consider that option. WHAT OTHER CHANGES ARE CONTEMPLATED? Broadly, more changes to take power out of presidential hands. The two sides agreed to work on the never-implemented 17th amendment, designed to put a check on the president's power to appoint the judiciary, the attorney-general, police, the election and financial commissions and other state bodies.Bringing independence to those institutions would go a long way toward boosting confidence that the government is not operating solely at the whim of a single politician. WHAT DOES THE AGREEMENT MEAN FOR INVESTORS? The Colombo Stock Exchange rose on Tuesday, with traders attributing some of the optimism to the fact that another potential political tussle appears to have been averted.Sri Lanka's politics can get unruly, and although opposition parties are woefully fragmented, they could re-align against Rajapaksa as they did during the presidential campaign that turned bloody before the Jan. 26 vote.That, and uncertainty ahead of the ensuing April parliamentary election, held back portfolio and foreign direct investment. WHEN ARE THESE CHANGES EXPECTED TO GO TO PARLIAMENT? Although Rajapaksa and his allies have given no firm date, they have talked about discussing this after he takes his oath for his second term in mid-November. That is an eternity in Sri Lankan political terms, so the deal has a long way go. Cabinet meeting underway in former rebel stronghold of Kilinochchi in Northern Sri Lanka Remembering Srebrenica, Looking to Sri Lanka Via Spencer Ackerman, I see that White House National Security Council aid Samantha Power is part of an American delegation to Bosnia for the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre. Spencer highlights an excellent interview that Power gave to a Bosnian publication in which she discusses why justice and accountability are crucial underpinnings to any lasting peace. Q: It seems you so firmly believe in this kind of justice in continuity? It is hard to read these words without thinking about the Sri Lankan government's ongoing attempts to avoid accountability for war crimes committed in spring 2009 -- crimes, keep in mind, that killed at least as many people as were massacred in Srebrenica in 1995. The most recent manifestation of this was government-sponsored protests against a UN panel tasked to look into these crimes. These protests forced the United Nations to shut its office in Colombo last week Yesterday, Human Rights Watch accused the government of waging an anti-justice campaign against the United Nations: “The fracas around the UN headquarters is just the latest episode in the Sri Lankan government’s efforts to ensure nothing is done to bring justice for war crimes,” [HRW's Elaine] Pearson said. “The expert panel may be a small step towards an independent international investigation, but it’s a real step forward nonetheless. Governments around the world who have pledged to end impunity for war crimes should back the secretary-general’s efforts to see justice done in Sri Lanka.” So far, the highest ranking U.S. government official to lodge objections to Sri Lankan harassment of the UN has been Patricia A. Butenis, the United States Ambassador to Sri Lanka and The Maldives. But even in her statement, which was co-signed by nine other embassies, no mention was made of the government's attempt to avoid accountability for a massacre perpetrated by its military against its own citizens. On the 15th anniversary of the Srebrenica massacre, it seems that the United States government has still not internalized the lesson that Samantha Power was trying to impart in her interview. Protest by nurses in Jaffna triggers arrest of Sinhala doctor suspected in murder Hundreds of family consultant nurses, public health officers, midwives and other health service employees picketed Jaffna Public Health Service (PHS) office from Tuesday early morning and agitated demanding immediate investigation into the killing of Tharsika, a family consultant nurse, found hung inside Veala’nai government hospital Saturday morning. The agitators further demanded the immediate arrest of the Sinhala doctor alleged of killing Tharsika. Police was forced to arrest the Sinhala doctor who was transferred on the instruction of the Sri Lanka Army officials. The doctor, who was kept in the safety in Regional Health Service Director’s office in Jaffna, was produced in Oorkaavattu’rai courts Tuesday. The picketers had closed the main entrance to the Jaffna PHS office from Tuesday morning preventing the employees from entering the office.A team of key officials from the Health Department in Colombo rushed to Jaffna and inquired into the grievances of the protesters.The protesters ended their agitation on the assurances given by the Health Department officials that legal action will be taken on the suspect and due investigations will be made.The picketing and agitation had brought health service in Jaffna peninsula to a stand still.The Judicial Medical Officer’s report rules out suicide of the nurse. USS Pearl Harbor arrives at Sri Lanka port on a goodwill mission The United States naval ship USS Pearl Harbor arrived at the port of Trincomalee in Eastern Sri Lanka Tuesday on a goodwill mission, Sri Lanka Navy announced. Sri Lanka Navy ceremonially welcomed the US Navy ship carrying 24 officers and 328 sailors. The Harpers Ferry-class dock landing ship is 186 meters in length and has a displacement of 11,251 tons. The ship is capable of transporting 500 marines. Sri Lanka Navy said the US Navy crew of the ship will be participating in a series of special programmes organized by the Navy to enhance the relationship between the two navies. Underage foreigner raped A manager of a tourist hotel in Talpe, Galle has been taken into custody for allegedly sexually abusing a 14 year girl who was on vacation in Sri Lanka. The victim a British national was on a visit to Sri Lanka with her parents and was staying at the hotel. The Women and Children’s Bureau in Galle has initiated investigations after a complaint was made by her parents to the Colombo Tourist Police. The victim has been referred to the Karapitiya JMO for medical examinations. Tamil refugee, Brami Jegan, seeks Senate seat AS an ex-banker of Tamil heritage, Brami Jegan has hardly been plucked from central casting for a life in Australian politics. "I know, my background is a bit different," the newly anointed Greens Senate candidate says with a laugh. "But I've got nothing to hide. I'm here because I want to contribute to our society."Ms Jegan, 30, was born in the northern Sri Lankan city of Jaffna. But with the civil war raging, her family moved to Somalia, Tanzania and Malaysia before finally settling in Sydney as refugees when she was eight. Her first career was as an investment banker with Macquarie Bank and JPMorgan for eight years.But Ms Jegan determined to chart a more public-minded course after returning to Sri Lanka in 2002 for two weeks with her father."Seeing children blind through malnutrition, and adults without arms and legs because of landmines, it was really confronting," Ms Jegan says. "And that's when I decided to do something more with my life. That was the beginning of a road that led here, to a career in politics." Having worked as a journalist with SBS, and currently as a communications officer with Union Aid Abroad-APHEDA, Ms Jegan is also expecting the scrutiny that comes with seeking public office -- even if, ranked fourth on the Greens Senate ticket in NSW, her chances of winning a seat are slim.Last year in England, her uncle, Arunachalam Chrishanthakumar -- known as AC Shanthan -- was jailed for two years for aiding the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, the notorious Tamil Tigers militia outlawed in Britain as a terrorist organisation.The founder of the British Tamil Association, Shanthan was found to have acquired electrical componentry and military manuals for the LTTE. Three other charges were dismissed."Yes, it happened, but I don't believe I have anything to apologise for," the Greens candidate says, pointing to a transcript of the judge's comments in which her uncle was called "a thoroughly decent man" who hadn't sought to "assist (the LTTE) in war"."The fact is my uncle was trying to help Tamils in Sri Lanka. But he wasn't a terrorist," she says.Unsurprisingly, Ms Jegan nominates refugee policy as her main political focus. She is a regular visitor to the 39 Tamil asylum-seekers held at Villawood Detention Centre in Sydney's west.And while she agrees Sri Lanka is more secure now, she cites the latest UNHCR report in stating the threat still exists for some, and that asylum-seekers should be assessed case by case. Imelda appointed as Jaffna government Agent. Ganesh retires Imelda Sukumar took over the post of Jaffna Government Agent today. She accepted the responsibilities from the former Jaffna Government Agent K.Ganesh today at the Jaffna Secretariat at 2.20 p.m. After taking over the responsibilities she spoke to the media, and said, that according the Public Administration Ministry, Secretary’s instructions, she today accepted as the Jaffna Government Agent’s position. Imelda Sukumar said, she met the district officers and divisional secretaries and had a discussion. According to Imelda Sukumar, the former Government Agent of Kilinochchi, Nagalingam Vethanayagam will be appointed as the Government Agent to Mullaitheevu District, and he will accept his responsibilities shortly. The former Government Agent K.Ganesh, retires from his pservice from today and while speaking he said, during the difficult times, he functioned as the Government Agent for Jaffna and now he is retiring from service. He thanked the public, forces and the parliament members . Twenty year development plan for Jaffna A 20 year plan to develop the Jaffna Municipal Council area has been drawn at a meeting at the Jaffna Municipal Council. Jaffna Mayor Y Patkunarajah presided at the meeting. Jaffna Government Agent K Ganesh, Police officers, Jaffna Municipal Council members and Government department heads were present. The plan which will cost Rs. 37,898 billion will be implemented in three stages commencing this year. Development of Duraiappa Stadium, construction of Cultural Development Centre, development of Jaffna Teaching Hospital, construction of international cricket ground at Kalundai, construction of Northern Province Governor's office and residence, reconstruction of Jaffna Railway station, development work at Jaffna bus stand and Jaffna main market, construction of prison house in Jaffna, a housing scheme for low income group at Navanthurai and reconstructing damaged houses for the homeless and reconstruction of Vannankulam and Pullukulam in Jaffna are some of the development plans in the report prepared by the Jaffna town Development program division. A 1200 acre Navy camp for Wakarai Asin Lanka visit draws TN film industry anger 13 July 2010 Sri Lanka eyes return to executive prime minister Sri Lanka's president and opposition leader agreed in principle on Monday to endorse a constitutional change that would weaken the presidency and create an executive prime minister's post.If implemented, the amendments would mean the sweeping and largely unchecked powers enjoyed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa would be vested in a premier accountable to the Indian Ocean nation's 225-member parliament.The announcement marks a reverse of sorts for Rajapaksa, who has publicly expressed interest in changing the charter to allow himself a third term in office. However, he has also said he would consider running for an executive premiership."The president is of the view that an executive prime minister is the ideal situation in terms of answerability," to parliament, Media Minister Keheliya Rambukwella told Reuters.The president also agreed with Ranil Wickremesinghe, a former prime minister from 2001-2004 and the leader of the main opposition United National Party (UNP), to establish a joint committee to discuss on constitutional reforms."In principle, both the leaders agreed on the executive premiership and to discuss more on the constitutional amendments," UNP secretary-general Tissa Attanayake told Reuters.Sri Lanka's last similar agreement on constitutional change, struck in 2000, fell apart at the last minute when the opposition under Wickremensinghe pulled its support.The president's office said both parties agreed on Monday to change the 17th amendment, which was never put into practice but was designed to take away the president's power to unilaterally appoint judges and key public officials.The president's ruling United Peoples Freedom Alliance won a parliamentary majority in April six seats shy of the two-thirds he needs to implement constitutional reform.That commanding majority, coupled with Rajapaksa's appointment of three brothers to key positions, has sparked fears he would use the chance to change the charter to consolidate power and entrench his family's political dynasty.Rajapaksa, who served as prime minister in 2004-2005, has pledged to get rid of the executive presidency, widely criticised by Sri Lankans for being invested with too much power and too little legislative oversight.From independence in 1948 until 1978, Sri Lanka operated under a Westminster-style of government, when then-Prime Minister J.R. Jayawardene used a five-sixths majority to adopt a new charter that made him the nation's first executive president. MR not worried about UN panel ‐ Says he has nothing to hide President Mahinda Rajapaksa told The Manila Times yesterday he was not worried about the experts’ panel appointed by the UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon to advise him on alleged human rights violations during the final phase of the conflict in Sri Lanka.In an exclusive interview at Temple Trees, President Rajapaksa said he would like the world to perceive Sri Lanka as “a country that had defeated terrorism,” and having realized peace and stability, it was now “looking forward to becoming a developed and better country.”The Manila Times said his formula for success was mainly a matter of common sense rather than a secret ‐‐ treat the military well, don’t allow foreign forces to fight local battles, win the support of the people, and most important of all, be decisive. Why the media silence on Sri Lanka's descent into dictatorship? It is now over a year since the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, claimed victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). But war is still being waged on the "paradise island" – by the government, against the country's journalists. Last week alone saw one media outlet receive a threatening letter and the head of another charged with fraud by the supreme court after publishing stories critical of the government. And two international NGO workers involved in protecting journalists had their visas revoked.The situation has been deteriorating for some time. According to Amnesty International at least 14 media workers have been killed in the country since 2006 and more than 20 are thought to have fled – more per capita than have left Iran. Arbitrary arrests, abductions and assassinations have been documented for over three decades. No one has ever been prosecuted for these attacks on the media.In January last year, as the Sri Lankan army closed in on the last remaining pockets of resistance held by the LTTE, the government imposed a media blackout on the war zone. (It also denied humanitarian access to civilians trapped by the fighting and, like the rebels, displayed callous contempt for civilian life.)Away from the killing fields, the local media suffered a sharp spike in attacks. Just days after independent broadcaster MTV was raided by gunmen, Lasantha Wickrematunge – editor of the Sunday Leader and prominent government critic – was assassinated in broad daylight in a high-security zone regularly patrolled by the army.The end of the war has changed nothing. Phones are tapped. Emails hacked. Media outlets harassed and journalists threatened. One – Prageeth Eknaligoda – has been missing since January's presidential election. Small wonder that so many journalists say they now resort to self-censorship. And they are not the only ones who live in fear. NGO workers, lawyers, members of the opposition – the culture of impunity puts them all at risk. The state has also ramped up its vitriol against external critics: last week a cabinet minister began a hunger strike and orchestrated a siege of the UN offices in Colombo in response to the secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, setting up a panel of experts to advise him on accountability for alleged war crimes during the final stages of the civil war last year. The minister has since ended his "fast to death" amid growing speculation that the protests were supported, if not sponsored, by the government.All this is happening under the noses of the world's press. While burning effigies of Ban draw the spotlight for a few days, Sri Lanka's slow descent into dictatorship has mostly gone unnoticed. Global media coverage of the conflict in Sri Lanka during the past four years is about a tenth of that given to Iraq. In 2009, the New York Times and the Guardian devoted four times more space to the Israeli military offensive in Gaza (death toll 1,400) than the bloody end of Sri Lanka's civil war (estimates range between 7,000 and 40,000 civilian dead). China Daily gave Gaza over six times the coverage, and the Independent Newspapers group in South Africa over 10 times. All papers ran more articles on Tiger Woods last year than on the Sri Lankan conflict.This global silence plays into the hands of the Sri Lankan government's apologists, both those who delude themselves and say, as one did in a meeting at London's Frontline Club last week, that missing journalists have merely run off with mistresses, and those who are paid to delude others. The government has spent lavishly on public relations firms such as Bell Pottinger – which counts General Pinochet and Trafigura among its past clients – and its US subcontractor Qorvis, which also represents Equatorial Guinea's unsavoury dictator. The pardoning on World Press Freedom Day of JS Tissainayagam, a journalist previously sentenced to 20 years' hard labour, is part of this PR strategy.All of us who care about universal values, and freedom of expression in particular, have a duty not to let Rajapaksa's twisted version of events go unanswered. If we do so, we encourage other states to believe that they too can get away with the "Sri Lanka option" – using brutal methods to crush internal opposition, without regard for civilian casualties or international law. It has been reported that leaders from Colombia to Thailand have been following Rajapaksa's "success" with great interest.Those brave Sri Lankan journalists who continue to seek out and report the truth despite the high risk of "disappearance", torture and assassination, surely deserve the support of their international colleagues. Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya's murder has rightly been denounced around the world. Wickrematunge, who chillingly foretold his own death in an editorial published posthumously, should be no less well known. The Committee to Protect Journalists, a press freedom organisation, rates freedom of expression in Sri Lanka as lower than in Saudi Arabia or Uzbekistan, yet somehow the world – including the mainstream media world – does not seem to notice.Surely it is time for that to change. NE re‐merger TNA should talk with SLMC The General Secretary of the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress and Parliamentarian M.T. Hassen Ali said yesterday that the Tamil National Alliance had a responsibility to discuss with the SLMC before engaging in talks on the re‐merger of the Northern and Eastern Provinces with any party. Responding to a news item carried by a Tamil website on the TNA’s discussion with the Indian Government on the possibilities of a re‐merger of the two provinces, Hassen Ali said that they expected to take this up when they met the TNA Parliamentarians this week. The SLMC opposed the merger of the North and East Provinces during the Indo‐Lanka agreement which was signed on July 29, 1987.but according to Tamil sources Mr. Hassen Ali may have forget the history, SLMC Founder Leader Marhoom M H M Ashraff accepted the Indo‐Lanka agreement and contested the election and he was the opposition leader of the North and East Provincial council. Elections Commission on Indian model The appointment of an Elections Commission based on the Indian Model where the Commissioner has wide powers will be discussed by President Mahinda Rajapaksa with top officials of the election secretariat, sources said yesterday.They said the government had decided to form an Elections Commission comprising seven members and recently, election officials met at the elections secretariat to discuss how this could be worked out.An official who attended this meeting said there were certain aspects on the setting up of this Commission that needed to be clarified.“We hope to meet the president and clarify these matters,” he said. According to the proposal, the Commission will work in the election secretariat itself. Meanwhile, the registration of new political parties had been delayed till Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake returns to the country next month. Mr. Dissanayake left the country soon after the April 8 general election. Mr. Dissanayake had been widely criticised by opposition leaders for the manner in which he conducted the January 26 presidential election and the general elections.Applications for the registration of new political parties were accepted till end June. Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader retired General Sarath Fonseka also applied for the registration of a political party. Tamil who turned against Tigers urges more aid to repatriate refugees IN Australia's Tamil community, Noel Nadesan has been, by his own reckoning, the No 1 enemy of the Tamil Tigers. He is an outspoken critic of the war in Sri Lanka who said the "glamour and the glory" of the separatist struggle had disappeared, leaving only "the grim suffering of our people".Dr Nadesan was the Tamil who turned; the founder of a Tamil medical unit supported by the Tamil Tigers in the 1980s who believed violence was necessary, but who came to believe that the separatist dream of Tamil Eelam was a dangerous delusion and its leaders sadistic terrorists.A veterinary surgeon in Melbourne, Dr Nadesan established an Australia-wide community newspaper, Uthayama, printing 10,000 copies a month for 13 years. He used it to urge peace in Sri Lanka. More than once the paper was burned in protest by supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. In March last year, he led a diaspora delegation of Tamils living in seven countries into talks with the Sri Lankan government. He is helping to establish a hospital in his family's village.Dr Nadesan backs the federal government's decision to lift the freeze on the processing of asylum claims for Sri Lankans. He said yesterday the situation in Sri Lanka had improved greatly since the end of the 26-year war on May 19 last year, with many opponents of the government now released from prison.He said he did not believe any Sri Lankan refugees could hold legitimate fears for their life.Rather than providing asylum, he would like to see the Australian government doing more to aid and repatriate former refugees.Dr Nadesan also offered an insight into Australia's Tamil community, saying that LTTE representatives who were sent to the negotiating table during the war, many of whom were living in Australia, were "imbeciles".In March last year, in a searching article titled "Let my people go in peace", Dr Nadesan wrote: "We have looked the other way when our entire leadership was liquidated, not by the Sri Lankan government but by our own people."Dr Nadesan said Julia Gillard's decision to try to shift asylum-seekers to East Timor, or Manus, or some other offshore destination, did not appear different to John Howard's Pacific Solution."It doesn't fit into the principle of giving protection. It is a political decision to process people away from the mainland," he said. Dehiwala Police OIC crimes interdicted The officer-in charge of the Crimes Division of the Dehiwala police station has been interdicted with effect from yesterday by the Inspector General of Police, following a complaint that he had harassed a woman.According to the complaint lodged at the IGP’s office, the victimised woman had gone to the Dehiwala police station last week to lodge a complaint about her being harassed by another person. When she went to the police station, the officer in question had taken undue advantage of her.Later, on Friday, she had lodged a complaint at the IGP’s office regarding this. Police sources said that, after investigating the matter, the IGP had ordered the interdiction of the officer with immediate effect. Tamil Nadu "Naam Tamilar" party leader Seeman arrested, detained Tamil Nadu police have arrested and detained popular film director and the leader of "Naam Tamilar" political party Seeman Monday allegedly for inciting violence, sources in Chennai said. Seeman was arrested before he could make public his report of the killing of 561 innocent fishermen from Tamil Nadu by Sri Lanka Navy (SLN), in a press conference in Chennai, the sources added. Seeman said that there is no point in arresting a person who urges Tamil Nadu and Central governments to solve the problems of Tamil Nadu fishermen without attempting to find a just solution, the sources in Chennai further said. The court directed Seeman to be detained in remand prison until 23 July. Seeman, taken to Puzhal prison first, was later transferred to Vealoor jail for reasons unknown. Fifty fishermen from Tamil Nadu were injured when they were attacked allegedly by Sri Lankan Naval (SLN) personnel while fishing off Katchathivu Island, PTI reported Sunday, citing Indian Fisheries department officials. Hundreds of Indian fishermen, and many more Tamil fishermen in Sri Lanka, have been killed or wounded in SLN attacks over several years. Fonseka charged with recruiting deserters Asin and Chiranthy visit Jaffna Indian Actress Asin and Sri Lankan President’s wife Chiranthy Rajapakse were on a visit to Jaffna on Sunday. They were on a visit to Jaffna to attend a medical event held at the Jaffna Teaching hospital. Actress Asin joins with Chiranthy Rajapakse visiting Jaffna clearly establishes the close relationship between the government and Asin is according to sources.Asin while stating about the Sri Lankan issue, said, she is not a politician but she had come to Sri Lanka being a actress. But joining President’s wife and visiting Jaffna, clearly establishes her political bond was stated. The Tamil Nadu Film Association has banned her films screening in South India was according to information. 12 July 2010 TNA seeks talks with MR The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), subsequent to its meeting with the Indian government, was now planning to have another round of talks with President Mahinda Rajapaksa as early as possible, party’s spokesman MP Suresh Premachandran said yesterday.A TNA delegation led by its Leader R. Sampanthan met Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi recently. Mr. Premachandran told the Daily Mirror the Indian leaders had requested his party to engage the Sri Lankan government in pursuit of solutions to the problems confronting people in the North and the East.“We met a range of Indian leaders and discussed various issues pertaining to the resettlement of displaced civilians. Also, we exchanged our views on a political solution. In the North, the government has failed to dismantle the High Security Zones. We are concerned about the militarization of the area. We brought these issues to the notice of the Indian leaders,” the TNA MP said.Asked whether there was any reference to the 13th Amendment, he said that it was discussed at length.“Of course, we discussed it. We discussed its inadequacies. In our view, it is difficult to implement the 13th Amendment meaningfully under a unitary constitution,” he said. He said that the TNA would meet the President very soon to discuss the present situation in the North. “We will definitely meet the President,” he said. Sri Lanka protests against UN echo anti-justice campaign-HRW (New York) – Demonstrations led by a Sri Lankan government minister to protest a United Nations expert panel show the government's open hostility to investigations of alleged war crimes in the Tamil Tiger conflict that ended last year, Human Rights Watch said today.UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's creation of and support for the three-person Panel of Experts on justice mechanisms – despite persistent Sri Lankan government opposition – shows important new resolve to promote accountability for war crimes, Human Rights Watch said."The demonstrations against the UN's Colombo compound are a threatening new turn in the Sri Lankan government's campaign against the UN Panel of Experts," said Elaine Pearson, acting Asia director at Human Rights Watch. "Anyone who ever thought this government would get serious about investigating wartime atrocities should look at the ruckus being raised over three advisors to the UN secretary-general."Since July 6, 2010, the minister for housing and construction, Wimal Weerawansa, has led what were initially several hundred protesters who surrounded the UN compound in Colombo and harassed UN staff, blocking their arrival and departure. The crowds were protesting Ban's forming of an expert panel to advise him on accountability mechanisms for violations of international human rights and humanitarian law during the final stages of the conflict between the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).On July 8, Ban issued a statement finding it "unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo as a result of unruly protests organized and led by a cabinet minister of the Government." He recalled the UN's ranking official in Sri Lanka, Neil Buhne, for consultations in New York and closed the UN Development Program's Asia and Pacific Regional Office in Colombo as a "direct response" to the situation affecting the UN compound.On July 10, the United States, the European Union, and eight European heads of mission in Colombo issued a joint statement that "Peaceful protest is part of any democracy, but blocking access to the United Nations ... as well as intimidating and harassing UN personnel is a breach of international norms and harmful to Sri Lanka's reputation in the world.""That Secretary-General Ban is standing his ground against the anti-UN protests in Colombo is a strong endorsement of the need for justice and accountability in Sri Lanka," Pearson said. "It's time the Sri Lankan government started working with Ban, rather than against him." Background Since the end of the quarter-century-long armed conflict in May 2009, the Sri Lankan government has failed to undertake any meaningful investigation of violations of the laws of war. Sri Lankan forces were implicated in numerous indiscriminate attacks on civilians, while the LTTE used civilians as "human shields" and prevented them from fleeing to safer areas. The UN estimates that more than 7,000 civilians died during the final months of the fighting.Just days after the LTTE's defeat, President Mahinda Rajapaksa promised Ban that his government would address allegations of abuses, but has failed to do so. The Sri Lankan government has established two ad hoc inquiries, but both lack the mandate to conduct effective investigations.On March 5, 2010, Ban informed Rajapaksa that he intended to establish a Panel of Experts to advise him on next steps for accountability in Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan government responded with a campaign that attacked Ban for interfering in the country's domestic affairs, calling the panel "unwarranted" and "uncalled for." The three-member expert panel, consisting of an Indonesian, a South African, and an American, was appointed in June, though it has not yet convened. The government promptly announced that it would not provide visas to the panel members to visit the country.Human Rights Watch said that the expert panel should provide the secretary-general with a roadmap – which should be made public – for an independent international investigation to examine laws-of-war violations by both sides during the final months of the Sri Lankan conflict."The fracas around the UN headquarters is just the latest episode in the Sri Lankan government's efforts to ensure nothing is done to bring justice for war crimes," Pearson said. "The expert panel may be a small step towards an independent international investigation, but it's a real step forward nonetheless. Governments around the world who have pledged to end impunity for war crimes should back the secretary-general's efforts to see justice done in Sri Lanka." Midwives at the Jaffna hospital in Sri Lanka protest alleged murder of a colleague Mid wives at the Jaffna hospital in northern Sri Lanka have reported to work today (12) wearing blank bands as a mark of protest over the alleged murder of a colleague. The protest is against the murder of a mid wife allegedly by a doctor last week. The local media last week reported that the doctor had allegedly tried to stage the death as a suicide to cover up the murder. The doctor had been moved to different hospital. The police so far not arrested the doctor according to Jaffna sources. Registering Tamil civilians is discriminatory: Mano Ganesan calls for president’s intervention Voters’ registration not fully completed in the Northern Province, hence elections cannot be conducted Tamil National Alliance had said, registration activities are not fully completed in the Northern Province; hence elections cannot be conducted in the province. P.Ariyenthiran, Parliament Member of Alliance, in his interview to a media made this statement. Voters’ registrations are processed now in the Kilinochchi, Mullaitheevu, and Jaffna including districts in the Northern Province. Deputy Election Commissioner A.S.Karunanidhi in charge of Kilinochchi and Mullaithevu districts, informed the period allocated for registration of voters is until September. Therefore after the month of September, the resettle people in the Kilinochchi and other districts will come under registration after forthcoming January. On this basis, if an election is conducted in the year 2011, month of January such voters may get rejected was mentioned by Ariyenthiran. He appealed in such an instant, other than the resettled people, the displaced people who are still in the internment camps, should also included in the voting registration. He mentioned, all the eligible voters should get registered to conduct election in the north, and appealed until this is completed, the elections in the northern district should be postponed or the voting list prepared before year 2008 should be taken for considering providing voting rights. In this manner, the proposed election could be conducted. Therefore he urged, under any circumstances, elections should not be conducted depriving the eligible voters in the northern province. Sri Lankan navy attacks the Tamilnadu fishermen today. NDTV News had published that today also, the Tamil Nadu fishermen were attached by the Sri Lankan navy forces. Approximately 200 Tamil Nadu fishermen who were fishing near the Kachchatheevu, was attacked by the Sri Lankan Navy forces. Reports states, more than 50 fishermen had got injured. According to a recent attack by the Sri Lankan navy, one Tamil Nadu fisherman had died. Due to these continuo’s harassments, massive protests are held in Tamil Nadu. Speculations are that it may cause political based controversies due to today’s incident. 11 July 2010 India will work with TNA: PM Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has told a delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) that India has decided to work with it to find solutions to the short term and long term problems faced by the Tamils of the island nation.This was revealed by TNA MP, M.A.Sumanthiran, who was a member of the delegation which met the Indian PM in New Delhi on Thursday.Sumanthiran told the Express that Singh went on to ask the TNA to work with other Tamil parties so that a joint Tamil view could be presented to the Sri Lankan government on various issues.Singh’s request is significant in the light of the fact that only recently, about a dozen Tamil parties and NGOs had met in Colombo to begin working out a Common Minimum Programme on issues facing the Tamils. The TNA had kept out of the venture thinking that these parties were basically out to undermine its position in the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces where it had emerged as the single largest party in the last parliamentary elections with 14 MPs.Responding to Singh’s plea for unity, the leader of the TNA, R.Sampanthan, said that his outfit would certainly cooperate with other Tamil parties so long as such cooperation did not violate the trust which the people of the Northern and Eastern provinces had vested in it.The TNA asked the PM to put pressure on the Sri Lankan government to find a political solution to the Tamil question within a specific time frame; to see that the High Security Zones were dismantled; and to ensure that the ethno-demographic character of the Northern and Eastern provinces was not changed through government-sponsored colonisation of Sinhalese.Asked if the delegation gave the Indian PM any details to substantiate the claim that the Sri Lankan government had schemes to change the ethno-demographic character of the North and East, Sumanthiran said that the details had already been given to the Indian authorities.The Prime Minister did not directly address this issue, but he assured that India would endeavour to see that the Tamils lived in safety and security and that their political aspirations were met.Singh requested the TNA to keep having talks with the government of Sri Lanka on these issues in a constructive way. The delegation said that they were indeed engaging the government and were eager to continue the process.The delegation wanted the Tamil-speaking Northern and Eastern provinces to be re-united to be a Tamil Homeland, as per the India-Sri Lanka Accord of 1987. The unification had been annuled by a court order in 2006.Sumanthiran said that the TNA thanked India for undertaking some vital developmental projects in the North, especially the building of 50,000 houses for the war-affected Tamil civilians in the Wanni.Asked for an overall impression of the meeting, Sumanthiran said: “We were every satisfied.” TNA objects to Chinese fishing in Nanthikadal Vino Noharaathalingam, TELO and TNA MP for the north Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking region of Wanni, has expressed opposition to a reported plan to give China fishing rights in the Nanthikadal lagoon in Mullaitivu district, where the Liberation Tamil Tigers Eelam leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in May 2009.The MP told parliament on Wednesday that while the fishermen were happy with the resumption of fishing in Mullaitivu, they were dismayed that the Chinese were going to be allowed to fish in the lagoon.Earlier, Daily Mirror had quoted the Fisheries Minister, Dr Rajitha Senaratne, as saying that a Chinese company had been given the right to establish a prawn farm in the Nanthikadal lagoon.When Express sought more details, Senaratne denied the media report and said that while various parties had evinced interest in the commercial exploitation of the aquatic resources in the lagoon, the government had not taken a decision in the matter.However, Tamil circles are worried not only about the foreign presence in the area, but fear loss of employment opportunities for locals. President abandons bid for third term President Mahinda Rajapaksa will abandon moves to amend the Constitution to enable him to contest any number of times for this post. Instead, he has agreed ‘in principle’ to create the office of an Executive Prime Minister.The change in thinking was conveyed yesterday by President Rajapaksa to Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. The two held a one-on-one meeting last morning at the ‘Janadipathi Mandiraya’ (President’s House) to discuss the proposed constitutional amendments and other political issues.President Rajapaksa’s decision to back off from going ahead with the extension of his maximum two-term tenure comes just two days after Mr. Wickremesinghe had publicly declared he was willing to co-operate with the Government to abolish the executive presidency and create the post of executive Prime Minister.He said such a move should not be detrimental to democracy. Mr. Wickremesinghe made these remarks when he first met national newspaper editors at his Cambridge Place office on Wednesday and at a public rally thereafter. During yesterday’s meeting, Mr. Wickremesinghe agreed with President Rajapaksa to have a UNP-led United National Front delegation hold talks with a Government delegation on these constitutional changes. The first meeting will be held tomorrow at 5 p.m. The UNF delegation will be led by Mr. Wickremesinghe and include UNP deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya, former Speaker, Joseph Michael Perera, Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauff Hakeem and Gamini Jayawickrema Perera. John Amaratunga was to be included but UNP officials said he was abroad. It was likely that the discussions will necessitate the creation of separate committees to go into each of the specific subjects that are to be discussed. This might require the induction of more members into the consultative process.President Rajapaksa and Mr. Wickremasinghe also discussed other matters, particularly issues relating to the 17th Amendment to the Constitution, electoral reforms and related topics. The UNP leader had pointed out that his party’s position had been spelt out during talks deputy leader, Jayasuriya held with Minister D.E.W. Gunasekera, who headed a parliamentary select committee on constitutional reforms.Both leaders came to some consensus yesterday that a return to the British Westminster model of governance was not the best for Sri Lanka. However, they agreed that such a model could not be abandoned altogether and some of the good aspects would have to be incorporated in the proposed changes. As a result of the new turn of events, draft constitutional amendments will not be presented in Parliament in the coming weeks as previously proposed by the Government. Tragicomedy drama of two able actors ends – Weerawansa’s untimely tragedy ended by the timely comedy act of the President The NFF leader Wimal Weerawansa who staged a non stop fast unto death in front of the UN Office in Colombo suddenly abandoned his fast on Saturday (10) .Weerawansa abandoned his fast after the President Mahinda Rajapakse went to the site of his fast and offered a glass of water while requesting him to give up the fast.Later he was dispatched to the Hospital for treatment by an Ambulance.Weerawansa who made a huge din and started his non stop fast on the 8th after massive fanfare while performing solemn ceremonies declared that until the Committee appointed by Ban Ki Moon is withdrawn , he would not interrupt his fast which will continue until his death . Further , he loudly urged his supporters to carry on the campaign in case he dies following the fast. Alas ! scarcely two days have gone by , Weerawansa suddenly decided to break his fast .Moreover , he asserted earlier that if he loses his life through his so called ‘ patriotic dramatic act’, it will not be the people nor the President who should be held responsible , but it is Ban ki Moon , the UN Secretary General who should be answerable. On the 8th , addressing a media briefing held near the UN office where the much crowed about fasting was started , NFF former MPs Jayantha Samaraweera and Mohomed Muzammil said, their leader had tendered his resignation from the post of Cabinet Minister to the President on the ground that , he, as a Minister of the Govt. does not wish to embarrass it by his actions. But, the President has refused to accept his resignation.However , they added that they are still not aware whether it was accepted or rejected , because so far they have not received an official intimation from the Presidential Secretariat.Whether Weerawansa tried to pull a fast one or he truly fasted for two days notwithstanding , from the eagerness with which he gave up the fast , it is clear he had realized the pangs of sufferings of the so many poor people in the country who are virtually fasting daily owing to their dire poverty . It is hoped , at least in the future , instead of his trying to play fast and lose using his Ministerial position , he will direct his focus with some sincerity at least on alleviating the ever increasing sufferings of the people who elected him to power rather than trying to experiment on matters which are beyond his control. Making a hero out of a cardboard hero Never in recent times have relations between the UN secretariat and Colombo been this acrimonious or so unashamedly mishandled over an issue that could have been easily resolved through diplomatic channels.When Wimal Weerawansa, a minister, recently encouraged the public to lay siege on the UN compound in protest against Ban Ki-moon’s appointment of a special advisory panel, the government quickly maintained that this was not their official position. The UN secretariat took the government’s assurance at face value. Ugly protest For its Colombo offices, therefore, it was business as usual on Tuesday. The resident coordinator, Neil Buhne — despite being forewarned of a protest that day — was away in Batticaloa. Staff in all UN bodies situated inside the UN compound at Bauddhaloka Mawatha reported to work. This included personnel attached to the resident coordinator’s office, the UNDP, the UNFPA, OCHA, UNAIDS, the UN Drugs and Crimes Office, FAO, UNIC, ILO and UN-HABITAT. On a normal day, there are about 200 employees in the compound. Essential staff comprises about 40 to 50 of that number. The demonstration started in the morning, with Weerawansa leading the fray. It quickly turned unruly despite police presence. The Reuters news agency reported that Weerawansa used his mobile phone to secure the intervention of Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to prevent police from assisting UN staff. A local UN officer, who did not wish to be quoted, alleged that police had been “immature” in the way they handled protesters. “They provoked these people,” he said. But it was evident to those present at the location that the demonstrators had come prepared to push the boundaries of good behaviour. They quickly erected a shed opposite the compound. Some climbed on walls while others pushed against the police barriers and grappled with the authorities. A bottle of petrol and a box of matches were also observed. UN employees were inside for at least eight hours before police facilitated their departure amidst hoots and shouts.The protest reduced in intensity the following day. But although there was no apparent threat of bodily harm to UN personnel, only essential staff reported to work at the UN compound on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. The protest continued on a lower key while some members of the National Freedom Front embarked on a hunger fast that did not last even as long as the “fast-unto-death” that Weerawansa started on Thursday. War of statements While this drama was being played out on the streets, another drama was playing out in the diplomatic arena. It was a war of words — or statements — and it wasn’t pleasant. Initially, Ban Ki-moon’s bureau in New York defended the Sri Lanka government despite the violent protest on Tuesday. At the noon press briefing at the UN headquarters in New York on Wednesday, Ban Ki-moon’s spokesman Farhan Haq read a statement which said: “We trust that the Government of Sri Lanka will honour the commitments made in ensuring the safety and security of our staff so that they can continue the vital work being carried out by the United Nations each day to help the people of Sri Lanka.”Haq said the secretariat held a number of high-level meetings with the Sri Lanka government, “trying to get their assurances”. “And as for Mr. Wimal Weerawansa, we notice that he himself said in a press conference that UN staff would be allowed to move in and out of the compound,” Haq continued, optimistically. “And we trust that that assurance will be kept.”But by the following day, the tone had pointedly changed. Significantly, it was Wimal’s continued participation in the protest — in his capacity as member of the government — that led to more stern action being taken by the UN secretariat. A statement attributable to the UN secretary-general’s spokesman now said: “The Secretary-General finds it unacceptable that the Sri Lankan authorities have failed to prevent the disruption of the normal functioning of the United Nations offices in Colombo as a result of unruly protests organized and led by a cabinet minister of the Government.” Diplomatic row Ban Ki-moon recalled Neil Buhne to New York for consultations and decided, harshly, to close down the UNDP regional centre in Colombo. He also called on the government to “live up to its responsibilities towards the United Nations as host country”.The government replied with a hollowly that “throughout the situation, the Government of Sri Lanka has looked after the safety of the United Nations premises”. “The demonstrations taking place outside have not resulted in harm to anyone,” a statement said. “Access has continued to be afforded to the premises, through the facilitation of the movement of persons wishing to enter or exit.” It was not the government’s role to obstruct a peaceful protest, External Affairs Minister G.L. Peiris said at a press conference. And in a sense, this assertion rang true.The UN itself upholds the right to peaceful protest. After the unruliness of Tuesday, the rest of the week was relatively non-violent (despite Wimal and some demonstrators remaining outside the UN compound). Peaceful protests are a democratic right so was the UN not being duplicitous by whining merely because it offended or inconvenienced them? In response to a question by this newspaper, Farhan Haq replied: “You are wrong in saying we minded the peaceful protest. We have said repeatedly this week that we do not have any problem with peaceful protest. What has been the problem has been the obstruction of UN staff, hindering our normal work on the ground. That is not in keeping with the Government of Sri Lanka’s commitments as host country. We have again repeated that we want staff to be able to go about their work without further hindrance.” This, technically, was accurate. The entrance/exit to the UN compound was not clear. Hence, the allegation of obstruction rang true. UNDP regional centre Meanwhile, a controversy broke out regarding Ban Ki-moon’s decision to close down the regional centre. It was revealed in Colombo that the centre, which had been shifted here from Kathmandu some years ago because of turmoil in that capital, was being phased out anyway. There were already plans to shift it to Bangkok. In fact, some drivers of the regional centre had already been absorbed into other UN offices in Colombo. Besides, the regional centre was not even in the compound. Closing it down would not have any impact on other UN activities in Sri Lanka. So what was Ki-moon playing at? In response to our question on this, Haq said: “Although the UN had been discussing closing the UNDP regional centre with the foreign minister, up until yesterday, we had only decided to scale down the office, not to shut it. The decision to close it was taken yesterday by the SG, as a direct response to the situation in Colombo affecting our main UN compound.”And so, as Weerawansa “fasted” outside, the government and UN secretariat were being sucked into a major diplomatic row. The government’s blatant duplicity in this matter was something that couldn’t be missed. Not surprisingly, the UN secretariat didn’t miss it. Weerawansa, diplomats noted, should have resigned from his cabinet portfolio if his position was, indeed, not the position of the government. When he did send in his resignation letter, the president did not accept it. So here was a government minister obstructing the UN while the government maintained that they did not subscribe to this protest. In Sri Lanka, such things seem normal. Outside, they seem ludicrous and bizarre. A diplomatic demarche soon followed— and there hasn’t been one of these in a while. A joint statement by the heads of mission of Germany, UK, US, France, Italy, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Romania, Norway and the EU delegation expressed dismay at the blockade of the UN compound in Colombo and the “role played in it by a Government minister”. Blocking access to the United Nations — of which Sri Lanka itself is a member — as well as intimidating and harassing UN personnel is a breach of international norms and harmful to Sri Lanka’s reputation in the world, they said. The heads of mission will meet Minister Peiris on Monday to discuss the issue. Weerawansa eventually ended his fast after a record two-and-a-half days when President Mahinda Rajapaksa wiped his brow and gave him some water. But the damage he has done to Sri Lanka with his thirst for third-grade publicity is irreparable. Not only has he embarrassed the government — though they may not realise it yet and may even have encouraged him — he has made a mockery of all Sri Lankans. What could have been handled through careful, quiet diplomacy was made into a comedy of nonsensical proportions. Upping the ante Senior diplomats say that the situation with the UN is unfortunate and embarrassing. Sri Lanka, having managed the most difficult period of the military operation against the LTTE easily, now finds herself in a diplomatic quagmire. “The UN has painted itself into a corner and the government has painted itself into a corner, a double-edged one at that,” said one senior Sri Lankan diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. “This is a failure of our diplomacy. Street smart tactics are not necessarily good diplomatic strategy. I don’t think there is any room for the UN to back down and what happened in front of the UN compound is upping the ante.”There is nothing wrong with the demonstration, said another, also requesting anonymity. “Yes, people should have demonstrated to show our displeasure. But a senior government minister taking the lead and having given notice in advance that he will do it... that is the problem.”Ban Ki-moon’s advisory panel could have been prevented, as Sri Lanka prevented Security Council intervention, by appointing the local Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission earlier and given government endorsement to it. There would be no need, then, for Ban Ki-moon to appoint its own panel. “Prevention is always better than reaction, even in diplomacy.”“I must say that we cannot afford to let this escalate further and there is still room for the government to work through quiet diplomacy to solve this crisis,” he stressed. “There are serious and strategic issues in Colombo and representational issues in New York. All these need to be handled.”“Representational issues” in New York is a reference to the fact that Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN Palitha Kohona is frequently out of his station while the Deputy Permanent Representative Bandula Jayasekera has now been recalled. It is difficult to say how the crisis with the secretariat will play out. “It will depend on how we handle it from now on,” said a senior retired diplomat. “This is a clear case where we have certain responsibilities as the host country to facilitate the UN work and this was disrupted by a demonstration led by a government minister.” “While our policy is to keep the Sri Lankan issue away from the UN, we have dragged it straight back by diplomatic default,” he said. “I don’t think this kind of thing has ever happened to Sri Lanka before. This is embarrassing particularly because the agenda was to make a hero out of a cardboard hero. At what cost is the issue.” Sinhala doctor alleged of killing Tamil nurse in Jaffna transferred to safety The Sinhala doctor alleged of killing a Tamil female nurse in Vealanai government hospital in the island off Jaffna Saturday morning has been suddenly transferred to a hospital in Changkaanai in Jaffna peninsula. Meanwhile, Oorkaavatturai police said that they found evidence indicating that the nurse had been killed. The doctor had been taken to Changkaanai escorted by Sri Lanka Army. Meanwhile, Vealanai residents who had protested against the killing said that they will continue their protest. More than a hundred residents of Vealanai in the islets of Jaffna attempted to attack a Sinhala doctor in Vealanai government hospital Saturday morning on finding a young woman nurse dead, hung inside the hospital. The victim was identified as Saravani Yarsika, 28, a resident of Kaithadi in Jaffna. Yarsika lived in the hospital nurses quarters. Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers occupying the islets of Jaffna rushed to the scene and took away the Sinhala doctor to their base. The enraged residents allege that the Sinhala doctor had killed the nurse and then hung her with a rope in an attempt to show that she had committed suicide. Heartrending tale of Jaffna family Nowhere to go... If you tour Jaffna and happen to visit the Jaffna railway station, you will not miss a family of three residing in one of the abandoned office rooms of the station.Selvaratnam Jayalingam (48) his wife Jayarubi and their girl child Dharshika (4) have been living there for the last four months surviving on the food and money given by visitors of the South who are going in large numbers to Jaffna these days and also soldiers who are in the vicinity.The displaced family from Vasavilan, Palali, has lost everything in life. Selvaratnam limps with one artificial leg and Jayarubi has lost both her legs and all 10 fingers in a shell attack in 1992.The handicapped couple with untold hardships left Palali to Oddumadam, Pommaveli three years ago. They settled in a house of a Muslim family who were displaced and living in Puttalam.But when the war came to an end, the family from Puttalam returned and Selvaratnam and family had to vacate. Having nowhere to go, and unable to rent a house, the Selvaratnam family moved into the dilapidated Jaffna railway station. Dharshika does not attend school. She spends her days playing alone in the room with her parents. They can hardly do anything for the child. Since Jayarubi is unable to move or cook a meal, they leave the child to attend to her own little needs. “We want our child to attend school, but a nearby Montessori is asking for Rs. 7, 000 to enroll her. We have no money. We are like a ‘showpiece’ to the public who visit the railway station. They talk to us and give us food and money and we live by that,” said Jayarubi.They approached MP Douglas Devananda to give them a house and he promised to do something. “It was two months ago that he spoke to us but we have heard nothing since then. We even approached the UNCHR and the ICRC but they are not in a position to give us land or a house,” Jayarubi said. Selvaratnam used to prepare sweetmeats (Muscat) which were supplied to shops. “I can do that if I have the facilities,” he says. But their worry is about the child who needs an education and a proper shelter.“There are hundreds of such families...and before talking of massive development plans in the North and East and boosting trade and tourism, it’s necessary to concentrate on such families who have no food, no shelter and no education”, a disgusted Southerner said before leaving the railway station. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress members assured to their party leader, they will not resign from the party. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress party members had given assurance to its leader Rauf Hakeem that they will not discharge from their party. The “Diwayina” newspaper has published a news item that a letter affirming that they will not discharge from the party has been handed over to its party leader. Sri Lanka Muslim Congress Leader Rauf Hakeem said, it was not still decided whether to join with the government, and discussions were not held with the government. He said, some parliament members feel by supporting the government they could find a settlement of the Muslim people, but it does not mean that they are leaving the party. 10 July 2010 Embassies angry after Sri Lanka protest blocks UN Embassies in Sri Lanka have expressed dismay over an "intimidating" protest which has blockaded the United Nations compound in the capital.Hundreds of people are demonstrating against a UN panel investigating alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.Diplomatic missions including those of the UK, US and Germany said blocking access to the UN and "intimidating" its workers breached "international norms".There were chaotic scenes outside the UN offices as police were called in.Ten embassies in the capital, Colombo, issued a joint statement on Saturday condemning the protests, which they said would harm Sri Lanka's reputation on the international stage.In the statement, they called upon the Sri Lankan government to take "all appropriate steps" to ensure the safety of the UN compound and staff. War crimes allegations Sri Lanka President meets Opposition Leader Ban urges Sri Lanka to 'normalize conditions' at UN compound UNITED NATIONS — UN chief Ban Ki-moon Friday called Friday on Sri Lanka to "normalize conditions" around the UN office in Colombo after days of angry demonstrations over a UN war crimes panel.Following Thursday's recall of the UN's top envoy to the island, Neil Buhne, Ban again urges Colombo "to take urgent action to normalize conditions around the (UN office) so as to ensure the continuation of the vital work of the organization to assist the people of Sri Lanka," the UN Secretary General's office said in a statement.It said the "strong reaction" to a UN probe into alleged rights abuses during the final stages of Sri Lanka's civil war "is not warranted," adding that the Panel of Experts had only an advisory capacity.The panel, the statement said, "has been set up to advise the secretary general... on the modalities, applicable international standards and comparative experience relevant to an accountability process."Its objectives, it added, include "further fostering of reconciliation... as well as reflecting the commitment by Sri Lanka to the promotion and protection of human rights and the importance of accountability in order to continue the strengthening of peace and development in that country."Many observers in Sri Lanka view the UN panel, headed by Marzuki Darusman, a former Indonesian attorney general, as a precursor to a full-blown war crimes investigation.The Tamil Tiger guerrillas were defeated in May 2009 and the United Nations has said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the military's final offensive to end 38 years of civil war.The protests in Colombo have been led by Housing Minister Wimal Weerawansa, who has just resigned and begun what he says will be a hunger strike to the death outside the UN Regional Center.Late Friday, top diplomatic representatives in Colombo from Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Switzerland, US and the European Union delegation expressed "dismay" over the blockade of the UN office."Peaceful protest is part of any democracy, but blocking access to the United Nations -- of which Sri Lanka itself is a member -- as well as intimidating and harassing UN personnel is a breach of international norms and harmful to Sri Lanka's reputation in the world," they said in a joint statement.It asked Sri Lanka to ensure the safety and security of UN personnel and premises. US urges SL to work with UN The United States said Thursday that it was in Sri Lanka’s own interest to cooperate with the United Nations. Sri Lanka has refused to cooperate with a panel named last month by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon to advise him on "accountability issues" during the island’s bloody three-decade war that ended last year."We feel like it’s in Sri Lanka’s best interest to accept these people and their expert advice and that’s offered in good faith," State Department spokesman Mark Toner told reporters. The United States has previously urged Sri Lanka to work for long-term reconciliation between the majority Sinhalese community and the Tamil minority.Sri Lanka’s relations with Western nations grew tense last year due to criticism over its human rights record, but the United States has in recent months tried to patch up with the island nation.The United Nations has previously said that at least 7,000 ethnic Tamil civilians were killed in the final stages of the war, and it estimates some 100,000 people died during the decades-long conflict. CBK denies 'influencing' GSP+ 'Statement to cabinet' In a letter to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, the former president has categorically rejected Mr. Rajapaksa's alleged statement to the cabinet of ministers. “The statement in question was that, I the former President influenced the European Union to withdraw the GSP+ facilities to Sri Lanka. This is utterly and completely false. I have had no role to play in the GSP+ issue or for that matter any of your government’s affairs since I retired from the Presidency,” Mrs. Kumarathunga's letter said. Admitting that she is still involved with the EU in various occasions, Mrs. Kumarathunga says the same accusations was levelled against her by Minister Prof. Peiris after her address to a high level EU meeting in 2008. She recalls that the GSP+ facilities were granted to Sri Lanka during her presidency.“There were certain conditions stipulated for the grant and thereafter the extensions of this facility. I understand the government has yet to fulfil these undertakings,” the letter, which was also released to the media,added. If I lead evidence against the Army, it is I who will be in trouble, not the empty mealy mouthed clowns –Gen. Fonseka Navaali massacre of 147 Tamil civilians remembered Relatives of the victims and Navaali Church organization observed Friday the fifteenth death anniversary of 147 Tamil civilians including men, women and children who were killed in the indiscriminate bombing by the Sri Lanka Air Force bombers and artillery attack by the Sri Lanka Army on Navaali St Peters Church on 9 July 1998, sources in Jaffna said. Hemalatha Memorial Organization set up in remembrance of Hemalatha, a Village Officer who was killed in the bombing, was jointly engaged in observing the memorial event, the sources added. Thousands of Tamil civilians fled from their villages in Valikaamam division when the SLA supported by the Sri Lanka Air Force launched a military operation named “ Leap Forward” on 9th July 1995 early morning around 5:00 a.m. The SLA launched indiscriminate bombing and the SLA artillery attack on residential areas, government offices, temples and other buildings in the Valikaamam southwest, west, south and north divisions. People ran here and there for safety. As the bombing and artillery fire became fierce, people fled from their dwellings by foot, cart and push cycles leaving their belongings. Several civilians, old and young, were injured in the aerial attack and some died on their way. Because of economic embargo at that time no motor transport was available to take the injured to the hospital, sources said.Few hundred people sought refuge in the Navaali St Peters Church and Navaali Murukamoorthy Temple.Around 5:45 p.m. on 9th July, 1995 SLA bombers, which came from Jaffna town, dropped about thirteen bombs on these two temples killing 147 innocent civilians on the spot. Both temples were completely damaged and people inside were trapped. Several lost their limbs. More than four hundred people were injured in the attack. Of the dead 48 were volunteers who were helping the refugees providing water and food, sources said. Sri Lankan Minister ending the fast? Sri Lanka's National Freedom Front (NFF) Leader and Housing, Construction and Engineering Services Minister Wimal Weerawansa who is currently on a fast unto death outside the UN office in Colombo may be ending his fast today. A highly placed source in the government told ColomboPage that the Minister is urged to consider ending the fast today. According to the source the government is displeased to draw negative criticism for being unable to control the crisis at a time when the Sri Lankan President was praised for mediating to solve the political crisis in the Maldives. The tit-for-tat affair between the UN and the Minister has gone too far, political analysts in the country point out. Although they blame the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon for appointing a panel of experts to infringe on Sri Lanka's internal matters despite the fervent opposition from Sri Lanka, the political analysts say the government must take diplomatic measures to garner the support from other friendly countries to go against the UN chief and not alienate those who support Sri Lanka. It seems that Sri Lanka's vehement opposition to the panel of experts has hardened the UN chief's resolve to go ahead with the panel, the analysts explain. "It is clear that Ban is pressured by Western nations and groups sympathetic to the separatist movement in Sri Lanka to take action against the government's conduct during the war," one analyst said pointing out that the diplomatic corps from the West were quick to express their dismay at the events unfolded last few days. The Heads of Mission of Germany, UK, US, France, Italy, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Romania, Norway and the European Union Delegation said that they are deeply dismayed by the blockade of the UN-compound this week in Colombo and the role played in it by a government minister. Meanwhile, the UN chief has urged the government to take immediate action to normalize the conditions. India maintaining silence to the protest of Wimal Weerawansa, V.Gobalasamy shows his disappointment Marumalarchi Diravida Munnetra Kalagam General Secretary Y.Gobalaswamy is much a surprised that Minister Wimal Weerawansa is against the United Nation Organization hence he had arranged a protest, for which India is maintaining silence. He said the present situation occurred to Untied Nation Organization in Colombo very shortly will happen to Sri Lankan High Commission in India which he warned. He said the investigations groups which are appointed by United Nation Organization against Sudan and Serbia, none were against the origination of the investigation panels. But he said, why questions are queried about the panel which is appointed against Sri Lanka. Ranil wants govt to reveal amount of money seized from KP Opposition and UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe addressing Parliament yesterday asked the government reveal the amount of the funds it had recovered from the LTTE arms procurer Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP and channel it for the welfare of disabled soldiers and displaced persons.He said: "We would like to know what has happened to 18 ships that once belonged to KP. There were over 500 refilling stations and income generated from them. Where have they gone?" Wickremesinghe said government could make use of those assets to increase the salaries of public servants.He said that the government, which solely depended on the heroic acts of solders to win elections, did not give the houses built with ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ funds free to the war heroes.The government charges money from War Heroes for the houses at the Iplogama Ranaviru Housing scheme."Why cannot this government use the money recovered from the LTTE for a worthy cause such as compensating the war heroes or the displaced, the most affected by the war?" he queried. A’sangaree wants K’nochchi Cabinet meeting postponed Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) leader V. Anandasangaree while welcoming the government’s decision to hold the next Cabinet meeting in Kilinochchi has requested President Mahinda Rajapaksa to postpone it as he feels the time is not opportune.In a letter addressed to President Rajapaksa, Anandasangaree has stated: "Kilinochchi and the Mullaitivu Districts were the worst affected by the war. Loss of life and property was very high. The people of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu have not yet got over the shock they received. Some are still looking for their dear ones. In this situation Ministers going there over and over again and having opening ceremonies and thamasas will irritate them.Furthermore, they feel that some of those who danced to the tune of the LTTE and passed on most of government allocations to it without any work done are now advising the government. More than one year has elapsed since the end of war but people have not yet properly resettled and most of them are living under huge trees and in primitive type of temporary shelters. Most of their houses are without roofs, doors and windows. What can they do with a few tin sheets, little cement and a couple of tarpaulin sheets?"I,who created Kilinochchi District and represented it for 13 years, have not been consulted by anybody, including you, on any matter relating to the welfare of the Kilinochchi people, development there and the resettlement of the IDPs. By obtaining my advice on various matters the government could have saved a great deal of tax money.I served the people of Kilinochchi for more than half a century. I want to serve them till I die." Sri Lanka, India and China: ‘Tamil issue’ a casualty? by Ravi Sundaralingam The comments and questions from colleagues at work about ‘my’ defence minister raging and ranting on the BBC (Hard Talk, 28.01.10) threatening to kill Gen. Fonseka, for a Tamil was a paradoxical experience. Yet, having been through LTTE’s assassinations campaigns it wasn’t a new experience. However, the real shame was the realisation that for all the scorn we poured on the leaders of the LTTE, to their credit none sounded so unrefined and dreadful as Gotabaya Rajapaksa. Watched by millions across the world, the interview reminded the striking difference in refinement and knowledge, murderers or not, between the IRA spokespersons and the armed Unionists in Northern Ireland when they were in full flow.For many non-Sri Lankans the cringe factor apart, minister’s performance answered the questions about the fate of the thousands of Tamils, unaccounted and wiped out from the face of the Earth during their ‘final phase’ May last year. It surely gave the world a snapshot of the mindset of those at the helm of the Sinhala society. It may have also prompted many to question the position India takes in the region, and “the type of neighbourhood it wanted”. The 45 points joint declaration by India and Sri Lanka at the end of Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit (Sri Lanka Guardian, 09.06.10) gives some clues to this question. There were references to the “potential available” for building principles of democracy & pluralism, establishing leverages to effect common strategic concerns and interests, enhancing connectivity, integrating economies, and reinforcing institutional framework for cooperation. For the cynics among us these are familiar phraseologies, meant nothing to the ordinary people, particular to the Tamils, but are the necessary guarantees for the wicked. Tamil issue Despite the misguided belief of some Tamils that Mahinda would reveal “the solution to the ethnic problem”, political expediency prevailed and the Tamil issue was presented as one of many important issues in the declaration.If as expected India had demanded and Mahinda complied, the whole process would not have been in good faith, just as the 13th amendment before. The Tamils would have to pay even more, and end up in a worse situation than now. How much India care about the issue behind the scene is very important for the Tamils, though they are yet to be convinced by its ‘quiet diplomacy’. For many the ‘Tamil issue’ is the litmus test for the substance on pluralism, diversity and democracy in Sri Lanka. If Sri Lanka conforms to these ideals, it will also spell an end to the extreme Sinhala nationalism and democratisation of the state. However, these are fundamental issues also for the Sinhala communities, and to the Indians within the greater scheme of things in the region. While such expectation of public arm-twisting is no longer helpful to the Tamils, it also assumes a level of Indian influence over Sri Lanka and the importance about the rights of the Tamils in the Indian agenda. How does the ‘Tamil issue’ really fit in the present regional conditions, and how does it emerge from Indian perspectives? First and foremost, South Asia is predominantly about Feudal Democracies with its strong feudal structures in polity and societies, and in their dynamic relationships. India is a qualified exception with a political system firmly founded on democratic principles and an independent judiciary, though prone to corruption. It is developing a strong civil society that has firm roots in the history of its people and social justice. Newly emerging corporate-India may give modernity the democratic-India wants, for itself and the region. What the corporate-India wants may not what the democratic-India needs, and this is an added concern for many in the region set in their feudal ways. This also makes any advocacy on these issues difficult for India, which suffers from the same, therefore must approach with due care and attention. Secondly, as feudal democracies at different stages of social transformation, South Asia does not have a strong civil society as a whole to make Human Rights a framework to sort out the fundamental issues within, and between the societies and nations. Its medieval social systems, patches of high economical development, borrowed political systems, morally and politically corrupt bureaucracy, and ‘international legitimacy’ of its ‘states’ is a mixture difficult to completely understand or handle by any of its feudally propagating political classes. In the absence of such a social advancement it is unproductive to use prosecution of the political leaders as a means to advance democratic reformations in any of its states. It is futile to expect the prosecution of the leaders of Sri Lanka for their atrocities against the Tamils, and the ‘supporters’ of the JVP. Or consider holding the Pakistani establishment for the excesses in their war against terrorism inside its ‘borders’ while supporting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and the Myanmar authorities for the destruction of its minorities. The denial of human values is structurally ingrained even those fight against the atrocities commit counter-atrocities that makes an idea of common humanity a difficult proposition. This allows the statists, nationalists, and corporatists for their propaganda, making the level of atrocities as the measure to decide on the ‘rights’ of any struggle. It is equally futile to expect the West, though with a strong civil society to be able to prosecute the alleged offenders against humanity other than use them as leverage. Even if it could what would be the purpose when there isn’t an institutionalised framework on human rights in South Asia? How could the end product be helpful towards such a framework, an imposition on societies with medieval social systems and traditions?Would it really serve the Tamils to prosecute Gotabaya or Mahinda Rajapaksas for their atrocities, when they and the vast majority of the Sinhala intelligentsia truly believe they had fought and won a just war? What could the Tamils expect, after justifying the atrocities of the LTTE, in the hope of winning the war against the Sinhala state? What would be the definition of a common humanity in all that? Perhaps, lessons can be learned from the old ANC and South African leaders, who considered these issues seriously and took the “truth and reconciliation” option to progress from their nightmare, but still find themselves a long way away to avoid a return to it. Undoubtedly, only a serious economical development can help to emancipate these ‘rulers’ from their feudalistic notions and concept of governance and, ownership of the resources and human potentials. We have made this point several times, long before the defeat of the LTTE. Thirdly, having been identified exclusively with the Tamils, for strategic and local political reasons until recently, India needs the time to build trust and good will among the Sinhala feudal lords and chieftains. The help India provided to defeat the LTTE may sway some public opinion in the Sinhala Land, but it cannot be sustained if Tamil issue is prioritised whenever the Sinhala feudal-lord visits India. It is noticeable during Mahinda’s visit the ‘Tamil issue’ had been “down graded” from the head-of-states to ministers of external affairs level. From the Tamils’ perspective this adds insult to injury. However bringing the issue to the MEA level, it can be consistently raised at the revived ‘Joint Commission Mechanism’ giving a firmer footing, without giving the impression of India of constant interference. In a round about way this allows India to make connection with the Indo-Lanka Accord, which is essentially a bilateral agreement about the security of India and the region, a sort of ‘legitimate’ way to interfere. Fourthly, India has to ‘understand’ Sri Lanka’s need for Chinese support in the international arena to ward off any inquiries about human rights violation committed by its military forces and political masters during its war against the Tamils. The need to have a veto-power wielding friend in the UN has already been made by Col. R. Hariharan (Lanka Guardian, 07.06.10). India needs to work around these difficulties to counter the ‘Chinese influence’ creeping into the island, and on the ‘Tamil issue’ if it still remained on its agenda. Fifthly, how much the ‘corporate’ approach to overwhelm the islanders will endear or give confidence to the ordinary Sinhala person is another question. Sinhala Greater-nationalists have portrayed the Tamils as the “fifth column” of the Indians largely due to the political and military ‘interference’ by its Southern kingdoms in the past, perhaps also of the kinship between the Tamils on either side of the water. India’s covert support for the Tamil militancy and the misrepresentation of the Tamil Nadu sympathy for the plights of the Tamils may have helped to reinforce this false image. The history however notes a different portrait: Sri Lankan Tamils being equally suspicious of their ‘brothers’ across the water, who formed alliances with Sinhala Kings to destroy Tamil states in the island or let them down in times of need. Eastern Tamils fighting along side Duttu Gemnu to defeat the Tamil king Ellalan. And recently, the LTTE based inside the Sri Lankan military camps with the help of Sinhala President R. Premadasa fighting to ‘defeat’ the Indian army (the IPKF, July 1987-1990). Yet, the Tamils have continued to suffer badly of the image at the hands of the Sinhala rulers. Nowadays because of the worries the local petty/bourgeoisie have of the Indian ‘business’ classes in anticipation of difficulties than opportunities, and nationalists on both sides elevate these suspicions to an anti-Indian position when necessary. Indian strategy On hindsight the decision to support the Tamil militancy can be viewed a serious strategic mistake, yet it must be assessed over a period in the future. As for the Tamils in Sri Lanka it was a disaster from beginning to end. The Indo-Lanka Accord the end result of this strategy conceived in part to keep the US interests out looks as outdated as the thinking that produced it. So the need to endeavour with economic projects and soft-loans, China replacing the US in the tussle. Some believe the assumption India ever had a cohesive strategy towards its neighbourhood is an intellectual fantasy to explain events that ‘inevitably’ happen. Even these cynics must notice a pattern that had provided the right circumstances to destroy Tamil nationalism in the island, which India mistakenly considered might affect Tamil Nadu. Allure of an opportunity to eliminate Tamil nationalism from any source at its roots was so great that India reverted back to its old method of bribing the Sinhala extremists with Tamil assets, veering away from its initial intention to bring Sri Lanka into its fold. This time its bribe was to allow the Sinhala extremists to eradicate the ‘Tamils issue’ along with its nationalism once and for all, which Sri Lanka use it as green light to ethnically cleanse the Tamil from their lands to make Sri Lanka ‘one country’.Thus with a strategy or not, and pilloried for a series of failures India has seen to it that extreme Tamil nationalism on both side of Palk Straight is nullified. Along with the advent of globalisation Tamil Nadu has become one of the most integrated states in the Indian Union and the most ‘industrialised’. The realities of economic progress and commercial enterprise are such, keeping any alleged state ministers from Tamil Nadu in place is more important now than the altruistic notions of Tamil-brotherhood. Tamil Nadu has also been persuaded it can’t have a ‘foreign’ policy of its own and must abide by the general direction the Centre took, and raise its opinion within the established channels. Furthermore with the complete annihilation of the LTTE, India has also ensured no one Tamil group represented the interests of the Tamils, and Delhi alone decided their fate. Though India had been decisive on Tamil nationalism its critics will argue there weren’t a real choice, because of the geo-political conditions and Sri Lanka’s ever growing relationship with China. For them this is the proof for the failure/absence/irrelevance of Indian strategy. This coherent argument for the failure leaves Indian policymakers in a long haul game in the region with unpredictable consequences.However, the real failures are at human level with consequences to last a long time. Five points to note are, (i) depletion of the Sri Lankan Tamils as a strong society, (ii) institutionalising anti-democratic feudal political establishment (iii) enabling the extremists to fulfil their program to make Sinhala people the majority in all parts of the island, (iv) increase the suspicions among the Sinhala communities about India’s eventual intentions and, (v) the serious damage to the faith the Tamils had of India, who survived or witnessed or endured the pain from afar for the past 30 years. Some of the consequences can be already seen. Tamils virtually wiped out as a political force in the island, and almost all the Sinhala political parties and groups are ‘anti-Indian’ with regard to their ‘nationalistic pride of place’ in the region, the strategic conditions for India are not entirely favourable but not threatening, at least for the present. And the Tamils, particularly the Tamileelam contingent of the Diaspora, opting to work with Sri Lanka “than India”. Sri Lankan Tamils’ deep-seated mistrust of India goes back in the history in the medieval times in relations with Tamil speaking kingdoms and principalities in India. Despite the new-age feeling of pan-Tamilism, a sort of imagined Tamil-brotherhood entirely different to pan-Tamil Nationalism, they conspired with Sinhala or Tamil chieftains to destroy most of the embryonic Tamil states in the island. Even recently as the colonial era, the promises of help to the Jaffna Kingdom against the invading Portuguese turned out to be ‘betrayals’. If these were distant memories, etched in the genetics and the Tamil psyche, the very recent events wiped away any hope of change in the behaviour many hoped of India. Yet, they also know their future survival as a defeated people in the island depended entirely on the wishes of India. This poses a serious problem for the Sri Lankan Tamils, particularly for the Diaspora. Trapped between the propaganda of the LTTE and no place to put their trust in, it has been trying to extend some influence on the Indian policy makers, perhaps from a position similar to them with Sri Lanka. Full cycle Having failed bribing the Sinhala greater nationalists with Tamil assets, particularly helping them to deplete the Tamil population by agreeing twice the deportation of the Plantation Tamils, serious Indian program to contain Sri Lanka within its security sphere started when J. R. Jeyawardene was in office; 04.02.78 - 01.02.89. The Sinhala strongman was taking a pro-West stance to balance Indian influence, a trait followed by the Sinhala elite. At the end of the cycle of the strategy, we see Sri Lanka now taking a “pro-Asian” stance, by that it meant a closer alliance with China to counter balance Indian and Western influence, leaving India in the same position in its relationship. The strategy failing to convince the Sinhala ruling classes to bring Sri Lanka into India’s regional economic and security systems. Yet, twenty years down the line India is stronger in every sense, and having the West on board for its plan along its southern tip also strengthen its position. During this phase, with the help of the LTTE the Sinhala polity has also been reduced to the condition not so dissimilar to what the Tamils had endured under the LTTE, and instead of a single Sinhala strong man pitting his wits against Indian strategists Sri Lanka now has the entire family of Rajapaksas to rely on. “Where are the Tamils fit in this process?” Chinese are here Bang-Ki-Moon’s announcement (22.06.10) against his wish, to set up a panel to collect evidence on human right abuses in the island, and the bare coffers are good reasons to push Sri Lanka towards China. But why would the Chinese want to be in the island? Various arguments of commercial interests, from oil fields to using the island as a bridgehead to penetrate the Indian market have been forwarded. From strategic point of view, old idea of “building a ring-around-India” and limiting India’s influence in the Indian Ocean are also being discussed. When consumerism overrides every aspects of life in the ‘globalising world’, one is forgiven for mistaking strategic interests of a country with its commercial interests. While all the listed reasons may be true, China’s intervention may involve rather fundamental issues, such as the ‘new world order’ and, ‘value and protection of its assets’, than the scrap with India. As the global competition for shrinking resources gets tougher anything buried anywhere is a matter of interest for the economical powers. Newly emerging powers China and India, with vast populations need the resources at a faster rate than any other for the produces for export and to satisfy their own growing middle classes. While there is competition to mine or excavate, there is also competition for the fertile lands in Africa and other poorer countries to satisfy the voracious appetite for food produces. It isn’t surprising the Chinese trade with Africa increased from $80 millions in 2003 to $1.4 billions in 2009, and the large portion of its imports was oil. China’s entry into Africa naturally causes worries in the West, which as the collection of colonial powers has always assumed the ownership of the African riches. However, of the oil find in Africa amounting to 117.2 billion barrels (Libya 35%, Nigeria 31%, Algeria 11%, Angola 8%, Sudan 5%, and Other 10%) only about 3% are signed up by Chinese NOCs. Despite the anti-Chinese campaigns, sucking the Africans dry, questioning its ethical position in their deals with the most oppressive African states, the Western NOCs control 35% of the oil stakes and the rest belong to the African NOCs (International Oil Daily, Wall Street Journal, 2009). Yet, China’s aggressive entry into the new fields in Sudan and Angola and many former French colonies for oil and minerals with special deals does make the West to think that they will be locked out. Most often these deals are tied to China’s promises to build the countries infrastructures that are never there or devastated by years of civil wars. During the China-Africa summit in Egypt in June this year, China promised $10 billions of investment in Africa during the next three years for specific projects. Reacting to events President Sarkozy made a “No future without Africa” speech in the Franco-African summit (01.06.10) and promised permanent African representations without veto-power in the UN Security Council, and to invest to meet the challenges, meaning China. As promises go, France also volunteered an extra $5.2 billion in aid to poorer countries in the G8 summit in Gleneagles, Scotland in 2005, but only managed $1.3 billion. China’s venture into Africa, and in some Asian countries will become as intense as its search for natural resources. With it, its foreign assets said to be more than $2.5 trillion will no doubt grow. As the competition for resources becomes intense so would be the tussle between the Wets and China, which has been under wrap until now. With it arises the argument for its assets to be secured and serviced, and conditions for it to grow further. Capital assets cannot be secured or serviced without human assets, and China has been building a network of support among the African countries since the 70s. These countries, from the Islamist Sudan to ‘socialist’ Zimbabwe have differing socio-political perspectives and, for all their false pretences and anti-West rhetoric, have tried to steer clear from foreign interferences. China as a non-invading power, not threatening with its military power to extract benefits towards assets, with a well-cultivated image of supporting African independent movement provides the cover they need. Its deals to build their infrastructures seem more genuine than the unfulfilled promises, coups and civil wars suffered at hands of the West and some times even their large companies. If cultivating human assets are one of the necessary logistical needs, ports and facilities are other logistical requirements that China has been busy securing. But, securing any asset also means preserving and enhancing the value of the asset. The West is always willing to go to war anywhere to place conditions on the resources belonging to smaller, weaker nations. It rightly argues that the passage of oil through the Red Sea to the West is vital to its interest; therefore assumes ‘all rights’ to take actions. Even without considering the invasions, the coups, and the civil wars it has been accused of, its action of simply being the guarantor of safe passage influences the production and the price of oil from the region. By placing constraints on the oil from the region it secures and even enhances the value of all its assets. Therefore beside the ‘market’, who decides the prices of the valuable commodities depends on who can actually put conditions on them. They in turn become part of the decision on the value of the assets of every country or company. Unilateral decisions on these matters by the West or by the US on behalf of the West are becoming almost impossible. How to secure assets and the currency of measurement of the assets are now debates even within the West. The ‘new world order’ so easy to understand at the turn of the millennium is now a multi-facet affair with G5 becoming G6, 7, 8, and 20 and the search for a revamped, reorganised UN mooted as a possible venue to regulate some of the issues has also begun.Yet, the strategic reformulations may appear difficult to understand without the full knowledge of the complicated regional situations. For we see the US signing a strategic treaty with Pakistan but goes on undermining its ‘sovereignty’ by raiding its territory, and China “guaranteeing” Pakistan’s ‘nuclear-parity’ with India (Harsh Pant, rediff news, 22.06.10) and US considering the same request from Pakistan, while Iran continuing with its own nuclear program in the neighbourhood. China, India, Pakistan, and Russia working hard to prevent any investigation on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, while the West seemingly wanting to hold the Lankans responsible. These regional configurations will have some effect on the global strategic trend, if not on the assets of the countries involved. However, they will be minimal compared to the effect the amount of assets, and the efforts of maintaining the value of the assets will have on the global trend. It is in this context the arrival of China to the southern shores of India, into Sri Lanka is more important. Securing the sea lanes, servicing transport vessels and safeguarding and facilitating its communities, and exploring for more wealth will always be China’s aims. But these are secondary in terms of its priorities, we would argue, compared to its priority to maintain/enhance the value of its assets by not allowing India or any other new competitive power to assert direct or indirect control over the riches. That means denying/undermining the measure of their positions or aspirations in the international organisations and ‘arenas’. Reorganisation of the UN is an interesting example where China would rather have a whole host of devalued powers included into the Security Council to undermine its structure than allow India become a veto-holding member. China may very well be of the opinion that US and itself, and perhaps Russia and not every nuclear power should hold the ‘veto-power’ on any major global issues. Comparisons and adverse competitions between the two Asian powers are discussed or encouraged by many outside the region, and insiders wearing old cold war goggles. Those aware of the full details of the future pathways will decide whether these giants should really collide or not for the benefit of their people and those in their regions. We at best can only speculate with the best available information and a keen and acute eye. It is clear these apparent competitions and conflicts are limited to the South and Central Asian regions and no more, at least for the present. The comparisons made perhaps are necessary, but they are like the ‘pound for pound’ comparisons made by the ‘experts of boxing’ between the great champions heavyweight Muhammad Ali and the middleweight Sugar Ray Robinson, though they never would have fought. They could have speculated whether Sugar Ray would put on weight and challenged Ali one day, perhaps. Until India grows into the economic power China is, these are mere speculations. Yet, it is essential for India’s to maintain its regional assets and their value. The worry some of these speculators rightly touch is the devaluing process that has taken place to its assets in its own region. In Sri Lanka, if Indian strategists thought the Tamils were part of their assets, then they no longer have them. If they were counting on the flourishing relationship with the Sinhala elite as an asset, for helping them to defeat the LTTE, it is not forthcoming. India has been ‘investing’ heavily in Afghanistan, and it may have laid out more than $2 billion so far. It provides direct humanitarian help running its own medical services and in IT and educational fields. It has adopted 100 or so villages to promote rural development in the form of rain harvesting and solar-energy, and helped to launch the national air, the ‘Ariana’ by gifting few Airbus crafts. The parliament house in Kabul is being built at a cost of $25 million, and installed 200 km power line cable erecting 100 towers bringing electricity from Uzbekistan. Its major capital investments involved the Salma Dam project, 150 km away from Heart, electrifying Western Afghanistan, and the 220 km long Zeranji-Delaram road, starting in the town Zeranji on the Iranian border linking Heart and Kabul, which has opened up the remote villages to have access to the Iran and other Central Asian states, at a cost of $85 million and 1.5 lives per km due to the Taliban campaign against it (Rohan Joshi, Pragati and Guardian, Jan 2010). India’s financial & political investment in Afghanistan is recognition of its geo-strategic position as a gateway to the oil & mineral rich Central Asia States. By 2015 Caspian Sea Basin states, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and others will produce 4 million barrels of oil a day and gas production equally important, hence the competition between the US, Russia and China, and now India. Its squadron of MIG-29 based in Ayni, Tajikistan is considered by many as a forward step in this direction, and some consider will help to contain Islamic terrorism in South Asia and Central Asia (Prof. Blank, US army war college, March 2009). Then the question is whether India is in a position to put constraints on the riches/assets of others in the regions it considers as its security zone. The arguments that its ‘soft power’ should be turned into a ‘strong power’ with direct military intervention into Afghanistan in the event of US capitulation is a sign that India is willing to work towards such a position. Then, does it have to sacrifice what it already has in order to achieve more is the next question. Soft or strong its power, if India doesn’t have the means or the resolve build its human assets within and inside the region, establishing a measure of control over the assets and their values would be a harder task than its past endeavours. These can only be done with a sense of social justice and full democratic participation for all people in the region within the state and regional structures. As the US experiences in the South and Central Americas show without these aspects in place attempts to maintaining the value of any assets would be require cycles of violence and recriminations. Since China emerging as the regional power the fear among the South Eastern economies, prone to raid on their currencies by the ‘market’ and instant collapses, have been allayed and now there is an air of stability in the region, no doubt achieved with the enormous help of Japan and South Korea. The value of Chinese assets, so are that of Japan, are enhanced by the security and conditions placed on the assets belonged to the region, releasing the regional potential. It was perhaps a lesson learned from Japan, which invested heavily on China even it were aware of China’s eventual power and dominance. In contrast, South Asia as a whole is a region of failed states and instability requiring more than the attention of the only successful economy, India. Its leaders still hampered by their feudal enmities, not being able to learn form the Chinese-Japanese history and their relations, limited inside their own regions, believe one-by-one they all can reach their promised land, and their enemy’s enemy will be of help. So we see, on one hand we see many nations of people, who believe in the authority of their state and the place of an individual or community defined within, working together knowing their regional responsibilities. And in South Asia, we have nations of people wanting their ‘identities’ and ‘individualities’ to define their state, knowing firmly those ‘rights’ to be fundamental, yet with high socio-economical expectations, not being able to know their regional responsibilities that could help to fulfil them. It is between these two positions the answers must also lay, and expecting the feudal and failed states to take a lead on this matter is as futile as to expect them to respect the value of the life of their people. 09 July 2010 Tamil delegation from Sri Lanka meets S M Krishna in New Delhi S M Krishna, India's Foreign Minister met the parliamentary delegation from Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in New Delhi. Seeking India's help in the post-war ethnic conflict that has emerged in Sri Lanka, the delegates raised a spectrum of issues in the half-hour long interaction with Krishna.The head of the delegation, veteran Sri Lankan lawmaker, Rajavarothiam Sampanthan, discussed the critical issue of the resettlement process of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in the island nation, and appealed to Krishna to support the Tamils' cause, said officials.Reportedly, Krishna and the delegates also talked about the various dimensions and causes of the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka, and explored plausible political solutions to resolve the refugee crisis simmering in the island nation.The six-member delegation is on a two-day visit to India, and comprises senior lawmakers from Sri Lanka.The delegation has previously interacted with the Home Minister, P Chidambaram and Communist leader D. Raja.Raja urged the Indian government to pressurize the Sri Lankan regime to take appropriate steps to rehabilitate the Tamils. Tamils registered again The Police have begun registering Tamils in the Wellawatte area under the police ordinance, the police said. However, the Democratic People’s Front charged the police of registering Tamils under section 23 of the Emergency regulations. The General Secretary of the Democratic People’s Front and Western Provincial Councilor, Dr. N. Kumaragurubaran told Daily Mirror online that he made his protest to the DIG Colombo, H.M.D Herath on this issue.DIG Herath had reportedly told Dr. Kumaragurubaran that they were instructed by the higher authority to register all the people including Tamils living in the area. The DIG also informed that they have commenced the registration process from the Western Province, Wellawatte Police division. UN chief Ban Ki-moon recalls Sri Lanka envoy The UN secretary-general has recalled his envoy to Sri Lanka and is closing an office in Colombo because of "unruly protests" over a war crimes panel.Ban Ki-moon said it was "unacceptable" that Sri Lankan authorities had failed to prevent the disruption of the work of UN personnel in the country.The demonstrations are being led by the Housing Minister, Wimal Weerawansa.He has urged "progressive nations" to halt a UN probe over possible war crimes during Sri Lanka's civil war.Mr Weerawansa, an ally of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said he had also begun a hunger strike in a bid to increase pressure on the UN."I am starting a fast till death. Only when the accusations of war crimes are withdrawn and the panel abolished, will I stop this." 'Responsibilities' UNP won’t allow foreign interference - Ranil UNP and Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that his party would not allow anyone to meddle with Sri Lanka’s sovereignty even if those external forces came in the guise of the UN.Wickremesinghe said that no organisation had a right to interfere in the internal affairs of any sovereign nation. "We’ll not allow anyone or any organisation to haul a single Sri Lankan soldier before a war crimes tribunal abroad," he said.He was participating in the committee stage debate on vote of ministry of External Affairs. He alleged that it was the UPFA government that had asked for an advisory panel.The UN had appointed a three-member panel to advise the UNSG on accountability issues on the basis of a joint statement issued on May 23, 2009 by the UNSG and President Mahinda Rajapaksa.Wickremesinghe said that there was no need for Minister Wimal Weerawansa to launch a protest outside the UN compound in Colombo.He said that his party always stood by the armed forces and would not do anything detrimental to their interests.Civilian deaths in a war situation were not unusual but the question was whether the government had been able to minimize the killings during the final stage of the conflict. 08 July 2010 U.N. compound in Sri Lanka closed after siege The United Nations office in Sri Lanka remained closed Wednesday after a three-hour siege of its staff by a government minister and his supporters led to scuffles a day earlier.However, Cabinet Minister Wimal Weerawansa warned Wednesday that if U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon did not withdraw his three-member panel by the end of the business day, he would "fast unto death, saying, "We don't know how the public would react thereafter."Ban has appointed a three-member panel comprising an Indonesian, a South African and an American to advise him on violation of human rights and related issues when Tamil Tiger rebels were militarily defeated in May last year.The United Nations has been concerned about accountability issues related to the military defeat of the rebels, including alleged war crimes by troops and rebels -- allegations that both parties deny."Ban's move is intended to bring President Mahinda Rajapaksa before a war crimes tribunal. We will not allow that to happen," Weerawansa told a news conference.Weerawansa said U.N. staffers will be allowed to go to their office without further interference.On Wednesday morning, protesters gathered outside the U.N. compound and removed a barrier they had placed at the entrance to the office -- a move intended to show there was no more siege and that staffers could move about.The government information department, in a statement issued, justified Tuesday's protest."The government of Sri Lanka dealt with the protest outside the U.N. complex in Colombo today, in compliance with both domestic as well as international obligations," it said. "At the domestic level, Sri Lanka being a democratic society, the government had to respect the entitlement to voice opinion, including through peaceful demonstrations. Accordingly, the police permitted a peaceful gathering in front of the complex."The government statement acknowledged that the protests would continue."The government of Sri Lanka expects that the U.N. complex in Colombo would continue to function as normal in the days ahead," it said. "The government understands that those who are demonstrating intend to continue with their protest, until the U.N. system revisits the matter of the Panel on Sri Lanka. As the same time, the freedom of entry and exit to and from the complex for ahthorized personnel will remain constant."The U.N. said it has registered its strong objection to the protest."While respecting the right of citizens to demonstrate peacefully, preventing access to U.N. offices hinders the vital work being carried out by the United Nations each day to help the people of Sri Lanka," it said.Weerawansa led a group of over thousand protesters on Tuesday.Besides placards urging Ban to withdraw the appointment of the panel, protestors also carried ones that personally insulted Ban. One called him a "stooge" of the American. Protest outside UN office brought shame – Ranil The protest outside the UN office in Colombo had brought shame and disrepute to the country, Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe says.Speaking in parliament today (July 07), he said that opposing the appointment of a UN panel on Sri Lanka was a different issue altogether.He added that civil society does not approve of such actions.Meanwhile, leader of the National Freedom Front Wimal Weerawansa said that they would launch a fast unto death tomorrow if the UN does not meet his demands.Speaking at a media briefing in Colombo today, he said that the protest demonstration would not be abandoned even if he loses his ministerial portfolio during the process.He also alleged that he was assaulted by a top policeman who obtained a bribe from a UN official in Colombo.In response, police spokesman SP Prishantha Jayakody said that if there are such claims then the NFF can go before the bribery commission and lodge a complaint against the said police officer. JHU slams UN protest Creating obstacles for United Nation’s activities and its employees at this moment was a foolish act, former leader of the Jathika Hela Urumaya (JHU) and Member of Parliament, Venerable Ellawala Medhananda Thera said today. “The UN has many members and the panel to investigate into Sri Lanka was set up by the General Secretary of the UN, Ban Ki Moon and therefore he should be held responsible and not the UN organization, said the former leader speaking to Daily Mirror Online.“At this point of time we have to think of the future and act wisely. When a protest is held we have to stay within our limits and hold protests in a peaceful manner,” he said.He said Sri Lanka should improve economically and we have to be careful when we hold protests against other countries. Venerable Ellawala medhananda Thera reiterated there were certain traitorous individuals who would use this opportunity to support Western influences and therefore it was unwise. Visiting TNA delegation meets with senior Indian government officials The parliamentary delegation of Sri Lanka's Tamil National Alliance (TNA) led by parliamentarian R. Sampanthan currently visiting New Delhi has held talks with Home Minister P. Chidambaram and External Affairs Ministry Secretary Nirupama Rao. The six-member TNA delegation is likely to meet Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee tonight. According to the Indian media, the TNA delegation met CPI MP D Raja today at the CPI headquarters in New Delhi and sought Indian help for a solution to the ethnic conflict in Sri Lanka. PTI has reported that Raja had told the delegation that his party would take up the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils both inside and outside Indian Parliament, especially in the matter of relief and rehabilitation of those still living in camps. Sri Lankan Tamil MPs meet CPI MP New Delhi: A delegation of Tamil MPs from Sri Lanka today met CPI MP D Raja and impressed on him the need for active Indian involvement in hammering out a political solution for ethnic problem in their country. The delegation of Tamil National Federation (TNF) MPs including Sambandam, Suresh Premachandran and Senadhiraja met Raja in the CPI headquarters here and sought Indian help.Raja told the delegation that his party would take up the issue of Sri Lankan Tamils both inside and outside Parliament, especially in the matter of relief and rehabilitation of those still living in camps.The MP, however, wondered why the Indian government was not not raking up the issue of an external probe into the killings of Tamils by the Sri Lankan army, an issue on which UN Secretary General Ban ki-Moon has set up a probe committee. New Delhi should take up this issue in fora like the UN and NAM.He said the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse was opposed to any independent international probe and the Indian government was doing nothing about it.Raja expressed concern over reported army settlements in the Tamil-dominated areas of Sri Lanka with a view to changing the demographic character there.Even those living in camps in places like Mulveli have been lodged in tin sheds without basic amenities, he said. Arrest Maheswaran’s killers and clear my name, Douglas tells govt. EPDP leader and Traditional Industries Minister Douglas Devananda yesterday urged the government to expedite the legal process with regard to the assassination of former UNP MP T. Maheswaran and the recent abduction and killing of a school boy in Chavakachcheri. Addressing Parliament, Jaffna District MP Devananda said that some Opposition members had repeatedly used Parliament as a platform to accuse him and his party of being involved in Maheswaran’s assassination and the Chavakachcheri killings.Denying any involvement in the incidents, MP Devananda said that the perpetrators of those incidents had gone scot free, while he was being targeted. "Those responsible should be exposed to the public without further delay," he said.MP Devananda said that immediately after the shooting of MP Maheswaran, a member of the LTTE pistol group had been arrested. Minister Devananda was responding to UNP MP Mrs. Vijayakala Maheshwaran, the wife of the late MP. Minister Devananda urged Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa not to allow any parliamentarian to exploit parliamentary privilege to make unsubstantiated allegations against him or his party.He strongly denied involvement in kidnapping and extortion. Ministry official suspended An official at the Resttlement Ministry has been suspended by Minister Milroy Fernando over a programme telecast showing the Minister and his Deputy dancing at the wedding of the official's son.The Media Co-ordinating Officer of the Resettlement Ministry, Stanley Pathiraja has been suspended with immediate effect by Minister Fernando over the telecast of the wedding ceremony of his elder son which showed the Minister and his Deputy Vinayagamoorthi Muralitharan dancing in a crowd. The activities had been telecast afterwhich the Minister had been allegedly questioned by President Mahinda Rajapakse. Sri Lankan fully national The Government has become the sole owner of SriLankan Airlines as it has purchased all shares of the Emirates recently. The Government has purchased 43 percent of shares from Emirates and its share ownership has increased to 94.6 percent. The balance 5.4 percent shares belong to the SriLankan Airlines employees. Under the Emirates management, the SriLankan Airlines had been running at a loss. According to statistics of SriLankan Airlines, the loss in the 2008/2009 financial year was Rs 10 billion while the loss in the 2009/2010 financial year was Rs seven billion. SriLankan now operates 13 flights to many destinations. The number of aircraft will be increased in the future. An airbus will be purchased within next three months, Ports and Aviation Deputy Ministers Rohitha Abeygunawardena and Dayasrita Tissera said. As a Government owned public institute, SriLankan Airlines has to be converted to a profit-earning venture than be a burden to the country. A full-scale analysis is being carried out to identify the present situation. However, within a short period the institute will be made a profit-earning venture, the Deputy Ministers added. Shares of the SriLankan Airlines were sold to Emirates Airlines based in Dubai, UAE in 1998 for US $ 70 million and the airline’s management was also handed over to the Emirates. At that time it was known as Airlanka but the stake bought the Emirates was valued at more than double the amount US $ 150 million at the end of the 10 years by the Emirates. The PA Government at the time under the privatization policy lost all control over the National carrier and the UPFA Government attempted to gain some control but under the agreement with Emirates the entire management were by its Manager Peter Hill. The Government’s policy of non-privatization of public enterprises formulated by President Mahinda Rajapaksa enabled the Government to buy back the shares sold to Emirates after negotiations over some time. 07 July 2010 Sri Lanka Minister and Mob Hold UN Staff Hostage, Ban Remains Silent The UN's compound in Colombo has been surrounded, UN staff held hostage by a crowd led by Sri Lankan government minister Wimal Weerawansa. "We warn the U.N. to withdraw the (investigating) panel if they want to get the employees out," Weerawansa told the protesters.The siege came six days after Weerawansa urged crowds to take UN staff hostage. Inner City Press on June 30 and July 2 asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon's Associate Spokesperson Farhan Haq for Ban's response. On June 30, Haq said Weerawansa's threat may have been misquoted, and was in any event merely “individual.”Inner City Press asked a very senior UN official about the threat and was told it was a “Gandhian” threat.On July 2, when Inner City Press asked why the UN would minimize a government minister's threat against UN staff as “individual,” Haq claimed that an apology might be forthcoming from the government and told Inner City Press, "I will let you know if something like that comes through."On July 3, Weerawansa made clear he was not misquoted, and the threat was not individual. Inner City Press published stories on July 3, 4 and 5. Ban Ki-moon, in Jamaica, said nothing. Haq and his Office sent nothing.On July 6, UN staff were taken hostage, and the Sri Lankan government did nothing to stop it. It is called a government endorsed and protected action against UN staff.While Weerawansa and some Sinhalese activists are calling on Ban to be “impeached” for his belated and begrudging naming of a panel to advise him on Sri Lankan war crimes, others including UN staff and supporters point to other reasons: the inexplicable delay, and this failure to perform the most basic part of the UN S-G job, to protect or at least speak up for UN staff in the field. When the protest was beginning , there were about 15 police officers including high ranking officers. But , as the protests got heated , it was noticeable that the Police officers slowly slipped away from the scene. One of the protestors climbed the wall of the UN office and painted the security camera that was there with black paint .While these demonstrations were being staged outside , the staff off the UN office were seen watching the drama from within .It is significant to note that Weerawansa addressing a media briefing recently said , the UN office should be held siege and the staff must be taken hostage , for which the people should extend their support . When the UN inquired about this statement of Minister Weerawansa from the Govt. , a spokesman for the Govt. replied that those were the personal views of Weerawansa , and the Govt. dissociates itself from those statements. Sri Lanka on way to 100 registered political parties There is a likelihood of the number of registered political parties in Sri Lanka passing the 100 mark ahead of the forthcoming elections to local bodies.The Elections Secretariat says 83 new groups are seeking recognition in addition to 66 registered political parties. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, official sources told The Island that even if Elections Chief Dayananda Dissanayake had accepted just half of the new applications, over 100 political parties would be eligible to contest elections. One official said that the increase in the number of political parties joining the fray in any particular electoral district would result in the lengthening of ballot paper. He said: "This is going to be a major problem and cause a sharp increase in the expenditure in relation to the printing of ballot papers."Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake is out of the country.Sources said that Dissanayake would decide about the new applicants in keeping with the 2009 No 58 Parliamentary Elections Act (Amendments).Among the parties seeking recognition is the Democratic People’s Alliance led by General (retd) Sarath Fonseka, MP. Fonseka, who contested the April 8 parliamentary elections on the DNA ticket, has another DNA MP Tiran Alles as the General Secretary of the new party.In line with the new Parliamentary Elections Law political parties would have to submit audited accounts to the Elections Secretariat and accommodate at least one woman among their office bearers.Well informed sources told The Island that there had been several cases of unheard political parties being traded in the time of elections.Sources said that a case in point is political party bought by a politician was given to a newcomer to the political field by the general secretary of that particular party even without consulting the politician. "We are talking about millions of rupees worth illegal transactions. Although all political parties are fully aware of clandestine deals involving MPs, such transactions are allowed," sources said.They say that one of the most important prerequisites for recognition of a political party is at least four years of uninterrupted political activity unless at least one of the two candidates nominated by the group at the last parliamentary election entered parliament or at least three out of five candidates fielded at the last provincial council elections being successful. Fonseka to face trial-at-Bar Attorney General Mohan Pieris PC yesterday filed charges against General Sarath Fonseka in the Colombo High Court, requesting the Court to hold a trial-at-bar without a jury to investigate and decide whether Fonseka should be punished under the Penal Code, in respect of an allegation he had made in an interview with a ewspaper. The charge are: 1) Fonseka telling the editor of the Sunday Leader, Fredricka Jansz, that Gotabhaya Rajapaksa, the Secretary Defence, had told him to shoot at sight the LTTE cadres carrying white flags to surrender to the Sri Lanka Army during the final stages of the war against the LTTE. 2) Fonseka giving away information regarding the war to Jansz. 3) Fonseka inciting ill-will in the minds of the people towards the government of Sri Lanka and causing divisions among the various ethnic groups. The Trial-at-Bar is to comprise three High Court Judges, and will commence sittings shortly in Colombo. Meesalai station back on track In line with the ongoing rapid development process in the Northern and the Eastern areas, the Central Provincial Council will reconstruct the Meesalai railway station. The railway station was destroyed due to terrorist activities of the LTTE during the thirty-year terror period. Even the railway lines had been taken away by terrorists to make bunkers. Therefore the railway track has to be reconstructed from Thandikulum to KKS. The railway track is being reconstructed upto KKS at the moment. The Government earlier sought assistance of institutions such as Provincial Councils to renovate railway stations. Accordingly, the Central Provincial Council will construct Meesalai railway station at a cost of around Rs. 10 million. However the Government or the Provincial Council will not spend any money as the entire expenditure will be allocated by the Chief Minister's Fund from donations of businessmen, government servants in the Central Province and the public who contribute to the construction process. It has been planned to complete the construction within an eight month period. The designing process of the Meesalai station will be completed by the next two weeks. "The station will be designed to showcase the historic Kandian architecture. More facilities will be available than earlier. All the people in the province are eager to assist this program voluntarily since this is an ideal opportunity to strengthen ties between the North and South," Central Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake said. 06 July 2010 EU to withdraw Sri Lanka trade concessions deal The European Union has decided to withdraw Sri Lanka's preferential trade access to EU markets after it failed to improve its human rights record.The concessions will be stopped on 15 August on a temporary basis after the war-torn nation refused to implement human right conventions.The deal, known as GSP Plus, gives 16 developing countries trade benefits in return for set commitments.Sri Lankan officials say the demands amount to interference in its affairs.Last month, the government said the request was an insult to Sri Lankans and should be placed "in the dustbin".The Sri Lankan government has faced repeated accusations of human rights violations carried out during its civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels, which the military won in 2009. Garments industry Sri Lanka says no change in its stance on GSP+ Fonseka lodges fraud case against Rajapaksa A Sri Lankan court Monday opened a hearing on charges of fraud against incumbent President Mahinda Rajapaksa by a former army commander who ran against him in the last election.Former army chief General Sarath Fonseka, currently in military custody on charges of conspiracy, alleged that Rajapaksa rigged the January 6 presidential poll.The case was heard in the Supreme Court by a five-judge bench headed by Chief Justice Ashoka de Silva.The suit alleges that Rajapaksa illegally directed public officials to campaign on his behalf.Lawyers for the president submitted their objections, and the Court scheduled the next hearings for Sep 13-15. Fonseka is seeking to have the election result declared void, and to be named president.Rajapaksa was elected for a second term with 59 per cent of the vote, while Fonseka polled only 40 percent.Fonseka spearheaded the military campaign which defeated the Tamil rebels last year, but later fell out with Rajapaksa after he was demoted, and entered politics against the president.Two weeks after the election he was arrested but was elected to parliament in April from custody. He has been allowed to attend parliament sessions pending his court martial. Bandula Jayasekara recalled from UN Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the UN in New York, Bandula Jayasekara has been recalled to Colombo just a few months after he was appointed to the post, External Affairs Ministry sources said.External Affairs Ministry sources added that Jayasekera, a former Sri Lankan Consul General to Toronto, Canada, had been given time to return to Colombo but remained tight lipped over the reasons behind his recall. When asked by Daily Mirror online as to why Jayasekera was recalled to Colombo External Affairs Ministry sources said “the information was too sensitive” and refused to comment further.Before being appointed a diplomat, Jayasekera was the Managing Editor of The Colombo Post and the Editor in Chief of the Daily News and also the News Editor of Sri Lanka’s first private radio station. Ranil tells House Mervyn threatened to kill him Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday told Parliament that Deputy Highways Minister Mervyn Silva has ganged up with business tycoon Maharaja to end his life."Minister Mervyn Silva has joined forces with Maharaja to kill me," Wickremesinghe said."When the vote on the second rading of the Budget was taken I was attacked with a bottle of water by government MPs. My friend, Minister Mervyn Silva, threatened to kill me on the previous day. If Minister Mervyn Silva wants to join Maharaja to assassinate me, then I have nothing against it. I harbour no grudge against anyone," he said.Wickremesinghe made this statement during a debate on what occurred on Saturday when the second reading stage of the budget was taken. Jaffna High Security Zone to be relaxed In a move to restore complete civil administration in the Jaffna Peninsula, the Resettlement Ministry yesterday said certain parts of the Jaffna High Security Zone (HSZ) have been identified for resettlement. The Ministry has instructed Jaffna Government Agent K. Ganesh to discuss resettlement in the Jaffna HSZ with the security authorities and make preliminary arrangements to resettle the people. According to Resettlement Ministry Secretary M.B. Dissanayake, the Ministry has given complete freedom to the Jaffna Government Agent to discuss with the authorities and obtain permission to resettle people in the Jaffna HSZ. Dissanayake said resettlement will be carried out in Thellippalai, Kopai and several other areas in the western parts of the Jaffna HSZ provided the Defence Ministry approves it. Army Spokesman Brigadier Ubaya Madawala told the Daily News that discussions about resettling people in the Jaffna HSZ is going on. “Figures are yet to be decided but plans are under way to resettle people in certain areas in the HSZ,” he added. Meanwhile, Jaffna Security Forces Commander Major General Hathurusinghe told the Daily News that resettlement of people can only be done after the de-mining process is completed. “The de-mining process in the Jaffna HSZ is continuing. We have to ensure that the area in which these people are to be resettled are free from mines and booby traps,” he added. The Democratic National Alliance (DNA) is to lodge a protest with the Commonwealth if detained Member of Parliament and leader of the DNA General Sarath Fonseka is not permitted by the Sri Lankan government to attend the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association conference in Nairobi, Kenya.DNA General Secretary Tiran Alles, speaking to Daily Mirror online said that General Fonseka had every right to attend the conference scheduled for September as a Member of Parliament as he shared the same rights as other parliamentarians.Alles said, “If the judiciary said he can’t travel out of the country that’s another matter. His name has been submitted by the opposition and if the parliament denies this, then in the future too the government will decide who travels to summits and that is not healthy.” Two MP's each from the Government and Opposition are to attend the summit. The United National Party’s (UNP) MP Earl Gunasekara and the DNA's MP General Sarath Fonseka, who is currently under Army custody, were proposed from the opposition. Sri Lanka ropes in former Tiger leader to gain support of Tamil diaspora The Sri Lankan government has roped in former Tiger leader Kumaran Pathmanathan, once a close aide of Velupillai Prabhakaran, to mobilise the Tamil diaspora for its support and is using his 'data base' on the LTTE to crush its international network. Detained LTTE leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP), former chief of LTTE's international wing, is now reportedly leading efforts to bring together Tiger sympathisers to assist in rebuilding the war-torn northern areas that were once their stronghold.Defence secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa said the government was working with KP in a strategic manner to mobilise the support of the Tamil diaspora, but denied reports that it had formed an 'alliance' with the LTTE remnants, the state-run Sunday Observer said.KP was appointed chief of the LTTE's international activities by Prabhakaran during the last phase of the war, shortly before the LTTE chief was killed along with most of the Tiger leadership."We must remember that three groups — Global Tamil Forum, and two factions led by Rudrakumar and Nediyawan — are still active and propagating the LTTE's separatist ideologies. The truth needs to be revealed to the world," the newspaper quoted him as saying.Rajapaksa denied that the government was grooming KP to be the chief minister of the Northern Province but said it was exploring his 'data base' on the LTTE to crush its international network.Rajapaksa said a Tamil diaspora group known to KP had visited Sri Lanka and been persuaded by him to deviate from their confrontational attitude towards the government."KP told them categorically that there was no point in reviving the LTTE's separatist ideology," he said.According to the defence secretary, KP told the Tamil diaspora representatives that nothing had been gained from the 30-year conflict but destruction and a bleak future for the Tamils in the north and the east.Pathmanathan, the former chief arms smuggler for the rebels, was reportedly taken into custody last August in a Southeast Asian country and brought to Sri Lanka. He said the talks with the visiting Tamil diaspora were successful and they had discussed the issues of humanitarian concern and expressed their willingness to cooperate with the government. 04 July 2010 EU office in Colombo still awaiting an official response from the Sri Lankan government Karuna, journo attacks in US petition Sri Lanka’s judiciary has, in several recent cases, enjoined (stopped) otherwise legal strikes in the public sector in response to complaints from third party litigants ‘with no legally cognizable stake in the labour dispute’, states the petition the US government is now considering on Sri Lanka’s labour situation for grant of US GSP trade concession rights.The petition also claims that trade union leaders have been threatened, and also contains references related to labour issues concerning child soldiers, the LTTE, the Karuna faction, government, attacks against journalists and uncompensated overtime.The US government is currenlty taking into consideration this scathing petition filed by a powerful international federation of trade unions against labour practices in Sri Lanka, as part of an annual review of US General System of Preferences (GSP) concessions to Sri Lanka.The petition, filed by the American Federation of Labour and Congress of Industrial Organisations (AFL-CIO), paints a bleak picture of the labour sector in Sri Lanka and alleges the country is ‘non-compliant’ with several ILO conventions. In a press release on the latest development, the Rajagiriya-based Trade Union Confederation said that the US government, before accepting the petition, had held extensive, high-level consultations with government representatives, trade unions and apparel sector employer organisations over the last 18 months. Therefore, the decision to conduct the review is not ad hoc. “It’s based on credible and verifiable evidence presented,” the statement said. It is learnt that several Sri Lankan trade union representatives will be invited by the US government to participate at a public hearing to be held in this regard next month. It is understood that their expenses will be borne by the US government. Sri Lanka monk party to press Russia and China to use veto against UN Chief "Only a fool will refuse to take help from ex-Tigers" KP won’t be UPFA CM candidate for Northern Province There is absolutely no basis for Opposition accusations that one-time LTTE heavyweight Kumaran Padmanathan alias "KP’ will contest forthcoming elections for the Northern Province as the UPFA’s chief ministerial candidate, a senior government official says.Responding to recent criticism of the UPFA government receiving the support of an influential section of the Tamil Diaspora through ‘KP", the official alleged the Opposition was trying to cause a rift among constituent parties of the UPFA.EPDP leader Minister Douglas Devananda, a long-time ally of successive governments, is widely believed to be interested in the CM’s post. Speaking on the condition of anonymity, the official, with access to the ongoing talks involving ‘KP’, said that their aim was to bring relief to people affected by war. He said: "We are not talking politics. What we need is a permanent arrangement to ensure security in a post-LTTE era and bring in investments in support of reconstruction, rehabilitation and resettlement efforts."He accused the Opposition of seeking to exploit ‘KP’ issue to its advantage in the absence of a clear political strategy to take on the government.Democratic National Alliance (DNA) leader General (Rtd) Sarah Fonseka, MP recently warned the government not to trust ‘KP’ as he could mislead ongoing investigations into LTTE operations. Fonseka claimed that he had received information regarding a government plan to appoint ‘KP’ as the Northern Province Chief Minister in keeping with their agreement.Government sources said that the former Army Commander should not take his sources seriously. He seemed to have conveniently forgotten the way his informants and advisors had deceived him during the run-up to the January 26 presidential election.Sources said that ‘KP’ could play a role in the post-LTTE era without being the Chief Minister of the Northern Province.President Mahinda Rajapaksa is in record promising PC elections for the Northern Province. Government sources said that Local Government elections, too, would be held in the Northern Province. Sources asserted that elections could be called once the government completed the resettlement of all war displaced persons.According to a joint statement issued by the Netherlands embassy and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM) the ongoing resettlement process could end as early as end of August in line with a government decision. Political sources said that the government’s readiness to work with ‘KP’ had upset many Tamil politicians, including TULF great V. Anandasangaree. The veteran politician recently told The Sunday Island that ‘KP’ should not be trusted. The LTTE rump could be still planning to achieve eelam, though the LTTE no longer retained a conventional military capability. ‘KP’ could be a Trojan horse and end up causing severe damage unless the government stopped mollycoddling a terrorist and his associates.But government policy makers alleged that the likes of Anandasangaree had ignored ex-LTTE leaders throwing their weight behind the government. They said that Karuna, Pilleyan and several other senior cadres over the past four years had helped the government in a big way. " Now, ‘KP’ is ready to work with the government after realizing the absurdity in supporting separatist sentiments. Only a fool will reject his offer," they said. PM gives Cader time to speak UNP member Abdul Cader was not given a time slot to speak during the budget debate by the opposition. Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne however granted 15 minutes from his allocated time for Abdul Cader to speak. When Abdul Cader said that he was not given time to speak by the opposition, a heated debate ensued between the chief opposition whip John Amaratunga and Cader. Meanwhile the Prime Minister came to the rescue of Cader.Cader said that he was expressing his views borrowing the government’s time as the UNP did not give him time. He also said that he would cast his vote for the government as a tit for tat. Army called in as mob takes on police The Army was called in last night to control an angry mob that had stormed the Mattakuliya Police Post to protest over the arrest of a youth who had sustained serious injuries while in custody.According to Police spokesman, Superintendent Prishantha Jayakodi, the youth was a drug addict who was arrested after being found with a packet of heroin in his possession.It is understood that the suspect had cut his hand on an iron spike in his police cell, and is being treated at the Colombo National Hospital. The suspect is under police protection. Govt. to confiscate flats if owner doesn’t come forward Around 20 flats situated in the heart of Colombo city are alleged to be owned by a businessman with links to the LTTE and domiciled in Canada, intelligence units say. According to such intelligence units these details have emerged during investigations conducted regarding owners of the 20 buildings, and it is strongly believed that this businessman has provided financial support to the armed struggle of the now-defeated LTTE, during the height of the Eelam war.As a result of the Urban Development Authority being absorbed into the defence ministry, these investigations have been carried out scrupulously, sources further stated.Meanwhile, over 40 such flats which have been erected sans approval from the relevant authorities have also been identified, and currently inquiries are being conducted to ascertain whether they have any owners with valid documents, or whether they could be mere fronts for illegal organizations and activities.Defence Ministry sources said that if this alleged businessman based in Canada who is said to own these flats does not come forward to prove ownership, these properties would be confiscated by the government shortly. Monk remanded for robbery Three suspects, including a monk have been taken into custody over the robbery of a gold Buddha statue from a temple in Galle. They were produced before Galle acting Magistrate A.D.P. Sarathchandra yesterday evening and remanded until July 15. A gold statue 2.5 feet tall and weighing around 4.5 kg was robbed from the ancient Atapattam Vihara (Octagonal Temple) at Elliot Road in Galle on June 29. The statue was a gift to the temple in 1897 by King Chulanaga of Siam (Thailand). According to Inspector Sarath Mendis, Officer in Charge of the Galle Police the remanded suspects were Ven. Paravigama Sumana Thera (26), Gonagalagoda Acharige Janaka Kumara (28) who were caught hiding in Beralapanathara with the gold statue that was about to be melted down. The other suspect Kankanamge Chaminda (24) was taken in while hiding in a house in Dangedera, Galle. At the time of the robbery the suspect monk was the only person in the temple. Mystery killings in Colombo unsolved Unsolved mystery The police have not solved the mystery series of killings. Manoj, a seller of lottery tickets became the latest person working or living in the streets to be murdered."He didn't have enemies", his mother cries. Like several of the victims Manoj was killed especially brutally with a rock which now lies in two pieces by the bloodied corpse. At least seven poor people have now been killed within a few weeks all over Colombo. One of the first of this gruesome series of murders happened here in the mean streets of Kotahena, a poor part of the inner city. The victim, a homeless labourer, came to this spot and was crushed to death while sleeping. Another of the killings also took place just close by. In Kotahena there is a community of beggars, homeless people and others who ask for money on the streets. Some are badly disabled - as were some of the murder victims. I get the sense that they care for each other. They already lead an insecure existence, afraid of being moved away by the police, who say begging is illegal. Mounting fear The killings create mounting fear, says a disabled beggar, A.D. Gamini."Some of us live in fear. Those who don't have houses are scared because they usually sleep on the pavement. I am going home soon now to avoid it.", he said. The police spokesman told the BBC that to try to catch the criminals some of his staff are now sleeping in streets pretending to be beggars. He believes they have already arrested the killer of one victim. But the murders have continued and some believe there is a serial killer. Lakshan Dias, a lawyer, says the criminals appear to be well organised, possibly linked to paramilitaries or organised gangs. "This kind of brutality cannot come from an ordinary citizen. This kind of brutality cannot come from a fellow beggar. This kind of brutality cannot come from someone who wants to rob. So it's beyond their capacity. This is some kind of people who have capacity who are doing these things. ", he said. The police have a macabre mystery to deal with. And street-dwelling people have a new reason to live in fear. CID officer partner in crime Abuse of police powers by police officers was was in flagrant evidence last week when the police in Mundalama were able to nab a CID officer and a restaurant owner for the alleged murder of an Indian cook.They were nabbed on a tip-off given to the OIC of the minor complaints division by a fisherman in the Wasal Paduwa area.In a telephone call, the fisherman had said that he saw some persons, who came in a cab bearing number LJ 0010, throwing a body into the sea from the Wasal Paduwa area. The cab was coffee coloured and went in the direction of Chilaw.Accordingly, the message was given to the OIC of the Crimes Division, and he took steps to halt the cab from proceeding. He also went with a special police team to where the body was thrown and spotted the cab while he was on his way to the location.“The vehicle passed Mangala Eliya now. I am chasing it. Don’t let it go. Stop it any way.” OIC Mendis passed this message onto an officer deployed at a checkpoint on the Chilaw - Puttalam main road.The officer at the checkpoint was able to stop the vehicle.When the OIC carefully examined the SUV he found some bloodstains.The CID officer who was in the cab refused to go to the police.The OIC then called his seniors and verified details about the suspect and his accomplice. The accomplice was identified as Mariyanayagam Lesley Raj, who was the owner of the restaurant “Big Banana” which is situated along Stratford Avenue in the Kirillapone police area.Inside the SUV, there was a pistol made in Italy, handcuffs, a rubber hose, a rope and a slipper. Though the CID officer claimed that the pistol was his official weapon, police officers knew that it was not a duty weapon.Meanwhile, the police unit sent to Wasal Paduwa beach had found a nude male corpse with injuries. Thus, the CID official was taken into custody with the help of top rankers of the police.Later, the body was identified as that of Thangarasa Selvarasa, an Indian national from Chennai, who worked as the chief cook at the ‘Big Banana’ restaurant in Stratford avenue.Investigations revealed that the cook came to Sri Lanka on June 11, in order to train employees at the restaurant in Indian food preparation. He had come on a visitor’s visa.Yet, he had to enlist as a cook in the restaurant. Although the victim agreed to work for eight hours at the restaurant, since the owner of the restaurant threatened him, he ended up having to work sixteen hours a day.However, when it became unbearable, Thangarasa called Murugan, one of his friends who lived in Mannar and told him of his predicament. Murugan replied that, he would be able to find a job for Thangarasa if he came to Mannar. Accordingly, Thangarasa set out for Mannar on June 26. As has been revealed so far, Thangarasa had been killed in the restaurant owner’s house. The house was also examined by officers of the crime investigations division. Two major Indian delegations to visit Sri Lanka in Sep./Oct. Two major Indian delegations are planning separate visits to Sri Lanka in late September or early October to give a big boost to bilateral relations between the two countries.The Sunday Island has learnt that one delegation each will go from Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.The delegation from Tamil Nadu will consist of parliamentarians and businessmen. It will visit the island nation in response to a personal invitation from President Mahinda Rajapaksa, extended when a group of Tamil Nadu MPs met him here on June 9 during an official visit here.The second delegation will primarily comprise leading business leaders from West Bengal, who are members of the Bengal National Chambers of Commerce and Industry. Sri Lankan High Commissioner to India Prasad Kariyawasam delivered a lecture in Kolkata at the BNCCI last Monday on enhancing Indo-Sri Lankan business cooperation.When Kariyawasam exhorted West Bengal’s business community to invest in the island, many of the industrialists expressed a desire to "reconnect" with Sri Lanka. It was 2,500 years ago that Aryans from Bengal had migrated to Sri Lanka and became Sinhala Buddhists.They want SriLankan airlines to introduce a Colombo-Chennai-Kolkata-Dhaka flight and the launch of a ferry service between Kolkata and Trincomalee to promote trade and people-to-people contacts.They also wish to consider using Colombo as a hub port for transporting goods to Sri Lanka as well as to destinations in Southeast Asia and elsewhere. They presently use Singapore for this purpose.Sensing a good opportunity to promote trade and people-to-people contacts between Sri Lanka and West Bengal, Kariyawasam invited the Bengal industrialists to visit his country to explore business opportunities. They promptly agreed to put a delegation together for a visit during September or October.As regards the delegation from Tamil Nadu, President Rajapaksa had told the MPs from the state who called on him here last month about the efforts his government has been making to rebuild the civil war-ravaged Northern and Eastern provinces and to rehabilitate the Tamils from the NorthEast who were internally displaced during the so-called Eelam War IV.A Tamil Nadu MPs’ delegation had visited the island in October last year to see what is being done to help the IDPs. Rajapaksa invited them to visit the island again to see for themselves what has been achieved since their last visit.It is in response to the president’s invitation that the Tamil Nadu MPs are putting together a delegation that will also comprise business leaders from the state for a visit to Sri Lanka in late September or early October.The MPs have asked the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) to coordinate their efforts.Dr EMS Natchiappan, an MP from the Tamil Nadu who was a member of the delegation that visited Sri Lanka last year, told The Sunday Island here: "We are planning to first organize a seminar in Chennai in August or September. We will invite industrialists from Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka to this seminar to discuss ideas and projects to rebuild and reconstruct the NorthEast."He added: "We will then take a team of Tamil Nadu MPs and industrialists to Jaffna and Trincomalee to explore specific projects that can be undertaken to help the people in those provinces to speedily rehabilitate themselves. We will then go to Colombo to present our plans and suggestions to President Rajapaksa." 03 July 2010 TNA delegation to for India this weekend A Tamil National Alliance (TNA) delegation is heading for India on Sunday to discuss the IDP situation as well as a political solution for the Tamil issue and is likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh during the tour, TNA MP and TELO Leader Selvam Adaikalanathan said that they would meet with several Indian ministers, including external affairs minister S.M. Krishna.According to Mr. Selvam Adaikalanathan, the discussions in New Delhi would be on the resettlement of IDPs and a political solution to the national issue.The TNA delegation comprising party leader R Sampanthan, EPRLF Leader Suresh Premachandran,ITAK Leader Mavai Senathirajah,TELO Leader Selvam Adaikalanathan, M.A Sumanthiran and A .Vinayagamoorthi will also meet several Indian political leaders during the tour. TNA delegation had earlier visited India in January this year and they also met President Mahinda Rajapakse just last month. EVERYONE KNOWS WHO SHOT MAHESWARAN, SAYS UNP MP WIJEKALA MAHESWARAN Everyone knows who shot Maheswaran, declared UNP MP Mrs. Wijekala Maheswaran in parliament. She made this statement during a heated debate with EPDP Leader Douglas Devanda which took place at the second reading of the Budget yesterday. “Do not be afraid if you are not at fault. Please be silent. Wait for a while. You are the person who shot Maheswaran. You should prove it. Do not speak. If you are not at fault, do not be afraid. “Be silent and listen. Do not disturb us. We have another 15 minutes. Wait for a while. “Everyone knows who shot Maheswaran and the rest. We do not come here to lie. We came here only to tell the truth,” said Mrs. Maheswaran.She also said that they earned money by just means of selling kerosene and did not commit murder. She also called on those who disturbed her during the debate to visit Delft and see their own activities. “Go and see how many wives your people (EPDP) are keeping,” she said. No basic facilities or permanent shelter for displaced Tamils re settled in Batticaloa -Tamil Alliance charges SF says Govt planning to make KP CM of North DNA leader General Sarath Fonseka yesterday said in Parliament that he had received information that the government had promised to make KP alias Kumaran Pathmanathan, former LTTE international head as the Chief Minister of the Northern Province.Fonseka said that KP, who was supposed to be under security forces' custody had become the closest ally of the government. The government was eyeing KP's money deposited in foreign banks, he alleged.Gen. Fonseka said that while the real war heroes were either behind bars or suffering, the government took KP all over the country for sight seeing. "The government is honeymooning with its new found friend KP.KP had been allowed to summon divisional secretaries and hold-meetings in the North, the DNA leader said.Gen. Fonseka said that he knew how KP had been arrested, but he would not reveal it in public because that would amount to divulging information related to national security.MP Fonseka said that the main culprit of the VAT Mafia, who defrauded around 24 billion rupees had escaped to Dubai, where he owned a chain of hotels. Some government ministers went to Dubai and stayed in those hotels enjoying the culprit's hospitality. The fraudster had even funded the government's election campaign, Gen. Fonseka alleged.He said that the number of army deserters had increased during the recent past, which was an indication of the frustration among the war heroes. Detention 'ruined' army officer's life 'House burnt' Captain Pushpakumara was arrested by the police Terrorist Investigation Deparment (TID) on 18 December 2006 while serving in the SLA camp in Galle Fort. "I was detained for over three and half years on false charges and they ruined my whole life. I lost my wife and the daughter as a result and all my properties and assets," he told BBC Sandeshaya after the release. It is now proved that the accusations by the authorities and the media that he was a supporter of the Tamil Tigers are false, Captain Pushpakumara said. "I was attacked and wounded in active duty in the north east front fighting the LTTE, but then I was accused by the SLA of supporting the Tigers. Even my own house was set on fire," he said. Prof. Vitarana urges govt. to continue APRC to deliberate on Constitutional changes The Lanka Sama Samaja Party on Thursday urged parliament to continue the process carried out by the All Party Representative Committee to amendments to the Constitution.During the budget debate on Thursday (July 1) Leader of the LSSP, Minister Prof Tissa Vitarana said that 1978 constitution was the major cause of all ills from which society suffers today."One of the major factors that has contributed to the breakdown in governance and the increase in crime and corruption and poor administrative performance, besides war and the culture of violence, has been the 1978 Constitution", he said.The replacement of this constitution has become essential also from the point of view of getting the cooperation of all citizens for the development effort. To achieve this, people must be united, free from racist, religious and caste animosities on the basis of a truly Sri Lankan identity. Therefore, the LSSP strongly urges that the APC/APRC process to be continued to its conclusion drawing in the newly elected representatives of the Tamil and the Muslim people who faced the LTTE terror.Minister Vitarana said that Sri Lanka’s sustenance of a growth rate exceeding 6% in the context of global economic crisis, the oil and food crises, and the cost of war against the LTTE was an achievement. It was recorded at a time when the US, UK and other developed countries dipped into negative growth.The LSSP was happy that the government had discarded neo-liberal policies in formulating the budget, Prof. Vitarana said. The government did not fall pray for IMF conditions."The opposition accusation that the government has succumbed to IMF conditions to get a US $ 2.6 billion tranche as a stand by facility was wrong. In fact the IMF today is not the IMF that dictated terms to the previous UNP governments. At that time they really stationed their economists in our Treasury to draw up the budgets of the UNP governments. Not only has the IMF come in for heavy criticism for its role then in causing global economic down-turn. Now it was lost its pro US imperialist teeth due to the shift in the balance of global economic power away from the US empire"."The LSSP wishes to commend the government for resisting the efforts of the UN and the EU to interfere in Sri Lanka’s affairs, whether economic, social or political ", Minister Prof. Vitarana said. Anandasangaree vent his concerns over opening up a permanent Army camp in Mullaithievu Opening up an Army Camp in Mullaithievu and constructing permanent houses for the army soldiers is ill-timed, counterproductive and will very soon prove disastrous, cautions Anandasangaree.In a press release, leader of the Tamil United Liberation Front has warned the Government to desist from opening up army camps and permanent residential arrangements in Mullaithievu. Septuagenarian Anandasangaree is one of the senior most Sri Lankan leaders, said in a press release, “I am not that foolish to stir up a hornet’s nest by protesting against these moves. Whatever I do and say are always with patriotic feelings.” He emphasized, “ My sincere advice is that the Government should forthwith stop opening any more new camps in Vanni, close down the one already opened and also abandon the idea of constructing permanent houses in the North and the East for the use of the Army. “The Government should understand and appreciate my thinking and give credibility to my suggestions. TULF Leader said, I strongly plead with the Government to concede to my request and help the people to live peacefully. All other matters can be sorted out once normalcy is restored and people feel free from all types of dominations. He pointed out that, otherwise all the efforts taken so far and all the sacrifices made by all section of the people will go waste. “The people have already started murmuring about matters that they don’t have the guts to comment on, openly. Their regret is that there is no room to show even passive resistant on matters they do not agree, he added. The veteran Tamil leader went on to say, “I very strongly emphasis that if these moves are not abandoned the Government can’t boast of bringing peace to a section of the people, who had undergone immense hardships for a long time. I am voicing the sentiments of the people. “ In his appeal, he clearly pointed out that “We had an army that fought well and defeated the LTTE. We had a good set of civilians who gave full corporation to the forces to defeat the LTTE, which started as a liberation movement and later turned out to be one causing destruction of life and property, without rhyme or reason. The whole country suffered. I need not elaborate the extent of damage the people in the North and the East suffered and the hardships they underwent. They do not want a similar situation to arise again in the future. They, on their own will take up the challenge in the event of any attempt for revival. They lived for over quarter of a century under the subjugation of the LTTE which was possible only because of the LTTE possessing sophisticated arms.” Anandasangaree cautioned that in our midst we have the man who purchased the arms for the LTTE to keep us not only under their subjugation but also made us to live in constant fear and tension.We have a friendly army now and we are happy about it. But they may have in their midst a few black sheep as well. In any case we the people of Sri Lanka want peace and absolute peace only. We don’t want to see arms in anybody’s possession. The veteran Tamil leader said that the country has lost over two hundred thousand lives due to the arms. “Let they be Sinhalese Tamils Muslims or any of other ethnic group and also be Tigers or Soldiers or Civilians, all the lives lost are those of Sri Lankan Citizens. “Let all of say with one voice that we do not want military rule or military settlements amidst civilians. We want civil administration and do not want to see even a toy pistol in the toy shops. We are fed up with Gun culture and we civilians will not allow anyone to possess arms if only the Government will give the lead by withdrawing all arms in the country and the army barracked. US and UK Tamil groups meet Stephen Rapp Tamil groups from the US and Britain have met with the US Ambassador‐at‐large for War Crimes Issues, Stephen Rapp, and his staff at the Washington offices of the State Department this week, reports said.According to reports US and UK representatives of Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) and Tamil Political Action Council (USTPAC) met with the US war crimes official on Wednesday and discussed the credibility of Sri Lanka’s internal efforts, progress of external efforts by the US government and the United Nations, continuing militarization of the North East, progress on resettlement, the expectations of Sri Lanka’s local commission, and the status of Tamil prisoners of war. TNA did not attend the Pro Government Tamil parties’ discussions Pro Government Tamil parties have appointed a sub committee to discuss and decide about the political constitution reform and the daily activities of the Tamil people. The group was originated yesterday in Colombo on the invitation of ruling party UPFA Minister Douglas Devananda. One person from each party from the parties attended yesterday was nominated to the panel. According to this, the Eelam Makkal Democratic Party, Tamil Eelam Makkal Viduthalai Kalangam, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Puligal party, Eelam Makkal Puratchikara Vidulathalai Front’s Varatharaja Perumal team, Democratic Peoples Front, Tamil National Liberation Alliance and Tamil Liberation Alliance parties attended. Reports states the said parties will meet on the forthcoming 17th. But discussions was not done in regard to political settlement. Even though the Tamil National Alliance was invited they did not give a proper reply hence they did not attend the meeting. This issue was discussed in yesterday’s meeting. But information reveals that these parties had the belief that the Tamil National Alliance will attend the forthcoming meetings. Former CM Varatharaja Perumal back in Jaffna Former Chief Minister of North East Provincial Councils, Varatharaja Perumal from the Eelam People’s Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF), is back in Jaffna actively engaged in political activities accompanied by his supporters, sources in Jaffna said. Varatharaja Perumal was on a short spell of visit to Jaffna after years of exile during last parliamentary election in which the coalition party candidates he fielded had failed even to get their deposit money back, the sources added. Varatharaja Perumal met some of the resettled civilians in Thenmaraadchi East and West, accompanied by Sritharan, the Secretary General of EPRLF Varathar Faction and his local henchmen. Less than a hundred resettled civilians participated in the meeting with Varatharaja Perumal in which he inquired about their present situation. It is learnt that Varatharaja Perumal will try to extend his political activities in Jaffna peninsula by meeting his supporters. 02 July 2010 I know my limits and rights: UN Secretary General rejects Govt.'s objections It’s intimidation, says Dr Kohona The panel of experts on Sri Lanka to advice UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon was an attempt to intimidate the weak and meek nations but was not called for by the member states of the UN body, Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona told Daily News yesterday. Dr. Kohona currently in Colombo said the Non Aligned Movement too had protested to the UN Secretary General about this unacceptable decision as he seemed to be influenced by certain NGO lobbies but the UN was an organization of sovereign nation states and not NGOs. Matters concerning Sri Lanka with regard to the final phase of the humanitarian operations were taken up at the appropriate UN organ the Human Rights Council and a motion was carried in favour of Sri Lanka with 29 member nations voting for us while only 12 members voted against us, he said. There were other regions where thousands of human rights violations were taking place daily but the UN Secretary General seemed to be reluctant to take up these issues as some powerful and rich nations were involved in those regions. But Ban Ki Moon seemed to have ignored such violations, he noted. Dr. Kohona said there were only a handful of nations that may be in agreement with the move against our country but the vast majority of the member nations have expressed their opposition to this move. NAM comprises 117 nations out of the 192 member states of the UN and NAM had objected to the move by the Secretary General. In the case of appointment of panels by the UN it had been done either at the request of the UN legislative organs or at the request of the country itself. But in this case it was not so. EU urges Sri Lanka to cooperate with UN war probe EU Parliamentarian in Aitken Spence Hotel’s Board Member of the EU Parliament Niranjan Deva Aditya has been appointed as an Independent Non Executive Director to the Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings PLC.The appointment will be effective from 1st of July, 2010.Sri Lankan born Deva Aditya who studied in Britain was instrumental in drafting the European Aid budget of 8 billion Euros in 2006.He was the first Asian to be elected as a conservative Member of Parliament in the last century.Along with him, Aitken Spence Hotel Holdings also has appointed C.H. Gomez to its Board as an Independent Non Executive Director.Gomez is an investment banker with over 20 years experience in the finance industry Sri Lanka "ready for GSP+ challenge" Steps taken Therefore, CBSL states that steps already been taken to deal with the risk include ending the conflict and achieving political stability. It said that apparel exports to EU countries constituted about 50 per cent of total apparel exports in 2009 and about 60 per cent benefited from the concessions. The European Union has warned that Sri Lanka will lose preferential trade status, known as GSP plus, unless the country commits to improving its human rights record within six months. In a letter sent by EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton and Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht on the 17th of June, the commission has requested a written commitment from the Sri Lankan government by July 1, "containing a firm undertaking to address by the end of the year, the principle outstanding issues". Politically motivated Presidet Mahinda Rajapaksa has accused the EU decision on GSP+ as politically motivated.In an interview with the Times of India President Rajapaksa has said, "when I called the elections, they immediately called for suspension of tariff concessions. It was a politically motivated decision. If the EU doesn't want to give it, let them keep it. I don't want it". EU rejected the accusations as entirely false. Trade Spokesman for EU John Clancy on Wednesday said, "the government of Sri Lanka is very well aware that this is a legal process that began several years ago and to suggest otherwise is simply misleading". Sri Lanka is a major beneficiary of the trading opportunities offered by GSP+. In 2008, EU imports from Sri Lanka under GSP+ totalled EUR 1.24 billion. US‐Lanka trade heading for storm Adding to Sri Lanka’s international trade problems, the US Embassy announced yesterday that the US Government had accepted a petition by an American Trade Union to review worker rights in Sri Lanka. The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL‐CIO) filed the petition first in 2008 and thereafter in 2009.According to the US Embassy in Colombo, this document was shared with the government of Sri Lanka months ago.The U.S. Government’s acceptance of the petition means it will initiate a public hearing, likely to be held in August, to discuss the worker rights issues raised by the AFL‐CIO petition. The Government of Sri Lanka will be invited to participate in the hearing. Prior to this hearing, the United States and the Sri Lankan government will engage in a dialogue on any areas of concern with respect to worker rights. “Acceptance of the petition is not a decision to revoke GSP nor does it set a deadline for a decision on action on GSP privileges. It is the beginning of a formal, collaborative process to work with the Sri Lankan government to address the concerns in the petition and work to improve support of and adherence to worker rights. GSP privileges will continue throughout the process,” a statement by the US Embassy said.A US Embassy official said that a major concern in the petition was that workers and trade unions were not given the right to organize inside the export processing zones. He further confirmed that the review process was not just for Sri Lanka but for Argentina as well. “The petition in 2008 contained matters with regard to child soldiers and the war, which are no longer applicable and no decision was taken on this petition. However it was decided to take up the 2009 petition for review, where it focused entirely on labour issues and has no mention of political matters,” the official said. He added that the concession would continue during the period of review and that it had no cut off date, unlike the GSP+ trade concession offered by the EC.The U.S. Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), provides preferential duty‐free treatment for over 3,400 products from 131 designated beneficiary countries and territories, including Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka benefited from GSP treatment for approximately $116 million worth of goods in 2009. Products covered under the GSP programme include: machinery, electrical goods, chemical products, agricultural products, jewellery and many others. Most textiles and apparel are not eligible for preferential benefits under the programme.Countries eligible for GSP benefits must meet several criteria. These criteria include whether and the extent to which the country has taken or is taking steps to afford workers in the country internationally recognized worker rights. SLMC wants powers devolved to PCs The SLMC wants the government to devolve most of State powers to Provincial Councils except monetary, defence and foreign affairs.Participating in the budget debate, SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem said that the government should strengthen provincial councils under a united country. For example, the central government could impose a cap on the provincial budget deficits.Each province should enjoy powers to collect taxes except for import duties, excise duties, and VAT on imports.He said the funds the PCs got from the government were barely adequate to pay salaries, pensions and cover the recurrent expenditure.He urged the government to allow provinces to raise revenue and take measures to strengthen the provincial economy thereby reducing the burden on the government. China supports Sri Lanka’s stance on UN panel The Chinese government yesterday reiterated their support for Sri Lanka’s stance against the Panel of Experts appointed by the United Nations Secretary‐General to investigate alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka during the war against the Tamil Tiger rebels.China said Thursday that it believes Sri Lanka is capable of handling their own problems and urged the UN Secretary General Ban Ki‐moon and world community to help the Colombo stabilize its internal situation.Responding to questions regarding the panel at a regular press conference, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Sri Lanka has appointed its own Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to probe the violations of human rights during the war.“China believes that the Sri Lankan government and its people are capable of handling various issues,” the spokesman said.“We hope the international community including UN Secretary General can create a favourable external environment for the Sri Lankan government to stabilise its internal situation and accelerate economic development,” Qin said.Sri Lanka has strongly opposed the appointment of the three‐member panel headed by Indonesia’s former Attorney General Marzuki Darusman.The government has said the panel is totally unnecessary and unwarranted as the government has instituted its own mechanism by appointing the 8‐member Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission to probe the alleged crimes Jayalalitha states United Nation’s Expert panel much welcoming. Tamil Nadu Former Chief Minister Jayalalitha Jayaram said, the Expert Panel appointed by the United Nation Organization’s General Secretary Ban Ki Moon in regard to the human rights violations held in Sri Lanka is much welcoming. She said the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Karunanidhi and his government had deceived the Sri Lankan Tamils. In this situation the world peace assembly the Untied Nation Organization and its Secretary’s activities of providing some confidence to the Sri lankan Tamils who have lost everything in their lives is much welcoming. She while commenting to the decision taken by the Sri Lankan government in rejecting visa to the said Expert panel said, if President Mahinda Rajapakse takes initiatives refraining from hiding any issues, the mistakes can be prevented was mentioned by her. Hence the Sri lankan government without any restrictions, should permit the United Nation Experts to enter into the country was mentioned by Jayalalitha. Sri Lanka parliament to release MPs' speeches online Matara army deserter took Kilinochchi minor as wife Both arrested on their way to North An army deserter was arrested with a 15-year-old Tamil girl at the Matara bus stand. Police investigations revealed that he had eloped with the girl from Kilinochchi sometime ago and married her.Police said the girl accompanied by the deserter was on her way to Kilinochchi when Police arrested the couple. THIRTEEN NEW FUEL STATIONS IN NORTHERN PROVINCE Arrangements have been made to establish 13 new fuel stations in the Northern Province.Minister of Petroleum Industries Susil Premajayantha said that they had already commenced work at the Mankulam fuel station.The Minister went on to say that the Kilinochchi fuel station would be opened on the 13th of this month.He added that the new initiative would enable those living in Jaffna to obtain fuel with ease. UN should not hinder development and political process- Devananda EPDP leader Minister Douglas Devananda speaks to Daily Mirror about his views on a political solution to the national question and the appointment of UN experts’ panel to look into the alleged human rights violations during the last phase of war. Minister Devananda stood against the LTTE right throughout. He narrowly escaped from death on several occasions in the LTTE suicide attacks. He contested the April 8 General Election in Jaffna got elected to Parliament. His party currently has three members in Parliament. Q:You have supported the SLFP-governments for a long time. You stood against the LTTE right throughout, and were with the government in the fight against terrorism. Now it appears that you have not been given an important Ministerial portfolio. What are your views? As you said, we have to work with whoever in power to get rid of the LTTE and solve the problem politically. Here, the SLFP is a party with progressive policies. So, we can agree with them policy wise. I am satisfied with the ministerial portfolio given to me. Q:What did you expect from the government after the end of war? I expected the government to recognize the political rights of Tamil people and address their day today issues. They have problems. Unlike people in the South, they were directly affected by war. Southern people were also affected indirectly. Q:Are you satisfied with the progress in efforts by the government to work out a political solution in the post war period? Yes, but there is more to be done Q:Earlier, there were requests for you to join the SLFP. Are you yet to respond to this request? We can consider it once the political solution is worked out. The political problem is still there no. Our common view is that it should be addressed. Then, we will take a decision. Q:What kind of a political solution do you expect? We have to start with the implementation of the 13th Amendment. Indian leaders also requested us to work out a political solution. Along with the President, I too participated in those negotiations with Indian leaders. When they asked for the implementaton of the 13th Amendment, I said that we would give even more than that. We have to solve this problem and bring about national reconciliation between the Sinhala and Tamil people as well. Q:What kind of a role do you want India to play in this case? India is a regional power. I think India should take part in this process. They have played a historical role in this case. I think they act in the proper way. They are always helping us, politically and economically. Q:As a Tamil politician, what are your views on the UN panel of experts to look into the allegedly human rights violation in Sri Lanka? The UN should not do anything that will hinder the ongoing process in Sri Lanka. There is a political and development process. It should not be hindered at any cost. Q:There were serious allegations against your party with regard to the transfer of judges in Chavakachcheri and Vavuniya. Also, there are allegations your party on the crime wave in Jaffna. These were mainly made by the TNA. How do you counter these allegations? All the allegations against the EPDP are politically motivated. Judges were transferred by the Judicial Services Commission. If anyone talks about our involvement, it is an insult on this commission. Judges were transferred everywhere, not in Jaffna alone. If I comment on crimes, I can say it is a social problem. In every society, we find criminal cases. We hear cases of murder, rape and robberies in the south. Anyway, in the North, there is a special situation. It was an area plagued with militarization. There are ex-LTTE cadres and others. Earlier, there were local media reports about the missing of an 11-year-old child. The mother of this child had kept her in hiding at a relatives place. She had had a dispute with her husband. Police were looking for this child and later she was found on information from neighbours. The latter part of this episode was not reported in the media. Once a journalist from a Canadian broadcasting service phoned and asked me about the allegation against my party that it is involved in a racket to kidnap children for their body parts such as kidneys. The allegation is that our party does it under the shade of a Palmyra grove and send them to Colombo in flasks. I told them I would not be surprised if such a question was posed at me by someone living in a remote village here. I said I was surprised to hear it from someone living in Canada which is a scientifically advanced country. I asked them how such a thing can be done under Palmyra trees. Then, this journalist became silent. Q:Will you be the Chief Ministerial Candidate for the Northern Provincial Council? Yes Q:When will the election be held? It will take time because a lot of work has to be done. Q:Are you satisfied with the progress in the resettlement work? Again yes, but more has to be done. 01 July 2010 TNA to meet Indian government leaders A delegation of the Tamil National Alliance (TELO.ITAK and EPRLF) would visit New Delhi soon to meet the Indian government leaders to talk about the political solution to the ethnic issue and other problems of Tamil people soon, according to political sources.Senior TNA members discussed in this regard with the Indian high commissioner in Sri Lanka, Ashok K. Kantha, when they met last Tuesday, TELO Leader and TNA Vannei MP Selvam Adaikkalanthan, said.Parliamentarians R. Sampanthan, Mavai Senathirajah, Suresh Premachandran, Selvam Adaikkalanthan, A.Vinayagamoorthy, and M.A. Sumathiran represented the TNA at the meeting."We requested the Indian officials for the arrangement of the meetings with Indian leaders and they agreed. But the exact dates of the visit is yet to be finalized," TELO Leader Adaikkalanthan said.According to Mr. Adaikkalanthan, the TNA Parliamentarians also discussed about the latest situation of the North and East and the current political devolvement with the Indian High Commissioner. UN on alert over threat The United Nations says its security officials are monitoring comments made by government Minister Wimal Weerawansa who had today urged the public to surround the UN office in Colombo and hold its staff hostage until moves by the UN to appoint a panel on Sri Lanka is dropped.When asked by a journalist from Innercity press at a press briefing at the UN in New York a short while ago to respond to the comments made by Weerawansa as appearing on Daily Mirror online today, UN spokesman Farhan Haq said the UN had contacted the Sri Lankan government over the article and the government has assured the UN that the comments made by Weerawansa was his “individual opinion”.“Our security officials are aware of these remarks and they will check if this official was quoted correctly and what he meant by that. The government of Sri Lanka has assured us that this was an individual’s opinion and not their policy,” the UN spokesman said.The UN spokesman also said that New York had contacted the UN office in Colombo to verify the report and added that at the moment there was no immediate threat as a result of the comments made by the government Minister.He however noted that in general the UN does not condone or accept threats made on UN staff anywhere be it by officials or anyone else. Tamil Alliance hands in application to register it as a political party in Sri Lanka General Sarath Fonseka yesterday applied for the registration of his party named ’Democratic Party’.The application was handed over to the Elections Secretariat. General Fonseka told ‘Daily Mirror’ in the parliamentary complex that he would be the leader of the new party, and MP Arjuna Ranatunga his deputy. MP Tiran Alles is the General Secretary of the new party.General Fonseka said that there were several parties within the Democratic National Alliance (DNA), but he did not belong to any of them."It was an alliance of a few parties. The JVP is there. The New Sihala Urumaya is there. We did not have a party yet. Therefore, we took this decision," he said. He said that the new party would continue to be an alliance partner of the DNA. Douglas CM candidate EPDP Leader Minister Douglas Devananda yesterday said he would be the Chief Ministerial candidate at the Election to the Northern Provincial Council.He however, said it would take time for the government to conduct this election. “A lot of work has to be done in the North prior to holding the election,” he said in an interview with the Daily Mirror.The Northern and Eastern Provinces were de‐merged in 2006 following a ruling by the Supreme Court. Later, the government established the Eastern Provincial Council in 2008.Commenting on a political solution, the Minister said the government should start with the implementation of the 13th Amendment. He said Indian leaders also requested the Sri Lankan government to work in this direction, during President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s visit to that country. Minister Devananda was also a part of this delegation, and participated in the meeting with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.He said India had a role to play in evolving a political solution to the national question here.Asked about the UN panel appointed to advise UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon on the alleged human rights violations in Sri Lanka, he said that the UN should not hinder the ongoing process in the country. Sri Lanka sets out budget aimed at cutting deficit Sri Lanka's government has unveiled its first budget since being re-elected, aimed at reining in the public deficit.But it plans to maintain high defence spending following the island's 26-year civil war with Tamil Tiger separatists.Sri Lanka is under pressure to balance its books from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) which approved a $2.6bn (£1.8bn) bail-out last year.The IMF released the latest tranche, worth $407.8m, after getting assurances on tax reforms and spending cuts.Koshi Mathai, the IMF's resident representative for Sri Lanka and Maldives, told the BBC's Sinhala service that the organisation was "encouraged" by the government policy proposals. Deficit forecasts Pledges in the budget included: Maintaining defence spending at about $1.65bn 'Unattractive' 'Market fundamentalist' Speaker warns Mervyn: Behave or be named Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa yesterday warned Deputy Highways Minister Mervyn Silva to maintain the decorum of the House or be named and ordered out of the chambers.Deputy Minister Silva got up and answered a question raised by DNA MP Sunil Handunnetti on the ‘Api Wenuwen Api’ fund interrupting in the process the reply from the Government Chief Whip Water Supply and Drainage Minister Dinesh Gunawardena.Minister Gunawardena kept standing unable to reply due to interruption. Deputy Minister Silva continued to shout at DNA MP Handunnetti and DNA Leader Sarath Fonseka. The Deputy Minister’s microphone was switched off and what he said about the Opposition parliamentarians was expunged from the Hansard.Handunnetti called upon the Speaker to take action to maintain order in the House.UNP MP Dayasiri Jayasekara, raising a privileges issue, pointed out that the Deputy Minister Silva had threatened General Fonseka and that was against the Standing Orders that stated that one member could not threaten or intimidate another. Speaker Rajapaksa warned the Deputy Minister that his conduct was unbecoming. LTTE to assist UN panel The LTTE international network has offered to co-operate with the UN panel appointed by UN Secretary General Ban ki-moon to advice him on Sri Lanka and also urged the committee to protect witnesses who come forward to testify.The LTTE also urged the panel to eventually publish its findings in order to ensure complete transparency, to help launch a needed public discourse about the violations of international law and to undertake the necessary remedial measures to ensure that this shall never happen again.“We therefore offer our full cooperation to the UN's panel of investigators and we are willing to provide a large number of first-hand evidence to aid the panel. Despite the panel’s declaration not to visit the country, we call the UN to independently and freely gather first-hand accounts about the atrocities committed from the very population of the Vanni region, who will be able to depict the reality of the massacres,” US based LTTE activist and a member of the LTTE Transnational Government Visvanathan Rudrakumarn said in an email.The LTTE however raised concern regarding the length of the investigation saying the scheduled four month period of investigation by a small panel of three seems to be too short to guarantee a just evaluation of the large scale of crimes committed last year.“We therefore request the UN to extend its period of investigation to be able to draw an adequate report to a situation that is often called as the worst contemporary form of violation of international law,” Visvanathan Rudrakumarn said. Beijing tightens its embrace of Sri Lanka At Hambantota, a remote fishing town on Sri Lanka's south coast, Chinese engineers dig a channel through the beaches, connecting the Indian Ocean with a vast inland pit, whose soaring concrete walls dwarf the earth-moving equipment working below.Next year, project managers will fill this man-made crater with water, creating the first phase of an international harbour that will service the passing ships of the oil trade between east Asia and the Middle East."There are a lot of local crowds who come to see this," says an official guide, who takes tourists to a vantage point where Mahinda Rajapaksa, Sri Lanka's president, is pictured standing alongside Wen Jiabao, the Chinese premier. The port in his family's political stronghold is the brainchild of Mr Rajapaksa. But while people see the harbour as an engineering wonder, analysts view it as a symbol of the growing relationship between Colombo and Beijing, which lent $360m for the first phase of the project. As Mr Rajapaksa in May celebrated the first anniversary of Colombo's victory over the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam separatist group, these building works show how much he owes his success to Beijing.The moustachioed ruler, known for his trademark maroon shawl and traditional dress, won a second term this year on the back of his victory over the Tamil Tigers - with China providing him with munitions - and by wooing voters with promises of big-ticket infrastructure projects, many of which are again backed by China."China has been trying to jump in and seize more opportunities in Sri Lanka," says Brahma Chellaney, professor of strategic studies at the Centre for Policy Research, a New Delhi think-tank.China was Sri Lanka's biggest source of foreign funding in 2009, providing $1.2bn - almost triple the amount given by the Asian Development Bank, the number two overseas lender. Aside from Hambantota's port, projects include a coal-fired power plant, an oil bunkering facility and a performing arts centre in Colombo. In March, China pledged another $290m for a new airport and to upgrade the island's railways.Mr Rajapaksa, who once acted in Sinhalese films, is starting to rely on China for diplomatic support. Beijing helped thwart calls last year for a United Nations inquiry into allegations of human rights violations during the war.For Beijing, the partnership with Sri Lanka offers secure access to the Indian Ocean through which most of China's oil passes. Some suspect the island could one day serve Beijing as a de facto navy base."If China is to emerge as the pre-eminent power in Asia ... then China has to be the dominant force in the Indian Ocean region," says Prof Chellaney. Large deficit Big infrastructure projects come at a price. Sri Lanka's fiscal deficit reached almost 10 per cent of gross domestic product in the 2009 fiscal year. This led the International Monetary Fund to postpone in February the third tranche of a $2.6bn loan. The delay is not sparking a crisis - the government has adequate foreign exchange reserves and the central bank expects the economy to grow 6.5 per cent this year. But opposition politicians say the IMF's tight conditions give Colombo an excuse to move closer to China. "What do you need good governance for when investors are coming in anyway?" says Harsha de Silva, an economist with the opposition United National party. Whatever critics might say, the fruits of Mr Rajapaksa's friendship with Beijing can be seen everywhere in Sri Lanka. Chinese engineers are putting the finishing touches to the National Performing Arts Centre. "Friendship of Sino-Sri Lanka Will Last Forever" reads a sign on the site.One of the Chinese team managing the project says a lack of equipment and local skilled labour means the centre is taking about one and a half times longer to build than it would in China. "In China, this would be completed in one year," he says.In Hambantota, Mr Rajapaksa's family are reaping the political benefits of the rapport with Beijing. His son, Namal, and other relatives were elected to parliamentary seats in the district in April. "We want to see Hambantota become a capital of Sri Lanka," say fishermen during celebration in Hambantota of Namal's victory. A Former Woman Combatant Struggles to Pick Up the Pieces By IPS Correspondents As a young woman, Ranjani (not her real name), a 32-year-old Tamil from Sri Lanka’s eastern Batticaloa district, only had bright hopes for tomorrow.Then her dreams were dashed in an instant. In 1990 a group of secessionist Tamil fighters came knocking on their door, looking for additional warm bodies to beef up their forces. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), or Tigers, as the combatants were also known, was then fighting a bloody protracted war against the government for a separate state for the minority Tamils. And they wanted one member from each family in areas they controlled to join their ranks. If Ranjani did not go with them, they would take someone else, most likely her brother, 10 years her junior, she thought to herself. Born to a poor family, Ranjani, being the eldest daughter, was forced to make a choice between pursuing her dream of obtaining a university education and protecting her family by joining the LTTE. "I had to take that decision – there was no choice, I had to go," she says with a barely audible voice of her painful choice. Fighting a war she never wanted to be a part of, Ranjani abandoned all thoughts of her family, friends, and even herself. On joining the Tigers, her shoulder-length hair was crudely cropped short. For the next eight years, while she was a cadre, she never allowed her hair to grow less than a quarter of an inch, never used a comb or checked her look in the mirror. "It was a different world, a different time," she recalls. If she had any illusions of saving her family from danger by joining the Tigers, they ended when her father was killed and her brother injured in the leg when their house was hit by shellfire. Her brother, who now walks with a limp, is incapacitated for work due to the lingering pain in his leg, says Ranjani. The death of her father and her brother’s injury forced her to flee the LTTE. She returned to her family, vowing to take care of them. Her leaders in the LTTE pursued her relentlessly, but they never found her. By mid-2007, the Tigers were forced out of the eastern part of Sri Lanka by government forces. Two years later, in May 2009, the LTTE was completely wiped out by military troops. Today Ranjani is trying to put whatever is left of her life back together. "We have lost everything. I lost my youth, my father and my future," she says, tears welling up in her eyes as she wipes them with her handkerchief. Her narrative is interspersed with long silences, staring aimlessly into space, her hand twitching and clutching the blue cloth. Her voice cracks each time she speaks. Although peace has descended on Sri Lanka’s war-torn northern region, life for her family is a constant struggle for survival, with barely enough to tide them over to the next meal. "We make string hoppers (a Sri Lankan variety of rice cakes) to sell to the neighbours. We also sell meat and eggs from the chickens at home," she says. On a good day, the family makes 200 to 300 Sri Lankan rupees (1.50 to 2.75 U.S. dollars), and none whatsoever on bad days. She says she cannot leave the house to look for a job, because she needs to look after her brother and aging mother. Ranjani consoles herself with the thought that her younger sister has been able to secure a job at a regional university. "I feel she is grateful for the sacrifice I made," she says with a faint smile on her face. At the moment, she has no lofty plans. Her main concern is to provide for her family’s daily needs and save what little she could in the hope of setting up a small boutique at home. Marriage is not an option. "I don’t even want to think about marriage," she says. Even if she does, the prospects of finding someone will likely be nil. Villagers shun her completely while others keep their distance from her. "My past precedes me," she says, adding that many like her are faced with the same predicament. Yet the future does not look entirely bleak to her. On Jun. 13, during a mass wedding for former LTTE cadres in the northern town of Vavuniya, the government announced that over 8,000 former Tigers were housed at rehabilitation centres while over 3,000 had been sent back home. A few had jobs. Such an announcement gave her another reason to hope – that getting a steady income was not so farfetched after all. The small mercies that come her way every day give her one more reason to hope. "It is different now – we can live together," she says of Sri Lanka’s war- ravaged communities. As she speaks, her eyes dart toward the horizon as though signalling her resolve to move on from the ravages of war and all the pains that it has inflicted on her and her family. "I will never hold a gun again. I will never do that again," she says, her voice trailing off into a whisper while tears begin to flow from her eyes, her hand clutching her blue handkerchief tight.
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