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30 November 2005 Clinton
warns Sri Lanka over war Last year's tsunami killed nearly 31,000 people in Sri Lanka. Meanwhile the aid agency, Oxfam, has criticised the pace of rebuilding in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, saying that it is too slow. Oxfam said that both countries - the worst-hit by the tsunami - had to provide more appropriate land on which to build permanent shelters for the tsunami survivors. The Asian tsunami killed more than 200,000 people in 13 countries - 130,000 in Indonesia and 31,000 in Sri Lanka. 'Civil conflict' Mr Clinton toured parts of the eastern and north-eastern coast of Sri Lanka on Tuesday. Earlier, speaking in Colombo, Mr Clinton said the country had achieved "real progress" since the 26 December disaster. "Ninety per cent of children are back in school, epidemics have been prevented and transitional shelter has been provided to almost all internally displaced people," he said. But Mr Clinton emphasised that all this work would be "reversed" if the ceasefire between the Tamil Tiger rebels and the government failed to hold. "Any recovery progress achieved this year will be quickly reversed if Sri Lanka returns to civil conflict." Mr Clinton held talks with the country's new President, Mahinda Rajapakse. Mr Rajapakse took office having pledged to take a hard line against the Tigers. Mr Rajapakse praised Mr Clinton for his involvement in tsunami recovery. "Your personal involvement in the post-tsunami reconstruction efforts of our country has been a great source of strength to all of us," Mr Rajapakse said, his spokesman told reporters. This is Mr Clinton's third visit to the country since last December's tsunami. 'Buffer zones' Oxfam has criticised the slow pace of work in tsunami
recovery in Sri Lanka. Along the Sri Lankan shoreline many destroyed homes have not been rebuilt because they were in areas now deemed to be 'buffer zones' where building is prohibited. "Thousands of permanent houses have already been built for tsunami survivors but until new land is provided for those made landless, the rebuilding process will be too slow," Oxfam's director, Barbara Stocking, said. As for Indonesia, the group said the government had not got policies in place to provide new land to the landless. Mr Clinton is due to tour Indonesia on Wednesday. 7 billion spent to keep Ranil UNP leader Ranil Wickrmesinghe has agreed to hold discussions with the two factions of the party - the one which says that he should step down from the party leadership and the other that says he should remain as the party leader in the aftermath of presidential election defeat, a parliamentarian of the faction calling for his resignation told 'Lanka e News'. The meeting is to be convened within a week. Meanwhile issuing a statement Deputy UNP leader Karu Jayasuriya said that he would extend his fullest co-operation if the majority of the party believes a major overhaul is necessary in the party in order to find a way out of the present crisis. Sri Lanka warned over cyclonic storm The Meteorological Department today warned the public that a cyclonic storm named 'Baaz', now in the Bay of Bengal, will hit Sri Lanka in a few hours' time, causing intermittent showers or thundershowers with strong winds. It said ‘Baaz’ was about 500 km northeast of Jaffna at 9:00 AM today. It is moving northwestward and is likely to intensify further into a severe cyclonic storm. There will be intermittent showers or thundershowers with strong winds in the Northern, North Western and North Central Provinces. Western, Sabaragamuwa and Central Provinces and the Galle and Matara districts will also feel these weather conditions after midnight today. Rain or thundershowers will occur in the sea areas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Jaffna and Trincomalee. Scattered showers or thundershowers will be experienced elsewhere. The fishing and naval communities are strongly advised to refrain from their activities in the northern, eastern and northwestern seas, as the seas are expected to be very rough with winds and rain. The winds will be between northerly and northwesterly at speeds of 20-40 kmph. They will rise up to 60-100 kmph at times in the seas off the coast extending from Mannar to Pottuvil via Jaffna and Trincomalee. Clinton meets TRO Executive Director TRO Executive Director Mr. K P Regi told the United Nations
Special Envoy President Bill Clinton the problems that have led to the
disappointing progress made thus far in Phase III of the Tsunami recovery
programme in the NorthEast when he talked to Mr Clinton during the Sri
Lankan Civil Society organization meeting in Colombo Tuesday. President
Clinton had mentioned to Mr. Regi that he is aware of the problems facing
the NorthEast and that he will endeavour to address these issues. Mr Regi handed President Clinton a letter on behalf of TRO which highlighted the problems that the people of the NorthEast face and explained the problems that TRO has encountered working in the NorthEast. “TRO’s work is funded through partnerships
with 35 international NGOs, UN agencies, bilateral donors and the Tamil
Diaspora, who contribute through our 14 overseas offices. NGO’s
and individuals from the USA, such as Operation USA and CitiHope, have
provided funds and other aid that has vastly increased our ability to
serve the affected populations” the TRO letter stated. The letter outlined some of the false allegations that have been directed towards TRO in an attempt to distract the organization from its commitment. “TRO is being victimised and our organisation is being maligned by concerted and malicious propaganda campaigns and physical assault, both in Sri Lanka and in the international community, making it difficult for us to serve the affected populations.” “The continuing attacks upon the TRO Batticaloa office, which has been attacked by unknown parties 5 times, are an example of this. During these attacks hand grenades and automatic machine gun fire have been directed at the office. Numerous staff members have been injured and one staff member was killed during one of these attacks.” “Our main support base, the Tamil Diaspora community, has experienced intimidation by parties which wish to politicize our work in the NorthEast”. The letter also highlighted that TRO has recently published its audited financial statement for the post-tsunami period, “We are very proud to inform you that TRO Sri Lanka is the only organization among those that are involved in post tsunami relief and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka, both national and international, to have published audited accounts of the tsunami funding (January - June 2005). These audited accounts were sent in August to the Sri Lankan President, the Prime Minister, all Members of Parliament and to the international development community.” The letter also cited the lack of an acceptable institutional mechanism for the delivery of tsunami aid to be a crucial problem. “It is very distressing to note that the humanitarian needs of the NorthEast keep growing with each successive disaster and yet there continues to be an absence of an institutional mechanism for the delivery of relief, rehabilitation and development that is acceptable to all parties to the current conflict. This has made it even more difficult for organizations such as ours to fulfil our mandate." “TRO is committed to providing humanitarian service which is NON-POLITICAL. TRO works in the GoSL and LTTE areas with ALL 3 ethnic groups (Sinhala, Muslim & Tamil). Phase I & II were successful because INGOs came and worked with local NGOs like TRO.” The letter pointed out that in Phase III, the needs of the NorthEast are being addressed slower due to the lack of a structure to channel the funds to the beneficiaries to rebuild the communities and that this is attributable to failure of the PTOMs. The letter also highlighted some of the significant equity issues that arise as a result of the different approaches INGOs, other agencies and governments take when working in the GoSL versus. LTTE controlled areas. Inequity in treatment of war affected versus tsunami affected was mentioned as another major concern in the post tsunami period TRO’s letter further said: “Tsunami has lead to a recentralization of the few powers that were devolved to the provinces. All decisions are made in Colombo without much consultation with the local authorities. Centralised controls of all flow Tsunami funds and assistance by the government of Sri Lanka, including the funds and the endeavours of civil society is ensuring the perpetuation of some of the embedded problems. The lack of competency, excessive control, corruption and politicisation in the government bureaucracy are problems that are entrenched in Sri Lanka. These have become significant detractors to the progress of Tsunami recovery, particularly in the NorthEast. This compulsion to control progress from Colombo is significantly affecting TROs ability to respond to the challenges it faces." Un-publicised security related controls by Colombo are also limiting the smooth flow of construction and other relief materials to Tamil areas, the letter said. Policemen in Tiger custody ‘re-remanded’ The three police offices of the National Child Protection Authority arrested by the LTTE were re-remanded yesterday till 20 December, by the Tiger ‘court’ in Kilinochchi. This was for the fourth time since the officers’ arrest while persuing a foreigner, accused of child abuse, to Arippu, Murunkan in Mannar. The police officers in Tiger custody are Reserve SI Bandujeewa Bopitigama, PCs Diluk Hemantha and R.D. Sarath. The Kilinochchi Tiger ‘police’ produced them before ‘magistrate’ Selvi and requested them to be re-remanded as inquiries were pending. The ‘magistrate’ who considered the request ordered them to be re-remanded. Supreme Court
to consider UN ruling The chief justice has decided to once again hear an appeal after the Geneva based United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) requested the government of Sri Lanka to release Sinharasa. Sinharasa accuses the government of Sri Lanka for not abiding with the (UNHRC) ruling. He points out that the government is bound by the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights to which Sri lanka is a signatory. In his petition Sinharasa has requested the Supreme Court to order the government of Sri lanka to release him from prison. Speaking to journalist K S Udayakumar, a spokesman of
the supreme court said that this is the first time such petition is taken
up for hearing. Mano Ganeshan speaks out on Ranil's failure Extract from a statement made by Mano Ganeshan in the
Tamil Daily Virakesari of 23/11/2005 It is not correct to accuse the LTTE for the debacle of Ranil of the UNP in the Presidential election, but the blame should be taken by UNP's Mallik Samarawickrema and messrs Milinda Moragoda M.P. Navin Disanayake M.P and Upcountry Peoples Front President P. Chandrasekeran. Since Moragoda and Dissanayake did not control their tongue when addressing the public and Mr. Samarawickrema and Chandrasekera by their childish activities, Ranil lost the Presidential election. In the circumstances thousands of votes cast to Ranil on the appeal of the other UNP leaders, the CWC and Mr. Hakeem's S.L.M.C and others have gone for waste. Outgoing Samarawickrema, Mr. Ganeshan had allied to enlist the co-operation of some unknown people to canvass the support for Ranil from the LTTE. Mr. Samarawickrema was of opinion that the UNP could tame the LTTE to get votes in the Northern and Eastern Provinces. Mr. Chandrasekeran, who now criticises the LTTE and TNA, earlier promised that he could easily convince the LTTE. It was a false and misleading promise he made to Ranil and the UNP. Mr. Ganeshan had said that negotiators should have given a convincing guarantee to LTTE Demands. Mesrs. Samarawickrema and Chandrasekeran should have convinced the UNP hierarchy when the LTTE discussed their problem with the UNP. Mr. Ganeshan had said that their front had no link with LTTE and their front had no opportunity to discuss problems with the LTTE using their goodwill with them. He had said that their front was of opinion that Messrs. Samarawickrema and Chandrasekaran would have convinced the need for Northern and Eastern Province Tamils to vote for Ranil through the LTTE. It is a few days earlier to the Election that their Front came to know that concrete steps have not been taken to lure N.E. Tamil Votes. Further, he (Ganeshan) had said that the utterances of Mesrs. Milinda Moragoda and Navin Dissanayake also contributed to the failure of Ranil. Their talks, Mr. Gameshan said was communal minded, and the UNP failed to investigate into it. A political scene conducive to them was enacted. The LTTE, Mr. Ganeshan says not a political party seeking seats in parliament but a national struggle movement aimed at seeking consolation for Tamils. Is it possible for the LTTE to read Ranil's election Manifesto, his speech and utterances of UNP leaders and appeal to Tamils in the North and East to vote for Ranil without an assurance that their demands would be met asked Ganeshan? The people who guaranteed 6 lakhs of votes from the North and Eastern Tamils failed to convince what Ranil would do to them after he assumes the Presidency. It was the duty of the negotiators to tell Ranil that without any grantee the LTTE will not appeal to Tamils to vote for him. Did the negotiators explain this to Ranil. If so what was his reaction? Mr. Ganeshan asked did Chandrasekeran give any grantee to the LTTE and did they reveal it publicly? Mr. Ganeshan asked did the LTTE agree to his Guarantee or they rejected it? Mr. Ganeshan had said that upcountry Tamils were adviced by the LTTE to act according to what their leaders said in regard to Southern Sinhalese. Therefore Northern Tamils and Southern Tamils cannot agree to a common understanding. It is high time Mr. Ganeshan says leaders of the LTTE understand this situation but it is timely that leaders of political parties studied the situation which they are not aware or have not studied the history of Sri Lanka. Tamil-link lecturer in ASIO probe-The Australian A SRI Lankan Australian whose home was raided by police last week was earlier investigated by ASIO agents on suspicion of supplying hang-gliders to Tamil Tiger guerillas. Melbourne TAFE lecturer Thillai Jeyakumar sparked the interest of ASIO officers when he ordered hang-gliders from a NSW business and then shipped them to Malaysia. Mr Jeyakumar, also known as Jay Jeyakumar, is a member of the Melbourne-based charity the Tamil Co-ordinating Committee, whose members were raided by Australian Federal Police last week. An annual statement that the TCC provided to Consumer Affairs Victoria and obtained by The Australian shows that in 2003 more than half of the donations forwarded by the charity were sent to a fund in Malaysia described by security sources as "the leading Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) front organisation in Malaysia". The annual statement said TCC's total income in the year to June 2003 was $269,838. Of that, $183,290 was sent directly to orphanages and hospitals in LTTE-controlled northeast Sri Lanka but most of that amount - $95,000 - went to the World Tamil Relief Fund in Malaysia. Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation executive director Rajan Rasiah yesterday described Mr Jeyakumar, a computing studies lecturer at Melbourne's Chisholm Institute of TAFE, as "a very nice person" and "a very responsible person". The Australian was unable to contact Mr Jeyakumar, despite repeated attempts. But Dr Rasiah sought to distance his charity from the TCC yesterday after Sri Lanka's deputy high commissioner, Asoka Girihagama, revealed that his Government had warned Australian authorities that TRO fundraising was suspect. Dr Rasiah said that although the Sri Lankan Tamil community was tight-knit, there were no formal links between the TRO and the TCC. But Dr Rasiah said TRO funds were also occasionally channelled through Malaysia. Security sources said yesterday that LTTE front organisations were widespread in Australia. "Of all the terrorist support networks, the network of the Tamil Tigers is the most extensive in Australia and New Zealand," one security source said. According to another source, Australian LTTE supporters had sent speedboats and light aircraft parts to Tamil Tiger guerillas, who are waging a bloody and long-running struggle for an independent homeland in Sri Lanka's northeast. The source said the boats and microlight planes could be used in suicide attacks. "Australia has been traditionally an important market for them to procure boat designs, for their speedboats, and also their air vehicles. Their initial spate of air vehicles were purchased in Australia," the source said. In the past month, Tamil Sri Lankans were under pressure to donate large amounts of money to the TCC in the lead-up to last Sunday's "Heroes Day" celebration, where Tigers leader Velupillai Pirabaharan gave his annual address - delivered at Elephant Pass in Jaffna, Sri Lanka. A spokesperson for the Society for Peace Unity and Human Rights in Sri Lanka, an Australian group that opposes the Tigers' battle, said there was a backlash in the Australian Tamil community this month when TCC members called regular donors and asked them to give $10,000 each in the lead-up to Heroes Day. Businesses had been asked to donate $25,000. ITRO responds to allegations by SL Highcommission in Australia The International Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation
(ITRO London), the representative body of the overseas offices of the
Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation, in a letter addressed to Mr. Asoka
Girihagama, the deputy high commissioner of Sri Lanka in Australia, requested
to provide details of the grounds for his recent allegations in Australian
media that the TRO Australia had allocated Tsunami relief and rehabilitation
funds to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). TRO Sri Lanka is the only organisation among those that are involved in post tsunami relief and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka, both national and international, to have published audited accounts of the tsunami funding (January - June 2005), Director of ITRO, Mr. Naga Narendran, observed in his letter to the Sri Lankan High Commission. He further said that the TRO Family is apolitical in its mission. Copies of the letter, dated on 26th of November, were addressed to Sri Lanka's President Mahinda Rajapakse, Foreign Minister Mangala Samaraweera, Foreign Missions in Sri Lanka and the Executive Director of TRO, Mr. K. P. Regi. Full text of the letter sent by the the Diector of ITRO follows: Your allegation to the Australian Media “TRO Australia used donations to fund terrorist group” International Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (ITRO London) is the representative body of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) overseas offices (TRO family). You have alleged in the Australian media that TRO Australia is funding terrorism and may have allocated the funds raised for post Tsunami relief and rehabilitation work to the LTTE. ITRO’s mandate requires us to ensure that processes and procedures adopted in the administration of our member organisations are well above board, legal and transparent. Hence, we are anxious to ensure that your fears and suspicions, as alleged in the media by you, are addressed to the satisfaction of all concerned. We kindly request your cooperation and to provide us with the details of the grounds for your accusation enabling us to carry out a full investigation and to respond appropriately. We assure you that it is in the interest of what TRO family stands for and of the dignity of its respected professional volunteers, who have dedicated themselves to address humanitarian needs of the people of the North-East of Sri Lanka that we wish to investigate such serious allegations. TRO Australia is registered in Australia and is being administered by a committee of highly qualified independent professionals and its president Dr Rasiah has confirmed that “its funds were audited by the Australian Securities and Investment Commission and the Australian tax office has full details of where its money was directed”. TRO Australia’s contribution to the Tsunami affected people, drawn from the very substantial funds donated to them by the Australian nationals, has been truly commendable and has assisted immensely in ameliorating the devastation suffered by the Tsunami affected people and their villages of the North-East of Sri Lanka. You are probably aware that the efforts of TRO Sri Lanka, assisted by the TRO family, including TRO Australia, helped secure an award from the President of Sri Lanka for its Tsunami response. As you are very well aware that the people affected by the war and then the Tsunami and now the floods, nearly seven to eight hundred thousand, are languishing in refugee camps, temporary shelters and with friends and relatives. This excludes those not evacuated but affected by the attendant poverty, deterioration of health, education and other social deprivation resulting from these disasters. There are over 150,000 people affected by last weeks floods in the Tamil dominated Northern district alone, of which at least 87,250 are in the Mullaithivu district which is controlled by the LTTE. These figures are not our own but were reported by the Hindu, a leading Indian newspaper of the 25th November 2005. Your government has allocated a sum of Rs 7.0 million (approx A$100,000) to address the immediate needs for the entire flood affected area. Just TRO Canada alone, on the other hand, has allocated US 50,000 to address the immediate needs of the North-East. We are apolitical in our mission, and in Australia we are subject to national law and also make significant difference in the lives of hapless civilian people of the North-East of Sri Lanka. We also like to remind you that there have been similar accusations in the past by members of your Government through the media. These were much harsher and one such accusation, among many others, was that “TRO Sri Lanka was directly involved in terrorism by importing bomb making items”. Later it was found that the items in question were “enamel vessels used for religious and cultural activities by Hindu Tamils and a donation from overseas to help Tsunami victims”. Whilst no apology was issued no charges were ever laid even though you had the benefit of even the emergency rule. We also like to highlight, TRO Sri Lanka is the only organisation among those that are involved in post tsunami relief and rehabilitation work in Sri Lanka, both national and international, to have published audited accounts of the tsunami funding (January - June 2005). The accounts were sent in August to the Sri Lankan President, the Prime Minister and his concerned Ministries / Departments and also to the international development community. ITRO would like to ensure that the well recognised capacity of the TRO family to address the humanitarian needs of the people of the North-East is not compromised by the types of allegations made by you. We await your early response. 29 November 2005 Sri Lanka President invites Tigers for talks Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa today invited the LTTE for peace talks and vowed to maintain the country's Ceasefire Agreement. During a meeting with Colombo-based diplomatic missions today, the President said, “We can resume work immediately on reviewing the operation of the Ceasefire, whilst we prepare ourselves for eventual substantive talks leading to a lasting solution. These processes can work in. parallel and not necessarily sequentially.” “I reaffirm my government’s commitment to continue the Ceasefire,” he said. “I hope the LTTE will heed the call of the people in Sri Lanka and the international community by fully complying with the Ceasefire, especially those provisions relating to observance of human rights, such as refraining from the recruitment of child soldiers, political killings, abductions, and other illegal activities.” He also said he has already directed the Foreign Minister and the Peace Secretariat to initiate consultations with the donor co-chairs - Japan, the United States, the EU and Norway - to resume the peace talks. “My agenda is very clear; the process of achieving peace must be founded on trust and confidence. Most importantly, peace must be built on commitments that can be delivered in full. It is towards this end that I build consensus within the political landscape, so that the agreements that we reach at peace talks are fully deliverable.” The President also welcomed Prabhakaran’s remarks yesterday and said, “Recognizing my pragmatic approach and my invitation to talks as extending the hand of friendship, let me use this occasion to reiterate my invitation to Prabhakaran for talks.” Mr. Rajapaksa also appreciated the international assistance provided throughout recent years. “We also need international assistance to ensure that peace-making is not at the cost of democracy and pluralism for the people of the North and East. These are inalienable rights,” he said. LTTE virtually
pushed to war: SLMC Party’s General Secretary Hasan Ali told the Daily Mirror that his speech was disturbing because he vowed to reject the concepts of self-determination when working out a solution to the problem. “He has rejected the long-standing concepts regarding the problem. There is no reference to the federal solution. Then, how is he going to talk to the Tamil Tigers?,” he queried. However, he welcomed the President’s assurance to ensure a separate representation for Muslims in future peace talks with the LTTE. He said Muslims were for a federal solution to the problem, as it had been widely accepted. TNA parliamentarian Joseph Pararajasingham also ruled out the possibility of peace talks being resumed due to the government’s rejection of the Tamils’ demand for a homeland and self-determination. Mr.Pararajasingham said that the LTTE which fought for a separate state had now agreed to explore the possibility of a federal solution to the problem under the Oslo declaration. “The unitary character of government was rejected by Tamils about 60 years back. If the President tries to solve it under a unitary form of government only, he is trying to take the country back to 1950s,” he said. The TNA Parliamentarian said the government could not expect the LTTE to come to the negotiating table under such pre-conditions. Asked for his comment on the failure on the part of the President to make a specific reference to the facilitator role played by Norway in his address to Parliament, Mr. Parajasingham said: “We wonder whether the government has a hidden agenda about the peace process.” Indian Tamils need strong representation, says Agri Association Lanka Agriculturists Association in a letter to President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday urged to establish a strong representation from the plantation and Indian Tamil Community. Deputy President of the Association R. Kokilavanan in the letter states that as there is no Indian Tamil representation from the plantation sector the impression created is that the present President too will neglect the Indian Tamil community. He states that the plantation Indian Tamil community appreciate the “Mahinda Chinthanaya” proposals. “However, we are disappointed that the Plantation Ministry has been given to a person belonging to the majority community.” Although a separate Ministry for Plantation and Indian Tamil community was established in 1994 he alleged that there was no progress in the community. During the Presidential Election the Tamil people in the plantation sector was told that UPFA had an alliance with communal parties such as the JVP and Hela Urumaya and that would lead to communal riots. Despite that charge, certain Tamil parties in the hill country supported Mahinda Rajapakse. The Association hopes that President Rajapakse will consider the decision and facilitate representation from the plantation and Indian Tamil community. Chandrika-Ranil consensus improbable even now Contrary to reports, claims and speculation, a political pact between former President Chandrika Kumaratunga and UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe was unlikely, political sources said. Reports on the possibility of Kumaratunga entering Parliament, to fill in the vacancy created through the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, have fuelled speculation that a political marriage of convenience was in the offing, the sources said. Kumaratunga may enter Parliament through the National List but a pact with Wickremesinghe was implausible, the sources said. However, it would not be easy to undermine President Mahinda Rajapakse’s government, the sources said. Rajapakse wants ex-Matara District MP Dallas Allapperuma to fill Kadirgamar’s vacancy. Party sources said that the Rajapakse camp was confident of facing a possible threat. Acknowledging the impossibility of the CBK-Wickremesinghe pact now, a veteran politician yesterday revealed that they almost succeeded in forming a Government of National Reconciliation in August 2001. But Wickremesinghe scuttled the proposal, he said. According to him SLFP and UNP delegations discussed the issue on August 25 and 27, 1991 and agreed that Kumaratunga should invite Wickremesinghe to be the Prime Minister. The SLFP delegation had included Mahinda Rajapakse, Lakshman Kadirgamar, Mangala Samaraweera, Nimal Siripala de Silva, Anuruddha Ratwatte and D.M.Jayaratne. Karu Jayasuriya, Tyronne Fernando, Charitha Ratwatte and K.N.Choksy had represented the UNP. The two parties were to divide 30 Cabinet portfolios equally. This was to be a three-year arrangement with the focus on the national issue (peace process) and the economy. SLMC leader MHM Ashraff and TULF MP Neelan Tiruchelvam are believed to have backed the move. But Ranil had discarded the proposal by demanding the impossible. "He wanted absolute power in a country with an executive presidential system and did not give much thought to the proposal as his aim was to be the President in 2005." Wickremesinghe is believed to have refused to acknowledge reality until just before the presidential polls nominations when he urged Kumaratunga to "seek a platform of consensus." The sources further said that Wickremesinghe could have avoided defeat if he agreed to work with Kumaratunga. The Island learns that Kumaratunga sent a message to Wickremesinghe shortly after taking over the ministries of Defence, Police and Media in November 2003 that she did not want another election. She had also spoken against a fresh alliance with the JVP. She is believed to have said, "Please work with me during the next few years. You can be the President after that." This message is believed to have been carried by the then Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando. Despite Kumaratunga signalling that she was prepared to restore police and media portfolios and a part of defence, Wickremesinghe failed to grab the opportunity. A workable agreement at that time could have easily pre-empted the inevitable SLFP-JVP coalition that inflicted a heavy defeat at the April 2004 general elections, the sources said. Meanwhile Wickremesinghe appears to have overcome the imminent challenge to his position with the majority of the parliamentary group backing his leadership. Wickremesinghe’s defeat, at the closely contested presidential polls, triggered speculation that there would be a challenge to his leadership. Five bullet-proof vehicles taken home It is reported that Chandrika Kumaraunga who retired from the Presidency has reserved five bullet proof vehicles, five Defender jeeps and several other vehicles. She has reserved these vehicles through a memorandum presented by her to the Cabinet. On the orders of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, a special probe is to be conducted to Kumaratunga hastily issuing cheques to the tune of 200 million rupees to various organizations and a cultural fund just days prior to her retirement and the reservation of the bullet-proof vehicles. The President has already ordered the relevant banks to stop payment for the cheques. Cabinet sources said that the issue would be taken up as a priority matter for discussion at next week's cabinet meeting. The President who is to leave the President's House on the 30th has chosen the official residence of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar at Wijerama Mawatha, Colombo 7. According to well informed sources she has chose an office of the Ranaviru Seva Authority at Torrington Place as her office. She has handpicked 49 for her official staff. On the approval of the cabinet a two and a half acre land from Sri Jayawardanepura was donated to her in recognition of her services. Dalles as Deputy Defense Minister ? it is reported that former Deputy Minister Dalles Alahapperuma, who played a major 'behind the scene' role in Rajapaksa's election campaign is to be nominated to Parliament and appointed as Deputy Defense Minister. Even though moves were underway to appoint him to the national list slot fell vacant with the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadiragamar, it is being held up as retired President intends to enter Parliament as a backbencher for the vacant post. She has already made her intention clear to SLFP General Secretary Maithreepala Sirisena and Alliance General Secretary D.M.Jayaratne. However it is suspected whether the new President would give way to the former President's request. During the recent Cabinet reshuffle, a deputy Defense Minister was not appointed and it is reported that the Prime Minister has been asked to oversee Defense Ministry affairs in Parliament. Men who stole goods from Jaffna bound lorries nabbed Three men who stealthily got into vehicles carrying goods to Jaffna and robbed goods were taken into custody by Karuwalagaswewa Police and were remanded till December 7 after being produced before Puttalam District Judge Amal Tilakaratne. The suspects are Hettiarachchilage Ariyaratne of Puttalam Sirambiadiya, Dehiwattage Christopher Perera and Warnakulasooriya Arachchige Surendra Perera, of Kurugama. Goods to the value of six hundred and forty six thousand rupees (Rs. 646,000) had been robbed on October. 22 from a lorry bound for Jaffna. Robberies of this nature had been taking place often and even last week-end such a robber had been nabbed while attempting to rob. Robbers get into lorries plying the Puttalam - Anuradhapura highway at night. In an operation conducted by OIC Karuwalayaswewa Police with a team of police officers the three who were remanded had been taken into custody while they were committing the offence. Heroes day celebrations conclude in Trincomalee district Trincomalee district military commander of the Liberation
Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), Colonel Sornam, lit the common flame of
sacrifice in martyr's mausoleum at Alankulam in Muttur east Sunday evening
bringing the Heroes Day celebrations in the district to a conclusion.
Parents of LTTE martyrs, Tamil people and LTTE activists in large number
participated in the event, sources said. Mr.Suthakar, another LTTE commander in Trincomalee lit the common flame of sacrifice at the newly opened mausoleum in Othiyadichcholai in Nilaveli division, north of Trincomalee town. Parents, close relatives and friends of LTTE martyrs paid homage to their departed loved ones at these mausoleums by offering flowers and lighting candles, sources said. In Trincomalee town the final event of Heroes Day celebration was held at the Hindu Cultural Hall located along the Inner Harbor Road. Mr.Sivakumar of the LTTE political division lit the common flame of sacrifice. Tamils in large number attended the event, sources said. Karuna wants India and UK to mediate Sri Lanka peace process Breakaway eastern LTTE leader V. Muralitharan, known as 'Col. Karuna', in his Heroes' Day speech yesterday said his group would welcome only the mediation of India and the United Kingdom in the Sri Lankan peace process. “Only Indian and the UK countries understand our problems very well,” he said. “In particular, India is the country which should come forward to settle our problem.” The former eastern Tiger leader also wanted the Sri Lankan government to “immediately revise the Ceasefire Agreement that had paved the way for the LTTE to kill Tamils, Muslims and the armed forces. “The Sri Lankan government should also reconsider the role of Norway, which had facilitated the agreement,” he said. Mr. Muralitharan added that LTTE leader V. Prabhakaran was “preventing” India and the UK from “intervening in our problem”. “If there is to be true peace in this country, the LTTE should be disarmed before commencing any talks with them,” he also said. Oxfam urges Clinton to ask Sri Lanka to allocate more land for tsunami victims Oxfam International, the global anti-poverty agency, has urged the United Nations Envoy for Tsunami Relief, former United States President Bill Clinton, to ask the Sri Lankan government to allocate more land to house tens of thousands displaced by last year's tsunami. The request was made on the eve of Clinton’s visit to Sri Lanka. “Thousands of permanent houses have already been built for tsunami survivors, but until new land is provided for those made landless, the rebuilding process will be too slow,” Oxfam said. Oxfam-Great Britain's Executive Director Barbara Stocking said in a statement, “Oxfam is supporting ... Clinton’s efforts to ensure that appropriate land is made available for permanent housing. “Some Sri Lankans feel that land the government has made available is inappropriate because it is not near the sea, and many of its would-be occupants make their living from fishing. This means rebuilding is delayed as it is unclear about whether the communities would move into any new houses built in these areas.” LTTE 'did not
declare war' Haukland said that he does not believe LTTE Leader's statement as a declaration of war. "Both the Government of Sri Lanka and LTTE are aware that Military solution is not the answer to this conflict, it has to be solved in political way" added Haukland. "According to the Ceasefire Agreement, if a party to Ceasefire Agreement wants to declare war that party has to give a notice fourteen days in advance and has to acknowledge the facilitator - The Norwegian Government". When questioned whether LTTE has informed the Norwegian Government Haukland said "I do not have any knowledge of LTTE informing the Norwegian Government on this regard" The importance of monitoring the Ceasefire agreement
has reiterated by the President Mahinda Rajapaksha in his policy statement
presented to the Parliament on Friday (26th November). "The only way to alter the existing Ceasefire Agreement is through a dialogue between both parties" added Haukland. "In order to implement the Ceasefire Agreement properly both parties must get into the discussion table without a delay", he insisted. 27 November 2005 LTTE
TO INTENSIFY STRUGGLE FOR SELF-DETERMINATION IF REASONABLE POLITICAL SOLUTION
IS NOT OFFERED SOON The leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in his annual Heroes’ Day statement made an urgent appeal to the new Sri Lanka Government of Mr Mahinda Rajapakse to offer a reasonable political solution to the ethnic conflict without further delay. The Tamil Tiger leader cautioned the government that his liberation organisation would intensify the struggle for self-determination and political independence if the new regime adopts a hard-line position and fails to resolve the problems of his people. The LTTE leader said that a critical elucidation of President Rajapakse’s policy statement revealed that he has failed to grasp the fundamentals, or rather, the basic concepts underlying the Tamil national question. ‘In terms of policy, the distance between him and us is vast. Since President Rajapakse is considered to be a realist, committed to pragmatic politics we wish to find out, first of all, how he is going to handle the peace process and whether he will offer justice to our people. Therefore we have decided to wait and observe, for sometime, his political manoeuvres and actions’, the Tiger leader commented. ‘The past four years of the peace process have miserably failed to address the most urgent humanitarian needs faced by hundreds of thousands of Tamil refugees displaced by war and by the recent tsunami giving rise to hopelessness and disillusionment among our people’, Mr Pirapaharan observed. ‘Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration. They are not prepared to tolerate and wait any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people’, the LTTE leader declared. ‘If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, opts for a hard-line position and adopts delaying tactics, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our own homeland’, Mr Pirapaharan asserted. The Tamil Tiger leader also revealed that to date nearly eighteen thousand LTTE cadres have died in the national liberation war and several times that number of Tamil civilians have been wiped out by the Sri Lankan armed forces. ‘We are deeply disappointed to note that neither the Sinhala nation nor the international community has understood the spiritual significance, the historical importance of the immense sacrifice made by the Tamil people for the liberation of their nation’, the LTTE leader lamented. The following is the translated version of the full text of Mr Pirapaharan’s statement. ‘The Sinhala nation continues to be entrapped in the Mahavamsa mindset, in that mythical ideology. The Sinhalese people are still caught up in the legendary fiction that the island of Sri Lanka is a divine gift to Theravada Buddhism, a holy land entitled to the Sinhala race. The Sinhala nation has not redeemed itself from this mythological idea that is buried deep and has become fossilised in their collective unconscious. It is because of this ideological blindness the Sinhalese people and their political and religious leaders are unable to grasp the authentic history of the island and the social realities prevailing here. They are unable to comprehend and accept the very existence of a historically constituted nation of Tamil people living in their traditional homeland in north-eastern Sri Lanka, entitled to fundamental political rights and freedoms. It is because of the refusal by the Sinhala nation to perceive the existential reality of the Tamils and their political aspirations the Tamil national question persists as an unresolved complex issue. We do not expect a radical transformation in the social consciousness, in the political ideology, in the Mahavamsa mental structure of the Sinhalese people. The scope and power of Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony has not receded, rather, it has revived and taken new forms, exerting a powerful dominance on the southern political arena. In these objective conditions we do not believe that we can gain a reasonable solution from the Sinhala nation. We have to fight and win our rights. We have never entertained the idea that we could obtain justice from the compassion of the Sinhala politicians. This has always been the view of our liberation organisation. Even though we are deeply convinced that we cannot obtain justice from the Sinhala political leadership, but rather have to fight and win our rights, we were compelled by unprecedented historical circumstances to participate in peace talks with the Sinhala state. We were compelled to engage in the negotiating process by the intervention of the Indian regional superpower at a particular historical period and by the pressure of the international community at a later period. There were other reasons also that encouraged us to engage in the peace process. Constructive engagement in the peace process is a viable means to secure legitimacy for our liberation organisation as the representative organ of our people. We also wanted to internationalise our struggle and win the support and sympathy of the international community. Furthermore, there is a need to convince the world community that we are not war-mongers addicted to armed violence, but rather, firmly and sincerely committed to non-violent peace process. Finally and most importantly, we wanted to demonstrate beyond doubt that the Sinhala racist ruling elites would not accept the fundamental demands of the Tamils and offer a reasonable political solution. It was with these objectives we participated in the peace process. Over the last three decades of our national liberation struggle we have observed ceasefires and participated in peace talks at different periods of time in different historical circumstances. We knew that our enemy was dishonest and devious. We knew that these peace talks would not produce any positive results. We knew that there would be peace traps. Yet we participated in the peace talks with sincere commitment and dedication. In the course of our engagement we encountered pressures and complex challenges. There were traps to undermine our liberation struggle. We acted prudently and avoided pitfalls. We vehemently opposed all subversive strategies that were detrimental to the interests of our people. The Tamil people are fully aware of the fact that during the time of Indian intervention, when we encountered a serious threat to our freedom struggle and to the interests of our people, our liberation organisation was bold enough to oppose the Indian superpower and fight its military machine. From the Thimpu talks, we have participated in several peace negotiations, at different times, at different places. Unprecedented in the history of our struggle, it is only now, we have devoted a lengthy period of four years for the peace effort. However, despite this protracted period of time our sincere and persistent efforts to reach a settlement to the problems of our people have become futile. The recent peace talks have been significant and essentially different. They have been held with the facilitation of a third country, with the supervision of the international community. There were sessions of negotiations with Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe’s administration and later with Chandrika Kumaratunga’s government. The decisions, resolutions and Agreements reached during these negotiations were never fulfilled. During this process of negotiations we were extremely tolerant and even compromised on several issues. Nevertheless, the Sinhala political leadership refused to offer justice to our people. On the 24 December 2001 we unilaterally declared cessation of hostilities and opened the doors for peace. At that time, when we extended our hand of friendship to the Sinhala nation, we stood on a strong foundation. Having liberated the Vanni region and over run the Elephant Pass military complex, we had firmly established the balance of military power in our favour. I need not go into the details of the peace negotiations we had with Mr Ranil Wickremasinghe’s government in various world capitals under Norwegian facilitation. It is suffice to say that Mr Wickremasinghe’s administration was unable to resolve even the basic existential hardships and urgent humanitarian needs of our people. Adopting delaying tactics, Ranil’s government was primarily focusing on setting up an international safety net aiming at decommissioning our weapons. An international aid conference was organised in Tokyo in June 2003 as an essential element of this subversive scheme. Having realised the implications of the international safety net we decided to boycott the Tokyo conference and eventually to suspend the peace talks. Having failed to achieve anything, Ranil’s regime came to an end. In the meantime President Kumaratunga formed a new government with the alliance of racist forces opposed to peace. Chandrika refused to initiate the peace talks even though our organisation was willing to negotiate on the basis of our proposal for an interim self-government authority. Time began to elapse in a political vacuum without an interim settlement or a permanent solution. We realised that the aim of the Sinhala chauvinistic political leadership was to misdirect and undermine our liberation struggle by entrapping us in the uncertainty of a political vacuum. Faced with the meaningless absurdity of living in the illusion of peace we decided to resume our national liberation struggle. It was at that conjuncture, during the latter part of last year, when we were charting our action plan, that the horrendous natural disaster struck. Suddenly, unexpectedly the tsunami waves struck at the villages and settlements along the eastern coastal belt of our homeland causing an unprecedented catastrophe. In this cataclysmic disaster unleashed by nature, twenty thousand Tamil and Muslim people perished and about three hundred thousand people lost their homes, properties and were reduced to conditions of refugees. As nature inflicted further calamity on the Tamil nation, which had already suffered monumental destruction by war, our people were burdened with unbearable suffering. In these circumstances, our liberation movement was geared to confront the crisis. Our fighting formations, as well as our cadres belonging to various social and administrative services, were immediately engaged in the tasks of relief and rehabilitation. As the tsunami catastrophe shook the conscience of the world, the international governments volunteered to provide huge sums of money in aid for relief and rehabilitation of the affected people. In the meantime President Kumaratunga expressed her willingness to form a joint administrative mechanism in cooperation with the LTTE to implement the tasks of relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction for the affected Tamil speaking people. We decided to talk to the Kumaratunga government since we had to give primacy to the extraordinary humanitarian tragedy faced by our people. Talks were conducted at the level of peace secretariats. Since we wanted to avoid delays in the negotiating process we adopted a flexible attitude, even compromised on crucial matters, and finally an agreement was reached to establish a joint administrative mechanism. The Accord was also signed by both parties. The international community expressed full support for the joint administrative structure worked out by both the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE. The international governments also expressed hope that a congenial environment for joint effort by warring parties had been created. But the Sinhala-Buddhist racist forces could not tolerate the emergence of a congenial environment of goodwill. Having registered their vehement protest to the joint administrative mechanism, the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) and Jathika Hela Urumaja withdrew their support to the government. These parties also filed a case in the Supreme Court challenging the constitutional validity of the joint administrative mechanism. The determination of the Supreme Court made the joint mechanism inoperative. With the demise of the tsunami mechanism the Sinhala-Buddhist chauvinism killed the last hope of the Tamil people. Even the all-powerful President Kumaratunga could not provide a simple humanitarian project for the Tamils against the wishes of the Sinhala racist forces. The tsunami mechanism was not devolved with any political power nor was it to have any administrative authority. If there was so much opposition in southern Sri Lanka to a simple provisional arrangement then it is a daydream to expect to secure a regional self-governing authority in the Tamil homeland by negotiating with the Sinhala political leadership. This is the political truth that we have been able to learn from the four year period of the peace process. We hope that the international community, which has been intensively observing this political drama, similarly understands this truth. I wish to explain here a matter of crucial importance, which betrays the politics of duplicity of the Sinhala ruling elites. You would have heard about a secret shadow war being waged against our organisation behind the screen of peace. This subversive war has been unleashed with the aim of weakening our liberation organisation and to undermine our struggle. A large number of people consisting of our senior cadres, important members, supporters, Tamil politicians, journalists and educationists who were sympathetic to our cause, have been cowardly murdered. We know the real masterminds behind this shadow war. Though these violent acts were committed under the guidance and direction of the Sri Lankan military intelligence, we are aware that mysterious hands of some racist Sinhala politicians are behind these nefarious activities. This subversive war is being conducted in the government controlled territories, with the backing of the armed forces, utilising Tamil para-military elements as instruments. We expressed vehement protest to the Sri Lanka government when our unarmed political cadres were murdered and our political offices were bombed in the government controlled areas. Since the government ignored our protests we were compelled to withdraw our cadres to our controlled areas. A strange low intensity war has been unleashed against us taking advantage of the conditions of peace effected by the ceasefire. Disarming the Tamil para-military groups is an obligation of the state under terms of the Ceasefire Agreement. Having failed to fulfil this crucial obligation the Sri Lanka state has been utilising the Tamil para-militaries as instruments of this subversive war against our liberation organisation. This is a serious war offence. This is similar to a treacherous act in which one stabs you in the back with one hand while pretending to embrace you with the other. This behaviour clearly demonstrates that the Sinhala ruling elites have no genuine interest in peace and ethnic reconciliation. The Sri Lanka state has not given up the military option but rather transformed the war into a new mode of state terror under conditions of peace. We hope that the international community will discern the real mode of this shadow war and perceive its ugly face and ulterior motives. As far as the Tamil people are concerned, the concepts of peace, ceasefire and negotiations have become meaningless; concepts that do not correspond to or reflect reality. A shadow war conducted under conditions of peace, military occupation perpetrated in violation of the terms of ceasefire, an international subversive network woven during political negotiations, are the distorted ways the peace process has been abused. Because of these factors our people have lost faith in everything. Our people have lost faith in a peace process that has failed to secure them a real, peaceful life; they have lost faith in a ceasefire that has failed to remove the occupation army from their homes; they have lost faith in the talks that have failed to resolve their long standing problems. Our people can no longer tolerate an unstable life and an uncertain future. The waves of popular upsurgence erupting in the Tamil homeland are manifestations of the discontent and despair of our people; they are fierce demonstrations of their political aspirations. The multitude of Tamil masses, who converged at recent Tamil resurgence conventions, have publicly proclaimed their demands. The international community cannot ignore these proclamations of a unified nation calling for the recognition of their right to self-determination, of their right to rule themselves. Our people aspire to determine their own political status. Having been subjected to decades of systematic state repression, they call upon the international community to recognise their political aspirations. We have now reached a significant historic turning point in our struggle for self-determination. The ruling elites of southern Sri Lanka will never recognise our people’s right to self-determination. The Tamil right to self-determination will never find space in the entrenched majoritarian constitution and in the political system built on that constitutional structure. Our people have, therefore, realised that they have no alternative other than to fight and win their right to self-determination. Self-determination entails the right to freely choose, without external interference, our political life. The Sinhala nation has been refusing to embrace our people, to recognise their national identity and to share political power. This political alienation has continued since the independence of the island 57 years ago. Frustrated by years of alienation, oppression and ill-treatment as an unwanted people, the Tamils have finally decided to exclude and boycott the Sri Lankan polity and its power system. The boycott of the presidential elections by the vast majority of Tamil people was a concrete expression of this perspective. Our people did not participate in the election even though they had the voting power to determine the election of a new president. The non-participation of the Tamils should not be construed as a judgement of the personalities or policies of the presidential candidates. Rather, this political boycott was an expression of deep distrust and disillusionment of the Tamil people with the Sinhala political system. This event symbolises a serious turning point in the political history of the Tamils. It signifies that the Tamil people may choose their own path and freely determine their own political destiny. The Sinhala nation has chosen a new national leader. A new administration has assumed power under his leadership. This new government has been elected by the Sinhala majority specifically with their voting power. The national minorities are not represented in this government. It is essentially a Sinhala-Buddhist regime. Therefore Mahinda Rajapakse does not represent all the social formations of this country. He has assumed power as a president to protect and promote the interests of the Sinhala-Buddhist community. We are all aware of Mahinda Rajapaske’s thoughts and policies. We are also aware of the incompatible gaps and the irreconcilable contradictions that exist between Mr Rajapakse’s political vision and the Tamils’ struggle for self-determination. I do not wish to engage myself in a comparative analysis of this issue. The recent presidential elections and the change in governance effected by the Tamil boycott have created a wide rift, politically, between the Tamil and Sinhala nations. While Sinhala-Buddhist hegemony has assumed predominance in the south, Tamil nationalism has emerged as a powerful force and consolidating itself in the Tamil homeland. While a new government under Mahinda Rajapkse has assumed power in the Sinhala nation, LTTE’s administration is expanding and gaining strength as a concrete embodiment of Tamil nationalism. The international community is fully aware of the fact that we are running an efficient, self-governing administrative structure in the majority areas of the Tamil homeland, which were liberated from Sinhala military occupation by our organisation. Our administrative structure is formidable, consisting of our controlled territories with huge civilian populations, protected by a powerful military force. We have a police force and a judicial system to maintain law and order. We have also developed a complex administrative infra-structure of a shadow government. Though a large number of Tamils are still living in the military occupied Tamil region, their allegiance is with our liberation movement. The Sinhalese ruling class refuses to accept this ground reality, this political truth and attempts to belittle our liberation organisation as a ‘terrorist group’. We are disappointed and sad to note that some international governments, having been influenced by this false propaganda, continue to retain our organisation on their terrorist list. Biased positions taken by powerful nations acting as guardians of the peace process, in excluding and alienating our liberation organisation as a ‘terrorist outfit’ and supporting the interests of the Sri Lankan state, severely affected the balance of power relations between the parties in conflict at the peace negotiations. This pro-state bias constrained our liberty to choose our own political status. This partiality finally became one of the causes for the collapse of the peace talks. There is no clear, coherent, globally acceptable definition of the concept of terrorism. As such, just and reasonable political struggles fought for righteous causes are also branded as terrorism. Even authentic liberation movements struggling against racist oppression are denounced as terrorist outfits. In the current global campaign against terror, state terrorism always finds its escape route and those who fight against state terror are condemned as terrorists. Our liberation organisation is also facing a similar plight. We have now reached the critical time to decide on our approach to achieve the objective of our struggle. At this crucial historical turning point a new government under a new leader has assumed power in the Sinhala nation. This new government is extending its hand of friendship towards us and is calling our organisation for peace talks. It claims that it is going to adopt a new approach towards the peace process. Having carefully examined his policy statement in depth, we have come to a conclusion that President Rajapkse has not grasped the fundamentals, the basic concepts underlying the Tamil national question. In terms of policy, the distance between him and us is vast. However, President Rajapakse is considered a realist committed to pragmatic politics, we wish to find out, first of all, how he is going to handle the peace process and whether he will offer justice to our people. We have, therefore, decided to wait and observe, for sometime, his political manoeuvres and actions. Our people have lost patience, hope and reached the brink of utter frustration. They are not prepared to be tolerant any longer. The new government should come forward soon with a reasonable political framework that will satisfy the political aspirations of the Tamil people. This is our urgent and final appeal. If the new government rejects our urgent appeal, we will, next year, in solidarity with our people, intensify our struggle for self-determination, our struggle for national liberation to establish self-government in our homeland.’ NE should never be demerged - TNA The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has cautioned that any attempt by the government to bisect the temporarily merged north and east would lead to 'unwanted' destruction. TNA Parliamentarian and Batticaloa District MP, Joseph Pararajasingham told The Sunday Leader that the Tamils would not at any cost let any government separate these two provinces that are already merged. The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) on Thursday demanded that the north and east provinces be broken into two. The JVP also said that the north and east where nearly 3.2 million Tamils predominantly live was merged by force. JVP Leader Somawansa Amarasinghe also told a news conference in Colombo that the east was annexed to the north by force and against the law and this should be reversed. He also said the North and East Provinces were merged through India's intervention and a Tamil-majority provincial administration was created in an effort to address Sri Lanka's separatist conflict in 1987. Meanwhile countering this, Pararajasingham said the north and east have been a contiguous habitation of the Tamils and these two provinces should not be demerged. "We would not allow any Sinhalese politician to do so," he warned. He further said that almost all the pacts signed since independence, have given due recognition to the fact that the north and east are part of the traditional land for the Tamils. Pararajasingham said the Banda-Chelva Pact indicated that any part of the east could merge with the north. He further said that the Dudley-Chelva Pact indicated that first the land must be given for occupation for the Tamils and then only consider other 'foreigners.' The TNA MP said the Indo-Lanka Pact also recognised the merger and added for the past 23 years the north and east have been merged and there was no necessity for it to be demerged. "It could only be merged permanently and never could it be demerged," he said. He further said that the international community has accepted that the north-east that is predominantly inhabited by the Tamils should be merged. "With this understanding only even the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA) was signed between the former UNF government and the LTTE in 2002. "There are many other valid reasons as to why these two provinces should not be de-merged. Therefore we will not let anybody do this," Pararajasingham observed. Youth shot in Valaichenai after bungled abduction attempt Unidentified gunmen riding in a white van in Valaichenai shot and injured Suganthakumar Selvaratnam, 24, a Tamil youth when he tried to escape after the gunmen attempted to abduct him around 12:45 p.m. Saturday, police said. Selvaratnam, a civilian, was rushed to Valaichenai Hospital with serious gunshot wounds to his chest and head. He was later transferred to Batticaloa Hospital at 1:30 p.m., medical sources said. The gunmen used T-56 type of rifle, sources added.The assailants had taken the motorbike of the youth in their white van, according to eyewitnesses. Stop torture call to Lanka A United Nations human rights panel yesterday said it was deeply concerned about torture in Sri Lanka and urged authorities to do more to halt it. The UN Committee Against Torture expressed "deep concern about continued well-documented allegations of widespread torture and ill-treatment as well as disappearances," which it said were mostly blamed on Sri Lankan police. Earlier this month, the committee reviewed a regular report from Sri Lanka, which must show what it is doing to abide by an international accord banning torture, like other states that have ratified the treaty. The committee said it was also concerned that violations are "not investigated properly and impartially" by Sri Lankan justice authorities. The committee also pointed to continued allegations of sexual violence and abuses of women and children in custody. In addition, it said it was concerned over the "undue delay" in trials of officials accused of torture, as well as allegations of reprisals and intimidation against witnesses and victims. The committee said it acknowledged the difficult situation in Sri Lanka, where the government has been battling Tamil rebels since the 1980s. However, it said, "no exceptional circumstances whatsoever may be invoked as a justification of torture". Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels honoured 17,000 "heroes" killed in the movement's drive for independence amid fears of a return to ethnic civil war. The Tigers offered flowers and lit coconut oil lamps in front of photographs of the dead guerillas during Heroes' Week celebrations, which were due to conclude today with a key speech by rebel leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam said they were holding religious services in rebel-held territory as part of the memorial ceremonies. LTTE will not talk without Norway The LTTE yesterday said they will only commence peace talks with the government if Norway is involved in the peace process as facilitator. The LTTE made its position clear 24 hours after the government announced that the Norwegian facilitators would not be involved in any future peace talks that the UPFA government will be having with the LTTE. LTTE Spokesperson Daya Master told The Sunday Leader the organisation would talk to Mahinda Rajapakse's government only through the Norwegian facilitators. He said the Norwegians were agreed upon by both the government and the LTTE and if a decision is taken at all to drop them from facilitating it should come from both parties. "We are comfortable with the Norwegian facilitators and we do not see them as having any bias," he said. Daya Master also said the Norwegians had the blessings of India, the United States and the European countries and any changes to the system should be done with proper reason. A Colombo Norwegian Embassy spokesman when contacted said they would continue to mediate only under conditions where the Colombo government and the LTTE wants them to continue with the facilitation. "We would function as a facilitator only if we could play a constructive role in the talks. But we cannot play a role if the government of Sri Lanka does not want us to do so," he added. Sri Lanka’s security is India’s responsibility - Indian High Commissioner India would extend its fullest support to Sri Lanka to resolve its ethnic issue said Ms. Nirupama Rao, High Commissioner of India. She said India considered that National security of Sri Lanka was a responsibility of India and India would do everything possible to safeguard the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. The Indian High Commissioner made these observations when she met Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake yesterday. Ms. Nirupama Rao praised Government of Sri Lanka for conducting a fair and free presidential election. Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said he abhorred war and terrorism and the support given by India to defeat terrorism is highly acclaimed by him and the people of Sri Lanka. He also pointed out that the relations between Sri Lanka and India has not marred in any way. Mr. Wickremanayake said he hoped to continue the cordial relations between the two countries. Weather Monitoring Center opens in Kilinochchi Tamileelam administrative branch opened a weather monitoring
and forecasting center (WMC) in Bharathipuram, Kilinochchi Saturday celebrating
the fifty first birthday of Leader of the Liberation Tigers, Velupillai
Pirapaharan, sources in Kilinochchi said. Station will operate under the administration of The Economic Consultancy House (TECH), and NGO operating mainly in NorthEast and undertakes job generation projects. Executive Director of TECH, C Suhunan, lit the ceremonial lamp during the opening ceremony. Head of LTTE Political Wing, S P Thamilchelvan hoisted the Tamileelam flag. Tamil expatriate, Kugathasan Kannan, who was instrumental in establishing the Monitoring station, and Selvi Karthikeyan from the LTTE Peace Secretariat cut the ribbon ceremonially opening the office of the WMC. Thamilchelvan cut the ribbon for the operating building and started the equipment used for weather monitoring. Special Commissioner for Karaichi region, Pon Nithiyananthan and TECH's Suhunan spoke. "In addition to monitoring and forecasting weather conditions for the NorthEast, the WMC will also function as a central office to co-ordinate alerting NorthEast residents of impending calamitious weather conditions. Effort is in progress to setup automated facilities to receive tsunami alerts from Earth quake monitoring centers in US and from other key monitoring stations. We will also expanding the functions of this office to obtain satellite weather data and will be continually updating the facility with newer technologies as they become available," said Suhunan. Fraud halts Thonda's bid to join government The police have seized a stock of miscellaneous items worth millions of rupees hidden in two different locations in the plantations which have been donated to Arumugam Thondaman during his tenure as Minister of Estate Infrastructure Development by foreign organizations and funds to be distributed free of charge among estate schools and the plantation community. Among the items recovered by the police are 45 color
television sets, 13 computers, 38 bicycles, 86 sewing machines and a large
stock of sports and educational equipment. Two special police teams from Colombo carried out this
operation at Nuwara Eliya and Kotapola while Ceylon Congress Leader Thondaman
was holding talks with a leading Cabinet Minister to join the government.
According to reports the raid has been ordered by the President. There were no inventory records or any other relevant document for the items seized by the police. Sleuths from the Colombo Crime Division have grilled the Chairman of the Nuwara Eliya Pradeshiya Sabha, Sathyavale as to how he received these items and why they were not distributed among plantation workers. The police team probing the incident have received information that various items and equipment worth million of rupees, donated by foreign NGOs and other organizations to be given away among estate schools, sports clubs and the plantation community have been sold on the sly. The seized items are to be documented and produced before the court. Further investigations are being conducted by the OIC of the Colombo Crimes Division Nuwan Wedhasinghe under the supervision of the DIG in charge of the division, Asoka Wijethilake. Co-chairs seek meeting with Mahinda The four Co-chairs to the peace process have sought an urgent meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse to clarify his position on the future course of peace talks. The Co-chairs - EU, USA Japan and Norway - made the request to President Rajapakse early in the week but had not elicited a response upto Friday noon. The Sunday Leader learns, the President has however decided to extend an invitation to the entire diplomatic community for a meeting on tomorrow, November 28, at 3 p.m. The President's main allies, the JVP and JHU have already rejected Norway as a facilitator to the peace process while Rajapakse himself had decided against Norway. In his policy statement in parliament on Friday, President Rajapakse said the facilitation and mediation extended by the Untied Nations, other such organisations and the international community including India and the regional states will be properly organised and utilised to strengthen the peace process. Mahinda meets foreign envoys to discuss peace process President Mahinda Rajapakse is scheduled to meet heads of diplomatic missions based in Colombo tomorrow to discuss, essentially, the peace process with the LTTE. President Rajapakse's meeting follows his twin addresses
to the nation, soon after taking his oaths, and then to Parliament where
he outlined his approach to direct talks with the LTTE, but with the help
of foreign countries. During his first address, President Rajapakse said he would welcome the "friendly countries who have worked with us in the past" to reach an honourable peace by getting the stalled peace process re-started, but an official English translation referred to "India and other Asian countries together with the international community" assisting in the task. The Sunday Times learns that the original draft of the President's Sinhala language text contained flowery language to describe India, and explain why she should get involved in the peace process directly, a line adopted by the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), but senior officials of the Foreign Ministry had intervened and edited some of the references. However, the officials forgot to delete the references from the English text that was released to the media. Hours after the delivery of the address, the Foreign Ministry released an extract of the President's reference to "all countries that had worked in the past", but was careful not to make an issue of the reference to India in the English text. The reference to "all countries that had worked in the past", included the current Co-Chairs of the peace process, i.e. the US, the EU, Japan and especially Norway, the controversial peace facilitator since 2001. A few days later, however, the JVP told a news conference that its position was that it was opposed to Norway as the peace broker. It quickly added that the ultimate decision rested with the new President. Then, on Friday, in his address to Parliament, President Rajapakse came back to what he originally did not say, together with what he said, and in an all-embracing reference included "the United Nations and other such organisations that support peace in Sri Lanka, all friendly countries, the international community, India and other regional States" in strengthening the peace process. What was arguably significant was that the only country specifically named was India, and that Norway was specifically not mentioned. The Norwegian embassy in Colombo remained unmoved. Asked for a quote, a spokesman said "We do not want to comment on the policy statements". "From the Norwegian side what we have been saying that we will be ready to continue our role in the peace process, if both the LTTE and the government want us to continue and the Norwegian government thinks it could make a useful contribution." The Indian High Commission remained coy, refusing to make an official comment. All they would say is that they were "supportive"
of the peace process, and that they would need to understand and study
the role the different countries are supposed to play in the policy statement
enunciated by President Rajapakse read together with some of the other
aspects in the statement. India is currently without an External Affairs Minister following the removal of K. Natwar Singh, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is handling the Ministry. Fonseka is new Army Commander Major General Sarath Fonseka, to be promoted Lieutenant
General, will be Sri Lanka's new Commander of the Army, The Sunday Times
reported this week. Lt. Gen. Foneseka will become the 17th Commander of
the Army and will succeed Lt. Gen. Shantha Kottegoda, against whom he
had unsuccessfully competed for the post in 2003. The Sunday Times reported last week that the new regulations, which President Mahinda Rajapakse termed as both "unfair and discriminatory" are to be annulled, probably next week, clearing the way for Maj. Gen. Fonseka who also turns 55 in December. Maj. Gen. Fonseka is regarded as one of the best battlefield commanders in the near two decades of war with the Tamil Tigers, the Sunday Times’ Defence correspondent, Iqbal Athas writes. He triggered a storm of controversy in December 2002 when he flatly refused to honour the Army’s obligations under the Ceasefire Agreement to withdraw from occupied civilian areas. Maj. Gen. Fonseka began his 35-year military career after he joined the Army on February 5, 1970, the Sunday Times reported. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on June 1, 1971. He rose in the ranks over the years and served in a number of important positions including Director General-General Staff at Army Headquarters, Commander, Security Forces Headquarters (Jaffna), Commandant of the Sri Lanka Army Volunteer Force and Deputy Chief of Staff. He is currently Chief of Staff. Maj. Gen Fonseka has undergone training stints in the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The training included a Commando officers' course, Infantry Officers Advance Course, Senior Command course and a stint at Britain's prestigious Royal College of Defence Studies (RCDS). "My party has conspired against me"- DM Posts and Telecommunications minister D.M.Jaya-ratne says a conspiracy against him is being engineered by his own party men, to ensure he is sidelined. He said most of the members of his party are junior to him and only wanted to see his retirement. He said even Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickrama-nayake was 11 years junior to him in politics. He said he was not disappointed as he was not appointed as the prime minister but added there could have been a consideration. "But the new President told me that he will appoint me later on. So I will wait," he said. Mahinda's statement provocative, says SLMC Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) General Secretary Hasan Ali says the throne speech delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse in parliament on Friday was an 'invitation to war.' He said he feared for the Muslim community that is 'sandwiched' in between the two warring factions. "If a war breaks out, it is the Muslim community that would suffer along with others. The President should be careful in his policies," he said. He said the policy statement of the President indicated that there has to be a solution within a unitary status of government and that the 'homeland concept' of the Tamils would not be considered. Ali said this policy was 'provocative' and caused fear among all the communities. "Even if the president wanted to implement the policy, he should not have stated it at this juncture. This should have come out during negotiations," he said. However he commended the President for stressing that a Muslim delegation would be included in any future peace talks. "But the issue here is, what is the assurance that we have, peace talks could even take off the ground given the kind of policy statement the President has made already," the SLMC General Secretary lamented. He said the Muslim community has already faced immense incon- veniences due to war and the tsunami, and added the thought of another war might destroy their morale. "The President's speech may have pleased the south but I don't think it was appealing to the entire nation. We understood that he was catering to a section of society. But now that he is elected he is the president of all the communities. "Therefore the President should have chosen his words carefully on a special day like this," he said. Muttur East Volunteer Brigade passing out parade held The passing out parade of the second batch of 325 volunteers of the Rural Volunteers Special Brigade took place Friday evening at the Ganeshapuram Central College grounds in the Muttur east held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The passing out parade of the first Rural Volunteers Special Brigade was held in August this year. Colonel Sornam, LTTE Trincomalee District Military Commander, Mr.S.Elilan, LTTE Trincomalee district political head, Trincomalee district military commander Mr.Vasanthan and LTTE leading activists participated in the event, sources said. Mr.Vasanthan lit the flame of sacrifice and Colonel Sornam hoisted the Thamileelam national flag. Later a meeting was held at the college hall where large number of villagers and new recruits participated, sources said. SLMM urges LTTE not to hoist its flags in govt. controlled areas The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) has requested the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) not to hoist its Eelam flags in the army controlled areas during the Maveerar Day (Heroes Day) celebrations. The request is a sequel to an appeal made by the Sri Lanka Army to the SLMM after the LTTE hoisted its flag during the opening of an exhibition in Trincomalee last week. The exhibition took place at the Cultural Centre in Trincomalee under the patronage of the LTTE chief in the Trincomalee District. The exhibition coincided with the Maveerar Day celebrations scheduled for this week. During the exhibition it was revealed that an estimated 17,903 LTTE cadres were killed during the entire Eelam war. Of this number 263 were suicide cadres and 279 home guards. 26 November 2005 A Country has two leaders:Telo Muthalvar Sivajilingam MP A TNA parliamentarian yesterday told Parliament that there were two countries within Sri Lanka in which President Mahinda Rajapakse was the leader of the Sinhalese and LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran remained the leader of the Tamils. Speaking during the emergency debate in Parliament, Telo’s Jaffna district parliamentarian M.K. Sivajilingam extended his congratulations to President Rajapakse and Prime Minister Ratanasiri Wickramanayake. He said his party would reject the government’s plan to enter into a dialogue on the peace process with the southern political parties without talking to the LTTE to identify its stance. Referring to the President’s plan to resume talks with the LTTE by leaving out the concepts of a Tamil homeland and self-determination, he asked on what grounds the President was going to discuss the issue by leaving out these key concepts. He said ‘the government had so far held talks with the Tigers with the mediation of a third party, but expressed concern over President Rajapakse’s silence regarding a third party involvement in resuming future talks with the LTTE. “Tomorrow, the leader of the Tamils celebrates his birthday. We wish him strength to gain self-determination rights for the Tamil community,” he said. He said President Rajapakse could not achieve peace by acting arbitrarily by giving into pressure from the JVP and JHU. Sri Lankan president to seek Indian support on peace process Sri Lanka’s newly installed President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday vowed to seek the support of India and other countries in the region to assist in re-starting the stalled peace process with Tamil rebels. Rajapakse, making his first address as president to Parliament, said his aim was to follow a new approach in the peace process. He said he would also seek the support of the United Nations and friendly countries in the peace process. The new president did not specifically name Norway, which is currently backing the country’s peace process and has renewed its offer to help in continuing the process. The Marxist JVP, which strongly backed Rajapakse in his victory in last week’s presidential election, has strongly opposed the Norwegian involvement in the peace process and reiterated on Thursday that it does not want Oslo to take part because it was biased towards the rebels. Rajapakse said that he would work towards reviewing and strengthening the current Cease-Fire Agreement (CFA) with the rebels of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and said the monitoring process would be more transparent. The CFA agreement signed by former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe in February 2002 has been the longest lasting truce with the rebels during the 22-year-old ethnic conflict and continues to remain in force despite a few serious violations. The cease-fire is monitored by a Scandinavian team of over 50 monitors based in the north and eastern parts of the country. “We will follow a more transparent policy in the peace process. One of the reasons that the peace process by the opposition failed was that only the LTTE and the government was involved in the peace process”, Rajapakse said. As an initial step towards the peace process Rajapakse has decided to call all parties in Parliament for a discussion to reach consensus. He said he hopes to reach consensus with all parties including the rebels and wants to have direct talks with the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran. Analysts believe that reaching consensus to resolve the ethnic conflict would be a difficult process due to strong divisions among political parties on how the ethnic issue should be resolved. Wickremesinghe introduced the CFA without informing his own cabinet. Military strength, vigilance key to our freedom - Pottu Amman chief of LTTE Intelligence "The Tamil people, having dissociated themselves from the political choice of Sri Lankan nationalism, have unequivocally demonstrated their trust in their own leadership. They have categorically told the Sinhala people to take care of their own nationalism. Even this development is a manifestation of the might of the Tamil people," said LTTE senior commander and Intelligence Chief Pottu Amman, in a homage ceremony held at Elephant Pass (EPS), Thursday. The LTTE Intelligence Chief addressed a mausoleum gallery in Elephant Pass where, more than 3500 photographs of LTTE fighters who died in various battles, were venerated in an exhibition. “The Tamil nation gained unprecedented strength
through our military feats in the series of battles in Vanni against Sri
Lankan armed forces who were intent on annihilating us. This success was
made possible because our leaders never lost confidence and cadres believed
in our ability to confront the enemy even after the occupation of Jaffna
by the Sri Lankan Forces and the attempted rout by the Indian army. “The sacrifice of the lives of 600 martyrs during the first battle for Elephant Pass in 1991 should be gratefully remembered today, when we are speaking from this redeemed soil. The sacrifices of the 17,000 martyrs will be worth only when we are victorious in achieving unfettered sovereignty,” the senior LTTE commander said. “Let us remember that we are a nation forsaken by the international community in our struggle for freedom. It is in such situation that the fortitude of our fighters and their sacrifice gather momentous magnitude. When Tamils mature into a formidable military, political and economic force, the value of the lives sacrificed by our martyrs will attain fruition,” Pottu Amman told thousands of people gathered at the ceremony. Pottu Amman paying tribute to fallen Tiger fighters at
Elephant Pass “If we fail, our enemies will be the scribes of our history in which the lives of our martyrs will be tarnished and ridiculed. It becomes incumbent on us to give our martyrs, the glory they deserve,” added Pottu amman. Five years ago, on April 22nd, the Liberation Tigers hoisted their flag in the heart of what was once one of the most fortified military garrisons in South Asia. The fall of Elephant Pass, described as "impregnable" by a US army officer who visited the garrison months earlier, established the Tigers as the only non-state military force in the world today capable of complex manoeuvre war fighting. Col Soosai also spoke at the event. Enlarged photographs depicting scenaries from the battlefield are also displayed at the venue. Commander of LTTE’s Sea Tigers, Col. Soosai, Commander of the LTTE’s northern front forces, Col. Theepan, LTTE’s Special Commander for Amparai, Col. Ram, Commander T. Ramesh, Commander of Sothiya Regiment Col. Durga, Head of LTTE’s Financial Division, Mr. Thamilkumaran, Senior LTTE member Mr. K. V. Balakumaran, Deputy Head of Political Division , Mr. S. Thangan, LTTE’s Political Head of the Women Wing, Thamilini, and several other commanders, officials, cadres and the public attended the event. Emergency passed: 84 for, 15 against The government extended the state of emergency by a further one month with a majority of 69 votes in Parliament yesterday. The extension of emergency regulations was taken up for debate in the House and 84 MPs voted for it while only 15 MPs opposed it being extended. The UNP, JVP and JHU voted for it along with the government members, CWC members and EPDP were not present at the vote while the TNA MPs voted against it along with Western Province People’s Front MP Mano Ganeshan and Upcountry People’s Front MP N. Radhakrishnan. The SLMC abstained from voting, and UNP Parliamentarian S. Maheshwaran was also among those who voted against the extension. Starting the debate Prime Minister Wickramanayake said that the government had to declare the state of emergency in the country to facilitate investigations after the assassination of Foreign Affairs Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. He said that there were several other alleged killings after this assassination, and investigations revealed a link between the Kadirgamar’s killing and them. “We imposed the state of emergency to conduct investigations fully into Kadir’s killing. According to investigations, we found a link among all those killings. Investigations are still going on to find the culprits. Otherwise, we are not happy to go ahead with the emergency situation. I apologise if anybody is inconvenienced under this situation,” he said. The Prime Minister said that the LTTE continued to kill police and government officials and army intelligence unit members and even after the emergency was extended from October 17 till November 10, they had killed 20 persons. He also held that the Tamil Tigers are responsible for
35 such attempts to kill people. He tabled a document containing information regarding such violent acts done by the LTTE during the last Month. Lorry owner shot dead in Batticaloa A lorry owner in Batticaloa, Mr. Vinasithamby Kandasamy, 46, was shot and killed by an unidentified assailant Friday around 7:00 p.m. at a shop in Koolavady, a suburb of Batticaloa town. The victim was a resident of Koolavady, 4th cross street in Batticaloa.The assailant used a 9 mm handgun and shot the victim, Batticaloa Police said adding that the reason behind the killing was not clear. Sub-Inspector, 6 police constables wounded in grenade attack in Batticaloa A Sri Lankan police Sub-Inspector and six police constables were wounded in a grenade attack around 9:00 p.m. at Iruthayapuram in Batticaloa Friday. An unidentified person riding in a motorbike lobbed a grenade at the police patrol at Iruthayapuram, 2 km north of Batticaloa wounding the policemen, Batticaloa Police said. The incident took place near the clock-tower located 2 km north of Batticaloa town.Two police constables of the road monitoring police patrol were seriously injured in the incident, Batticaloa police said. So far 17,903
LTTE cadres have died According to the LTTE statistics, out of the total dead cadres 14,908 were males and 3805 were females. Out of the slain cadres 265 of them belonged to most fearsome Black Tiger suicide squad and the breakdown shows that 79 of them were killed from the LTTE’s Army black Tigers squad and 186 of them were from the Navy Black Tiger suicide squad and out of them 69 of them were female Black Tigers. From last Monday up to 27th of this month, the week has been already declared as "Heroes Day Week" and the LTTE is making extensive arrangements to celeberate on 26, the birthday of its leader Velupillai Prabakaran and on 27th, the final day of the celebrations where the Prabakaran would deliver his annual Heroes days speech. LTTE’s Heroes Days are celebrated for the seven days ending November 27, which was the day, the first LTTE cadre Lt. Shankar (Sathianathan) died - on 27 November 1982. Heroes Day celebrations were first started in 1989 and it was held on a single day, on November 27. From 1990-4 the programme was held over a period of seven-days ending also on November 27th. Since 1995, it has been held for 3 days ending again on November 27th. Again this year LTTE has decided to hold the Heroes day celebration for one week staring from last Monday. Furthermore, it is expected that for the first time the small planes acquired by the LTTE are expected to fly in the air publicly and they will be dropping flowers from the sky to LTTE’s heroes day cemeteries in the Vanni districts. Youth shot, injured in Jaffna Naranthiran Nirojithan, 22, a Tamil youth who was involved in setting up ceremonial archs in Neervely, 10 km north east of Jaffna, was shot and wounded by unidentified gunmen who entered his residence Friday early morning around 3:30 a.m., residents said. The youth, a brother of an LTTE war-dead, was rushed to Jaffna hospital with two gunshot wounds and is being treated at the Intensive Care Unit of the hospital, medical sources said. Nirojithan organized the decoration of streets and setup ceremonial archs in Neerveli area in Valigamam Thursday, residents said.Neerveli residents alleged that the youth was shot by intelligence operatives working with the Sri Lanka Army. TNA unhappy with Mahinda President Mahinda Rajapakse's position that he rejected the concept of a traditional homeland for any ethnic group, was frowned upon by the Tamil National Alliance, TNA MP Suresh Premachandra said yesterday. Making his policy speech, in Parliament yesterday, the President said that Sri Lanka would remain a unitary state and he rejected the concept of Traditional Homeland for any ethnic community, TNA convenor and EPRLF General Secretary Suresh Premachandra told The Island, after President Rajapakse's speech, they did not foresee any positive signs of a negotiated settlement being evolved. He said that when analysing the speech on the whole they did not think there was any possible or positive sign for a negotiated settlement in the near future. As the President had also said that he would not accept the self determination of Tamils and had not mentioned anything on third party mediation or whatever happened during the last three years after the MOU and "I believe that he is not willing to start from where we left off". Leadership to be shared to resolve crisis Ranil Wickremesinhe and Karu Jayasuriya have reached an accord not to discuss the leadership issue at the UNP working committee meeting scheduled for Monday. The controversy surrounding the party leadership is to
be resolved through a separate discussion. Attempts are being made to find a way out of the problem by appointing Wickremesinghe as the leader of the United National Front and Jayasuriya as the leader of the United National Party as well as the Opposition Leader. Presidential elections
fair,exemplary - Indian HC She greeted the Prime Minister and stated further that the recent Presidential election was the most fair and exemplary election held during the recent time. She also wished the present government be able to fulfil all the wishes of the people. She expressed the view that her country will extend its co-operation to solve the ethnic problem existing at present in Sri Lanka. The Prime Minister expressing his views stated that he was pleased that the friendship existing between the two countries remains without causing any damages. He also stated that he condemned terrorism and war and his only determination is to seek an amicable settlement. He further stated that he respects and pays homage to India for the co-operation extended as a friendly country on all occasions, the release added. Terrorism ‘a threat to us all’, queen tells Commonwealth Queen Elizabeth II opened a summit of the 53-nation Commonwealth on Friday with an appeal for determined action against challenges such as terrorism that she said posed a threat to all. Dressed in cherry-red coatdress and broad-brimmed hat with a feather, the queen said the club of mostly former British colonies can be "strong and effective" in addressing problems such as terrorism and poverty as it is a diverse group of nations representing many faiths, cultures and people. "Determined and collective action can also help us tackle other challenges that cannot be addressed alone, such as the scourge of terrorism, which is a threat to us all and has directly affected a number of our countries," the British monarch said at the opening ceremony held at a conference center in Valetta. She expressed thanks to Commonwealth nations who stood by Britain in the wake of the July 7 bombings that killed 56 people on three London underground trains and a bus, the worst terrorist attack in Britain. Other than Britain, Pakistan, India, Kenya, Tanzania, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are among the Commonwealth countries also struggling with terrorism. The queen said that last year’s tsunami disaster in Asia and the October 8 earthquake in Pakistan that killed more than 73,000 people underscored the importance of solidarity among Commonwealth members. "These times of trial have brought us together as they have also shown how vulnerable we can be alone and yet how much more we can do together," she said. Turning to poverty, the queen noted that while there had been progress in achieving the UN millennium development goals, which seek to halve poverty by 2015, there was "greater and more sober recognition that much still remains to be done if the goals are to be achieved by 2015." "There are development challenges that weigh heavily upon so many of our members. It is our collective responsiblity to help," she said. Tamil Tiger supporters celebrate birthday of top guerrilla leader(AP) Supporters of Sri Lanka's Tamil Tiger rebels lit firecrackers and decorated the ancestral home of top guerrilla leader Velupillai Prabhakaran with balloons and lamps to celebrate his 51st birthday Saturday. Prabhakaran leads the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, which waged a two-decade war for independence for the island's ethnic Tamil minority before a cease-fire halted the fighting in 2002. The abandoned home where Prabhakaran was born on Nov. 26, 1954 in the northern Jaffna Peninsula was cleaned up by residents and decorated with balloons and lamps, while rebel organizations held cake-cutting ceremonies and played songs on loudspeakers to wish the guerrilla leader a happy birthday. Prabhakaran founded the LTTE in 1972 with a small circle of friends to demand a separate state for minority Tamils in the island's northeast. He built up his outfit as a conventional army over the years with modern weaponry and perfected the art of suicide bombings well before other militants in the world employed them. The Tigers have in the past marked Prabhakaran's birthday with attacks on military or economic targets, but no attacks have taken place in the three years since the cease-fire was signed. More than 65,000 people have been killed in Sri Lanka's civil war. Peace talks between the government and the Tigers have been stalled since the rebels withdrew in April 2003 demanding more autonomy in the northeast. The uneasy truce continues to hold despite frequent violence. 25 November 2005 Sri Lanka to toughen rebel ceasefire rules-Reuters "We are ready to start direct talks with the LTTE," Rajapakse said as he reopened parliament. "This … will be an open and transparent process. It will include the prevention of terrorist acts and child recruitment. We will review the present ceasefire agreement to include these aspects." Before the election, the rebels had warned that any tampering with the ceasefire agreement could cause it to collapse. Under the terms of the deal, both sides would have to agree for any changes to be made. Since his election victory last week, the Tigers — de facto rulers of a seventh of Sri Lanka after two decades of war that left 64,000 dead — have compared Rajapakse to their old enemies and warned that negotiating with the majority Sinhalese was impossible. Analysts say Rajapakse would likely have lost the poll if Tiger barricades and apparent intimidation had not scared away Tamil voters who had been expected to back more the conciliatory Ranil Wickremesinghe. Diplomats, markets and aid workers concerned that work with tsunami-hit communities on the east coast might be hit by worsening violence will all be closely watching Tiger leader Velupillai Prabhakaran's annual Heroes' Day address on Sunday. TROOPS READY Analysts say he might threaten a return to war and possibly set an ultimatum for government forces to pull back from some of the ground they now hold. A shrine to the Tigers' war dead — including Black Tiger suicide bombers. Don't seek Norwegian assistance, JVP tells Rajapakse The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP), the Sinhala extreme
nationalist party, Thursday said it would firmly oppose Sri Lankan President
Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse seeking assistance from the Norwegian Government
to facilitate in the peace process between the Liberation Tigers of Tamil
Eelam (LTTE) and the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL). Mr. Somawanse Amarasinghe,
the leader of the JVP reiterated his party's position at a press briefing
held at the National Library auditorium in Colombo. "Finding a solution to the ethnic crisis on the basis of a unitary state was the key component of the agreement. The JVP has also opposed to the Norway's facilitation. Therefore our party would not change from its position agreed upon in the agreement reached with the President," the JVP leader added. Several JVP Parliamentarians who were Ministers during the Kumaratunga regime were also present at the briefing. The JVP has not accepted any ministerial portfolios in the Rajapakse government and preferred to remain as independent Parliamentarians, JVP sources said. Meanwhile, the Norwegian embassy spokesperson Tom Knappskog reiterated the Norwegian stance to Colombo media that the Royal Norwegian Goverment would continue to offer its services as the facilitator in the peace process if the Government of Rajapakse and the LTTE seek the help of the Norwegian Government. He added that the Norwegians are closely monitoring the political developments in Colombo. Sri Lanka President invites all parties to reach consensus on peace talks New President Mahinda Rajapaksa invited all political parties to come to a common position in order to revive the stalled peace talks with the LTTE immediately. Cabinet spokesperson Nimal Siripala de Silva said, “President Rajapaksa will immediately invite political leaders and parties representing Parliament to come to a certain consensus to revive the stalled peace talks.” Minister Silva also said the government wants to see what the consensus is after consultations. Responding to a question on Rajapaksa’s previous pledge to keep Sri Lanka undivided and his rejection of rebel demands for self-rule, the Minister said, “We don't want to be restricted to words.” Two civilians, two SLA soldiers injured in Trincomalee grenade attack Two soldiers and two civilians were injured when unidentified persons lobbed a grenade at an Sri Lanka Army(SLA) camp located along Trincomalee Kandy highway about 3 km off east port town Thursday night around 7:40 p.m. police sources said. Also on Wednesday night unidentified persons lobbed a grenade at an SLA vehicle supplying meals to soldiers manning checkpoint in Linganagar a suburb in Trincomalee town police sources said.One SLA trooper was wounded in Linganagar JVP demands breakup of ethnic Tamil province A radical partner of Sri Lanka's ruling coalition on
Thursday demanded that an ethnic Tamil-majority province be broken into
two - a move likely to provoke sharp objections from the Tamil Tiger rebels.
``East was annexed to the north by force and against the law and this should be reversed,'' party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe told a news conference in capital, Colombo. The Marxists oppose any power sharing between Tamil areas and a majority Sinhala dominated central government. It holds 39 seats in the country's 225 member Parliament. The rebels would likely oppose any move to break apart the two provinces. They regard the territory as the Tamil historical homeland and dividing it up could be viewed as an attempt to weaken Tamil control there. There are sizable Muslim and Sinhalese populations in the eastern province. North and east provinces were merged through India's intervention and a Tamil-majority provincial administration was created in an effort to address Sri Lanka's separatist conflict in 1987. Five SLA soldiers, civilian injured in Point Pedro Five Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were injured, most
of them seriously, when the tractor they were travelling along the the
Point Pedro Jaffna highway at Maruthady junction, 500 meters south of
Point Pedro town, came under grenade attack by unknown assailants at 7.45
p.m. Thursday night, sources in Point Pedro said. Injured soldiers have
been taken to the Palaly Base hospital. The youth was rushed to Point Pedro General Hospital in Manthikai and later transferred to Jaffna Hospital, medical sources said. Meanwhile, unconfirmed reports said Kallapai SLA camp, which serves as a protective unit to the Point Pedro 524 Brigade Head quarters also came under gun fire from unknown gunmen. No details are available of any damages or injuries to personnel. Following the incidents Point Pedro town has been cordoned off and residents are blocked from gaining entry in or exit from the town area. Security of Vadamaradchy area has been strengthened after the incidents, sources said. Posters demanding
military to leave Jaffna Jaffna Campus Heroes' Memorial unveiled "People of Jaffna will never forget nor pardon the
desecration of the memorials of more than 900 war heroes in the hallowed
grounds of Kopay Martyrs Cemetary in 1996 by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)
soldiers," Professor. C. Mohanadas, the Vice Chancellor of Jaffna
Univeristy told TamilNet after addressing the opening ceremony of a Heroes'
Memorial constructed within the Jaffna Campus premises, Thursday. "It
was an act, unheard of in the civilized world," the Vice Chancellor
said. Professor of Arts, R Sivachandran, Professor of Management, K Vevarajah, Professor of Agriculture, Rajadurai and Professor of Medicine, Sivapalan, lit the flame of sacrifice. Former member of International Student Federation S Sivakaran hoisted the Tamileelam National Flag. Professior Mohanadas then ceremonially opened the memorial by unveiling the name plate. International Students Union Kugan, and past president of Jaffna Students consortium, Selvakumar, paid floral tribute to the memorial. "Continued growth and development of Jaffna University is closely tied to the Tamil national struggle. Involvement of student community in our long struggle for freedom has significantly contributed to the strength and success achieved towards our goal. I wholeheartedly endorse the activities of the student group in raising Tamil consciousness among the public and creating awareness of the critical need for community's activism in demanding our rights to self-determination. "Campus student community should be proud for the involvement in organizing "Tamil resurgence" events which helped to attract international attention to the plight of NorthEast Tamils," said VC Mohandas in his opening speech. LTTE declared November 27, the remembrance day of Lt. Shankar (Sathianathan), the first LTTE fighter to die, as Maveerar (Heroes) day, to commomerate the LTTE fighters who died in the liberation struggle. Lt. Shankar died on 27th November 1982. The first Heroes day celebrations were held in 1989. The Sri Lanka Army gained control of Jaffna in 1995 following the mass exodus of people from Jaffna. The civilians who returned to Jaffna were not allowed to visit the site for more than four years. On the Martyrs Day in 1999, LTTE's Major Jeevan and another cadre were shot and killed by the Sri Lanka Army when they were returning after visiting the Kopay Heroes Cemetary after lighting candles at the site. Following the destruction of the cemetary in Kopay, Jaffna, the LTTE - war dead cemetaries in Kodikamam in Thenmaradchi and in Ellankulam in Vadamaradchi were bulldozed by the SLA under the Command of Lt. Gen. Lionel Balagalle. Tamils, Sinhalese and the international community await for the speech delivered by LTTE leader Pirapaharan on the eve of the Heroes day. The speech customarily contains nuances related the movement's thinking on the liberation struggle. RSF slams Mahinda
on media freedom It noted that 15 journalists had been killed in member-states Bangladesh, Gambia, India, Pakistan, Sierra Leone and Sri Lanka since the last summit in December 2003 and that virtually all the killers were still walking free. “Drastic steps must be urgently taken to penalise
member-states that do not make genuine efforts to ensure press freedom
and the safety of journalists.” says the Paris based media watch
dog. In its statement the RSF has it highlighted the killing of Dharmeratnam Sivaram, 46, editor of the news website TamilNet and a columnist in the Daily Mirror. Speaking to BBCSandeshaya, head of the Asia desk of RSF Vincent Brossel said that there may be others involved in the killing. Brossel said “He said all those involved should be bought to justice” Asked why the statement has failed to mention killings of Thinamurasu news paper distributors killed in the east Brossel said “Iam not sure if they were carrying out a journalistic duty”. He said they were carders of the Eleam Peoples Democratic
front distributing the party news paper, The Director General of UNESCO was among those who condemned the killing of Relangi Selvaraja, a presenter of the state run radio and television. He added that the RSF does not condone attacks blamed on Tamil Tigers Naveen claims Rs. 50m damages from Sudar Oli Dissanayake Amaratunga Asssociates, solicitors, attorneys-at-laws and notaries public, on behalf of their client MP Naveen Dissanayake had informed The Sudar Oli publishers to pay damages of Rs. fifty million or they would take legal action as the Tamil medium daily had published false, baseless and defamatory news item about the Nuwara Eliya District MP. The legal firm says that the news paper had published a defamatory headline story on its November 7, 2005 issue with the intention of bringing their client into hatred, disrepute, ridicule and contempt among the people at the eve of the Presidential Election of November 17. Ranil claims polls was not free and fair Defeated Presidential candidate, UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe holds that the election cannot be "considered conducted under free and fair conditions". In a statement to the media, he said he expects the European Union and other election monitoring bodies to confirm this in their reports. Wickremesinghe attributed his defeat to electors in the North, East and the South being unable to "cast their vote freely, independently and without hindrance." A large number of voters in the South found that they had lost their franchise since their names had been struck off the voting lists while voters in the North and East couldn’t exercise their franchise due to threats and intimidation, he said "In the Jaffna peninsula there were 701,938 eligible voters but only 8,524 of them cast their ballot. Wickremesinghe polled 5,523 votes and his opponent Rajapakse secured only 1,967 votes in Jaffna. Jaffna electoral district consists of Chavakachcheri, Jaffna, Kankesanturai, Kayts, Kilinochchi, Kopai, Manipay, Nallur, Point Pedro, Uduppidi and Vadukoddai. In the Wanni district there were 250,306 voters and only 85,874 cast their ballot." The LTTE’s unexpected decision to boycott the Presidential polls has rattled the rank and file in the UNP and the Co-Chairs. However European Union, Japan, Norway. Norway anticipated an overwhelming majority for Ranil Wickremesinghe at the polls. "The 22-member election observer team from the Association of Asian Election Authorities categorically stated that there was a third party behind the low voter turnout in the north. Because of this unfortunate situation, the divisions within us are becoming more wider and the chasms deeper he claimed warning that it will be difficult to find a ‘lasting solution to the north east conflict’ and it will also make it difficult to obtain the cooperation from the international community, hence we need to work carefully and thoughtfully in the future," Wickremesinghe said. "I have committed my best efforts to face the economic crisis the country is through and to encourage peace through the cease-fire agreement. I have planned to provide the people who are undergoing untold hardships due to the high cost of living with immediate relief while at the same time focusing on the peace process. I had hoped that by implementing my "Peoples Agenda", that included all these plans, I would have been able raise Sri Lanka to the standards of "an Asian Power," he said. "As a number of people who wanted to support these policies and aspirations, were unable to exercise their supreme franchise and I was prevented from getting the approval of the majority of the people to implement the People’s Agenda and added "Today we must work according to the decision that has been handed down to us." Wickremesinge expressed his heartfelt gratitude to the 4.7 million people who voted for him and the hundreds and hundreds of thousands who wanted to vote for him. "The future will decide whether I am right or wrong in following the path I have chosen,"he said. 24 November 2005 NE merger referendum to be put off? President Mahinda Rajapakse is likely to postpone the North and East referendum by another year following a meeting late last night with his political allies, a close confidante of the president told the Daily Mirror yesterday – the day that the last postponement was to be expired. The “temporary merger” of the two provinces took place as per the Provincial Council Act of 1988 and was being renewed annually since then by successive presidents. In the event of a decision to de-merge, a referendum should be held in the Eastern province to decide whether the people there want the province to continue to be merged with the North. Interestingly though the de-merger had been a recurrent theme in the nationalist movement, neither of the two nationalist parties – the JVP and the JHU included it as a demand in the proposals made to the UPFA presidential candidate for the November 17 polls. However a spokesman for the JHU said although the de-merger was not in the party’s set of proposal to the UPFA candidate that did not at all mean that the party was for the merger. “The democratic right of the eastern people to decide their future should be respected. However we have to be very prudent about the timing of the move” a spokesman for the JHU told Daily Mirror. Tamil National Alliance (TNA) R. Sampanthan speaking to the Daily Mirror said a de-merger of the North and East at this juncture “will definitely take the bottom out of the peace process”. “The peace process will not sustain without the merger because that is the very basis of negotiations” said Mr. Sampanthan. The EPDP which also prefers a merger however holds that the Eastern people should be given a chance to decide whether their province should remain merged with the North. Speaking to the Daily Mirror EPDP leader Douglas Devananda said “We are for the merger; however that should take place with the consent from the Eastern people. The unprecedented decision to let the merger expire is something that one has to take after weighing the pros and cons of it especially taking the context into consideration”. India donates urgently needed medicines to Kilinochchi hospital In a simple function held at the High Commission of India, High Commissioner Mrs. Nirupama Rao handed over urgently required medicines for use at the Kilinochchi District Hospital. The medicines were received by Dr. H. A. P. Kahandaliyanage, Director General of Health Services and Dr. V. Jeganathan, Consultant, North East Health Care-Development. Dr. T. Sathiyamoorthy, Deputy Provincial Director of Health Services Kilinochchi, was also present. The medicines will help alleviate a current shortage at the hospital, thus benefiting the people living in kilinochchi district. Indonesia has thousands of terrorists (UPI) Indonesian officials have begun leaking to the media their fears that thousands of Indonesian Muslim militants have infiltrated cities in Java and West Sumatra. Two Indonesian intelligence officers speaking on condition of anonymity said that the militants had received training and combat experience in Afghanistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Libya. Indonesian intelligence is attempting to ascertain if the militants have any direct links to the Jemaah Islamiyah network headed by Malaysians Azahari bin Husin and Noordin Mohamed Top. Husin died on Nov. 9 in a shootout with Indonesian security forces in Batu Malang, East Java. The pair are suspected of involvement in the 2002 Bali blasts which killed at least 202 people the August 2003 Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta and the September 2004 bombing of the Australian embassy. Husin and Top are also suspected of being behind the second Bali blasts in October, which left 23 dead, including three suicide bombers. Husin received training in explosives in Afghanistan and allegedly authored the Jemaah Islamiyah bomb manual, which was used in the 2002 Bali blasts and other attacks. Antara news agency reported that the chairman of Indonesia's Muhammadiyah organization recently stated that 3,000 former Afghanistan guerrillas had been recruited since 1980 to wage jihad in Africa. The two intelligence officers said that 5,000 Indonesian Muslim jihadists had trained abroad. Washington is increasingly recognizing Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim nation, as an essential ally in the war on terror. On Wednesday Washington lifted its arms embargo on Indonesia, imposed in 1999 following Indonesian army excesses in East Timor. Flood waters leave Mannar-Killinochchi road impassable Mannar -Pooneryn main road connecting the districts of
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) controlled Mannar and the LTTE controlled Killinochchi
has been washed away at Illupaikadavai area due to overflowing water from
Parangi Aru and Palee Aru following torrential rain of last few days.
Both rivers are located in the Manthai West divisional secretariat division
held by the LTTE. The main road at Illupaikadavai is still under three
feet of water, district secretariat sources said. World Vision has supplied a consignment of milk food, candles and other essential food items to the displaced due to flood and sought in schools, temples and other public places through the Mannar district secretariat, sources said About four thousand persons belonging to eight hundred families affected by recent flood in Mannar town are being issued with cooked food for three days by the Department of Social Services on the instruction of the Mannar Government Agent, sources said. Meanwhile, sea waves washed away about eight hundred million rupees worth fishing nets when the waves swept the coastal areas of Mannar at Kattalempadi and Thevanpiddy Tuesday. At Vidathalthivu, LTTE held village in Mannar district, about 296 families with 1800 members were displaced when large sea waves entered residential areas close to the shores, sources said. Sripathi take oaths in morning and resigns in evening Sripathi Suriyaarachchi who was sworn in this morning
before the President as the non-Cabinet Minister of Skills and Employment
tendered his letter of resignation to President Mahinda Rajapaksa this
evening Suriyaarachchi served as the Deputy Minister of Sports and Youth Affairs in the Chandrika government and has been eyeing a Cabinet portfolio in the Rajapaks government. He has reportedly made a claim for the media portfolio when the President held talks with former Ministers and Deputies prior to the selection of the Cabinet. He was a leading figure in the Rajapaksa campaign and the most participated Freedom Alliance representative in live TV debates. CBK eyeing Kadir’s seat? Former President and the leader of the SLFP Chandrika Kumaratunga is likely to appoint herself a national list MP to fill the vacancy created by the assassination of former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, party sources said yesterday. The sources said that she had informed SLFP General Secretary Maitripala Sirisena and UPFA General Secretary Susil Premjayanth that the vacant seat must not be filled without her approval. SLFP seniors had discussed the appointment of the former President to the seat following her direction to the two general secretaries, party sources said. Senior party members believe that she did not fill the vacant seat for the past three months as she had been reserving that national list seat for herself. The decision to fill the vacant seat has to be taken by the SLFP and till the SLFP leadership decides, the UPFA General Secretary cannot make a nomination to fill the vacancy, party sources added. TNA meets to discuss Mahinda’s peace plans The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) is scheduled to meet either this afternoon or tomorrow morning to discuss the future stand to be taken by the party with a new government in power. TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah said the meeting was originally scheduled for this afternoon. But may be postponed for tomorrow as the floods experienced in most parts of the country have delayed the arrival of TNA MPs from the East. Mr. Senathirajah said the party will also discuss the outcome of the speech expected to be delivered by President Mahinda Rajapakse in parliament tomorrow. Parliament meets tomorrow for the first time under the new President and cabinet after it was prorogued earlier this week. The TNA will be keenly focusing on the new President’s plans for the future of the peace process which has been in serious doubt after President Rajapakse got the support of the JVP and JHU for the polls. Mr. Senathiraja says at present there are no grounds for the new President to resume the stalled peace talks with the LTTE. In his inauguration speech the President expressed keenness to resume direct talks with the LTTE to resolve the ethnic conflict. However, TNA MP Eelaventhan speaking to the ‘Daily Mirror’ said the chances of direct talks with the LTTE are very slim. This was caused by President Rajapakse having ruled out federalism on the basis demanded by the LTTE . Mahinda gives peace process priority President Mahinda Rajapakse yesterday said that retired
career services diplomat Dr. John Gunaratne would take over the Peace
Secretariat. Gunaratne, who served the Secretariat headed by Ambassador
Bernard Tillekeratne and subsequently Jayantha Dhanapala, who recently
quit the post citing personal reasons, is expected to take over the high
profile assignment shortly. No ministers for religions in new Cabinet In a surprise move President Mahinda Rajapakse has not appointed a Minister for Buddha Sasana or for any other religion and the portfolio has been retained under the President. Tissa Karaliyadda has been appointed as the Deputy Minister of Religious Affairs representing all religions in the country. Earlier, Ratnaisiri Wickremanayake was Buddha Sasana Minister and Milroy Fernando was the Christian Affairs Minister while Douglas Devananda was the Hindu Affairs Minister. There was no separate ministry assigned for Muslim Affairs. While the Finance Ministry portfolio has been retained under the President two Deputy Ministers, namely Ranjith Siyambalapitiya and Rohana Dissanayake have been appointed. JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe along with Nandana Gunathilake and the JHU’s Athuraliye Rathana Thera were present at the ceremony. Deputy Foreign Minister Wijedasa Rajapakse, Deputy Media Minister Cegu Izzadeen and Deputy Tourism Minister Arjuna Ranatunga were not present at the ceremony. Following the ceremony, President Rajapakse thanked some of the ministers who volunteered to remain as non-Cabinet ministers given his decision to scrap the number of Cabinet portfolios to twenty five. The Cabinet of Ministers posed for a group photograph with President Rajapakse at the end of the ceremony. Tamil book seized in police raids-The Age Australian Federal Police have raided several Melbourne properties while investigating possible local links with Sri Lankan separatist movement the Tamil Tigers. The Tamil Co-ordinating Committee of Australia building in Burwood East was among the targets of yesterday's raids, which were made in response to a request for help from authorities in Sri Lanka. The federal police said the raids were not connected to Operation Pendennis, which this month arrested 18 suspects accused of being part of a terrorist organisation. Police would not confirm whether the investigation centred on the Tamil Tigers. The raids were part of an ongoing investigation into activities that did not involve plans to carry out an attack in Australia. Experts said that while some members of the Tamil community in Australia were suspected of fundraising for the Tamil Tigers, they were not interested in conducting operations in Australia. Police inspected a van parked in the driveway of the Burwood East address and seized a book with what appeared to be a picture of an artillery gun and Tamil writing on its cover. The book is advertised as War and Peace on the World Tamil Co-ordinating Committee website. The book, published in England with the sub-title Armed Struggle and Peace Efforts of Liberation Tigers, was written by Anton Balasingham, an international spokesman for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). Police also removed several folders and other items in the raid. A federal police spokesman said a number of warrants were executed, but nobody was charged and the operation was continuing. "Due to the sensitivity of the operation we can't confirm the nature of the warrants," he said. The raids come a month after Charles Gnanakone, 60, who holds dual Australian and Sri Lankan citizenship, was arrested in Colombo over the assassination of the country's former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. 23 November 2005 Dissolution early next year President Mahinda Rajapakse is likely to dissolve parliament and call a general election early next year, party sources said yesterday. They said the election would pave the way for him to obtain a bigger majority in parliament by offering various welfare measures to the people in the new Budget to be presented next month. At present the PA has 66 seats with support from the JVP which has 39. The UNP has 82 seats, the TNA 22, the JHU 9 and the SLMC 5. The government has only a slim majority now. SL Military, not LTTE, is intimidatory presence - Thamilchelvan Denying accusation they had intimidated Tamils into not
voting in last week’s Sri Lanka Presidential election, the Liberation
Tigers said the boycott by the Tamil people last week was a reflection
of prevailing Tamil sentiments towards Sri Lankan leaders, based on their
bitter experiences of the past. The near total boycott by Tamil voters
took place despite the "oppressive presence of thousands of Sri Lankan
troops and Army-backed paramilitaries in Jaffna and other parts of the
Northeast," the LTTE's Political Head, Mr. S. P. Thamilchelvan, told
TamilNet Tuesday. He pointed out that the LTTE had not ordered Tamils
to boycott the elections. He questioned how the allegation of intimidation could be levelled against the LTTE when the voters in question were living under the guns of the occupying Sri Lankan forces. He also pointed out that LTTE members had long ago been withdrawn from SLA held areas in the wake of Sri Lankan military intelligence supported paramilitary attacks on them. "There are forty thousand Sri Lankan troops in Jaffna alone exercising a clear intimidatory presence," Mr. Thamilchelvan said. "Nevertheless, there was a record low in polling in Jaffna." "Those who allege that the Tamil people were intimidated
not only fail to understand the ground reality prevailing in the Tamil
homeland in both political and historical context, but also fail to interpret
the message the people have given," he said. "Our stand, as representatives of the Tamil people, on Colombo’s elections, was a reflection of what the vast majority of Tamil people felt," he said. "Our conclusion [on the elections] was thus a reflection of the prevailing views of the Tamils. We, as the representatives of the Tamil people have simply adhered to the principle of reflecting that view," he further said. Mr. Thamilchelvan further pointed out that the LTTE had not ordered Tamils to boycott the elections, but had declared not to mobilise for or against any of the Sinhala candidates contesting. "All access was provided to election monitors if they so wished. Roads were open," the LTTE's Political Head said. He added that election monitors were still welcome to take up the complaints against the LTTE "issue by issue" and "to examine the circumstances concerned in-depth." SLMM blasts LTTE on election road blocks The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) yesterday ruled that the LTTE had violated the ceasefire agreement when it set up road blocks at crossing points within uncleared areas in the Batticalao district to prevent civilians from crossing over and voting at the presidential election last Thursday. SLMM spokeswoman Helen Olafsdottir said the LTTE was found to have breached the ceasefire agreement at the Paddirupu, Ilantivu, Vavunaitivu crossing points, Manmunai ferry point and the black bridge.Although the LTTE had said the road blocks were set up by civilians, the SLMM said it was the responsibility of the LTTE to ensure the road was kept clear for civilian movement in uncleared areas. In Paddiruppu, SLMM monitors noted LTTE cadres in civilian clothes among the villagers who set up the road block and demonstrated against the presidential elections. In Vavunaitivu the LTTE was also found to have breached the agreement as it failed to ensure the safety and free access for SLMM monitors who were verbally threatened by villagers. The monitors are still probing the situation regarding the road blocks set up in Mannar and Jaffna district on polling day. All the road blocks were cleared by the LTTE at around 4 p.m. on election day, just as the allocated time for voting ended, after the SLMM contacted the LTTE leadership in Kilinochchi. Sri Lanka President appoints new Cabinet Ending all political speculation, President Mahinda Rajapaksa appointed his new Cabinet of Ministers this morning. The new Cabinet took their oaths this morning before the President. The important portfolios of Defense and Finance remain with the President, while the prestigious Foreign Ministry portfolio was given to Mangala Samaraweera. Significantly, President Kumaratunga's brother and SLFP stalwart Anura Bandaranaike did not receive the Foreign Ministry portfolio but was reappointed to the post of Tourism Minister. The Cabinet of Ministers is as follows:
Northeast is hit with torrential rain, thousands of families displaced Thousands of war and tsunami affected families, living in temporary shelters and tents have been once again moved to schools and other public buildings due to the heavy rain continuing for four days throughout the NorthEast. Several areas in Amparai, Batticaloa, Jaffna, Kilinochchi, Mannar and Trincomalee are severely flooded with water. This continuous raining has disrupted the normal life of the people. Many roads are under water leaving several stranded travelers with no where to go. Villages including Soodaikuda, Koonitheivu, Akkaraichchenai, Kadatkaraichchenai, Upporal and Cheenanveli in Trincomalee are badly affected by heavy flooding and causing hardships to tsunami affected families living in temporary shelters. The people displaced from Mullaitivu town, Karaichi kudiyiruppu, Puthukudiyiruppu in Mullaitivu district, Vadamaratchi East in Jaffna district and Kandavalai, Murukandy and Kilinochchi town in Kilinochchi district have been relocated in makeshift camps created in public buildings. More than 3000 families living in temporary shelters in Kallady, Dutch Bar, Thiruchenthur, Nochchimunai, Navatkuda, New Kathankudi, Risvi nagar, Anvar nagar, Selva nagar, Palamunai, Kurukkalmadam, Mankadu, Kaluthavalai, Onthachchimadam, Koddaikallaru and Periakallaru in Batticaloa district have been displaced and relocated in makeshift camps. Unexploded Johnny mine recovered in Thallady Road Development Authority (RDA) workers Tuesday afternoon
around 1.45 p.m. recovered an unexploded Johnny mine when they were repairing
a culvert at Thallady in Mannar district. The incident was immediately
reported to the 212 Brigade of the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) located in Thallady.
Bomb dispersal unit from Thallady camp rushed to the site to diffuse the
mine, security sources said. The causeway that links the Mannar island to the mainland is guarded by this SLA base. Sri Lanka's new government will maintain the Emergency Law Sri Lanka's new government will continue the state of emergency, which was imposed after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar in August. The government will ask the Parliament next Friday to ratify the emergency laws, sources said.President Rajapaksa prorogued the Parliament yesterday and summoned the assembly for Friday. On Friday, the new President will address the Parliament, and in the afternoon Parliament will meet to ratify the state of emergency. Remand extended for Sivaram murder suspect The Kaduwela Magistrate ordered further remand for the suspect in the Journalist Mr.D.Sivaram murder case when it came up for further inquiry on Tuesday. Criminal Investigation Department (CID) submitted a report to court stating that it has collected evidence to prove the suspect's direct involvement in the murder of Mr.Sivaram, legal sources said. CID officials further told court that another person in connection with the murder is to be arrested based on the statement by the suspect now in remand, legal sources said. State Counsel Mr.Achchala Wellipuli told court that the Attorney General is to file indictment against the suspect Sriskandarajah alias Peter. State Counsel objected the bail application submitted on behalf of the suspect. Sri Lanka Needs Peace Before It Can Prosper: William Pesek Jr. (Bloomberg) To stand on the ancient fort walls here in Galle, on the southern tip of Sri Lanka, is to travel back to globalization's earliest days. It was in this bustling port city of 100,000 that Chinese explorer Zheng He arrived in the early 1400s. In 1505, a Portuguese fleet landed here, setting the stage for an even bigger commercial boom -- this one between East and West. And in 1663, the Dutch built Galle Fort, the city's main tourist attraction. There have long been few better candidates for globalization than this island nation of 20 million. And Galle's past and present are reminders of how important trade with far off powers is to Sri Lanka's tea- and textile-exporting economy. Or at least that's how things looked as recently as the 1960s. Back then, Sri Lanka's per capita income was in the same neighborhood as South Korea's. Its location made it the Hong Kong of India -- a place perfectly situated to piggyback off a rising superpower just a ferry ride away. Just as Hong Kong is a gateway to China, it was long thought Sri Lanka would be one to India. Yet Sri Lankan living standards have stagnated since the '60s. It never did become a destination for foreign investment, nor did it evolve into an Asian hub for airlines, tourism or shipping. Why? Violence. Keeping the Peace Sure, failed experiments in economic socialism contributed to Sri Lanka's woes. Government control over potentially lucrative industries, such as rubber, gets considerable blame for the nation's failings. Yet the strongest economic headwinds came from Sri Lanka's two-decade civil war. The last few years offered a reminder of the good that can come from peace. Ever since a 2002 cease-fire with the Tamil Tigers, who want a separate homeland in the island's north and east, the economy has expanded every quarter. Sustained peace may attract the investment needed to rebuild after last December's tsunami disaster, which killed 40,000 in Sri Lanka. Now for the bad news: Sri Lanka's already tenuous peace may be in jeopardy -- again. One indication was the Aug. 12 assassination of former foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, apparently the most serious violation of the cease-fire to date. Another: the results of last week's presidential election. Investors Wary Sri Lanka's benchmark index, the best-performing in Asia this year, had it biggest drop in 20 months on Nov. 18 after Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was elected president. Most investors preferred Ranil Wickremesinghe, a former prime minister who in February 2002 secured a truce with Tamil rebels and had promised to negotiate a permanent end to the civil war. Markets liked Wickremesinghe's economic ideas, which included accelerating the privatization of state-owned enterprises. Getting industry out of government hands is crucial if Sri Lanka is to compete globally. Rajapakse pledged to halt sales of state assets to overseas investors, and the government recently said it will raise corporate tax rates. Investors also want to see the truce hold up. In order to see to it that the docks of Galle and elsewhere in the nation buzz with activity, executives and investors need assurances that the violence of the past won't scuttle Sri Lanka's potential. Wickremesinghe was pegged as weak on the Tamil issue in the days leading up to last week's election. His opponents chided him as being willing to give anything to achieve peace. Yet so would many of this nation's people and foreign investors who might rush into Sri Lanka if they believed the conflict that has claimed 60,000 lives since 1983 is ending. Four Suggestions Wickremesinghe said he was willing to grant greater autonomy to Tamils while protecting the country's territorial integrity. Peace talks broke down in April 2003 because the rebels said not enough was being done to improve life for Tamils. Wickremesinghe was essentially voted down for displaying a willingness to try something different. What does Rajapakse need to do immediately to win back investors? Here are four suggestions. First, get serious about keeping the peace. Rajapakse told voters he planned to revise the truce agreement. How that makes Sri Lankans safer or the economy more attractive is anyone's guess. Second, create a more market-based economy. Sri Lanka needs higher living standards and faster job creation. That means reducing inflation and, more importantly, striking a practical balance between the desire to protect strategic industries and increased trade and investment. In other words, more globalization. Globalization is Key Third, build a genuine national economy. That means closing the gap between the haves and have-nots. Immediate attention should go toward equalizing opportunities for those in Tamil-dominated areas. Tamils make up 18 percent of Sri Lanka's population and claim to be discriminated against by the majority Sinhalese. Fourth, trim the debt. The nation's budget deficit is forecast to widen to 9 percent of gross domestic product next year, compared with an estimated 8.5 percent this year. It's moving in the wrong direction and rebuilding efforts following last year's tsunami aren't helping. Reducing the deficit is vital to lowering bond yields so more businesses and consumers can afford to borrow. Ultimately, the answer today is the same as it was centuries ago: globalization. It's up to the new leadership to prod Sri Lanka toward peace so that it can participate more fully in the world's marketplace. Thonda-Hakeem secret talks in India A secret discussion between Mr. Rauff Hakeem, leader of Muslim Congress and Arumugam Thondaman, leader of CWC is to be held in India. This discussion is to be held to form an alliance of minority parties on the basis that they had performed to their maximum at the presidential election say our sources. It is believed that both parties would pay attention to the political decisions they would have to take in the future. They have also decided to remain in the opposition. Mr. Thondaman has already left to India and Mr. Hakeem too left to India tonight say our sources. TRO Flood Appeal Several days of torrential rains have produced extensive flooding in widespread areas in the NorthEastern Province in Sri Lanka. Mullaithivu town, Puthukudyiruppu,(Mullaithivu), Kilinochchi, Vadamaratchi East, and Trincomalee are all badly affected. Many of these same places were hit hard by the Tsunami of 2005,and 3200 people living in transitional shelters are homeless again,with their huts totally destroyed. TRO urgently needs funds to provide: 1) Plastic roofing sheets Continued heavy rain is forecast for at least the next 48 hours and the situation is expected to get worse soon. K.P. Regi, Executive Director of TRO, has issued an urgent appeal that they are running out of funds and need help. Please send your contributions to: All contributions are Tax Deductible and will be gratefully acknowledged with a receipt. N. Ranjithan, M.D., President, TRO-USA 22 November 2005 Ranil likely to quit, Karu taking over Opposition UNP leader and defeated presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe is expected to step down from the leadership of the party and from the Opposition Leader’s post later in the week, UNP deputy general secretary Tissa Attanayake said. He said the UNP leader had arrived at this decision having assessed the performance of the party at the November 17 presidential election. UNP’s deputy leader Karu Jayasuriya is to take over the leadership while national organizer S. B. Dissanayake, though still in prison is likely to be elected as deputy leader.Mr. Wickremesinghe who led the UNP since 1994 has faced two presidential polls and was unsuccessful on both occasions.At last Thusday’s polls he obtained 48.43% of the votes against President Mahinda Rajapakse’s 50.29% However some senior members and some party organizations have requested Mr. Wickremesinghe to reconsider his decision as they feel such a move would further weaken the UNP. A final decision will be taken after meetings of the working committee and the parliamentary group. A strong request has also been made especially by the minority allies asking Mr. Wickremesinghe to retain his post as UNF leader which is a broader alliance comprising the SLMC,CWC and several other parties.UNP sources say Mr. Wickremesinghe is likely to accede to this request. Meanwhile Mrs, Maithree Wickremesinghe has told a close friend last evening that her husband had agreed to go to England with her for a period of three years until she completes her doctorate. Mrs. Wickremesinghe, a lecturer of English at the Kelaniya University is currently on study leave. SLN soldier disappeared, Nedunthivu under siege, 7 arrested Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) soldiers Monday morning cordoned off Nedunthivu (Delft) and conducted house to house search after two SLN soldiers were reported missing allegedly abducted by unknown men, sources said. Delft islet is under the control of the Sri Lanka Navy. However, SLN sources in Colombo said only one soldier was missing adding that seven youths have been arrested in Nedunthivu. All transport to and from Neduthivu islet has been suspended and the SLN said that until they find the whereabouts of the abducted soldiers, the transport will not be resumed. Youths decorating Nedunthivu streets for the beginning of the Heroes rememberence week were assaulted by the SLN soldiers. The injured youths were prevented from being taken to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital or outside Nedunthivu for treatment, sources said. Rats jump from sinking ship A group of UNP parliamentarians are engaged in a bid to work closely with the new Mahinda Rajapaksa government. Discussions in this connection are now underway and one group has expressed willingness to cross over to the SLFP while the other group is to forge a consensus with the government for a period of one year. The first group is reported to be led by former Minister
Bandula Gunawardane. However when contacted by Lanka e News, Gunawardane
said such rumours are common after any election and stressed he would
not leave the UNP. Meanwhile another group led by Badulla district parliamentarian Lakshman Seneviratne has called for a party revamp. 'Lanka e News' has reliably learnt that Colombo district UNP parliamentarian T.Maheshwaran has also been approached by the SLFP but he has declined to join the party. SL Supreme Court suspends P-TOMS inquiry Sri Lanka's Supreme Court Monday suspended the inquiry
into the Post Tsunami Operations Management Structure (P-TOMS) petition.
Chief Justice Sarath N.Silva announced that the inquiry into the petitions
filed against the implementation of the P-TOMS is suspended indefinitely.
The Chief Justice further extended the interim injunction on the implementation
of the P-TOMS indefinitely, legal sources said. The bench comprised Chief Justice Mr.Sarath N.Silva, Justice Raja Fernando and Justice Nihal Gamini Amarathunge, legal sources said. After hearing the submission of the counsel of both sides the SC delivered its order with the consent of the parties in the dispute, legal sources said. Mr.M.S.Jayasinghe, (Ministry of Relief, Rehabilitation and Reconciliation Secretary on behalf of the government) and Mr.S.Ranjan (on behalf of the LTTE) who signed the P-TOMS have been cited as the respondents in the FR petitions. US congratulates Mahinda, condemns LTTE for its interference at poll The US State Department in Washington D.C. has issued a statement congratulating President Mahinda Rajapakse. The statement says: The United States congratulates Mahinda Rajapakse on his victory in the November 17 presidential election and commends those citizens of Sri Lanka who peacefully exercised their democratic rights and responsibilities. We remain committed to maintaining the historically close ties between our two countries. The United States looks forward to working with President Rajapakse as he confronts many significant and immediate challenges. These include the need to strengthen the Ceasefire Agreement and bring renewed vigour to the peace process so that progress may be made towards a negotiated solution that meets the aspirations of all Sri Lankans. The United States regrets that Tamil voters in the northern and eastern parts of the island did not vote in significant numbers due to a clear campaign of intimidation by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). As a result, a significant portion of Sri Lanka's people were deprived of the opportunity to make their views known. The United States condemns this LTTE interference in the democratic process. Youth shot in Jaffna Mr. Kandasamy Thavakumar, 34, employed in Cholan Vanipam,
a Kilnochchi based business network, was shot allegedly by a Sri Lankan
Intelligence operative from a hidden location in Thirunelvely, 4 km east
of Jaffna town Monday at 5:30 p.m., according to civilian sources. However,
Police Officer-In-Charge in Kopay, Mr. Sri Selvam said the youth was wounded
when a gun belonging to a policeman riding in a Jeep accidentally went
off. Thavakumar, who sustained wounds in his chest and face, was rushed to Jaffna Hospital. Ten days ago, on November 11, a policeman was shot at Thirunelveli Market by unidentified gunmen. Failed kingmaker to make a comeback The news that CWC Leader Arumugam Thondaman, who broke ranks with the UPFA to support UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe at the Presidential Election, is going to return to government ranks has roused a hornets’ nest among the rank and file of the UPFA. However, contacted for comments, spokesman for the CWC K. Moorthy told The Island that no final decision had so far been made. Mr. Thondaman would decide whether to rejoin "in the interests of the minority Tamils of Indian origin" on his return from India. On Sunday, the high command of the CWC met in Colombo to discuss the outcome of the presidential polls and to decide of the party’s future course of action with special emphasis on Mr. Thondaman’s rejoining. Mr. Moorthy said his leader would consult the people before taking a decision. Meanwhile, UPFA sources said there would be protests within the party against such a move, as accommodating Mr. Thondaman in the government would be at the expense of those who defected from the CWC in support of President Rajapakse and helped him obtain about 100,000 votes in Nurwara Eliya alone. A senior SLFPer involved in President Rajapakse’s campaign said if Mr. Thondaman is allowed to rejoin despite his campaign to defeat Mr. Rajapakse, it would amount to a betrayal of the faith CWC defectors reposed in the new President. Parliament prorogued : President Rajapakse to declare open new session on November 25 Parliament was prorogued at midnight yesterday . President Mahinda Rajapakse acting in terms of the powers vested in him made the prorogation order. The new Parliamentary session will be declared opened by President Rajapakse on November 25. The decision to prorogue Parliament was taken at a party leaders meeting yesterday chaired by the President.The Emergency debate will be taken up from 12.30 pm, on this day(25th). According to the leader of the House former Minister Nimal Siripala De Silva the decision to prorogue Parliament was taken, among other things to table a new appropriation Bill with the object of presenting a new budget before December 31st. Earlier, the regular sittings of the House was fixed for today. Tsunami survivors hit by floods Thousands of tsunami survivors in LTTE-held areas were evacuated to higher ground yesterday after lashing monsoon rains flooded their camps, an official said. “Around 4,000 families have been evacuated from transitional camps in the Mullaittivu and Vadamarachi East districts,” Laurence Christy, planning director of the Tamils Rehabilitation Organisation said. He said another 20,000 families, many of them living in mud shelters after being displaced by 30 years of civil war, had been affected by drenching rains which began pounding the north on Sunday. “We collected 300 volunteers and have evacuated those in the camps to public schools on higher ground,” Mr. Christy said. “Because there are not enough schools, we also gave tarpaulins and plastic sheeting to some families,” he added. “We are concerned about the hygiene situation.” The monsoon rains flood this area annually and some families may have to be accommodated at schools or in makeshift shelters until January when they abate, he said. Some of those being evacuated, Mr. Christy said, were being displaced for the third time -- first by the war, then by the tsunami and now by the floods. Panic selling by locals but foreigners optimistic The indices moved down drastically yesterday continuing the trend started on the election day. The All Share Price Index (ASPI) closed at 2159.91, which was 169.01 points lower compared to the previous days closing. The Milanka Price Index (MPI) closed the day at 2780.25, registering a fall of 242.58 points. The total market capitalisation which dropped to Rs. 705 billion on Friday further dropped to Rs. 654.2 billion at the close of trading yesterday. Angelo Ranasinghe of the Bartleet Mallory Stockbrokers said it was the locals who contributed to the market to go down while the foreigners were on the buying side. The total equity turnover was Rs. 607.3 million for the day. The net foreign inflows registered Rs 99.6 million with foreign purchases recording Rs. 142.7 million and foreign sales Rs. 43.1 million during the course of the day. "We saw a lot of panic selling by the locals when the foreigners seemed not to be perturbed by the political developments. This negative attitude from the locals is somewhat unrealistic. We have not yet seen any signal from the new President or the Government which could cause panic among the investors," he said. He said although a 14 percent drop in just two days was too much the market wouldn't continue in the same manner as a technical correction is inevitable. "The fundamentals are still strong. Panic selling will ease off soon and the market will stabilise. As long as the Government maintained the interest rates at single digit level and ensure a growth rate from 5 to 6 percent the investors need not be pessimistic. Of course, the peace process should continue. It is the most important factor," Ranasinghe said. Some analysts said that state institutions could help reverse the downward trend by being actively involved in the market. Hartal paralyses east Day- to-day activities in Kalmunai, Samanthurai and Akkaraipattu came to a standstill yesterday when Muslims in the area staged a peaceful hartal in protest over last Friday’s grenade attack on a mosque where six people were killed, police said. Eastern Province DIG Rohan Abeyratne said shops and schools were closed and transport services paralysed but he said no incidents had been reported so far. Meanwhile Akaraipattu Inspector K. Sooriarachchi said discussions were held with TNA parliamentarian P.M. Pathmanathan and residents of the area including Muslims, Tamils and Sinhalese in a bid to ease the tension. The South has Spoken Statement by the Australasian Federation of Tamil Associations By boycotting the presidential election, which pitted the openly chauvinistic Mahinda Rajapakse against the equally anti-Tamil, Ranil Wickramasinghe, the Tamil people have allowed the Sinhala South to have its say. The result speaks for itself. Sans the votes of the southern minority groups - the 'Upcountry Tamils' and the Muslims, who voted en masse for Wickramasinghe - the vote for Rajapakse by the Sinhalese was indeed a decisive one. The overwhelming majority of the Sinhalese have thus voted for the man who denies the existence of a distinct Tamil nation, a Tamil Homeland and the Tamil people's right to self determination. Instead, he believes in the inherent right of the Sinhala Buddhists to dominate and rule. His election promises include the redefining of the Cease-Fire Agreement and an emphatic denial of any political power sharing with the Tamil people. Why then did the Tamil leadership and the elected Tamil representatives call for a boycott of the elections? And why did the Tamil people heed this call? The answers lie in the duplicity of the Sinhala political establishment throughout the last five decades, including the last three and a half years. On every occasion that required the support of the Tamils, the dominant Sinhala parties have courted and wooed the Tamils only to later turn their backs and return to their chauvinistic agenda - an agenda which underpins Sinhala political philosophy and one to which all Sinhala parties have been faithful, without exception! Wooing the Tamils to win Government and reverting to type on winning has been the Island's true, but sad history. The war made little difference to the Sinhala political parties. Kumaratunge, who received overwhelming Tamil support in 1994, conducted the grotesque strategy of 'peace through war' - a strategy which resulted in the deaths of thousands of Tamil civilians, hundreds of 'disappearances', and the exodus of half a million Tamils from the Jaffna peninsula. Then there was Wickramasinghe. Having been elected Prime Minister on the promise of peace, he agreed to a cease-fire in the face of imminent defeat. Wickramasinghe soon reverted to type through delaying tactics. There was this loud proclamation by him about power sharing with the Tamil people, but it was directed primarily at the international community. More significantly, little was done to explain this concept to the Sinhala electorate. Instead, Wickramasinghe's 'achievements' include: the abysmal failure of SIHRN specifically formed to restore normalcy, the crafty attempt to construct an international safety net and, most tellingly, the cultivation of the renegade Karuna . The Tamil people realised that, while Rajapakse was engaged in the time tested Bandaranaike mode of openly racist campaigning, Wickramasinghe was pursuing the 'all things to all men' campaign. The Tamils were not prepared to be fooled by the man and exercised their democratic right to abstain. AFTA supports the decision of their brethren and looks forward to a political arrangement where the Tamil people of the NorthEast of the Island can exercise their democratic right to self determination. 21 November 2005 LTTE to celebrate Heroes Day at Elephant Pass army camp site The LTTE will conduct its Heroes Day celebrations at the site of the former Elephant Pass Army camp on November 27, ten days after the group prevented hundreds of thousands of Tamils in the North and East from voting at the Presidential election. The LTTE has erected a huge stage at the site of the former Army camp, which was once a stronghold of the Military in the North. The former Army camp has been cleared and cleaned up by the LTTE in preparation for its Heroes Day or ‘Marveerar Day’ celebrations, and a giant LTTE flag has also been hoisted at the location. The setting has also been elaborately decorated with red and yellow LTTE flags and a monument to commemorate LTTE cadres killed in the April 2000 Elephant Pass attack has been constructed. Further, the main A9 road has been lined on either side with red and yellow flags, the colours of the LTTE, from Elephant Pass to Kilinochchi. Elephant Pass is currently under LTTE control. In his annual statement marking ‘Heroes Day’, LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran is expected to outline his stance on the future of the peace process after the election of President Mahinda Rajapakse. His speech will be telecast live by the LTTE media unit from Kilinochchi on the LTTE TV channel ‘National Television of Thamil Eelam’ on November 27. The Marveerar Day celebrations in the Wanni will also be telecast from 5.30 p.m. to 8.30 pm on the same day. Last year in his Heroes Day speech Prabhakaran called the government to resume peace talks, without conditions, on the basis of the Interim Self-Governing Authority as proposed by the LTTE. He also warned the government that the LTTE would be compelled to launch the freedom struggle if peace talks were further delayed. LTTE Heroes Days are celebrated for the three days ending November 27, which is the day the very first LTTE cadre was killed in action. Heroes Day celebrations first started in 1989 when it was held on a single day but since 1995, it has been held for 3 days ending on the 27th. Woman's body found near Vallipuram temple Unidentified body of a young woman, estimated to be around
25 years, was found inside an abandoned building 200 meters from the Sri
Lanka Army (SLA) checkpoint along the Point-Pedro Nagarkovil road near
the Vallipuram Vishnu temple, sources from Jaffna said. Point Pedro police recovered the body around 5.30 pm and has transported the body to Point Pedro Government Hospital in Manthikai for postmortem examinations. Dr C Kathiravetpilliai attached to Manthikai Hospital said that the woman was strangled around her neck with the ribbon worn to tie her hair. Only postmortem examination will reveal if she was sexually assaulted before being killed, he told the press. The area is controlled by the SLA and people travelling to Vadamaradchy east from Point Pedro have to cross this checkpoint. People use this route only during day light hours. No vehicular or pedestrian traffic cross the checkpoint at night. Sri
Lanka's President appoints new PM Rajapaksa, 60, who was sworn in Saturday, dropped previous plans to give the premiership to foreign minister Anura Bandaranaike, the brother of former president Chandrika Kumaratunga. A government spokesman said the cabinet will be named either later on Monday or Tuesday and only the new prime minister was sworn in on Monday amid lobbying for jobs by key politicians. There were two front runners for the ceremonial post of prime minister, former public security minister Ratnasiri Wicremanayake and former posts minister DM Jayaratne. Wickremanayake, 73, is seen as a hawk who advocates a tough line against rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil eelam (LTTE). He is also opposed to any concessions to the Tigers and had earlier wanted the majority Sinhalese Buddhists to have more children in order to increase the population and help fight the Tigers. Muslim couple shot dead in Valaichenai Unidentified gunmen shot and killed Mr. Meerasaivu Ahammed Lebbe, 44, and his wife Fowziya Lebbaithamby, 43, Sunday morning at 1:30 a.m. in Miravodai, a Muslim village 28 km nortwest of Batticaloa. Mr. Ahammad Lebbe, a Middle-East employement agent and a supporter of the United National Party, died on the spot at his house. The reason behind the killings is not known, Police said. Liberation Tigers allege that the post-poll violence in the district was caused by paramilitary cadres targeting to disrupt peace and understanding between Tamils and Muslims in the district. Mrs. Lebbethamby Fowzia succumbed to her injuries at Batticaloa Hospital. The incident took place at the couple's house on Madeena Road. The couple was at sleep when the assailants entered the house and shot the victims with T-56 rifle Valaichenai Police said. Four Muslim worshippers were killed and more than 18 devotees were injured Friday morning when unidentified attackers lobbed grenades into the Akkraipattu Grand Mosque, 58 km south of Batticaloa in Amparai District. Around 600 Tamil families and more than 100 Muslim families were displaced from the Tamil-Muslim border villages in Akkaraipattu following the incident. A district-wide hartal to be observed on Monday has been called in Amparai. Delhi
must back beleaguered neighbour -India
Monitor Prime Minister Mahenda Rajapakse, backed by an alliance of over twenty political parties narrowly defeated his rival former Prime Minster Ranil Wickremasinghe. Rajapakse's election campaign was marked by his socialist rhetoric and an apparently hard line position on dealing with the country's simmering Sinhala-Tamil ethnic conflict. The stock market plunged by 176 points when Rajapakse's election was declared. The Norwegians who have facilitated the peace process in the Island voiced concern. Norway's Development Aid Minister Erik Solheim proclaimed: 'The situation could become very difficult'. What is heartening for India is that both candidates spoke of strengthening ties with it. Both advocated a more pro-active role for India in the ongoing peace process. Unlike in some of India's other neighbours, there is an overwhelming consensus in Sri Lanka for a closer relationship with India. Trade and economic relations are booming and Sri Lanka has shown due sensitivity about Indian security concerns in the Indian Ocean Region. Sri Lanka also quietly backed our candidature for Permanent Membership of the Security Council. India, therefore, has a vital interest in the unity and territorial integrity of Sri Lanka. New Delhi should spare no effort to ensure that the pluralistic character of Sri Lankan society is not undermined by LTTE sponsored terrorist violence. The LTTE, who are past masters in silent intimidation of the Tamil population, engineered a virtual boycott of the Presidential polls in Jaffna, where only 1.25% of the voters cast their votes. But in the Eastern province, 48.5% cast their votes, despite LTTE intimidation. LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran has always fought shy of free elections and is a known believer in one party rule. He has little respect for democratic values, or for pluralistic societies and has, over the last two decades, killed every influential Tamil leader ranging from Sri Sabarathinam of the TELO to A Amrithalingam of the TULF and former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. He did not even hesitate to execute his own army Chief Mahatya. It is, therefore, not surprising that one of Prabhakaran's main demands is for the northeast to be ruled by an unelected interim administrative set up nominated by him. Anyone who has dealt with Sri Lanka would have no illusions that Prabhakaran's sole aim is to carve out a separate Tamil State under one party rule in Sri Lanka's northeast. The comments of Erik Solheim and past Norwegian conduct show that the Norwegians have little understanding of the difficulties in preserving national unity in a pluralistic and democratic Asian country. New Delhi will, therefore, have to help President Rajapakse in dealing with the ethnic issue. One way would be to urge democratic elections in the northeast, with international election monitors, in an environment free from LTTE intimidation. New Delhi will also have to make it clear to the Norwegians and others that they should avoid their present tendency of equating the sovereign and democratically elected Government of Sri Lanka with a terrorist group like the LTTE. Finally, our booming economic relations with Sri Lanka will have to be reinforced with tangible security assistance and support to Tamil groups that believe in democratic values and pluralistic norms. Past experience has shown that public opinion at large within Tamil Nadu fully understands the dangers that LTTE extremism poses. One hopes that the compulsions of coalition politics will not deter New Delhi from following a policy that promotes larger national interests. Tiger poll boycott was to prove a point in the Tamil struggle – Balakumaran The LTTE says the decision taken by the Northern Tamils to boycott the just concluded presidential polls was not to ensure a victory for the UPFA or a loss for the UNP but instead to prove a point in the Tamil struggle. K.V. Balakumaran, a senior LTTE political leader speaking over the Voice of Tiger radio over the weekend said last week’s polls would go down in history as the turning point in the ethnic conflict. “The outcome of the polls cannot be seen as a victory or a loss for any political party. Instead it sends out a clear message on the stand of the Tamil people. The Tamils have spoken on their rights by boycotting the polls without any pressure from anyone,” Mr. Balakumaran was quoted by a pro LTTE Tamil website as telling Tiger radio. Balakumaran, who is residing overseas, said the world has been stunned by the stand taken by the Tamils in the North as it came unexpectedly and did not favour even the UNP as was anticipated by the Southern political parties. “We were forced to consider not to support even Mr. Ranil Wickremesinghe for various reasons. The Tamils did not feel duty bound to support anyone. Ultimately we decided to think of our needs and not the needs of the South,” he said. The senior LTTE leader said the days ahead would be important as the attention of the world would now be focused on the political parties in the South and the direction the country would take by their decisions. Meanwhile the LTTE begins its heroes day celebration week from today and will culminate with the annual heroes day speech by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on Sunday. The much anticipated speech of the LTTE leader is expected to deliver the stand of the rebels with regard to the future of the peace process under the new government of President Mahinda Rajapakse. Trincomalee experiences heavy rain, families displaced Torrential rain in Trincomalee has caused flood in several
villages forcing hundreds of tsunami-affected families to seek refuge
in schools and public buildings from their water inundated shelters. Several
roads have gone under water interrupting smooth transport system between
villages and outstations of the district, sources said. In Alles Garden area, a suburb in Trincomalee town, about 65 families with 202 members affected by flood have sought refuge in Barathi Vidiyalayam. Foundation for the Co-Existence (FEC) in Trincomalee has taken steps to provide cooked food. About fifty-five families with 210 members have been displaced from their homes in Pulmoddai village, north of Trincomalee as their residential areas have gone under flood. They have been provided shelter in school building and cooked food by NGOs, relief workers' sources said. In Puthukuddiyirupu area, about fifteen families sought refuge in public buildings as floodwater entered their houses Sunday morning. Mr.K.Thurairatnasingham, Trincomalee district parliamentarian with Ms S.Jalatheepan, Trincomalee Town Assistant Divisional Secretary, and Uppuveli Predesiya Sabah acting Secretary Mr.Jeyabalan, Attorney-at-Law Mr.K.Sivapalan visited the areas, which are affected by flood, sources said. Ms Jalatheepan assured that the affected families would be provided with free cooked meals for three days till the flood recede, sources said. Famous astrologer predicts settlement of ethnic conflict INDIAN Astro-consultant K.K. Theventhra Rajh who predicted the victory of President Mahinda Rajapakse three months before the Presidential poll said that within one year the new President and the LTTE leader would reach a settlement to the ethnic crisis in the country. Theventhra Rajh told the Daily News that even one day before the November 17 poll, he had again reiterated that Rajapakse would win despite the neck and neck race with his opponent Ranil Wickremesinghe. "According to the astrological timing and the planetary position from 2003, Mahinda Rajapakse will definitely remain in power until 2016. He will be able to deal with the country's ethnic problem successfully by having direct talks with the LTTE leadership. The planetary conditions are very much in favour of the President to give the necessary strength and the courage to face the problems he comes across," the astrologer said. Rajh said he predicted the downfall of the Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe when he became the Prime Minister in 2002. "Ranil wickremesinghe managed to win the Parliamentary Polls in 2002. However my prediction was that he would not last long as Prime Minister and thereafter even at the Presidential poll he would fail. I predicted this in December 2001." Rajh who hails from Chennai, Tamil Nadu that by reading the planetary conditions he had predicted several important political events in India. Manmohan invites Rajapakse to visit India New Delhi: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh telephoned the newly elected Sri Lankan President, Mahinda Rajapakse, to congratulate him on his victory and invite him to visit India, official sources said on Sunday. In a separate message, President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam also congratulated Mr. Rajapakse on his assumption of office. Mr. Kalam said Sri Lanka and India enjoyed excellent bilateral relations in all spheres. "I am sure that under your able leadership, our two countries will be able to cement and strengthen it further," he added. 1000 policemen absorbed to PSD Some 1000 policemen from various police stations and special units are to be absorbed into the Presidential Security Division of newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse. City Traffic Director DIG S. M. Wickramasingha has been appointed as the DIG in charge of the new PSD, police sources said. They said the former PSD unit of outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga would be dispersed and deployed in police divisions countrywide while a part would be retained for the former President’s security. A senior SSP and Chief Inspector had also been appointed as PSD Director and OIC respectively. The
Tamil state within a state -BBC Most of them were hidden behind a thicket of bushes on the main road through rebel-controlled territory, just 10 minutes outside Kilinochchi, the Tamil's unofficial capital. One of them had blown his cover by venturing out onto the roadside, bearing a warlike insignia on his sleeve - a sharp-fanged Tiger, roaring ferociously. The men spoke conspiratorially into their walkie-talkies. The man by the roadside had his finger on the trigger. Yet the men were dressed not in combat fatigues but blue pleated slacks and sky blue shirts. And they were wielding nothing more threatening than a radar gun. The only thing they were interested in killing was the speed of errant drivers. Within minutes, the traffic cops had claimed their first victim, a motorcyclist hurtling down the road on a Honda Hero. The digital display on the radar gun showed him travelling at 51 km/h on a section of road with a 40 km/h speed limit. The motorcyclist was given a stern talking to and handed an on-the-spot fine of 600 rupees (6 dollars). Suitably chastened, he mounted his bike and headed - more cautiously - towards town. Serial traffic offenders might end up under arrest, and be carted off to jail in one of the force's smart blue Toyota Land Cruisers - impressive-looking vehicles with the word POLICE emblazoned in pristine white letters on the bonnet, and the Tamil Tiger insignia on the doors. Perhaps they might even end up on trial at the local court house, where the proceedings begin each morning with a salute to the Tamil flag. Thwarted ambition The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam - to give the Tamil Tigers their full name - control about 15% of Sri Lankan territory. But the traffic cops and the courthouse are mere fragments of their longed-for state, and far from the fully-independent ethnic homeland that the Tamil Tigers have fought for since 1983. Kilinochchi is remarkable for three things: the war-damaged buildings that line its streets; the martial statues which venerate its war dead (one of the biggest is the statue of the first female suicide bomber); and the immense scale of its main cemetery. The cemetery contains row upon carefully regimented row of graves and tombstones - almost 2,000 in all. Most are shaped like coffins, with polished black marble nameplates. But there are hundreds of simple tombstones commemorating the 'Black Tigers' - suicide bombers whose bodies were blown to pieces. This for the Tamil Tigers is hallowed ground. Only the lives of those they call martyrs for the cause are commemorated within its walls. Chilling distillation In the cemetery we met 24 year old Suganthini and 25 year old Iyali, two members of the Tamil Tigers who had arrived at the graveyard bearing dark pink rose petals. They had come to dress the grave of their former comrade, Senthamilini, who had been killed during face-to-face conflict with the Sri Lankan army in Jaffna, the largest city in the north. As they stood at the graveside, the two young women thought of their friend's sacrifice, and the reasons why they are prepared to carry on the fight. "The Sri Lanka Army killed my father in front of my eyes, and then raped my sister," said Iyali, who was first inducted into the Tigers at the age of 16. "If my leader tells me to fight, I am prepared to die for the Tamil homeland." The sentence was at once dignified and hate-filled - the most chilling distillation of the Tamil cause that I have ever heard. Despite dropping its demand for outright independence ahead of a truce agreement in February, 2002, the Tamil Tigers want to extend their writ much farther than their present fiefdom. Their aim is to control a vast, spear-tip-shaped area of land encompassing all of the disputed north and much of the western and eastern seaboards. This so far thwarted ambition is one of the reasons why the peace process is presently stalled, and the political violence continues almost daily. The Tigers are not yet ready to sue for a permanent peace because they still believe they can achieve a more satisfactory power-sharing deal. They knew that boycotting the presidential election would depress the vote of Ranil Wickramasinghe, the former prime minister who negotiated the 2002 ceasefire agreement. The Tigers are not yet willing to return to the negotiating table, and they would have been under great international and moral pressure to do so had Mr Wickramasinghe triumphed. The Tigers wanted a hawk to win rather a dove. This presidential election had asked of the Sri Lankan people the same question which has been posed since the country's independence in 1948. Can the country's Sinhalese majority and Tamil minority occupy this stunningly beautiful island in peaceful coexistence? For now at least, the answer from the Tamil Tigers would appear to be no. They had dubbed Mahinda Rajapakse the "war candidate" - and their boycott helped him win. 20 November 2005 Sri Lanka's new president offers talks with Tigers, subsidies Sri Lanka's new president, Mahinda Rajapakse, pledged
to bring peace to the nation torn by ethnic violence, and offered an olive
branch to Tamil Tiger rebels at his inauguration. For peace, West seeks amends in Sri Lanka With a new president taking office in Sri Lanka, the
Western community is seeking greater access to LTTE chief Velupillai Prabhakaran
and an end to anti-Norwegian rhetoric in Colombo to restart the stalled
peace process, well informed diplomatic sources say. Specifically, the West, which keeps India informed of its moves in Sri Lanka, wants Rajapakse and his allies, all of them Sinhalese-Buddhist hardliners, to halt forthwith their public condemnation of mediator Norway, which is seen by sections of the Sinhalese as being partial to the LTTE. If the propaganda continues, Norwegian diplomats feel it will become impossible for them to persist with their role. "As long as it was just election propaganda, the anti-Norwegian line was tolerable," a senior Western diplomat told IANS. "No more. The president and his allies have to stop speaking ill of Norway. This has to stop." According to Western diplomatic sources, Rajapakse, whatever his suspicion of the 2002 peace pact between Colombo and the LTTE, now has a golden opportunity to build bridges with the Tamil Tigers. At the same time, the West wants greater access to Prabhakaran, who will celebrate his 51st birthday on Nov 26, to ensure that its concerns and messages aimed at cementing the peace process are reaching him. There is a growing feeling within the Western community that its words are getting lost because most high-profile visitors to LTTE areas are not able to go beyond the group's political head, S.P. Thamilchelvan. The feeling is that if Sri Lanka's president, prime minister and opposition leader talk to Norwegian and other Western diplomats whenever a meeting is sought, there is no logical reason why the LTTE chief must play hard to get. There is also anger among Western diplomats that the LTTE virtually sabotaged the presidential election in large parts of the north and east of the country with a mixture of threats and violence, thereby ensuring the defeat of former prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe who would have been more eager to put the peace process back on tracks. This has only further hardened Western attitudes towards the LTTE, which in August faced major curbs from the European Union after it was held responsible for the assassination of foreign minister Lakshamn Kadirgamar. Sri Lanka has seen a dramatic upsurge in tit-for-tat violence, mainly blamed on the Tamil Tigers, in recent months. The bloodshed has only gone up since August. The West feels that the new president will have to act fast - to gain the confidence of the LTTE. The LTTE alleges that the Sri Lankan military is colluding with its former regional commander Karuna, who has taken on Prabhakaran. On its part, the LTTE - declared a terrorist group in some countries including India - has been accused of eliminating its real and perceived rivals with impunity. These include Sri Lankan soldiers, military intelligence personnel and policemen besides Tamils opposed to the LTTE. On Friday, after the election results came in, Norwegian peace envoy Erik Solheim said in a statement that his country was committed to facilitating the peace process "as long as the two parties request such assistance and for as long as it is possible for Norway to play a constructive role". It will be for Sri Lanka's new president to say what he expects from Norway - and the West. Sri Lanka president's win angers rebels Sri Lanka's Tamil rebels reacted angrily Sunday to the election of hardline President Mahinda Rajapakse and his inaugural speech, saying they showed the country's Sinhalese majority had no understanding of Tamil aspirations for a homeland. Rajapakse, after assuming office Saturday, reiterated his opposition to the Tamil Tigers' demand for an independent state on the Indian Ocean island. But he also said he did not want to return to war. The rebels have demanded wide autonomy in the country's northeast, where most of the 3.2 million ethnic Tamils live, saying they can only prosper away from the domination of the Sinhalese majority. "The pillars of the Tamil demand, namely, Tamil homeland, Tamil nation, and Tamil self-determination will never be accepted by them," the rebels said Sunday on their official Web site, referring to Rajapakse's hard-hitting speech and his supporters. "There is no space to talk of a federal solution," they added. Rajapakse narrowly defeated opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, who favored granting the rebels more autonomy. An election boycott by the rebels prevented thousands of ethnic Tamils from casting ballots. Rajapakse sought the support of hardline Sinhalese Buddhist and Marxist groups by promising to review the Norwegian-brokered 2002 cease-fire that has grown increasingly fragile in recent months. The truce brought an end to fighting after nearly two decades of civil war. The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam rebels have fought since 1983 for a Tamil homeland in the northeast, where they already run a de facto state. The war has claimed some 65,000 lives. The government and the rebels held six rounds of inconclusive peace talks before they were halted in April 2003 over the rebels' sweeping demands for autonomy. Most of Sri Lanka's 14 million Sinhalese are Buddhists who live in the southern and central parts of the tropical island. In a speech after taking the oath of office Saturday, Rajapakse said he wanted an honorable peace. "War is not my method," he said. "I will initiate a new round of talks with all those who have a stake in the solution of the national question." But Rajapakse said dividing the country is not the answer. "During the presidential election, the overwhelming majority of people said that the country should not be divided," Rajapakse said. "It is this aspiration that would be the basis of my policy for achieving peace." He also rejected direct foreign tsunami aid to the insurgents, who have repeatedly demanded access to some of the $2 billion promised to Sri Lanka so they can run their own relief effort. The Dec. 26 tsunami killed at least 31,000 people in Sri Lanka and swept away the homes or livelihoods of 1 million others. On Sunday, Rajapakse visited the Temple of Tooth in the Buddhist holy city of Kandy, the president's spokesman Chandrapala Liyanage said. The shrine next to a lake houses what Buddhists believe is a tooth relic of Buddha, the founder of the faith. Rajapakse, a devout Buddhist, was also to visit other shrines. The Temple of Tooth was attacked and partly destroyed by a rebel bombing in 1998. Observers say Rajapakse faces a giant task trying to reunite the country after winning the election with only 50.29 percent of the vote. Wickremesinghe, who favored granting concessions to the rebels, received 48.38 percent. "The position he had taken during the election campaign will make it difficult for him to reverse the decline" in relations between the government and the rebels, political analyst Jehan Perera said. Grenade attack on SLA sentry near Point Pedro schools Sri Lanka Army (SLA) sentry point, serving as the gateway
to Hartley College and Methodist Girls High School located within the
Point Pedro High Security Zone (HSZ), came under grenade attack at 7 p.m.
Saturday sources said. Gunmen riding a motorbike lobbed the grenade and
escaped via the Hostel Road. Point Pedro SLA declined to disclose the
damages to the sentry. Point Pedro town came to a standstill after 7 p.m. and all pedestrian and vehicular traffic remain suspended along college road near the sentry. The area where the sentry is located , in addition to the schools, also encloses Point Pedro district and magistrate courts, Kottadi Amman temple and a Hartley's church. The SLA occupied a larger area in Pt. Pedro than it did in 85-87 when it took control of the peninsula in 1996. All public and private properties in College Road, Vinayaga Mudaliyar (VM) Road, Police Station Road, Beach Road, Harbour Road and the 1st and 2nd Cross Streets are still occupied by the military. Some big names lose at Presidential poll Several Cabinet Ministers, Deputy Ministers and some senior UNP MPs were among those who lost their electorates at the closely contested Presidential poll. Among the big losers were Minister D.M.Jayaratna who lost the Gampola seat, Minister Sarath Amunugama - Galagedera and Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva - Badulla. Among the deputy ministers who lost their seats were Jayaratna Herath - Kurunegala and Mahindananda Aluthgamage - Nawalapitiya . Several prominent UNP MPs including G.L.Peiris (Moratuwa), Mahinda Samarasinghe (Kalutara district), Rajitha Seneratne (Kalutara district), Sajith Premadasa (Hambantota), Gamini Lokuge ( Kesbewa) and Jayalath Jayawardena (Ja-ela) were among those whose electorates went in favour of the newly elected President Mahinda Rajapakse. All of the 21 electorates in the southern districts of Hambantota, Matara and Galle went in favour of Mr.Rajapakse except for the electorate of Galle which was won by the UNP by a majority of about 3,000 votes. In the Jaffna district where polling was at an all time low, the UNP candidate got the few votes that were cast except in Kayts - the seat of Minister Douglas Devananda - where Mr. Rajapakse polled 139 votes against 98 for Mr.Wickremesinghe. In all three electorates of the Vanni district, Mannar, Vavuniya and Mullaitivu, Mr.Wickremesinghe secured a majority of the votes polled. In the Nuwara Eliya district in which the UNP candidate had the support of the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC), the party candidate secured the majority vote in all four electorates while in the Badulla district too Mr.Wickremesinghe won all nine electorates except Wiyaluwa. Mr.Rajapakse won by a majority all the 14 electorates in the Kurunegala district except Hiriyala and Kurunegala. In the Puttalam district two of the five electorates Puttalam and Chilaw --went to Mr.Wickremesinghe, while Mr.Rajapakse secured victory in Anamaduwa, Nattandiya and Wennapuwa. In the Ratnapura district, Mr.Rajapakse won five electorates
and Mr.Wickremesinghe won three while in Kegalle, Mr.Rajapakse won six
electorates and Mr. Wickremesinghe won three. In the Batticaloa district, Mr.Wickremesinghe won all
three electorates, Kalkudah, Batticaloa and Paddirippu. In Trincomalee
district, two seats went to the UNP candidate and one seat to the UPFA
candidate. TRO to celebrate its 20th anniversary Tamil Rehabilitation Organization (TRO) is planning to have competitions to raise awareness on social service among people to mark its twentieth anniversary of services to poeple of NorthEast. Assistance of government agents of the districts, heads of government departments and universities in the northeast province, will be sought in organizing the competitions, said Mr.S.Rajagopal, Co-ordinator of the TRO 20th Anniversary Committee in a circular. Competitions would be concluded before the end of January next year. Best local non-governmental organizations and pre-schools selected by a board will be awarded with certificates for their services to the public. Individuals selected for their creative activities will also be honored, said Mr.Rajagopal. Conditions and other details of the competitions could be obtained from the Co-ordinator of the TRO 20th Anniversary Celebration Committee who is stationed in Killinochchi. The dates and places for the competitions would be announced later, the circular adds. Competitions will be held at the levels of university, school, Grama Sevaka division, education zones, divisional secretariat divisions, children homes, fisheries divisions and local non-governmental organizations in the northeast province, sources said. Profile of a soldier turned killer Nobody in their wildest dreams would have thought that a solider of the calibre of Major Wijebahu was a killer cum robber who took his own life by hanging himself from a piece of cloth whilst at the Bogambara Prison last week. He did so because he could no longer bear the shame for the crimes he committed whilst serving in the Army. None of his batchmates not his peers in the military were aware that he was a ruthless killer. It came as a horrifying shock to them after his arrest by the Wattegama police. Born in January 11, 1970, a native of Kandy, he attended a leading college in Kandy and joined the Army as a cadet officer in 1992. His brilliant career in the military was cut short after he was arrested by the Wattegama Police in November 2004. He attended the prestigious Kotalawala Defence Academy, Ratmalana and was posted to the Maduru-Oya Special Military Training Centre during the period 1993-1994. In 1997 he entered matrimony and was blessed with a three-year-old son. He was again posted to the Minneriya Military Combat Training School as an instructor. An able officer skilled in military warfare, he rose up quickly in the military ranks and was posted to the Wijeyaba Regiment. Later as an officer Commanding the 215 Balasena Battalion he was posted to battle torn areas in Murunkan, Elephant Pass, Paranthan, Chavakachcheri areas where he was in action. On May 14, 2001, Major Wijebahu assumed duties at the Mantota, camp and later became its commanding officer. Like most service personnel serving in operational areas, it was customary for them to go on long leave to be with their families. Major Wijebahu took ten days leave to be with his wife and the child in Napanne, Kandy and travelled to Kandy on 02 October, 2004 in an Army vehicle with 5377 number plate. He was accompanied by a Corporal from the same detachment. After arriving in Kandy he took his wife on a shopping spree in Kandy town and later dropped her at their home. He later arrived at the Sinha Regiment Camp in Kandy accompanied by the corporal. Well as a Commanding Officer he had the privilege to visit other Army camps for various official matters. He made use of the computer at the camp to print vehicle Number plate 8147 and took it along with him. On October 11, 2004 at 6.45 a.m. the corporal called over at his residence at Napanne, Kandy. Thereafter both of them arrived at Akurana and hired a car to proceed to Wattegama along with its driver. The Major was seated in front and the Corporal took a back seat in the vehicle. While proceeding on the Doragamuwa Road at Akurana, on a lonely spot, the Corporal all of a sudden leapt forward and held the drivers hands with an iron grip. Instantaneously the Major pointed a pistol at the drivers head and the vehicle came to an abruptly halt. Thereafter both of them gagged the driver and tied him up with a rope and threw him out of the vehicle near a quarry. Having robbed the vehicle both of them then proceeded towards Wattegama. Meanwhile the driver struggled all by himself and managed to free himself and rushed to the Wattegama Police Station. He lodged a complaint that his vehicle was robbed. OIC Wattegama, Police Station, Inspector T. Lodewike sprang into action and ordered his men to trace the vehicle. Later a police party that lay in ambush intercepted the stolen car around 9.30.a.m at Wattegama Road. The police questioned the suspects about the robbery. But the Major and the Corporal vehemently denied the allegation which ultimately led to a heated argument. Finally, a fight ensued between police and the suspects and they grappled each other for nearly 20 minutes before being overpowered by the policemen. Police found the pistol and several hand grenades in the possession of Major Wijebahu. Two suspects and the stolen vehicle were later brought to the Wattegama Police Station. On being further questioned, the Major confessed that he previously hired a car at Anuradhapura and killed its driver by cutting him with a knife. He admitted that the driver's body was brought to the Mantota camp and was buried there. The stolen car was later sold to another Army officer for a sum of Rs. 250,000. Police also found several identity cards at the Mantota camp. Four soldiers along with the Major was arrested in connection with the murder and robbery of the vehicle. They were produced before the Teldeniya Magistrate last year who remanded them pending completion of investigations. The police party that unmasked the killer army officer was OIC Wattegama, Inspector T. Lodewike, Sub Inspector Wimlalasena, Police Sergeant Wimalasena, Premasiri, Police Constable Tillekeratne, Wijesinghe. New Premier, new ministers, new Budget next week A new Prime Minister and Cabinet ministers will be sworn in by Monday, ahead of the next meeting of Parliament on Tuesday, an SLFP frontliner said yesterday. Government spokesman Nimal Siripala de Silva told a news conference that as announced by President Rajapakse in his message to the nation yesterday, a new budget would also be presented to accommodate proposals outlined in the ‘Mahinda Chinthanaya’. With the swearing-in of a new President, the Cabinet stands dissolved till a new one is sworn in. Mr. de Silva said party leaders would meet tomorrow to discuss how to accommodate the new budget in line with standing orders.The former Kumaratunga administration finance minister Sarath Amunugama presented a budget on November 8 and the debate on its second reading was scheduled to start on Tuesday. Mr. De Silva said the presentation of the Budget might take a few more days but it would be pushed through before the end of the year. Mr. Rajapakse’s campaign chief Mangala Samaraweera
told the news conference that not only the UPFA parties and those who
supported it but even those who did not would be welcomed to join the
new government. Cushnahan condemns LTTE The European Union Election Observation Mission (EU EOM) condemning the LTTE for creating a fear psychosis among the voters of the north and east thereby preventing them from exercising their franchise yesterday said that he would take this matter up with the Council of the European Union (EU). EU EOM chief John Cushnahan addressing the media in Colombo said that there was extremely poor turn out from the LTTE controlled areas and the government controlled areas in the north and east. "In Vavuniya, Trincomalee, Jaffna, Mannar and Batticoloa only a few people turned out to vote" he said. "It is unacceptable behaviour and purely discriminatory. People in those parts have a right to vote and choose their future president of the country," he said. He said that the joint statement issued by the LTTE and the TNA on November 10, asking the people to boycott the election had no ambiguity in its message. "The people in the north and east only speak to the LTTE and they listen to them," he said. He also said that the formation of cluster polling stations for the people of the north and east to vote would have affected the smooth flow of the poll. He said that the people had to travel a long distance to vote. "Originally the polling booths were 500 km from the Sri Lanka army line. An interim order from the Supreme Court on November 9, created another 500 km requiring voters to travel 1000 km in two segments to vote" he said. Referring to a possible repoll in the north and east on account of a poor turn out he said that if the UNP feels that the overall results have been affected by the LTTE's action, the party should file a fundamental rights application case at the Supreme Court for a repoll. Cushnahan opines as the Elections Commissioner decided to annul the elections in some of the electorates and ordered repolling during 2001 and 2004 elections, he should do the same this year as well. He regretted the absence of an elections commission, which he said would have strengthened the capacity of election officials to act efficiently and independently. "It is unfortunate that more than four years after the 17th amendment was adopted, the president of the republic has regrettably not been able to agree with the Constitutional Council, before it lapsed, on the appointment of a new independent Elections Commission," he said. Dissolving parliament unlikely - DM Posts and Telecommunications Minister and People's Alliance (PA) General Secretary D.M. Jayaratne yesterday ruled out the possibility of the newly elected president dissolving parliament. The Minister said given the electoral victory the UPFA has achieved after last Thursday's presidential poll, there is no necessity for the new president to dissolve parliament and consider going in for a fresh election. He told The Sunday Leader the party did not have any immediate plans to invite the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) to join the government. He said there was no necessity to extend the invitation to the JVP but added, "If they want, let them join." He also said he was not certain as to whether the next government would have to be formed in alliance with the JVP. "We have to now seriously think how we are going to finalise the working arrangements with the JVP. It is a big job to do. We must be careful and avoid areas where conflicts between the JVP and the SLFP could arise," he said. He also said he was not satisfied with the election results as the SLFP has lost most of the electorates. He expressed concern over losing the Tamil votes. "This is disappointing. The present results show the country is polarized," he added. "But I am glad the election was conducted minus violence and riots." Sri Lankan
Presidential Elections and the Future of Tamils The lack of crucial Tamil support for the UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe paved the way for Mahinda Rajapakse of the SLFP to win the presidential elections with a narrow margin. If the vast majority of Tamils had cast their vote, Wickremesinghe would won the post, even increasing his majority. But alas, Tamil refused to vote because they simply did not want the UNP to take them on another fruitless and dangerous road. Before the elections, it was clear to the LTTE and those freedom loving Tamils that presidential elections in the south mattered little to their long and arduous campaign for a just and peaceful solution to their plight. This led them to a logical and rational conclusion that nothing would be gained from exercising their vote to either one of the candidates. In this respect, the decision taken by the LTTE and the TNA was right and correction decision, a decision that would pave the way for the Tamils in the north and east to exercise their ultimate decision to self-rule. The UNP under Wickremesinghe had the golden opportunity to regain the trust and confidence of Tamils, but he failed miserably. In the last days of the campaign having realized that Tamils might not vote for him, some of his party stalwarts sought a move to right by boasting about how they split the LTTE, sank their ships and obtained the confidence of Indian and United States to check the military pursuits of the LTTE. This was something done consciously and purposely for them to gain the support of the Sinhalese chauvinistic elements. But to his dismay, it was not good enough to wean away the support of the majority of Sinhalese from Rajapakse and it was political disaster that alienated the millions of Tamils. In the final analysis, Wickremesinghe had to pay for his political opportunism by losing the overwhelming support of the LTTE. It is no use now blaming the Tamils for not backing me, he was mainly responsible for alienating the Tamils. Of course the history of the UNP is replete with examples how successive leaders before Wickremesinghe had betrayed and alienated the Tamils on the grounds of their chauvinistic policies. Rajapakse despite his close association with the right-wing Sinhala organizations like JVP and JHU, must thank the Tamils for not voting for Wickermesinghe. If they had, he would have gone into political oblivion, with no prospect of ever contesting for the coveted post. For the Tamil nationalist forces, it really does not matter to them who really become the president of Sri Lanka. In fact, there are grounds to believe that Rajapakse’s victory would provide the crucial political circumstances for the Tamil nationalist forces to convey and to impress upon the international community that there is no way that Tamils would expect any justice and decency from the chauvinistic forces currently represented in the office of the president. In a more concrete sense, the election of Rajapakse and his avowed intention to review the ceasefire, question the role of Norway and talk tough with the LTTE have provided the Tamil nationalistic forces the necessary political impetus to chart the next course of history. For sometime since the signing of the ceasefire agreement in early 2002, pretensions of turning Sri Lanka into a federal state to meet the aspirations of Tamil have come to complete naught with the election of Rajapakse as the president. The international safety net or sort of entrapment for the LTTE designed by Wickremesinghe in his early days as the prime minister must be in tatters. It should be remembered that this safety net was planned on the grounds of providing substantial autonomy for the Tamils in the north and east, but the recent elections have once and for all negated the question of autonomy for Tamils. Thus, in the absence of something substantial at least theoretically, the international safety net that was designed to check the separatist ambitions of the LTTE is a dead horse now. Wickermesinghe defeat in the elections has entombed the dead horse now. So with the prospect of further real impediments to the peace process, the stage has been more less set for the respect communities, both Sinhalese and Tamils to pursue different political paths in the coming years. For the Tamil nationalist forces under the leadership of the LTTE, less time will be spend on convincing the international community of its bona fide nature. There is no need to do so anymore. Instead in the coming days and months, the LTTE will have to focus on the following issues that are related to the exercise of its ultimate option of a separate state. First, it has think of ways and means to regain lost ground in the east and tackle the prevalence of the para-military Tamil forces that working hand in hand with the Sri Lankan army intelligence. It is expected that Rajapakse with the advice of the ultra-ring elements would provide more support for the Tamil decadent forces united around a few disgruntled elements. In this context, the east would become much more volatile and dangerous, something that could not be avoided. The LTTE will never give up the east, it is an integral part of the Tamil homeland. Second, is the question regarding the Jaffna peninsula. The Sinhala army occupation will be less and less tolerated now. It is not that the LTTE cannot take Jaffna, for a long time they refrained from doing so because there was a prospect for peaceful settlement. It is not that the Tamil national question cannot be resolved negotiated settlement, but the future prospect for such a direction seems rather slim given the change in the southern politics. The bluff of international military intervention to fight the LTTE seems a rather remote given the quagmire in Afghanistan and Iraq and the difficulty faced by the United States in imposing its will on North Korea and Iran. India has learnt some bitter lesson as well, but then with the intransigent power bloc in Sri Lanka, there is possibility that India might come around to see the rationale behind the ultimate option. Election of Mahinda a blow to peace - Eelaventhan The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) says that they are neither worried nor happy with the decision of the south to elect Mahinda Rajapakse as the fifth president of the country. The TNA also noted that they are not surprised that Mahinda Rajapakse was elected as president because the south has rejected peace. TNA Member, M.K. Eelaventhan told The Sunday Leader that the Sinhalese in the south have spelt out clearly how they consider the Tamils as an independent entity. Eelaventhan highlighted that president elect Mahinda Rajapakse does not recognise the Tamils, their homeland or their self determination and electing him as president proved that the Tamils are justified in chosing their path. "Let anything happen, but we will determine our own future," said Eelaventhan. He also added the LTTE leader's heroes day speech on November 26, that also coincides with Pirapaharan's birthday would be important to all Tamils. "We do not know what he is going to say," he said. Furthermore he explained that during last year's heroes day speech Pirapaharan had stated that their patience was being tested and the future was at stake. Eelaventhan says that now this situation is much worse than what it was last year. "President elect Mahinda Rajapakse's alliance with the JHU and the JVP is one factor that makes the situation much worse now," he added. "The Tamils are for a federal status but only if it is meaningful and concrete," he added. He further said, if the government failed to recognise the rights of the Tamils, then the end result would be revolt. "Our fishermen cannot fish, nor can our people get treatment at hospitals when they need to. We are being up rooted in our own country," stated Eelaventhan. North east ignored in ICT development The Tamil Centre for Human Rights (TCHR) has informed the United Nations World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) that successive Sri Lankan governments have rejected the concept of equality in education with regard to the people in the north east and been reluctant to develop Information and Communication Technology (ICT) in those areas. The TCHR in its report submitted to the WSIS session held in Tunisia said the right to freedom of expression is treated by the government of Sri Lanka as in the field of mass media. The report also included a list of journalists harassed and killed in the recent past and also had details of arson attacks on newspapers in Sri Lanka. The session that commenced on November 16 concluded on 18. All 191 member states of the UN, inter-governmental organisations, international and regional institutions, ECOSOC as well as other officially accredited NGOs and business sector entities, including the TCHR participated in the summit. In September 2001, TCHR participated in the NGO forum of the UN World Conference Against Racism - WCAR in Durban, South Africa. In 1993, TCHR held an information stall and a photo exhibition on human rights violations at the United Nations Second World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna, Austria. Representatives of TCHR have been participating in the UN Commission on Human Rights, the Sub Commission on Human Rights and the Treaty bodies since it was founded in 1990.TCHR has conducted four fact finding missions in Sri Lanka, TCHR General Secretary S.V.Kirubaharan has said in a statement. Results show south has rejected peace People's Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) has said the election results have indicated the rejection of peace and invited war. "But I do not know when the war will break out, but it is for sure," he said. He also accused the LTTE of betraying the UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe and added, if the LTTE had given a free hand to the Tamil people to cast their votes according to their own conscience, Ranil would have become the head of state by now. "The election was certainly not free and fair. At least two million voters have been denied their franchise. So how can anybody claim the election was free and fair," he asked. He said the nation will have to wait for the heroes day speech to be delivered by LTTE leader Velupillai Pirapaharan on November 26. "Nobody knows what he is going to announce to the world. For all I know, the LTTE will not settle for any talks," he said. 19 November 2005 Taking oaths today The newly elected Mahinda Rajapakse is to take his oaths today as the 5th Executive President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. A government official said Mr. Rajapakse would take his oaths at 1.30 pm before Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva at the Presidential Secretariat. Sources close to outgoing President Chandrika Kumaratunga said it was unlikely she would be present at today’s ceremony. However Mr. Rajapakse last evening paid a courtesy call on Ms. Kumaratunga. She briefd him on her development perspectives and their dialogue also covered a familiaraation with the settings at President’s House. The Pime Minister’s Secretary Lalith Weeratunga is likley to be appointed as Presidential secretary. Stock
market crash! The Colombo stockmarket began its downward spiral on Thursday, when it became apparent that rebel Tamil Tigers in the North and East of the country were boycotting the election. LTTE boycott The lack of votes from the north was seen as a severe blow for the opposition leader. Mr Wickramasinghe's willingness to embrace free market policies in order to encourage local and foreign investment had attracted widespread approval from Colombo's business community. But the prospect of a government led by the Prime Minister Rajapakse caused unease - amid fears his Nationalist allies could undermine the economic reform process. Panic selling early in the day eased off later, as bargain hunters moved in. And despite the dramatic falls, analysts remain confident the pessimism will be short-lived. Short-term reaction Asanga Senaviratne, Chief Executive of Brokerage firm Asia Securities said, "The market was initially down nine percent but it has picked up and it's down seven percent. My personal feeling is that it's only a knee-jerk reaction and the market will gain back to the levels that it was, very very quickly, because the fundamentals are very good and I don't think Rajapakse administration is going to be any different from what we have seen with the Bandaranaike administration." The new president will take office over the weekend, and the Colombo exchange is expected to begin the new week in a calmer mood. Meanwhile many commentators believe that investors' worst fears are unlikely to be realised. Sri Lanka remains dependent on foreign goodwill to help rebuild an economy damaged by years of civil war. As a result, the president is expected to take a pragmatic approach to economic policy - and resist the urge for dramatic change. LTTE warns Mahinda The LTTE yesterday warned President-elect Mahinda Rajapakse of the dangers of any move to break the country's three-year-old ceasefire. "If they try to use military means to occupy our land or wage a conflict it will have negative implications for the other side," LTTE political wing leader S.P. Thamilselvan, told BBC. "We hope that they will understand the reality." In his victory speech in Colombo, Mr Rajapakse promised to bring "an honourable peace to the country". How he aims to do that is not clear. In his campaign he criticised his main rival for making too many concessions to the LTTE. Mr Thamilselvan said Mr Rajapakse was adopting the wrong strategy in promising to take a hard line with the Tigers. The Sinhala leadership, he said, should try to understand and address the political aspirations of the Tamil people. For his election campaign, Mr Rajapakse secured the support of the JVP and the JHU. Both these parties have been urging the government and the public to take a tougher stance against the Tigers. Mr Thamilselvan said he understood the promises made by the Sinhala politicians during the elections but now they should try to understand the ground situation. "Whoever comes to power they should try to address the political aspirations of the Tamils," he said. Norway offers to continue Sri Lanka Peace role Congratulating the newly elected Sri Lankan President
Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse, the Norwegian Minister of International Development,
Mr. Erik Solheim, Friday said that the Norwegian goverment was looking
forward to continuing its close cooperation with the new president and
the Government of Sri Lanka in a wide range of areas, including support
for the peace process. "Norway remains willing to facilitate the
peace process in Sri Lanka for as long as the two parties request such
assistance, and for as long as it is possible for Norway to play a constructive
role," Solheim was quoted in a press release issued by the Norwegian
Ministry of Foreign Affairs Friday. No.: 204/2005 Norwegian Minister of International Development Congratulates Sri Lankan President-Elect Mahinda Rajapakse Norwegian Minister of International Development Erik Solheim warmly congratulates Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on his election as President of the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka. Solheim said that “the Norwegian government looks forward to continuing our close cooperation with the new president and the Government of Sri Lanka in a wide range of areas, including support for efforts to achieve a lasting peace that inspires confidence in all Sri Lankans.” Noting that Mr. Rajapakse had received a mandate from voters to work towards a negotiated political settlement of the conflict, Solheim extended assurances of strong international support as the new president grasps the key challenges of preserving the ceasefire with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and taking forward the peace process. “The Government of Norway is deeply committed to promoting peace and reconciliation internationally,” Solheim said. “Norway remains willing to facilitate the peace process in Sri Lanka for as long as the two parties request such assistance, and for as long as it is possible for Norway to play a constructive role.” Solheim has responsibility for support for the peace process within the Norwegian government. Pt. Pedro Sergeant Attacked A Pt. Pedro Police Sergeant at the EPDP party office was shot and injured by an unidentified gunman alleged to be an LTTE pistol gang member yesterday morning. The victim PS Wickremesinghe (10847) was on duty when the assailants had come on a motorcycle and fired at him. The Sergeant was wounded on his left arm and chest and rushed to Pt. Pedro hospital . Jayaratne
claims premiership Jayaratne told BBC Sandeshaya that the party would, however, have to revise an earlier decision to appoint Foreign Minister Anura Bandaranaike as the prime minister, if Rajapakse elected president. Trade minister Jeyaraj Fernandopullai said that many senior party members oppose appointing President Chandrika Kumaratunga’s brother as the country’s next prime minister. “Anura Bandaranaike did not work for Rajapakse’s victory. He wished Rajapakse be defeated in Thurday’s polls,” he told bbcsinhala.com. Senior SLFP sources told the BBC that Rajapakse’s campaign manager Mangala Samaraweera is not considered as a contender for Sri Lanka's head of parliament. Clinton here on November 29 US former president Bill Clinton plans to return to Sri Lanka and Indonesia in his role as UN special envoy for tsunami relief to assess recovery efforts since last December's deadly earthquake and tsunami, his office said Thursday. Clinton will visit Colombo on November 29 and the Indonesian province of Aceh the following day, it added in a statement. It will be Clinton's second trip to the region as UN special envoy for tsunami recovery. He visited Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka and the Maldives last May. The former US leader will then travel to Brussels on December 1 to report back to the European Commission, discuss ongoing needs in the recovery efforts and coordination between the European Commission and other key players. In both Sri Lanka and Indonesia, Clinton will meet all concerned parties, including the Government, civil society, affected communities, UN officials, donors and members of the private sector to assess the current status of the recovery effort and address existing challenges. As special envoy, Clinton has brought together senior officials from the UN, the World Bank, non-Governmental organisations and the private sector both in the United States and Europe. The massive quake measuring more than 9.0 on the Richter scale sent a shockwave across the Indian Ocean last December 26, unleashing tsunamis speeding at up to 700 kilometres per hour in every direction. TNA says new President has to define his stance on ethnic issue The Tamil National Alliance yesterday said they were waiting for the new President to define his stance on the ethnic issue and would be “closely watching” him prior to deciding their next step on the peace effort. TNA leader R. Sampanthan told the Daily Mirror yesterday: “Let the new President go public on his stand regarding the peace bid. Let him get going with the matter knowing that Sri Lanka is a multi-religious, multi-ethnic and multi-lingual country”. Calling Mr. Rajapakse a “nice person” Sampanthan said it is up to him to decide on the direction of the peace process despite the involvement of “chauvinist elements like the JVP and the JHU”. “He is a leader elected by the Sinhala Buddhist of the country. But he should bear in mind that there are minorities representing various other religions and ethnic groups as well”, Mr. Sampanthan said. Asked whether the LTTE and the TNA were responsible for depriving the Northern Tamil of their right to vote by adopting a neutral stand on the election and sending the indirect message to boycott election, he said “ the low voter turnout in North reflected their grave sense of disappointment of the government”. Despite some 701,938 registered votes in Jaffna district, only a paltry 8524 voter turn out was recorded. In Wanni the registered voters was 250,386 but the total polled was only 85,874. He noted apart for the cease-fire agreement there was hardly anything the successive Southern governments had offered to the Tamil community. Asked whether he considered Rajapakse to be a better leader than Wickremesinghe, he refused a comment other than to say that Wickremesinghe had a “progressive policy with regard to the minorities in the country”. Mr. Sampanthan said the party would meet the LTTE to discuss on the peace matter after the President takes a firm stand on the matter. MTV journalist threatened JOURNALIST Jeyaratnam Sri Ranga of the MTV/MBC Channel (Pvt) Limited and his family members have been threatened for the past several months by unidentified persons. This has been brought to Inspector General of Police Chandra Fernando's notice by the Maharaja Organisation Group Director Priyantha Serasinghe. According to a press release by the Maharaja Group Ltd., there are certain groups trying to pressurise the independent media to achieve their personal objectives. "It is important for the public to be alerted on this intimidation to journalist Sri Ranga and his family members as this could affect the independence of the media, the release said. Journalist Sri Ranga is popular with the Sri Lankan political circle for his Television programme over MTV, Minnal and Shakthi FM programme Erimalai. He has also interviewed several foreign dignitaries including former Prime Ministers of India, Norway and Foreign Ministers of several countries. 18 November 2005 Rajapakse wins Lankan presidential polls Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has won the presidential election by a narrow margin. Rajapakse, received 4.88 million votes or 50.29 per cent of the total 9.7 million valid votes cast, said A D de Silva, a member of the Election Commission. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe who received 4.70 million or 48.38 per cent, has demanded a partial recount of the votes. The poll marks the end of President Chandrika Kumaratunga's tenure, which began in 1994. Pledge for peace Rajapakse, a hard-liner toward Tamil Tiger rebels, is a self-proclaimed "proud son of Sri Lanka" who campaigned on the simple message that his country must remain whole. To demands by the rebel Tamil Tigers for autonomy in their strongholds, Rajapakse says he will never give in. Instead, he has promised to deliver what could be described as an uncompromising peace. To those who want to further liberalise the island nation's economy, the Prime Minister says his country is not for sale. Rather, he has suggested a dose of protectionism may be in store. His populist messages appear to have won him wide support among the country's Sinhalese majority. They may have also helped him secure victory over Wickremesinghe, who was overwhelmingly supported by Sri Lanka's Tamil and Muslim minorities. Violence continues As echoed by newspapers and people in the street, voters in the north and east - territory of the feared Tamil Tiger rebels - had to face grenade attacks, roadblocks and fear, which prevented many Tamils from voting. Later on Friday, it was reported that suspected Tamil rebels had thrown grenades into a mosque, killing four and injuring ten people. Others heeded a boycott called by pro-rebel groups that complained that neither of the main candidates would help them win a homeland in northeastern Sri Lanka. The Tamils, whose plight is at the heart of a civil war that has lasted more than two decades, make up just under 20 per cent of Sri Lanka's 19 million people but were potentially pivotal in the tightly contested election. The political leader of the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) said there was a sense of apathy among Tamil people. The race pitted hardline Rajapakse against dovish opposition leader Wickremesinghe, whose softer line on peace talks with the rebels won him wide support among Tamils, a largely Hindu minority. Low turnout No polling stations were set up in Tiger strongholds because of security concerns. But the government set up special voting booths on the edge of insurgent territory to accommodate the more than 200-thousand voters who live behind rebel lines. However, officials said roadblocks and intimidation kept most from making it out of rebel territory to vote. Turnout was less than one per cent in and around the northern Tamil city of Jaffna - the lowest ever in any of the Indian Ocean country's twenty-two districts. Grenade blasts forced European Union observers to pull out of the eastern city of Batticaloa, the scene of frequent clashes between the Tigers and breakaway rebel factions. S. Lanka opposition demands partial repeat of vote - Reuters Sri Lanka's main opposition party formally requested on Friday a repeat of the presidential election in the north and east of the island, where a rebel boycott seriously undermined voting. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe narrowly lost Thursday's election, partly because of the boycott called by Tamil Tiger rebels, which kept away voters from the Tamil minority who had been expected to vote for him. Party officials said they had handed over a letter to the Elections Commissioner on Friday morning requesting a new vote in polling stations where voters had been intimidated or their democratic rights compromised by the boycott. Six Muslim worshippers killed in grenade attack on Mosque in Akkaraipattu Unidentifed assailants lobbed two grenades into the Akkaraipattu Jummah Mosque killing six Muslim worshippers Friday early morning at 5:45 a.m. At least eighteen worshippers were wounded. Two victims died on the spot and the other four succumbed to their wounds at Akkaraipattu and Amparai Hospitals, medical sources said. Tension prevails in Akkaraipattu, 64 km south of Batticaloa town. The assailants hurled grenades on the floor of the moque crowded with devotees attending Jummah prayers Friday morning. Mr. Ibraheem, 36, Mr. Abubaker, 60, were the victims who died on the spot. Mr. M.I.M Mustafa and Mr. Noordeen were two of the victims who succmbed to their wounds. Names of the other two victims were not available at the moment. Wounded persons were rushed Akkaraipattu Hopital. Two victims succumbed to their wounds at Akkaraipattu Hospital and the other two died at Amparai Hospital, sources added. Additional troops and police were sent to the site, police said. Tamil civilians living in the border area were seen leaving their houses fearing a communal backlash following the incident. The Mosque is located on Akkaraipattu-Amparai Road. S.Lanka PM claims victory in presidential poll Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse claimed victory on Friday in Sri Lanka‘s presidential poll after taking a slim lead with more than half of votes counted, his office said. "The prime minister‘s election office is announcing that Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has won the election for the fifth executive president of the country," Rajapakse‘s media secretary Chandrapala Liyanage told Reuters, reading a victory statement. "The Prime Minister‘s office requests everyone to peacefully celebrate this people‘s victory," the statement added. With more than 6 million votes counted by 0220 GMT, Rajapakse had secured 3,289,473 votes or 50.7 percent, just ahead of main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe with 3,121,106 votes or 48.1 percent. Analysts said a boycott of Thursday‘s election enforced by Tamil Tiger rebels in the north and the east had helped swing the vote away from the more moderate Wickremesinghe toward the hawkish Rajapakse. Tamil Eelam TV coverage extended for Heroes Day National Television of Thamil Eelam (NTT) will extend
coverage during Heroes day celebrations on the 27 November from 5.00 p.m.
to 7.30 p.m, Tamileelam time, and will broadcast live the speech of LTTE
Leader Pirapaharan, media unit of the Liberation Tigers said from Kilinochchi.
The NTT official added that the Paris based Tamil Television Network (TTN) will relay the daily broadcast to their audiences in Europe between 8.30 pm and 10.00 p.m. 17 November 2005 Polling begins in Sri Lanka; low voting in North-East Sri Lankans began voting today amid tight security to elect their new president. The voting started at 7.00 am (local time) and in Colombo, people were seen waiting to vote in long queues, while reports from the North-East say that the polling was very dull with only few people coming to vote. However, the poll monitors are confident that the situation would improve before the poll ends at 4.00 pm. 13.3 million voters are eligible to vote at 10,486 polling stations island-wide, including 233 cluster polling stations set up in certain parts in the North-East for the people in the LTTE-held areas to vote. Police department sources said over 85000 police personnel were on duty to protect the polling booths and to ensure a free and fair election island-wide. Over 150,000 public servants were deployed for election duty. Both the local and foreign monitors have deployed over 22,000 monitors to observe the poll, which are generally marred high-pitch by violence. ''People are exercising their franchise today. The poll has been peaceful so far. I am confident of victory,'' a confident-looking Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, one of the main contenders in the 13-member fray, told reporters at a polling both in Colombo after casting his vote this morning. Accompanied by his wife, Maitri, Mr Wickremesinghe said the people were voting for him considering three main issues - hunger, unemployment and peace. ''I am told that people are coming out from the LTTE-controlled areas to vote in the government-held areas. I will win with a good margin of 300,000 to 400,000 votes. I know I am going to win let's see how the votes are coming,'' he said. He said that speaking with the other major party in the South, the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) ''to take forward the peace process with the LTTE would be my first priority when I am elected''. Asked whether he would dissolve the existing parliament, where the ruling Freedom Alliance has lost its majority, Mr Wickremesinghe said: ''I will speak to the SLFP and decide whether to dissolve the existing parliament and go for parliament election''. Although thirteen candidates are running, the vote is seen as a straight contest between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse and Mr Wickremesinghe. Prime Minister Rajapakse cast his vote at his electorate at Beliyatte electorate in the Hambantota district. Both the main candidates were provided heady security amidst reports of threat to their lives. Despite the fact that the Tamil Tiger rebels had announced last week that the organisation had decided to allow the Tamil speaking people in the North-East to decide for themselves with regard to taking part in the election although the forthcoming poll was ''totally irrelevant to the Tamil people'', several front organisations of the LTTE had called for boycotting the poll and observe it a mourning day instead, as a mark of protest. The Tamil Students' Consortium, Consortium of Public Organisations (CPO) and Makkal Padai (People's Force) were few such organisations which had distributed leaflets among the people in North-East urging them to remain indoors and to hoist black flags at their homes to demonstrate that they ''are not interested in the power struggle between the Sinhala political leadership in the South''. TNA
: No change in LTTE strategy There have been media reports that the Tigers have changed their initial strategy to boycott the elections and making arrangements for the voters to travel to the cluster polling booths in the government-controlled areas. Transport arrangements But the MP, speaking after travelling to the rebel-held areas and meeting Jaffna district LTTE political wing leader Ilamparithi, said the media reports are simply not true. “There is no need to arrange buses that early. LTTE can make transport arrangements even Wednesday evening, if they so willing,” Sivajilingam told bbcsinhala.com. He said there has not been any change to the initially agreed policy of actively not participating in the elections. “The LTTE has not announced any change to the agreed policy with political wing leader SP Tamilselvan on 10 November.” He said the TNA and the Tamil Tigers expect that the 95 percent of the Tamil voters in the North and East will boycott the Thursday’s elections as a protest. The parliamentarian added that, however, that the LTTE will not prevent those voters who are willing to participate in the democratic process. Ex-TELO cadre shot dead in Valaichenai Unidentified gunmen riding in a van kidnapped Mr. Rajmohan Seenithamby, 38, at 1:00 p.m Wednesday, Police said. The victim was found shot dead two hours later at a road junction on Punanai School Road. The victim forced into the van while he was on his way to vist his mother in Pethalai Kannan village, residents said.The incident took place in Valaichenai, 32 km north of Batticaloa. Polls violence: 235 incidents, three attempted killings A total of 235 incidents of election violence have been reported since September 22. PAFFREL and DIG Elections said that except for three attempted killings, most of the incidents were of a minor nature. Up to yesterday 170 persons were arrested for violations and produced in court. Incidents have been reported from Tangalle, Matara, Weligama, Galle, Ambalangoda, Elpitiya, Kalutara, Matugama, Bulathsinhala, Badulla, Moneragala, Bandarawela, Kandy Matale, Anuradhapura, Puttalam, Katuneriya, Gampaha, Jaela, Wattala and Colombo. The latest incident was reported from Yatiyana in Matara where former Sri Lankan cricketer Pramodya Wickremesinghe and a group allegedly attacked SLFP supporters. At Weligama three PA supporters were arrested with several anti-UNP and pro-SLFP posters. IGP Chandra Fernando said all security measures had been put in place with 60,000 policemen on election duty and two policemen assigned to each polling booth. Several road blocks and special mobile patrols are to be put on the roads. Police have been instructed to arrest under age persons who come to vote at cluster booths as EU polls observers had reported in 1999 that several under age persons had cast votes in the North and East. Police have also been instructed to shoot troublemakers at or near polling booths. Meanwhile several incidents were reported in the eastern range last night. A hand grenade was hurled at a polling booth at Inridiyapuram in Batticaloa around 8.45pm yesterday and three soldiers who had been deployed at the polling booth were severely injured. The casualties were rushed to the Batticaloa hospital. Batticaloa police said the party responsible for the attack was yet to be established while the security in the area had been strengthened. Policeman shot dead in Kalmunai An unidentified assailant shot and killed a Police Constable,
Mr. Ranjithkumar, 28, Wednesday morning in Kalmunai, 35 km south of Batticaloa.
The incident took place near Kalmunai police station in front of NSB Bank
at 11:45 a.m. The assailant shot the constable with a 9 mm handgun and
escaped in a motorbike, police said. Bridge
between Talaimannar and India "After winning the presidential election I will meet the Indian President and his government and discuss the possibility of constructing the bridge between Talaimannar and India, which even the Indian government is interested in. It will also help to increase solidarity between the two countries" said the leader of the opposition Ranil Wickramasinghe MP addressing a public rally held at the free trade zone on Sunday organised by the Biyagama electorate organiser Ruwan Wijewardena. Continuing he said "After taking the oath, I will consult Chandrika Kumaratunga and the SLFP and invite them to join the UNP and form a cabinet with them if willing, with a view to find a solution based on an unified state. Biyagama electorate had only two industries which provided employment to a large number of males and females. As a minister I requested the president J. R. Jayawardena to start a free trade zone and appoint a committee. This committee’s report was rejected but I persuaded and appointed engineers and consultants and reviewed the report and then I was given permission to start work. As a result more than seventy five industrial factories were opened and today millions of people are enjoying the benefits of this project." Today the prime minister accuses me of dividing the country where as the SLFP and the president praising the ceasefire and peace process, Samaraweera and others are opposing it. the Tamil population is now willing to discuss and to come to a solution. The present cost of living is very high, we will take immediate steps to bring down the COL and fertilizer will be given at 550 rupees per 50 kg bag and prices of essential items will also be reduced. It you want to get employment vote for me, if you want food for hunger vote for me, and to seek a remedy for division then you vote for me, and I promise to fullfil. What I say I will do, what I said I have done" concluded the UNP leader. The deputy leader of the UNP Karu Jayasuriya MP said, that in this election it is definite that Ranil Wickramasinghe will easily win without any difficulty as our former leaders have done yeoman services. D. S. Senanayake who was known as the father of the nation has developed the Galoya Scheme and developed the agricultural sector. R. Premadasa developed the garment industry and provided employment through out the country and housing schemes every where. Gamini Dissanayake developed the Mahaweli scheme and the former UNP leaders plans are still to be achieved which will be commenced with the presidentship of Ranil Wickramasinghe. Home guards shot in Welikanda, one dead, one wounded Unidentified gunmen shot two home guards killing one and wounding the other in Sorivil Wednesday morning around 9:00 a.m, Aralaganwila police said. Sorivil, located 70 km northwest of Batticaloa and 8 km from Mannampitiya, is an interior village in the Polannaruwa district along the Batticaloa-Polannaruwa road. The gunmen have used a T-56 rifle to gun down Mr. Sunantha Pathmakumar, 27.The wounded home guard, Mr. W. Premathilake, 23, was admitted at Polannaruwa Hospital, Police said.The paramilitary cadres of Karuna Group and the ENDLF Group are known to operate their camps in Welikanda. Frenchman shot by prison guard A prison guard Tuesday night shot and wounded a French national, who allegedly jumped over the wall of the high security Welikada prison. He had been admitted to the Colombo National Hospital. A senior official said that the foreigner was arrested early this week after he bit the hand of a policeman at the Bandaranaike International Airport. The suspect had been first admitted to the Angoda Mental Hospital before being moved to the Welikada prisons hospital. Authorities said that the foreigner jumped over the wall and run away. He attacked a guard who tried to detain him, they said adding the man was shot as he refused to surrender. Two Muslim businessmen shot in Kalmunai, one dead Unidentified gunmen shot and killed a Muslim businessman, Mr. Ahammad Lebbe Thaheer, 42, Wednesday around 7:30 p.m. at Natpittymunai in Kalmunai, north of Amparai town. Another Muslim businessman, shot and wounded in a separate incident at 8:15 p.m. in Maruthamunai in Kalmunai, was rushed to Kalmunai Ashraff Memorial Hospital, Police said. Mr. Ahammad Lebbe Thaheer was standing in front of his residence on Kiddanki Road when he was shot and killed by two unidentified gunmen who were riding in a motorbike, Police said.Kalmunai is located 39 km south of Batticaloa. 'Nawa Peraliya' newspaper office set on fire The office of the weekly tabloid 'Nawa Peraliya' was torched by an unidentified group last night. An adjoining ?Link Free? office has also been destroyed in the fire. The group broke open the gate and door of the newspaper office and had set it ablaze.Nobody was inside the office at the time of the incident and no arrests have been made so far.The newspaper was highly critical of the government and the JVP and came under an arsonattack on an earlier occasion as well. Two grenade attacks in Batticaloa, 3 SLA soldiers, policemen wounded Three Sri Lanka Army soldiers were rushed to Batticaloa Hospital with serious injuries following a grenade attack at them in Iruthayapuram 2 km north of Batticaloa town at 8:10 p.m. Wednesday, police said. At least two policeman were wounded in a separate grenade attack in Manmunai, 7 km south of Batticaloa.The SLA soldiers injured in the grenade attack in Iruthayapuram, W.G.K Chandrasena, 20, Monoj Indika, 20, P.S.P Pathirana, 20, were attached to Kallady SLA camp.The wounded polcemen were also rushed to Batticaloa Hospital, police said adding that there could be more than two policemen injured in the incident.Further details are not available at the moment. Deserters jump Army prison Twelve soldiers who were imprisoned in the Boyagane Army camp in Kurunegala have reportedly escaped early yesterday. The twelve prisoners are Army deserters arrested by the Military Police and awaiting court martial. Speaking on condition of anonymity a senior Army officer said an inquiry is on to find out how they escaped. Wayamba DIG Asoka Ratnaweera said he has started a special operation to re-arrest the deserters. As the Presidential election is imminent special attention is being paid to this escape, he said. Meawnhile, the UNP yesterday claimed the escape of 12 army deserters from the Boyagane camp was an elaborate ploy by the UPFA to rig today’s Presidential poll. Addressing a news conference in Colombo, UNP frontliner G. L. Peiris said such acts were committed in desperation despite the armed forces and the police taking a tough stand to curb violence. “The UPFA is now desperate having realised that defeat is imminent and it’s trying to unleash violence in several areas in the country,” Prof. Peiris said. Jaffna undergrads burn Mahinda, Ranil effigies Jaffna university students burnt effigies of the two main Presidential candidates Mahinda Rajapakse and Ranil Wickremesinghe at Thirunelveli junction in Jaffna yesterday morning while some of them lit fire crackers. The students had chanted slogans saying that they had no faith in the political leadership in the South. Meanwhile, a security officer of the Chavakachcheri EPDP office was injured in a hand grenade attack last afternoon. Grenade attacks escalate in Batticaloa A grenade attack was reported in Batticaloa at Koolavady
junction on Boundary Road Wednesday night around 8:15 p.m. A Sri Lanka
Army soldier and a policman were wounded in the incident, police said.
Another blast was reported in Chenkalady, Eravur around 9:15 p.m. Casualty
details from Eravur incident were not available at the moment. Tension
prevailed in Batticaloa and Amparai districts. Jaffna election irregularities on voting eve Reports from Jaffna reveal intimidating and underhand
activities of the Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadres in organising
vote-rigging in Sri Lanka Presidential election. Groups of armed EPDP
cadres were seen visiting house to house forcibly collecting the 'ballot-tokens'
from residents in islets off Jaffna peninsula, TamilNet learns. With armed
protection from the State armed forces, Douglas Devananda's EPDP is holding
unannounced short-meetings at market places and actively campaigning for
Mahinda Rajapakse, the candidate of the ruling party. Meanwhile, military sources in Jaffna have confirmed
in anonymity, that two military vehicles were used to transport ballot
papers from Palaly to an undisclosed destination in Jaffna. With divided
loyalties in Jaffna among the military personnel between Mahinda Rajapakse
and Ranil Wickremasinghe, there is an air of tension in the military camps,
the sources added. During the visit of Prime Minister Rajapakse's visit to Jaffna, EPDP invited volunteer teachers in Jaffna to its Sridhar Theatre head quarters promising "Bright future," only to take them clandestinely to Nadeswara College in the high security zone in Kankesanturai where Rajapakse's propaganda meeting was held. EPDP sent similar letters to office bearers of Community Centers and other Public organizations in Jaffna District baiting them with "Consideration of allocation of funds" to lure them to Sridhar theatre for bus trip to Nadeswara college. They had requested each organization to bring atleast five officials to a meeting "to discuss creative opportunities for development of [your] organization." EPDP is a paramilitary group and political party in UPFA alliance. The anti-LTTE group's cadres collaborate with the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) intelligence in the SLA controlled areas and Colombo. 16 November 2005 War or Peace will decide on 17th - Ranil 'The Choice is clear when Sri Lankans head to the polling station on 17th November ? what people should decide is if they want war or peace in the country' said UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe who addressed his final political rallies yesterday in Matara, kalutara, Moratuwa and Colombo. Ranil said voting for Mahinda means the country dragging into a war and Vote for Ranil is for peace and prosperity for all Sri Lankans. The UNP Leader said as the fifth President of Sri Lanka he would adopt a new approach to take the country forward by ensuring the rights of all communities. Massive crowds thronged to these meetings yesterday as it has been the case in the entire campaign trail in all corner of Sri Lanka in the last few months. Addressing the meetings Ranil further said that he will strengthen the permanent ceasefire agreement and peace process would be taken forward and he will dedicate himself for that purpose. 'I will be the President of all Sinhala, Tamil, Muslim, Malay and Burgher people under one National Flag in this country after winning the election.' Mr. Wickremesinghe said he would bring peace and economic prosperity to the country so that the people could live without fear after he took over the mantle of the Presidency and for this he appealed to the people to give him a mandate. Ranil further said that he is confident that he can end hunger, provide jobs based on skills, and prevent separatism in Sri Lanka. But Ranil said after 19 months of Rata Perata government of Mahinda Rajapaksa and extremists JVP has proven to the people that they have no such programs to address the burning issues of the country. He said 'the main objective of Mahinda Rajapakse and the JVP is to defeat me and not defeat hunger and joblessness and this is the reason why people will vote for me'. All Sri Lankans he said would support him regardless of their religion and nationality to implement his development programs and the international community support him as done at the end of Tokyo conference where he got US$ 4.5 billion for reconstruction and development of Sri Lanka. Two LTTE cadres shot dead in Valaichenai Unidentified assailants shot and killed two Liberation Tigers cadres at Palainagar Junction on Batticaloa Polannaruwa road, 5 km north of Batticaloa Wednesday morning at 4:00 a.m. The bodies of the two cadres with their hands tied to their backs were handed over to Valaichenai Hospital by the Sri Lankan Police. Names of the dead were not available at the moment. Valaichenai is located 32 km north of Batticaloa. LTTE reverses decision, Tamils told to go to polls In an abrupt turn of face, the LTTE has reportedly decided to fully encourage the people of the north and east to exercise their franchise at tomorrow’s presidential poll. LTTE Leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, Political Wing Leader S.P. Tamilselvan and other senior LTTE members reached their final decision on the poll in Kilinochchi late Tuesday, with 48 hours to go, the Daily Mirror learns. Reports indicate the LTTE has decided to put all systems in place in the north and east in both cleared and uncleared areas to enable the people to cast their ballot tomorrow, an LTTE peace secretariat spokesman said yesterday. But LTTE spokesman Daya Master said yesterday there was no change in the earlier stance and TNA leader R. Sampanthan when asked to comment on the new move said he had no information but would be able to comment later. However, UPF leader P. Chandrasekeran who visited Kilinochchi yesterday said he had information that the LTTE’s top leadership had met on Monday night and would be meeting again last night to decide whether they should give a signal to the people to vote in large numbers at tomorrow’s presidential election. The decision follows a statement made by LTTE renegade commander Karuna Amman on Tuesday urging people to vote for the UPFA candidate and also speculation that paramilitary groups and UPFA coalition parties would rig the polls if there was a boycott, thereby distorting the Tamil vote in the northeast. The LTTE has, however, declined to tell the people which candidate to vote for, but is encouraging people to vote in their numbers based on their own choice for president. The LTTE has instructed TNA parliamentarians to make arrangements to transport voters from uncleared areas to cluster polling booths located in government areas tomorrow to vote. Sources in the east also told the Daily Mirror that LTTE members were going door to door in Batticaloa and urging people to cast their ballots. The sources also confirmed that propaganda vehicles had done the rounds in all areas under the LTTE control, calling on the people of the northeast to cast their vote at tomorrow’s election. None of the announcements carried messages about who to vote for, however, the reports said. Accordingly, some 500,000 people living in LTTE-controlled areas are expected to cast their ballot at tomorrow’s election with the blessings of the rebel organisation. The Elections Commissioner has been instructed by a Supreme Court order to establish cluster polling booths one kilometre from the government line of control in cleared areas and voters will be transported to the booths. With the LTTE being indifferent to the poll so far, the issue of transport to the polling booths was a major hurdle for voters in areas under the organisation’s control. However, as of Tuesday night, this obstacle has been removed and a higher voter turnout is expected in the northeast tomorrow. A TNA MP said they were aware of plans by certain groups to rig the northeast poll and were taking measures to prevent this. TRO office in Batticaloa attacked Two unidentified assailants lobbed grenades at the Batticaloa office of the Tamil Rehabilitation Organisation (TRO) Wednesday morning around 6:15 a.m., causing damage to the computer section of the TRO office, three tractors and a bus parked outside the office, Batticaloa Police said. The Batticaloa office of the TRO located within 100 meters from two Sri Lanka Army sentries, has been the target of unidentified attackers for the third time this year. Sinhalese person shot dead in Trincomalee Unidentified men shot dead a Sinhalese person in Palaiyootru,
a suburb in the Trincomalee town, and the Uppuveli Police Tuesday night
recovered the body in the shrub jungle in the area. The body was taken
to the mortuary of the Trincomalee general hospital for identification
and inquest, police said. EPDP cadre shot, injured in Kayts N Kumaran (31), a senior cadre of the Eelam Peoples Democratic
Front (EPDP) sustained severe injuries to his head when unknown gunmen
fired at him and his fellow cadres while they were distributing propaganda
leaflets in support of Sri Lanka presidential contestant, Mahinda Rajapakse,
in Kayts, Jaffna, a 1.30 p.m.Tuesday. The incident happened near the EPDP offices by the Little flower school in Kayts. Unidentified aircraft comes down in Puttalam search operation was launched off the Puttlam sea by the Navy yesterday evening, after fishermen informed the police that they had seen something like a light aircraft crashing into the sea, military sources said. They said Navy Dvora craft conducted extensive searches after the reports came in around 1 p.m. but no clues or signs like oil patches were found. Air Force personnel were also sent to the area and recorded statements from fishermen. An SLAF spokesman said no light aircraft or helicopter of the SLAF had gone to the area and all its aircraft were accounted for. Srilankan police harass people who go to lodge complaints People in Jaffna say that when they go to police station to lodge complaints, they are extremely annoyed by the harassment of the police. Jaffna is under the Srilankan army’s tight control. Recently LTTE cardres who were doing political work were withdrawn from Jaffna because of the threat to their security. When the LTTE cardres were in the Jaffna district, people also complained to them but now people have no other authorities except the Sri Lankan police to whom they can lodge a complaint. As a result incidents of crime are increasing in Jaffna. In this circumstance people have to go to the Srilankan police station to get justice. But there they are treated very indecently and humiliating words are used in Sinhala. People arrested for minor crimes have reported police brutality against them This is preventing people from lodging complaints with the police, the only remaining law and order authority in the district. People say that this will only worsen the law and order situation in the Jaffna district. Defence Ministry stops airlifting of army deserters to north The Defence Ministry has taken immediate action to stop the airlifting of some 300 Army deserters to the north on a request made by UNP General Secretary N. V. K. K. Weragoda, party sources said last night. The UNP made the request to President Chandrika Kumaratunga and the Defence Ministry after it heard of plans to airlift 300 army deserters to the north to create disturbances and disrupt the polls, they said. They said money had been paid to an airline to airlift the 300 deserters and the party had sent Defence Secretary Asoka Jayawardena a list of the names and photographs of those who were to be sent. The UNP also made a similar complaint to Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake and asked him to take action. Meanwhile, the UNP yesterday called for tight security to protect voters in the north. Party spokesman G. L. Peiris addressing a news conference called upon the people to protect their right to vote and defeat those who were trying to disrupt tomorrow’s presidential election. Prof. Peiris accused the JVP of trying to rig the polls and create trouble as it did in the past. He charged that some 300 army deserters had been mobilised by the JVP to disrupt the polls in the north and other parts of the country. In an upbeat mood, he said the victory of UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe was almost sure. UNP frontliner Bandula Gunawardene told the news conference that though the campaign upto now had been relatively peaceful, the party feared certain elements were trying to create trouble and disrupt the polls. Five Tamil youths arrested by SL troops in East Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) soldiers arrested
three Tamil youths at Paddiriuppu Bridge in Kaluwanchikudy, 24 km south
of Batticaloa, and the Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested two Tamil
youths at Black Bridge in Chenkalady, 13 km north of Batticaloa Monday.
However, the Police in Eravur is yet to confirm the arrest of the two
Tamil youths from Kaluwanchikudy, parents said. Kaluwanchikudy police confirmed that the STF soldiers at Paddiruppu Bridge have arrested three Tamil youths and said that the STF soldiers handed over mobile phones and a vehicle used by the youths to the police. Mr. Rojan Jeyakanthan, 33, from Kallaru, Mr. Yogarajah Rasamanikkam, 28, from Akkaraipattu and Mr. Pragasam Sathyamoorthy, 24, from Batticaloa, were the three youths arrested by the STF soldiers, Kaluwanchikudy Police said. US Senate resolution urges all parties to work for peace Two of the most powerful senators in the US Congress, Republican Senator John McCain and Democratic Senator Joseph Biden Jr., co-sponsored a bi-partisan resolution in the US senate on Monday in support of Sri Lanka, Washington sources told the Daily Mirror. Expressing hope that tomorrow’s presidential polls would be free and fair, the resolution moved by Arizona senator McCain and Delaware senator Biden commends the government of Sri Lanka for the “brave decision” to continue with the peace process even after the brutal assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar. The assassination is widely blamed on the LTTE by the officials in Sri Lankan, US and other governments. The resolution, which was moved just two days prior to the crucial presidential polls, urges “all domestic parties in Sri Lanka” to remain committed to the negotiation process and make every possible move towards national reconciliation. While calling for foreign governments, private individuals or groups to support and respect the democratic process of elections in Sri Lanka, the resolution also advocates that these groups “blunt the force of extremist groups representing all points on the political, ethnic and ideological spectrum”. The resolution also maintains that the US is aware of the presence of “non-democratic foreign powers and private sources” that have reportedly been funding and patronizing various political groups in Sri Lanka including the “extremist Sinhalese and extremist Tamil parties or groups”. On the November 17 polls the resolution reads that the US hopes “it will be free from interference and intimidation by non-democratic outside parties”. In 2003, the same senators — Mr. McCain and Mr. Biden — moved support for the proposed US-Sri Lanka Free Trade Agreement (FTA) which is now in the pipeline. Body recovered from Varany Temple well Partially clothed body of a man around 40 years old was
found in a well at the premises of Chuttipuram Amman Kovil in Varani,
Jaffna along the Kodikamam-Point Pedro road, sources in Jaffna said. The
yet unidentified body was recovered by Kodikamam Police and has been transferred
to the Jaffna Teaching Hospital for postmortem examinations. Cause of death has not been determined. Kodikamam Police are conducting investigations.
EPDP leader Devananda appeals to Tamils to oppose oppressive forces EPDP leader Douglas Devananda in a last minute appeal to Tamil-speaking people said it was in the hands of the people to exercise their power and rise up against oppressive forces. He said, “You have the power to use your ballot – the biggest non-violent weapon in your hands. There is all the possibility of advancing ahead with Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa who has accepted our three-stage peace proposal.” He also said he did not believe in remaining neutral at this juncture because the ballot can serve the Tamils better than the bullet. “As a matter of fundamental principle, EPDP gave up the bullet for the ballot. We did so because EPDP believes that it can achieve through the ballot goals that cannot be achieved through the bullet, particularly in the current context of world turning against violent politics. If the EPDP decides to boycott or abandon the ballot, the next option is to go for the bullet. We do not believe in the myth of being neutral. We believe that it is in the best interest of our people to use ballot and not the bullet. This is the primary reason why we decided to participate in this election,” he said. “It is the duty of those who take on the responsibility of giving leadership to the people to guide them in the right direction, particularly in times of crises when people are at crossroads trying to decide which path they should take to the future. Leadership that fails or refuses to give directions at a time when the people need to know the road to the future is not serving the people. To use the people for self-serving political ends of leaders amounts to an anti-people activity – activity that would lead the people to darkness. “We feel that we must make a commitment to actively contribute to the outcome of this election,” he continued. “We do not think that this is an election of the Sinhala people, by the Sinhalese people for the Sinhalese people. This is an election which has the potential to determine the future of all communities. When all the other communities are participating in this election, knowing full well its implications for their future, why should the Tamils not participate in it? To remain neutral would be a self-defeating exercise for the Tamils. Those who urge you to keep away from the ballot box are being misled by the leaders of darkness. “The Tigers and their Tamil National Alliance have told the Tamil-speaking people not to take any interest in this presidential election. What they going to achieve by it? Can they stop the election by opting not to select the President of this country?” he asked. 15 November 2005 Survey shows a preference for Ranil An independent analytical survey conducted by three university academics reveals that a majority of Sri Lankans believe UNP Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe has the edge over Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse in terms of personality, popularity, decision making and international and national prestige. Researched by W. M Karunadasa, a history and international relations professor at the Colombo University, D. Atapattu, a economics and political science professor at the university of Ruhuna and Ariyawanse Dissanayake a economics professor at the Kelaniya University, the analysis suggests Mr. Wickremesinghe was heading the presidential election campaign particularly in the last two weeks. The study also reveals that 62.4% of those surveyed believe the UNP leader was more capable of bringing peace to the country as compared to 35.6% who placed their trust on Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse. At least 31% of the respondents also expressed displeasure at Mr. Rajapakse’s proposal to have direct talks with the LTTE and queried what other option he had except war if the direct talks failed. The reason for the little trust placed on the Premier on the peace issue is the nature of his coalition with the JVP. Most respondents also indicated there was a greater risk of war if the Premier wins Thursday’s polls which according to the analysis places Mr. Wickremesinghe in a highly predominant position than the Premier. The survey noted a majority of those interviewed supported co-operative politics as advocated by the incumbent President and the opposition leader. A copy of the analysis was sent to President Chandrika Kumaratunga, the Premier and the Opposition Leader. It concludes that Mr. Wickremesinghe will win the Presidential polls by a clear majority of over 52.85%. Two LTTE cadres shot and killed in Akkaraipattu Unidentified gunmen shot and killed two political cadres
of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eealm Monday night in Pallikudiyiruppu,
a Muslim suburb in in Sri Lanka Army controlled Akkaraipattu in Amparai
district, police said. The cadres, Mr. Suresh, 26, and Mr. Vellai, 22,
who use to come to the village to purchase meat, were kidnapped by the
gunmen, residents said. Mr. Thayamohan, the political head of LTTE in Amparai district told TamilNet that he was in contact with the cadres till 4:00 p.m. Monday. Meanwhile, a Muslim armed group active in Akkaraipattu, has allegedly lobbed a grenade at the residence of a journalist, Mr. A.H.A Vahab, a reporter of ITN TV. The incident took place around 11:30 p.m. Monday. Kilinochchi court extends remand for Sri Lanka policemen Tamil Eelam district court, Kilinochchi ordered further remand for three Sri Lankan policemen until 28 November. Prosecution assured the Court there was progress in investigations and that evidence was emerging that the accuesd entered Tamil eelam areas for purposes other than trying to arrest a child molester as was earlier claimed by the defendents. The case was taken up before District Judge Sathana, Monday, 14 November at 12.30 pm when bail was denied. K.A.D. Sarath, B.W.Bopetigoda and W.G.D.S. Hemantha, all in their thirties and claiming to belong the Sri Lankan Police, were arrested while in hiding in the LTTE controlled area on 10 September and were charged originally for entering Tamil Eelam without prior permission. Because of the conflicting confessions from the arrested Tamil Eelam Police decided to conduct proper investigations and had them remanded. Despite the Defence Attorney Velavar's plea for bail, the Police argued that as it involved safety and protection of Tamil Eelam, the detainees need to be questioned further. The attorneys for prosecution and defence including the detainees were summoned to the Judge's chambers where after discussions, request for further remand was upheld and the Police were requested by the Judge to expedite investigations. The three policemen from Sri Lanka pleaded they had crossed the border to arrest a culprit absconding justice in sri Lanka. United States reiterates commitment to peaceful resolution of the Sri Lanka conflict United States Ambassador Jeffrey J. Lunstead today reiterated that his country remains committed to the peaceful resolution of conflict and the strengthening of democratic processes in Sri Lanka. The Ambassador made this comment after announcing that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) will provide $132,500 in grants to the People’s Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and the Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV). The Ambassador said, “The people of Sri Lanka are justifiably proud of the strong democratic traditions in this country. Our support for election monitoring will assist Sri Lankans to promote transparency and accountability, while ensuring all citizens have an opportunity to choose the future leadership of their country.” He said the US will support the efforts of Sri Lankan civil society organizations to monitor and report on the 2005 presidential election in order to help ensure a free and fair poll on November 17. The funding will be used to support the training and deployment of election monitors, evaluation of media coverage of the campaign, and administration and management of this nationwide program. Mahinda's vote rigging plan exposed - 36,000 forged ballot papers captured. A double cab belonging to the Vocational Training Ministry was nabbed this morning with 36,000 forged ballot papers by the Middeniya Police manning a road block. The forged ballot papers look identical to the ballot paper issued at polling centres. One person who was taken into custody in connection with the incident had later been released on bail reportedly due to pressure exerted by a senior government leader. Both parties woo Wanni but LTTE defiant It is reported the LTTE's stand on the voting at the presidential election remains unchanged. Representatives of the two main contenders have held several rounds of discussions with the Wanni LTTE leaders during the past few days to solicit their support for their respective camps. The Prime Minister's representative was Tiran Alles, an official of the Mangala Samaraweera's Ministry while Colombo district parliamentarian T.Maheshwarana has canvassed for the Ranil Wickremesinghe camp. However his discussions have been inconclusive and it was also reported that Upcountry People's Front leader P. Chandrasekaran visited the Wanni today to meet Tiger political wing chief Tamil Selvam for further discussions in this regard. Meanwhile the breakaway LTTE faction headed by Karuna has decided to back Mahinda Rajapaksa at the presidential election and Tamil Radio Network broadcasting from London has also appealed to Tamil people not to boycott the election. Mystery ship sighted Mystery surrounds a ship seen in the seas off the North. It is believed to be carrying weapons for the LTTE, but had disappeared sometime after it was sighted, Chief of Defence Staff, Vice Admiral Daya Sandagiri told The Island yesterday (14). When Navy vessels sailed towards the direction where the ship was sighted it had disappeared. However, the Navy continues its reconnaissance of unidentified vessels seen in the territorial waters, especially in the North or East. It was also reported that the Defence Forces and the Police are continuing operations to prevent any terrorist attacks in the South during the run up to the Presidential Election. A number of persons believed to be LTTE cadres have been arrested in these operations, Admiral Sandagiri added. Special Armed Forces groups have also been sent to different areas for special security duties during the next few days and any persons engaged in creating violence or disruption of normal election related activities will be arrested by the Forces and handed over to the police in the respective areas, he said. Members of the Armed Forces have been given orders to act impartially against all persons who break the law irrespective of their standing or political affiliations, he said. Army-type uniform found at PM’s final rally venue Amidst tight security in the city ahead of the Presidential election, a camouflage uniform similar to that used by the Army was found yesterday morning from Campbell Park, where Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse was to address his final rally last evening. Colombo said a special joint Police-Army search team found the uniform hung on a branch of a tree. Search operations are carried out ahead of all political rallies, he said. Following the recovery, steps were taken to step up additional security to the rally. He also said that IGP Chandra Fernando had earlier warned of LTTE attempts to carry a deadly attack by its cadres impersonating the security forces. “Following the threat we took steps to launch a system to identify the security forces members from the others”, the DIG said. The uniform had been handed over to the Borella Police for further investigations. DIG Jayasundara also said that extraordinary measures had been taken to strength security in Colombo for the two main rallies yesterday. “Army assistance was also sought as we had received information of a possible LTTE suicide attack”, the DIG added. Meanwhile, the intelligence unit had instructed Premier Rajapakse not to attend his last election rally following the recovery of the uniform. Halo Trust violates workers rights, striking employees say Workers at Halo trust, a British charity engaged in mine
clearing work in Jaffna for the past five years, went on strike to protest
the dismissal of four workers without warning. More than one hundred workers
picketed in front of the Halo trust vehicle park located on Temple road
near Nallur, Jaffna, from 9 a.m. Monday sources said. Halo trust employees also complained that some of the workers injured during demining activities were not medically taken care of and that workers should be provided with insurance to cover medical expenses due to work related injuries. Terminated workers, Thangarajah Rasanayagam, Sothi Yogarajah, Veeraiyah Jeyaveeran, and Antony Viji, have also started hunger strike. THe workers declined to accept the request by the Additional Government Agent S Sivasami who visited the site and urged the workers to discontinue the hunger strike. Talks between the Halo Trust management and striking workers are continuing to resolve the dispute, sources from Jaffna said. Over two lakhs of voters in LTTE areas As many as 208,820 voters, living in the LTTE controlled areas, who are eligible to vote at the Presidential Election this week, have to travel anything between 20 to 100 Kilometers to cast their vote at the cluster polling stations, Election Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake said yesterday (14). He said voters in the Mulaitivu District, under the control of LTTE, have to travel such distance and hundreds of buses and other vehicles will be provided by the Elections Commissioner to enable voters to commute to the cluster polling stations outside the areas where they live. Around 20 million rupees will be spent as transport charges and for building cluster polling stations for those living in the LTTE controlled areas, Chief Accountant, Election Secretariat H.A.S.Hapuarachchi said. A recent Supreme Court decision has ruled that cluster polling centres should be located at least 1,000 meters away from the Forward Defence Lines of the Armed Forces. According to the Assistant Commissioner of Elections, Batticaloa T.Krishanan Anandalingam there are 318,728 persons in the district eligible vote under the electoral register 2004. Among these were 80,443 living in LTTE controlled areas. There will be 353 polling stations in the district including 88 cluster polling stations for voters of the LTTE controlled areas. Staff at these polling stations will be Tamil speaking public servants selected from the Colombo District. Wanni District Assistant Commissioner A. S. Karunanidhi said there were 66,596 registered voters in the Mulativu District of which 65,504 were living in the LTTE controlled area. There will be 50 polling centres for this district with 49 cluster polling stations at Omanthai. Some of the voters here will also have travel about 100 kilometers to reach the polling stations. The Mannar District has 78, 906 voters of which 16,131 are living in LTTE controlled areas. This district will have 67 polling stations of which 12 will be cluster polling stations. Assistant Commissioner, Trincomalee District M. M. S. K. Bandara said there were 238,755 registered voters in the district with 278 polling station and 2 cluster polling stations at Kattaparichchan for 12,000 voters living in the LTTE held areas. These voters will have to travel up to 20 kilometers to reach their cluster polling stations. There 791,938 registered voters in the Jaffna District and 96,328 voters in the Kilinochchi District an LTTE controlled area. The total number of polling stations in Jaffna District with 224 cluster polling stations and 103 cluster polling stations for Kilinochchi Distirct located at Muhamalai and at Vadamarchchi East, Assistant Commissioner for Jaffna District P. Kuganathan said. Sri
Lankan children reject war The children have also suggested Tamil Tigers should work closer with the Sinhala public, in order to find permanent peace in Sri Lanka. According to the research, only three percent of children indicated in favour of fighting a war. More than 75 percent of the children interviewed were aware of Sri Lanka’s peace process, according to CZOP. “ 97 percent of children aware of the peace process believed that the peace process is good for Sri Lanka,” a statement issued by CZOP said. But the initiative said most of the children viewed alleviating poverty in the country as the number one priority for Sri Lanka. According to children participated, educational issues came second while establishing peace in Sri Lanka was the number three priority. Many children added however said that preventing them attending the school was the main problem they faced due to war. 1500 children (9 to 16 years) from all over Sri Lanka, apart from the LTTE-held Mulativu and Kilinochchi, have participated in the survey carried out between February and April this year. JVP members allegedly attack Lankadeepa cartoonist Police suspect members of the JVP in the attack on well-known cartoonist Dasa Hapuwalana. Hapuwalana, a cartoonist who works for the Sinhala daily Lankadeepa, was attacked in his private residence in Nittabuwa last night, police said. “We have reliable information that the attack was carried out by the JVP members in the area,” Nittabuwa police said. Mr. Hapuwalana has been critical of the JVP in his creations, published in Lankadeepa over the last few weeks. Lanka astrologers see better times after vote Sri Lankan astrologers have predicted their fortunes
will rise after Thursday's presidential election and see the opposition
leader as the candidate with the stronger horoscope. The seers had also pored over the election pledges of candidates and found only Wickremesinghe had promised an "Astrological Council" to boost the fortunes of the practitioners. "Yes, we will have a better time if the opposition leader wins the election," the association's leader Ananda Seneviratne told AFP. "But our calculations show he is winning." The soothsayers, who had remained unusually quiet during the campaign, made the surprise announcement after a private opinion poll put Wickremesinghe six percentage points ahead in approval ratings. Systematic intimidation in East by UPFA politicians Amidst fears and rumours of election violence in the east, reports surfaced last night of UPFA politicians’ allegedly intimidating people in Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil, demanding they boycott the poll. Foreign election observers operating in the area said these tactics were a form of “systematic intimidation” carried out by government ministers using state vehicles and persons attired in uniforms similar to those worn by STF personnel. An observer, speaking on condition of anonymity, told the Daily Mirror that these uniformed persons, the police and private supporters were going door to door warning people to stay at home on Election Day. “It is obvious that Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil are areas heavily in favour of the UNP candidate. So this is an attempt by government politicians in the area to try and make sure the people refrain from casting their ballot, thereby ensuring the national margin is not affected”, the polls observer explained. He said if the election was free and fair, 80% of the population would vote for the opposition candidate on November 17. “Several people had also been injured in the intimidation”, the election observer added. According to the monitors, tension was running high in Akkaraipattu and Pottuvil after several incidents were reported from the area, with supporters of Minister A.L.M. Athaullah allegedly preventing people from attending yesterday’s final rally organised by the SLMC in support of UNP candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe. “A government vehicle bearing number plate 65-0612 is being used to transport people carrying out this campaign of violence and intimidation and we have already recorded the statements of two or three people who have been injured in the process”, the observer noted. Independent election monitors have also voiced fears of threats and intimidation to themselves from the same politicos as they report on violence in the area. “The use of state vehicles, with visible number plates is good indication that this is clearly government sponsored intimidation”, the election observer said. He said they were expecting some major incidents in the area on Thursday, whichever candidate secured a majority in the area. The number of election monitors in the Eastern Province has been increased due to fears of violence and malpractice given the number of political players and actors operating in the area. There were also reports that LTTE renegade commander Karuna’s cadres had begun distributing leaflets in the east, urging people to vote for Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse on November 17. 14 November 2005 Hardline allies cost S.Lanka's PM votes in east-Source: Reuters Sri Lankan barber Nicholas Aruldas likes Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, but he cannot bring himself to vote for him at this month's presidential election. Like many fellow minority ethnic Tamils and Muslims in Sri Lanka's war-torn, tsunami-battered east, Aruldas has been scared off by Rajapakse's hardline Marxist and Sinhalese nationalist allies and says he has no choice but to vote for his main opponent instead. "The Prime Minister is a good person and friend of the poor," Aruldas said as he trimmed a client's hair in his modest salon in the eastern town of Batticaloa. "But we can't vote for him because of his alliances with the (Marxist) People's Liberation Front and National Heritage Party," he added. Voters here believe Rajapakse's main rival, former prime minister and main opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe, has a better chance of transforming a 2002 truce into lasting peace with the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE). The Tigers and their political proxies this week vowed to remain neutral in the Nov.17 poll, and refrained from giving voters in their areas a customary nod as to who to back. Some analysts say the Tigers are not ready to give up their push for a separate homeland or to resume peace talks that stalled in 2003 and see their stance as tantamount to a boycott. They fear many ethnic Tamils living in and around rebel areas may not vote out of fear -- which could in turn hurt the chances of the more moderate and conciliatory Wickremesinghe, who many in the east see as the best choice to cement peace. SPORADIC VIOLENCE There has been no campaigning for any candidate in Batticaloa, which straddles government and rebel-controlled areas and has been blighted by sporadic violence since a factional split within the Tigers in 2004. Heavily-armed soldiers keep guard over the town. Security has been stepped up for fear of violence on election day. But many residents are determined to vote anyway. "No one told us not to vote so far ... We will vote," said J. Perimbarajah, who runs a wayside eatery in the heart of Batticaloa and wants Wickremesinghe to win. In the neighbouring Muslim town of Kattankudi, election activities are more visible and residents are also rooting for Wickremesinghe, who has promised to give them more say in the island's protracted peace process. "If Ranil comes to power, then peace will continue. We want to live in peace with all the community," said Mohamed Rafiq, who sells toys and trinkets on the pavement. Sri Lanka's main Muslim party, which represents the area in parliament, has pledged support to Wickremesinghe, giving his campaign a boost. Bus loads of supporters in green and yellow caps and T-shirts were heading to a party rally nearby. Muslims have been caught in the cross-fire of the Tigers' internecine feuding -- two Muslim timber workers who went to a forest near Batticaloa were killed on Saturday when a claymore mine hit their tractor. They want to have an equal voice in any peace talks aimed at ending a war that has killed over 64,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands from their homes. "The Muslims ... are a very important element for the future pattern of governance for the north and east," Jayantha Dhanapala, outgoing head of the government's Peace Secretariat, told Reuters on a visit to Stockholm. "They are a very important minority who feel that they have not been recognised as an independent player with a role to play in the solution to this problem we have," he added. EPDP cadre shot dead in Colombo Two unknown gunmen riding in a motorbike shot dead Mr Vellaipodi Rasanayagam (36), an Eelam People Democratic Party (EPDP) cadre, Sunday night at about 8.00 p.m. at Maya Avenue in Wellawatte, Colombo, sources said. Mr Rasanayagam is alleged to be a key intelligence operative, and is in-charge of security for Leader of EPDP, Mr Douglas Devananda. Autonomy for Muslims will not be against NE Tamils says Hakeem The Tamil community, who respected the separate identity of Muslims as a community when they were fighting for their rights democratically, are non-committal about rights of Muslims now, said SLMC leader Rauff Hakeem in Kalmunai, on saturday. "We wish to make it clear to our sister community, Tamil, that autonomy for Muslims is not something against the Tamils in the North and East" he said. Speaking to a massive gathering of over 200,000 people
at the 24th National Convention of the SLMC, at the Ashraff Square in
Kalmunai, Mr. Hakeem said "Thanthai Chelva included autonomy and
Non-Contiguous Unit for Muslims in the party constitution of the Tamil
National Alliance, which had Muslim leaders such Mashoor Moulana as its
members, but this was when Tamils were fighting for their rights democratically.
In an era where sections of the Tamil community resorted to arms in fighting
for their rights and aspirations, they have become non-committal towards
the Muslims identity as a separate ethnic group. I wish to ask all our
Tamil brothers, both in the North and in the East engaged in the struggle
as to why they are keeping silence on the Muslim issues?". He said that there was no difference between JHU politics and Athullah's politics today. The JHU always attempt to cultivate communal and religious dissonance among the Sinhalese majority. Similarly Athaulla is attempting to create a perception in the minds of Muslims that for the liberation of Muslims, the merged North-East must be de-merged. "At a time a presidential candidate had agreed and included in his Manifesto, autonomy with non-contiguous units for Muslims, trying to cultivate thoughts injurious to the community is absolutely ridiculous", he said. Speaking further Hakeem said that "the SLMC is in the verge of making its late leader's dream for the community true". He added "Our great leader late M.H.M. Ashraff once said, ‘It is of no use even if we have hundreds of documents filed with regard to autonomy for Muslims in our archives, if we are unable to include such proposals in the manifesto of a Presidential candidate. We have achieved this today, Ranil Wickremasinghe has included this in his election manifesto". The ultimate decision is in our hands, we must vote for Ranil on the 17th and make these dreams real, Hakeem said. Curfew in D’gala after UNP, UPFA factions clash A curfew was declared in the Deraniyagala Police area following a clash, between UNP and UPFA supporters, opposite the main Bus Stand in the town, police sources said. Curfew was imposed from 6.00 p.m. yesterday till 6 a.m. today, police said. Deputy Trade Minister H. R. Mithrapala was injured and was admitted to Deraniyagala Hospital. The clash opposite the bus stand started around 1.30 pm when a group of pamphlet distributing UNPers, led by former Samurdhi Development Minister R. A. D. Sirisena, ran into a group of UPFA supporters, led by Deputy Minister Mithrapala. An alteracation between the two factions soon turned into a mini battle with sticks and stones being hurled at each other. Police brought the situation under control several hours later and imposed the curfew to arrest the spread of the clash outside the town. Additional policemen were deployed at all major junctions to avoid any untoward incident during the curfew. Further investigations are continuing under the supervision of Kegalle SSP Wilfred Mahanayake. Sri Lanka candidates to woo India (PTI) With Sri Lanka's presidential election campaign drawing to a close tomorrow, the two main contenders are poles apart on how to deal with the peace process and economy, but both want India's help in various areas if elected. Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse wants India's help in the peace process although he has not clearly spelt out what that role should be. He has hinted about getting India involved in a monitoring role. Opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe is also seeking India's support to modernise Sri Lanka's armed forces and the police if he is elected. He wants New Delhi's help to set up a rapid deployment unit to deal with inter-communal clashes especially in the island's multi-ethnic eastern province. Some 13.3 million voters are eligible to vote on Thursday and their choice is between the current premier and the former premier Wickremesinghe although there are 13 candidates in the fray. Opinions polls say Sri Lanka's troubled economy and the even more faltering Norwegian-backed peace bid with Tamil Tiger rebels have emerged as the two main issues at the November 17 vote. The devastation after last year's tsunami which killed more than 31,000 people has been pushed in to the background. The election is conducted under a state of emergency imposed a day after the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar by suspected Tamil Tiger rebels. Sri Lanka's minority Tamils have emerged as potential king-makers at the election where the majority Sinhalese community is split down the middle between Rajapakse and Wickremesinghe. UPFA and UNP hold final rallies today The final propaganda rally in support of the UPFA Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse will be held at 3.00 p.m. today at Campbell Park in Borella. Mr. Rajapakse will attend two rallies at Beliatte and Matara before attending the final rally at Borella which will be held with the participation of PA and JVP members. The Prime Minister with this rally will complete 146 propaganda rallies including those in the North and the East. The finally rally at Borella is being organised by the Borella SLFP Organiser, Laksman Premachandra. Meanwhile, the final propaganda rally in support of the UNP Presidential candidate, Ranil Wickremesinghe will be held at Colombo – Maradana junction at 8.00 p.m. today. With this final rally, Mr. Wickremasinghe will complete 125 propaganda rallies including those held in the North and East. UNP sources said that all the 125 rallies were well attended and that assures the victory of its Presidential candidate. The final propaganda rally of the UNP is being organised by Colombo District UNP Parliamentarian, Mohamed Maharoof. Nobody has accussed me of being corrupt – Ranil "I have never had any allegations of corruption levelled against me during my long political career, however Mangala Samaraweera, against whom there have been many allegations, chose to create an allegation against me" Presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe said at mass rallies in Negombo and Beruwela on Thursday. However "I did not run away from such allegations or hide behind any judicial processes. Instead I extended all support to the investigations because I knew that I was totally innocent and I firmly believe that anyone who seeks the office of President of Sri Lanka must have an unblemished character", Wickremesinghe said. He said the time had come for all political parties to hold hands and step out together towards a new future. "We must join together to put out the fires of hunger, war, disease and death and by the fires that were stoked by the tsunami and the destruction caused by a war which would nearly have separated our country". "It is not only the political parties that I invite but also all religious leaders, leaders of our business community, trade unions, social service organisations, rural development committees and specially all the people who make up the most valuable resource of this country". "I have already joined hands with the SLFP and their principle of a just peace for the people of the country, whoever they are. I have also joined with the ideal of the SLFP to ensure the territorial integrity of this country, and that the country remains one united country". "How could Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, who claims that he is the Presidential candidate of the SLFP, believe that my desire to join his party to ensure territorial integrity of this country is a betrayal of the nation? Is it because he is no longer the Presidential candidate of the SLFP? Or, is it because he is now the Presidential candidate of the JVP," Wickremesinghe asked. He said no one need fear that if the two main political parties, which represents more than 80 percent of the country, join hands to seek a just solution. "No one need to have any fears if the agreed solution is implemented after a national referendum where the final decision is taken by the people of this country. Since this government will be an inclusive government, it will not be limited to a few political parties, a few ministers or some members of parliament. My government will seek partnerships with all sectors of society", he said. All of us have a responsibility of pulling ourselves out of the quagmire that we are now in. All of us will then enjoy the fruits of an labour as well. Impossible for anyone to destroy us - Somawansa at JVP heroes rally JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe yesterday said that as they celebrate the 16th death anniversary of its founder Rohana Wijeweera, the Party has come to a focal point where it can decide the flow of the country’s politics. Addressing a packed crowd at the 16th commemoration of November Heroes yesterday at the Vihara Maha Devi Open-air Theatre, Mr. Amarasinghe said that late leader Wijeweera built the party in a way that it would never cease to exist. “Our enemies tried to destroy this movement not only once but twice. Yet they failed. People of the country drove us and will drive us to victory and it was proved that the movement initiated by comrade Wijeweera is lasting,” he said. “For those who even mistakenly are still dreaming to destroy the JVP, I would simply like to say that it will not become true. Now it is too late and impossible for anyone to destroy us”. Delivering the commemoration speech, Party’s General Secretary, Tilvin Silva said that the late leader had created a family and simply not a political party. Answering as to why some front liners of the Party like Wimal Weerawansa, Anura Kumara Dissanayake and Vijitha Herath were not present at the Commemoration Mr. Silva said; “The JVP is today playing a prime role in selecting a new president for the country. We want to defeat our enemies and prevent them from coming to power. As we are playing a key role in the election campaign some of our comrades could not attend. We expect the people of this country to give a proper reply to our enemies in four days from this commemoration”. Trinco, Amparai Tamil Students call for poll boycott Tamil Students Consortium in the districts of Trincomalee and Amparai in the east have appealed to Tamil people to boycott the presidential poll to demonstrate that they are not interested in the power struggle between the Sinhala political leadership in the south. In statements released in Trincomalee and Amparai Sunday the consortiums have stated that it's time for Tamil people in the northeast to tell the international community and Sinhala people in the south of Sri Lanka that they are not prepared to be deceived by leaders of Sinhala chauvinist political parties any more, sources said. "Please be firm and be in your residence on November 17 without participating in the presidential poll. The successful boycott of the election would be a victory for Tamil people who have been deceived by Sinhala political leaders since Sri Lanka gained political independence", the statement said. Alleged leader of vehicle robbery gang dies in hospital after suicide attempt Ex-army Major Anuruddha Chamika Wijebabu, alleged leader of a vehicle robbery gang who was undergoing treatment at Kandy General Hospital in a critical condition due to an attempt to commit suicide by hanging himself in the Bogambara Remand Prison died on Saturday (12). The deceased army Major had been taken into custody on October 21, 2004 by a team from Wattegama police station while getting away after robbing a vehicle at Akurana. He was remanded after being produced in Court. A Senior Police Officer said that the deceased was involved in the robbery of a vehicle in Anuradhapura after chopping its driver to death. The suspect has attempted to commit suicide a few weeks ago while he was in the Bogambara Remand Prison. Inquiries are being conducted by OIC Minor Complaints Division of Kandy Poice Head Quarters. Police Inspector, A. Dharmaratne and Police Sergeant K. George. SriLankapresidential debate called off due to disagreements The much-awaited debate between the two main presidential candidates, Mahinda Rajapaksa and Ranil Wickremesinghe, was called off yesterday evening after their two representatives failed to reach agreement on several issues. Issuing a joint statement, Prime Minister Rajapaksa’s nominee Dullas Alahapperuma and UNP leader Wickremesinghe’s nominee Milinda Moragoda said, “After two rounds of discussions on Friday and yesterday, we decided there was no time left to take a decision whether it should be a TV debate or a public debate.” It is learned that the UNP also rejected the UPFA’s proposal to appoint former Presidential Secretary K.H.J. Wijedasa as the moderator. SL Navy arrests 11 returnees Naval troops arrested 11 persons at Pesalai on Friday night. They had told the Navy that they were Sri Lankan refugees returning home from India, security sources said. The fibre glass dingy boat and all returnees with their personal belongings were handed over to Mannar Police for further investigations, sources said. Youth taken in on suspicion at Mahinda's rally Three youth from Ninthaur have been taken into custody by Kandy police on Saturday (12) during a search open before the arrival of Prime Minister Mahidna Rajapakse to address a presidential election meeting in Kandy. The three men were taken in for questioning with regard to their presence in Kandy. The three men have told the police they were brought by a middleman on the way to Italy for employment. Investigations are conducted on the directions of SP K. D. C. Karunaratne and Kandy HQI, IP, Sena de Alwis. Tamil public servants urged to boycott election duty An organization called "Peoples Force" in Jaffna
district called all Tamil public servants to ignore election duty on the
presidential poll scheduled to be held on November 17 and to observe the
day as mourning. Boycott posters are seen in public places throughout
the Jaffna district, civil sources said. I is the duty of Tamil people and Tamil public servants to boycott the presidential poll. It is meaningless for Tamil public servants to perform election duty in Jaffna district, the appeal further stated. Afghanistan to join South Asian group of nations: Indian PM Afghanistan is to join the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC), Indian prime minister Manmohan Singh told the closing session of the 13th SAARC summit. "We welcome Afghanistan to our group," Singh said in a brief statement summarising the pledges and agreements achived by the summit. SAARC already groups Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. It was founded in Dhaka in 1985 with the aim of promoting economic cooperation and alleviating poverty in South Asia. The region is home to 1.4 billion people, many of whom live below the poverty line. The 13th summit took place in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka this weekend. HRC "disturbed" over govt. stand The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (SLHRC) expressed
the shock and disbelief of the remarks made by a government representative
over attempted arson attack on its headquarters a month ago. Sri Lankan delegation at the 35 session of the UN Committee against Torture in Geneva has said that ‘some disgruntled drivers of the HRC’ have attempted to set fire on the building. The HRC headquarters was set on fire on the 15th of October. 'Internal job' Deputy Solicitor General Shaveendra Fernando, who is Geneva with the government delegation, told BBC Sandeshaya (bbcsinhala.com) that it was already revealed that the attack was ‘an internal job.’ Describing Fernando’s remarks as ‘very sad and surprising’ Punchihewa said it was irresponsible to jump into conclusions while two separate investigations are still being conducted. Fernando told the BBC on Saturday that the HRC has already taken disciplinary action against drivers responsible. But the senior HRC official questioned how the deputy solicitor general can talk about punishment while the internal inquiry does not implicate insiders. No arrests "The initial investigations suggest the attackers were outsiders. But the investigations haven’t been completed," Punchihewa told BBC Sinhala Service. He said the police chief Chandra Fernando has appointed a special CID team, on the request of the HRC, to conduct a separate investigation. The Hong Kong based Asian Human Rights Commission, meanwhile, has strongly criticised the government's lacklustre attitude in bringing the culprits into justice. "The absence of arrest relating to this incident suggests an attempt to hush up the inquiry and to let the protest die out and to slowly forget the incident itself," the statement said. 13 November 2005 Radhika laments absence of a holistic Sri Lankan identity The desperate struggle of Sri Lankans to establish a Sri Lankan identity reflecting the aspirations of various groups has resulted in an appalling human rights record for the country, said Sri Lanka’s top human rights expert at an awards ceremony held in Montreal, Canada earlier this week. Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, who chairs the National Human Rights Commission and is director of the International Centre for Ethnic Studies (ICES), was the recipient of McGill University’s Robert S Litvack Human Rights Memorial Award named after a McGill law graduate who was a tireless advocate for aboriginal rights. “The problem with Sri Lanka is that there is not one idea of what Sri Lanka is and the contest over that idea has become vicious and brutal, fed by underlying material grievances,” said Dr. Coomaraswamy, addressing a gathering of lawyers, human rights activists and scholars on a chilly Montreal evening. According to Dr Coomaraswamy, the problem with Sri Lanka is that for the Sinhala Buddhist majority, the idea of Sri Lanka is a “Sinhala Buddhist land where the majority will must prevail and where the markers of the Sinhala Buddhist identity must be celebrated above all others.” For Tamils living in the north and the east, Sri Lanka is put forward as two nations where the north and the east are a separate ethnic and cultural space requiring either independence or power sharing with the Sinhalese Buddhist south. While some see Sri Lanka as a multi-ethnic, multi-religious society where pluralism is required, for Marxists, Sri Lanka is all about the rural poor and the welfare state, she said, indicating that such conflicted identities mean that Sri Lanka is a place where these groups want to conquer and eliminate the other. “No one attempts to formulate a more holistic vision that tries to incorporate all these ideas in an inclusive concept of Sri Lanka where all these yearnings find expression within a plural whole. We are still waiting for the Messiah or a time where everyone will give up in a state of fatigue and sit down and draft the model social contract for an island that has had more than its share of hardship,” she said. Dr. Coomaraswamy’s comments came as Sri Lanka’s human rights record was being discussed at various international fora given the recent attacks on the National Human Rights Commission and the requests made by the Asian Centre for Human Rights to publish a report on the Bindunuwewa massacre. There have also been reports of custodial torture and also increased recruitment of child soldiers by the LTTE. Conscious of her role as an international human rights activist and UN Special Rapportuer on Violence against Women, her speech titled “Human Rights at home and in the world” addressed issues such as detention camps, torture and human rights in the context of the “war on terror” and women’s rights. A strong believer that the peace process cannot progress without the parties to the negotiations signing a human rights agreement, she told the Sunday Times: “There is a belief among some people engaged in conflict resolution that raising sensitive human rights issues would prevent one from coming to an agreement for solving the conflict peacefully. But the fact of the matter is that unless you deal with human rights from the very beginning, you will find that the peace agreement is not sustainable.” According to Dr Coomaraswamy, a human rights agreement would keep the negotiating parties in place where human rights are concerned, despite the difficulties of enforcing such an agreement. In the absence of such an agreement, she points out, human rights violations would threaten the ceasefire and the peace process and make them illegitimate in the eyes of the people. She said the Sri Lankan Tamil community once represented as hard working, cultured and non-violent was now represented as a community living close to criminality, feeding the international underworld of crime and being comfortable with the forces of terror. “This saddens me greatly. Peace must come soon to Sri Lanka and not only with a federal model. It must also come with a commitment by national and international actors to transform the politics of the north and the east into a haven for democracy. “We must also learn the art of reconciliation. I have lived among Sinhalese all my life and though some are consumed by the nightmare of the Tamil “other,” they have an extraordinary capacity for generosity. Generations of Tamil politicians instead of harnessing this generosity played to Sinhalese fears and nightmares, brokering deals with Sinhalese elites without explaining their grievances and aspirations to the average Sinhalese.” She also said that the time has come for a new politics for Sri Lanka, “where we harness the goodwill and the creative energies of our people and work towards an inclusive, plural, Sri Lankan identity. It is a long, hard, arduous task but it has to be done.” The McGill Law Department also established a fund in memory of former TULF parliamentarian and human rights scholar Dr Neelan Thiruchelvam, who was killed by the LTTE in 1999. The Fund will provide financial assistance to McGill law students who cannot meet the expenses of taking up an internship at ICES in Colombo. Prior to receiving her award from McGill University, Dr Coomaraswamy received another prestigious human rights award from the Urban Morgan Institute of Cincinnati University, USA. This award was first awarded to Mary Robinson, a former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. A Unitary Unit,
Federalism or Independence The international community, the SLFP as led by Mrs Kumaratunge, the UNF and the LTTE are all supposedly committed to seeking a Federal Constitution to solve the nation's ethnic dilemma. Federalism, however, is a vague and uncertain concept. The ISGA proposal by the LTTE is the only concrete alternative to an Unitary Constitution made so far. Regardless of whether this amounts to Federalism or something more than that, the fact is that neither the international community, nor the SLFP as defined above have offered any acceptable alternative to these proposals. All the international community, the SLFP and the UNP have done is condemn the idea of separation, which in essence amounts to nothing more than Independence from the continuing Sinhalese domination and suppression of Tamil aspirations. This is, after all, what the whole ethnic issue is all about. Neither the international community nor Mrs Kumaratunge are willing to acknowledge this simple reality. Rajapakse and his JVP cohorts on the other hand, stick with the outworn idea of a Unitary Constitution, which has been the underlying cause of the nation's ethnic discontent. They can well be regarded, by all but themselves, as the coalition of the clueless. Their commitment will only serve to seal the need for separation. What the nation needs and what the nation lacks is a leader with insight and a political will to match. What the nation does have is the legacy of Mr Pribakaran, which is the only legacy that stands firm. The succession of calamities that has plagued the nation to date stems from the inability of both the international community and the Sinhalese leaders to recognize that this is not a nation any more and that Tamil independence from Sinhalese domination is the only acceptable alternative to the present crisis. Instead of shuddering at the concept of separation, it is time they recognized that this the the only acceptable solution to the present problem. They must also recognize that the optimistic calls about forging ties between the Tamils and Sinhalese rulers is a cry that has long evaporated. It is no more than a dream that has lost both its meaning and its significance. TNA to field polling agents in Jaffna The LTTE has authorised the TNA to field polling agents in the Jaffna District at the November 17 presidential election to prevent rigging. The polling agents are to be fielded through one or more of the candidates contesting the election, it is learnt. This decision was taken by the LTTE Thursday, November 10, at a meeting with the TNA MPs after concerns were expressed that the EPDP might use the Tigers' decision not to participate to stuff ballot boxes in the north. The Sunday Leader learns Jaffna District MPs Suresh Premachandran and N. Raviraj had raised the issue of rigging in the north following the LTTE decision to refrain from participating at the election. Informed sources said while the TNA would provide polling agents for one or two of the candidates to man the polling booths, separate security arrangements would also be put in place by the party to prevent intimidation of the voters. The UNP it is learnt is also expected to field polling agents in the north. Sri Lanka govt orders all liquor shops to close for four days during election The Sri Lankan government today announced that all shops selling alcoholic drinks will be closed for four days in view of the upcoming presidential election. The closure will start on the full moon Poya day next Tuesday. The government has taken this decision to prevent any violence that could erupt during the election period. Police have been directed to strictly follow the order without considering any pressures. Severe punishment will be imposed on those who are not following the government order not to sell liquor during this period, the government said. SLA soldier shot in Vavuniya, gunmen seize weapons Two motorbike-riding assailants shot and wounded a Sri
Lanka Army soldier at a checkpost located in Ganeshapuram, 6 km northwest
of Vavuniya town, around 1:30 p.m. Saturday. The assailants, who seized
two AK-47 rifles from the soldiers, fled away in their motorbike, Vavuniya
Police said. Jaffna polling booths slashed Candidates contesting next Thursday’s presidential election have agreed to a pruning down of the number of polling stations in the northern Jaffna peninsula, Government Agent K. Ganesh said yesterday. He said the decision came after the Defence Ministry and Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake reviewed the security situation in the peninsula. “Polling stations have been reduced from 624 to 220 in the Jaffna district,” Mr. Ganesh told The Sunday Times yesterday. This is made up of 103 cluster polling stations in the Muhamalai area and 117 in the rest of the peninsula. Muhamalali is the gateway to security forces controlled Jaffna and is separated by a stretch of no-man’s land from the Tiger guerrilla dominated territory in the Wanni. But Government Agent Ganesh said he had instructed all his officials who have been assigned for election duty to be present. He said he did not expect that the polls in the north would be disrupted due to lack of officials. Mr. Ganesh said the reduction followed a request by the
Ministry of Defence on grounds of security. He said he made the reduction
after consultations with Elections Commissioner Dayananda Dissanayake.
Candidates contesting the presidential election have also given their
consent for the reduction, he added. However in the eastern Trincomalee, Batticaloa and Ampara
districts, officials said preparations were under way to conduct the elections
as planned. Ceasefire violations affecting children says UNICEF UNICEF says despite the 2002 ceasefire agreement the number of incidents involving civilians are on the rise and children are paying a high price for the escalating violence. UNICEF's Van Gerpen called on all parties to the conflict to respect the rights of children as laid down in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Sri Lanka is a party since August 1991. "These situations, which disrupt normal life and place extra hardship on the counry's children also make it more difficult for aid organisations to provide support for relief and rehabilitation," Gerpen has said in a statement to the media. Kadir killed by politicos: Tamil group In a petition urging the European Union to lift its ban on LTTE delegations and other restrictions, a Tamil group is insinuating that former Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar was killed by leading Sinhala politicians. The petitioners want the UK, as the current president
of the EU to take immediate steps to act on all their requests “and
inform us of your actions.” “It is reported that President Kumaratunga warned
Lakshman Kadirgamar not to have any meeting with the JVP leaders without
her knowledge. In spite of the warning Lakshman Kadirgamar created close
relationship with the JVP when the President was away because he felt
that his political carrier (sic) would come to an end when President’s
political term ends. Kadirgamar planned to continue his political carrier
through the JVP and JHU’s support which she didn’t like,”
says the petition addressed to “Political Heads of EU Countries,
Westminster and Political Leaders of the other Nations.” Blaming the police for raiding the house from where the shots were fired at Kadirgamar, two hours after the killing, the petition says that “the evidence produced in the courts could have been planted by the raiding party as usually happens in Sri Lanka.” It questions why President Kumaratunga kept silent when
“Scotland Yard’s intelligence offered an open voluntary help
to investigate the murder.” Stating that “in order to safe the Cease Fire and Peace Process we request the followings to be undertaken by the EU presidency,” the petitioners urge, among other things; not to place the LTTE on the EU ban lists of organisations; to lift the UK ban on the LTTE as it is not based on reality and fairness; to initiate public inquiries into the killings of all Tamil politicians, human rights activists, journalists and all civilians during the current cease fire.• to urge the Sri Lanka Government to implement the Post-Tsunami Operation Joint Mechanisn. It is not known when the group intends to complete its signature campaign and present the petition to the British Government that will hold the EU presidency until the end of the year. Professionals appeal to vote for Ranil A group of professionals have come forward to make an appeal to the public to cast their votes for the UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremesinghe. In a statement to the media the group has said that it is Wickremesinghe who effected the ceasefire agreement which has ultimately given the people of this country the much needed peace. They have said since year 1956 Sri Lanka has witnessed an ethnic divide due to opportunistic politics which triggered a chain of events leading up to militant and separatist movements which has resulted in loss of lives and property, and economic retardation in Sri Lanka. "The Leader of the Opposition believes in a federal solution to end this ethnic divide. Even President Kumaratunga who has ruled this country for the last 11 years appreciates this and is supportive of a federal solution to the ethnic problem. Our neighbour India that desires stability in Sri Lanka favours a federal solution. "Likewise the international community which is observing the peace process in Sri Lanka also favours a federal solution. But the Prime Minister rejects the federal solution which is pregnant with dangerous consequences for our motherland Sri Lanka," the group has said. They have said Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has not only rejected a federal solution to the ethnic problem but is also propagating divisive ethnic, racial and religious consciousness in a manner reminiscent of the opportunistic politics of the year 1956. "Mahinda Rajapakse has allied himself with racial and religious extremists and has taken their extremist policies rejecting the moderate policies advocated in recent years by the SLFP," they said. The group has appealed to the Tamils in particular and all right thinking citizens of whatever community they belong to, to vote for Wickremesinghe. The statement is signed by P. Vimalachanthiran, attorney-at-law, Annamalai Kathiresan, attorney-at-law, A. P. Niles, attorney-at-law, K. G. John, attorney-at-law, S. Kumaranathan attorney-at-law, Logini Nalliah, accountant, Kumudini Rajanathan, attorney-at- law and M. K. Mylvaganam, businessman. Literary competitions to mark Heroes day begin Event marking fine arts and literary competitions among
the different fighting divisions of the Liberation Tigers (LTTE) was inaugurated
at the Lt Col Rajan Education Center organized by the Center's staff in
Vanni Saturday, media section of the LTTE said. LTTE cadre, Ahanalagan,
also a member of the Education Center, presided the event. Head of Women's Wing of Lt Col Rajan Education Division, Jeyanthi, lit the flame of sacrifice at the Heroes memorial at the Center and Ms Selvi, a cadre attached to the Sothiya Brigade paid floral tribute to the memorial pictures. Organizers said that they have planned to conduct competitions among cadres of LTTE fighting divisions through the next two weeks preceding the Heroes Day celebrations which takes place on the 27 November. Millions of dead fish washed ashore in Trinco THE stench of dead fish suffocated most of Trincomalee town last week, as government agencies and NGOs launched combined efforts to rid the beach of millions of dead fish that were washing ashore. Two kilometers of beach between the Trincomalee Naval Base and town center were suddenly covered with millions of dead and decaying sardines that had washed ashore last Monday. While the exact cause of the phenomenon was unknown, it was judged by experts to be due to natural changes, particularly given that only one type of fish was affected. The Urban Council, Fisheries Department, UN, USAID and environmental authorities joined hands in trying to dispose of the carcasses using tractors, buckets and whatever was at hand. "We decided to join with government officials because of the sheer magnitude of the problem, which convinced us that help would be needed," Head of Office, UNHCR Trincomalee, Brita Helleland, told The Sunday Leader. Both UNHCR and UNICEF joined in the cleaning efforts. "We helped in a small way providing equipment like masks, gloves, buckets and tractors to the provincial council," Helleland said. She added that the cause was thought to be the heavy rain and lack of oxygen in the water. "The stench was terrible,"she said. According to Public Health Inspector, Urban Council, Trincomalee, N. Senthinathan, the crisis lasted over three days with dead fish continuing to wash onshore throughout. "We were burying the fish at a dumping ground using tractors to transport them; but the situation is worsening with more and more fish coming in," Senthinathan said. He said council labourers and volunteers from various organisations were currently involved in the clean up. Tamils to stage anti-LTTE rally in Brussels Tamils from several European countries are to stage an anti-LTTE rally in Brussels tomorrow urging the European Union to ban the Tamil Tiger organisation and take urgent steps to halt its fund raising. This rally, organised by Tamil democratic groups, is a counter to the LTTE demonstration held in Brussels recently that demanded the EU lift the ban clamped on LTTE delegations visiting EU capitals. Tamils sources in London said Monday’s demonstration is also to call on the EU countries not to return failed Tamil asylum seekers for fear that they would be detained in Sri Lanka by the government or the LTTE. Tamils from the UK are also expected to participate in the anti-LTTE rally, the sources said. They said that the LTTE fund raising in Europe was causing much concern among expatriate Tamils. Two explanations are being offered for the intensive fund-raising campaign in Europe and elsewhere. One is that the LTTE is preparing for war again and would provoke incidents after the November 17 Presidential election. The LTTE had earlier put their faith in Ranil Wickremesinghe to help it return to the negotiating table by agreeing to a tsunami aid sharing arrangement. But recent statements by leading UNPers that the Ranil Wickremesinghe government had built an “international safety net” to keep the LTTE in check and was also responsible for Karuna’s split with the Wanni leadership, have disillusioned LTTE supporters worldwide, they say. Tamil sources point out that in recent days Tamil newspapers including some published in London have tended to veer toward Mahinda Rajapakse, though not openly espousing support for him. The second explanation offered is that the LTTE leader is going to declare unilateral independence in January next year and needs the funds to maintain the LTTE’s ‘Eelam’ in the Wanni while trying to convince the international community that he had no other option. Tamil sources said Velupillai Prabhakaran would give an indication of his intentions when he addresses the local Tamil community and the Tamil diaspora on Mahaveerar Day on November 27. Campaigns close tomorrow night All campaign work related to the presidential election scheduled for November 17, will come to an end on Monday (14) midnight. According to the law pertaining to elections in Sri Lanka, all campaign work related to elections has to be concluded 48 hours prior to the election. Apart from the main party offices in every district all other party offices of candidates too have to be closed 48 hours before the election. Electric fence claims Mannar Police officer's life Mr. Gunasingalage Gunatilake (33), a native of Middeniya
in Tangalle area and Reserve Police Constable in Mannar, was electrocuted
Saturday morning around 8.40 p.m. when he came in contact with live barbed
wire fence of the Murunkan police post in Mannar district, said Police
sources. Vote for a candidate who advocating non-violence - Asgiriya Maha Nayake The Mahanayake of the Asgiriya chapter, the most venerable
Udugama Sri Dhammadassi Rathanapala Buddharakkitha thero has appealed
to Buddhist voters to vote for a candidate propagating compassion and
non-violence. 'We should dispel revengeful and hateful thoughts. If we
attempted to counter terrorism through terrorism we would also become
terrorists. Lord Buddha preached that the entire mankind wants to enjoy
freedom and have the right to practice a religion of their choice. 12 November 2005 Soldiers
"fled from Jayasikurui operation" "I remember, On Nov. 01, 1999, soldiers have fled the battlefield leaving all their valuable belongings," Munasinghe, currently a leader of the opposition United National Party (UNP), told journalists in Colombo. Federal solution Addressing a media conference in support of main opposition candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe, Gen. Munasinghe said there was no clear winner from two-decades of civil war. He added that more than 45,000 soldiers have deserted Sri Lanka armed forces during the civil war. Appearing before media after a long silence, former chief peace negotiator Prof. GL Peiris said the UNP was successful in changing the separatist hard-line adopted by the Tamil Tigers. He said the LTTE softened their demand to a federal state as a result of UNP-led government’s diplomacy. The UNP claimed that the leadership of the Sri Lanka Freedom Party (SLFP) also admitted that Sri Lankan economy showed a rapid development as a result of the Cease Fire Agreement (CFA) signed with the Tamil Tigers. There is no middle way for Sri Lanka, prof. Peiris said, than either war or peace. Two Muslims killed, four wounded in claymore attack in Vaharai A Claymore mine exploded Friday midnight at Kirimichchai
in Vaharai, 44 km north of Batticaloa, killing two Muslim timber workers,
Mr. Mohammed Munas, 28, and Mr. Athambava Mohammed Lebbe, 35. Four persons
were rushed to Batticaloa Hospital with wounds, Police said. The crew
that had gone to the jungle area to cut timber three days ago, was returning
from Kirimichchai to Valaichenai through the Welikanda area in a tractor
with woods, civilian sources said. The claymore blast, believed to be targeted at LTTE cadres travelling southwards from Vaharai, took place around 00:30 a.m. Saturday on a lane circumventing the Panichankerni Sri Lanka Army (SLA) camp which is located on Vaharai Valaichenai main road. Tension prevailed in Valaichenai, the home town of the Muslim victims, following the incident that took place 17 km north of Valaichenai. Cyclone warning The Meteorology Department yesterday warned of a cyclonic weather threat to Sri Lanka till next month and called on the people, especially those living in the coastal areas in the East to be cautious. Deputy Director S.H. Kariyawasam told a news conference that October -- December with the onset of the inter-monsoon was the season for cyclones in the Bay of Bengal. “There is a possibility of cyclonic weather which could affect Sri Lanka”, he said. In the event of a cyclone its entry path would be from Pottuvil and Mullaitivu areas in the Eastern coastal line. Damage to power lines may be caused due to heavy lightning, winds and rains accompanying cyclonic weather conditions. Therefore he warned people living in the Eastern coastal area to evacuate from those areas. Policeman succumbs to gunshot wounds in Jaffna A policeman, Mr. Senanayake, 38, wounded in gunfire by
unidentified gunmen at Thirunelveli market in Jaffna around 4:00 p.m.
Friday, succumbed to his wounds at Jaffna Hospital, medical sources said.
Gunmen riding in a motorbike had fired at a group of policemen who had
arrived at Thirunelveli market junction in Jaffna town from Atchchuveli,
Jaffna Police said. All shops and other establishments in the area were closed immediately as tension prevailed following the gunfire, residents said. Rupavahini to telecast Sri Lanka presidential debate The state-run Rupavahini Corporation has decided to telecast the proposed presidential debate live on Channel One. The government electronic media giant has written to both candidates regarding the telecasting norms and ethics and urged them to hold the debate on or before next Monday. UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickramasinghe has challenged ruling party candidate Premier Mahinda Rajapaksa to a TV debate. Last week Premier Rajapaksa accepted the challenge and said he would like to hold a public debate with the participation of the general public. He has given his green light to telecast the same debate on TV. “I am not going to participate for a ‘studio debate’. I am ready for a public debate and it’s always fair for the voters,” the ruling party candidate told ColomboPage this morning. Meanwhile, both candidates have appointed coordinators, namely Milinda Moragoda and Dullas Alahapperuma, to prepare the ground rules for the debate. Two abducted from Jaffna prison Two armed men believed to be LTTE cadres abducted two remand prisoners from Jaffna prison last evening, police said. They said two men had come to the prison at about 5.00 pm saying they wanted to see two prisoners. When the two prisoners were brought to see their visitors they (the visitors) grabbed the weapons carried by the guards and demanded that the prisoners be released. The armed men then fled the scene in a vehicle taking with them the abducted prisoners after firing in the air. Police were alerted and several teams were deployed in search of the fleeing men. "My close
relative Prabhakaran" - Mangala The aim of Prime Minister Rajapakse is to create a land with equal opportunity for all races and religions said the Minister. He said the opposition has attracted the racist groups, at a media gathering in Colombo. "On Ranil Wickramasinghe’s stage, there is Thondaman asking for a "Malayanadu" in the Central province. There is Prabhakaran who wants a separate Tamil land in the Northeast, Hakim is pressing for a separate administration for the East. Under the circumstances, people have to decide who is really representing a country where everyone can live together in one state". In a statement on the recent budget proposals, Minister Jeyaraj Fernandupulle said even if Ranil Wickremesinghe wins, he would not be able to change anything as the majority of the parliament is not with the UNP. Economy could collapse if a government was formed with extremists - President The economy could collapse once again if a government was formed with extremist parties like the JVP and the Hela Urumaya, President Chandrika Kumaraunga has warned. She sounded this warning at a tea party hosted in her honour after the recent opening of the Sirimavo Bandaranaike Children's Hospital at Peradeniya. Ministers Nimal Siripala De Silva, A.H.M.Fowzie, Central
Province Chief Minister Sarath Ekanayake and senior officials of the Health
Ministry were present when the President made this remark. The businessman has told the President that under these
circumstances he may be compelled to close down his hotels and leave the
country. Every Muslim with dignity should vote for Ranil – Basheer Shegudawood SLMC Chairman Basheer Segudawood addressing a party election propaganda meeting in Kathankudy last Tuesday said that each vote to UNP presidential candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe will mean war-free country and peace to the people. ‘An election agreement which recognizes the dignity and political aspirations of the Muslim community has been entered into between Ranil Wickremsinghe and the SLMC' he said. Former Deputy Minister M.L.A.M. Hisbullah party front-liner M.I.Raheem also addressed the gathering at the Market Square, Kathankudy. The Muslims were heaving a sigh of relief during the ceasefire period but during the war thousands of them had lost their homes, all belongings, properties and their loved ones. They were forced to flee their native places empty handed with only the clothes they were wearing, the party chairman said. Those who call themselves as the leaders of the Muslim people are extending support to PM Mahinda and are bent upon bringing about the era of war once again to totally ruin the Muslim community, he said. ‘ A war again would mean absence of talks which in turn would also mean no independent representation status for the Muslim thus depriving them of their right to self-determination', Segu Dawood said. For the Muslims to get independent representative status and self-autonomy, every Muslim with dignity should vote for UNP candidate Ranil Wickremasinghe, he said. Student resurgence convention concludes in Jaffna Students from Jaffna schools assembled Friday at the
Kailasapathy Hall Jaffna Campus to discuss issues confronting Tamil students
in NorthEast. Head of Jaffna Students Federation, Mr Gunendran, presided
the event. Organizers said this was the first event of this type arranged
by the students in the NorthEast. Prof.Mr.Mohanathas and Mr.S.Thevarajah, Head of the Commerce Department at Jaffna University, delivered fecilitation speeches. Several hundred school students along with academics from the Universities, school principals, teachers and other officials in the education sector participated in the convention. Seminars exploring problems faced by the students at the convention included: Injustice to the Tamil students in University admissions
- By C.Navaraj, student Hartley College, Point Pedro, Following the seminars students formed into groups and discussed other issues and difficulties faced by the students. The discussions led to the formation of four student committees to followup on the issues determined to be critical to the welfare of Tamil students in the NorthEast: Committee to study issues confronted by students on daily
basis such as transportation, school books, safety. GL explains Oslo Declaration COLOMBO District UNP MP Prof. G. L. Peiris said there was a misconception concerning the Oslo declaration. "What the Oslo declaration said was that the two parties - the Government of Sri Lanka and the LTTE have agreed to explore the Federal system. But it is unfortunate that the UNF Government could not proceed in studying the federal form of governments in the world as the UNF Government was dissolved," Prof. Peiris said. "The International Community promised US$ 4.5 billion and the United States of America promised another US$ 5,000 to Sri Lanka. But all that money we could not put to use as the UNF Government was dissolved," he said. The Sri Lanka polity need not fear at the idea of Federation. It is a concept where you devolve power from the centre while retaining certain power with the centre. It is one way towards finding a final solution to the ethnic conflict, we are faced with. We are free to chose the form of federalism that suits our country having gone through several models available in the world," he said. "Both the UNP and the SLFP have agreed that desolation of power was the best option we have if we are rejecting war. We propose to share power within a united Sri Lanka, maintaining the territorial integrity of the land," Prof. Peiris said. Addressing the UNP media conference at the Opposition Leader's office in Colombo, Prof. Peiris said the UNP loved the country and its founder D. S. Senanayake, was a great patriot. The present UNP leaders follow his policies, beneficial to the country, he said. Dealing with the issue of power sharing, Prof. Peiris pointed out that there would be no compromise over the oneness of the country or the territorial integrity. "It is a one single country", he said. He said Armed Forces, and Foreign policy and economic policy will be the prerogatives of the Central Government. Although the power is devolved the country remains one single entity, he said. In respect of devolution of power, the UNP intends to hold discussions with the SLFP and reach an agreement. "Once we have agreed as two major political forces in the country, we will go to the people seeking their ratification for our proposals to end the conflict," Prof. Peiris said. This will be the referendum. If the two major parties could not reach an agreement, implementing of solution, would be a futile exercise. If the people at a referendum endorse the proposal, then it would be legitimate exercise of power. If the people reject, nothing can be legally done to resolve the issue. The people have to give their consent to the Government to implement the proposals to end the ethnic strife, he said. Referring to the Ceasefire Agreement (CFA), Prof. Peiris pointed out that President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga and the SLFP had referred to CFA as a great strength to the country. "They have also said that a large number of investors keep on coming here to invest," he said. Prof. Peiris said once the Presidential election is won, the UNP would proceed with the peace process from where it abruptly stopped and make use of the funds promised by the international community for economic and social development of Sri Lanka. "The peace process is stagnant and stalled and we intend taking it forward," he said. Former UNP MP Sarath Munasinghe said the Armed Forces and the police in the North and East did not want to go back to war, and the people as well hate to think of war, as they had suffered enough from the war - which both parties have come to realise is unwinnable. Munasinghe observed that the people in the North and East have begun to enjoy the fruits of the Ceasefire Agreement. He said during the PA regime, the Army and Security Forces were morally down after waging war and over 45,000 men and women from the Forces left in disgust. He accused the JVP of misleading the people with false propaganda. "The JVP knows nothing about our Armed Forces. They know nothing of the army regiments. What UNP leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said was that he intended improving quality of Armed Forces. He will first work strengthening six regiments and then go on strengthening the next. We need improvement in manpower and ammunition. All that needs money. Money will come provided there is peace in the country. Our aim is to bring back peace," he added. Malteser to fund Children's Home building construction Malteser International, Order of Malta Worldwide Relief,
finalized agreement to fund the second phase of the reconstruction of
a three storey building for "Anbu Illam," a Trincomalee children
home, for a cost of about Rs.8.3 million, officials said. Anpu Illam has
been providing shelter to orphans who lost their parents in the war. Malteser International delegation comprised Ms Maren Paech, Co-ordinator Partner Projects-East and another official. The children home delegation comprised Ms Rajeswary Thedchanamoorthy, Secretary of the institution and Mr.N.Rajanathan, a member of the committee. "Anbu Illam" is now under the supervision of the TRO with a Committee of Management The first phase of the reconstruction was completed with a two-storey building to house female children. Male inmates of the Home are provided shelter in the prayer hall due to lack of space. Once the second phase of the project is completed they will be shifted to the new building, TRO sources said. At the conclusion of the discussion, Malteser International delegation congratulated the three students of the institution who recently excelled in the island wide religious competition by winning gold medal and other prizes. 11 November 2005 LTTE-TNA conference concludes: "Tamil people have no interest in SL Presidential elections" Emerging from the three and a half hour meeting with
the Political Wing of the LTTE, Wednesday, R.Sampanthan, Leader of the
TNA Parliamentarians, categorically declared to the media, "Nothing
worthwhile would be achieved by supporting either of the two leading candidates
in the Sri Lankan Presidential election." Mr Sampanthan, following
discussions presided by S.P.Thamilchelvan, leader of the Political Wing
of the LTTE, assured the press in Kilinochchi, that Tamil People are "not
at all interested in the forthcoming Presidential election." "We are convinced that Tamil people will not benefit by showing any interest in the forthcoming Sri Lanka Presidential elections," added the parliamentary group leader of Tamil National Alliance (TNA), talking to the press after the meeting with the LTTE's Political Head at the LTTE Peace Secretariat in Kilinochchi. "The past bitter experiences of the ordinary Tamil people are such that they will never forget their sufferings, especially under military subjugation, both during their non violent struggle as well as during armed confrontation." said Mr Sampanthan. "It is not surprising that the Tamil people have lost all interest in the forthcoming Sri Lankan presidential elections. The experience the Tamils have had over five decades, has taught them neither to trust the leading Sinhala political parties nor to have faith in their leadership,” the leader of the TNA said. The meeting with twenty one TNA MPs and senior officials of the LTTE took place at 11.00 a.m. and lasted more than three hours. Mr. Thamilchelvan was joined by Deputy Head of LTTE Political Wing, S Thangan, Director of LTTE Peace Secretariat, Puleedevan, Head of Jaffna district LTTE Political Wing, Ilamparithi, Head of Vavuniya district LTTE Political Wing, Gnanam and Head of Mannar district LTTE Political Wing, Iniyavan. All TNA MPs, except Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam, who is on a US visit, attended the discussions. "Neither the TNA nor the LTTE will advise people not to vote. We will not be in their way, blocking them from exercising their democratic right. But all signs are, the decision not to show interest in the Presidential election is gathering momentum among the Tamils. That is what we could gather from our political experience and interaction with the people," the veteran politician from Trincomalee observed. "Tamil residents in NorthEast are fully aware of the conduct of the two major Sinhala parties. They have been through and suffered through periods under these parties' governance. We know and understand Tamil peoples' frame of mind. We have no doubt that they are in full agreement with our thinking," Sampanthan told the press. "We discussed in depth and exchanged our views on the situation related to the elections and what historical significance our participation in the elections is going to be for the future of our people. "We talked about the conduct of the Sri Lanka Governments from the time of independence and how they attempted to resolve the Tamil National question. We discussed how our people were oppressed under armed threat and how genocide was perpetrated on our people. We looked at how the Sinhala governments approached the peace process and examined their actions especially during the last three years of peace. "There was no doubt in any of the participants' mind that the Presidential election will not produce any positive shift in the Southern Polity's thinking and approach that will in anyway result in any progressive advance towards resolving the Tamil question. "That is why we decided that it is a futile exercise to show any interest in the elecions," Sampanthan told the press. PM wants Indian help to review ceasefire UPFA Presidential candidate, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa told an election rally at Puttalam on Wednesday that when he is elected President he will revise the Ceasefire Agreement with the LTTE to prevent any form of terrorist acts under cover of the CFA in future. He said he that he will re-examine the ceasefire monitoring done so far and in doing so he will secure the assistance of India and other countries in the region. Rajapaksa noted that Puttalam District symbolized Sri Lanka's ethnic and religious harmony since the Muslim majority (50 percent) lived in friendship and brotherhood with the Sinhala (30 percent) and the Tamil communities (20 percent). His aim was to make the whole country one big family as in the case of Puttalam. Scoffing UNP allegations that he was a racist bent on instigating ethnic and religious conflicts, the PM further said that he had many friends among Tamils and Muslims when he was attending school and studying at Law College. That friendship continues to this day. Since his very young days he had closely associated people of all races and religions, the Prime Minister emphasized. He pointed out that Udukiriwela — close to this Medamulana ancestral home — was a Muslim village. In Tangalle, where he lived, the Catholics lived in perfect friendship with Buddhists and those of other faiths. He also drew attention to the fact that the well-known Catholic shrine of Thalawila in Puttlam attracted even non-Catholics. He reminded that it was the SLFP, PA and UPFA governments that had developed the Thalawila sacred area, which he planned to develop further in consultation with church authorities. The premier recalled that over 60,000 Muslims who were displaced as a result of the conflict in the Northeast, had come en masse to Puttlam. They had lost all their possessions except what they were wearing when they were chased away from their native lands. They had suffered for several years under the UNP government, which had done nothing to solve their problems. It was the PA government and Ministers like Alavi Moulana and Fowzie who had taken steps to build houses and provide other needs of these Muslim refugees, Rajapaksa reminded. He said that the CFA that former PM Ranil Wickremesinghe signed with the LTTE brought immense suffering to Muslims. They had to pay taxes to the LTTE when engaged in paddy cultivation. Even worse was that the LTTE demanded ransom payment for the release of innocent Muslim hostages by the Tigers when they went to fetch firewood. The Prime Minister asked what action had Ranil Wickremesinghe taken as Prime Minister when the LTTE massacred 103 Muslim devotees in the Kathankudi mosque in August 1990. Rajapaksa also wanted to know what Wickremesinghe had done when the LTTE had repeatedly attacked and chased Muslims away from the North. Had he at least condemned the crime? — the PM wanted to know. He also recalled the destruction of life and property of Muslims in Mutur by the LTTE after the CFA was signed in 2002. Rajapaksa asked those present whether they were going to vote for Ranil Wickremesinghe who justified the US invasion of Iraq and justified American bombing of Muslim civilians in that country. He said that he formed the Palestine Solidarity Association to support the Palestinian people's struggle. When he was an ordinary MP he made arrangements for the then PLO Leader, the late Yaser Arafat to visit Sri Lanka. The PM added that he was still a patron of the solidarity association. He said that he never betrayed the Muslims at anytime during his political career. The premier promised to increase the monthly income of Samurdhi recipients to Rs. 5000 and restore Samurdhi benefits to families in the Puttlam district who were deprived of such assistance by the previous government. The PM also pointed out that the UPFA government had taken steps to repair the Colombo-Puttlam highway, which had been in a dilapidated state for many years. He promised that the Anuradhapura-Trincomalee highway to would be completely repaired by 2007. Special attention will be paid to infrastructure development in the Puttalam District where funds have been allocated under the Maganegama programme for preparing 200 km of roadway and bridges in the area. Grenade lobbed at TNA MP's Lodge in Jaffna Unidentified attackers lobbed a grenade into the premises of the lodge owned by Jaffna Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Mr. Suresh Premachandran at 4:30 a.m. Thursday. The lodge is located in Kattaipirai on Jaffna Point Pedro Road. No one was injured in the incident. Neighbours in the area said that they heard the sound of a speeding motorbike following the grenade explosion. Suresh Premachandran's main office is located in Jaffna and he does not use lodge except on special occasions, sources added. The MP left for Kilinochchi with fellow TNA MPs for a crucial conference with Liberation Tigers Political Wing Thursday morning. Suresh Premachandran is the leader of Eelam Peoples Revolutionary Liberation Front (EPRLF). Meanwhile, there have been reports in Jaffna of the presence of paramilitary cadres belonging to ENDLF, a group which was based in South India and was also known to operate in the Polannaruwa district with the Karuna Group. NPC concerned by pressure on Sri Lanka's North East Tamils The National Peace Council (NPC) today claimed that any direct or indirect pressure on the Tamil people in the North and East not to vote at the forthcoming presidential elections will be unacceptable to Sri Lankans. Issuing a statement, the NPC said, “There are statements being made and pamphlets being distributed in the North East calling on the people to boycott the forthcoming presidential elections. This is causing anxiety amongst the people who are concerned about the LTTE's stance with regard to these elections. In their public statements LTTE officials have said that they are going to remain neutral in the elections and will not obstruct the elections in any way. As there is uncertainty in the minds of the people, it will be a positive gesture on the part of the LTTE to continue to make it known that they are not opposed to the people casting their votes in the presidential elections. “The presidential election is one of the most important political events in the country,” the Peace Council continued. “Those who call for a boycott of the election point to the failure of past elections to solve the problems of the Tamil people. However, there is a need for partnerships to deal with these problems and bring peace to it. No single community can do this, and the South cannot solve the problem without the North East. Just as much as the government's efforts to find a solution to the ethnic conflict by itself proved futile, so will any Tamil belief that they can stay aloof from the imperatives of national politics including those of the South. North East and South are inextricably inter-connected, and what happens in one part impacts upon the other. This is why partnerships, and not boycotts or isolation, are vitally important for peace building. “The National Peace Council believes it is in the national interest to encourage the Tamil people to take part in the forthcoming presidential elections,” it clearly stated. “We call on all parties to act positively to take the peace process forward through the democratic process, and with international support, by facilitating the people's democratic right to vote now and in the future. Those who work for peace in Sri Lanka can only gain legitimacy nationally and internationally only within the democratic framework.” US to fund PAFFREL and CMEV The United States will fund two private election monitoring outfits in Sri Lanka in a bid to ensure that next week's presidential vote was free and fair, the US embassy said yesterday. The two organisations have been appointed to “monitor and report on the 2005 presidential election and to help ensure a free and fair poll on November 17,” it said in a statement. The US will fund operations of the People's Action for Free and Fair Elections and the Centre for Monitoring Election Violence for a total of about US $ 130,000, an official source said.The two organisations were given a total of more than US $ 100,000 by the Japanese government earlier this month to boost their activities ahead of the vote. The election is expected to be a face off between Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse, the ruling party candidate, and opposition leader Ranil Wickremesinghe. Private monitors have said there had been a marked drop in campaign-related violence in contrast to previous elections. Two masons shot in Eravur An unidentified assailant shot and wounded two masons,
Mr. Ganeshamoorthy Chandrakumar,20, and Mr Navaratnarajah Kannan, 24,
in Vantharumoolai in Eravur, 18 km north of Batticaloa. The incident took
place around 8:00 p.m. on Wednesday. The wounded persons were rushed to Batticaloa Hospital. Eravur Police is conducting investigations into the incident. Suspect who allegedly aided suicide bomber further remanded Colombo Fort Magistrate directed the police to further remand the suspect who aided and abetted the suicide bomber who blasted herself last year at the Kollupitiya police station until the Attorney General gives its advice. Police stated that they had produced extracts to the Attorney General and were awaiting advice. CID stated that investigations had established that the suicide bomber was Jeyaraj Thiagarajah of Jaffna. She had come accompanied by the suspect on the pretext of soliciting a job from Minister Douglas Devananda. The Magistrate directed the prison authorities to produce suspect L. Selvakumari before the prison magistrate. CID are conducting investigations on the conspiracy to kill Minister Douglas Devananda and the incident which led to the death of four police officers, injury to nine persons and damage to the Kollupitiya police station. The suspect Selvakumari of Jaffna who was an ex employee of the EPDP was alleged to have aided and abetted the suicide bomber by taking her to the office of Minister Douglas Devananda. Police stated that when suspicion arose among the security staff of the minister, the suicide bomber who was brought to the Kollupitiya police station blasted the bomb strapped to her killing four police officers. CID appeared for the prosecution. Indian Navy looks up to Lanka for coordination Following the successful coordination of the Indian Navy with its Sri Lankan counterpart over the past two months, the country was actively exploring the feasibility of conducting joint patrolling operations on a long-term basis. Interacting with media persons here on Thursday, Vice Admiral Suresh Mehta, who had recently assumed charge as Flag Officer Commanding-in-Chief, Eastern Naval Command, said there was a real scope for conducting joint patrolling operations with Sri Lanka in the near future. “We are planning to launch an awareness programme for our fisherman on territorial issues so that they do not stray into Sri Lankan waters while venturing out for fishing. We are also keen on initiating discussions on patrolling matters with the Sri Lankan Naval authorities,” he said. There was a need for a humanitarian approach while dealing with fishermen, who accidentally strayed into alien waters, he felt. “Having recently completed a joint exercise with the Russian and French Navies, our ships and seamen are all set to leave for Malaysia and Singapore for yet another joint exercise in the coming December,” the Admiral said. The Navy was taking adequate measures to provide security to Sri Lankan Tamil refugees in the State, he added. Cushnahan to visit Jaffna John Cushnahan, chief obeserver of the EU Election Observation
Mission, accompanied by Head of EU delegation to Sri Lanka, Ambassador
Julian Wilson, are to visti Jaffna, Friday, a press advisory from the
EOM offices in Colombo said Thursday. The Chief Observer of the European Union EOM, Mr. John Cushnahan, will tomorrow (11 November) visit the Jaffna District in the Northern Province of the country. He will be accompanied by the Head of the EU Delegation to Sri Lanka, Ambassador Julian Wilson. The Chief Observer will meet with the EU EOM Long Term Observers who are observing the electoral process in Jaffna, Kilinochchi and Mullaittivu districts. He also will meet with representatives of the political parties involved in the electoral campaign (EPDP at 10h00 and TNA at 12h00) and the authorities in charge of the organisation of the elections at local level (Returning Officer at 11h00). Mr. Cushnahan will be pleased to meet with the representatives of the media at 13h30 at the IOM (International Organization for Migration) Office 70, Temple Road, Jaffna. Hijacked van seized while entering LTTE area A Dolphin (Hiace) van which was hijacked a few days ago in Trincomalee was found as the vehicle was about to be driven into LTTE territory in Madhu, on Wednesday. The vehicle was hijacked at kinniya in Trincomalee.The owner of the Dolphin van with the number 252-0967 has been identified as Vinodini Hewawitharana of Trincomalee.It was hijacked at gunpoint by two men after threatening those in the vehicle and tying the driver's hands at the back military sources said. Later last Wednesday security personnel manning the check point in the military line of control, identifying the hijacked vehicle had stopped it as it was about to enter into the LTTE held areas via the Madhu region in Wanni, sources said. Two persons the driver Ratnam Sabapathy Mohandas and another person identified as K.Prabakaran has been taken into custody by the Vavuniya police. Interrogation revealed that the gunmen who staged the hijack had decamped just before the vehicle reached the checkpoint after directing the driver to take the vehicle into the `Tiger' territory sources said. Further investigations are being carried out by the Vavuniya police. The Dolphin the van is now in the custody of the Vavuniya police sources said. 10 November 2005 Sri
Lanka peace official resigns The fate of the three-year-old truce between the government and the rebels will be a key issue in the 17 November presidential election. Peace talks between the two sides have been on hold since April 2003. President Chandrika Kumaratunga has accepted Mr Dhanapala's resignation. She did not name a replacement head of the Secretariat for Co-ordinating the Peace Process. Political killings Sources close to Mr Dhanapala told Agence France-Presse he had been unhappy with progress in the peace process. Mr Dhanapala, who is also the country's nominee for the UN Secretary General's post after Kofi Annan retires, is currently out of the country. The ruling party candidate for the presidential polls, Mahinda Rajapakse, has vowed to take a hard line against the rebels if elected. However, his main rival, Ranil Wickramasinghe, has promised to carry forward the peace talks. He sealed a ceasefire with the rebels in 2002 when he was prime minister. Violence has increased this year with the number of political killings nearing 200, according to the Scandinavian monitors who oversee the ceasefire. More than 60,000 people have been killed in the two decades since the Tigers began fighting for a Tamil homeland in the island's north and east. Postal voting ends in Sri Lanka, 85% voted Postal voting for the November 17th presidential election ended yesterday evening without any major incident, the Election Secretariat said. Mostly government servants and armed forces personnel voted over the last two days, the Secretariat added. “Eighty-five percent of the registered postal voters cast their votes on Monday and Tuesday,” Election Secretariat sources told ColomboPage. They added that the Election Commissioner is now considering fixing another day for postal voters who missed their opportunity to cast their votes for various reasons. “Some places we have very poor response due to bad weather,” sources said. Jaffna postal voting concludes, less than 1300 vote At the completion of two days of postal voting less than
26% of those who applied for postal ballots voted in Jaffna district,
according to Election officials at the Jaffna Secretariat. Of the total
of 7068 Government officials who are eligible, 4068 had applied for postal
voting. Less than 600 on Monday, and less than 700 Tuesday voted, officials
added. Election officials in Jaffna said that during the two days of voting there were no incidents of violence, reports of harassment or intimidation. Mahinda distressed at Archbishop’s letter UPFA Presidential candidate Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapakse has told Colombo Archbishop Oswald Gomis that he read with sorrow a letter of the Archbishop reproduced in some national newspapers. In a letter addressed to Archbishop Gomis Mr. Rajapakse said it was particularly sad that this letter appeared along with an advertisement designed to encourage the citizens to vote against him at the upcoming Presidential election. The letter said: “Your letter suggests that ‘some radical and extremist elements are rejecting this path and paving the way for war. I am not sure whether you were referring to one of the parties allied with me. Again, later in your letter there is mention of what could be seen as another of my allies, in the context of religious freedom.” In this regard I should make it clear that as my manifesto indicates, I will safeguard the rights of all religions, as I enunciated clearly at my meeting with the JHU at the Dalada Maligawa,” Mr. Rajapakse said in his letter. The letter goes on: “I agree with you that ‘a nation could be built only on mutual confidence, love, maithri and deep respect for each other and not on hatred or violence' but I would add that duplicity should also be avoided.” “With regard to the contents of your letter, I agree strongly with the points you make, as I hope is apparent from my manifesto. With regard to the ceasefire, which it has been suggested I wish to abrogate, I have only made it clear that it should 'be amended so as to ensure that acts of terrorism would not be permitted in any way.' I believe continuing killings, and the smuggling in of arms, should be prevented, as was orginally envisaged, and I am sure you share my beliefs in this regard. However, as my manifesto makes clear, I am committed to discussion, including direct talks with the LTTE, and maximising devolution within a democratic framework.” “I should add that we are fully committed to the UN Declaration of Human Rights, which you mention. The second sentence in my manifesto affirms my determination that 'children of all religions would be able to obtain an education in keeping with their religious beliefs.' And, far from engaging in meaningless gestures where size is equated with spirituality, I am committed to rebuilding all religious places damaged by the tsunami, not simply those of particular religions. I would also draw your attention to the specia1 attention I will give to the Madhu Church sanctuary (in addition to already rebuilding the road) in view of its unique spiritual status. “Unfortunately, my opponents seem determined not to accept that my allies all subscribe fully to my manifesto. Though some of them may have different ideas, they all realize that, in participating in government, compromise and consensus are essential. As we have pointed out, in response to the question as to whether I can achieve my vision in a coalition, it is better to have the cooperation of others so we can discuss matters, rather than treat them as enemies. And it should noted that we found a very helpful spirit of compromise in preparing the manifesto, and as you can see, the question of any anti-conversion bill has not even been raised.” | ||
