Sri Lanka News and Discussions

India to engage SL Tamil parties on ethnic solution: Report

June 11, 2010 17:51 IST

India [ Images ] plans to directly invite Sri Lankan ethnic parties, including the pro-Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam Tamil National Alliance, for parleys to resolve the Tamil issue in the country, a media report has claimed, prompting the main opposition party to seek a clarification from the Mahinda Rajapaksa [ Images ] government.

News website Asian Tribune.com has claimed that India will be directly inviting Sri Lankan Tamil political parties to New Delhi [ Images ] for one-on-one talks.

"There is a talk that India will invite minority and minor parties for discussions on the Tamil issue. We are hopeful of such meetings but so far no parties have got any invitation in this regard," a leader of a Muslim party told PTI on condition of anonymity.

"It is also reported that top officials in New Delhi are now preparing to draft reform proposals based on the findings from these discussions. They will thereafter present them to Colombo," the Asian Tribune said.

Reports from Delhi said that the main reason for the direct invitations is the continuous delay on the side of Colombo to produce solutions for Tamil grievances despite the end of war for more than a year, it is learnt, it said.

"The invites for discussions will be directly extended to all ethnic minority parties in Colombo. They will made after the official visit of Lanka President Mahinda Rajapakse [ Images ] to New Delhi concludes," the website said.

All Lanka minority ethnic parties will be invited, reports said. The first political party to be invited is the Tamil National Alliance, followed by other ethnic-minority parties," it said.

Meanwhile, Sri Lanka's [ Images ] main opposition United National Party has sought clarification on whether India was inviting the country's minority parties for direct talks to resolve the Tamil issue, even while demanding major political parties also be included in this exercise.

Raising the issue in Parliament, senior UNP leader Ravi Karunanayake demanded that major Sri Lankan political parties should also be included in the overall deliberations as they too represented the minorities. Karunanayake said, he as a Parliamentarian from the Colombo district, also represented the interests of Tamils and Muslims (who also speak Tamil) besides other minorities.

"Any move to exclude the major political parties and to discuss the issue with only minority parties is fraught with danger and could give rise to the earlier situation years ago when arms were also given to the minority parties while holding parleys," Karunanayake told the House.

"That situation can recur", Karunanayake said, while asking the government to ensure that in the event of India undertaking such an exercise should also hold discussions on the issue with major political parties of Sri Lanka.

"Even political parties representing the Plantation Tamils in the country will be included, it is reported," the website said.

'Pro-LTTE' elements blast rail track, passengers safe

Chennai, June 12 (PTI) Passengers of the Tiruchirapalli-Chennai Rockfort Express had a narrow escape when suspected pro-LTTE elements blasted railway tracks at Perani railway station in Villupuram district in the wee hours today.

About three feet of tracks were blown off in the explosion when the train was coming towards the station at around 2:10 am. The station cautioned the driver of the train, who applied emergency brakes averting a major train disaster, police and railway sources said.

Leaflets condemning the visit of Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa were found from the spot, police said.

Train traffic has been disrupted on the route following the explosion.

Most of the trains coming to Chennai from other parts have been stopped or diverted.

A manhunt has been launched for the culprits.

Vice Premier of Chinese State Council arrives in Sri Lanka

Fri, Jun 11, 2010, 08:57 am SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.


Jun 11, Colombo: A current Vice Premier and a prominent leader of government of China, Zhang Dejiang arrived in Sri Lanka Thursday night on a three-day official visit from the 10th to 12th June 2010.

Vice Premier Dejiang is here on an invitation extended to him by the Sri Lankan Prime Minister D.M. Jayaratne. The two countries are seeking to enhance bilateral economic ties.

During his visit Vice Premier Dejiang, is expected to meet President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Prime Minister D.M Jayaratne, and Speaker Chamal Rajapaksa.

President Rajapaksa meanwhile is scheduled to arrive in the country on Friday after a successful tour in India.

China has offered financial assistance of US$ 200 million to build the second airport in Hambanthota of the deep South. Among the other major development projects underway with Chinese assistance are the Colombo-Katunayake expressway project, Norochcholai power plant, Hambantota port development project, tank farm project at Hambantota, and the road infrastructure project.

Since 2006, the Chinese government has provided Sri Lanka with US $ 3.06 billion financial assistance, Deputy Minister of Economic Development Ranjith Siyambalapitiya recently revealed. However, out of that only US $ 35.77 million were grants.

Sri Lanka to sign trade deals with China: official

June 11, 2010 (AFP) - Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang will hold talks with Sri Lanka's president at the weekend and sign several trade and economic deals, the island's foreign ministry said Friday.
Zhang arrived in Sri Lanka on Thursday accompanied by a 30-member delegation and was moving to strengthen bilateral cooperation during their three-day visit, the ministry said.
"Sri Lanka and China will sign a number of agreements and MoUs (memorandums of understanding) relating to the fields of information technology, maritime ports, economic and technical cooperation," the ministry said without giving details.

Sri Lanka maintains close ties with China, a key supplier of small arms to the island's armed forces during the height of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.

Government forces crushed the rebels in May last year and Sri Lanka has publicly thanked China for its generous military support. Colombo has been buying naval craft, jet aircraft as well as tanks and small weapons from China.

China is also building a port in the south of the island and is involved in constructing highways, power stations and petroleum storage tanks.

Sri Lanka, China vow to enhance cooperation

Sri Lankan Prime Minister D. M. Jayaratne and the visiting Chinese Vice Premier Zhang Dejiang stressed here on Friday to enhance the two friendly nations' cooperation in a wide range of areas including economy, education, culture and international affairs.

Jayaratne told Zhang that Sri Lanka's economy has been greatly benefited by some mega-projects funded by China in recent years. He also expressed his gratitude to China's participation in Sri Lanka's economic rebuilding after the conclusion of a 30-year-old civil war.

The Sri Lanka prime minister said Sri Lanka treasures the friendship between the two countries and unswervingly supports China on issues of her core interests.

Zhang congratulated Sri Lanka for the end of the civil war, as well as the steady progress in rebuilding and social-economic development.

China signs trade deals with Sri Lanka

(AFP) – 1 hour ago
COLOMBO — Chinese Vice-Premier Zhang Dejiang held talks with Sri Lanka's president Saturday after signing six trade and economic deals, the president's office said in a statement.
Zhang had a breakfast meeting with President Mahinda Rajapakse and the two reviewed ongoing Chinese-assisted infrastructure projects.
"Today?s meeting followed the signing of agreements between China and Sri Lanka for economic and technical cooperation, highways development... IT and the development of maritime ports," the statement said without giving details.
Zhang arrived in Colombo on Thursday with a 30-member delegation.
Sri Lanka maintains close ties with China, a key supplier of small arms to the island's armed forces during the height of fighting between troops and Tamil Tiger rebels.
Government forces crushed the rebels in May last year and Sri Lanka has publicly thanked China for its generous military support. Colombo has been buying naval craft, jet aircraft as well as tanks and small weapons from China.
"President Rajapakse thanked China for its continued assistance to Sri Lanka in the country?s efforts to defeat terrorism and for economic and social development both during the conflict and after," the statement said.
China is also building a port in the south of the island and is involved in constructing highways, power stations and petroleum storage tanks.

Sri Lankan Press Ties with India

Saturday, 12 Jun, 2010

PRESIDENT Mahinda Rajapaksa’s official visit to India has resulted in … relations between the two countries reaching a higher level. …It is a relationship encompassing all areas of relevance including trade, services, investment and integration of the economies and certain institutions of the two countries. Sri Lanka has been quite conscious of the geo-political realities of the South Asian region and the world at large. It is a fact that India, our closest neighbour and friend, is the colossus of the subcontinent. That is why Sri Lanka has always kept India informed of developments in the country and exchanged bilateral visits [at the] highest level regularly. This policy has paid dividends and contributed to the consistent positive development of … relations between our two countries. We could recall here that it [was] India that came to our assistance first in times of need. The arrival of Indian aid [to] the shores of Sri Lanka even before the tidal tsunami waves receded in December 2004 is a case in point.

In the sphere of trade our two countries were the first to sign a free-trade arrangement in South Asia. Over the years this arrangement has been a win-win situation for both countries. This is despite the asymmetric nature of the size of our two countries and … economies. Entry to the vast Indian market is a boon for our industrialists and trade. …On the whole, the visit has been fruitful. One could confidently predict further enhancing of relations between the two countries. — (June 11)

For India, Sri Lanka is not indispensable, but for Sri Lanka, India is indispensable

An Interview with Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

By Rathindra Kuruwita

Question: President Mahinda Rajapaksa left for India recently and he is set to show his Indian counterpart a draft of the proposed Constitutional amendments. This is seen by many as a gesture of subjugation and their requests to open a Deputy High Commissioner’s office in Kandy and a consulate office in Hambanthota and their insistence of implementing the 13th Amendment are seen by many as attempts to impose their will on Sri Lanka?



Dr.Dayan Jayatilleka

Answer: You use the term ‘many’. Who are these ‘many’ and where are they? I have only seen criticisms voiced by the usual handful of Southern extremists, and some small political parties both in government as well as defeated ones. President Rajapaksa is a patriot and a realist, a pragmatist. The handful of critics may be patriots but they are not realists. When we antagonized India we could not win the war, but when we correctly managed relations with India, we won the war. If India had opposed us or not supported us, we may not have been able to win or withstand the Western moves to stop the war. There is a saying that there is no such thing as a free lunch. Every relationship is reciprocal. Sri Lanka has to reciprocate for India’s support.

We must bear in mind that we still need that support because, though the hot war has been won by us, a cold war continues against us in the global arena.

We need India’s support to balance off those who are hostile to us or are influenced by the pro-Eelam trend in the Tamil Diaspora. India is our buffer with the USA. Delhi is under pressure to take a stand hostile to us, or to stop supporting us. That pressure comes from Tamil Nadu but not only from Tamil Nadu...from India’s civil society as well as some of India’s Western friends. If India stops supporting us, not even the Non Aligned Movement will defend us fully, because they take their cue from respected Third World states such as India.

If India allows Tamil Nadu or Kerala to become rear base areas once again for LTTE activity, we will have endless security problems. It is only someone who is deaf, dumb and blind to geo-political realities, who will not admit that India has a stake in our Tamil issue, simply because they have 70 million Tamils separated from our territory by a narrow strip of water. As for the 13th Amendment, I must say very clearly that this is the cheapest price to pay. It is simply a matter of letting the Northern and Eastern provincial councils have the same powers as enjoyed by the provincial councils in all other parts of the island for the last 20 years. If we don’t settle for the 13th Amendment now, we shall jeopardize our military gains and we shall probably have to pay a much higher price some years from now.

The request to open a consulate office in Hambantota seems to be an attempt to balance out the Chinese influence in the area. Wouldn’t this add to the already existing tension between the two super powers? And how would this tussle affect Sri Lanka?

We have to balance carefully between China and India. China is our most consistent and strongest single friend, but the reality is that even with its growing power, China is rather too far to come to our aid if our closest and only neighbor makes a move that is unfriendly to us. As we saw during the tsunami, India’s Navy can put a ring of steel around this island in hours, and even project her naval power up to Indonesia. China’s Navy has not yet developed such a capacity.

We must be aware of our strategic vulnerabilities. We must understand the limits of our China card. In the 1980s, J R Jayewardane’s UNP government thought that Sri Lanka can play the American card against India but he failed. Today, no one must have the opposite but similar illusion that we have a China card to play against India. Even China will not want to upset its relations with giant India, over little Sri Lanka. China did not come to its ally and our friend Pakistan’s aid during the Kargil crisis, when it was pushed back by India. China doesn’t want the West to entangle and entrap it in a tussle with India, which will prevent the onward rise of Asia as a whole.

Sri Lanka must realize that there is a miracle going on, namely the economic rise of Asia, which is propelled by two engines, China and India. It is bigger than the original Industrial revolution! If we plug into both these engines, we can rise with the rest of Asia. If not, we shall be left on the ground, like Myanmar. The man renowned as the Sage of Asia, Lee Kwan Yew, recently said that China and India are two great trees and that Singapore must find a spot in the shade where the branches of these two great trees intertwine. I think that is true, and good advice, for Sri Lanka too.

Although India can match China or the USA in meeting Sri Lanka’s economic needs, it cannot help us on the world political stage as do China or the USA who have UN veto powers. Your opinion please?

India is a member of G 20. It is also a member of many groupings of intermediate powers such as BRICS which consists of Russia, China, Brazil, India and South Africa. If India gives a green light the West, will move against us. The US hasn’t so far, because of its strategic partnership with India, which it needs in order to balance off China. As I said before, without India’s support we will not even get that of our ‘tribe’ the Non Aligned Movement. India has longstanding close relations with Russia, South Africa and Latin America. In fact, India is one of the few powers that have support in the West as well as the East, in the North and well as the South, while China and the USA are competitors who do not have support in some parts of the international system.

We must never forget that despite China’s goodwill, not a dog supported us when India went against us in 1987. Today, despite China’s political support, Sudan is before the International Criminal Court, because it was referred there by the Security Council and China did not block it. The basic reality is that Sri Lanka’s closest friend China is not closest to Sri Lanka physically, geographically! We must neither embarrass nor overburden our friend China nor must we place all our eggs in the Beijing basket.

It was China and Russia that helped us out in the United Nations in the recent past. And they can also assist us in the future as allegations of war crimes gather momentum. So are we jeopardizing their support by seemingly giving into the demands of the Indians?

Russia will not help us if India says not to. Take that from me. The US would have moved against us in the UN and more importantly the IMF last year, if not for India putting in a word in our favour. We have been operating under the Indian and Chinese umbrellas diplomatically, but if the Indian umbrella is furled up, nobody will back us. Our friends will start stepping away from us. This is the basic point: India is so big; it is such a vast market and so powerful an economic player; it is so vital strategically, that no one will take our side against India; no one will support us if India is known to be against us.

I can tell you that as far as certain key issues go, such as the Tamil question and a political settlement with the Tamils, there is no difference between the views of India, China, Russia and the USA! That is true of the Non-aligned countries as well. You noticed that we almost had a problem recently with a pro-Tamil Eelam infiltration and manifestation in revolutionary Venezuela! All these countries want us to settle the Tamil problem politically, by which they mean some kind of autonomy. No one supports Tamil Eelam and no one, not even the USA, has called for federalism, but everyone, and I mean all our friends, want us to solve this problem fast, by means of devolution of power. For India, Sri Lanka is not indispensable, but for Sri Lanka, India is indispensable. That is the cold reality. That is the hard fact.

Can we use the interest shown by all these powers, China, India, USA and the EU without eventually antagonizing one or more parties?

Of course, we can. Lakshman Kadirgamar did it. Before that, Mrs Sirimavo Bandaranaike did it. But we cannot keep saying no to every issue to everybody! And we cannot manage on our own! We must reach out to all, on all points of the compass. We must dialogue with all. Prof GL Pieris has the ability to do that, which he has proven with his successful US trip and meeting with Hillary Clinton. Once again, we have a foreign minister that every Sri Lankans and Sri Lankans everywhere can be proud of.

We must have a policy that defends our vital interests, and compromise on things that are not vital. We must safeguard our core strategic and security interests, while making concessions on tactical issues. Each of these powers has something we need and each of them needs something from us. In order to get what we need we need to give something, which sometimes means giving up something. We cannot have the kavum and eat it at the same time!

The first thing is to understand that we cannot live in isolation, like frogs in the well. If we try, we will crash economically and the Tamil Eelam forces waiting outside the country will triumph. We must also understand that we cannot have everything our way; we cannot negotiate with the rest of the world from a position of strength because we do not have such strength. To build up strength we must have good relations with the world and expand those relations, getting as much as we can and more importantly, learning as much as we can. Each of the global players or sectors you mentioned wants certain things from us, and we should give them whatever does not harm our core interest and our good relations with the other global player or friend. We can have a policy of good relations with all, but at the expense of none.

Since we have an external enemy working round the clock against us, namely the pro-Tamil Eelam section of the Tamil Diaspora, our international policy must be one of building the broadest global united front; the widest global partnerships. If we don’t isolate the Tamil Eelamists, they will isolate Sri Lanka! Here I must repeat what I said earlier: the one thing that all the players you mentioned - China, USA, India, EU, have in common is an urgent need to see Sri Lanka release and rehabilitate IDPs, reconstruct the North and east and arrive at a political settlement with the Tamil people based on some form of autonomy and self-administration. If we do that, we can remove or reduce the pressure on Sri Lanka on issues of war crimes etc. As a top Chinese diplomat and official once told me “You must help us to help you. Sri Lanka must give its friends something to help Sri Lanka with”.

One year after the defeat of the LTTE, what is Sri Lanka’s position in the world. Would you agree if I say, we have not properly used the opportunities given to us to improve relations with other countries? South Indian politicians and its population are still very much anti-Sri Lankan, a sentiment which was clear during the recently held IIFA. Elements of Tamil extremists have set up a transnational government and seem to have gained many sympathizers in the west?

One year after the victory in war, Sri Lanka is not where it should be, either in the world or internally. We have lost the war of opinion in the world’s media. If, as I had recommended, we had quickly followed up the military victory with the implementation of the 13th Amendment while the TNA was disoriented, we’d have been dealing with our ally Douglas Devananda. We lost that moment and momentum because of some small ideological caucuses of ultranationalist pundits who have a disproportionate influence. Even after that opportunity was lost, there are things we could have done.

The government has made the same mistake as the Bush administration after the war in Iraq, namely the absence of a clear postwar plan and program for the area and primarily, the people. Our military did its job superbly, but who congratulates us internationally, one year after? No one, not even our friends defend us publicly when we are criticized! Why? Because, the politicians and the development ministries have not followed up the achievement of the military.

We fought and won a Just War (‘Saadharana Yuddhayak’), but the world looks at us and does not see a Just Peace (‘Saadhaarana Saamayak’) having resulted. What the world sees is something like an occupation of a foreign country or foreign people. Because we do not yet have a Just Peace, world opinion doubts whether it was a Just War to begin with! That is not a sustainable peace.

Simply put, if by today we had a Tamil Chief Minister and an elected Northern Provincial council, the IIFA partial boycott would not have been possible and furthermore, we may not have had this much international pressure on ‘war crimes accountability mechanisms’ either. If we could have shown results in the North, winning the Tamil people over with a fair and just peace, the rest of the world would have told those who criticize us to shut up.

I must also say that in the year after the war, Sri Lanka is losing, or has lost the battle for world opinion. I am not speaking only of the West. In a brand new book, the highly respected senior leader of Singapore, Lee Kwan Yew says that though the Tamil Tigers have been killed, the problem has not been settled and that Sinhalese extremism will be unable to keep the Tamils, who are a ‘capable’ community, ‘submissive’. So it is not just the INGOs and the liberal west which is critical of our postwar policies, direction and situation.

Col. P. Hariharan in his article “India’s concerns in Sri Lanka: Update no. 199’ says that ‘the three things he (Rajapaksa) achieved in his first term of office - wiping out Prabhakaran and his Tamil Tigers, re-election for a second term with increased margin of votes and an unprecedented victory in parliamentary poll with 60% mandate from the voters - give him the confidence to talk from a position of strength to New Delhi.’ Do you think it’s an accurate description of the situation since it stands in contrast with many other commentators who claim that President Rajapaksa has no other option but to agree to everything that India puts on the table?

The only leaders who can talk from a position of strength to New Delhi are President Obama of the USA and President Hu Jin Tao of China, but they are both wise enough not to do so.

What can Sri Lanka do to overcome the challenges both locally and internationally in the coming years?

We must use our brains, and may I say our best brains. We must deploy our best talent to face the global challenge and fight the Cold War against Sri Lanka. We must rebuild our educational system to the point that we can produce those who can compete in the global arena and beat those forces hostile to us. We need to build up quality human resources. Today our external and internal relations are tied together. Our external relations depend in large measure on how we resolve our internal problem with the Tamils.

Remember that it is not a purely internal problem though we may like to think so. In the first place the world is globalised; humanity lives in the era of globalization, so there are no purely internal questions. In the second place the Tamils are spread not only in Tamil Nadu but throughout the world, from the USA to Malaysia and South Africa. We must learn from King Dutugemunu. He wiped out the armed Tamil challenge as manifested in a separate kingdom with a separate king and a separate army. He knew that with the Indian Ocean at our backs, we cannot tolerate two kingdoms with two rival armies on this small island.

However, the story tells us that after the victory he appointed a Tamil sub-king and allowed the people of the area to be governed according to their cultural norms and customs. As a wise strategist he didn’t try to control and dominate everything, nor did he try to change the basic character of the area he had liberated. What he implemented postwar, is another word for provincial devolution within a strong unitary state. King Dutugemunu was wise enough not to think of culturally colonizing the Tamils. We cannot wipe out the Tamils collective identity.

If they think we are doing so, they will resist peacefully. If we are seen by the world to crush non-violent Tamil civic resistance, not in the cause of Tamil Eelam or in support of the Tigers, but simply to protect their identity and ancestral homelands, then we will embarrass our friends and we shall have no one to back us. This is when the pro-Tamil Eelam Tamil Diaspora will have its day. Who knows what stand the big powers and the UN will take then? It is far better to have a timely political process and grant a measure of autonomy while the state is still on top.

[Dr Dayan Jayatilleka, formerly Sri Lanka’s Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, is currently a Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of South Asian Studies of the National University of Singapore. This interview appeared in Lakbima News.These are his personal views and do not reflect the views of the Institute.]

LTTE: Remnants & Sympathisers

By B Raman

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) as a terrorist-cum-insurgent organisation is dead. So is most of its leadership at the senior levels, including Prabakaran, its head. One cannot say with equal confidence that all its trained cadres—whether in insurgency or terrorism or both—have been fully accounted for—either killed or captured. Its dead leaders have not left detailed documentation of their set-up giving details of the number trained, the number of losses, the number still alive towards the end of their fight with the Sri Lankan Army, their deployment, their capabilities, weapons-holdings etc. As a result, it is difficult to assess with some accuracy the risks of a revival of the Tamil militancy in some form or the other in Sri Lanka as well as in Tamil Nadu.

One can assess with some confidence that there is little likelihood of the revival of a Tamil insurgent movement. The losses in trained personnel and capabilities suffered by the LTTE at the hands of the Sri Lankan Army will rule that out. The enhancement of the deployment of the Army in the Tamil areas—already under way—will ensure that Tamil insurgency cannot stage a come-back in Sri Lanka like the Taliban did in Afghanistan.

However, one cannot rule out the dangers of a revival of a terrorist movement by the unaccounted for remnants of the LTTE in Sri Lanka as well as in Tamil Nadu. The LTTE had trained an unquantified number of its cadres—men and women—in different kinds of terrorist operations, including suicide terrorism. One does not know how many were trained, how many were killed or captured by the Sri Lankan Army and how many have managed to evade capture and are biding their time in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu. They have a high level of expertise in the use of terrorism as a modus operandi as well as in the fabrication of explosive material by using substances easily available in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu.

So long as these remnants with the required expertise are available, a determined and motivated Tamil leader can rally them round and create sleeper cells for a new Tamil militant movement. A new generation of Tamil militant leadership is not yet on the horizon a year after the decimation of the LTTE. However, there is still anger in pockets of the Tamil communities in Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu over the manner in which the Sri Lankan Army carried out its counter-insurgency operations and over what is seen as foot-dragging by President Mahinda Rajapaksa in carrying out his assurances for a fair political settlement made to the Tamils before the LTTE was crushed. Now that the LTTE has been crushed, he is no longer showing a sense of urgency and fairplay in addressing the problems and grievances of the Tamils.

The fact that this anger is present not only in the Tamil community of Sri Lanka, but also of Tamil Nadu became evident recently from the protests in Tamil Nadu over an Indian film festival held in Sri Lanka, which was boycotted by Tamil actors, the protest demonstrations during the recent visit of Mr.Rajapaksa to New Delhi and the unsuccessful attempt by some unidentified persons believed to be sympathisers of Prabakaran to cause a derailment with locally-procured explosives in Tamil Nadu in the early hours of June 12. The Kumbakonam-Chennai Rockfort Express escaped what could have been a tragedy when two alert drivers—one of a train which preceded the Rockfort Express and the other of the Express—noticed a possible terrorist attempt to cause a derailment. According to media reports, pamphlets purported to have been drafted by supporters of the late Prabakaran claiming responsibility for the attempt were found on the spot. Only a police investigation can establish whether the attempt was made by supporters of Prabakaran as claimed in the pamphlets or by Maoists as a mark of solidarity with the LTTE. In the past, when Prabakaran was alive, there were unconfirmed reports of contacts between the LTTE and the Maoists.

Anger is often the mother of militancy and terrorism. The LTTE is dead. Most of its senior leadership is no more. But anger in sections of the Tamil community is still there. Motivated individuals, who are prepared to give vent to their anger by using terrorism, are available. Only leadership to rally them round is not there. The post 9/11 history of terrorism shows that the absence of a leadership capable of uniting the terrorists and orchestrating their activities does not mean the end of terrorism. Autonomously operating individuals itching to give vent to their anger have been behind many recent acts of terrorism. Terrorism analysts have been speaking of an emerging phenomenon of leadersless terrorism due to acts of angry individuals.

Till the cause of the anger of the Sri Lankan Tamils is satisfactorily addressed, the danger of a revival of terrorism in sections of the Tamil community will remain present.

http://www.indiandefencereview.com/2...html#more-2429

Sri Lanka in nuclear talks with India

July 6, 2010, 8:41 am

By Devan Daniel


Deputy Finance Minister Dr. Sarath Amunugama said Sri Lanka was holding talks with India over the possibility of sharing nuclear energy.

Speaking in Colombo at the inaugural session of the Sri Lanka Economic Summit and the 24th Summit of the Confederation of Asia-Pacific Chambers of Commerce and Industry, which brought together 186 business delegates from all over the region, Dr. Amunugama said Sri Lanka would soon be in a position to guarantee investors that there would never be power cuts.

"The government has made huge investments in power generation in Sri Lanka and on behalf the President Mahinda Rajapaksa I can tell you that soon we would be one of the few countries in the world that can pledge to investors that there would never be power cuts," Dr. Amunugama told the business delegates.

"In fact, Sri Lanka would soon have a power surplus and we are negotiating with India to exchange power. In South India, peak power consumption is during the day. In Sri Lanka peak consumption is at night, so there is room to exchange power. We are also talking to India about them sharing nuclear energy with us," he said.

Dr. Amunugama said Sri Lanka was looking at changing its laws in a bid to liberalise investments.

"We are reviewing our investment laws and legislation to liberalise investments would be introduced within the next few months," he said.

US piles pressure on Sri Lanka

By Feizal Samath

COLOMBO - When garment factory workers outside Colombo once organized a noisy protest over a bonus issue, police threatened to file charges - of hostage-taking - against them. The Sri Lankan authorities zeroed in on this because the workers' senior managers were inside the factory premises during the protest.

Hostage-taking is worlds away from labor-related action, but rights advocates say this example, which occurred five years ago, shows the state's approach to workers' rights.

Amid international pressure, the government last year changed plans to use the hostage-taking law against the workers involved in this case. Instead, indictments were filed under regular laws



around intimidation and threats against 35 former employees, 33 of whom are women.

"This is the kind of pressure we face in ensuring the rights of workers. Can you believe that these young women were to be charged for hostage-taking?" asked Anton Marcus, convener of the Free Trade Zone and General Services Employees Union.

Trade unions have long complained about the government's refusal to accede to International Labor Organization (ILO) rules on the Right of Association and the Right to Collective Bargaining in the Workplace.

On June 30, the US government said it had accepted a petition from trade unions, filed by the American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) on behalf of Sri Lankan trade unions, to review workers' rights in the country.

The US action is linked to its annual review of the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), in which Sri Lanka and other countries receive trade concessions on exports to the United States. The current 12-month GSP agreement runs until December 2010.

This adds to the pressure the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa is already under. It comes on the heels of human-rights concerns expressed by the European Union, which has linked these to its trade concessions for the South Asian island nation.

A July 1 deadline set by the EU, asking the government to give a written undertaking that it will improve rights concerns, passed without a response from Colombo.

According to Marcus, one of the main complaints in the trade unions' petition to the US government was the difficulty in forming unions and having collective bargaining agreements between workers and employers.

For instance, he says, there are only four such agreements among the 300-odd factories in the garment sector, a key source of export revenue. Three of them are from one company, he said. "What about the rest of the garment sector?" Marcus asked.

The lack of space for organizing also means that workers can get fired for protesting employers' actions, such as the suspension of trade union activists. This happened in the case of 255 garment workers who protested a colleague's dismissal some years ago.

"There are clear rules about not sacking workers taking part in a strike but this is not observed," Marcus said.

Under the US government review of workers' rights, a public hearing will begin in Washington in August.

The government has been invited to take part. Labor Minister Gamini Lokuge told Inter Press Service that he had not received a copy of the AFL-CIO petition, but rejected claims of major violations of workers' rights.

Ravi Peiris, secretary general of the Employers' Federation of Ceylon, which represents the bulk of Sri Lankan business, agreed, saying the US review was baseless and unnecessary.

"Most [local] trade unions were politically affiliated and some misuse their bargaining power for incorrect reasons," Peiris told the Daily Mirror newspaper. "Sri Lanka's labor rights are the best protected in South Asia. I can say with certainty that our labor standards are the best in South Asia."

US statements have said that the government's acceptance of the AFL-CIO petition was not a decision to revoke GSP.

"It is the beginning of a formal, collaborative process to work with the Sri Lankan government to address the concerns in the petition and work to improve support of and adherence to workers' rights," said Jeff Anderson, US Embassy spokesman in Colombo. "GSP privileges will continue throughout the process."

United States officials took pains to say that the labor review was about workers' rights and not about human rights linked to political issues, although it is clear that Sri Lanka's overall rights record is under scrutiny. Washington has also raised human-rights issues in the past.

"It's an issue about workers' rights and not human rights," Anderson said.

For its part, the EU has made clear that it is tying trade privileges with measures that it believes Sri Lanka needs to put in place to improve its rights record since its military defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam in May 2009.

It has said that in return for a six-month extension of GSP concessions to the European market, it wants to see Colombo undertake steps such as the reinstatement of independent commissions, removal of the Prevention of Terrorism Act and the release of political prisoners. The Rajapaksa government has rejected these earlier.

On July 1, the EU said it supported a new United Nations panel to review the human rights situation in the country.

The defeat of the Tigers ended a near 30-year campaign for an independent homeland for minority Tamils in this majority Sinhalese nation. Since then, Rajapaksa has come under intense international pressure over human-rights violations, especially relating to the final stages of the war. He has repeatedly denied these accusations.

The European Union has decided to withdraw Sri Lanka's preferential trade access to EU markets after it failed to improve its human rights record.

The concessions will be stopped on 15 August on a temporary basis after Sri Lanka refused to implement human right conventions.

The deal, known as GSP Plus, gives 16 developing countries trade benefits in return for set commitments.

Sri Lankan officials say the demands amount to interference in its affairs.

Last month, the government said the request was an insult to Sri Lankans and should be placed "in the dustbin".

The Sri Lankan government has faced repeated accusations of human rights violations carried out during its civil war against Tamil Tiger rebels, which the military won in 2009.
Garments industry

The EU was particularly critical of alleged human rights abuses during the last stage of the war.

The move comes after the government failed to make a written promise of progress on three human rights conventions, which deal with torture, children's rights, and civil and political rights.

"We very much regret the choice of Sri Lanka not to take up an offer made in good faith and in line with the EU commitment to a global human rights agenda," EU foreign affairs chief, Catherine Ashton, said in a statement.
Correspondents say the move may not necessarily be a huge blow to the government, but could hit business hard.

Sri Lanka's garments industry will likely be impacted the most, as it enjoys tax breaks to sell to retailers in Europe.

The BBC's Charles Haviland in Colombo says that there are fears for the jobs of textile workers, although some clothing companies say the industry is so buoyant that they will not be affected.

The EU says it is open to talks in the future, but that it would depend on the island nation's commitment to the charters and to working with the EU, our correspondent adds.

President Mahinda Rajaspaksa, who has often denounced foreign criticism, has shrugged off the decision, saying that they do not need the concessions.

"If the EU doesn't want to give it, let them keep it. I don't want it. We have gone and explained what we have done," he said.

In 2008, Sri Lankan exports to the EU totalled 1.24bn euros (£1bn; $1.55bn)

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/sou...a/10514634.stm

THE ENIGMA OF DELHI’s PREDICAMENT IN OVER APPEASING THE SRI LANKA REGIME

by Vssubramaniam July 03, 2010


THE ENIGMA OF DELHI’s PREDICAMENT IN OVER APPEASING THE SRI LANKA REGIME

Delhi’s predicament is an enigma for most political observers especially when Delhi went overboard to further appease SL specifically during the June 2010 visit of the Sri Lankan President. This invited derisive comments from reputed Indian analysts; ‘though there was much euphoria in Sri Lanka(SL), but discerning Indian observers did not share in..(that) optimism. Delhi is not happy over Colombo’s lukewarm response on the solution to the issue of finding a speedy solution to the ethnic issue. More discerning, important provisions of the 13th Amendment are jettisoned’ (ExpressBuzz 29 Jun 2010). Delhi invested heavily, politically on the 13th Amendment plus supporting SL’s war against Eelam Tamils or LTTE despite risks of alienating TN, a constituent state in the Indian Union .It is in this war that the massacres and the interning of civilians occured in astounding numbers to become ‘crimes against humanity’.

On his return to Colombo the SL President ‘..We will take our own time and find the solution, you can’t ask for an instant solution like instant noodles…We will certainly change all this. My commitment remains’. (Times of India). The use of instant noodles imagery belittles Manmohan Singh’s pre-visit call emphasizing the ‘..need for speeding up the..devolution of powers to ethnic Tamils’ (Indiatimes 10 Jun). Delhi is caught in a predicament; its inability to deliver on its repeated promises to TN on the 13th Amendment plus (devolution package). The TN CM placed his champion of the Tamils credentials at grave risks in responding positively to Singh’s devolution promise. The TN CM’s latest cry of despair, ‘No political solution has yet been found for Tamils in Sri Lanka, despite periodic assurances..’ resonates throughout India including Delhi.

Contrast this to the Rajapakse words and actions following his December 2006 Delhi visit. Unlike then Rajapakse is now far too intoxicated by his unexpected and undeserved yet decisive win (May 2009) in the war against Tamil militancy. Recent Rajapakse rhetoric is evasive on the 13th Amendment commitments he made in 2006; is also provocative and abrasive towards its erstwhile ally a Delhi, that supported/contributed the most overtly and covertly to the defeat of the Tamil militancy. Delhi also continues to give decisive diplomatic support in the UN, (using its South Block UN arm) the NAM, and UNHRC to stall the international community’s morally noble war crimes initiatives against SL.

Delhi’s heavy investment in over appeasing SL involved buying decisive TN support during the critical period (2007-2009) of the Eelam war to successfully manage sensitive pro-militant opinion in TN. Delhi’s promises to TN to deliver in full on the 13th Thirteenth Amendment plus was made after intense consultations with the Rajapakses. The DMK government reciprocated by taking unprecedented risks in effectively supporting the SL genocide against Eelam Tamils, risking its long established credentials as champion of Tamil rights worldwide. To the Eelam Tamils who for over six decades were repeatedly let down by SL regimes reneging on their pacts/agreements, Rajapakse reneging on his promises to Delhi did not come as a surprise. On this occasion the party let down was Delhi, SL’s superpower neighbour that risked underwriting the untrustworthy SL’s commitments; and damaging its own standing politically.

Delhi had sound grounds to trust Rajapakse who since his 2006 election repeatedly affirmed that he is for maximum devolution within a unitary state. Delhi took Rajapakse’s promises in good faith though the joint statement at the end of the SL President’s visit then did not call for a political solution within a unitary state. Delhi’s foreign policy establishment dominated by the South Block though skeptical on Rajapakse intentions misled the naïve political leadership into ruling out Rajapakse reneging on his commitments to Delhi. Rajapakses outclassed Delhi on the diplomatic front by getting Delhi deeply involved in SL’s war for the stain of the SL genocide to smear Delhi’s image as well. Hence though Mahinda Rajapakse openly acknowledged and expressed gratitude for Delhi’s support for SL, he had a Gothabhaya Rajapakse taunting Delhi with the trio ‘in the loop’ line whenever the excesses in the war issue surfaced. This effectively implies that there was the Delhi trio’s involvement in those excesses now the subject for Ban’s panel on SL’s war crimes. Is this SL's cunning dual track diplomacy or the action(s) of those without any scruples?

Rajapakses now no longer speaks of a merged North and East, a key feature in the Indo-SL Accord and the 13th Amendment; instead he only refers to the North, undermining the historical reality of the ‘Tamil homelands’. The Rajapakses and the Delhi South Block have an agreed position on this; to undermine the TN DMK government’s Tamil champion credentials electorally as also another consenting party to erasing the 'Tamil homelands in SL. The embarassment to TN DMK also has the potential to de-stabilse the UPA government in Delhi as well. Once mainstream Tamils who are basically Pro-Eelam are convinced of this massive DMK/Congress betrayal of Tamil interests, alienation of TN Tamils is likely to become irreversible. The Rajapakses relish such outcomes, neutralising TN and Delhi importing SL’s destructive divisive culture into India to compete for membership of the notorious Colombo club that had China as a Gold class member already. The Rajapakses and SL regimes unlike Delhi thrive on divisive politics. This invited a reputable analyst Nateri Adigal to question the Delhi South Block bureaucrats, is ‘Tamil Nadu being forced to go the Eelam way’, Merinews, 8 October 2008.
The Rajapakses antics did not stop with these. On the war crimes, SL used the ‘in the loop’ taunt to embarrass Delhi. Colombo assisted by the South Block bureaucrats effectively dragged India deep into SL’s war crimes mud pool. Palitha Kohona, SL’s Representative in the UN deceptively obtained the signature from the NAM Chair (Egypt) who though embarrassed, soon after disowned that signature to a letter to Ban opposing the UN expert panel and supporting SL. NAM was not in session. This deceptive letter was most damaging to the image of NAM and its members (India included). Yet SL (Palitha) still crows that the 118 members NAM supports SL on Ban’s expert panel issue. The South Block’s muted response disassociating India from that letter has not erased fully the damage to India’s image. Delhi’s support for the UNHRC May 2009 resolution commending SL’s conduct in the war in retrospect came close to Delhi’s abdicating its high human rights moral ground to the West, appeasing and intimately associating with SL as a genocide/terrorist state and its massacres and ethnic cleansing. SL with a reputation tattered by its massacres of tens of thousands and interning of hundreds of thousands civilians behind barb wire fences camps was desperate to farm out its tattered image. It found a willing partner in the South Block Delhi that also contributed the most to the destruction of the life safety shield (Tamil militants) of the Eelam Tamils in the May 2009 massacres. India’s dharmic image was also to some degree tattered by this.

The joint statement at the close of President Rajapakse’s June 2010 visit to Delhi had PM Manmohan Singh’s categorical reference to building on the 13th Amendment to ‘create the necessary conditions for a lasting settlement’ but Rajapakse after omitting any reference to the 13th Amendment, reiterated instead to ‘his determination to evolve a political settlement acceptable to all communities ..creating the necessary conditions in which all the people of Sri Lanka could lead their lives in an atmosphere of peace, justice and dignity consistent with democracy, pluralism ...’.

There is an obvious parting of the ways between Delhi and Colombo over resolving the Tamil issue in SL, post LTTE. Rajapakse now free of the formidable LTTE has no inhibitions in delivering his message to Delhi more assertively. No more of the India imposed Indo-Sri Lanka Accord (1978) and the 13th Amendment plus or minus, instead; ‘..We will take our own time and find the solution, you can’t ask for an instant solution like instant noodles…’. Instead just await Rajapakse’s vague ‘homegrown’ solution. SL ‘militarily defeated the LTTE using their own (home grown) plan and strategy’ and SL will now bring ‘a political solution to the ethnic conflict in our own way’. The 13th Amendment gave ‘.. some measure of credibility to India as Sri Lanka’s superpower neighbour’ but Delhi lost that when it lost the LTTE leverage that gave birth to it in 1978. Now post LTTE SL also has China a friendly superpower on site in India’s soft underbelly. This should remind readers of the 'crying wolf' adage. The China factor invented/used by the South Block as a debating point to justify Delhi's SL appeasement policy, Rajapakse made it a reality to become an effective weapon to blackmail Delhi. Is there anyone in the South Block to atone for this blunder?

The Rajapakses set aside the interim proposals of the APRC (a body appointed by Rajapakse) in favour of the 13th Amendment before. Now the 13th Amendment perceived as an Indian solution is jettisoned in favour of another vague ‘our own home grown’ solution. The difference; the LTTE is no more and with the ‘winner takes all’ (Palitha Kohona) rationale Rajapakse is for a solution for a SL minus the ‘Tamil homelands’. This would require the SL genocide to continue to conclusion and (ethnic) cleanse sufficient number of Tamils to erase ‘Tamil homelands’ demographically. According to the enlightened and humane international community this is genocide involving ethnic cleansing; again crimes against humanity. How long will Delhi isolate itself from mainstream international initiatives on such ‘crimes against humanity’? Delhi’s silence in the face of SL’s plans to Sinhalise the Tamil homelands by Indian dharmic standards are adharmic. Has a secular Delhi jettisoned all its dharmic underpinnings?

So much for ‘the dharmic good’ the South Block earned for Delhi at tremendous costs. The South Block needs to remind Rajapakse that his key ‘unitary’ concept itself is not ‘home grown’. It came to SL with the independence constitution; it is not an inflexible, or straight jacket concept; it accomodates sufficient multi-ethnicity devolution without undermining the unity of any country leave alone SL. Rajapakse crowing much about 'home grown' solutions is purely to buy time to complete SL genocide; hence his another back to the drawing boards proposal. Will Delhi and the South Block continue to appease Colombo further and go along with SL and its highly immoral genocide? Delhi’s 13th Amendment accommodates both the unity of SL and the linguistic aspirations of linguistic minorities, the foundation on which stands a united India. Hasn’t Delhi the moral courage to stand up for the merits in the 13th Amendment and against SL continuing the genocide on the Tamils for its SL minus ‘Tamil homelands’ vision.

The world has moved forward in recognizing the role of state terrorism in giving birth to and nurturing armed militancy fighting state terrorism; militancy fighting state terrorism being of a distinct category not in the class of the Jihardi terrorists. With the LTTE totally defeated and no more a threat to SL, the international community reckons that SL's state terrorism is a bigger menace that is committing crimes that the international community views needs to be effectively checked. Will Delhi also change now and support the UNHRC office, the UN and the international community on measures to restraint SL from committing more ‘crimes against humanity’? A re-think by Delhi of its appeasement of SL policy will free it from the predicament that the South Block policies led India into.

The South Block’s far too contrived strategic interest rationale to justify Delhi’s disastrous appeasement policies contributed the most to Delhi's predicament especially when the conduct of SL is under serious international review. Morally such politico-economic interests high jacking the moral underpinnings in the Indian psyche to allow Delhi overlooking SL’s genocide crimes is morally untenable. Delhi is morally obliged after destroying the protective shield(LTTE) that Eelam Tamils had, to join the international community in discouraging SL from continuing to unleash state terrorism/genocide on a weak and defenseless people and support the UN war crimes initiatives. These are bound to elevate India's standing as champion of the universal dharmic 'good' for the benefit of humanity.

why it was necessary for delhi to have protective shield (LTTE) of Eelam Tamils ? if ltte demands for freedom of tamil regions from Sri Lanka have been mate wont it have demand same in future for the freedom of tamilnadu from india.Sri Lanka freed of ltte is it going to attack us or our economical assets. if delhi is smart enough and do not bow to to please various tamil parties then it can easily cultivate good relationship with Sri Lanka. ltte haed was itself responsible for its loss. if in past ltte chief had accepted various plan as well as din`t kill ant of the other leaders then today result would have been something different . he wanted to live like king in his area

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/c...ow/6212129.cms

Indian Bank plans branch in Jaffna
TNN, Jul 25, 2010, 12.46am IST

CHENNAI: The city-based Indian Bank is planning to open a branch in Jaffna in Sri Lanka. "Talks are in an advanced stage at the moment," chairman and managing director TM Bhasin said. A couple of months back, the bank had sent representatives to the region to evaluate the possibility of setting up a branch. Indian Bank already has a branch in Colombo and it is also looking at the possibility of opening a branch in Kandy as well as a representative office in Jakarta in Indonesia, he said.

The bank's net profit during the first quarter, ending June 2010, grew by 11% to touch Rs 368.15 crore. CASA (current account saving account) deposit as a percentage of the total deposits of the bank recorded a growth of 33.34% in the first quarter of the fiscal as against 30.39% during the corresponding period last year. In keeping with the focus of raising low-cost deposits, the bank has launched a supreme current account with a health cover.

Indian Bank's total business during the April-June quarter recorded a year-on-year growth of 24% to touch Rs 1,59,027 crore (Rs 1,28,700 crore). Of this, deposits accounted for Rs 91,000 crore, with advances constituting the remainder. The credit deposit(CD) ratio of the bank stood stood at 74.8% for the period ending June 30, as against 67.8% for the corresponding period in 2009.

While the net interest income of the bank rose by 25.6% on a year-on-year basis to touch Rs 926.65 crore in the first quarter of the fiscal, core non-interest income witnessed a growth of 54.4% during the same period to touch Rs 257.79 crore. While the bank's capital adequacy ratio (CRAR) stood at 12.5% during the same period, the ration of net non-performing assets (NPA) to net advances was at 0.76%.

"We have shifted to identifying NPAs through the online CBS (core banking solution) which would enable the bank track all NPAs and special mention accounts on a day-to-day basis," Bhasin said. "The accounts under the NPA category would be generated from the head office and the relevant branch office and circle office under which these accounts fall would be asked to push for recovery. Otherwise, a lot of time is wasted in identifying NPA accounts," said Bhasin.

With base rate coming into play, Indian Bank is planning to reprice its loans totalling Rs 6,000 crore which where under the bank's base rate of 8%. As per the RBI guidelines, banks cannot charge below the base rate for loans.