Sri Lanka Watch, News and Discussions

[I-G]

Sri Lanka troops find Tiger submarine: Military
Updated on Sunday, July 19, 2009, 14:00 IST Colombo: Sri Lankan troops have recovered a submarine-type craft built by Tamil Tiger guerrillas in an area where they fought their final battle two months ago, the military said on Sunday.

The craft was found on Saturday submerged about 500 metres (yards) off the coast of Vellamullivaikal in the district of Mullaittivu, the Army said in a statement.

"Based on information provided by an informant... the submersible was found and brought ashore with the help of Army divers," the statement said.

Sri Lanka's Navy has already begun investigations into the naval capability of the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels to establish how they acquired the technology and supplies, a military official said.

Several submersible devices had been found by the military in the run up to the final defeat of the Tamil Tigers on May 18 with the killing of the entire Tiger leadership at Vellamullivaikal.

The Tigers had a sea going unit known as the Sea Tigers and had sunk several naval craft as well as merchant ships off the island's northeast coast.

Last week, troops uncovered one of their biggest hauls of weapons and explosives since the defeat of the rebels.

Troops found 332 roadside bombs in Mullaittivu where Tamil Tiger supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed. The bombs weighing more than a tonne constituted the largest haul of explosives found this year.

Sri Lanka's former army chief General Sarath Fonseka announced on Wednesday that the government had scrapped a USD 200-million ammunition order from China after the defeat of the Tigers.

"We had ordered about USD 200 million of heavy ammunition from China," Fonseka told local reporters after taking office as the new chief of defence staff. "There is no need for such ammunition any more."

Sri Lanka relied heavily on China and Pakistan for mortar bombs and ammunition for multi-barrel rocket launchers in the battle against the Tigers

Sri Lanka : Troops find Tiger submarine

 

[I-G]

'Sri Lanka not to prosecute LTTE child soldiers'

Updated on Monday, July 20, 2009, 13:48 IST

Colombo: In a humanitarian gesture to Tamils, Sri Lanka has said that child soldiers recruited by the LTTE would not be prosecuted, and instead made to go to schools.

The gesture was announced by the President Mahinda Rajapaksa, who said, "Our hearts are not vicious. We will not prosecute children who are 12, 13 and 14 years of age and were forced to take up arms."

"We need to integrate them into society after rehabilitation," he said.

The President pointed out that the LTTE denied education to young children in the North and East by recruiting them as combatants to fight a "useless" war.

Rajapaksa was speaking in the holy town of Mahiyangana in Badulla District in the Uva Province on Saturday and he recalled that when the children in the South studied, the LTTE made the young in the North carry T-56 weapons.

He said the government has released all persons of 60 years of age and above in the IDP camps. The remaining 40,000 refugees are children.

"We have freed all those who are 60 years of age and above. We told them to go to their relatives," he said. "If I was at an IDP camp, then I would be freed too," Rajapaksa quipped.

Rajapaksa said he will not let the Internally Displaced Persons to remain in the welfare centres for long.

Stating that the island government has taken the basic steps to resettle the displaced people, he said it will commence as soon as the demining is completed.

"As a responsible government we are currently providing all the basic needs to the IDPs including all the facilities," Rajapaksa said.

He pointed out that nearly 40,000 children in the IDP camps are now holding school bags and text books instead of T-56 guns forcibly heaped on them by the LTTE in the past.

Last week, Rajapaksa had told UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon on the sidelines of the NAM Summit in Egypt that the displaced Tamil persons in Wanni would not be kept in the relief camps in the north for longer than necessary.

Rajapaksa said though it was only eight weeks since the liberation of the Tamil civilians from the LTTE was achieved, the Government was moving quickly to ameliorate the lot of the people there.

He said the land mines in the former LTTE areas were being cleared and proper infrastructure facilities would be set up for the proper rehabilitation of the people.

With regard to reconciliation, Rajapaksa told Ban this was a priority of the Government, and that work had already been initiated in this regard with the All Party Committee of Development and Reconciliation.

Sri Lanka not to prosecute LTTE child soldiers: Rajapaksa

 

[I-G]

‘Canada was among the top nations that funded LTTE’

Updated on Thursday, July 23, 2009, 13:41 IST

Toronto: Prior to its defeat at the hands of the Sri Lankan security forces, the LTTE received a whopping up to 12 million dollars annually through its fundraising activities in Canada, home to a large number of Tamils.

"Canada was one of the top sources of funding for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers rebels, providing up to 12 million (Canadian) dollars a year," the 'National Post' newspaper reported citing a secret intelligence report.

The funds received by the LTTE were mostly contributed by the large Canadian-Tamil population, it said.

Classified as 'Secret' and titled 'LTTE Threat to Canada', the intelligence report said the Canadian Tamil community was among the LTTE's largest sources of funds, having contributed up to 10 to 12 million dollars annually in past years.

"A copy of the report was released to the (National) Post under the Access to Information Act and was written last June, during the final months of a decisive Sri Lankan military offensive," the newspaper said.

Slain LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran's sister Vinothini and her husband Bala Rajendran also reside in Canada.

On whether he approved of the massive protest rallies organised by the LTTE sympathisers in Toronto where he and his family reside, the 67-year-old Rajenderan had told 'Globe and Mail' newspaper recently that "personally, I don't like these people going and blocking the roads".

?Canada was among the top nations that funded LTTE?

 

[RPK]

Rights body slams IMF loan to Sri Lanka

COLOMBO — Human rights campaigners on Thursday described a 2.5 billion dollar loan to Sri Lanka by the International Monetary Fund as "a reward for bad behavior".

Human Rights Watch said the IMF should have set conditions on the loan, including demands that the Sri Lankan government help re-settle nearly 300,000 Tamil civilians being held in tightly guarded camps.

"The IMF needs to change its approach," Brad Adams, Asia director of HRW, said. "The IMF board of governors should make the release of each new tranche of funds contingent on tangible human rights progress."

"To approve a loan, especially 600 million dollars more than Colombo even asked for, while they have hundreds of thousands of people penned up in these camps is a reward for bad behaviour."

The loan was delayed after the United States, Britain and other countries said the government was not doing enough to avoid civilian casualties at the height of fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels.

Sri Lanka crushed the Tigers -- who had been fighting to carve out a separate state for minority Tamils since 1972 -- in May.

The island's central bank chief Nivard Cabraal welcomed the proposed loan as a much-needed positive signal to investors.

If approved by the board on Friday as scheduled, Sri Lanka would be eligible to draw about 313 million dollars immediately.

 

[RPK]

Sri Lanka sets 6-month timeline

PHUKET: For the first time, Sri Lanka has set a six-month timeline for rehabilitating Tamils displaced by the recently ended conflict between its armed forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.

Asked when the time limit for resettling the internally displaced persons began, Minister for Foreign Affairs Rohitha Bogollagama said, “a month has gone” and wanted the global community to appreciate that the war had ended less than two months back.

“It has been eight weeks [since the war ended],” he said after emerging from a meeting with External Affairs Minister S. M. Krishna, on the sidelines of a conference organised by the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Mr. Bogollagama said the devolution of power to Tamils of Sri Lankan origin was part of the Constitution, and its implementation was part of the healing process, now that the more than two-decade-old conflict had ended.

The government was sharing the progress made in the rehabilitation process and its ideas about the pace of the devolution of power with the entire polity of Sri Lanka, through the All Parties Representative Committee, which could be reshaped to make it even more broad-based.

“We speak in one voice”


“We share a warm and unique relationship and we speak in one voice,” said Mr. Bogollagama, and the sentiment was reciprocated by Mr. Krishna.

His observations come days after Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told Parliament that India’s relationship with Sri Lanka hinged on its treatment of its Tamils.

 

[venom]

Sri Lanka stops arms deal with China: official

COLOMBO (AFP) — Sri Lanka scrapped a 200 million dollar ammunition order from China following the defeat of Tamil Tiger rebels two months ago, a senior military official said Wednesday.

General Sarath Fonseka said the order was cancelled because there was no need to stock ammunition for heavy guns after routing the leadership of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May.

"We had ordered about 200 million dollars of heavy ammunition from China," Fonseka told local reporters after taking office as the new chief of defence staff. "There is no need for such ammunition any more."

He said the order would have been enough for three to four months of use -- based on the intensity of the final stages of the conflict.

Sri Lanka relied heavily on China and Pakistan for mortar bombs and ammunition for multi-barrel rocket launchers in the battle against the Tigers.

The general did not say if any deals with Pakistan had been cancelled.

Fonseka, who is credited with crushing the LTTE, is now heading a new post formulating strategy and advising the government on weapons procurement.

But, despite the end of nearly four decades of fighting with the Tamil Tigers, the military has announced plans to recruit another 40,000 to 50,000 troops within a year.

The military had already enlisted 80,000 troops in the past two years, boosting army numbers to 200,000.

In the past three years, the army placed its losses at about 6,200 killed and nearly 30,000 wounded. The military said it killed 22,000 Tiger rebels during the same period.

Fonseka said India was sending around 500 de-miners to clear the former rebel-held areas while 800 former Tamil Tiger rebels who defected to the government side five years ago had formally been absorbed into the army.

AFP: Sri Lanka stops arms deal with China: official

 

[venom]

India Blocks Chinese Advances

July 23, 2009: India is eager to regain Sri Lanka as a customer for defense products. During the two decades of civil war in Sri Lanka, with the Tamil minority seeking to partition the island, India was in a difficult position, Most Tamils live in the south Indian state of Tamil Nadu, and Tamil politicians generally backed the Sri Lankan Tamils. This made it difficult for India to supply all the weapons Sri Lanka wanted. So Sri Lanka sought arms from other sources, and the two that were most willing were rivals of India; Pakistan and China.

India did not cut off Sri Lanka entirely. Many Indians backed Sri Lanka's effort to maintain itself as a unified state. After all, the Tamil rebels in Sri Lanka, the LTTE, were big fans of terrorism and assassination. One of their victims had been a former Indian prime minister. So India was able to assist Sri Lanka to halt LTTE weapons smuggling. This was done by increasing naval patrols between India and Sri Lanka, and seeking out and arresting LTTE agents in India. When Sri Lanka needed air defense radars and patrol boats, in a hurry, India came through. India also sold them two warships. Early on in the civil war, India sent several thousand peacekeepers. But this backfired when the LTTE turned on them. But now India is making a major effort to be a good neighbor and potential arms supplier. Recently, India sent 500 army engineers to help clear LTTE mines from northern Sri Lanka. Seemingly in response, Sri Lanka has cancelled $200 million in weapons orders from Pakistan and China. But Sri Lanka says, with some justification, that this is more the result of the LTTE having been defeated earlier this year. Sri Lanka no longer needs all those weapons and ammunition.

Sri Lanka is also aware that India is alarmed at the growth of Chinese naval power, and Chinese efforts to establish bases in the Indian ocean. Most of China's oil imports pass through the Indian ocean, as do many Chinese exports. It was thought that China's eagerness to help Sri Lanka was part of this strategy, and that here were hopes that Sri Lanka would allow Chinese warships to operate out of Sri Lanka. India will go a long way to stop that from happening, and Sri Lanka appears willing to let India demonstrate an eagerness to please. Sri Lanka would rather have warm relations with India, than get caught in the middle of an Indo-Chinese struggle for control of the Indian Ocean.

Procurement: India Blocks Chinese Advances

 

[Pintu]

http://ptinews.com/news/191829_India-signs-agreement-to-rebuild-north-Sri-Lanka

India signs agreement to rebuild north Sri Lanka

STAFF WRITER 15:4 HRS IST

Colombo, July 24 (PTI) India will help rebuild public and private infrastructure in war-ravaged Tamil-dominated northern Sri Lanka and has signed an agreement under which latest technology will be used for mass-scale construction there.

The pact will cover construction of buildings and utilities under the massive rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the north, a statement by the Construction and Engineering Services Ministry of Sri Lanka said today.

The agreement between the Ministry's construction sector arm ICTAD and India's Construction Industry Development Council (a collaboration of government of India and the Indian construction industry) was signed in the presence of Construction Minister Rajitha Senaratne on Wednesday.

The Indian Council, a New Delhi-based national institute on building and construction, will assist in the local building and construction works.

 

[I-G]

Senior LTTE intelligence operative arrested


Colombo (PTI): A top LTTE intelligence operative was nabbed by the authorities on Tuesday from the national capital along with high explosives, months after the group was annihilated by Sri Lankan Army.

Pakyaraja Pradeep, a prominent LTTE member, was arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) and when overpowered was carrying cyanide capsules.

The intelligence officials are questioning the man whether he was in the capital to carry out any suicide attack.

When caught, Pradeep was found to be carrying 7.5 kg of square bombs containing high explosives which could be detonated by remote control or a mobile phone, officials said.

A resident of the capital, who apparently sheltered the LTTE leader was also taken into custody. Later on information provided by the resident, who was not named, the intelligence officials recovered 10 suicide vests.

Meanwhile, the officers of Vavuniya police on patrol duty at Purvarisomkulam junction, on Tuesday zeroed in on a suspicious motor cycle, the Defence Ministry said.

While the person riding pillion managed to escape, the police found a foreign made hand bomb from the rider's trouser pocket. A cyanide capsule was also worn around his neck.

The motor cycle apprehended was revealed to be a stolen one, the ministry said, adding that the police are conducting further investigations.

The Hindu News Update Service

 

[I-G]

'LTTE attempting to reorganize, rescue hardcore cadres'
PTI 3 August 2009, 02:01pm IST


COLOMBO: The LTTE could be attempting to revive the organisation amid efforts by the defeated terror group to rescue hardcore cadres housed in government-run refugees camps for Tamil civilians in Sri Lanka's northern Vavuniya district, a top minister has said.

Defence minister Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said though the LTTE had been military crushed, attempts were being made to rescue hardcore fighters who are living in the refuge camps in the Vavuniya region. He warned that this could be part of an overall strategy to revive the organisation, which was crushed by the military in May.

In an interview with The Sunday Island, the minister, who is the brother of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksha, said that an organised campaign had been launched to free terrorists from refugee camps before army and police investigators, now engaged in a systematic screening process, closed in on them.

Gotabhaya vowed that the government would not allow the LTTE to reverse the military victory achieved at a huge cost to the nation.

He pointed out that ordinary civilians would never make an attempt to flee refugee camps as the government, with the support of some international agencies, had provided adequate facilities for them.

The civilians were displaced in the final months of fighting in the nation's quarter-century civil war between the government, dominated by the Sinhalese majority, and the Tamil Tiger rebels, fighting for a separate state for the Tamil minority.

'LTTE attempting to reorganize, rescue hardcore cadres' - South Asia - World - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[1.44]

Sri Lanka to increase diplomatic strength in China
​

Sri Lanka is set to increase its diplomatic strength in China to project itself better and further the special relationship between the two countries, foreign minister, Rohitha Bogollagama said on Tuesday.

At a meeting with visiting vice-governor of the Yunan province, Gao Feng, Bogollagama said that Sri Lanka was keen to increase its diplomatic representation in China. He said: "Following the setting up of the Consulate in Shanghai, Sri Lanka was also planning to open another consulate in Chengdu by October this year."

The announcement comes at a time when a keen India has promised Sri Lanka every kind of help in its post-war reconstruction in the north. India has already announced a Rs 500 crore aid package for Sri Lanka. It is also helping Sri Lanka in a number of smaller projects like setting up of a road rail project in the east.

During the discussions, Foreign Minister Bogollagama referred to the special relationship shared by Sri Lanka and China and stated that it was a special “friendship between a small country and a big country”.

He appreciated the support extended by China to Sri Lanka in various international and multilateral fora and recorded the assistance rendered by China for Sri Lanka’s infrastructure developments such as roads, electricity among others.

China is also building a port for Sri Lanka at the southern coastal town of Hambantota, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s hometown.

Bogollagama also requested Feng to consider operating flights from China to Sri Lanka in order to promote tourism between the two counties and assured the support of Sri Lanka in order to achieve this objective.
Sri Lanka to increase diplomatic strength in China- Hindustan Times

 

[RPK]

Picking up the pieces in Sri Lanka

It is an iconic image on cartons and boxes of tea in thousands of stores and supermarket. The smiling woman tea picker up country in the tea plantations of Sri Lanka.

The reality is naturally different, as plantation managers readily agree. The life of the tea picker is hard. Their living conditions are poor and they are paid approximately £2 a day.

One of the few advantages is working in a spectacularly beautiful part of the world. The air in the central hill country where the tea grows is often cool and the mountains carpeted by tea plants and jasmine, shrouded in mist.


There are 300,000 tea pickers in Sri Lanka and most are Tamils. Many were originally from the state of Tamil Nadu in India and were brought over by the British more than a century ago to work in the plantations usually under managers from the Sinhalese majority. The British have gone but the Sinhala-Tamil relationship has remained.

Moderate Tamil leaders hoped that many of the pickers would be able to vote in this week's regional elections. However, there is now deep concern that many Tamils have been disenfranchised by their failure to acquire a government ID card.

Identity battle

Mano Ganeshan is an MP and Leader of the Western People's Front, a Tamil opposition party. He claims many thousands of Tamils have not been granted government ID cards and therefore cannot vote in this week's important poll.



Politicians campaign on the streets of St James estate plantation village
"In the last election there were 250,000 Tamil voters in the (central) Nuwara-eliya district, the government agent said that 75,000 people didn't have ID cards," he says.

Mr Ganeshan believed the situation was little different today and claimed that Tamils had been deliberately deprived of the cards.

We visited the St James tea plantation outside the town of Badulla and spoke to tea pickers there. One estate worker claimed that almost a quarter of the 900 adults in the village could not obtain ID cards.

"They [the government] have a mobile service that issues ID cards but it hasn't been here for two years. There are people who've lived here for over 30 years who haven't got a vote card," he says.

A spokesman for the Sri Lankan government dismissed Mr Ganeshan's allegations that there was a deliberate move to deny Tamils the vote. The government insists voters do not need an ID card to vote and that other credible forms of identification were adequate.

Government failure

There are around four million Tamils in Sri Lanka, or 20% of the total population. For decades, they have complained of being treated as second class citizens at the hands of the Sinhalese majority.


Politicians on all side are all too well aware that the failure by previous governments to address the legitimate grievances of Tamils when they were being expressed peacefully in the 1950s and 1960s led ultimately to the creation of the Tamil Tigers and the explosion of violence in the 1980s.

Recently, the country's head of state, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told interviewers he was keen not to repeat past mistakes.

"The demand of a separate [Tamil] state was created because of the discrimination," he said.

"When the Tamils tried to work through parliamentary means - peaceful means - they were pushed to take up arms. Although terrorists are defeated, the reasons for the foundations for the Tamil separatist struggle still remain intact."

 

[RPK]

Kilinochchi Collector held for suspected LTTE links

COLOMBO: The Sri Lankan police have detained the Kilinochchi District Government Agent (District Collector), Nagalingam Vethanayagam, on suspicion of links with the LTTE.

Sri Lankan Police media spokesman Ranjith D.A. Gunasekera told The Hindu that Mr. Vethanayagam is being questioned by a team of Terrorist Investigation Department on the basis of information provided by one of the Tiger cadres.

“It is early to comment on the nature of the case. At the moment no charges have been framed,” Mr. Gunasekera said.

Reporting on the incident, TamilNet said the Kilinochchi District Government Agent (GA) was abducted on Thursday night by a group of persons from his temporary residence in Vavuniya.

“On Friday, the Sri Lankan Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) informed Mr. Vethanayagam’s family that he has been arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and that he has been taken to Colombo for further inquiries.

“The persons who took him into custody at his temporary residence also removed many official files. His official vehicle and several files were handed over to his sub-office in Vavuniya on Friday. Vethanayagam had returned to his government quarters in Vavuniya on Thursday evening after official work,” the web site said.

Meanwhile, “Physicians for Human Rights” (PHR) have demanded the immediate release of the three Sri Lankan doctors in detention.

The government doctors, who were working in make-shift hospitals in the area under control of the LTTE before the military decimated the Tiger leaders and cadres on May 19, in a recent government-organised press conference, had admitted to providing wrong information to a section of the media from the war zone at the behest of the LTTE.

In a statement, the PHR said it was deeply concerned about the arrest and incommunicado detention of three of its Sri Lankan colleagues — Thangamutha Sathiyamoorthy, Regional Director of Health Services in Kilinochchi, V. Shanmugarajah, Medical Superintendent at Mullivaaykkaal Field Hospital and Thurairaja Varatharajah, Regional Director of Health Services in Mullaithivu.

Transportation


Separately, the government announced on Sunday that the public transportation services in Jaffna had commenced with 175 passengers boarding four buses from Jaffna to Medawachchiya in the morning.

“The Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) has initially deployed four buses with more buses to be added to the fleet shortly. A price of a one-way ticket is Rs.475. Additional transportation services are being introduced from Medawachchiya to Colombo for the convenient of the passengers.

The GA of Jaffna, G.A. Ganesh said the bus service would be expanded further and an uninterrupted daily bus service on the Jaffna-Medawachchiya route would be operated from Monday. A group of 200 passengers will arrive in Colombo from Jaffna on Monday on the newly introduced bus service.

Local media quoted former Prime Minister and the Opposition Leader, Ranil Wickremesinghe, as charging the government with deliberately keeping nearly 2.5 lakh war-displaced inside the camps in the north.

Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe said the government was committed to its programme of resettling 80 per cent of the IDPs by December.

“The government has launched the 180-day resettlement programme and will stick to it,” he said.

In the Letter of Intent (LoI) with the IMF, the government also reiterated its aims to resettle 70 to 80 per cent of the Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) by the end of the year. “The government has moved quickly to develop a post-war reconstruction plan. The immediate priority is addressing humanitarian needs of the estimated 2,80,000 IDPs,” the LoI said.

Mr. Wickremesinghe was quoted as saying that there was no objection to the government’s statement that it wanted to identify the LTTE members in the camps. “The security forces have said there are around 10,000 LTTE members, of whom about 9,000 have been identified. If this is so, why can’t the rest of the families be released? Why are you holding them,” he asked.

Media groups’ plea


In another development, eight media organisations have jointly requested the Minister of Media and Information for an open discussion on the reactivation of the Press Council accusing the government of going back on its promises for media freedom.

In a letter to Minister Anura Priyadharshana Yapa, the organisations maintained that the objective of the government to establish the right of journalists to access information as well as to raise their professional standard by reactivating the Press Council was not believable as the Press Council has the powers to impose penalty on newspaper publishers.

“Ensuring media freedom and improving the professional standards of journalists should not be done by enforcing the Press Council Law, but by repealing the law and introducing a suitable alternative mechanism,” the letter said.

The organisations stated that one cannot take steps to provide welfare for journalists at the same time while laws to penalise them prevail.

 

[RPK]

Sri Lanka deaths probe demanded

The campaign group, Human Rights Watch, (HRW) has called for an international investigation into the killing of 17 aid workers Sri Lanka three years ago.

A government inquiry after the killings failed to identify the killers.

The group accused the government of grossly mishandling the investigation into the deaths of local employees of the Action Against Hunger group.

HRW said that an international inquiry was needed into the murders. Sixteen of the victims were ethnic Tamils.

At the time of the killings, European truce monitors said that they believed troops were involved, but the government's own inquiry said the military was not responsible.

The military was engaged in heavy fighting with Tamil Tiger rebels in the region at the time.

'Traumatising'

"For three years since the massacre, the Rajapaksa government has put on an elaborate song and dance to bedazzle the international community into believing justice is being done," said James Ross, legal and policy director at Human Rights Watch.

"It's time the UN and concerned governments say 'the show is over' and put into place a serious international inquiry.

"Instead of doing all it can to get justice for this horrific crime, the Sri Lankan government is further traumatising the victims' families by trying to shift the blame to others."

A presidential commission of inquiry last month publicly announced its findings in the case, which exonerated the Sri Lankan army and navy for the killings.

But HRW says that this report was based primarily on "limited witness testimony" from people who said that the armed forces were not in the vicinity at the time.

The commission blamed the killings on either the Tamil Tigers or auxiliary police known as home guards. Its full report to President Mahinda Rajapaksa remains unpublished.

 

[RPK]

AFP: Sri Lanka slammed over polls media blackout


COLOMBO — Global press freedom group Reporters Without Borders voiced outrage Thursday over Sri Lanka's ban on independent media covering local polls just outside the island's former war zone.

The organisation said Sri Lanka's decision to allow only journalists from state-run media into the cities of Jaffna and Vavuniya, both near the Wanni region which was wrested from Tamil rebel control in May, was wrong.

"It is unacceptable that the government should impose such a ban (on independent journalists) on nothing more than the vaguest security grounds," Paris-based Reporters Without Borders said in an emailed statement.

"As well as violating the population?s fundamental rights by preventing them from circulating freely, this measure dashes any hope of a transparent election."

Jaffna and Vavuniya municipal councils go to the polls on Saturday. The vote does not cover areas recently captured from the Tiger guerrillas but travelling to both areas requires permission from defence authorities.

Officials confirmed that requests from independent media to travel to the region had been turned down on "security considerations." The military and the state-run media have their own journalists in the areas.

Jaffna was taken back from rebel control in December 1995 and several elections have been held there since.

The government claimed victory over the Tamil Tiger rebels in May after killing the top leadership of the separatist movement which had been fighting since 1972.

However, journalists and aid workers are still not allowed free access to the former rebel-held areas or to some 300,000 civilians who escaped the fighting, but are now held in state-run camps.

"The government continues to violate press freedom while journalists are attacked with complete impunity, and both local and foreign newspapers are often censored," Reporters Without Borders said.

 

[I-G]

LTTE trying to regroup under new leader: Sri Lanka PM

Colombo (PTI): Warning that the LTTE was trying to regroup under a new leader, Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake on Thursday said any plot to create law and order problems in the country will be dealt firmly.

Without naming LTTE's new leader Selvarasa Pathmanathan directly, Mr. Wickremanayake told the Parliament that "another person was trying to mobilise the LTTE cadres to regroup" and that it would be dealt firmly.

Vowing to pursue its campaign for Tamil Eelam, the LTTE last month named alleged arms smuggler Pathmanathan alias KP as its new leader to succeed the slain tiger supremo Velupillai Prabakaran who was killed in May.

The announcement came amid reports that differences have cropped up among the few remaining LTTE leaders who are based abroad. It was also not clear whether the huge Tamil diaspora will back 54-year-old Pathmanathan.

Mr. Wickremanayake pledged to root out any remnants of tiger rebel militancy after the defeat of the LTTE.

"We will eradicate the germs that may still be there from the decades of LTTE terrorism", the Sri Lankan Prime Minister said, adding, there could still be some "remnant germs" of the militancy that had plagued the country for nearly three decades.

"We will finish these remaining germs", he said, adding, the authorities had received information from the Vavuniya camp housing over 2.6 lakh Tamil IDPs that the LTTE cadres were trying to regroup.

Mr. Wickremanayake said it was necessary to extend emergency in the country to meet with such challenges.

The separatist outfit, which was virtually annihilated by Sri Lankan troops three months ago in a statement had said that it will "modify" the strategies of its "struggle" but will continue to work for a "free Tamil Eelam".

The LTTE has also threatened to hold elections for its so called "transnational government" amongst the Tamil diaspora.

Visuvanathan Rudrakumaran, the "coordinator of the committee for the formation of provisional Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE)" claimed the elections would be held next year.

"We envisage a transnational government (TG) that does not require a host state. This government will be elected by the Tamil diaspora. There is no precedent of a TG created by an ethnic group", Rudrakumar had said in an interview.

The Hindu News Update Service

 

[Sridhar]

80 more Indians fly to Sri Lanka to clear landmines

IANS 2 August 2009, 01:33pm IST Print Email Discuss Bookmark/Share Save Comment Text Size: |

NEW DELHI: Over 80 former Indian soldiers have left for Sri Lanka following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers to join Indians already there in
clearing thousands of buried landmines.

The new group has teamed up with compatriots working since 2003, mainly in the northern districts of Mannar and Vavuniya, in defusing mines laid by both the military and the Tigers during their prolonged conflict.

While 50 of the latest batch of Indians are attached to the Pune-based Horizon Group, 32 are from Sarvatra Technical Consultants, a company that is based in Gurgaon, Haryana. Sarvatra will send 32 more men.

Both are led by retired Indian Army officers who are proud of what they have achieved so far and are keen to help Sri Lanka now that it is engaged in post-war construction.

"It has been a wonderful opportunity," Horizon chief and retired Major General Shashikant Pitre told IANS over telephone from Pune, referring to the de-mining work.

"We are happy that we have been able to contribute to the building of Sri Lanka," added retired Major General Prem K. Puri, the director (operations) of Sarvatra.

Both Pitre and Puri said that Basil Rajapaksa, advisor to his brother and President Mahinda Rajapaksa, was immensely happy with the work the Indians were doing.

Sri Lanka is one of the world's most heavily mined areas. There are no precise estimates about the number of mines the military and the LTTE buried in the island's north and east over the past quarter century.

The mines have killed and maimed thousands -- Tamils, Sinhalese, Muslims et al.

From 2003, Horizon and Sarvatra have been funded by Norway in the de-mining operations in the wake of an Oslo-brokered ceasefire. Although the truce later collapsed, the de-mining work did not halt.

The Indians were not the only ones clearing mines. Nearly a dozen companies were engaged in the task including one from Denmark. The Sri Lankan military is also now defusing mines in a big way.

Besides Mannar and Vavuniya, the Indian companies also cleared mines in Batticaloa in the east. Horizon also worked in the neighbouring districts of Trincomalee and Amparai.

All de-mining is done under the care of the National Steering Committee, a government body in Colombo.

After Sri Lanka crushed the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in May this year, the Indian government also decided to provide separate funds to Horizon and Sarvatra as part of stepped up aid to the island nation.

The 82 Indians who have gone now are an outcome of the Indian funding.

Both Indian companies have shared their skills with Sri Lankans they have employed over the years.

It wasn't easy though when it all began.

"There were lots of problems in the beginning," said Puri, referring to the 2003 period when the Norway-sponsored ceasefire brought a semblance of peace to Sri Lanka. The LTTE then effectively controlled the northeast.

"LTTE people were initially suspicious. They wanted to know why (retired) Indian Army people were in Sri Lanka," he said.

The suspicion arose from months of fighting between the LTTE and the Indian Army in Sri Lanka's northeast in 1987-90.

In the absence of records, there was no clear idea where exactly the mines had been laid. And since this was humanitarian de-mining, extra care had to be taken, making it more time-consuming and difficult.

How long will it take for Sri Lanka to be cleared of mines?

According to Pitre, it will take one-and-a-half to two years to do away with most landmines and another year to declare the areas safe for habitation.

Added Puri: "From a distance it might seem as if we are working slowly. That is not so. We have to clear every bit of land carefully, inch by inch. It is a meticulous operation."

80 more Indians fly to Sri Lanka to clear landmines - India - NEWS - The Times of India

 

[RPK]

AFP: Pro-rebel party wins one Sri Lanka council


COLOMBO — A party that backs the defeated Tamil Tiger rebels won a council in elections near Sri Lanka's former war zone, results showed Sunday, in a sign that separatists still attract popular support.

The Tamil National Alliance, a front for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), took five seats on the Vavuniya municipal council, while President Mahinda Rajapakse's People's Alliance got only two.

However the president's party won 13 seats on the Jaffna municipal council, defeating the Tamil National Alliance, which took eight.

Saturday's elections -- the first in the area since government troops finally quashed the LTTE in May -- were seen as an attempt by the national administration to test its popularity since fighting ended.

Turnout among the 125,000 eligible voters was 28 percent in Tamil-majority Jaffna and Vavuniya.

"The Tamil National Alliance winning the Vavuniya council is a sign that there is democracy. It also shows that the election was free and fair," a senior government official told AFP.

The official, who declined to be named, said the results showed that the Tigers could have entered the political mainstream if they had agreed to the government's call to lay down arms and resume peace talks.

The Tamil National Alliance was formed by former rebels and moderate Tamil groups to contest the 2004 elections, securing 22 seats in the national parliament.

They supported the Tigers' armed campaign for a separate Tamil state, which came close to reality when the rebels gained control over one-third of the island before a major government offensive started in 2006.

Reporters and international observers were barred from the region during the vote, in line with many restrictions imposed by the government throughout the last stages of the war.

Despite the poor showing in Vavuniya, Rajapakse's party won a landslide at another local council which went to the polls on Saturday in the Sinhalese-majority central part of the island.

In the Uva provincial council, his party won 25 seats out of 34 and reduced the main opposition United National Party (UNP) to just seven seats.

The government had said a vote for Rajapakse's ruling party was an endorsement of his military campaign against the separatists and the ending of decades-old ethnic bloodshed.

Widespread international concern was voiced over the number of civilians killed during the fighting, while aid groups now fear for the welfare of 300,000 Tamils held in the state-run camps.

The Tigers' new leader, Selvarasa Pathmanathan, was detained in Malaysia on Wednesday and flown to Sri Lanka for questioning by the government.

Pathmanathan, who was based outside the country, had been attempting to rebuild the movement from overseas after its founding chief Velupillai Prabhakaran was killed in the final stages of fighting in May.

 

[RPK]

?Sri Lankan sleuths nabbed KP?


COLOMBO: Sri Lanka would allow India to interrogate the arrested LTTE chief, Selvarsasa Pathmanathan alias KP, as per the relevant international conventions and treaties, Defence Spokesman Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters here on Friday.


But India had not made any request to question him, Rambukwella said.

Rambukwella said that KP had been brought to Colombo and was in the custody of the Defence Ministry. He refused to divulge the place and date of arrest or confirm the Thai authority’s statement that he was arrested in Bangkok on Wednesday, and flown to Colombo on Thursday.

“The place and date are not important. What is important is that KP is in Colombo and is being interrogated by the Defence Ministry,” he said.

“KP was arrested somewhere in the Asian region by the Sri Lankan intelligence, with the help of the intelligence agencies of several countries in the Asian region and beyond,” Rambukwella said.

Pro-LTTE Tamil language website Puthinam Tamil Daily News Page @ Puthinam.com says KP was arrested in Kuala Lumpur in Malyasia by the Malaysian and Sri Lankan police.

Rambukwella said, “Some sections in Sri Lanka and abroad believed that the LTTE would survive the military defeat and the death of Prabhakaran, and that the organisation was alive and kicking with KP at its helm.

But the arrest of KP shows that Sri Lanka can arrest anyone involved with the LTTE anywhere in the world.” Rambukwella said that the huge financial network built by KP would also be dismantled.

The LTTE’s had been raking about $300 million per year as per informed estimates.

Sri Lankan Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona told Express earlier that the Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam set up by the LTTE on KP’s orders after the Prabhakaran’s death, would collapse with the arrest of KP.

“The Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam was nothing but a charade to continue to collect funds for the LTTE. At no stage did it have a political agenda,” Kohona said.

 

[I-G]

Sri Lanka police seek public aid to nab woman bomber
2009-08-09 13:51:05 GMT2009-08-09 21:51:05 (Beijing Time) xinhuanet

COLOMBO, Aug. 9 (Xinhua) -- Sri Lankan police here Sunday sought public assistance to arrest a female suicide bomber.

Giving the identity card number of the woman who was born in October 1985, the police said she was on a mission in the capital Colombo.

She is posing as a Muslim woman hiding her real identity, the police said.

The police appeal came as the government announced on Friday the arrest of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) new leader Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP.

KP is being extensively interrogated the press reports here Sunday said.

The government having crushed the LTTE's military capability in May has now focused its attention on closing in on remnants of the terror group.

Sri Lanka police seek public aid to nab woman bomber - World News - SINA English