Economic Contributions

Women in Sri Lanka are unsung heroines in their contributions to Sri Lanka's economy. Working as migrant workers, tea pluckers, and in garment factories, many women have made significant sacrifices in order to invest in the education of their children and the well being of their families and society.

At least 200 terrorists were killed, as many wounded and over 150 LTTE bodies recovered by Sri Lankan security forces, following heavy fighting that broke out between troops and LTTE since last Thursday (March 5), at the Mullaittivu battlefront South of Chalai and Palamathalan. The 55 Division, 58 Division including Special Force (SF) and Commando troops comprehensively neutralized the LTTE offensive waves also seizing a large haul of weapons, security sources said.

The photograph shows Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov being greeted by Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Sri Lanka’s Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, on Saturday. Foreign Minister Lavrov delivered a landmark speech at the Conference on Disarmament in Geneva on Saturday March 7^th, the day after he and US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had met in Geneva, and symbolically pressed a re-set button for the improvement of US-Russian strategic relations. In his address Sergey Lavrov said that the present moment was the best time for progress on disarmament issues since the end of the Cold War. Ambassador Jayatilleka who is coordinator of the agenda item of the Disarmament Conference on general and comprehensive disarmament, thanked Minister Lavrov for the support extended to Sri Lanka by Russia, including in all UN forums. Minister Lavrov whose first diplomatic posting was Sri Lanka, also exchanged a few words in Sinhala with Dr. Jayatilleka.

Colombo (PTI): Suspected LTTE rebels on Monday launched heavy artillery attacks on a government ship carrying 500 metric tonnes of food and rations for the displaced people in the embattled north of Sri Lanka, officials said.

Once they were LTTE child combatants, now in the protective environment of a rehabilitation centre off Colombo, these youth are honing skills that will lead them to a future without guns and bombs.

Washington: Holding the Tamil Tigers responsible for the "increasing sufferings" of civilians in Sri Lanka's embattled north, the US on Friday asked the outlawed LTTE to stop lobbying shells and shooting guns out of the safe zone declared by the government.

by Muttukrishna Sarvananthan

On the very same day of the announcement by the Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) about a Stimulus Package for Finance and Leasing Companies of Sri Lanka in order to weather “some stresses… observed in a few Registered Finance Companies (RFCs) and Specialized Leasing Companies (SLCs)” as a result of the global and domestic financial crunch, not to be outdone, few members of the Tamil Diaspora in North America “suggested donation” of “US$50.00 or more” (per person) in order to prevent the extinction of an endangered species (aka Tamil Tigers) in their imagined homeland of Tamil Eelam at a “MEGA Rally” organized by the “Tamils Against Genocide” (TAG) in Washington, DC, U.S.A on Friday, February 20, 2009. Although the pretence for the solicitation of the aforementioned donation was to cover the expenses for “blown-up photographs of refugees, placards, banners, rally mega-phones, water bottles”, as usual the intent was bankrolling the dwindling species of their tribe back home.

The government said on Friday (06^th) that all international aid for Internally Displaced Persons (IDP) should be channelled through the government and not sent directly to INGOs operating in the country in order to have better accountability.

The army had repulsed two large scale counter offensives last Thursday and Friday causing heavy damage to the LTTE. At least 150 LTTE cadres had been killed in clashes, mainly with the 58 Division, the army said.

By Dhaneshi YATAWARA

The Alpha 9 of Sri Lanka or better known as A9 road is progressing to return to her busy schedule like in those good old days. It not only connects two different cities but it heralds peace and harmony of two different ethnicities. A peaceful A9 symbolizes a traditional bond between the North and the South of our motherland. The A9 was closed in 1984 when the LTTE attacked the Pooneryn defences of the Sri Lanka Army which posed a threat to the Elephant Pass. Years later, the A9 was reopened on 8 April 2002 after the Ceasefire Agreement between the Government and the LTTE was concluded. Again in 2006, while the truce was in operation, the A9 had to be closed down due to the massive LTTE attack on Muhamalai entry exit point.

COLOMBO (AFP) — More than 100 Tamil Tiger rebels have been killed in two days of fighting in Sri Lanka as they tried to break a military stranglehold, the defence ministry said on Sunday.

They died when the army beat back a series of counter-attacks Friday and Saturday by the Tiger rebels against advancing government forces in the district of Mullaittivu in the northeast.

by P.Krishnaswamy  

A cross section of the Wanni civilians who had fled terrorist held areas and now housed in 12 transit camps in Vavuniya would be moved to the newly constructed semi-permanent housing units in the 1000-acre Kadirgamar Welfare village in Menik Farm a week ahead of the forthcoming Sinhala/Tamil New Year with all necessary facilities, Rishad Bathiudeen, Minister of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services told the "Sunday Observer".

A special exposition of the sacred Tooth Relic has been opened at the Historic Dalada Maligawa today (06), and President Mahinda Rajapaksa worshipped the sacred Tooth Relic, inaugurating the rare religious ritual taken place after a six-year lapse from the last exposition.

 To Video:http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsa/n5ctrl/progs/09/hardtalk/samarahsinghe03mar.ram

If the LTTE lays down their weapons tomorrow, there will not be any reason for us to fight. There will be an automatic ceasefire.

As long as the LTTE is using weapons, as long as the LTTE is not allowing the civilians to leave, their freedom of movement being restricted, the civilians being shot and killed in cold blood and massive human rights violations being committed against the civilian population, our job is to ensure that this kind of terrorism is wiped out once and for all, said Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe in BBC HARDtalk interviewed by Stephen Sackur last Monday, March 2, 2009.

Response of Prof Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process and Secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights to remarks on Sri Lanka made by Non-Governmental Organizations during the Inter-Active Debate on the Report of the High Commissioner for Human Rights

Professor Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary General of the Peace Secretariat and Secretary to the Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management, has denounced a recent BBC news report about an impending Human catastrophe in the North-east of Sri Lanka. Following this, Mr. David Loyn, the International Development Correspondent of BBC News and the author of the aforesaid BBC news report, has written to Professor Wijesinha to express his displeasure about the latter’s criticism of the BBC: Given below is a series of E-mail messages exchanged between Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha and the BBC correspondent Mr. David Loyn.

The Sri Lankan delegation to the on-going High-Level Segment of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva met with the UN High-Commissioner for Human Rights, Ms. Navenethem Pillai, today, on the third day of the High-Level Segment. 

Thousands of acres of paddy land in the Eastern Province were left fallow during the long years of conflict. The prevailing insecurity made it difficult for farmers to access their fields, while many people left the region altogether. Further, the LTTE compelled farmers in areas under its control to pay into its coffers after each harvest, which affected the profitability of their enterprises. Paddy cultivation dropped sharply.

Colombo (IANS) Describing a Pakistani driver as 'hero of our time' for bravely saving the lives of Sri Lankan cricketers during the terror attack in Lahore, the state-run English newspapers have offered him a fully-paid holiday package as a token of appreciation.

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: An International Committee of the Red Cross worker died on Thursday from a shrapnel injury in the war-torn north even as informed sources in the government indicated the military was hopeful of taking total control of the north in the next few days.