P K Balachandran

COLOMBO: The Catholic Bishop of Jaffna, Rev Thomas Savundaranayagam, wants India to pressurise the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) to release the lakhs of Tamil civilians who are held captive in the north Sri Lankan war zones of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu. 

Rev Savundaranayagam, whose diocese extends to areas in the current war zone in the Wanni region, told Express here, that he had asked Members of Parliament belonging to the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance (TNA) to ask the Indian government to put pressure on the LTTE to release the civilians it had been holding captive for military purposes. 

Rev Savundaranayagam said that in the districts of Kilinochchi and Mullaitivu, apart from the local population, there are 250,000 refugees from the western parts of the Wanni who had been driven out of their homes and hearths by the government’s military operations since 2006.

It ain't Over Till the Fat Laddie Swings

By: Dayan Jayatilleka

It ain’t over till it’s over, or as the Americans put it, in a reference to the opera, it ain’t over till the fat lady sings. The Mahaveera Day 2008 speech by Velupillai Prabhakaran, one of the world’s most notorious and certainly tubbiest terrorist leaders, demonstrates that there can be no solution to Sri Lanka’s conflict so long as he remains alive and active, and has not been brought to justice. In our case it ain’t over till the fat laddie swings.

 In the first place the man is an outrageously unrepentant liar and assumes that everyone suffers from amnesia. In his speech he says that "It may be noted that during the long history of our struggle, we have not conducted any act of aggression against any member state of the international community". Let us forget for a moment that Sri Lanka is a member state of the international community, a fact that is proved by his complaint in the same speech, of the military and diplomatic assistance that Sri Lanka has obtained from members of the international community on precisely that basis. The man obviously believes that the assassination by suicide bomber of India’s former Prime Minister and (at the time) leader of the Opposition, Shri Rajiv Gandhi, former chairperson of SAARC, son of legendary former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and grandson of the iconic first Prime Minister of independent India, Shri Nehru, is not "an act of aggression against any member of the international community"!

Source: Reuters

By Shihar Aneez

COLOMBO (Reuters) - A trade scheme that boosted Sri Lanka's top export, garments, will remain in place while the European bloc completes a human rights probe that could lead to withdrawal of concessionary terms, Sri Lanka said on Tuesday.

The European bloc since July has repeatedly warned it may not renew the scheme at the end of the year because of human rights abuses stemming from Sri Lanka's civil war with the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  

"We will enjoy the facility until the investigation is over," S. Ranugge, secretary at the ministry of export development and international trade, told Reuters.   

However, he said the government would not cooperate with investigators if the European bloc sends them to Sri Lanka.

(December 01, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) Kokavil, a major LTTE stronghold along the A-9 highway, has been captured by the Sri Lanka Army (SLA)’s 57 division. Fighting has been going on in this area for quite some time with both 57 division (north of Kokavil) and Task Force 3 (south of Kokavil) been engaged in frequent fire fights with LTTE cadres. 57 division units, who moved southward from their positions south of Kilinochchi yesterday, were able to take control of Kokavil area by today morning. Kokavil town and the area where a former Rupavahini transmission tower is located, is now under SLA control.

CHENNAI: To Chandra Schafter — who has selected Sri Lankan cricket squads, taken teams from the island to India and England as manager, and been involved in the administration, particularly with the Tamil Union Cricket and Athletic Club in Colombo — the mix of sport and violence is all too familiar.

“Sport, as it is now, is so important that if you want to create chaos it’s ideal,” he told The Hindu when he was in the city recently.

 “Terrorists want an audience as well, and sport unfortunately is caught in the trap. It’s very difficult for international cricketers to willingly play in such times. But in many ways, cricket has done us in Sri Lanka a lot of good in troubled times — it’s one thing that has brought the country together.”

As India picks up the pieces of the Mumbai carnage there is bound to be much soul searching and recrimination on what went wrong by the authorities. 

Already the blame game is on and security loopholes are being put under the microscope by analysts and commentators. Heads are also poised to roll.  

The Home Affairs Minister and the national security advisor have opted to resign.

 As Sri Lankans who felt the shock and pangs of the tragedy more closely than most we can only wish that our friendly neighbour recover from the ashes and emerge stronger and sturdier by its harrowing experience to be well equipped and prepared to face challenges of the evil forces.

Families of dead LTTE cadres and of those who are currently in the outfit staged a massive protest against the LTTE leadership in Wanni last morning (Dec 1), a defnce.lk source in Wanni revealed.  

According to the source, over 80 members of Mahaweera and Porali families participated in the protest held around 11 AM at the Oddusudan junction.  

"The protesters had arrived from Mullaittivu, Puthukuduirruppu and Vishwamadhu areas, and they wanted to move into the government controlled areas."  

The sources further said that the LTTE cadres at gun point prohibited the group of civilians moving beyond the Oddusuddan junction.  

COLOMBO: Condemning the deadly terror strike in Mumbai, Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Friday said militant groups such as LTTE provide ideas and methodology for undertaking such attacks.  

By Jamila Najmuddin

Investigations were directed at finding whether the LTTE was in any way involved in the terrorist attack on Mumbai, the commercial hub of India, but with evidence pointing towards Pakistan based militants any LTTE involvement was ruled out, a high ranking Indian official said.

"Pakistan told Indian officials to look into all aspects, including an LTTE or Al-Qaeda connection. Pakistan also informed India that some of the terrorists appeared to be South Indians and looked like LTTE cadres. India investigated every angle," the official said.

Rohan Mathes

Italy: President Mahinda Rajapaksa is to meet Pope Benedict XVI at the Vatican today during a brief visit to Italy.

President Rajapaksa arrived in the Italian capital, Rome, yesterday accompanied by First Lady Shiranthi Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretary Lalith Weeratunga and Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama. This is the President’s second visit to Italy this year since he attended the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization’s food summit in Rome in June.

COLOMBO (AFP) – A pledge by Sri Lanka's Tamil rebel leader to fight on despite a military onslaught raised fears Friday of a return to a hit-and-run guerrilla war as his mini-state faced potential collapse. 

Separatist chief Velupillai Prabhakaran vowed Thursday the rebels would "continue with our struggle until the alien Sinhala occupation of our land is evicted," referring to Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese population, and appealed to Tamils abroad for support to shore up his military machine. 

Government forces have surrounded Prabhakaran in his political capital of Kilinochchi in the biggest-ever military campaign in the history of Sri Lanka's armed separatist struggle, which dates back to 1972.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka – Sri Lankan soldiers have recaptured a key northern town near the headquarters of Tamil Tiger rebels 18 years after the area was seized by the insurgents, the military said Monday.

Troops seized Kokavil town, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) south of the insurgents' de facto capital of Kilinochchi, on Sunday, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. He did not give casualty details.

The capture was the latest sign of the government's current dominance in the island's decades-old civil war. The rebels have been forced to abandon vast areas of land and retreat to territory in the northeast during months of heavy battles.

COLOMBO: Seventy lorry loads of food items received from India for civilians held virtually hostage by the LTTE will leave Vavuniya today, the Ministry of Resettlement and Disaster Relief Services said.

This is in addition to a convoy of 20 lorries carrying flour, sugar, dhal and kerosene which left for Kilinochchi from Vavuniya on Friday.  

Meanwhile, 183 civilians reached Vavuniya escaping from the uncleared areas last Friday increasing the total number of escapees to 322.

The displaced are staying at the Menic Farm Welfare Centre in Vavuniya.

Courtesy: Daily News

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has condemned the Mumbai terrorist attacks in which gunmen struck 10 sites Wednesday night across India's financial hub, killing scores of people and taking hostages in two luxury hotels. President Rajapaksa’s statement condemning the attack is given below in full:

The Associated Press 

Colombo, Sri Lanka: Sri Lankan air force helicopters on Sunday bombed Tamil Tiger rebels who were trying to block troops from capturing their de facto capital, the government said. Three rebels were killed in separate ground battles. 

The Defense Ministry said in a statement that the helicopters attacked rebel positions in Murikandy village, south of the rebel headquarters, Kilinochchi. It did not give casualty details.

Special Correspondent  

CHENNAI: Janata Party president Subramanian Swamy on Friday said the message of LTTE leader Prabakaran pleading with India to lift the ban on the organisation and help Tamils get their homeland was ridiculous and laughable. 

Dr. Swamy said the LTTE chief was a proclaimed offender and if he wanted to repent for ordering the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, he must surrender to India at a mutually agreed location and face trial in Indian courts.

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka successfully participated at the recently held UN Women's Guild Bazaar, which brought together national and restaurant stalls from around 70 Permanent Missions in Geneva.

Under the leadership of Mrs. Jayatilleka as head of the Permanent Mission’s Seva Vanitha Unit, the Mission organized a national stall and a restaurant stall, both of which were very popular with visitors to the Bazaar.

The national stall of Sri Lanka offered Sri Lankan tea and tea gift items, wooden educational toys and soft toys.  As always, Sri Lanka tea proved to be the most popular item, with the 'Five Fine Teas' item comprising of the five regional teas of Sri Lanka and the 'Connoisseur' pack of tea bags from the Sri Lanka Tea Board, and the Earl Grey and Loolecondera tea in decorative tins from Mlesna, being sold within the first few hours of the Bazaar.  Many visitors who arrived later in the day and who came specifically to the Sri Lanka stall for tea were disappointed to discover that their favourite tea was sold out. However, many of those customers also showed an interest in the new items the stall offered this year from Mlesna, such as the wide variety of herbal and flavoured teas, and the ceramic tea items in the form of painted elephants, tea pots and mugs, all of which came with small packets of fine quality tea.

COLOMBO: Condemning the deadly terror strike in Mumbai, Sri Lankan foreign minister Rohitha Bogollagama on Friday said militant groups such as LTTE provide ideas and methodology for undertaking such attacks.

The characterisation of LTTE supremo Velupillai Prabakaran’s 2008 message as ‘Great Heroes Day’ speech is full of irony. The 3,283-word statement was made public on the evening of November 27, twenty hours after the start of the horrific fidayeen terror in Mumbai. In stark contrast to the response of the rest of the world, the ‘Great Heroes Day’ speech makes no reference to the Pakistan-origin terrorist strike at India’s financial capital.

The apologists of the LTTE might attribute the omission to the possibility that the speech was recorded well before it was broadcast. But how to explain the LTTE’s subsequent silence on Mumbai? The only credible explanation is that any comment on this subject would invite unwelcome comparisons, in Sri Lanka, in India, and elsewhere, given that the LTTE’s own terrorist track record that goes back to the early 1980s, has involved every conceivable atrocity against civil society and common humanity, and even spilt over into India to claim the life of a former Prime Minister. In essence, Prabakaran’s 2008 speech is a mercy plea to India to bail out Tiger forces on the run from a successful campaign by the Sri Lankan armed forces.