courtesy: india.ca Arundhati Roy has written an especially arrogant and irrelevant editorial in the Times of India. She makes sweeping statements condemning the government and Sri Lanka and prescribes the world to return like Jesus and somehow fix everything. The government’s not going to turn around and be like, wow, we’re genocidal maniacs, thanks for pointing that out. The ‘world’ is not going to a) exist in any real sense or b) come and occupy Sri Lanka. All she’s doing is intellectual masturbation. It might make her feel better but it helps no one.

"No military operation to defeat terrorism in the world is conducted without difficulty to the civilian population who live in the afflicted area. In the achievement of our military dominance over the LTTE, the civilians, held at gun point by the LTTE have been the centre of our concerns", said the Charge d' Affaires of the Sri Lanka Embassy in Belgium, accredited to the European Union, Ms. Saroja Sirisena, at a meeting of the Human Rights Sub-Committee of the European Parliament held in Brussels yesterday (31).

By G. H. Peiris

"But I had to roll my eyes to see a brochure which described it (Sri Lanka) as a paradise in which ‘different ethnic groups live in total peace and harmony’. Now who could have written that with a straight face?"

Nury Vittachi, ‘The grim truth about all those holiday brochures’.

Colombo (Asiantribune.com): The Government will not go in for any ceasefire with the LTTE under any circumstances, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the UPFA Kalutara District United People’s Freedom Alliance organizers this morning.

Disarm or Perish was what the UN Security Council told the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam at the conclusion of an interactive discussion.

At the discussion held last week (March 26) Under Secretary General Sir John Holmes and H.M.G.S. Palihakkara, Sri Lanka Ambassador to UN talked to members of the Security Council concerning the plight of the civilians who are held by LTTE as human shields.

By C. Bryson Hull

COLOMBO, March 31 (Reuters) -- Tamil Tiger founder Vellupillai Prabhakaran has done one thing better than anything else for 37 years: avoid capture.

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, India (Reuters) - Heavily armed commandos locked down a stretch of the southern Indian coast on Monday and began a house-to-house search for a group of suspected Tamil Tiger rebels from Sri Lanka, police said.

While doubtless the assaults on the Sri Lankan State will continue, at least until the Tigers can no longer operate either from our shores or elsewhere, I believe the last few weeks have helped us to clarify certain misconceptions.

A total of 1648 civilians, including 709 children, have sought protection with security forces in the borders of Palamathalan yesterday (March 30), despite LTTE mounted artillery shelling and mortar attacks from the government declared No Fire Zone (NFZ). 

According to military, the civilians including 309 men, 630 women, 357 boys and 352 girls had arrived and taken to safety by troops of the 58 Division yesterday.

Known For The Controversy With Fellow Sri Lankan Artist M.I.A., DeLon Continues to Stand For A Cause and Progress Hip Hop Internationally. 

LOS ANGELES: PRNewswire via COMTEX/ ----DeLon, an International Recording Artist, American born, Sri Lankan bred, yet raised in both worlds, is preparing his new album Blueprint for a Revolution to be released Fall '09. His single release is only two months away.

Nadira Gunatilleke  

The Healthcare and Nutrition Ministry has made arrangements to send eight lorries of life saving drugs to the Padaviya, Vavuniya, Mulaitivu and Pulmudai (field hospital) hospitals.

By Don Pathan, Supalak Ganjanakhundee 

The Nation  

Sri Lankan Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama warned yesterday that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) could transform themselves into hired hands for international criminal elements, including terrorist organisations, and urged countries in the region to take extra precautions.

By Nadia Fazlulhaq

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has ruled out the idea of a government declaration of a ceasefire in the North, saying such a step would only give the LTTE an opportunity to drag out the war for another 25 years.

The first five years of a child's life is critical for brain development. It is critical not only because of the rapidity of brain development during this period, but also because it is a period when brain development is most susceptible to external influences that determines the intellectual functioning.

Colombo (Asiantribune.com): The Government of Sri Lanka is committed towards developing a partnership with the Sri Lankan Diaspora in promoting a new era of peace through reconciliation among the different communities and implementing an economic plan to reconstruct the war ravaged North of the country.

The government dispatched another large consignment of food and medicine for the use of innocent Tamil civilians who were forcibly held by the LTTE terrorists in government declared no fire zone.

The LTTE has lost the entire land area under its control save about one sq. km. Before the present phase of war began in 2006, the LTTE held over 15,000 sq. km in the North and the East. But, today it has taken refuge in the no-fire zone behind a human shield. In fact, the term no-fire zone has lost its meaning as the LTTE is using it to mount attacks on the army. It is a no-fire zone only for the troops.

B. Muralidhar Reddy  

Tigers cornered now in 21.5 sq km; eight militants killed and 17 wounded

Colombo: The Sri Lankan military on Sunday claimed that it had taken control of the last supply route of the LTTE in Mullaithivu district.

The Tigers are cornered now in 21.5 sq km, including 20 sq km declared by the government as “no fire zone” to enable the stranded civilians to escape.

The tenth session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva has come to a close without the anticipated assault on the Sri Lankan state. This had been on the cards for quite some time, beginning with the motion against Sri Lanka that had been put forward three years ago. Fortunately some concerted diplomatic action, involving regular briefings of all states who were genuinely interested in the country, saw that motion scratched in 2007, and since then there was much less pressure.

The Sri Lankan delegation led by Hon. Mahinda Samarasinghe, Minister of Disaster Management and Human Rights successfully participated in the tenth session of the UN Human Rights Council which concluded its 4-week long session today, 27 March 2009, in Geneva. The Sri Lankan delegation’s proactive engagement with all stakeholders ensured that heavy pro-LTTE lobbying as well as a two-pronged attempt by a few EU members to secure a statement in the Council on the situation in Sri Lanka by the High Commissioner for Human Rights or the Council’s President, proved abortive.