Taped statements a propaganda coup for Sri Lanka

By Stewart Bell, National Post    

COLOMBO -- A senior member of the Tamil Tigers who surrendered to Sri Lankan troops last week is urging the cornered rebels to lay down their arms.

Velayutham "Daya Master" Dayanithi said the Tamil rebels were using civilians as human shields and had fired at those who attempted to flee the war zone.

By Miles Clements   

Wadiya turns tropical the second you pass through its doors. Consuming all of one wall is a multi-canvas mural depicting a neon beach scene. Stationed at the restaurant's center is a cash register shaded by the thatched roof of a seaside shack. And creeping out from a corner is a fake, gangling tree, its limbs unnecessarily groping for some sun. Wadiya's is a dedicated design -- one that swaps the Anaheim restaurant's strip mall surroundings for the paradise of Sri Lanka's island style.

United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator Sir John Holmes, who is on a two-day visit to Sri Lanka met President Mahinda Rajapaksa at Temple Trees yesterday (April 27) evening and had discussions on the current situation in the North and United Nations activities there. The discussions were held in an atmosphere of cordiality and friendship.

By Dayan Jayatilleka

(Geneva, Sri Lanka Guardian) It is heartening that the Tamil Tigers have retained a sense of humor under extreme pressure. It is a lesson to us all. The Tigers have declared a unilateral cease-fire and promised not to engage in any offensive military operations. The joke is in two parts. Firstly, they are in no shape to engage in any offensive military operations. In the second place these clowns have pulled this on us and the IPKF on more occasions than I can recall. The first cease-fire in 1985 saw the Tigers under Kittu ringing Sri Lankan army camps in Jaffna with landmines. The IPKF’s stop-go campaign -- its rhythm and inconstancy influenced by Tamil Nadu and electoral considerations -- enabled Prabhakaran to survive, escape and turn the tables on them, culminating in the suicide bomb murder of Rajiv Gandhi on Tamil Nadu soil in 1991.

Like the proverbial pig sticking its snout into swill, Human Rights Watch has leapt with glee onto the recent declaration by the Sri Lankan government that its security forces ‘have been instructed to end the use of heavy weapons’. HRW has immediately concluded that “By finally admitting it has been using heavy weapons all along, the Sri Lanka government has shed light onto its official deception as well as its brutal military tactics.”

Shamindra Ferdinando 

The LTTE couldn’t be party to any future political dialogue with Sri Lanka, authoritative government sources told The Island. 

Sources emphasised that President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government wouldn’t accept Velupillai Prabhakaran as a party to any settlement. Nothing could be as ridiculous as allowing the LTTE representation in the proposed negotiations after it had lost its so-called conventional fighting capability, sources said.

GENEVA (AFP)--Sri Lanka's ambassador to the U.N. in Geneva on Friday rejected calls for a humanitarian pause in the Tamil conflict, saying temporary ceasefires didn't work.

"The largest number of civilians who have come out (of the conflict zone) came out not during the humanitarian pause, not as a result of the humanitarian pause," said Dayan Jayatilleke.

"They came out as a result of a military operation which ... blindsided the (Tamil) Tigers."

The U.N. on April 17 made a fresh call for humanitarian pauses to allow civilians to flee.

An LTTE explosive-laden lorry inside the No Fire Zone (NFZ) trying to ram on to the troops in the opposite direction, close to south of VALAYANMADAM was completely blown up by troop fire Tuesday (28) early morning, minutes after the troops completed the capture of another 700 m long earth-bund built by Tigers across Rektavaikkal area in the NFZ.

Colombo (PTI): Sri Lankan Government on Tuesday said though the combat operations in the northern war zone have ended, troops are continuing a sweep to bring about a "total defeat" of the Tamil Tigers in the quarter-century old insurgency.

A clear message to international community- President Mahinda Rajapaksa

This Western Province mandate has sent a decisive message to the international community. It has categorically declared that no power has any right or moral justification to bail out brutal terrorism at a time when its last rites are about to be performed, said President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a statement on the results of the Western Provincial Council election.

Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the UN in Geneva briefs Swiss press on Sri Lankan situation

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva, in collaboration with the Geneva Press Club - Club suisse de la presse –, organised a press conference on the topic of the ‘Current Situation in Sri Lanka’, on 24 April 2009 at ‘la pastorale,’ Geneva.  

Prof. Rajiva Wijesinha, Secretary to the Ministry of Human Rights and Disaster Management and Secretary General, Secretariat for Coordinating the Peace Process, and Dr. Dayan Jayatilleka, Ambassador/Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the United Nations Office in Geneva were the two main speakers at this press meeting.

An interview with the Minister of Social Services  

Minister Douglas Devananda, who led the Sri Lankan delegation to the World Conference Against Racism last week, spoke to the Peace Secretariat about his trip. These are excerpts:

It was a useful opportunity to explain the actual situation in Sri Lanka. At this critical juncture, we were able to make the international community understand what is really happening here. Many of the delegates stopped me in the lobby to express appreciation of my speech, and we had good responses at the bilateral meetings we had on the sidelines.

A High level Indian delegation comprising Indian National Security Advisor M.K. Narayanan and Foreign Secretary Shiv Shankar Menon called on President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Temple Trees last Friday (24^th April).

President Mahinda Rajapaksa and the Indian officials held cordial discussions over lunch on matters of mutual interest to both countries.

The moral evolution of the Liberal Party of Canada from the days of Jean Chretien to its current manifestation under Michael Ignatieff can be charted in many ways. A decade ago, Liberal ranks were full of America-bashers and noisy cultural nationalists. The party supported anti-Israel resolutions at the United Nations, and adopted the fashionable, amoral posture of "honest broker" in international relations. Jean Chretien himself flippantly defended slush-fund politics in Quebec, and disdained his successor's efforts to investigate the most disgraceful abuses. The party's bosses had one goal - to win votes, principles be damned.

By Gen. Gerry de Silva (Rtd.)

(Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian): Uganda was represented at the Non- Aligned Summit in 1976 held in Colombo by its Foreign Minister, Colonel Juma Oris. When asked about the Entebbe Rescue Mission he remarked, “The Israelis were magnificent. We did not know what hit us until it dawned on us long after.”

Civilian Hatred towards LTTE Unprecedented 

By A special correspondent

Contrary to biased reports circulating in the international media and among NGO and INGO circles, the rescue mission that is being conducted successfully in the Vanni has been most humane, Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa told the Daily News yesterday.

UN, Sri Lanka to harness international support

RASIKA SOMARATHNA  

Sri Lanka and the United Nations are set to interact closely in generating international support for rehabilitation and reconstruction efforts during the post-conflict phase.  

Disaster Management and Human Rights Minister, Mahinda Samarasinghe following talks with visiting UN Humanitarian Affairs Chief Sir John Holmes yesterday said the two parties had discussed ways of generating international aid for the cause.

The election of members of the Western Provincial Council was held on 25 April, 2009, at 2,769 polling stations in Colombo, Gampaha and Kalutara Districts. The United People’s Freedom Alliance had an outstanding victory at these elections. To view a summary of the election results, please click  on the link.

Rafik Jaladeen

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, one of the world's most violent terrorist outfits, are surrounded in northern Sri Lanka and about to be destroyed - but Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and European self-styled peacemakers are getting in the way of victory. The meddlers should let Colombo finish off this menace.