The 4th of February this year will be a very special occasion. It will mark the first occasion in about two decades when Sri Lankan sovereignty will extend over practically the whole country. From 1987, when the Tigers rejected the Indo-Lankan Accord and began their battle against the Indian army, then acting in concert with the Sri Lankan government, they held sway over a wide swathe of territory. That was reduced but, when they were on the verge of extinction, different opinions in India as well as the Sri Lankan government coming to terms with the Tigers gave them a new lease of life which was accompanied by control again over substantial areas.

Being a Professor of English may not seem the best training available for heading a Peace Secretariat, but it has certainly proved invaluable in trying to understand the way people function. Unfortunately I have generally had to have recourse not to the more sophisticated literature I have taught, but rather to fairly simple works.

The Permanent Mission of Sri Lanka to the United Nations at Geneva and other International Organizations in Switzerland held a reception for the Sri Lanka expatriate community in honour of the 61st National Day of Sri Lanka on 4 February 2009.

by Amal Jayasinghe 

COLOMBO (AFP) – The Sri Lankan government Thursday offered an amnesty to Tamil Tiger forces who surrender but refused to contemplate peace talks, vowing instead to crush those rebels who fight on. 

Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake told parliament that some rebels were ready to lay down their arms as they face imminent defeat in their decades-long battle for an independent ethnic Tamil homeland.