Bharat Rakshak

India signs agreement to rebuild north Sri Lanka

STAFF WRITER 15:4 HRS IST

Colombo, July 24 (PTI) India will help rebuild public and private infrastructure in war-ravaged Tamil-dominated northern Sri Lanka and has signed an agreement under which latest technology will be used for mass-scale construction there.

The pact will cover construction of buildings and utilities under the massive rehabilitation and reconstruction programme in the north, a statement by the Construction and Engineering Services Ministry of Sri Lanka said today.

The agreement between the Ministry's construction sector arm ICTAD and India's Construction Industry Development Council (a collaboration of government of India and the Indian construction industry) was signed in the presence of Construction Minister Rajitha Senaratne on Wednesday.

The Indian Council, a New Delhi-based national institute on building and construction, will assist in the local building and construction works.

http://ptinews.com/news/191829_India-si ... -Sri-Lanka


3,000 more war displaced to be resettled: Colombo

B. Muralidhar Reddy

Colombo: The Sri Lankan government has announced that it has taken steps to resettle 3,000 more war displaced sheltered in the welfare camps in Wanni in August first week.

“All the arrangements are now in place to resettle the displaced persons,” said senior adviser to the President, parliamentarian Basil Rajapaksa, at a special meeting at Vavuniya District Secretariat on Thursday.

He said the government planned to resettle these persons in 35 cleared villages in Wanni region beginning August and the government has completed the demining activities of those villages with the assistance of international groups and the United Nations. The government will provide the basic requirements including dry rations to those to be resettled.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/24/stories ... 291300.htm

Brits meddling where they're not welcome:

UK Unsuccessfully Opposes IMF Loan to Sri Lanka

The UN absatained !They saw the light of day and hey...everybody loves a winner!

The Eelamists are slowly getting marginalised as the true facts of the war emerge and the gradual resettlement of IDPs takes place.The manner in which India is also taking immediate advantage of the situ by stepping in totally on Lanka's side is also unsettling the wstern powers who earlier had some influence in the island.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... =12&page=2
[quote]IMF approves controversial $2.5bn Sri Lanka loan
(Reuters)
Tim Reid and Rhys Blakely

The International Monetary Fund last night approved a controversial $2.5 billion (£1.5 billion) loan to Sri Lanka, despite concerns over the treatment of the Tamil minority and an unprecedented move by the UK to abstain from voting in protest.

Stephen Timms, Financial Secretary to the Treasury, said in a letter to MPs that the political situation in Sri Lanka posed risks to the programme’s success and expressed concern about thousands of displaced refugees who are being detained in camps.

The programme was passed by the IMF board last night despite the UK’s decision to abstain for the first time since 2004 when it opted out of a vote on technical grounds.

The move comes two months after the army crushed the Tamil Tiger rebels, ending a 26-year civil war that had weighed heavily on the nation’s economy and claimed at least 70,000 lives.

Related Links
Britain to oppose $2.5bn IMF loan to Sri Lanka
IMF accused over $2.5bn Sri Lanka loan

The loan — desperately needed by Sri Lanka to stave off a looming balance of payments crisis — was delayed initially by Britain and the US in an attempt to force a ceasefire, which would have allowed hundreds of thousands of civilians to escape the battle zone during the brutal climax of the conflict in May.

Mr Timms wrote to members of the All Party Parliamentary Groups on Sri Lanka and for Tamils. The letter said: “The UK did not support the IMF’s proposed Stand-By Arrangement. The UK believes that it is not the right time for this programme to be taken forward.”

The UK wanted to “secure long-term peace and prosperity” for Sri Lanka through reconciliation between its communities, he said. However, we remain concerned with the humanitarian situation in the Internally Displaced Peoples’ (IDPs) camps. It is important to secure freedom of movement for the IDPs,” Mr Timms said.

“We support the UN’s recent call for the government of Sri Lanka to develop a comprehensive resettlement strategy for IDPs, to allow them to return home as soon as possible and urge the government to implement this without delay.

“In this context, we believe that the political situation in Sri Lanka poses risks to programme implementation. The humanitarian situation also remains of concern and we urge the government of Sri Lanka will make good its public commitment to allow the return of the IDPs from the camps to their homes within 180 days.”

Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the managing director of the IMF, said this week that the organisation had agreed the terms of the deal with the Sri Lankan Government after four months of talks.

The IMF’s decision to proceed angered human rights groups, who say it is turning a blind eye to the continuing humanitarian crisis.

They accuse Sri Lanka of breaking international laws by detaining nearly 300,000 refugees, mostly Tamils, who were forced to flee their homes and are still being held in internment camps.

The Government has restricted severely access to the camps to aid agencies, the media and independent monitors.

Testimonies smuggled out to The Times in May described shortages of food and medical supplies. Aid agencies say conditions are now stabilising, but people are still being held against their will.

“To approve a loan while they have hundreds of thousands of people penned up in these camps is a reward for bad behaviour, not an incentive to improve,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. “The IMF needs to change its approach.”

The loan, which Mr Strauss-Kahn said would give an “exceptional level of access to resources” will be used to shore up Sri Lanka’s finances, which have been battered by the global credit crisis and an increase in military spending to $1.5 billion last year and a projected $1.6 billion this year.

In March, when Sri Lanka applied for the loan, its foreign currency reserves had dropped to $1.4 billion — enough for about six weeks’ worth of imports — from $3.4 billion in September.

At that time, Mahinda Rajapaksa, the Sri Lankan President, vowed that he would not accept any conditions from the IMF, whose officials were expelled from the country in 2004.

“We will not pawn or sell our motherland to obtain any monetary aid,” he said.

The IMF’s conditions will, however, require the reconstruction of areas devastated by years of conflict, Mr Strauss-Kahn has indicated.

Controls on military spending — which will amount to about 17 per cent of Sri Lanka’s total expenditure this year — are also likely to be one of the IMF’s conditions.

A British Government source said yesterday that Britain would “look to see that military expenditure falls appropriately over the course of the programme, facilitating greater spending on social programmes and reconstruction”.

Britain was also calling for money to be earmarked for the wellbeing of the camp refugees, the source said.

Sri Lanka has made some cuts in arms procurement, cancelling deals worth $200 million to buy ammunition from Pakistan and China this month. Its huge army continues to grow, however, even though the war is over.

Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara, a military spokesman, told The Times that between 15,000 and 20,000 soldiers had been added to its ranks in the past two months, taking the number of battle-ready troops to about 200,000. He said there were no plans to reduce the force.

Britain holds 5 per cent of the votes on the IMF executive board. The body had the power to block the deal, which needed 51 per cent of the votes to pass, but the IMF and many foreign investors believe Sri Lanka can reap a substantial peace dividend now the war is over.

Sri Lanka’s stock market closed at its highest level for more than a year on Wednesday on news of the IMF deal.

Diplomatic victory follows military victory

* IMF standby facility comes with bonus
* Govt. turns tables on pressure groups
* UNP adopts new line of attack
* Road map spawns fresh problems for Ranil

Sri Lanka asked for only US $ 1.9 billion from the IMF. But the IMF has now decided to increase this standby loan facility to US $ 2.6 billion, given the decisive end to the protracted war and the urgent need to carry out rehabilitation and reconstruction in the North and East.

Sri Lanka received US $ 322.2 million as the first tranche of this credit facility last Friday. The country is to receive the pledged amount in eight equal instalments and the final instalment is due on March 15, 2011.
According to Central Bank sources, this is the biggest ever loan Sri Lanka has received from the IMF.

Govt. turns tables on detractors

Sri Lanka applied for this loan facility at a time when the war against the LTTE had reached a very decisive stage. At this time the government was under heavy pressure from some countries in the West which were keen on saving the Tigers from the ignominy of certain defeat, to go in for a ceasefire. The main reason they adduced to justify a ceasefire, was that a large number of civilians were being killed in crossfire They also alleged that that the war led to numerous violations of human rights of the people in the North.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, and his Foreign Affairs Secretary David Miliband were among those leaders who spearheaded this pressure group. France, Germany, Norway, the European Union and Canada too threw in their lot with those strongly lobbying for a ceasefire with the Tigers. Hillary Clinton went to the extent of saying that the time was not opportune for granting the loan facility to Sri Lanka, and the IMF should reconsider the application.

Meanwhile, the international outfits such as the Human Rights Watch and the Amnesty International, were raising their voice against the IMF granting the loan facility asked for by Sri Lanka. The pro-LTTE Tamil diaspora took advantage of the growing anti- Sri Lanka sentiment to stage demonstrations worldwide calling on the IMF not to grant the loan facility as a mark of protest against the killing of civilians by armed forces in the north.

http://www.nation.lk/2009/07/26/politics.htm


Lanka gets loan without West

By Azhar Razak

Despite heavy opposition from key Western powers – but backed by a clear majority – the Executive Board of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) finally approved a US$ 2.6 billion loan to Sri Lanka yesterday. The US, Britain, Germany and France abstained from the vote citing humanitarian concerns, while a majority of other IMF member nations, particularly from Asia, helped Sri Lanka win the vote by a ‘clear majority.’

http://www.nation.lk/2009/07/26/news1.htm


Kochi-Colombo ferry link to resume soon

B. Muralidhar Reddy

COLOMBO: India and Sri Lanka would be resuming ferry connectivity between Kochi and Colombo ‘shortly,’ it was announced here at the conclusion of the Second Meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) Ministers for Transport.

A statement by the Indian High Commission said here that the ferry service would be one of the key links in strengthening trade, social and cultural interaction among the peoples of the SAARC Member-States and to this end, air connectivity between New Delhi & Male would be operationalised as well.

R.P.N. Singh, Union Minister of State for Road, Transport and Railways led the Indian delegation and participated in the ministerial discussions.

http://www.hindu.com/2009/07/26/stories ... 830800.htm


Clash in Beruwala

By Ayesha Wijeratne

Two people killed and eight others were injured in a clash between two Muslim groups, believed to be ‘fundamentalists’ and ‘non-fundamentalists’ in Beruwala late Friday night. Rahuman Mosque in the area was also set on fire, Police Spokesman SSP Ranjith Gunasekera said.

The fire in the mosque was doused by the fire brigade, while the tense situation was calmed down by the Police who rushed there.

A senior police officer told The Nation that the clash was between two Muslim groups belonging to Rahuman Mosque and Buhari Mosque over a fundamentalist issue.

The Nation reliably learns that Muslim women are free to enter Rahuman Mosque unlike Buhari Mosque, which bars Muslim women from entering there.

http://www.nation.lk/2009/07/26/news2.htm



Rival Muslim groups clash, mosque burnt


People gather at the entrance of the mosque that was burnt.Pic by Saman Kariyawasam

Feuding between two rival Muslim groups at a historic mosque in Beruwala yesterday, left two dead and 40 injured, 12 of them seriously, police said. They said, clashes erupted over critical remarks made by an Imam (a cleric) who was leading Friday's Jumma prayers at the Buhari mosque against a Muslim group who style themselves as Thawheed. The group's members are strongly opposed to Muslim shrines and the conduct of feasts in mosques and are calling upon traditional followers of Islam to shed those habits.

http://sundaytimes.lk/090726/News/sunda ... ws_09.html




Let’s see Jaffna become another ‘Singapore’, says polls candidate

By Story and pic by N. Parameswaran



Local elections are being held in Jaffna after a break of 11 years.

Pledges to make Jaffna “another Singapore” and one of the cleanest of cities are among the many promises candidates for the upcoming Jaffna Municipal Council election are making as they go on their different campaign trails. Local government elections are being held in the North after a break of 11 years.

Almost all the candidates vow to develop Jaffna town if they are elected. UNP candidate S. Sathyendra said he wants to make the Jaffna bus stand even better than the stylish Matara bus stand, while Moulavi Subian wants Jaffna to look like the “lion city” Singapore. The Eelam People’s Democratic Party wants a clean Jaffna, while M. Remedius of the Tamil National Alliance says TNA members of parliament will fight for the rights of Tamils inside and outside Parliament.

http://sundaytimes.lk/090726/News/sunda ... ws_16.html



Muslim refugees based in Puttalam put on big show for Jaffna election

By Hiran P. Jayasinghe

It is “all systems go” for the August 8 Jaffna Municipal Council elections, which are taking place after a break of more than a decade. Elections had to be suspended during the years of the conflict in the North and East.

Four popular political parties and two independent parties are fielding 174 candidates for 23 seats on the municipal council. Election fever is particularly strong in Puttalam, where thousands of Muslims who were former residents of Jaffna are living in refugee camps. They were forced out of the peninsula by the LTTE in 1990. These voters say they need a representative to hear their problems and speak on their behalf. More than 6,000 Jaffna Muslims are housed in the camps.

Sixteen voting stations have been set up. Six in Puttalam, two each in Colombo and Gampaha, one in Kalutara, four in Anuradhapura, and one in Jaffna. The Jaffna refugees living in Puttalam are putting on a particularly big hustings show, decorating the camps with colourful campaign flags, banners and cardboard cut-outs.

Candidate B. A. Roomy Badurdeen was eight years old when he and his family fled Jaffna in 1990. The 19-year-old joined the government ranks through the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress. “We must be grateful to the parents who sacrificed their sons to end what sometimes seemed an unwinnable war,” Mr. Badurdeen said.

“We are grateful to the President for ending the conflict. If the war had not ended when it did, we would not have had an election for another decade at least. The resettlement minister Rishard Badurdeen is often seen in the company of the President, so we have nothing to fear now.”

http://www.sundaytimes.lk/090726/News/s ... ws_17.html

I don't think this has been posted here before. It is an article by D.B.S.Jeyaraj on the last days of the LTTE and of Prabhakaran. It has some details that have not been reported before and others that got written about much later than this article (it is dated May 22nd). But it does not have attributable sources, so take it for what it is worth. Jeyaraj has earlier written a biography of Prabhakaran and is considered well connected on both sides, with sources both in the Sri Lankan Govt. and in the LTTE.

http://www.dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/615

Guys what happened to dear pottu ?

suryag wrote:Guys what happened to dear pottu ?

Good old pal Pottu is considered to be dead, IIRC he was part of the gang along with Soosai etc. who were killed by the Lankan forces. But being the wily fox he is, he could also have escaped but now not in a position to do any disruptive activities.

KP confirmed in his interview with Headlines Today that Pottu Amman is also dead.

BTW, does anybody have the URL of KP's official website? It has been referred to in recent media reports, but I have not been able to find the website itself.

‘China was the principal arms supplier to LTTE’

COLOMBO: China, one of Sri Lanka’s major suppliers of armaments, had also been the principal supplier of arms to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), says a report published in the Colombo-based daily The Island on Tuesday.

According to the report, the LTTE had bought ammunition, T-56 assault rifles and 14.5 mm air defence guns from the Chinese public sector firm NORINCO with End User Certificates showing the buyers as North Korea and Eritrea. The Tigers also bought artillery pieces, mortars and ammo.

The Chinese government must have known about these purchases, which had been made through bribery, an unnamed Sri Lankan official told The Island.

Although Colombo was aware that LTTE was buying weapons from China, the magnitude of it came to light only in the final stages of Eelam War IV, during the operations in Puthukudiyiuruppu and Udayarkattu, east of the arterial A-9 highway in the Wanni.

The army had discovered a four-barrelled mobile anti-aircraft gun of Chinese make, which had been used with “devastating success”. The “floating platforms” destroyed by the Sri Lankan navy and the Air Force in 2007-2008 had carried 152 mm, 130 mm and 122 mm artillery rounds and electronic warfare equipment. “All ammunition aboard were of Chinese origin,” the paper said.

According to the daily, the LTTE started purchasing from China during the 2002-2004 peace process. Japan, which had been friendly to Sri Lanka, had noticed this and had also investigated the North Korean link.

Sridhar wrote:I don't think this has been posted here before. It is an article by D.B.S.Jeyaraj on the last days of the LTTE and of Prabhakaran. It has some details that have not been reported before and others that got written about much later than this article (it is dated May 22nd). But it does not have attributable sources, so take it for what it is worth. Jeyaraj has earlier written a biography of Prabhakaran and is considered well connected on both sides, with sources both in the Sri Lankan Govt. and in the LTTE.
http://www.dbsjeyaraj.com/dbsj/archives/615

Watershed and indicator events in LTTE/prabhakaran after Rajiv Gandhi's assasination occurred during 2004 - 2006:

The main culpability for the loss of the movement was
i) What was to be generalized movement to tackle the genuine greviances of the Tamils in Srilanka, turned into an exclusivist ideology. The movement allowed itself to be hijacked by exclusivist ideology.
From a simple aim and genuine aspiration the movement turned into completely fascist due to influence of the Western ideology. Western powers were looking for a beachhead for access to South India to involve in 'soul harvesting'. The needs of the movement to fast turn over in force mulitipliers were made available when it got enmeshed in adaptation and enrichment of western ideology. This easy access to funds and drunkness of bounty brought in by the largesse of the grants would have been not possible in short order if the movement stuck to its primary aim at its inception. The mutual benefits for the movement and the "ideology propagators" fit well. Of the many indicators,the LTTE mouth piece website went on apologitic frenzy for wishing on Diwali on its website during that period. Another indicator, to prove its credentials it unleashed tirade against hindus in Calfornia textbook saga, trying to be the voice of all tamizhs. The infiltration of the "ideology propagators/ soul harvesters" was in full swing in the movement. Although, it did put a brave facade of being religion neutral (which is the next best thing to complete conversion for the "soul harvesters" - basically denial of space for native ideas for larger populace by hoodwinking there is no religion involved, and coopting key members who are in influential positions.Ex- Prachanda of Nepal and his lackeys, just as Pribhakaran and his lackeys). Note, the sponsors never deny their own religion, but would insist on the targetted population to disown religion and view the situation as religion neutral.

Since inception, it has principally involved in silencing any dissent - not just in military sense. It had gradually converted to be incapable of even listening to alternate or otherwise dissenting voices. Then the movement truly had turned paranoid to the extent, it even eliminated a hindu priest of temple because he performed pooja on behalf of Mahinda Rajpaske!

1) Split of Karuna
2) Death of Taraki Sivaram (mouth piece of the Movement, was silenced. Interestingly, one of his last piece of writings were about introspection of the LTTE leadership on its role in non-equitable distribution of resources for north and east - highlighting causes for Karuna split)
3) Diminishing role of Mediator Norway (Google used to have, but has mysteriously disappeared how the mediator had deep contacts with the chruch front, whose role was to advance its pet theme)
4) Tsunami whose impact on the capability of movement is seen in the outcome
5) Election of YSR in Andhra pradesh (Usefulness of beachhead was rendered irrelevant). Basically, usefulness of renting of the movement for soul-harvesting was complete. As the saying goes, (people in afrika had land before but later they lost the land for the book) people who had land, lost it and now had the "book" in hand, with some higher mortals also having "guns" to go with the "book". Pribhakaran and his movement served as useful idiots whose services were no longer required as the beachhead was unnecessary.
6) Election of Rajpaske.
The tamils of Sri lanka will continue to suffer because the movement has dissipated any will on the tamil to even address genuine greivances in normal channels. Fortunately, for Sri Lankan tamils, if they learnt any lesson that abandoning basic tenets and principles and running after mirages created by vested "ideologies" who will use them and throw them, are going to stay with them for long time. It will be interesting to see how the tamils of Sri Lanka now move forward.

Fishermen Scoop Up Sri Lanka’s Peace Dividend

TRINCOMALEE, Sri Lanka — It was just after dawn and the fish market beneath this port city’s clock tower was humming. Fishermen shouldering baskets laden with the night’s catch tipped their Spanish mackerel, tuna and prawns onto the slick concrete floor for buyers. Sweaty men with clipboards and wads of cash leaned in close to inspect with crinkled noses, squinting eyes and prodding fingers.
Keith Bedford for The New York Times

Fishing is at the heart of the economic and cultural life of Trincomalee.

Trincomalee, Sri Lanka, has one of the deepest natural harbors in the world.

“I’ll take this for 500 rupees a kilo,” nearly $5, one buyer said to an expectant fisherman, waving his chin in the direction of a large, glistening yellowfin tuna. “Can you get me more?”

Fishermen here certainly hope so. The end of the brutal 26-year war against the Tamil Tiger insurgency in Sri Lanka prompted the government to ease fishing restrictions on Trincomalee’s harbor, breathing new life into the region’s moribund fishing industry. Boats once moldering on shore now go on all-night runs for tuna, squid and lobster. Ghostly markets are coming back to life.

Trincomalee has one of the world’s deepest natural harbors, and its potential for fishing, shipping and tourism seems endless. It holds a bounty of fish, crab and prawns that could provide tens of millions of dollars in earnings. Whales spawn here and dolphins leap in the azure waters.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/world ... lanka.html

Sri Lankan newspapers change focus

Feizal Samath, Foreign Correspondent

Last Updated: July 29. 2009 11:01PM UAE / July 29. 2009 7:01PM GMT

COLOMBO // More than two months after the end of one of the world’s bloodiest insurgencies, Sri Lankan newspapers, once dominated by war-related news, are grappling with a fresh challenge: what to report.

After 25 years covering the conflict, newspapers are now struggling for fresh story ideas and how to attract readers whose daily dose of war news has nearly disappeared.

The issue confronts the vernacular media more than the English-language press. Victor Ivan, editor of the popular Ravaya, a Sinhala-language newspaper, said journalists were facing a big challenge.

The debate and discussion, he said, would shift from the war to other issues, such as reform of the government, education, refugees, ethnic politics, transport, parliament, electoral systems and the judiciary.

http://www.thenational.ae/apps/pbcs.dll ... 99836/1002



Sri Lankan Airlines to start flights to north of country

New Delhi, July 31 (IANS) Sri Lanka’s flagship carrier Sri Lankan Airlines will soon start floatplane services to the north of the island country, an area where a 25-year ethnic conflict came to an end two months ago following the defeat of the Tamil tigers.
Floatplane is a seaplane equipped with floats for landing on and taking off from water.

“Now as we have been able to bring peace in the northeastern region, we would launch float-plane services which would not only provide air connectivity to these places but also allow tourists to have a look at some of the island’s most scenic beaches,” Amith Sumanapala, general manager of the carrier, told IANS here.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/bus ... 25823.html

Sri Lanka allows deep sea fishing in north

P K Balachandran

First Published : 01 Aug 2009 04:38:00 AM IST

COLOMBO: As part of the normalisation process in war-torn Tamil-speaking north Sri Lanka, the government has now allowed deep sea fishing there. There had been a ban on such fishing since 2005.

Fishermen ceremonially took off for deeper seas, in the presence of Social Service Minister Douglas Devananda and Vocational and Technical Training Minister Piyasena Gamage.

The ceremony saw the launch of 35 multi-day fishing vessels, 40 mechanized boats and 25 other traditional fishing boats at the Gurunagar jetty in Jaffna.

Till about two months ago, there was a ban on all fishing in the northern province because of the war.Fish production in the Jaffna peninsula and Mannar district had increased two-fold due to the lifting of the ban, the Fisheries Ministry said.

Fisheries Minister Felix Perera, who met northern fishermen recently, assured them of insulated trucks to transport their catch to Colombo.

“Jaffna Fish Centres” would also be set up in Colombo, to bring the down the price of fish, he said.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/stor ... E7I/Vl8os=

President Mahinda Rajapaksa in an interview with India’s Tehelka magazine allayed Indian fears over Chinese involvement in certain sectors of Sri Lanka and said he would never allow Sri Lanka to become a platform for anti-Indian activities by whatever country.

“I am sensitive to India’s feelings because India is our elder brother, and I have said this openly to Western powers. But all countries must realize that even if I call them friends, I am nobody’s stooge and never will be. I am a Sri Lankan nationalist,” President Rajapaksa said. “India and Sri Lanka are actually each other’s heart and soul. Our people, our cultures, our languages, our spiritual values come from ancient India. Modern India has always been my inspiration. Not only us, but even the world has a lot to learn from India.”

President Rajapaksa said India had not applied pressure on Sri Lanka but expressed a desire for more understanding.

“If any pressure has come on me, it has been from the West. But my people did not elect me to succumb to pressure and give in to terrorist blackmail. Yet let me reassure you that so long as I am in charge I will never allow Sri Lanka to become a platform for anti-Indian activities by any country,” the President said.

When asked about various Chinese sponsored projects in Sri Lanka President Rajapaksa said those were commercial arrangements and strategic deals.

“India has joint naval exercises with China and the United States. We welcome such things if they enhance our regional security. At no time did I keep secret from the Indian government the sources of my arms purchases. In fact, we gave your security establishment regular briefings,” the President said.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Secti ... RTID=56633


Sri Lanka closes down peace secretariat

July 31st, 2009 - 10:56 pm ICT by IANS Tell a Friend -

Colombo, July 31 (Xinhua) The Sri Lankan government has closed down a peace secretariat that was set up to facilitate reconciliation talks with the Tamil Tiger rebels, an official said Friday.
The government had taken the decision to close down the secretariat by July end, Rajiva Wijesinghe, head of the office, told reporters.

He added that from now on the relevant government ministries would take forward the functions of the secretariat.

http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/wor ... 25895.html


Airtel Lanka to launch services in war-ravaged northern region

COLOMBO, Aug 01, 2009 -- Airtel Lanka, subsidiary of India's biggest telecom company Airtel, is getting ready to launch services in the war ravaged districts of northern Sri Lanka which were under the control of the recently-defeated Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)

"As we speak, (Airtel Lanka) operations are being rolled out in the eastern province,'' said Amali Nanayakkara, CEO of the company. The LTTE held sway over the east till three years ago.

http://www.tmcnet.com/usubmit/2009/07/31/4302928.htm

Indian RAW Agents attempted to meet KP at undisclosed location

KP BLAMES POLITICAL FRIENDS OF PRABHAKARAN FOR NOT ACCEPTING HIS DEATH AND BLOOD RELATIVES FOR NOT RECEIVING HIS REMAINS

Posted on July 31st, 2009
By Walter Jayawardhana

The former arms procurer of the LTTE blamed Prabhakaran’s political friends Vaiko and Nedumaran for not accepting his death and Prabhakaran’s blood relatives for not coming forward to receive his mortal remains.

Speaking from an undisclosed country in Europe Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP blamed the Indian supporters of the late LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran like Vaiko and Nedumaran for not accepting the reality of the former LTTE leader’s death .

He also blamed the blood relatives of Prabhakaran for not coming forward to receive his mortal remains when he tried to obtain them.

KP, the former arms procurer for the terrorist group, earlier thought to be hiding in South East Asia is believed to have the support of an European country to lead the terrorist group from there.In fact, some blame KP for giving false hopes for Prabhakaran that some European powers would come and rescue him before the last phase of his war with the Sri Lankan army.

KP is not accepted as the universal leader of the LTTE by the expatriate members of the terrorist group.

“Just days after crowning himself the LTTE leader post-Prabhakaran, Selvarasa Pathmanathan alias KP expressed confidence that India would help Eelam Tamils achieve their aspirations for a separate homeland”, the Decan Chronicle said.

The Decan Chronicle said MDMK general secretary Vaiko and Sri Lankan Tamil Protection Movement convenor P. Nedumaran were unwilling to accept the fact that Prabhakaran was dead. Other reports said that they did not also support KP as the LTTE leader.

KP told the newspaper despite the beliefs of Vaiko and Nedumarana his leader Prabhakaran attained martyrdom along with other cadres in the last phase of war at Mullivaikkal.

He further told the newspaper he tried to get the mortal remains of the slain LTTE chief. “However, our leader’s blood relatives did not come forward to receive his body,” he said.

“At present, we have constituted a working committee that will explore the idea of forming a transnational Tamil Eelam government. The committee is drafting an action plan to achieve Tamil Eelam which has been the dream of our people for over half-a-century,” he said.

Postwar Sri Lanka Holds Promise, at Last

IN SRI LANKA, THE INVESTMENT AXIOM that the best time to plunge into the market is when there is "blood on the streets" is tragically literal.

More than 80,000 citizens of the tiny Indian Ocean island were killed in a 25-year civil war between the government and separatist Tamil Tiger rebels. The hostilities ended in May after government forces killed off many of the rebels in a bloody last stand. It was brutal, it was ugly, but it united 21 million people, many of whom had never known a homeland that wasn't at war.

Plagued by suicide bombings and Tiger air raids, Colombo's war-torn stock market fell 40% in 2008. But on May 18, the day the triumphant Sri Lankan military paraded the bodies of the slain Tiger leaders on state television, the Sri Lankan All-Share index jumped 6%. It's up 25% since May, and 60% this year. Asia enthusiast Jim Rogers, George Soros' one-time partner at the Quantum Fund, recently wrote in his blog that "Sri Lankan stocks are the only equities I would consider buying at the moment."

http://online.barrons.com/article/SB124 ... 97989.html


Sri Lanka sets goals for tourism projects as peace returns

Saturday, August 01, 2009, 13:00 Hrs [IST]
By P Krishna Kumar | New Delhi

Sri Lanka expects a boom in inbound travel in the coming years, as the civil war that was raging for over two decades, has come to an end. Sri Lankan Tourism estimates that the number of inbound travellers will double in the next two years and will reach one million in 2011. According to Romesh Jayasinghe, Sri Lanka’s High Commissioner to India, the Sri Lankan government has chalked out both short and long-term plans in order to develop the tourism infrastructure in areas, which were occupied by the LTTE. He was speaking to the media while launching ‘Meet in Sri Lanka Campaign’ by Sri Lanka Convention Bureau and Sri Lankan Airlines in New Delhi recently.

http://www.hospitalitybizindia.com/deta ... 5744&sid=1



Muslim priest kidnapped in Eastern Sri Lanka

Sat, Aug 1, 2009, 07:47 pm SL Time, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Aug 01, Colombo: An unidentified gang has kidnapped the Maulavi (chief priest) of the Ottamawadi mosque in Valachchenai last night.

According to the Valachchenai police, the Maulavi has gone missing since last night. The police found his slippers and the bicycle.

Police believes that a clash between two Muslim factions in the area resulted in the kidnapping.

Valachchenai police has launched a special search operation to find the missing priest.

http://www.colombopage.com/archive_091/ ... 269RA.html

To Kashyap and other GoSL defenders, "I said so" here before based on my hotch-potch reading of SL history. Please comment on the following indictment at saag:

But all these are exercises in politics and not of the promised pathway to ethnic reconciliation. It is not good intentions that is lacking in Sri Lanka but their implementation.

The ethnic divide has established deep roots of distrust between the two communities that are yet to bee uprooted. So when the state once again sidelines the basic issue of Tamil quest for equitable treatment there cannot be but a feeling of déjã vu among the people on this issue.

The process of polarisation of Sinhala and Tamil communities had been going on for over half a century. It had been clouding the emergence of a united Sri Lankan identity after it became bread and butter of Sinhala and Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. It has resulted in Sri Lanka going through a full circle from politics to extremism to militancy to insurgency to terrorism to war to politics now. Should Sri Lanka go through this agonising cycle all over once again? This is a question the people and rulers of Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore.

The government of Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapaksa said it was going to war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the battle cry of freedom. It spoke of a vision of a Sri Lanka where peoples lives would not be determined by the language they spoke. However, after the war is over, with a great deal of sacrifice of men and material resources, the emerging socio-political environment does not indicate the vision coming true; it may well remain what it was – just a vision.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cnot ... te531.html

Well, Prabhakaran should have thought of that before he started murdering Indian troops, and playing a racial card inside India.

Sanjay M wrote:Well, Prabhakaran should have thought of that before he started murdering Indian troops, and playing a racial card inside India.

How do the criminal acts of an organization that has been more or less decimated and Pirabakaran's omissions and commissions allow GoSL to forget its duties and responsibilities and the respect commensurate with such roles that it expects from people both within the country and outside? In short, if the GoSL expects credentials worthy of its name as a representative and inclusive government of all its citizens, it has to act according to its promises --- much of which it has not in the past, and all indications are that it is going into a phase of selective amnesia in the short-term future, and which even a cursory-watcher of the annals of geopolitics vis-a-vis SL will readily recognize and could have predicted ages back....

PS: This above statement has nothing to do with what GoI does or does not, what LTTE did or did not, what the rest of the world does or does not, it has only to do with GoSL and noone but GoSL. Your bringing non-sequiturs such as IPKF in every statement does nt add to your already bludgeoned credibility in this thread.

OT

Stan, did you get me email ?

Sanjay M wrote:Well, Prabhakaran should have thought of that before he started murdering Indian troops, and playing a racial card inside India.

Seriously, take my observations for what ever it is worth - you protesth too much. Well the GoSL should have thought about all these as soon as SL got its independence.

Stan_Savljevic wrote:
PS: This above statement has nothing to do with what GoI does or does not, what LTTE did or did not, what the rest of the world does or does not, it has only to do with GoSL and noone but GoSL. Your bringing non-sequiturs such as IPKF in every statement does nt add to your already bludgeoned credibility in this thread.

Sorry, for intruding..however, I have seen a few folks on this thread do cast aspersions on SanjayM. If I read Philip's masterful summation (a while earlier on this thread...do not have link but can find it if required) of SL history and the conflict I'd tend to agree with Sanjay's statement that Prabhakaran did mess it all up and he was aided by the diaspora which bought into it. Now that GoSL has won the war - the signs are that they are working to bring normalization and equal rights to all. Is this not your assessment?

viv wrote: Sorry, for intruding..however, I have seen a few folks on this thread do cast aspersions on SanjayM.

That is because he shoots more than he has to, bringing in his super-jingoistic credentials to display here. If you chant IPKF, IPKF a gazillion times, it does nt mean you became a jingo-ist worthy of your name or reputation. The genesis of the IPKF mission can be found in JND's articulations or "Indian peacekeeping force in Sri Lanka" by Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh, Overall Force Commander of the IPKF for a long period of time. A proper analysis of the IPKF "failure" is already out there. Our mission was great (and needless to say dharmic) in conception, but our politicians and the Indian Army did not have an overarching goal in mind that they wanted to achieve within a finite period of time. The Indo-SL accord which paved the way for the IPKF mission was written in the vaguest and most imprecise of languages, as seen from the vantage point of a group that implements this accord, with force if need be.

Plus, the TN politicians of that time (by which I mean mostly MGR and MK) played their own games, along with the games played by Junius Jayewardene, the Buddhist monks and the assorted oiseaules that LTTE represented at that point in time (including VP). Blaming the LTTE alone for the IPKF failure is missing the forest for the woods. If someone is a true jingo-ist, he will analyze the mistakes made by our side (or at the very least read what Lt. Gen. Singh has to say given his vantage point) so that these mistakes do not get repeated in the future, cos needless to say, we are going to have to tread in unfamiliar territories (elsewhere) soon. At the very least, we will have maps of locations a priori.

If I read Philip's masterful summation (a while earlier on this thread...do not have link but can find it if required) of SL history and the conflict I'd tend to agree with Sanjay's statement that Prabhakaran did mess it all up and he was aided by the diaspora which bought into it.

That would, in short, be a dishonest assessment of the situation. Sure, LTTE mucked up the situation more than anyone could retrieve, but the casus belli for their acts lie purely at the hands of SLFP and UNP. The ring-a-ring-a roses that Tamils suffered at these idiots' hands was driven by the majority's insecurity and fear for future prospects, and anger over past grievances. You cannot build or co-opt a constructive society when the majority turns out to be paranoidal and exclusive. That leads to centrifugal tendencies which in turn to chaos and complexities resulting in the stakeholders of the region interfering in their selfishness for overall normalcy. Let me quote a SLFP politician about his countrymen's acts (said in the context of JVP, but it amuses me as to why the same cannot be applied to the LTTE): "We must convince ourselves that if our youths have chosen the argument of force rather than the force of argument, the change represents our failure, not their aberration."

Now that GoSL has won the war - the signs are that they are working to bring normalization and equal rights to all. Is this not your assessment?

No, in one word. But I will reserve my worthless judgment till whatever policies GoSL may be conceiving (as of now) to be put to paper and brought to fruition. SL has the weird distinction of being a place where history revisits much faster than we see in India. All the happenings on the ground do not suggest a devolution of power or an equitable and equanimous implementation of rights for the ethnic Tamils. But yes, the chakra is spinning, and if things go wrong, there will be many people who will rise up to say "I said so..."

In my opinion knowing the island intimately for a few decades,the GOSL has a large window of opportunity,which will last a few years.The reorganisation of Tamil militancy and the start of another Tamil armed struggle cannot happen overnight as there is no leader in the island who can command such authority as fuhrer P did.Moreover,it was a catastrophic mistake of the Eelamists to place all their chips onto the fortune of just one man.They learnt nothing from history and another example in the island,the defeat of the JVP where Rohana Wijeweera,a similar fascist in he south,was killed and the rump of his outfit with him.If KP is truly honest (?!) in saying that the struggle will now be non-violent,it is because he and the Eelamists cannot launch an armed struggle of the scale that the LTTE did for at least another decade.The massive arms dumps being unearthed by the SL forces are astonishing and indicate that the LTTE had ambitions beyond the island,into S.India too.

Once rehabilitation and the wheels of the Jaffna economy start turning and ordinary people get used to the taste of normal everyday life,which have been denied to then for 2+ decades,the desire to return to an armed struggle and another Eelam war will be the least thought on their minds.With India pouring in money into the north for rehabilitation and reconstruction-and Indian companies are going to make much moolah in the contracts,the Lankan economy is going to experience a boom period for a couple of years.With greater Indo-Lankan economic and strategic coopertaion,both sides will be very careful to see that some concrete leeway is amd eon the political front,a new liberal leadership emerge to represent the Tamils of the north,as both India and Lanka well know the dangers of allowing the Eelamist forces to regroup and return.India also well knows that engaging positively with Lanka helps kep the Chines einfluence down to a minimum.After all,China is thousands of KM away from Lanka while India is just a few miles away.

To me, the current phase is a wonderful opportunity for India's Sri Lanka policty to be framed in Delhi, and not in Chennai...Sri Lanka is the country with the biggest potential as an "allied state" to us - in terms of the economy, its strategic location on the Indian ocean, and the outlook of its people towards India..

For all those who cry out "pusillanimity" in all our dealings, and how China is taking away everything, or we are doing America's bidding, the SL drama as it unfolds holds lessons..

the IMF loan is now cleared despite opposition from the West (thank India?), the reconstruction is going to be led and financed by India (people talked of Chinese influence?), and India is already big in the Sri Lankan economy...

the next stage is to get SL in a more strategic embrace - an FTA (dont we have one already?), a "military sort of alliance" giving us rights on creating naval bases in SL - which will extend our choke-hold over the crucial MAlacca straits and Indian Ocean..Make SL a model neighbouring state of India..

Stan_Savljevic wrote:To Kashyap and other GoSL defenders, "I said so" here before based on my hotch-potch reading of SL history. Please comment on the following indictment at saag:

But all these are exercises in politics and not of the promised pathway to ethnic reconciliation. It is not good intentions that is lacking in Sri Lanka but their implementation.

The ethnic divide has established deep roots of distrust between the two communities that are yet to bee uprooted. So when the state once again sidelines the basic issue of Tamil quest for equitable treatment there cannot be but a feeling of déjã vu among the people on this issue.

The process of polarisation of Sinhala and Tamil communities had been going on for over half a century. It had been clouding the emergence of a united Sri Lankan identity after it became bread and butter of Sinhala and Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. It has resulted in Sri Lanka going through a full circle from politics to extremism to militancy to insurgency to terrorism to war to politics now. Should Sri Lanka go through this agonising cycle all over once again? This is a question the people and rulers of Sri Lanka cannot afford to ignore.

The government of Sri Lanka under President Mahinda Rajapaksa said it was going to war against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) with the battle cry of freedom. It spoke of a vision of a Sri Lanka where peoples lives would not be determined by the language they spoke. However, after the war is over, with a great deal of sacrifice of men and material resources, the emerging socio-political environment does not indicate the vision coming true; it may well remain what it was – just a vision.

http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cnot ... te531.html

In the words of David Blacker, a Sri Lankan who is half Tamil and half Burgher:

"The entire SL NE Tamil population, parts of the diaspora, and the pro-LTTE Tamil politicians share a part of the blame. They raised the dog, and let it control the house. They let the dog eat their children in exchange for keeping the neighbours away. The kids are innocent, but they’re suffering with their parents. It’s sad, but it can’t be helped. There’s only so far you can go down a road before it’s too late to turn back. You have to walk through to the end, pain or no. Sorry. But there it is."

Also see: http://indi.ca/2009/08/tamil-chauvinism/

Lankan police hunt for Muslim preacher from TN

P K Balachandran

First Published : 03 Aug 2009 04:34:00 AM IST

COLOMBO: Sri Lankan police are looking for Kovai Ayoob, a controversial Islamic preacher from Coimbatore in Tamil Nadu.

The hunt assumes significance in the context of a clash on July 24 between fundamentalist Tawheed Jamaath and moderate Sufis in the western coastal town of Beruwela in which two persons were killed.

Immigration Controller P A Abeykoon told The Sunday Times that he had asked the police to catch Ayoob. As per Ayoob’s visa he is a tourist, but violating the rules he was propagating, through public speeches, the ideas of the radical Wahabist Tawheed Jamaath in Sri Lanka and creating tension between the fundamentalists and the traditional sufis.

http://www.expressbuzz.com/edition/stor ... E7I/Vl8os=


Moulavi released: Tension among Muslims

By Yohan Perera

Moulavi Rizvi of Batticaloa who is alleged to have been abducted by some members of a new Muslim group was released early morning yesterday amid Muslim politicians expressing fears that this new group was attempting to sow discord among Muslims in Sri Lanka.

Western Province Governor Alavi Moulana said the moulavi was dumped near his mosque in Batticaloa with his head shaved and badly tortured.

Daily Mirror learnt that the victim was earlier threatened and was warned not to preach Suffism which this new group abhorred. However some Muslim clerics had been engaged in Sufi practices in the country for a long time and the new group had been against it.

Mr. Mowlana said the situation was turning ugly as the unrest created by the new group in Beruwala had even spread to Batticaloa and Kalmunai areas and pointed out that steps should be taken to prevent mosques of the two groups being built on the same street.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Secti ... RTID=56735


Indian medical team’s stay in Lanka extended for two months

The Indian Armed Forces field hospital unit that was set up in war-torn Sri Lanka in March to help civilians caught in the cross-fire between the Army and LTTE rebels has been extended by two more months on Colombo’s request. The field hospital unit, which has a 60-member medical team that includes surgeons, a paediatrician and a woman medical officer, has been granted its third extension.

The hospital has treated over 21,000 internally displaced Tamil civilians and has handled cases of gunshot wounds, trauma, head injuries and other medical problems at Manik farms camp in Vavuniya.

Amongst the patients who have been treated at the hospital is Sujatha, who was trained as a suicide bomber at an LTTE camp.

http://www.indianexpress.com/news/India ... ths/497315


80 more Indians fly to Sri Lanka to clear landmines

NEW DELHI: Over 80 former Indian soldiers have left for Sri Lanka following the defeat of the Tamil Tigers to join Indians already there in
clearing thousands of buried landmines.

The new group has teamed up with compatriots working since 2003, mainly in the northern districts of Mannar and Vavuniya, in defusing mines laid by both the military and the Tigers during their prolonged conflict.

While 50 of the latest batch of Indians are attached to the Pune-based Horizon Group, 32 are from Sarvatra Technical Consultants, a company that is based in Gurgaon, Haryana. Sarvatra will send 32 more men.

Both are led by retired Indian Army officers who are proud of what they have achieved so far and are keen to help Sri Lanka now that it is engaged in post-war construction.

"It has been a wonderful opportunity," Horizon chief and retired Major General Shashikant Pitre told IANS over telephone from Pune, referring to the de-mining work.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS ... 848100.cms


Jaffna bus services begin

Jaffna-Colombo Public transport services began yesterday with 175 passengers travelling in four buses from Jaffna to Medawachchiya, Northern Province Governor G.A. Chandrasiri said.

Major General Chandrasiri said the Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) had initially deployed four buses but more buses would be added to the fleet shortly. A one-way ticket has been priced at Rs.475.

He said for the convenience of passengers a connecting bus service would be introduced from Medawachchiya to Colombo.

Jaffna Government Agent G.A. Ganesh said the service would be expanded to provide a daily uninterrupted bus service on the Jaffna -Medawachchiya route from tomorrow.

Another group of 200 passengers are expected to arrive in Colombo from Jaffna tomorrow using this newly introduced bus service.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Secti ... RTID=56736

The SL issue is a minefield.The Sinhalese rightly distrust the tamils who have no loyalty to SL.They form the majority in NE Srilanka.The Sinhalese have a historical vision of a united SL.There have been Buddhist Kingdoms in North throughout Lankan history.

The proud Tamils of NE who fell to the British trap want an independent state.They cheish their language,culture and independence.

Obviously the Sinhalese have to be magnanimous.But they fear rightfully the Tamil influence in India.They fear that Tamils might be upto their old ways with the help of their brethren in TN.

As SSridhar said the Lankans have to evolve a system which can check tamil separatism.Also as Kashyap says,we need to have a long term treaty with Lanka.I cant see how MK will allow that.He will be painted as a traitor by ramadoss.

No doubt the Sinhalese will have to show magnanimity but what about their deep desire to secure their national unity by a treaty with India?

My two paise thoughts.

krishnapremi wrote: The Sinhalese rightly distrust the tamils who have no loyalty to SL. They form the majority in NE Srilanka.The Sinhalese have a historical vision of a united SL.There have been Buddhist Kingdoms in North throughout Lankan history.

What goes around comes around... That is Newton's third law. Tamil kingdoms stretched far south than the NE for a long period of time. There are many (both Tamil and otherwise) who doubt the Mahavamsam chronicles of Sinhalese origins. Even if true, Mahavamsam has been the most abused chronicle in SL over the last two centuries. Till the British left, it provided a semblance of unity and pride. After that it has been an instrument to disabuse the minority of any notion of freedom and equal rights.

The distrust in Tamils of the Sinhalese goes both ways, and sure, both are guilty parties. But when a said community shifts its stance from "more or less equal rights" to division of a country over a forty-year time-frame, it is incumbent on neutral observers to understand the shift in rhetoric, positioning and the causes beneath it, instead of claiming ignorance or blindly parrying aside when one party claims victim status. The less said about the interested parties, the better....

Obviously the Sinhalese have to be magnanimous.But they fear rightfully the Tamil influence in India.They fear that Tamils might be upto their old ways with the help of their brethren in TN.

What old ways, may I ask?! Did TN interfere in SL politics in the 1920s? Did TN interfere in the 1940s? If so, what are these?! If TN does interfere now and did interfere from the 70s and up, there should be a reason, no?! Or is it pure vanity of an akhand-TN or a dravida naadu or other propagaandu pamphlets?! Could you substantiate your claims with more facts?

As SSridhar said the Lankans have to evolve a system which can check tamil separatism.Also as Kashyap says,we need to have a long term treaty with Lanka.I cant see how MK will allow that.He will be painted as a traitor by ramadoss.

You give far more credibility to MK and Ramadoss than the Tamil guy on the street. When MK kicks the bucket, which is not very far, he will pass into history as more of a Tamil scholar than much else. Sure, he has been a long-time CM and a big-time politico etc, but so were Kamaraj and Annadurai. Get to the street and you will know how much people remember Kamaraj and Annadurai except for their birth and death anniversaries. I would credit the wisdom and policies of folks such as JND and MKN much much more for today's dialectics with SL. Unfortunately, these people dont stand up and make noise like the two-bit ragtag team does. If a SLankan made such a brilliant claim, I would say "Ok, bugger does nt know much about what is the horse and what is the cart." Now I am clueless....

stan guru,
I take back my ill considered remarks on ''old ways with the help of TN'' and more such nonsense.

The SL fear of TN influence has already been debated.Stan has 'shown' SL has little to fear.While India-SL engagement should be deepened,it has little to do with internal cohesion in SL.India has reiterated SL unity,it is upto SL to win the confidence of its citizens.India cannot provide cover to SL on her internal problems.

Better to be a lurker here.

The blogsphere is ripe with rumour. The elusive Kumaran Pathmanaban/KP/Selvarajah Pathmanathan might have been arrested.

Edit: SL Defmin website claims KP taken into custody by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities. CNN/Reuters also report the same. Apparently picked up in Thailand.

KP arrested

Stan

We are going to disagree a bit here


The IPKF chant is absolutely important. No one says the IPKF failure is because of LTTE only - in fact many may even validly argue about whether it was a failure.


But many of the reasons that contributed to the IPKF problems are still there. The vicious propaganda, meme warfare waged, jackass politicians, ignorant public, parochial and chauvinistivc folks - all those elements are there.

THe very fact that we had people on this forum defending the UTHR #%%#$ in the aftermath of the SLA victory is a pointer to that. I had to post more details of the the propaganda that was run during the Battle of Jaffna.

Sanjay may be off in sometimes generalising and not being to break up the level of Tamil sympathy - but I can live with that little exchange with him from time to time. I have had sharp exchanges with him - but can live with it. As I have told him - we are still on the same team.



Depinder and JND barely scratch the surface in terms of the what the IPKF faced.

Depinders is just an easy to read book with no meaningful insight or feel (the best thing he did was to mention that Deva should write a book ). Sardeshpande is better in that regard but Yashwant Deva has done the most.

So bringing up the IPKF is absolutely valid and is not pure jingoism. Maybe the Sanjays of the world do not understand the finer details of what you bring up - BUT there is a place for his type of argument.

If KP has indeed been arrested, it will be the final nail in the coffin of the LTTE. There is no other 'leader' left in its ranks to continue the organization. It will also mean an end to the extortion that the diaspora has faced over the last two decades.

KP's blog is at the following link.
http://ltteir.org/

Surya, give me a while. Let me finish this book by Lt. Gen. Depinder Singh to get to the same page as you.

Sure, I am thick skinned enough to take Sanjay M's rhetoric and clubbing all and sundry as sympathizers and empathizers. But I am also going to give back the same rhetoric as and when I feel comfortable. If thats fair, so be it, no problemo. We need a two-way street of armchair punditry to make a stale topic a bit more cinematic.

Stan

No problem sock him once a while

I just want his type of discussion out there from time to time.



Summing the many books by IPKF vets
BTW what I meant Depinder's book was a easy read was it did not give us any greater detail of the battles and problems - than we get from piecing together many magazine articles and newspaper reports.

Sardeshpande does dive into details and issues but for some reason decides he will keep it abstract (company A, platoon b)

Harkirat is useless - rambling , blabbering -

Kaul sadly was there for a few hours - so while very brief - has given the best boot level feel of combat. In only he had been there longer in the operations

Deva as LNS's review says is all encompassing - though from a signals view. Most importantly for us he has picked on the information warfare aspect and has given a lot of info. Pretty much the best book on IPKF and will be hard to beat.

JND covers the political aspect



Also get Yashwant Devas book - Especially the chapters on Meme warfare -

I wish LNS comes back

New LTTE chief Pathmanathan arrested in Thailand

The new self-appointed leader of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Kumaran Pathmanathan also known as KP has been arrested in Bangkok.

Basil Rajapaksa, senior advisor to and brother of President Mahinda Rajapaksa, told HT: ``He was arrested and has been flown to Colombo.’’
...
...
KP, who is an accused in the assassination of former Prime Minister, Rajiv Gandhi, was wanted by the Interpol and was LTTE’s chief procurer of arms. He is booked under several laws in India and is considered a fugitive. His appointed as the new LTTE leader came after the death of its founder-leader V Prabhakaran and following a still-simmering battle of succession.
...
..

If true this is amazing. A small nation, without money, oil or big power patronage accomplishing something normally a state like Israel does, bundling terrorists and literally shipping them as cargo, bypassing courts, extradition hearings etc..a victory to sheer diplomatic intelligence.

Just getting the ATM pins out of him should keep SL Defence budget protected for a year or so..

A fabulous coup by the Lankans! Hats off to Rajapakse and Co.Little Lanka has annihilated the LTTE and its fascist fuhrer along with his entire top entourage,and has now even engineered the capture of its most elusive kingpin,the chief arms procurer,drug smuggler and financial head,KP! India's efforts to catch or kill Dawood and Co. enjoying 7* luxury in Pak, is a pathetic example to behold in comparison.Whiloe Rajapakse gets cracking aaginst terror and wins his war,MMS simply surrenders all at S-al-S.Truly is the leadership of MMS and Co. as fruitful as a colony of eunuchs!

If as the foll.report indicates,that KP was betrayed by his fellow "Eelamists",then the movement in its death throes,as KP perhaps was even more important than Prabhakaran,who was merely a merciless cowardly thug like Himmler or Pol Pot,who delighted in dispensing death and torture to his victims,instead of being a political revolutionary.He was no Castro or Che,or even a Wijeweera,who used a semblence of Marxism to justify his revolutionary violebnce.It also deals a kick in the balls for the LTTE's foreign supporters like "David Milli-Bond",who tried desperately to save Prabhakaran and use Lanka as a base from which to destabilise India.

"KP’s arrest would effectively neutralise on-going efforts to revive the LTTE spearheaded by foreign powers which arranged direct contacts between the key terrorist and UN officials. "

KP being questioned in Colombo

Kumaran Pathmanathan also known as KP is now being questioned in Colombo. The Hindustan Times today quotes MP Basil Rajapaksa as saying KP was flown down to Colombo following his arrest although details of how arrest was conducted was not revealed.

Meanwhile respected columnist D.B.S Jeyaraj, in a posting on his blog site said that according to informed sources KP was staying in Kuala Lumpur(KL) , Malaysia when taken into custody.

Pathmanathan had met with two visitors from London, England at a hotel room in KL in the afternoon of August 5th.

He had received a call on his cellular phone. KP had then signaled to his visitors that he was going out to the corridor and walked away while conversing on the phone.

He had not returned for a long time and the when the worried visitors from Britain went out in search there was no sign of the new global tiger chief.

Meanwhile the friend who had been talking to KP on the phone had heard a sudden thud and some noise while chatting. The phone went dead and repeated calls were not successful.

The friend then alerted some assistants of KP in Malaysia who went in search of KP to the place where he was staying in KL. The place was empty but KP’s insulin and syringes and other medical stuff was still there.

The visitors from London also got alarmed and contacted circles close to KP.

Meanwhile KP seized in Malaysia was taken to Bangkok in Thailand.

Sri Lankan authorities were contacted and a team from the Police Terrorist Investigation Department flew to Bangkok in the early hours of Thurasday August 6th.

The team returned with Pathmanathan alias KP on a special flight on the same day.

KP was handcuffed and had a mask covering his head and face when disembarking from the plane at Katunayake Airport.

He was whisked away in a vehicle with tinted glasses to a high-security , secret location run by the terrorism investigation dept personnel.

KP is to be interrogated intensively by Sri Lankan anti-terrorist sleuths.

It is widely believed that the arrest was made possible through “inside information” supplied by some members of the LTTE abroad who were opposed to KP donning the tiger leadership mantle after the demise of supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Secti ... RTID=57279

Island report.http://www.island.lk/2009/08/07/news32.html

Tiger Chief, KP caught, brought to Colombo
Born: April 6, 1955
AGE: 54
Aliases: KP, Selvarasa Pathmanathan and many others
Charges: Criminal conspiracy, arms smuggling, violation of the Indian Terrorist Act and the Indian Explosive Act, assassination of Rajiv Gandhi.

Self-appointed LTTE leader Kumaran Pathmanathan alias KP was arrested in a South-east Asian country and brought to Colombo yesterday (06). He was being kept in an undisclosed location.

Authoritative sources told The Island last night that a section of the international community had made a desperate bid to promote him as Velupillai Prabhakaran’s successor. Sources said that KP’s arrest would effectively neutralise on-going efforts to revive the LTTE spearheaded by foreign powers which arranged direct contacts between the key terrorist and UN officials.

KP, who had been the LTTE’s international relations chief till he claimed the LTTE leadership after the army killed Velupillai Prabhakaran in May, previously functioned as the group’s main arms procurer.

On August 04 the Indian Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB) said the LTTE had been running a powerful narcotics network in Southeast Asia and after the demise of Prabhakaran other terrorist organisations in the region were vying with one another to take over the lucrative drug trade.

Government sources said that President Mahinda Rajapaksa had been briefed on the arrest and he had directed relevant authorities to go ahead with investigations.

KP was wanted by Interpol and also by India in connection with the assassination of one-time Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.

In September, two years ago, though there were media reports of KP’s arrest in Bangkok, Thailand denied the reports. But, he subsequently reappeared under the name S. Pathmanathan and handled the LTTE’s international political arm.

Over the past several years, Sri Lanka made desperate attempts to track down the terrorist and his chief associates.

Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama last night told The Island that Sri Lanka in the recent past had inquired about KP from several countries, including Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Vietnam.

He said that Sri Lanka was grateful to the international community for cracking down on LTTE operatives.

Sources said that the arrest of Pathmanathan, the new head of the remnants of the LTTE, would strengthen Sri Lanka’s efforts to cripple LTTE operations abroad. Although the government didn’t confirm it, some sources said that the arrest had been made in Thailand, citing military officials.

Sri Lanka captures overseas LTTE leader: military

(AFP) – 4 hours ago

COLOMBO — Sri Lanka said Friday it had arrested the acting head of the Tamil Tigers who had vowed to revive the separatist group following its military defeat in May and the death of its supreme leader.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, better known as K.P., was "taken into custody by Sri Lankan law enforcement authorities", the defence ministry said in a statement posted on its website.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/ar ... AUvzlZOHOQ


New LTTE leader arrested, brought to Colombo

Colombo: The new head of the already decimated Tamil Tigers Selvarasa Pathmanathan was nabbed in Malaysian capital Kuala Lumpur and brought to Colombo, where he was being interrogated at an undisclosed location.

"Pathmanathan is in Sri Lanka and he will be questioned for international links of the LTTE", Military Spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara said.

http://news.in.msn.com/international/ar ... id=3127260


Sri Lankan rebels say new leader arrested

By KRISHAN FRANCIS (AP) – 3 minutes ago

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Sri Lankan authorities questioned the new leader of the Tamil Tiger rebels Friday after he was arrested in Southeast Asia and flown to this island nation.

Selvarasa Pathmanathan, the insurgent group's former chief arms smuggler, assumed the leadership of the Tamil Tigers after government forces routed the rebels in May in northern Sri Lanka and killed their revered leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/art ... gD99TUGJG0


Campaigns end ahead of Sri Lanka s first post-war polls

reuters.com, 5 aug. JAFFNA, Sri Lanka, Aug 6 (Reuters) - Campaigning for Sri Lanka's first post-war polls ended on Thursday, and the government resettled more than 3,000 who people who fled the final offensive against the Tamil Tigers...

http://www.reuters.com/article/featured ... SCOL374711

Amazing what national determination and a no nonsense leadership can do.

Suddenly bumbling Sri lanka seems to be the Israel of the 70s and80s

Its a sad commentary on us. just imagine how much leverage we would actually have if it were not for spineless leaders