Bharat Rakshak

Stan_Savljevic said ...
Fonseka aide's house bombed in Colombo

The only problem is these days no one knows who does what. Because it is very advantages to blow your own house and blame it on the other party. I saw recently an article about some politician or a lawyer killing himself to frame another person in politics.
For every conspiracy theory, there is a counter conspiracy theory. Fonseka recently said he is expecting an attack in Kurunagala. Government says he is planning an attack on himself to get sympathy votes. The only problem unlike politician in the past, SF is a person quite capable of doing such a thing.

This time around the whole election is going to be very tricky. There is quite a lot of rumours that the west is planning to do something similar to what they did in Iran. The election process is going to be rigged seem to be already a foregone conclusion. MR will win the election for sure. The only question is what is going to happen after that. Will the UNP, SF with his hit men and JVP military and TNA will cause havoc after that or not would be the question. I am sure there would be plenty of support from the west for such a move to further destabilize the government.

Cong reacts cautiously over reports of Nalini's early release

http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report_co ... se_1337532

Echoing similar views, AICC media department in-charge and party general secretary Janardan Dwivedi said the state unit (Tamil Nadu) is free to express its feelings.

Former senior Congress leader from the state EVKS Elangovan has already said the government should think twice before releasing Nalini, saying it will send out wrong signals.

Tewari, meanwhile, parried questions on Priyanka Gandhi's meeting with Nalini in the jail in 2008 and Sonia Gandhi's support for commuting of the sentence from capital punishment to life imprisonment.

"At that time, the Congress president herself had given in writing to the president, saying what she had to say. It will not be appropriate to add anything to it," the Congress spokesperson said.

Asked again about Priyanka's meeting with Nalini, he refused to comment saying, "I do not want to comment on any personal meeting of an individual.

"If she made any initiative on it due to some reason it is our responsibility that we give her that much space that if she wants to do anything, we do not over scrutinise it.

Freeing Nalini will turn hr into an Eelam icon.The Eelam diaspora will turn her into their heroine for her role in Rajiv's assassination.For her role and that of the main accused,the death sentence should be carried out.However,a "long" life sentence is perhaps preferable in her case because the stigma of hanging a woman who might have joined the cause through her lover's brainwashing,not because she was a hard core LTTE supporter,might look too extreme.She should serve some more time untilthe LTTE menace is eradicated in India totally.

As expected the dirty tricks dept. in the island is working in full flow.The irony is that this entire exercise was because of the astrologers getting their loincloths in a twist.Which will come first,the egg or the bird?! There is no doubt though that the west is behind Herr General and would love nothing better than to see Pakse-raja defeated.It might eventually boil down to the votes of the ones who were the most affected,the Tamils of the north and east as the Sinhalese vote in the south and west appear to be split.

>>I saw recently an article about some politician or a lawyer killing himself to frame another person in politics.

Are you serious? Did this really happen?

Are you serious? Did this really happen?

This is not a joke. Read it on CNN (maybe 3-4 weeks back). Some high profile lawyer or politician killed himself in one of the Central American Countries to so that he can frame some one else for the death. Therefore believable. The verdict came from UN Investigators. Yeah, I was bit surprised myself.


Here we go.
Guatemalan lawyer hires hitman to kill him and frame president.
http://www.boingboing.net/2010/01/15/gu ... er-hi.html

Think about it, if ordinary people are prepared to go to this length to destroy someone else, I wonder what kind of shit the western intelligence agencies are pulling in SL.

The bomb explosion in the ministers house seem to be very much staged.

In other news, Prabhakaran and Elvis will be performing together in Las Vegas next month. Get your tickets before they are sold out.

Prabhakaran is alive: LTTE spokesman Tamil Maaran

In other news, Prabhakaran and Elvis will be performing together in Las Vegas next month. Get your tickets before they are sold out.
Prabhakaran is alive: LTTE spokesman Tamil Maaran

The thing I cannot understand is, why Tamil People want to lie to their own people. I mean, did India say Indira Ghandi is alive after her death, or Rajiv is Alive after his death, or Ranasinghe Premadhasa is alive after his death. No. So why does part of Tamil section is trying to do this? Why does the other part of the Tamil community silent and allow this kind of fake reporting to go on. Bit disgraceful.

thusitha wrote:

In other news, Prabhakaran and Elvis will be performing together in Las Vegas next month. Get your tickets before they are sold out.
Prabhakaran is alive: LTTE spokesman Tamil Maaran

The thing I cannot understand is, why Tamil People want to lie to their own people. I mean, did India say Indira Ghandi is alive after her death, or Rajiv is Alive after his death, or Ranasinghe Premadhasa is alive after his death. No. So why does part of Tamil section is trying to do this? Why does the other part of the Tamil community silent and allow this kind of fake reporting to go on. Bit disgraceful.

it's not a tamil problem but a LTTE problem. VP was the glue that kept them together as well as kept them running. they haven't found an alternative.

rest of the tamil community doesn't bother to engage with obvious crackheads. it's like arguing with people who believe that aliens run the world.

Funny, a famous Indian astrologer who earlier had a more humble profession peddling shitpots,before he became a legend in Delhi circles,some years ago en-route to a consultation for a Pacific PM,told me about his theory of similar sounding words/sounds/numbers/letters/etc. and the fate of a person. "VP" Singh,got the IPKF of "VP's" (Vellupillai Prabhakaran) neck.He mentioned "Sri Perumbudur,where Rajiv met his tragic end and "Sri" Lanka.

Meanwhile as allegations of assasinations and arson attacks are fired by both sides in the run-up to the imminent presidential poll,the GOSL's UN rep reiterated the allegation that the west was waiting to recuse the trapped top LTTE leadership.

LTTE expected to be rescued Thursday, 21 January 2010 18:53
By Dianne Silva

The LTTE was in contact with western countries and were sure that western leaders would step in to rescue them during the final hours of the war, according to a statement made by the Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka to the UN Dr. Palitha Kohona at an event in Colombo a short while ago.

“The LTTE during the final stages of the war were in constant contact with western leaders. They were sure that the western powers would jump in and rescue them,” Dr.Kohona said while addressing a forum of the Institute of Engineers of Sri Lanka.

Dr. Kohona also noted that the President during his term considered all options to bring peace to the country. However all attempts at peaceful negotiations were rebuffed and thus the President had to take an alternate route. “We were rebuffed, laughed at and ridiculed by the LTTE every time we tried peaceful means,” he said.

He also described how Sri Lanka was ostracized by the majority of the western countries yet was able to overcome this by good foreign relations. “When we were trying to bring down arms from the Czech Republic western powers influenced those countries around them and did not allow for the artillery to be taken to a port. Thereby the train carrying these items was crisscrossing across Europe. Finally we convinced Poland to allow us to use their port,” he said.

Shit!

Rajapaksa suffers setback; Kumaratunga supports Fonseka

Hours after the campaigning ended for the crucial January 26 polls in the post-LTTE era, Rajapaksa suffered a defection today when the matriarch of his coalition and ex-president Chandrika Kumaratunga supported former army chief Gen Fonseka during a meeting at Horagolla, media reports said.

Dmurphy
Location: India
Shit!
Rajapaksa suffers setback; Kumaratunga supports Fonseka

No surprises here. It is a well known fact. SF was and has been the CBK man. So this is not a real set back. Rest assured MR will win. The only question is what margins.

SRI LANKA: Election War and its Bloody Battles – Update No. 190 ---- Col. R. Hariharan
http://www.southasiaanalysis.org/%5Cnot ... te566.html
Opposition has lost the game, says SLFP
http://beta.thehindu.com/news/internati ... e94366.ece
Sri Lanka polls: Rajapaksa suffers setback, Kumaratunga supports Fonseka
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/worl ... 495419.cms
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/ ... onseka.htm

The last minute harrassment of opposition leaders and their aides,attempts to transfer key police officers (DIG Lewke from the north,cancelled by the election commission),indicates that one's worst efars are about to take place,an election where the current incumbent "organises" his victory at an=y cost.From all available information ,there is a huge surge in favour of the slogan for "change",a vote in favour of Herr General der Fons.The earlier street apprehension that he might prove to be a military dictator has evaporated with the massive combined support of the entire opposition.Chandrika's eleventh hour support for Herr General will count significantly,as she is the one leader in the country with the least amount of controversy surrounding her rule an commands respect nationwide.The SLFP which Pakse-Raja heads now was founded by her father SWRD and turned into a huge politcal force by her mother,which she further developed.Loyalist SLFP supporters will now be in a dilemma as to whom to support,as said before,both candidates legitimately share the victory over the LTTE.

The hard facts are that the exorbitant cost of living and airborne inflation,is in the eys of the Lankan polity due mainly to excessive corruption and nepotism of the "Pakse-Raja" family.The unseemly in-family fighting for the spoils of office,power and pelf,are open secrets in the island and the larger Pakse-Raja's cutouts get,the more hated he is getting.The disappearance of journalists continues-another last night,and if there is a free and fair eelction,Herr General will win.But Pakse-Raja and truly family are finished if they lose.It will be another case like the fate of the Ceaucescus.where can he and his huge clan hide? In such a scenario,with all the organs of the state under his apparent control and millions of rupees allegedly being liberally thrown at the voters (just as the vote in TN experienced),Pakse-Raja could engineer an election as controversial as the recent election in Iran.If he "wins",then the physical fate of the opposition,is in real danger.The attacks that have been perpetrated against critics of the Pakse-Raja regime have been increasing in savagery and judging from the election violence,will be nothing to what will take place after counting day.Human rights in Lanka might descend to the bottom of the pit

Phillip Said ...
The last minute harrassment of opposition leaders and their aides,attempts to transfer key police officers (DIG Lewke from the north,cancelled by the election commission),indicates that one's worst efars are about to take place,an election where the current incumbent "organises" his victory at an=y cost.From all available information ,there is a huge surge in favour of the slogan for "change",a vote in favour of Herr General der Fons.The earlier street apprehension that he might prove to be a military dictator has evaporated with the massive combined support of the entire opposition.Chandrika's eleventh hour support for Herr General will count significantly,as she is the one leader in the country with the least amount of controversy surrounding her rule an commands respect nationwide.The SLFP which Pakse-Raja heads now was founded by her father SWRD and turned into a huge politcal force by her mother,which she further developed.Loyalist SLFP supporters will now be in a dilemma as to whom to support,as said before,both candidates legitimately share the victory over the LTTE.

The hard facts are that the exorbitant cost of living and airborne inflation,is in the eys of the Lankan polity due mainly to excessive corruption and nepotism of the "Pakse-Raja" family.The unseemly in-family fighting for the spoils of office,power and pelf,are open secrets in the island and the larger Pakse-Raja's cutouts get,the more hated he is getting.The disappearance of journalists continues-another last night,and if there is a free and fair eelction,Herr General will win.But Pakse-Raja and truly family are finished if they lose.It will be another case like the fate of the Ceaucescus.where can he and his huge clan hide? In such a scenario,with all the organs of the state under his apparent control and millions of rupees allegedly being liberally thrown at the voters (just as the vote in TN experienced),Pakse-Raja could engineer an election as controversial as the recent election in Iran.If he "wins",then the physical fate of the opposition,is in real danger.The attacks that have been perpetrated against critics of the Pakse-Raja regime have been increasing in savagery and judging from the election violence,will be nothing to what will take place after counting day.Human rights in Lanka might descend to the bottom of the pit

I am very surprised about your comment. You seem to be an unbiased person, and you just seem to have written a highly biased viewpoint here.

First, how did you come to the conclusion, if free and fair elections are held SF would win? People talk about state media is biased. Yes it is totally biased, if it has not been totally biased, the so called independent media would destroy MR. The so called Independent media is totally biased towards UNP. So, this gets balanced with the state media.

There have been many polls conducted, one of the polls conducted by India (some Org. which I can't remember the name, but seem to be an unbiased pole) mentioned MR would win around 60%. Kalaniya Uni Poll says the same thing (Can be biased, I don't know). Lot of internet poles shows results according to who they affiliate. Therefore very unlikely some one can figure out who the winner is going to be. But you are making a statement if they are held free and fair, SF would win. How can you make such a biased statement. Aren't you aware that there are a large community of SL who do not have similar view as the people in Colombo (Who are very much Pro UNP)

Chandrika's support for SF is would not have much impact. All political savy people know who Chandrika is. She is the one who went to all other nations complaining about SL and it's human rights at the midst of the war. Further, SF is a creation of CBK. Without her support SF wouldn't be there. Therefore there are no surprises that CBK would do such a thing.

Your statement about Engineering a vote so that MR would win is an insult to the SL people. How many people can MR buy. There are 20 million people. There wouldn't be enough money in the country by half of the vote to win. Please do not under estimate SL and denigrate our political system. Yeah, it is not perfect, but it is not so bad as well. In the past there were free an fair elections under MR (Not 100%, but previously no one complained). So how can you come to conclusion that suddenly this is not going to be a free and fair election?

Also, you are talking about election violence. The number of deaths are less than 10. Even if it hit hundred, that is much much better election. Look at the past election violence of Sri Lanka, this is nothing compared to previous levels.

Disappearing Journalist. Do we care? No. Sri Lanka has our own flavour of democracy. It is very unlikely most of SL care enough about disappearing journalists. It is not an election Issue for SLs. We have plenty of Journalists, and dissaperance of one would not have any impact of the out come of an election. Also the government cannot stop media by kidnapping one journalist since there are plenty of electronic media that has plenty of articles against the government. Disappearing journalist are an issue for the west and other nationalities, but very little impact on our voting.

Therefore totally disagree with your belief that SF have a chance to win this election plus, that this election would be an Iranian style election. Only people who try to convey this message is the ones who already realize that SF is going to loose and trying to figure out a way to defeat MR through violence.

And also if you read the Sunday Leader, which is a paper totally against MR, has published articles stating that MR is going to win, because people believe that SF is not the rightful owner of the war victory. The reason for that is, as you most probably know, we credit the war victory to king Dutugamunu and not the commander who won the war for him (This was stated in the Sunday Leader, and not something made up by me).

People have to figure out whether they are going to vote to end corruption or they are going to vote to safe the country from the West and the LTTE. Most of the Sinhalese in Colombo would vote for SF. My belief is most of the Sinhalese from other part of the country would vote for MR (This is my belief only, not 100% certain). Most of the Muslim and Tamil Vote would go to SF.

Also Phillip,

Think the same thing happened in SL. Your biggest Terrorism Problem was solved by one of your best military commanders. He becomes a War Hero. But has zero political experience. He Joins the Opposition and runs for the Prime Minister Position. According to your logic, Congress must loose and he must become the Prime Minister. Is this a logical conclusion?

Leaving the niceties and politically correct statements, if SF is a thug then RP is a crook. What difference they will make one has to wait and watch. But from Indian pov, re-election of RP may be good as people used to say, known devil is better than unknown devil. Or, i may be wrong.

this election is about two things:

a. the winner of this election will be the claimant to the legacy of victory over tamils will be remembered in history as such.

b. the war is over. Now is the time for big time reconstruction. Focus in Sri Lanka will be towards economic progress.

already Indian tourists and business are visiting SL in much larger numbers than before. South Indian states like Kerala are beginning to feel the heat due to promiximty of Colombo. They know that competition is coming. Devoid of obstacles lke socialism, communism and a very business-friendly political class SL is now starting to figure in the horizons of those who seek to invest in this part of the world. Very soon SL is going to attract huge volumes of FDI unseen before in it's history.

SL politicians know that there is going to be a windfall. And whoever will be in govt will be in a position of dominance to corner the lion's share of it.

Meanwhile a clip of SLA dragging around naked bodies of LTTE women cadre.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video ... rimes.html

Another war video has Lankan army in dock
Headlines Today Bureau
Colombo, January 25, 2010

Another video alleging atrocities by Sri Lankan forces during its final battle with the LTTE has surfaced.

The video shows gunmen in fatigues dragging naked bodies of women LTTE cadres callously. The soldiers are seen going on a search mission after an operation to flush out LTTE cadres. The women have been stripped and their bodies are being dragged out of hideouts.

The video was sent to Headlines Today and there is no independent verification of its authenticity

.

No matter who wins, India's stake in Lanka will go up

A closely fought election in Sri Lanka on Tuesday will be watched closely in India, but notwithstanding the result, India's investment in its island neighbour will only increase. Working quietly after coming under criticism, India is now on its way to outgunning Chinese presence in Sri Lanka.
...
...
What's significant in these elections is that India has become virtually a non-story -- neither of the candidates nor the vocal voters have really made India an issue. Both Fonseka and Rajapakse are comfortable with India, a feature that, like in Bangladesh, will facilitate increased Indian investment in Sri Lanka. But no one is willing to take a call on the election.
...
...
From the time India sent in 250,000 family rescue packs to the internally displaced persons during the war and rendered vital assistance to the war itself, it has moved to qualitatively change its largely positive ties with Sri Lanka. In 2010, India has already given $105 million in assistance to the country, making it the single largest grant in one year to any country. Although Bangladesh was the latest country to hit the $1 billion mark in assistance from India, Sri Lanka has moved way beyond the pledges and is actually showing results on the ground.

For the new president, the imperatives are clear: a political package for the north, empowerment in the east, speed up reconstruction and send the IDPs back home.

For the latter, India already has seven demining teams at work on the ground while starting a comprehensive agriculture initiative (Afghanistan is the other country where India is focusing on agriculture). But its big projects -- running over $700 million -- will be to work on connectivity in the north, particularly through two big railway projects, which India actually swiped from China. The northern railway project and the Medavachiya-Talaimanar railway will put the north on the Sri Lanka map again, but equally important, it will be the point of connectivity with India too.
...
...

habal
Meanwhile a clip of SLA dragging around naked bodies of LTTE women cadre.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Video ... rimes.html

Can's see any issue with that. It shows SL doesn't do any discrimination. All the men who were shot dead were naked as well (If you look at the bodies of piles of LTTE men, they were made naked as well). Not sure the basis behind this, but maybe they do to make sure the women/men has no hidden bombs. Or maybe it stinks less. Who knows, but must be a practical reason behind it. Most probably they take clothes off for that, and then most likely they don't give a damn to put it back.
It is not like the SL army is having sex with a dead women.

Thusitha,I have no preferences.It is for Lankans to elect their new pres.,BUT it is incumbent upon MR and his govt. to ensure a free and fair poll.From my knowledge,and I have considerable knowledge about the Lankan man in the street,not just in Colombo,and was "down south" recently,the COL (cost of living) has taken over as the main campaign issue.Here,the GOSL is perceived as being responsible for runaway inflation due to mismanagement and massive corruption.In addition,there has been a concerted vindictive campaign against the media,I personally know of one individual who recd. death threats,there are several Lankan journos in asylum abroad for fear for their lives,the editor of the Sunday leader was murdered (his letter from the grave,published after his death predicting his assassination at the hands of the pres. is a severe indictment upon his regime),and the elections taking place were marred by orchestrated violence .Today bombs have gone off in Jaffna where the TNA supports SF.How many voters will find their names missing is another big Q.

Therefore,if pres.MR wins,the result will be seen as illegitimate in many quarters in the country,and Lanka will have a situ similar to that in Iran.The Election Commissioner,who has wrung his hands in vain,has to be of incredible integrity to ensure that the winner was truly voted in by the people.If the vote,as from all indications is going to be very close and MR wins in such a scenario,the legitimacy of his victory will be a very contentious issue for half the country and the international community which is very closely watching.

http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/01 ... votes.html

Mahinda all out to rig votes
Sunday, January 24, 2010
EXCLUSIVE TO SRI LANKA GUARDIAN

(January 24, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) According to information reaching Sri Lanka Guardian, the state intelligence services backing Gotabaya Rajapakse is in full gear to rig the votes in the Presidential election to be held on 26th (Tuesday) January 2010.

With independent opinions confirming tight contest between the two leading candidates and former President Chandrika Kumaratunga coming in support of Sarath Fonseka, the President has sussed that defeat is inevitable. The elections analysis in the Sunday print media of Colombo is pointing that Tamil votes are going to decide who will be the victor at the election.

Highly worried President Mahinda Rajapakshe and his hardcore men have decided to undertake a last minute operation to stuff the ballot boxes. According to a government source associated in the operation who pleaded to maintain anonymity by not disclosing his name, 24 voting boxes stuffed with rogue votes have been hurriedly dispatched to Jaffna. Without a presiding officer being appointed for Jaffna, these ballot boxes are to be included in the count.

He said the government has created a lengthy list of names of dead Tamil people and have produced bogus ID cards to justify in the event these bogus boxes are questioned.

The highly disturbed government official further said two prostitutes are being taken to Rupavahini television station to record an interview to broadcast just before the election that General Sarath Fonseka had sex with them.

All these are done whilst the plain clothes intelligence and security men are being placed around General Fonseka’s residence to ensure he or anyone does not get leave his house.

Philip
In addition,there has been a concerted vindictive campaign against the media,I personally know of one individual who recd. death threats,there are several Lankan journos in asylum abroad for fear for their lives,the editor of the Sunday leader was murdered (his letter from the grave,published after his death predicting his assassination at the hands of the pres. is a severe indictment upon his regime),and the elections taking place were marred by orchestrated violence .

The people who get killed or threatened with death are journalist who are continuously biased towards a party (It happens both ways). If you are continuously a pain in the ass, you will get killed. Welcome to Sri Lanka. He wasn't the first Journo to be killed and he wouldn't be the last. As I said, If people feel upset about MR killing Journalists, you would see it in the election results.

Today bombs have gone off in Jaffna where the TNA supports SF.How many voters will find their names missing is another big Q.

First the bombs went off at one of the government supporters office. Normally people would think it was done by the opposition. But this can be due to government setting up bombs themselves. The same thing apply to UNPers being bombed. In this campaign it is very likely people bombing themselves to get sympathy votes.

If the vote,as from all indications is going to be very close and MR wins in such a scenario,the legitimacy of his victory will be a very contentious issue for half the country and the international community which is very closely watching.

It all depends on the Margin of MRs win. I believe it would be a large Margin as opposed to a small margin predicted by you. Let us wait and see.

Therefore,if pres.MR wins,the result will be seen as illegitimate in many quarters in the country,and Lanka will have a situ similar to that in Iran.

This is what the west want us to think. As far as I believe, the whole campaign is about this. In my opinion SF is not going to win. The west and Pro LTTE disapora is going to make sure that they would corner us in to a Iranian style Situation.

One thing you need to understand is that this is SF. He is not a virgin. He has his men in the army as well. I am stating this by reading new paper articles, but looking at his behaviours. He would play a dirty game as well. Same applies to MR as well. We are in a street fight and MR and SF both knows this. There would be a certain amount of rigging, violence e.t.c by both parties and people shouldn't cry when they loose.

Also please understand, Iranians didn't expect what was coming to them. But MR/GR has already being aware about this. If they manage to take the pressure doing the last stages of war, the current conspiracy would be a piece of cake. They would handle it well, I have no doubt about it (This can be the famous last words as well. ).

Also Lanka Guardian you are quoting is has highly biased views as well (Not as bad as Lanka Leader or Lanka Truth).

Further to this you are quoting all about inflation and corruption. But SL has moved to a middle income country according to UN as well as it has becoming one of the fastest growing economies (I believe 8th fastest). Also by locking at the stock market performance, we can see easily that external investors have lot of faith in current government. Therefore even with corruption SL is doing well. Isn't corruption rampant in Countries like China? That hasn't stop the development there. Plus, corruption is just a wealth transfer within the country (to an undeserving person), but still it contributes to the growth of the nation. If you are a investor, just think of it as a fixed of doing business with SL nation.

Also Phillip

Do you think with such a large number of monitors present, MR is planning to rig the election? As I said, there would always be a certain amount of rigging in SL. There wouldn't be any massive scale rigging, that would cause some one to win the election.

The belief this is going to be a tight election is propagated by the SF camp, JVP, UNP and Pro LTTE and the West to destabilize the nation even after MR win the election fair and square. Right now the whole election is a very high stake game where SL would select a between a bunch of people who are treacherous and a bunch of people who are corrupt.
As far as I am concerned I can live with corruption.

ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jan 25, Colombo: Over 10,000 local and international election observers are gearing up to monitor tomorrow's presidential polls in Sri Lanka, the government said.

A contingent of 40 international poll monitors consisting of members from 13 countries is to observe the first presidential elections since the liberation of the country from terrorism last May.

According to the National Center for Monitoring Election sources said the monitors are to focus special attention on the conduct of the election. Two lawyers will be appointed to each electorate to monitor the election process, they said.

The monitors will visit over 11,000 polling centers in 25 districts of the country.

People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) are the two accredited election monitoring groups for the upcoming presidential elections.

CMEV will deploy 3,790 monitors comprising 290 mobile monitors including 20 international observers and 3,500 monitors who will be stationed in polling centres throughout the country.

ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.

Jan 25, Colombo: Over 10,000 local and international election observers are gearing up to monitor tomorrow's presidential polls in Sri Lanka, the government said.

A contingent of 40 international poll monitors consisting of members from 13 countries is to observe the first presidential elections since the liberation of the country from terrorism last May.

According to the National Center for Monitoring Election sources said the monitors are to focus special attention on the conduct of the election. Two lawyers will be appointed to each electorate to monitor the election process, they said.

The monitors will visit over 11,000 polling centers in 25 districts of the country.

People's Action for Free and Fair Elections (PAFFREL) and Center for Monitoring Election Violence (CMEV) are the two accredited election monitoring groups for the upcoming presidential elections.

CMEV will deploy 3,790 monitors comprising 290 mobile monitors including 20 international observers and 3,500 monitors who will be stationed in polling centres throughout the country.

Fonseka’s name not on voting list

January 26, 2010 03:50 pm

Presidential Candidate Rtd. Gen. Sarath Fonseka making a special statement has said that his name was not included in the voting list hence he is will not vote. But he went to say that according to Article 31 section 1 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka he is eligible to contest the Presidential Election.

Fonseka further encouraged all voters to cast their votes and not be dissuaded by ‘false’ rumours.

Presidential Candidate Rtd. Gen. Sarath Fonseka making a special statement has said that his name was not included in the voting list hence he is will not vote. But he went to say that according to Article 31 section 1 of the Constitution of Sri Lanka he is eligible to contest the Presidential Election.

The national coordinator of the National Election Monitoring Centre Rasanga Harischandra said the poll has been extremely peaceful and more voters are participating in voting with interest.

The Center for Monitoring Election Violence reported some minor explosions in Jaffna with no injuries. These incidents were in addition to the hand grenade attack reported in the early morning on the residence of Sri Lanka Freedom Party coordinator of Uduppidi in Velvettithurai (Supporter of MR).

The national coordinator of the National Election Monitoring Centre Rasanga Harischandra said the poll has been extremely peaceful and more voters are participating in voting with interest.

The Center for Monitoring Election Violence reported some minor explosions in Jaffna with no injuries. These incidents were in addition to the hand grenade attack reported in the early morning on the residence of Sri Lanka Freedom Party coordinator of Uduppidi in Velvettithurai.

This should dispel the whole myth around election violence. The next myth about SF and a tight election result would be dispelled when the results come out.

More dramabaazi, guys please get this done with asap and give others a less of a heart attack, please. i thought only our crikkitirs and hickey players can give me a heart attack, even x-border politicians give me one these days. either i have truly gone bonkers or this is all fate's consequences .

Lankan govt to challenge Fonseka's candidature
http://news.rediff.com/report/2010/jan/ ... dature.htm

Which one of the two is better for India and why?

rsingh wrote:Which one of the two is better for India and why?

Well, a known devil* is better than an unknown devil. But GoI should be game to deal with either one. Are nt we prepared to face the Maoists and the NC/CPN (ML) at the same time or the BNP/BAL folks at the same time?

Grapevine is that there was a real possibility of a coup in SL and MKN/SSM went there as well as BD without an invite to keep people in the decision-making layers informed of intel. Grapevine is also that India and SL cooperated a lot more than what is known in putting down the LTTE menace in its last few days, and we wont know much about it or even whether that is true, for a long while. So there is a considerable understanding of who stands where between the Rajapakses and the GoI and what the redlines are. Ideally, recreating such bonhomie with a new incumbent such as SF is gonna be a pain, but not impossible, it will take its time. Further, SF sounds like a character with some random utterances that border on the extreme -- extreme lovefest or extreme rubbish. It is time for the mess in the Northeast to heal and someone going either extreme could do anything at any time. RW is just a pawn, if RW expects he will get the PM-ship "as promised", well good luck. But more importantly, we may see a cold phase between SF and GoI due to SF's anger that GoI intervened. But SF has to finally do business with GoI as we are the ones in their backyard and everyone else will just wait for some lunch and take off, so eventually there may be no issues. Short-term, surely there are going to be issues.

With regards to LTTE-lites and TNA, the game theoretic solution is to vote for SF. If he goes nuts, the LTTE-lites can come back. If he does something tangible, well good for the Tamils. This is because Rajapakse policy is more or less clear and is constrained by GoI redlines. But all this assumes that the remaining LTTE-lites are rational, a giant leap of an assumption of course. The death of Shri Fuhrer might have put some brain back into their heads, I hope, but I may be clutching at straws here for all you know. For the JVP extremists, the game theoretic solution is again SF. If SF acts as he had "initially" promised, good riddance to the Tamils. If not, at least SF cant go any worse than MR. But as thusitha mentioned, the allegorical reference to Duttagamunu vs Duttagamunu's general can give you some insights into the hoi polloi thinking. Much of the "common sensical" stuff on the Sinhalese side has some historical precedents or the other, from what I see. Same solution for UNP or the CB camp as the Rajapakses can only get their squeeze more nicer if they come back. It is a dont care state for either the pakis or the chinis, as long as they get the "reward" for their investments.

*: I hope the SLankan posters here will forgive my allegoric use of "devil" for their leaders and hope they wont make it a big deal.

SLA entering the fray ??

Army encircles Trans Asia Hotel
http://www.thecolombotimes.com/defence- ... hotel.html
Wednesday, 27 January 2010 00:52

A large group of Army personnel encircled Trans Asia Hotel a short while ago and are carrying out checking on the foreign and local guests in the hotel say reports.

According to reports the raid is being carried out assuming apolitical Common Candidate Gen. Sarath Fonseka is residing here.

Military ordered to arrest Gen. Sarath and family members
http://www.srilankaguardian.org/2010/01 ... h-and.html
Tuesday, January 26, 2010

According a Senior military source, the Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapakse has given instructions to the Army Commander Jagath Jayasooriya to arrest the opposition candidate Sarath Fonseka and his family members immediately upon most of the election results are announced. The move is said to prevent the Sarath Fonseka and his family members leaving the country.

Stan_Savljevic wrote:

rsingh wrote:Which one of the two is better for India and why?

Well, a known devil* is better than an unknown devil. But GoI should be game to deal with either one. Are nt we prepared to face the Maoists and the NC/CPN (ML) at the same time or the BNP/BAL folks at the same time?

...
...
*: I hope the SLankan posters here will forgive my allegoric use of "devil" for their leaders and hope they wont make it a big deal.
...

I agree that known one is better. It seems like Rajapaksa may win as he is ahead in Sri Lanka vote counting but it is too early.
http://english.aljazeera.net//news/asia ... 77244.html

thusitha wrote:Not sure the basis behind this, but maybe they do to make sure the women/men has no hidden bombs. Or maybe it stinks less.

There was a previous allegation in similar lines. SLA had dumped the dead bodies of dead female tigresses into a tractor trailer, after stripping them off their clothes. The tractor trailer also was driven around the town (either on purpose, or it was on its way to the morgue). SLA claimed that as a practise they strip the clothes of the dead bodies to make sure that they don't have concealed bombs. It seems LTTE used to booby-trap dead bodies and blast them away, when SLA folks comes close to them.

Seems more like a morale-booster for the boys and civvies. Otherwise thusitha may have to convince me that making monkey faces besides those naked bodies was part of SLA protocol of ensuring unrigged bodies.

I guess postal votes mean expat community?

Mahinda Rajapaksa polled a majority of postal votes from the districts of Matara and Trincomalee while Sarath Fonseka got the majority of postal votes from the Jaffna and Batticaloa Districts.

In the thirty five electorates seats of 160 seats announced up to 8:00 a.m. Wednesday morning, Sri Lanka's current President Mahinda Rajapaksa won twenty seven electorates and the rest went to General Sarath Fonseka.The total votes polled by Mahinda Rajapakse has risen to 1,285,074 (59.63) against Gen Sarath Fonseka’s 830,554 (38.54) votes.

Rajapaksa's overall lead on Fonseka is well over sixty five per cent with Fonseka battling to save face of a humiliating defeat having talked proud during the polls campaign.

If omens are anything to go by,then Herr General not being on the voters list (though he can be elected pres.) spells doom for him.His campaign has been plagued by a shortage of money and if he loses,the fact that he appeared to have pro-LTTE Tamil support (from the TNA) will have been the key factor in tipping the Sinhalese vote.His allegations of war crimes also did not go down well with the elecorate.His failure to give credit to his other colleagues in uniform,trying to hog all the glory of victory would be another and fears in some quarters that he would prove to be a military dictator.With the incumbent taking the early lead "in all" provinces,with a 60/40 % ratio,it appears that he will win comfortably from these early trends.Ranil has said that the elections were free and fair.

However,Pres.Rajapakse will not have things all his way in his second term.There is an overwhelming feeling in the island that current economic conditions are due to his mishandling of the economy and acute cronyism and nepotism and the people now expect lower prices and .This victory appears to be his "reward" for defeating the LTTE,where his contribution has been seen to have been greater than Herr General's.The parliamentary elections which must also be held will see how the individuals in his govt. are rated by the electorate.How the leaders of the opposition will be treated after the polls is going to be very interesting as the govt. has already indicated that Herr General will be taken to task.

Philip,
60 /40 all right, but does not seem to be in all provinces. North, parts of east and Colombo seem to have supported SF.
Tamils once again in their 'wisdom' have voted for the 'right' party!

Question also to Thusitha - What do you make of the support for SF in Colombo? I can understand North and East. Also the South going for MR - how are things panning out in JVP strongholds? Matara, Galle seem to be going MR way...

Colombo has always been UNP territory.Chandrika's win years ago in the western province (her first victory en-route to becoming pres.) was a landmark at that time.The urban business and trading community has always been pro-capitalist while the rural masses and peasants have been more socialist in voting patterns until the emergence of the presidential system,where the election was for an individual rather than an ideology and party.The island will now in economic terms see a boom,as the fog of elections will have lifted and no matter who won would usher in a period of security stability good for business.This election has seen a new trend,mirroring recent elections in India,especially in TN in the last election,where money power has been strong in evidence.

Final results for Galle 65:34 in favor of MR. 80% polling. Hambantota too at similar numbers. Matara numbers still coming in.
I post these South numbers as with SF losing, JVP performance will need to watched. Failure of JVP can see the Indo-SL CEPA seeing the light finally.
One more step towards closer ties and eventual economic integration - in the interests of both countries, but more so for SL!

Troops surround Herr General and co.! Pres.rajapakse is "jumping the gun" literally and seems determined to finish off his political opponent .A Lankan news report said that the GOSL was saying that "army deserters" were staying in a 5* hotel and that they were being surrounded.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/w ... 004082.ece

Troops surround Sri Lanka opposition leader Sarath Fonseka's hotel
(afp)
Sarath Fonseka's supporters at premature celebrations of his victory

Ralph Michael in Colombo

Heavily-armed Sri Lankan troops have surrounded a five-star hotel where Sarath Fonseka, the former army chief who was the main challenger in yesterday’s presidential election, is staying with key opposition leaders.

An army spokesman said the troops were deployed at the Cinnamon Lakeside Hotel in Colombo – a popular haunt for high-end tourists -- because General Fonseka was inside with 400 people, including alleged army deserters, and their intentions were unclear.

He said there were no plans to arrest the General, who led the campaign that defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in May, before falling out with President Mahinda Rajapaksa and joining the opposition.

But the General said the government planned to take him and opposition leaders, including the former Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, into custody.

Power struggle feared in Sri Lanka poll aftermath

Abuse of power makes travesty of democracy
Q & A: Sri Lanka election
"These people have surrounded the hotel with military and threatened my security people," General Fonseka told Reuters.

"They had a plan to surround us and take us into custody and I don't know if this is that phase of that particular operation."

Initial results this morning put President Rajapaksa in the lead with

1,125,297 votes compared to 752,850 for General Fonseka, but analysts say the race is still up for grabs, with millions of votes not tallied.

The campaign's vitriolic nature, the personal animosity between the two main candidates and tit-for-tat accusations of coup plots had all fuelled concerns that any result would be contested and foment new unrest.

In a further twist, the government said it would challenge the legitimacy of General Fonseka's candidacy in court after it emerged that he was unable to cast a ballot on Tuesday because his name did not figure on the electoral roll.

The government argued that General Fonseka was therefore ineligible for the presidency, despite a strong statement to the contrary from the independent election commissioner.

General Fonseka is backed by the Tamil National Alliance, the largest Tamil party, which says that he has promised to address Tamil grievances, and is the only one who can oust Mr Rajapaksa.

Many Tamils appear to agree, especially those among the 300,000 who were detained in internment camps after the war ended.

“It’s not a good choice, but for us Fonseka is the only choice,” Sriram Subramanian, a 31-year-old Tamil driver in Colombo, told The Times.

However, some Tamils say they could never vote for either of the men they blame for alleged war crimes in the last stages of the war, including the shelling of innocent Tamil civilians.

Many others in the north did not vote because they were afraid of violence, unable to register, or had no transport to reach polling stations.

Turnout in Jaffna was depleted by a series of pre-dawn bomb blasts, including one at the home of an activist for Mr Rajapaksa’s party.

The Centre for Monitoring Election Violence estimated turnout at 20 per cent in the Tamil-dominated north and 80 per cent in the Sinhalesemajority south. The Rajapaksa camp said that boded well for his campaign, as most of his supporters were from the rural south. “We will have a great victory,” Mr Rajapaksa told reporters after casting his ballot.

Philip
This election has seen a new trend,mirroring recent elections in India,especially in TN in the last election,where money power has been strong in evidence.

Hi Philip, could you please explain this statement to me. Thanks

Victory for Rajapaksa means:

- Pro-India government which is hostile to the machinations of western countries
- Increasing Indo-Lankan relationship, without the LTTE and the JVP.
- Distancing of military from governance
- Defeat of the JVP which has been anti-Indian, and a drain on SL's development
- Defeat of minority communal parties like the Tamil National Alliance and the Sri Lanka Muslim Congress

What Rajapaksa needs to work on:

- Winning hearts and minds of Tamils in the north and the east (where he lost)
- Economy, making sure benefits reach the rural areas.
- Ensuring Sinhalese nationalists do not drive his national policies
- Being generous to his political opponents
- Relaxation of state of emergency and increase media freedom
- move against corruption

I think the Tamil National Alliance lost a HUGE opportunity to change Tamil politics in Sri Lanka. If they had supported Rajapaksa, I think they could have negotiated a lot of their demands. By backing the losing opposition they have once again left themselves out of the loop and in the wildnerness. The 'Indian Tamil' origin party CWC seemed to have made the right choice.

These are all my opinions of course.

Can I ask a question here ?

Is Sri Lanka using the Electronic Voting Machine.