Eelam News 05 11 07

Monday, 5 November 2007
Air Force to hunt top Tigers No pause in anti-terror operations, says PM:
The Air Force will continue to track down the hiding places of LTTE leaders and launch air attacks, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayake said yesterday.
“Our Security Forces are targeting the hiding places and safehouses of terrorist leaders to deal a mortal blow to the Tigers. They will not stop the relentless pursuit of terrorists,” Prime Minister Wickremanayake told reporters at a function in Ingiriya, in the aftermath of the aerial attack that killed LTTE Political Wing chief S.P. Thamilselvan.
Ratnasiri Wickremanayake The Prime Minister said the Government did not want to go in for a fresh ceasefire. However, it was ready for unconditional talks, as it has always been.
“It is the not the Government that left the negotiating table. It is the LTTE which spurned the peace drive. Nevertheless, the Government will be ready if they want to negotiate. But we will not stop retaliating terror attacks even while discussions are going on,” he added.
He noted that the terrorists had not only attacked Forces personnel, Southern targets and Sinhala politicians, but also their own brethren. The operations against the terrorists were planned and conducted by the Security Forces.
“Our aim is to eliminate LTTE terrorism and bring peace to the country.”
Citing the successful Kilinochchi attack, he dismissed allegations that the Forces had lost their morale after certain setbacks recently.
“Our Forces are fully geared to face the enemy which conducts cowardly attacks without coming out into the open. It is the duty of all patriotic citizens to encourage heroic Forces personnel,” he asserted.

Sri Lanka government may consider banning LTTE
Sunday, November 4, 2007, 14:27 GMT, ColomboPage News Desk, Sri Lanka.
Nov 04, Colombo: Sri Lanka media speculate that the government will proscribe therebel outfit, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) soon.
The idea of proscribing the LTTE was in the consideration of the government for a long time. However, the ceasefire agreement signed with the LTTE in 2003
hindered the move although the agreement has been defunct now for some time. The reluctance to abandon the agreement left the door open for peace talks to resume.
The government banned the rebel outfit at a previous occasion as well, but later removed the ban for smooth functioning of the peace talks.
LTTE is already proscribed as a terrorist organization by the United States, Britain, India, Australia, Malaysia and the European Union.

The taking of Chelvan - AUDACIOUS, but on the money?
Politics unwound by Rakshaka-lakbima News lk
The demise of the smiling assassin, the man with a Cheshire aircat grin that’s perpetually emblazoned across his face, is a subject we tackle elsewhere in these pages.
(Pl see page 8)But what is the political fallout - if any — of the death of SP Thamilchelvan the so-called political wing leader of the Tamil Liberation Tigers? Militarily, Thamilchelvan’s death is considered a valuable coup no doubt. The MOD lost no time in confirming his death in an Air Force blast, Friday. It’s also a
known fact that this was far from a fluke or accidental hit. Tamilchelvan had been in the Sri Lankan government’s hit list for long and escaped several assassination attempts earlier, coming inches close to being taken out on one occasion in a vehicle blast in the shrub terrain of the Wanni a couple of years back.Now the smiling assassin is gone —- which almost makes us wonder why he wasn’t taken out earlier, if it was as easy as dropping some bombs on him and his retinue of sundry bodyguards and henchmen?Perhaps the answer to that is that the government gave the greenlight after the Anuradhapura airbase was hit last week.

If so, does it mean that the state and its forces had some second thoughts about assassinating him; that they thought it is something that should be done strictly when the occasion was right? Maybe it was easy assassinating him earlier, but they didn’t want to. Maybe they didn’t want to —- because they expected some international political fallout.StampedingMaybe the government did not want to be accused of stampeding on the ‘politics’ of the LTTE which was supposed to be represented by S.P. Thamilchelvan the man with the Cheshire cat grin who shuffled, his walker in one hand, heading the LTTE team in all of the recent peace talks with the Sri Lanka government?If this was the background, perhaps the government reasoned that respecting nicety was not exactly called for on this occasion when the LTTE had indulged in the unforgivable provocation of an attack on the Anuradhapura Airforce base.So, did the Air Force strike back, leaving the unspoken accord not to kill ‘political’’ personalities aside?If there was an accord not to strike at so-called non militants, it was obviously one sided.

The LTTE killed Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirg-armar when a so called peace process was on, and the deputy head of the peace secretariat Kethesh Loganathan was crudely, rudely assassinated.So there was no accord on respecting ‘civilian’ political leadership. Thamilchelvan was fair game, which is why he lies dead after an attack. But diplomatic sources were quoted in the wires as saying that it would be dangerous for Sri Lanka to have Thamilchelvan listed among the dead “because who will be left to talk to in the LTTE?”That’s an interesting assertion, because anybody can talk - - and if the LTTE has any ‘talk’’ left in it, it’s almost certain that somebody else will be doing the talking in any prospective future peace negotiations. What Thamilchelvan’s death does is that it assays the dynamics of the current situation in which there is extreme volatility.
Both sides are eyeball to eyeball and no side wants to blink.
Killed
Though the LTTE is bound to say that the Sri Lankan Forces killed a political-wing man —— a ‘civilian’ —- who was a negotiator to boot, that will be rich.The LTTE is bound to extrapolate this statement to claim that “if the Sri Lankans killed a negotiator, the Sri Lankan government is not interested in anything except a
military route.’’That will be rich too, considering that the LTTE killed so many negotiators and civilian leaders on the Sri Lankan side, most recently Kadirgarmar and Loganathan. In
aggregate most have lost count of the number of such persons the LTTE eliminated.There isn’t much chance that a person of Thamilchelvan’s political stature within the LTTE could have been taken out without the express consent of the defense
establishment including the Defence Secretary and the Commander in Chief.If so there is no real calculation involved ——- the killing of Thamilchelvan is in furtherance of the government’s avowed mission to destroy the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam.Fallout was not something the government thought of perhaps —- but even if the fallout was considered, it appears that the idea to kill TC was in pursuit of the
government’s current line of thinking. The avowed intention had been to fight to a finish, even though there have been some very tentative nods towards a political
solution and so forth. But there is no need to read between the lines, it’s far too obvious. There is just one thing the government wants. It’s to finish off the LTTE even
if it means the government is being utterly audacious.It’s a gamble —- it leaves nicety, international opinion and a host of other considerations aside, but it appears the government is dead set on doing it and
Thamilchelvan was just one step towards that ultimate end.....

LTTE chief declares renewed resolve to continue “struggle”
B. Muralidhar Reddy
COLOMBO: Forty-eight hours after the death of the Tamil Tiger’s political wing chief, S.P. Thamilchelvan, the LTTE leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, vowed to
continue the “liberation struggle with renewed determination” even as the Sri Lanka military accused the Tigers of killing five civilians and injuring six others in violence
in the east and the north.
In a special statement issued from an undisclosed location in the Wanni jungles, on the death of Thamilchelvan in a military air raid on November 2, Prabhakaran
accused the “Sinhala nation” of having taken the life of a political leader deeply loved by the Tamil speaking world and greatly respected by the international
community.
“Despite the repeated and continuous calls from the international community to find a peaceful resolution to Tamil national question, we have not seen any goodwill
from the Sinhala nation. We do not see the Buddhist universal love. Sinhala nation did not open its heart and send a peace message. On the contrary, it is sending
war-vultures that are dropping giant bombs. It has cruelly killed our peace dove”, Prabhakaran complained.
The statement said, “Tamil Eelam nation” is confronting an unparalleled loss after losing Thamilchelvan and five other LTTE members and people are in profound
shock and sorrow.
Prabhakaran said Thamilchelvan was close to him ever since he joined the “freedom movement” and he loved him deeply and taught him as his own beloved younger
brother. “Buried within his beautiful smile, I recognised, right from the beginning, a thousand profound meanings, his abilities, and his leadership qualities. I raised him
as a great commander, an unparalleled political head, a diplomat who communicated with the entire world, and a skilled negotiator”, the statement said.
The LTTE leader said that in a “new form”, Thamilchelvan joins “liberation struggle which is moving on like a lengthy river of blaze” and in this new form, he has set
alight in heavy hearts a deep yearning for the goal.
Separately, the military claimed that six civilians were reported injured in an LTTE hand grenade attack at Navaladi in Valachchenai in the east on Sunday afternoon.
It said an LTTE operative hurled a hand grenade at a vehicle passing along the A-15 main road, Navaladi.
In another incident, the military said five bullet-riddled bodies of Tamil civilians were found in the Thavasikulama area in Vavuniya in the north on Sunday morning. A
report on the Defence Ministry web site, quoting unnamed civilians, said, “They further told that the crime might have committed by the LTTE since there are small
groups of LTTE cadres operating in the area.”
It claimed that there were many earlier reports of LTTE militants engaging in house robberies, extortions, abduction of teenage girls and children and assassinations.

“Congress has not forgiven Rajiv Gandhi’s killers”
Special Correspondent
CHENNAI: The Congress has neither forgotten the gruesome murder of its leader Rajiv Gandhi nor forgiven the perpetrators of the crime, G.K. Vasan, Union
Minister of State for Statistics and Programme Implementation, said on Sunday.
He was responding to a reporter’s observation that some leaders of the Democratic Progressive Alliance (which includes the Congress) paid tributes to the LTTE’s
political wing chief Thamilchelvan, who was killed in an air attack in Sri Lanka on Friday. When pointed out that posters had been pasted in parts of Chennai on
Thamilchelvan’s death, the Union Minister said: “We will convey our position to our party leadership. We will also express anguish.”

Jaya breathes fire, Karunanidhi defends self
Press Trust of IndiaSunday, November 4, 2007 (Chennai)AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa has condemned Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi for ''eulogising'' LTTE political wing secretary Thamilselvan.
Jayalalithaa has demanded the dismissal of his government for violating the Constitution by supporting the banned Sri Lankan outfit.
In a statement issued in Chennai, she said Karunanidhi's ''action of praising Thamilselvan'', killed in an airstrike by the Sri Lankan airforce on Saturday, was
unconstitutional as the LTTE was banned in India and its leader V Prabhakaran was a proclaimed offender in the Rajiv Gandhi assassination case.
She alleged it was clear from Karunananidhi's action he had ''secret ties'' with the LTTE and had been ''helping'' them.
Jayalalithaa said Karunanidhi had not commented yet on the recent arrest of a Dalit Panthers of India (DPI) activist for allegedly supplying arms and ammunition
which also showed he was helping the LTTE.
''Such a person has no right to be Chief Minister and Karunanidhi has lost that right,'' she said and demanded that the Centre take immediate steps to dismiss the
DMK government.
'Mere condolence'
In the meantime, defending his poem praising slain LTTE leader Thamilselvan, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi said on Saturday that it was ''human nature
to express condolence'' and he sympathized with the death of the banned outfit's leader as he was a ''Tamil''.
''The person killed in Sri Lanka was a Tamil. As Tamil blood is running in my body also, I expressed my condolence,'' he wrote in the DMK-mouthpiece Murasoli.
The DMK patriarch said it was ''a human nature to express condolence'' even if a political rival passed away.
''On that basis only, I went and paid homage when senior AIADMK leader Nedunchezhiyan died,'' he added.
Reacting to AIADMK supremo Jayalalithaa's demand that the Centre should dismiss his Government for alleged violation of the Constitution by ''supporting'' the
proscribed outfit, Karunanidhi stated that MDMK chief Vaiko, an ally of the AIADMK, had issued a statement appealing to the international community to condemn
the killing of Thamilselvan.
Expressing anguish over the death of Thamilselvan, the Chief Minister had on Saturday penned a poem, praising his courage and mental strength.

TNA musters full strength against budget
By Kelum Bandara

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA) has informed all its MPs to be present in Parliament during the budget debate, because the party has already decided to vote
against it given the high defence allocation among other natters.
TNA General Secretary and Jaffna district MP, Mavai Senathirajah told the Daily Mirror yesterday the party would vote against the budget as done last year also,
because the government had proposed to increase the allocation for the defence.
He said they, as a party representing the Tamil community, also oppose the military agenda being taken forward.
The government presented the Appropriation Bill in Parliament on October 1, ahead of projecting Rs. 166 billion in Defence expenditure for next year, which is 19.4
percent higher than the 2007 Defence allocation of Rs. 139
Defence recurrent expenditure alone for next year is Rs. 139 billion, while capital expenditure is Rs. 27 billion.
Total government expenditure projected from January 1st to December 31st 2008 stands at Rs. 925 billion, which is a 15 percent higher than last year’s total of Rs.
804 billion.
Mr. Senathirajah said corruption and frauds are rampant among the ranks and files of the government with the cost of living boiling over leaving people in the lurch.
“I know this fact as a member of COPE and Parliamentary Committee on Public Accounts,” he said.
Commenting on the ordinary life of people in Tamil areas, he said the poverty level had taken a turn for the worse.
“In Jaffna, people are unable to carry out fishing and agricultural activities properly,” he said.
The TNA is the single largest Tamil party in the House with 22 members. The main Opposition has also decided to oppose the budget, but the JVP is yet to
announce its stand.
The budget will be presented to parliament on Wednesday.

Virakesari team released
The three employees attached to Virakesari newspaper who were arrested by the Slave Island Police last evening near Fort High Security Zone, have been released on bail.
Updated @ 07.05 a.m. / Nov 05Virakesari team released