ENB TODAY 170308

One to one pow-wow with TNA MP
Prabhakaran promises Kosovo-type solution
The Island 17/03/08
The LTTE, now struggling to stop a relentless army advance into its territory in the Vanni and Weli Oya regions, is expecting the West to come to its rescue.
Amidst mounting loss of men and material on the Vanni, Weli Oya and Jaffna fronts, the LTTE seems confident of some kind of foreign intervention, though New
Delhi is supporting Sri Lanka’s efforts to militarily defeat the LTTE.
Authoritative sources said LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran had expressed his confidence in what he called a Kosovo-type intervention by the international
community, when he recently met with a senior TNA MP in the Vanni.
Sources said the meeting had taken place at the funeral of TNA MP K. Sivanesan, who died on March 6 in a claymore mine explosion in an LTTE-held area. A
senior TNA MP yesterday confirmed the meeting between a group of TNA MP and the LTTE leader at their colleagues’ funeral but denied any knowledge of a one
-to-one meeting with the LTTE leader.
The LTTE leader had assured the TNA that they would be able to achieve their goal with the backing of the international community, sources said adding that with
India turning her back on the LTTE and its sympathisers, the LTTE had turned to EU countries for support. Although the US had been supportive of Sri Lanka’s
efforts to defeat the LTTE, some of its actions, particularly the decision to suspend a range of military assistance to Sri Lanka and severe criticism of its human rights
record had been to the LTTE’s advantage, the sources said. (SF)

India should intervene and end war in Lanka: Tamil MP
New Delhi (PTI): Published in The Hindu
Appealing to India to "intervene immediately and put an end to the war", a senior Sri Lankan Tamil MP has alleged that the island nation's army plans to capture the LTTE-held Vanni area, which could result in a huge loss of lives.
"Sri Lankan military is planning a major attack to capture Vanni from the Tamil Tigers. Their plan is to bring the Tamil area from Mohamalai forward defense line up to Paranthan close to Kilinochchi (the LTTE headquarters) under their control," M K Sivajilingam of the Tamil National Alliance, a pro-LTTE party, said.
"Surely, thousands of innocent Tamils will be killed," he said.
He also said the Tamils in Lanka, who have "not been able to live a peaceful life in their own country", are looking for help from India, especially people from Tamil Nadu.

LTTE ready for talks if Lankan govt halts attacks PTI
Colombo, March 16
The Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka have expressed readiness to hold talks with the government here if it halted the military operations against them, but warned that the
offer should not be seen as “any desperation” on their part to stop the war.
“The LTTE is prepared to commence negotiations with the Sri Lankan government if the government security forces are ordered to halt their military operations. It
was the government which started the war,” the LTTE political head P Nadesan told a group of Parliamentarians from the pro-rebel Tamil National Alliance (TNA)
in Wanni recently.
“The offer of the LTTE for a ceasefire and talks should not be construed as any desperation on our (LTTE) part to stop the war. The ball is in the Sri Lankan
government’s court. It was they who started the armed attack,” Nadesan was quoted as saying by Mr Suresh Premachandran, a TNA MP from Jaffna district
who was present at the meeting.
Nadesan had held lengthy discussions with the 13 TNA MPs who had gathered for the funeral of their colleague K Sivanesan, who was killed in a roadside bomb
attack on March 6 in Wanni.
“The (LTTE) political chief Nadesan said the LTTE can reciprocate if the Sri Lankan government offers a ceasefire but if they want to continue with the attack, the
LTTE is fully prepared for it,” Mr Premachandran told PTI here.
Though LTTE Supremo Velupillai Prabhakaran was present to pay his respects to Sivanesan, he did not participate in the meeting, the TNA MP said.
He quoted Nadesan as saying that the LTTE was prepared for a dialogue using Norwegian facilitation provided the government agreed to stop the war and enter
negotiations.
The LTTE political head said the outfit was only fighting “a defensive war” and that the international community should be aware of its commitment to a
negotiated settlement, according to Mr Premchandran.
The TNA MP said the LTTE was also “disturbed” by the recent visit to India by Sri Lankan Army Chief Mr Sarath Fonseka.
“The LTTE has doubts that Indian government is considering supplying arms to the Sri Lankan government to fight them (the outfit) in the light of this visit,” he
said.
The LTTE, in a statement issued last week, had termed as “historic blunder” India’s invitation to the Sri Lankan Army Chief for a visit. It said the
“encouragement to the military approach” would only intensify the “genocide of Tamils.”
Lanka-EU to strengthen ties
Sri Lanka and the European Union (EU) will celebrate 35 years since the establishment of diplomatic relations this year and seek to further strengthen bilateral
relations, a joint media release said.
Sri Lanka and the EU have agreed to convene the seventh European Commission-Sri Lanka Joint Commission from June 10-11 in Colombo. This will be preceded
by a meeting from tomorrow till March 18 with the EU Troika (current Presidency Slovenia, future Presidency France and the European Commission).
While the Joint Commission meeting to be held in June will focus on continuing bilateral cooperation, the Troika meeting will cover a wide range of issues including the
political process and the APRC, Eastern Province development, combatting terrorism, strengthening Human Rights, GSP+, global warming and climate change and
carbon debt.

Venezuela dares U.S. to put it on terror list
Chavez dares U.S.to put Venezuela on list of countries supporting terrorism.
Says U.S. threat is a response to his government's successes in the region
Condoleezza Rice said U.N. nations have an obligation to go after terrorists
CARACAS, Venezuela (AP) -- President Hugo Chavez dared the U.S. on Friday to put Venezuela on a list of countries accused of supporting terrorism, calling it
one more attempt by Washington to undermine him for political reasons.
President Hugo Chavez gestures to supporters during a party meeting in Caracas on Friday.
Chavez said the "threat to include us on the terrorist list" is Washington's response to his government's successes in the region.
U.S. lawmakers including Reps. Connie Mack and Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, both Florida Republicans, have called for the State Department to add Venezuela to its list
of terror sponsors, which includes North Korea, Iran, Syria, Sudan and Cuba. They have expressed concerns about what they call Chavez's close ties to Colombia's
leftist rebels.
"Let them make that list and shove it in their pocket," Chavez said in a televised speech.
"We shouldn't forget for an instant that we're in a battle against North American imperialism," Chavez said. "On this continent, they have us as enemy No. 1."
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Thursday during a visit to Brazil that all U.N. nations, including Venezuela, have an obligation to go after terrorists and keep
them from operating within their borders.
The comment was largely a warning for Chavez, who U.S. officials suspect has lent support to Colombian rebels. In recent days, Rice and President Bush have
sharpened their rhetoric against Chavez while praising Colombia and other Latin American allies.
Chavez said Rice's visit to Brazil and Chile this week is aimed at mounting "pressures" against "our government and against me."
Chavez also responded to barbs from Bush, who on Wednesday accused Venezuela of squandering its oil wealth internationally "to promote its hostile, anti-American
vision."
The heated exchanges with the U.S. came as Chavez and Colombian President Alvaro Uribe pledged to smooth over differences after their worst-ever diplomatic
spat, provoked by a deadly Colombian attack on a rebel camp in Ecuador.
Chavez said he called Uribe on Thursday in part "because the statements (against Venezuela) continue," and because the U.S. "keeps trying to make us fight."
He said he told Uribe he wants to rebuild relations after the March 1 cross-border strike, which killed 25 people including a rebel leader.
After Colombia's assault in Ecuador, Chavez and Ecuadorean leader Rafael Correa sent troops to their borders. Colombia released documents found on rebel
laptops, saying they link Chavez and Correa's administrations to leftist Colombian rebels.
Correa on Thursday delivered an angry response to Bush's strong support for Colombia in the wake of the raid, challenging the U.S. president to send troops to
Ecuador's border with Colombia.
"Bring your soldiers Mr Bush," Correa said in the speech. "Let it be your soldiers who die along the southern border with Colombia. We'll see if the Americans, the
citizens of the United States, will accept tremendous atrocity.
"If not, shut your mouth and understand what is happening in Latin America."
Ecuadorean authorities are still angry over the Colombian raid and have delayed restoring diplomatic relations until at least the end of the month.
Meanwhile on Friday, three Mexican students in their late 20s were confirmed killed in Ecuador during Colombia's raid on the rebel camp.
Five Mexicans -- three men and two women -- apparently were at the camp near the border with Colombia during the attack.
Mexican student Lucia Morett Alvarez, 26, was wounded but survived, and parents of another missing Mexican woman were awaiting forensic tests.
Fellow students in Mexico have described the victims as activists who sympathized with Latin America's radical left, which has gained some backing on college
campuses in Mexico.

INTERVIEW : PAUL SCHULTE
‘India will be Asia’s food basket’
Posted online: Friday , March 14, 2008 at 0140 hrs IST
Paul Schulte, executive director, chief equity strategist, Asia ex-Japan, Lehman Brothers, is the driving force behind a strong research team at the investment banking
behemoth. Based out of Hong Kong, Schulte’s career in equity research spans over 15 years, covering Asian and emerging Markets. In an interview to FE, he
addresses issues ranging from rising commodity prices leading to inflationary pressures to the role of India in providing food supply to Asia. He expects India to be
the food basket for Asia. Excerpts:
What are the reasons for the volatility in global Markets in the recent past? Global uncertainties have impacted Indian market too.
There is a lot of money going into the money market as people consider it a safer investment destination. Enormous amount of money is going out from equities. One
of the reasons for the market volatility is inflation, which is not good for equities. Inflation is a major concern in Asia and it is emanating from China. Inflation is caused
by the pressures on commodity prices in 2008 in China. China is using its monetary mechanism to control inflation. It has raised interest rates nine times in the last two
years to contain inflation.
What are the reasons for the food prices going up leading to inflation?
China has come to a level where it is consuming very high quantities of wheat and corn. The country has become net importer of oil and soybean in the last four years.
India, Japan and Korea have become the new sources of commodities. There is a connection between food and energy. There is a fundamental shortage of fuel and
oil, which is creating a problem.
More and more energy is consumed by food. Energy needs are putting a lot of pressure on food prices, which is leading to inflation. Inflation in India, China,
Singapore and Korea and several other countries are due to the rising food prices.
Another reason for the rise in food prices is migration in India and other countries from rural and towns to urban areas, which is generating demand for fast food.
Food is a very serious concern and it is going to remain for a while.
Inflation is emanating from China. Can you throw some more light on this? And, what would be its impact on the securities market?
China used to be a very large exporter of coal. Korea and Japan are the sources of coal. China is no longer exporting wheat and is instead importing the grain. So,
other people have to find the sources of wheat. The same is the story of soybeans and oil and, for that matter, corn. This is the same case with many other
commodities.
You said that there would be food problem in Asia. How can the problem be solved?
When you create a barren land from the government property to a private property, then have the potential to release trillions of dollars of wealth into a private sector
as it happened in Latin America and Northern Africa in the agriculture sector. The private sector technology, herbicides and pesticides, and seed technology allow
you to work from zero.
In India, inflation is not stable. It is controlled through the monetary mechanism rather than a supply-side mechanism. What will be its impact on the equity market?
Inflation is a supply-side phenomenon globally. The supply-side mechanism can be improved only if the private sector is allowed to enter the agricultural sector. The
supply of food is not being traded because of food scarcity.
The Indian regulator has kept the interest rates stable to keep a check on the inflation. What will be its impact on the Indian market?
There are a lot of powerful deflationary forces going on in the global world. The subprime factor is a deflationary one. In the emerging world, the food prices to total
Consumer Price Index (CPI) is somewhere between 30% to 40%. In the west, it is 40%, in the US 40% and in China 40%. In India, it is 40%.
The food problem is the major factor in the inflationary pressures.
You said that India is going to be the food basket for Asia. How do you think India can play a role in this regard?
Indian agriculture sector is very interesting and exciting in the world because in India the arable land is close to 50% whereas in China it is 11%. Asia has a very
serious food problem. Vietnam has bare minimum exports of rice. Thailand is on the verge of banning exporting rice. With these demographics, India is likely to have
two hundred million adult workforce in the next 20 years. And, China will add another 100 million during the same period. In total, these two countries will add 300
million adult workforce during this period.
The Indian government needs to hand over agriculture to the private sector so that the efficiency, technology and the better quality of pesticides can be used in the
agriculture sector. The Indian agriculture sector is very interesting and exciting. India will be the food basket for Asia.
Indo-US relations at an all time high: US diplomat
Thu, Mar 6 04:19 PM Indian Express
Bilateral relations between India and US are at 'an all time high' and if the Indo-US nuclear deal materialises it would make India a key partner of the US, a US
diplomat said.
"Bilateral relations between the two largest democracies have extended to cooperation in military, trade, education, research, culture, health sector and environment
protection," US Consul General in Kolkata Henry Jardine said.
"India is already the number one country in sending students to the US with 83,000 students pursuing higher education there," he said.
Bilateral trade was also expected to grow up to 60 billion dollars in a couple of years, he said while speaking at the Rajiv Gandhi Central University here yesterday.
Jardine who met Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Dorjee Khandu expressed his country's eagerness to promote the education sector in the state by linking the Rajiv
Gandhi Central University with US universities.
The state government, he said, had sought US help for preservation of ancient Buddhist manuscripts at Tawang monastery, the second largest in Asia.
Welcoming US investments in infrastructure development and tourism, the chief minister highlighted the huge hydro-power generation potential of the state.
He told Jardine that the daily helicopter service from Guwahati to Tawang was scheduled to begin from April.

'Trincomalee oil tanks vulnerable to attacks by LTTE, says Kadirgamar
By Amit Baruah
NEW DELHI AUG. 14. "I am seeking to sensitise India to the looming danger (from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) particularly to the port of Trincomalee.
The port of Trincomalee is today ringed by the LTTE," the former Sri Lankan Foreign Minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar, said today. Talking to The Hindu, Mr.
Kadirgamar said the Trincomalee oil tanks, now leased to India, were vulnerable as there were no security continents nearby. Some personnel from the Indian Oil
Corporation (IOC) were already in the area, he pointed out.
The Senior Adviser to the Sri Lankan President on Foreign Affairs claimed that the Tigers had put up 11 "bases" around the southern rim of the port after the
"ceasefire" with the Sri Lankan Government.
Suicide boats had been detected in coves around the port, as have vessels with powerful outboard knots. "Artillery pieces have also been spotted. The oil tanks
which are situated near the China Bay are totally vulnerable... there are some IOC personnel already there."
Mr. Kadirgamar, who has had meetings with the External Affairs Minister, Yashwant Sinha, and the National Security Adviser, Brajesh Mishra, said that any damage
done to the Sri Lankan Navy in Trincomalee could well cut the supply line to the Palali base in the Jaffna peninsula.
"I believe that the Indian Government is now alert to this danger. Because any threat to Sri Lanka must surely constitute a threat to India's legitimate, sovereign
interests in the Indian Ocean."
On the current peace process in Sri Lanka, Mr. Kadirgamar said that India was not seeking any role.
"India has no intention of being a mediator or facilitator... India has always said, rightly said, that it would like to see a negotiated, peaceful settlement of the problem.
So do we..."
"The question is the price. I do not believe that India can tolerate a separate State... India has a legitimate interest in whatever constitutional arrangement that is going
to be reached in Sri Lanka in addition to a legitimate interest about the situation on the ground," he said.
`Landbridge idea wholly premature'
Asked about the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister, Jayalalithaa's warning against going through with the land bridge project between India and Sri Lanka as well as the ferry
service, Mr. Kadirgamar said the land bridge idea was "wholly premature".
"It will be enormously expensive and I fully understand and appreciate Ms. Jayalalithaa's security concerns. As to the ferry, it will have to be handled with great care.
At this point of time, security considerations cannot be dispensed with."
Any talk of free and easy access between the two countries, particularly Tamil Nadu, was not feasible, he added.
Referring to the ground situation, Mr. Kadirgamar said that daily killings of political opponents by the Tigers continued not just in Jaffna but also in Colombo. Though
it was being argued that the LTTE's chief negotiator in the interrupted peace process, Anton Balasingham, was unwell, it appeared that he had been sidelined by the LTTE chief, Velupillai Prabakaran.

`A voice of moderation'
To an extent, Mr. Balasingham was a voice of moderation that was prepared to drive a hard bargain for a negotiated settlement. Today, it was S.P. Thamilchelvam
who was being promoted and Mr. Balasingham was not expected to attend an "internal" Tiger meeting in Paris. "All the signs are that Mr. Balasingham will not
participate in the Paris meeting," he said.
On the Ranil Wickremesinghe Government's proposal for an interim administration, Mr. Kadirgamar maintained that such a move would only "legitimise" the LTTE.
Linking an interim administration to a final solution, he claimed that there had been no talks, so far, on the core issues relating to the ethnic dispute.Not even the
duration of such a dispensation had been spelt out.
In his view, the LTTE had walked out of the peace process because of the "links" that the international community had made between reconstruction funds and stress
on principles of pluralism, demilitarisation and non-recruitment of child soldiers. "The Tigers saw Tokyo as a conspiracy to impose an agenda on it from the outside,"
Mr. Kadirgamar said.
"The LTTE did not want to offer any such commitment." Its claim to be the "sole representative" of the Tamil people in a democratic set-up was not acceptable, he
added.

Lanka crisis a 'concern' for India
Wed, Mar 12 01:10 AM
With the India-US nuclear deal going out of official hands into the sphere of politics, the spiraling violence in Sri Lanka has emerged as a major concern for Indian
policy makers. Officials used Lankan Army chief Maj Gen Sarath Fonseka's recent visit to reiterate their advice on the need for the government in Colombo to move
towards a political solution to the decades-old ethnic crisis by devolving power.
Concern has grown that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government, buoyed by military inroads into Tamil rebel strongholds, is seeking a military solution to the crisis.
Fonseka, who has attended the Indian Army's prestigious counter insurgency and jungle warfare commando course at Varangte in Mizoram, survived an assassination
attempt in April 2006 in Colombo.
He has publicly said he would like to bring the military conflict on the island to an end before he retires by the end of this year. On Tuesday, the LTTE criticised India
for hosting the Sri Lankan Army chief despite the 2002 ceasefire being scrapped by Colombo, saying such moves will "reinvigorate" the island's military which was
carrying out an "ethnic genocide" against Tamils.
According to a senior MEA official, the military campaign against the Tamil Tigers and the violence it has spawned is crippling the Lankan economy, which is
overwhelmingly dependent on tourism and trade. India is also concerned at the domestic fallout of violence and Lankan Tamils being forced to leave the island and
arriving in Tamil Nadu.

High Porn to High Fraud and Lanka Pride
Wednesday, 12 March 2008
Sri Lanka never misses out on making news. Over 15 years ago, Michael Ondaatje won the prestigious “Booker’s Award” for his novel English Patient and Ondaatje
though a Canadian was claimed a Sri Lankan being fortunate enough to have been born and schooled in old Ceylon. So are the few internationally reputed novelists
who “were born” in Sri Lanka. Last week the media here added another Sri Lankan, a hot beauty, a grad student in Texas who was featured in the hot and porny
NY mag the “Playboy” into this celebrity Sri Lankan list. This young chic certainly would go places as the first Sri Lankan to be that spicy hot in the USA.
The media has all that power to make or break images, hot or cool, here in Sri Lanka, I was told. The Foreign Ministry too says that. They made a statement that
said in Sri Lanka, the media has the freedom to criticise any one. Which meant that the media could even criticise the President. Meanwhile when the week was
closing in, 05 media personnel were arrested by the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID) with no reasons given. One, a weekly columnist of the Sunday Times
and another, the Tamil Spokesperson of the Free Media Movement (FMM). Yet again in the State owned Rupavahini (TV) Corporation that witnessed the “Dr.
Mervyn” fiasco a few weeks ago, witnessed a female employee getting her nape slashed on the way home. The list of attacked and threatened media personnel in the
corporation now totals four and a protest picket by employees was added as a postscript.
The second state owned TV station the ITN about two weeks ago aired an interview with the Air Force Commander who expressed his firm belief the much feared
“terra leader” Prabhakaran should be very seriously injured from all available information and the fierceness of the deadly accurate air attack on his hideout. But on
Friday last week, Prabhakaran had gone to the funeral house of TNA MP K. Sivanesan in Killinochchi to be photographed with Pottu Amman and Media
spokesman Nadesan paying their last respect. The photos were sent round and the Colombo media not missed out from their e-mailing list. Prabhakaran thus
escaped a possible death from very serious injuries at the hands of the state owned media once again.
MP Sivanesan in fact is the third elected MP who was assassinated during this year, the other 02 MPs, Maheswaran and D.M. Dasanayake were killed in Colombo
and Ja-ela and therefore the only difference being that Sivanesan was caught in a claymore attack in the LTTE controlled Wanni with information suspecting it was the
State Security forces that engineered the deep penetration attack, possibly a human error in identification it is said. On Friday again, 03 of the 05 suspects in the
Maheswaran murder case, were discharged on police request by the Additional Magistrate Colombo.
While they were discharged, a Buddhist Monk from Nugegoda was released on bail. With media reports claiming the Monk, Denipitiye Dhammadinna thero is a JHU
Central Committee Member and had contested the 2004 general elections from the JHU list for Colombo, this becomes the second high profile JHU mess in
fraudulent business. The first being the illegal sale of a luxury Benz car imported on a duty free permit by its High Priest boss and now this charge of collecting money
from youth with promises of foreign employment.
The JHU does get messed up when they get about business, but not the President. The President having accepted an invitation to visit Israel officially, had told a
group of Palestinian solidarity group that he as founder member and Chairman of the Sri Lanka Palestinian Friendship Association and with the PLO honouring for his
decades long stay with the Palestinians by naming a street after him, he would never visit Israel. The government delegation would be led by his PM, Mr. Ratnasiri
Wickramanayake, instead.
On the war front, the LTTE has after a long long time owned up to the claymore attack in Galge, Buttala in the Moneragala district last Saturday that killed one
soldier and injured two others. These do not add up to the total of 104 soldiers killed and 822 injured in battle with the LTTE during the 29 days in February. The
numbers are of course from the Leader of the House, Minister Nimal Siripala de Silva who gave them during Emergency debate in parliament, last Thursday. What
was still missing is the number of soldiers who are not accounted for as dead, but missing in action. These numbers are not much compared to the numbers of Tigers
killed, as often given out by the MCNS.
Missing are not only those in action, but those who were on their own, trying to survive life in the East as innocent civilians. International Women’s Day that lacked
lustre this time nevertheless had a strong message from those mothers in Batticaloa district who are in search for their abducted children. Their plea on International
Women’s Day carried in one of the Colombo based English daily was to have their children back in lieu of their votes on 10th Monday at the local government
elections. That perhaps is how the election is contested there in Batticaloa and how the results would be pre-determined, said one who was on a monitoring mission.
The same vans that took away the children might come on the Election Day to collect voters, said the same news report quoting the same source.
The week ended with the former Deputy Minister Wijekoon who went missing on Tuesday from his residence in Moneragala, finding himself stranded on a road kerb
in Maharagama. Sick and stressed he was admitted to the Colombo South Teaching Hospital in Kalubowila, by the Maharagama police, while 02 police teams were
deployed there in Moneragala to search for missing Wijekoon. They would probably wind off their search now and the former Deputy Minister may get released
from hospital in a day or two, closing another case of would be abduction without any more hassle. Let’s pray therefore that all who are said to be on enforced
disappearance appear in life some where in a road corner. Bless this “Land of the Gauthama Buddha” as a sticker on the rear window of a dastardly crowded private
bus told those who followed it.

Kusal Perera Serendibinc
Reality Check on Eastern Elections
Monday, 03 March 2008 In the backdrop of a country at war and democracy that’s hostage to the whim and fancy of a President and his coterie of murderous brutes, it’s hard to be even
cautiously optimistic about the upcoming elections in the East. For the average voters in the South however, the fact that they are being held at all is a marker of the
success of this government in eradicating the scourge of the LTTE from the East.
The East is a region of significant ethno-political and cultural complexity and violence where each community harbours grievances against the other. Even during the
ceasefire, violent hartals and communal clashes coloured the social and political dynamics in the East (the extremely violent communal clashes in June 2002 in Muttur
and Vallachenai is a case in point). There is evidence that youth in the region are alienated and easy pickings for radical, armed extremist groups. The documented
emergence of a radicalised, armed Muslim youth in particular poses a serious challenge to the stability of the region, especially in light of the perceived and real threats
they will pose to other armed actors in the region as well as State security forces. The Muslims are deeply critical of the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, now
touted shamelessly once more as the basis of a political settlement to the ethnic conflict by the APRC, since neither the Indian nor the Sri Lankan government
consulted the Muslims when signing the Indo Sri Lanka Accord in 1987. Forced evictions, attacks against mosques and a litany of other cultural, social, religious and
political issues that affect the Muslims in the East in particular are often perilously ignored by the State and the dominant armed forces in the region (formerly the
LTTE and now the TMVP). Problems of land ownership and resettlement are significant. Exacerbated by the war and the imposition of High Security Zones,
communal grievances over agricultural and residential land and livelihoods also often spill over into violence.
As Editor of Groundviews, some reports from those who have frequented the region recently I have published indicate that citizens are now more concerned about
basic service delivery of local government and largely free from the anxiety they once lived with under the LTTE.
“Friends I met in Batticaloa said that life in the town has become less tense and that there was a feeling of normalcy. They also claimed a drop in abductions and
missing people in the town. They stressed that the civilians were tired of the power struggles, and the infighting within factions and among groups.”
“Liberated”- A Personal Account Of Batticaloa And Ampara by mihiriw
Other accounts I’ve published have been more critical about the “liberation” of the East. The essential problem seems to be the prevalence of and the continuing
reliance by the Government on armed paramilitary groups to govern the region. It seems to be the case that though the LTTE’s overt presence and diktats in the
region have diminished significantly, the human security of civilians remains in question on account of the presence of armed groups with scant regard for human rights
and democracy. That this is a concern not shared by the Government is particularly telling. The disturbing allegations made by Alan Rock in 2006 over the State’s
complicity in the recruitment of child soldiers by the Karuna group, the damning facts brought to light by the Human Rights Watch report Complicit in Crime: State
Collusion in Abductions and Child Recruitment by the Karuna Group in January 2007 and repeatedly by the SLMM, UNICEF and by critical investigative reports by
traditional media on the same lines strongly suggests that even though the LTTE is no longer, for the moment, a dominant force in the East, Pilliyan and the TMVP
constitute real and significant threats to the threadbare democratic fabric in the region. As noted in a recent article on Groundviews,

“Normalcy and durable and sustainable resettlement cannot happen as long as the Government turns a blind eye to the climate of fear, insecurity and terror created by
the different TMVP factions of what was the Karuna Group. They carry arms in public, have offices where they summon, inquire and detain civilians as they wish.
They have forcibly taken over private property and set up offices across the district and have even begun setting up more fortified establishments by the main road as
in Maavadivaembu. They engage in joint cordon and search operations with the security forces (though this is more prevalent in the Ampara district than in the
Batticaloa district) all in broad daylight and in complete cooperation of the Government forces. Given the overwhelming physical evidence in the district, bland denials
may not absolve the Government of complicity. The Government must be held accountable for the violations of the TMVP/Karuna/Pillayan group who are roaming
freely with arms and are engaged in serious violations including abductions, intimidation and extortion.”
What Liberation? by Bhumi
Not that the Rajapakse administration gives a toss. The pedestrian response by the Government to the fact that the TMVP will contest elections without giving up
their arms is that they cannot be disarmed on account of the continuing threat posed by the LTTE to TMVP cadre, who without arms would be powerless to defend
themselves. The resulting irony, that elections in a “liberated” East can only be held under the aegis of armed terrorists is lost on the incumbent government, but not on
the peoples of the region. It is thus a given that the TMVP will be primus inter pares in the elections. The boycott of the elections by the UNP and TNA in effect
guarantees their stranglehold of the region’s fate and no amount of opprobrium by human rights organisations and the international community is going to in any way
stop them from doing just as they please in the East.
It is highly unlikely that elections in the East will resolve to any meaningful degree the deeply embedded political and social problems within and between communities
in the East. The elections are touted simplistically as evidence of the government’s spoils in its victory against terrorism. They fail to take into account that the LTTE’s
absence does not by extension mean that that the East is free from the tyranny of armed groups. Coupled with a Government so manifestly bereft of a political
imagination to meaningfully address legitimate grievances of minority communities, it is quite clear that whatever the results of the elections are (and we can safely
assume that it won’t be a huge surprise) the problems facing democratic governance in the region will remain largely unaddressed as long as weapons and violence
rule. It begs the question as to why these elections are really being held.
The larger tragedy is that we can’t any more see the gross incompatibility of holding elections with terrorists who are armed. The Eastern elections are hailed as a
victory against terrorism. In fact, they will be supported by and the results hostage to the violence of armed actors, countenanced by the State, with no real interest in
democratic rule or in giving up absolute power in the regions they hold sway.
This article written for an upcoming issue of Montage published by Counterpoint.
To get in touch with Montage, please email montagesrilanka [at] gmail.com
Article by Sanjana Hattotuwa, Editor, The Gound Views