ENB170608

TNA MP meets Norwegian Special Envoy in Oslo
[TamilNet, Tuesday, 17 June 2008, 12:14 GMT]
Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian for Batticaloa District, S. Jeyanandamoorthy, who is currently on a visit to Europe, met Norwegian Special Envoy to Sri Lanka, Jon Hanssen-Bauer, in Oslo on Monday and discussed the political and humanitarian situation prevailing in the North and East. "Rajapaksa government is now attempting to seek regional recognition, especially from India, as it attempts to seek foreign funds for implementing a colonisation-agenda in the East," the MP told TamilNet after his meeting with the Norwegian Envoy.
Jon Hanssen-Bauer shaking hands with Jeyanandamoorthy MPThe Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL), which has obstructed the work of NGOs in the East, is seeking funds to carry out the agenda of Sinhalicisation in the East, after installing its paramilitary as proxy administration, the TNA MP told media following his meeting with the Norwegian Envoy saying that he conveyed the concerns of the Tamils to the Norwegian Envoy.
"It is of utmost importance to Eezham Tamils that India and the International Community realise the colonial agenda behind Rajapaksa governments development plan for the East," he said.
"Tamil voices are effectively silenced in the areas controlled by the Sri Lanka Army and the paramilitary groups operated by it," he told media.
"In the current context, the voice of Diaspora Tamil community is the only democratic voice we have," he further said.
Jeyanandamoorthy also took part in the Pongku Thamizh rally which was held in Denmark on Saturday.

No talks without Norway – Pulidevan demands access for facilitators to Wanni but govt. says no
By Jamila Najmuddin
The LTTE yesterday ruled out the possibility of having peace talks with the government without the participation of Norwegian facilitators.
LTTE Peace Secretariat Head, S. Pulidevan said while the organization had been in close contact with key Norwegian figures such as Erik Solheim and the Norwegian Ambassador, it would wait for the facilitators to be granted access to Kilinochchi to further discuss issues relating to future peace talks with the government.
“There are several issues we want to discuss with the Norwegian facilitators before discussing peace with the Sri Lankan government. We want to hold a meeting with the Norwegians. However the facilitators are not being granted access to enter Kilinochchi by the Sri Lankan government,” Mr. Pulidevan told the Daily Mirror in a telephone interview from Kilinochchi.
Foreign Secretary Palitha Kohona had told the media in Singapore, where he is on a visit with the Foreign Minister, the government was looking for a
negotiated end to the conflict but stressed that so far the LTTE had not shown an interest to enter into such constructive dialogue.
“The LTTE is free to come back to the negotiating table but it must do so genuinely with a commitment to negotiating a sustainable peace and for that it must also leave aside its weaponry,” he said.
Dr. Kohona said the LTTE re-armed itself to hit back after the truce began in 2002, and vowed the present government was no longer willing to simply agree to a ceasefire agreement without a commitment on the part of the LTTE to achieve a final solution to this problem.
The LTTE Peace Secretariat Head meanwhile assured the safety of the Norwegians if they were to visit Kilinochchi adding that there were no security constraints in visiting the LTTE controlled areas.
“There are no security constraints in coming to Kilinochchi. We have people from the UN and other international organizations coming into our areas every day. This once again is only a false story just like my arrest,” Mr. Pulidevan said.
The government however ruled out the possibility of granting access to the facilitators into LTTE territory. A high ranking government official said while the government was fully aware of the contacts between the LTTE and the Norwegian facilitators, the Norwegians however would not be granted access into Kilinochchi anytime soon.
“Before entering Kilinochchi, the Norwegians will have to provide a clear programme to the government as to how they hope to achieve peace through their meeting with the LTTE. We have always been very grateful to the Norwegians for their facilitation but a visit by them into Kilinochci anytime soon has not been discussed,” the government official said on the condition of anonymity.Meanwhile dismissing reports that he had been arrested by the LTTE Intelligence services on the direct orders of LTTE Leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, Pulidevan said the news items were all false as there was never a move to arrest anyone within the organization.
He also dismissed reports of an internal dispute within the LTTE, insisting that the organization continued to function as usual. “The LTTE has no problems. Our only intention is to receive the Norwegians in Kilinochchi as they are the official facilitators. Till then we will not discuss anything,” he said.

Place an Arms Embargo on Sri Lanka
June 16, 2008 at 10:15 pm · ~ Commentary
by Thanjai Nalankilli
This is time for western democracies to act. Those who gave an international safety net to the Sri Lankan government should now throw at least a lifeline to the Tamil minority. We do not expect the United States of America (USA) or the European Union (EU) to send troops to protect the Tamil minority as they did in Kosovo. All we ask is, “please put an arms embargo on Sri Lanka” on an emergency basis. This should be done now without delay, before the Sri Lankan military acquires large supplies of arms and ammunition. Maybe, maybe, then the Sri Lankan government would see that it could not score a decisive military victory over the LTTE and agree to a honourable political solution.
1. Sri Lanka’s Duplicity and Western Democracies
It is April 2008. By now the world knows that the Sri Lankan government has no intention of devolving reasonable powers to the Tamil minority (something the Tamils knew for decades). Until just a couple of years ago Sri Lankan government ministers and diplomats were going around the world telling them that they want to “soften” the LTTE militarily to force LTTE to agree to a reasonable solution to the ethnic conflict. Now we know that it was a lie and what the Sri Lankan government wanted was to destroy LTTE and impose a pax Sinhala rule over the Tamil minority.
Once the western democracies realized the Sri Lankan duplicity they stopped much of the financial aid. United States of America (USA) that gave some military assistance in the past also stopped much of it, hoping that the Sri Lankan government would stop its quest for a military solution and go to the peace table.
2. Who are the Financiers and Arms Suppliers?
Western democracies were not the only source of financial aid and weapons to Sri Lanka. In June 2007, faced with criticism from western democracies and cut in financial aid from them, Sri Lanka’s defence secretary (and the president’s brother) Gotabaya Rajapaksa said, “We won’t be isolated. We have all the SAARC (South Asia Association of Regional Co-operation) countries, the Asian countries. Britain, or Western countries, the EU (European Union) countries, they can do whatever. We don’t depend on them. They are not giving anything.”
Which Asian countries was Gotabaya Rajapaksa talking about? China is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in infrastrucure and industrial projects. Indian government is quietly pumping hundreds of millions of dollars into Sri Lanka with no strings attached. India is also secretly, and sometimes openly, gifting weapons and training to Sri Lankan military. China and some Eastern European countries are selling weapons to Sri Lanka. Pakistan has emerged as a major arms seller to Sri Lanka.
Only thing that stands in the way of total subjugation of the Tamil minority as second class citizens for another half a century or more is the military strength of LTTE (the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam).
All news reports seem to indicate that LTTE is considerably weakened militarily. Yet they seem to put up stiff resistance against the Sri Lankan military making inroads into their territories in the north. A news item in an Indian newspaper on April 2, 2008 reported that Sri Lanka had ordered from Pakistan 150,000 rounds of 60 mm mortar ammunition for immediate delivery, in addition to $25 million worth of 81 mm, 120 mm and 130 mm mortar ammunition to be delivered within a month.
3. It is Time for Western Democracies to Act
It is time for western democracies to act urgently before the Sri Lankan military destroys the only leverage the Tamil minority has, the armed strength of LTTE. Western democracies must act now, before there is no leverage at all and an unjust, unfair solution is imposed.
This is time for western democracies to act. Those who gave an international safety net to the Sri Lankan government should now throw at least a lifeline to the Tamil minority. We do not expect the United States of America (USA) or the European Union (EU) to send troops to protect the Tamil minority as they did in Kosovo. All we ask is, “please put an arms embargo on Sri Lanka” on an emergency basis. This should be done now without delay, before the Sri Lankan military acquires large supplies of arms and ammunition. May be, may be, then the Sri Lankan government would see that it could not score a decisive military victory over the LTTE and agree to a honourable political solution.
When we say arms embargo, we do not mean that western democracies should not sell or give arms and ammunition to Sri Lanka, we mean a total international arms embargo, prohibiting any country from selling or giving arms and ammunition to Sri Lanka. We know that it may take considerable effort to persuade the United Nations (UN) Security Council to go along with an embargo. But efforts should be made to that end. In the meantime America and European Union should persuade countries like Pakistan and Ukraine to stop the sale of weapons to Sri Lanka.
4. The Question of India
Unlike the western democracies, India is not impartial in the Sri Lankan conflict. Its position is anti-Tamil; India’s actions are evidence of that. While western democracies are trying to douse the war fire in Sri Lanka, India is pouring oil into the fire by way of financial aid, military training and hardware. While western democracies cut their financial aid to Sri Lanka substantially, India increased it. While America stopped much of its military supplies to Sri Lanka, India is continuing to supply it. In the same way India opposed a European Union sponsored human rights resolution in the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006, it would lobby against an arms embargo too. Western democracies should ignore it and act quickly before it is too late. In the same way the west helped Kosvo in spite of objection from some of its neighbors, they should ignore Indian objections and proceed with an arms embargo.
Short of sending troops to protect the Tamil minority (which is not going to happen) or provide arms to LTTE (unlikely), only option the international community has is to place an arms embargo and thus put an end to the war and move to the peace table.
[LAST MINUTE ADDITION: After the article was completed and was ready for publication, author read on BBC web site that Slovakia (an EU member) is selling 10,000 military missiles to Sri Lanka. This new development makes the need for an arms embargo through a United Nations Security Council resolution or persuasion even more urgent.] [Tamil Tribune, May 2008/via ITS]

Karunanidhi wants Sethu project completed
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi turned 85 yesterday and said his only birthday wish was "to see the completion" of Sethusamudaram project even as sports events, public meetings and mass feeding programmes marked the occasion. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi and former prime minister V P Singh wished Karunanidhi over the phone. Tamil Nadu Governor S S Barnala, Union Ministers Anbumani Ramadoss, G K Vasan, E V K S Elangovan and V Narayanasamy and leaders of various political parties made a beeline to his house to greet the octogenarian leader, who is the oldest Chief Minister.
Karunanidhi, who was greeted by the Prime Minister over the telephone, requested him to rename the Sethusamudram Shipping Project (SSCP) as "Sethu Ram" for quicker completion.

Anti-terrorism drive accelerated in India
Monday, 16 June 2008
Indian defence authorities have intensified investigations into LTTE operations in the coastal district of Ramnad, which overlooks Mannar, just across the Palk Strait.It is reported that the biggest number of detections of explosives and war material destined for the LTTE has been made from Ramnad.
During 2007, the Indian authorizes have recovered large hauls of war materials used by the LTTE terrorists to attack both the security personals and the civilians in Sri Lanka. "Some of the seizures run into tonnes. The detonators have been found in thousands," Indian news sources reported. Sources also said that both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils have been involved in these smuggling activities, some for the larger cause and some purely for money. Security agencies from the Central and Tamil Nadu Governments have frequently confiscated from the coastal belt ammunition and dual use goods that officials say are destined for the LTTE, sources said.
"The fact that such large quantities are being seized is a sign that much larger quantities are being sought - an indicator of what the LTTE is looking for from the nearest land source in view of the damage suffered by its shipping lines," Indo-Asian News Service reported.Experts say the LTTE is using stuff smuggled from Tamil Nadu to prepare mines - one of the most lethal weapons in the conflict. The LTTE uses the lure of its Tamil nationalist ideology and money to procure what it wants from Tamil Nadu. Quoting Indian officials the report added that the LTTE has also tried to build a huge vessel in Kerala and tried to procure mortars from Tamil Nadu.
It says that the activities of the LTTE intensifying in Tamil Nadu as the war is reaching to a turning point. Last Updated ( Monday, 16 June 2008 )

Anandasangaree raps Douglas
TULF leader V. Anandasangaree has in a "My dear Thamby" rejoinder has asked Douglas Devananda not to mischievously confuse the present TNA that contested as proxies of the LTTE in 2004 with the TNA of 2001.
"That was only an alliance of three political parties that contested in 2001", Anandasangaree has said adding that "it is mainly this kind of mischievous distortion that keeps me from you at arms length."
The following is the full text of the Anandasangaree's letter to Devananda:
My Dear Thamby,
My worry is about the people who suffer
Thank you for responding to my letter addressed to His Excellency the President, protesting against your appointment as Head of the Special Task Force for the administration of the Northern Province. Even if you had been appointed as Head of the Special Task Force to administer the Kayts Electorate I would have opposed it. But when the entire Northern Province is handed over to you along with five administrative Districts comprised of fourteen Electorates how can I keep quite? Don't you think that you on your own should have declined to accept it. Please be assured that I do not have anything personal against you. All my worry is about the people who had been undergoing untold hardships for more than quarter of a century. I have not turned bitter towards you all of a sudden. The bitterness had been there from the time you took control of the Kayts Electorate with its nine Islands and stated harassing the poor people who have had bellyful, by that time, from the LTTE. Your taking control of the Kayts Electorate did not in any way bring relief to the people there. Contrary to that, apart from their poor living conditions, threats, intimidations, deprivation of all their rights, the democratic rights in particular, were on the increase.
Both of us were in Parliament from October, 2000 till January, 2004. Did I ever look at you or smile at you? Why? Because even after enjoying power as Member of Parliament and as a Minister, you did not change your attitude towards the suffering masses. I had been complaining about you to both the present President His Excellency Mahinda Rajapakse and his predecessor in office Her Excellency Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunge, a number of times. You can still verify that.
The trip to South Africa was one that I never asked for I did not want to displease the President. The fact that I will never spare the LTTE till they give up violence is no secret. I had a sacred duty to save the country from the LTTE's false propaganda deliberately done to bring discredit to all of us. Don't you remember how a young lady irresponsibly accused the Sri Lankan Forces of various charges. On the ethnic issue my views are well known all over the world. But you, unmindful of the collective responsibility you had as a Minister, tried to promote your solution although there was an All Party Representatives Committee appointed by the President working on it and the minorities were anxiously awaiting the outcome.
I never intended to slander you, not to sling mud on you. Unfortunately in my opinion you have not changed your ways. My discontentment is not due to your appointment as the Chairman of the Special Task Force. It is about the unfortunate people who are suffering for well over two and a half decades without any hopes of salvation. If the Cabinet had approved your appointment it is a pity that most of its members do not know about your past and the present. If you had informed me of your appointment with a view to invite me to join you to serve the people I would have taken it as the biggest joke because as a Minister I know how you treated me.
All what I have mentioned in my letter are true and not fabricated. All letters referred to were not modified as you accuse me. This is exactly why I sent copies of the original as annextures. Whether some of those incidents are ten years old or ten days old they remain as black marks in your political career and you had not taken any steps to erase off these marks.
I do agree that our people should be saved from the clutches of the LTTE but not to fall into the clutches of another as happened in the past I want normalcy and democratic rights restored for which I seek your assistance. I reject your claim that you don't do politics for posts and prominence because I know how you won nine seats to Parliament with the 8600 odd votes all your 13 candidates jointly polled in 1994. What did you do in 2000 and 2001. If you really want to serve the Tamil Community as you say, please take into consideration all the sacrifices our leaders, thousands of youths belonging to various groups including your EPDP made and also the thousands of innocent Tamils, Muslims and Sinhalese people who died due to the violence of the LTTE and destruction of billions and billions worth of property both public and private Island-wide and await the emergence of the final proposal acceptable to all the minorities. At that time I will consider extending my support to you to serve your community as you say. As it is now you will never serve your community. Instead you will only ruin them.
Please don't mischievously confuse the present TNA that contested as proxies of the LTTE in 2004 with the TNA of 2001. Which was only an alliance of the three political parties that contested in 2001. It is mainly this type of mischievous distortions of yours that make me to keep you at arms length. You very well known that it was I who disputed the claim of the LTTE that they were the sole representatives of the Tamils.
If you look forward for my advice take this letter as such but if you want my co-operation I am sorry to say that I can do it only by quitting politics. That is the only option. I can think of having completely studied all aspects of the present situation.
I am sorry Thamby this is all I can say.
V. Anandasangaree,President - TULF

An open Letter to Anandasangari - Douglas DevanandaDear
Annai,
I have read in the media the two-parts letter you have written to His Excellency President Mahinda Rajapaksa slinging mud at me. It is not the contents of these letters that prompted me to reply - rather the time you have chosen to reproduce the letter, with a few modifications, you wrote to former President Chandrika Kumaratuge in 2001 when you contested the elections as a LTTE proxy TNA candidate. That encouraged me to write this open letter to you. No wonder pro-LTTE media have publicized your letter.
Annai, when I sit down to pen a few words in response to the reams you have written about me, what come across my mind is what Thiruvalluvar in his classic couplet Thirukkural (Kural 181) has said:
"Though a man from virtue strays,
To refrain from slander brings him praise."
Annai, you and I were in constant touch and have been maintaining a good relationship in recent years. You call me Thamby affectionately and I address you as Annai with affection and respect. The memories of our visit to South Africa a year ago in an effort to meet several leading cabinet members there as well as political party leaders and Tamil activists of Indian origin who had been misled by the LTTE campaign come to mind. I have not forgotten how we briefed them on the correct situation in Sri Lanka. I do not know what made you suddenly to turn bitter towards me.
All the allegations that you have levelled against me in your letters are nothing new. They are the remnants of the mud that was slung at me over the years; some of these charges are decades old. I have come a long way withstanding these onslaughts. I wonder what prompted you to unearth this muck and sling it at me at this juncture.
Your discontent is that the president has appointed me as the Chairman of the Special Task Force for the Development of North. Annai, no sooner the cabinet approved the memo submitted by His Excellency the President, appointing the Special Task Force with me as the Chairman, I telephoned you and Messrs Sitharthan and Sritharan, leaders of PLOTE and EPRLF (Naba faction) respectively and invited you all to join me through this Task Force to serve the people of the North. I telephoned all of you before the news regarding appointment of the Task Force was leaked to the press and solicited your advice and cooperation.
We all are striving to save the Tamil speaking people from the clutches of LTTE fascism and to restore normalcy, bring back democracy and relieve these people from their day to day sufferings. We all aspire to bring an honourable solution to the problem of the Tamil speaking people in our country. It is in this endeavour that your party, the TULF, has lost many of its valuable leaders. To name a few, A. Amirthalingam, V. Yogeswaran, Mrs. Sarojini Yogeswaran, Pon Sivapalan, Dr. Neelan Tiruchelvam etc. My party, the EPDP, has lost many of its important members too, the last being Maheswary Velautham. It is also so with the PLOTE and EPRLF (Naba faction).
Annai, I do not do politics for posts and prominence. I have time and again stated that if Prabhakaran would genuinely denounce terrorism and join the democratic main stream, I will quit politics. My political stand has been consistent throughout. I too can write a letter accusing you in harsh words; I do not intend to do that. I respect your contribution to the Tamil community. We may have political differences but that does mean that we have to spit on each other’s faces. Unity in diversity is the need of the hour.
We have a common enemy that is haunting our civilization. The more we are divided, the more we are allowing the fascist LTTE to stretch its tentacle over the Tamil community and do more harm to society. Let us not look for the dirt in each other’s backyards but instead join together to relieve the Tamil community from their immense sufferings.
I look forward for your advice and cooperation in my endeavour to serve my community.
My good wishes ahead of your forthcoming 75th birthday

June 13, 2008
Stop Tamil Tigers raising money in UK, says President Rajapaksa
President Rajapaksa insists the Tigers disarm before peace talksRichard Beeston, Foreign Editor Britain stands accused of applying double standards to its counter-terrorism policy because a banned Tamil militant group is being allowed to raise money among expatriates in London.
President Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka said that supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were able to raise millions of pounds each year from the Tamil community in Britain, some of whom were coerced into donating the money.
“You can't have two different attitudes towards terrorism,” he told The Times this week during a visit to London for a Commonwealth meeting, where he raised the issue with Gordon Brown. “I don't agree that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There is only one kind of terrorist.”
There are about 150,000 Tamils living in Britain, mostly in North London. The Sri Lankans estimate that £70million is sent home every year.

Tigers must disarm before peace talks - President
LONDON: President Mahinda Rajapaksa said that supporters of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) were able to raise millions of pounds each year from the Tamil community in Britain, some of whom were coerced into donating the money.
“You can’t have two different attitudes towards terrorism,” he told The Times in an interview this week during a visit to London for a Commonwealth meeting, where he raised the issue with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
“I don’t agree that there are good terrorists and bad terrorists. There is only one kind of terrorist.” There are about 150,000 Tamils living in Britain, mostly in North London. The Sri Lankans estimate that œ70 million is sent home every year.
“These are not voluntary contributions, the money is taken by force, usually a percentage of their income,” said President Rajapaksa. “The money is sent back to buy weapons. London is not the only place; money is also sent from Europe, Canada and other places.”
President Rajapaksa said that he was taking steps to protect human rights. He blamed his Government’s poor international reputation on “clever propaganda” by the Tigers. “We have failed in the propaganda fight,” he said.
President Rajapaksa insisted yesterday that in spite of the cost in lives and damage inflicted to Sri Lanka’s tourist trade he would not resume peace talks with the Tamil Tigers until the organisation agreed to disarm.
“When they are weak they call on the international community to arrange a ceasefire. During this period they train and rearm and then fight back. This time if they want to talk, they should disarm first,” he said.
Even if the Tigers were to meet his preconditions it seems unlikely that he would ever be able to conclude a peace deal with Velupillai Prabhakaran.
“This man and the three or four henchmen around him are blood-thirsty killers,” said President Rajapaksa. “They have no feelings. It is very difficult to deal with them.”
The Times

No role for India in Sri Lanka for now, says LTTE
M.R. Narayan SwamyThu, Jun 12 10:18 AM
New Delhi, June 12 (IANS) India cannot make 'any healthy, fruitful contribution' to resolving Sri Lanka's ethnic conflict until it changes its mind on the Tamil Tigers' struggle for an independent state, a rebel leader has said.
'Our regret is that the Indian policy makers are viewing (the) Tamil people's struggle through the lens of their country's political warfare,' K.V. Balakumaran, a senior member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), told an Australian Tamil radio.
'Until the Indian central government approaches this intellectually and recognises that ours is a struggle for survival by an oppressed people in the land of their birth, India cannot make any healthy, fruitful contribution.
'India has approached our struggle as an integral part of their national political equation. Like in a political chess game, India has taken positions beneficial to the governments in power,' the pro-LTTE TamilNet website quoted Balakumaran as saying.
Balakumaran, who took to Tamil militancy in the 1970s and formally joined the LTTE in the early 1990s, was asked: 'How would you like India to view the Tamil issue?'
Balakumaran, who for many years lived in Tamil Nadu and interacted with the Indian leadership in the 1980s, pointed out that there was 'a link' between the Tamil Tigers and India.
'We have said clearly (that) Tamil Eelam is not against India; we will uphold Indian welfare as our own,' he said. 'There was a time, when India looked after our welfare as her own. India will change its current policy towards us one day.
'We believe firmly (that) our strong cultural ties to our brothers and sisters in India will help their policy makers to select a just and fair path towards our people.'
But he said the LTTE 'cannot wait for India's change of mind to continue with our liberation. One fact should be clear, no one should doubt our friendship, and strong ties to India,'
In the mid-1980s, India provided sanctuary to Tamil militants from Sri Lanka. In 1987, its troops deployed in Sri Lanka's northeast after a pact with Colombo ended up fighting the LTTE, resulting in thousands of deaths.
Subsequently, New Delhi became the first country to outlaw the Tigers in 1992, a year after a woman suicide bomber killed former Indian premier Rajiv Gandhi. The LTTE has denied assassinating Gandhi.
Balakumaran agreed that the LTTE campaign to carve out a separate Tamil state in Sri Lanka, which has left over 70,000 people dead since 1983, would need the support of the international community.
'We accept this. We agree we have to go along with the international community. (But) our people must have a deeper understanding... We must inquire why international actors are responding differently to the national liberation struggles of different peoples.
'The axioms accepted for one struggle are negated for another... Countries are motivated by their own self interest.'
Balakumaran, whose remarks are believed to reflect the thinking of the LTTE leadership, was asked how important it was for 'a liberation movement' to show its strength.
'We traditionally equate strength with military might,' he said. But this was one aspect of the larger picture, he added.
'This is a marathon; having the strength to confront the obstacles to the finish is how the success of a liberation struggle is assessed,' he said. 'Our people are demonstrating this strength and the accompanying resilience.'

Indian seizures show LTTE's game to fight long war
.R. Narayan
, Jun 13 12:26 PM
New Delhi, June 13 (IANS) Large quantities of explosives and other war material meant for Sri Lanka's Tamil Tigers are being seized in Tamil Nadu in south India, indicating the guerrillas' game to wage a long war.
Security agencies from the central and Tamil Nadu governments are regularly confiscating from the coastal belt ammunition and dual use goods that officials say are destined for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
As the costly war rages on in Sri Lanka, between the LTTE and a Colombo regime determined to crush the Tigers, Tamil Nadu seems to have assumed renewed significance in the context of the war theatre.
Since the start of 2007 until now, Indian authorities have seized unusually large volumes of ball bearings that are used as shrapnel, aluminium bars, both ordinary and electronic detonators, boat building equipment, walkie-talkies, batteries and petroleum products.
Also found hidden or abandoned have been chemicals including sulphuric acid, high-speed outboard engines for boats, cycle spares, tyres for cycles and motorcycles, power generators, and surgical equipment including medicines.
The seizures also include beedis - the poor man's cigarette, now a prized commodity in Sri Lanka's war-battered north.
Some of the seizures run into tonnes. The detonators have been found in thousands. The quantity of chemicals totals hundreds of litres.
A vast majority of the findings have been reported from the coastal district of Ramnad, which overlooks Mannar district in northwestern Sri Lanka. Arrests of couriers have been few in relation to the materials seized.
Some of the seized goods were found buried or in safe houses. Others were simply abandoned when the police came too close to catching the messengers. Both Sri Lankan and Indian Tamils have been involved, some for the larger cause and some purely for money.
Indian officials who watch Sri Lanka's escalating conflict are drawing their conclusions.
The fact that such large quantities are being seized is a sign that much larger quantities are being sought -- an indicator of what the LTTE is looking for from the nearest land source in view of the damage suffered by its shipping lines.
The seizures also show that while it may be facing military reverses, the LTTE is in no mood to give up the fight. If anything, it is preparing for a long haul, using stuff smuggled from Tamil Nadu to prepare mines -- one of the most lethal weapons in that seemingly unending conflict.
The LTTE uses the lure of its Tamil nationalist ideology and money to procure what it wants from Tamil Nadu, a state it knows well and one separated from Sri Lanka by a narrow strip of sea.
For anything and everything seized, it is safe to conclude that much more must be getting through to Sri Lanka.
And despite claims that the LTTE's naval wing has weakened considerably, the Tigers are succeeding in navigating past Tamil Nadu's coastal security and also the Indian and Sri Lankan sea patrols.
According to Indian officials, the LTTE has also tried to build a huge vessel in Kerala and tried to procure mortars from Tamil Nadu.
And as the war escalates, the Tigers' dependence on Tamil Nadu is only expected to rise.

The moment of truth for India on LTTE
If the Sinhala majority really wanted to rid the island of the LTTE, then they should force their government to unilaterally announce the adoption of a quasi-federal Constitution, much like India’s, to replace the present unitary one. Then India can without reservation help the Sri Lankans to combat the LTTE. But India cannot wait around for the Sinhalese to make up their minds.____________________
by Subramanian Swamy
(June 13, New Delhi, Sri Lanka Guardian) India’s policy towards the internationally proclaimed terrorist organisation, the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) now requires to be sharply defined before it is too late. Now is the moment of truth for clarity and transparency. Otherwise one more neighbour will float into the US sphere of influence.
At present there is confusion in India’s approach to Sri Lanka because of a hidden compulsion of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Notice that May 21, the unfortunate anniversary of Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, passed by last week without a single Congress leader demanding the avenging of his death or the extradition of the prime culprit—LTTE supremo V Prabhakaran. Even the four LTTE-DK activists sentenced to death on May 12, 1999 by the Supreme Court have yet to be hanged for involvement in the dastardly act because of an inexplicable letter from Sonia Gandhi to the President of India pleading clemency for the four.
The confusion is manifested in the following contradiction: On the one hand, the Indian government has banned the LTTE ( by Narasimha Rao) as a terrorist organisation because of its murderous activities, including the killing of Rajiv Gandhi, yet on the other hand, despite the continuing assassinations by the LTTE of pro-Indian Sri Lankan politicians and its open interference within India by financing pro-LTTE politicians and training terrorist organisations, the Indian government supports the “peace process” of the Sri Lanka government with the LTTE, i.e., talks that could end up legitimising the same terrorist outfit and making the ban meaningless.
Although the LTTE has officially denied any involvement in the assassinations, such a denial cannot be taken seriously because the LTTE has always denied its involvement in any terrorist activity, including murder, arson, extortion and drug trafficking. The LTTE for example denied any part in Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination. However, the Supreme Court of India in its 400-page judgment delivered on May 12, 1999 and re-affirmed on review on October 5, 1999 has laid bare what a huge blatant lie that is.
However India cannot formulate a policy on LTTE with the Sri Lanka government as an active partner. If India is presently confused due to some mysterious compulsion, the Sri Lanka government suffers from delusion. For example, despite the murder of their Foreign Minister Kadirgamar and the attempted murder of their then President Chandrika by the LTTE, the Sri Lankan authorities are suffering from the “Stockholm Syndrome” of capitulating to their tormentors by agreeing to talk with them at a moment’s notice, and are thus unable to deal with the murderous LTTE. The Sri Lanka President’s first reaction after the murder of Foreign Minister Kadirgamar (a Tamil) was that the island government would not suspend the so-called peace talks with the killers, a further indication of the same tragic syndrome that seems to petrify them.
Sri Lanka thus seems a crumbling failed state that has lost its collective nerve to combat and confront terror of the LTTE.
If the Sinhala majority really wanted to rid the island of the LTTE, then they should force their government to unilaterally announce the adoption of a quasi-federal Constitution, much like India’s, to replace the present unitary one. Then India can without reservation help the Sri Lankans to combat the LTTE. But India cannot wait around for the Sinhalese to make up their minds.
Hence, Indians have to take stock now and decide what to do to remove the fault line in India’s policy towards the LTTE, and thus secure national interests in its geographical neighbourhood. There is no time to lose.
India has had a close call because the LTTE could have been legitimised by now by the Sri Lanka government aided by an inane Norwegian facilitation and the initiatives of the busy body Japanese. Both sought to placate the LTTE and got egg on their face. Such Chamberlainian surrender if it had come to pass, would have been a disaster not only for Sri Lanka’s integrity, but more importantly for India’s national security because of that outfit’s links with India’s terrorists such as Naxalites and ULFA, and with ISI of Pakistan and even Al Qaeda (which now has established camps in Chittagong, Bangladesh) as well as with separatist Indian political parties such as Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK), Pattali Makkal Katchi (PMK), Dalit Panther and Marumalarchi Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (MDMK), not mention 38 paramilitary terrorists outfits roaming the forest areas of Tamil Nadu.
But India has escaped that, because of the LTTE’s hubris and the consequent ire of the US. Hence, the EU has been now forced to issue a diktat to member-nations to ban the LTTE as a terrorist outfit and freeze their fund extortion activities in Europe. The LTTE is now in a Catch-22 situation—go to war and be eliminated by superior international force or climb down and be discredited. There is no third way. India has been gifted time to set her policy in consistent shape—which necessarily has to be anti-LTTE if for nothing else than for the unforgivable perfidy of killing India’s former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi.
Even if Rajiv Gandhi’s widow and the Congress party (of which he was President) for some obscure compulsion show scant interest today in bringing to book the LTTE’s supremo Velupillai Pirabhakaran for this crime against the nation, patriotic Indians cannot forget Rajiv Gandhi’s martyrdom nor LTTE’s treachery. India has to fix Pirabhakaran someday by bringing him to justice or otherwise justice to him, for his lack of respect for India’s sovereignty that the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi represents.
Thus, India has a national security imperative and an unavoidable moral obligation to get involved to free the island of Sri Lanka of the LTTE’s brutal terror, if for nothing else but to secure her own environment and punish those seek to overawe India’s people with terror.I thus see five specific reasons why India has this obligation:
First, India had trained the LTTE in 1980s and created the Frankenstein monster. Hence, India has to atone for it by actions to disband and unravel the LTTE.
Second, despite enjoying India’s hospitality for years, and after welcoming the Indo-Sri Lanka Agreement in 1987, the LTTE betrayed India by killing more than a thousand Indian army personnel of the India Peace-Keeping Force (IPKF) sent to the island to enforce the said agreement. The betrayal and loss of lives of India’s valiant jawans have to be avenged to keep up the morale of the Indian armed forces.
Third, as the Home Ministry 2005 Annual Report to Parliament states, LTTE has been targeting pro-Indian Sri Lanka politicians and assassinating them. For the assassination of Rajiv Gandhi, an Indian trial court has declared accused number one Prabhakaran as a proclaimed offender, and the Interpol has issued a Red Corner Notice for apprehending him. India is thus obligated to search for Prabhakaran and to teach the LTTE a lesson in a language they will understand, and to immobilise them enough to deter them in the future from engaging in any murderous and terrorist activities against India and Indian interests.
Fourth, the LTTE interferes in the internal affairs of India by financing stooge Indian political parties, in providing training to Indian militant and extremist organisations, and had extended insurgency infrastructure to bandits such as Veerappan and his forest gang. It also launders black money of Indian politicians through its illegal Eelam Bank in the Jaffna area. India cannot allow such erosion of law and order within its own borders.
Fifth, the LTTE is a part of the international terror network of Al Qaeda and is aided by ISI of Pakistan to smuggle narcotics into India, circulate fake currency notes to buy medicines and diesel, to smuggle antiques, and engage in passport fabrication, and hawala operations.
The question thus is: To discharge these obligations what should India do? Obviously it cannot depend on the Sri Lanka governments of today or near future to help bring the LTTE to book. Sri Lankan political parties are either capitulationist or chauvinist. President Rajapaksha agreement with JVP (Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna or People's Liberation Front) is that they will defend the present failed unitary constitution. This shows that the Tamils are squeezed between the devil (LTTE) and the deep sea (Sinhala chauvinists). Hence India has to initiate action to meet its own obligations, and can expect no worthwhile cooperation from the Sinhala parties.
The first move India should make is to initiate action and steps to revive the hunt for those of the LTTE who have to be booked and prosecuted under Indian law. This includes the LTTE supremo Prabhakaran and his sidekick Pottu Amman, and whoever else has tried to help them to escape the arm of India’s law enforcement.
In 1998, the Parliament had set up under the CBI a multidisciplinary monitoring agency (MDMA) to hunt for these wanted persons. But the National Democratic Alliance government waffled after it was set up and failed to pursue the matter. The present UPA government has been worse on this issue. It has been wobbling on the question of extradition of Prabhakaran. When Sri Lanka President Chandrika had come to India, India agreed to let the LTTE to be a party in the Tsunami relief work and have its share in the $3 billion international aid commitment. It was only after the US declined to provide the funds, if LTTE was involved, that Chandrika was stopped from disbursing the money through the LTTE.
Time is now at hand to energise the MDMA to get moving to apprehend the wanted criminals and bring them to book. For this India may have to dispatch a squad of commando force to Jaffna, a force that India has trained in Israel since 1994 in batches. Helicopter gunships covered and GPS-satellite guided, these commando squads can easily locate where Prabhakaran would be hiding and smoke him out. UN Resolutions empower India to do so—the right of hot pursuit of terrorists.
Second, India must assist and nurture the democratic elements in the Sri Lankan Tamil population, those that have demonstrated capacity to stand up to the LTTE such as SC Chandrahasan, and breakaway LTTE group that had opposed Rajiv Gandhi’s assassination, viz., the Karuna group, among others, to form a non-violent and democratic alternative to work out with the Sinhala majority the federal constitution that would serve the purpose of power-sharing.
Third, there are LTTE sleeper cells in Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, and other cities of Indian stooges of the LTTE in political parties, media and government, who have to be identified and imprisoned under a new anti-terrorist law. These cells work under anonymity to sabotage any patriotic effort made to nail the LTTE. At present, terrorists of various hues are active in 29 of the 35 states and union territories of India. The common link of all these terrorists is the LTTE-ISI nexus because Jaffna is close by and Pakistan and Bangladesh (and soon Nepal) are sanctuaries for all these terrorists. Hence one day all of sudden these terrorists and LTTE sleeper cells may coordinate and cause a huge bloody incident by which India’s recent international fame in reforms, fast growth, and IT development could all go up in smoke. We have guard against such contingencies by pre-emptive action.
Time is at hand for India to effectively contribute to the war against terrorism and in promotion of democracy by targeting the LTTE sincerely and effectively in the larger national interest of security and national integrity. There is today a window of opportunity due to international consensus against the LTTE, and we must seize it now. LTTE’s hubris and being caught in a cleft stick gives India the opening for it.- Sri Lanka Guardian

Iqbal Athas - Haunted by his own disturbed mind --Defence Ministry
Last modified on: 5/10/2008 5:53:21 PM
Iqbal Athas - Haunted by his own disturbed mind --Defence Ministry responds to Sunday Times columnist Mr. Iqbal Athas, the defence columnist of Sunday Times, seems to be disturbed by our exposure of his role in the pro-terrorist propaganda machine. In response he has made several serious allegations against the defence authorities in his column titled from a military acronym SITREP or Situation Report published on the Sunday Times on the 4th May. While acknowledging his freedom to publish any fiction or whatever personal grievances he has in a newspaper, we would like to clarify the following issues since they are subtly but implicitly aimed at attacking the integrity of the defence authorities.
Firstly, Mr. Athas alludes that the defence authorities have embarked on an "official mission" to trace him and intimidate him about his work. Like in all his unsubstantiated "situation reports", here too he fails to give any details but writes a few fictitious sentences that best suits a cheap detective novel than a serious defence analysis. He says he is being hunted by some "suspicious characters wielding pistols or grenades, stalking outside his home," "motorbike riders" following him and other scary stuff. He creates a ridiculous image of intelligence officials in this country having no other work than go behind the stooges of terror stooges in the media, at a time when the war against terrorism is at its fullest.
Dear Mr. Athas, do you seriously believe that the defence authorities in this country are silly enough to deploy intelligence officers to follow a crap writers like you? It is time for you to understand that the game has been up for sometime for all stooges of terror in this country who operates under the most righteous facades such as free media, civil rights, human rights, peace building, etc. The public are increasingly aware about these sociopaths, despite their extravagant ballyhoos carried on through the media and other forums. Every member of the armed forces in this country have embarked on the noble mission - of ridding the country of terrorism and have no time or resources to play the fool with people like you. The moment of truth is approaching for this nation and time will place the scum of the earth at the right place in the country's history.
Secondly, in his article Mr. Athas charges the defence authorities of curbing press freedom. He calls Sri Lanka is "a country where media freedom is violated with impunity". We would like to ask Mr. Athas, if Sri Lanka has no press freedom, how a person like him got so rich by publishing fiction on defence on a widely circulated newspaper. Has anybody hindered your work other than exposing your motives using the same medium you use - namely the media? As a senior journalist you must be aware of the fact that the "right to respond" is equally recognized in press freedom as the "right to inform". It is possible that in your case seniority in years does not give you wisdom.
We would request all who think that defence.lk has been too harsh on Mr. Athas, to analyse his work during past two and half years. His work is freely available in the archives of the Sunday Times website. All his work if carefully analysed revolving around several themes out of which the followings are the most prominent:
That the security forces are inferior to his "Guerrillas", so the soldiers would never win this battle - (Ex: Scepticism on security forces' victories - particularly in the east)
Security Forces commanders are incompetent and have no integrity (Ex: false stories on Extravagant personal lives, back-stabbings, frauds, etc )
Defence Ministry officials are engaged in mass frauds (Ex: Mig 27 fallacy)
Security Forces have lesser morale (Ex: Military "debacles")
Government has no genuine need to end this war (Ex: alleged Politicising of military operations)
Security Forces members lack discipline and are disloyal to command (Ex: pretending to have lot of informants among security forces' members, )
Government is lying to the public on the battlefield realities (Ex: hyperbolic statements on damages to security forces)
The themes themselves give away the sinister motives behind them, such as building the terrorists' image, damaging public support and their faith in the security forces, damaging discipline, loyalty and morale of the security forces members, creating clashes among the senior ranks, etc. So, we would ask our viewers who else other than Mr. Athas they would identify with these aims? He has been acting as the doomsayer for all past operations wowing that the soldiers are going to fail; he has been the forerunner in propagating false stories such as Mig 27 fraud; he has been the best inflator of security forces damages like what he did at Anuradhapura airbase attack and Muhamalai "debacle". So, in our view Mr. Athas deserves a kind of a response that we have given.
Fourthly, Mr. Athas charges the government for declaring "war on - the media". He says that those who do not toe the line with the government "become victims of vicious campaigns orchestrated by those who are embarrassed by nothing but the truth". In our view, it is Mr. Athas himself, and not us who has been embarrassed by the truth. He should not find fault with the defence authorities for failure of his doomsday predictions, false allegations and all the other wired defence analysis given in his Situation Reports. Also, we stand by with good grounds, in our recognition of Mr. Athas' association with LTTE's propaganda work or the psychological operations in the strict military sense.
Psychological operation or PSYOP are operations planned to convey selected information and indicators to influence the emotions, motives, objective reasoning, and ultimately the behaviour of the receivers or the target audience. These types of operations are employed to undermine the opponent's will to wage war, boost morale of own forces, gather vital information and etc. Simply, it is an activity of informing and influencing the target audience to behave in a way favourable to the originator's objectives. Those who engaged in PSYOP have well defined missions and direct their operations on carefully selected themes called PSYOP themes. Thus, Mr. Athas, you may understand that it is nothing personal or any embarrassment caused by any of your "Exposures" that made us to call you a "terror propagandist".
On the other hand, if one argues that Mr. Athas is a strict reporter who has been engaged in an "arduous" task of keeping the public informed on the recent development in battle, we will show how he is not.
In professional journalism it is a norm to declare sources, particularly when reporting the deaths and casualties. In his first article on the 27th April, Mr. Athas citing the controversial NGO - Free Media Movement - said that soldiers numbering "hundreds" were killed. According to our little knowledge of the foreign language, when you say "hundreds" it means any number above 200 given in units of hundred. Then, in his most recent article, Mr. Athas says "...more than a hundred soldiers were killed and 355 (now confirmed) were wounded making the incident the worst since the Government launched its own "war on terror". Here he gives no source but shamelessly turns the blame towards the government for fighting "its own war on terror" against his own guerrillas.
Here we would like to make an open invitation to any recognized organization that takes Mr. Athas' service as a defence correspondent to verify the casualty figures with us. As a well-established military, all the details of deaths and casualties are properly documented by the Administration Department of Sri Lanka Army. In this incident, the number of soldiers killed in action (KIA) is 91, number of missing in action (MIA) is 3 and all the number of casualties including Priority Categories 1, 2 and 3 is 352. All these details were published a week before that Mr. Athas published his latest article.
It is indeed a great loss of lives, but inflating it to any number above 200, is certainly an abominable journalistic treachery against the public. If such an organization is keen enough to know how we obtained the terror deaths and casualties that Mr. Athas is so keen to conceal, that too can be done with solid proof. This is one reason that we say that we are not worried about Mr. Athas' work as he claims. We know well that if he had such large number of "independent and reliable sources" in the battlefront he would surely avoid being hoisted with his own petard. By the way, Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickramanayake speaking at the Emergency Debate in Parliament today (May 6), declared the total number of security forces personnel (including Army, Navy, Air Force, Police, STF, and Civil Defence Force) killed in action for the month of April as 120.
Fifthly, if Mr. Athas' version of battle is correct, our soldiers had fallen to a trap of his "clever guerrillas" and died in "hundreds" while running for their lives. This is probably why he is calling this battle as a great "debacle", and also the "worst" one that happened under this government. So, if Mr. Athas is correct, the army is still at their original positions worrying over the mistake they had made. We would like to invite those interested parties to visit the Muhamalai line and to see whether the soldiers had advanced or not. A loss of soldiers, whether it is one or in "hundreds" is a painful experience to the service. There was an incident, not so long ago, when the terrorists had murdered equal number of unarmed navy sailors who were going home, in a cowardly suicide blast. It is a great shame if anyone enrapture on the deaths of soldiers who fell whilst fighting fearlessly with enemy at the battlefront.
Finally, we would like our viewers to remember that the LTTE is the most brutal terror organization known to the mankind. No other organization has burnt babies alive, chopped children into pieces, ripped pregnant mothers, massacred tens and thousands of innocent civilians in ethnic cleansing raids, bus bombings, claymore bombings, train bombings, suicide blasts, etc.
However, in this country there are a limited number of people who thrive on this common menace. For them fighting against terrorism is just the government's "own war on terror"; those who murder their fellow brethren are just "clever guerrillas" ; and the armed forces' members are just numbers whose deaths they can thrive on for good news copy or twisted columns. Interestingly, these people can not only carryout their treachery without any social pressure but also show themselves as some sort of crusaders among the public. So, it is for the discernible people of this country to decide whether any other country has a media freedom as Sri Lanka has.
On the other hand, Mr. Athas complains that he has not received any flowers for the "arduous" task that he has been doing by informing the public about his own "Elam War IV". In our view, Mr. Athas should seek flowers from the terrorists and not anybody else for his great propaganda contribution to the Eelam cause and the terrorist outfit as well. One should not forget that there are a number of defence reporters in this country who do a thankless job in reporting the Sri Lanka 's "war on terror", or "Eelam War 4" as Mr. Athas likes to term it. Unlike Mr. Athas who analyses the battlefront from his armchair in the home front, these reporters regularly visit the battlefront; talk to the soldiers and sometimes share the risks of the battle with them. If Mr. Athas is correct, all these media personnel are just government stooges whose work is not as serious as his.
It may be possible for a person with a disturbed consciousness to see crocodiles in his teacup. However, as the official website of the Ministry of Defence, we consider it our duty to expose the true motives behind all propaganda attempts supportive of the LTTE terrorists.
Related article : Mr. Athas, it is the truth that you rape - Reportage most foul on the Muhamalai battle

President Rajapakse gets a rousing welcome at 10 Downing Street
Tue, 2008-06-10 05:04 By Walter Jayawardhana
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown welcoming visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa London, 10 June, (Asiantribune.com): The British Prime minister Gordon Brown gave a rousing welcome to the visiting Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the British Prime minister’s official residence at No.10 Downing Street ,London.
The Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa arrived at the official residence of the British Prime Minister accompanied by his Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama.
After the President arrived at the official residence, the Sri Lankan delegation was taken to the cabinet room at 10 Downing Street, where a meeting of Commonwealth heads of government on “Reform on International institutions” that commenced there.
Immediately after the meeting in the State Dining Room at the Commonwealth Secretariat, the President took part in a dinner hosted by Commonwealth Secretary General Shri Kamalesh Sharma.

Britiain's Opposition Leader, David Cameron, said that his country appreciates the challenges Sri Lanka is facing and the efforts being made as a democracy confronted with terrorism and is keen to understand the related problems and look at how to best assist.

Mr. Cameron expressed these views when he met President Mahinda Rajapaksa in London, where the latter is attending a mini summit of Commonwealth Heads of State to discuss among other matters the reform of multilateral institutions such as the World Bank and International Monetary Fund.
President Rajapaksa explained to Mr. Cameron the efforts his government had made to restore democracy in the Eastern province and to launch an ambitious development programme that would help empower the people of all communities who had been affected by the conflict.
The President highlighted that the new Chief Minister of the Eastern province, Mr. Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, was previously a frontline member of the LTTE who had renounced terrorism and entered the democratic process along with his cadres. He stated that the victory of Mr. Chandrakanthan's party was a clear indication that the people of the Eastern province had endorsed the transition to democratic governance as a result of the development work the government had undertaken during the past year which had been appreciated by the Tamil community.
The President also stated that his government was pursuing action to clear sections of the Northern province of the terrorists to enable the people in these areas to also enjoy the fruits of pluralistic democracy and rapid economic development.
The President discussed a range of bilateral issues with the Leader including the government's commitment to a political solution to address the grievances of all communities and the continued challenges his government is facing from the LTTE's ruthless terrorism including the killing of innocent civilians.
In this context. they also discussed the background to the abrogation of the CFA, talks the government held with the LTTE and the government's continued efforts to engage with those who had deviated from the democratic path. The President also clarified the government's position on human rights issues.
The two Leaders also discussed LTTE fund raising, procurement and other illicit activities which continued to fuel the escalation of the conflict. Mr. Cameron assured President Rajapaksa of his party's fullest support to address these concerns.
The two Leaders also exchanged views on the agenda of the forthcoming Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting on the "Reform of International Financial Institutions".
Mr. Cameron alluded to the close engagement of Shadow Defence Secretary Dr. Liam Fox on Sri Lanka and the leaders agreed to continue this close engagement.
President Rajapaksa was joined at the meeting by Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama and senior officials. Opposition Leader David Cameron was accompanied by Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Shadow Defence Secretary Dr Liam Fox

Atmosphere is conducive for an Indian intervention! – P. Chandrasekaran.
has indicated that they are ready for talks with the government of Sri Lanka and atmosphere is conducive for an Indian intervention says Minister of Community Development and Social Inequity Eradication P. Chandrasekaran.
Addressing a press conference in Tiruchi Minister Chandrasekeran, who says he is on a mission to meet political leaders in Tamil Nadu and New Delhi to create an atmosphere for India to play a role in the national question in Sri Lanka, states that he had received “positive signals from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to indicate that it would be open to talks.”
India has the moral duty and right to intervene in the Sri Lankan crisis said Mr. Chandrasekaran addressing the press conference. He said he had already met a few political leaders in Tamil Nadu, and they have responded positively. We have sought an audience with Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress president Sonia Gandhi, Bharatiya Janata Party president L.K. Advani and a few leaders of the Communist Party of India (Marxist).

Posted on 10 Jun 2008 by Lanka Truth
S.Lanka rebel group claims bombing responsibility
Tue Jun 10, 2008 4:06am EDTBy Shihar Aneez
COLOMBO, June 10 (Reuters) - A little known Sri Lankan rebel group claimed responsibility on Tuesday for recent bomb attacks on transport vehicles as revenge for what it said were government attacks and aerial bombings on innocent Tamil civilians.
The military has blamed Tamil Tiger rebels for a series of train and bus blasts in capital Colombo and central Sri Lanka in which at least 32 people were killed and over 100 wounded.
"We want to claim that we are responsible for the bomb attacks on the transport vehicles and other attacks," Ellalan Force, which the military says is a Tiger-linked group, said in an e-mail to Reuters.
The attacks have been carried out as a "stern reply" to the government forces' Long Range Reconnaissance Petrol (LRRP) attack and aerial bombing on innocent civilians, the Ellalan Force said in the mail.
"The LRRP attacks and the aerial bombings on Tamil innocent civilians must stop. The Sinhalese must understand (the) situation clearly and think about why the 'Ellalan Force' continue their attacks."
Twenty-six Tamil civilians have been killed in three LRRP attacks and an aerial bombing in rebel stronghold of the Mullateevu area in the north since May 23, the group claimed.
The mail also urges Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese ethnic group to put pressure on the government to stop killing innocent Tamils.
The military strongly denies any LRRP involvements in killing Tamil civilians.
"Our LRRP never attack innocent civilians. LRRP is doing their attacks targeting LTTE cadres with arms," military spokesman Brigadier Udaya Nanayakkara told Reuters.
"Ellalan Force is some LTTE-connected group. They wanted to somehow attack civilians, and get the provocation from the civilian forces and get the international attention for their work," he said.
A roadside bomb exploded near a crowded passenger bus in the Sri Lankan capital on Friday, killing at least 22 people and wounding 47, while an evening bomb in the central Sri Lanka killing two and injuring 20, the military said [nCOL263016].
On Wednesday, a claymore mine targeting a Colombo bound passenger train wounded 27 civilians, while a train bomb blast had killed at least eight people in the capital Colombo on May 26.
The fighting between the government forces and rebels, has intensified since early this year, after the government annulled a 6-year Norway brokered truce.
The protracted 25-year bloody civil war has killed more than 70,000 people.
The military say they have killed over 4,046 rebels this year alone while losing 460 of their soldiers so far this year, and that the Tigers have killed 205 civilians so far this year.
The rebels, who are fighting for an independent state in the north and east, were not immediately available for comment on the claim by the 'Ellalan Force'.
Analysts say the military has the upper hand in the latest phase of the long-running war given superior air power, strength of numbers and swathes of terrain captured in the island's east. But they still see no clear winner on the horizon. (Additional Reporting by Ranga Sirilal; Editing by Jerry Norton)

Don't visit Colombo, Ganeson tells Tamils of NorthEast
Mano Ganeson, leader of Western People’s Front (WPF) and the Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission (CMC) said in a media release Saturday, has appealed to the Tamil civilians travelling from NorthEast to stay away from Colombo and the South as both areas are "unsafe and insecure for Tamil civilians."
Full text of the media release follows:
Capitol Colombo and south in general are unsafe and insecure for Tamil civilians traveling from north and eastern provinces. The recent bomb blasts have triggered hate and doubts on all those Tamils coming to Colombo from northeast.
The state media is orchestrating this hate campaign on an hourly basis. Rational behavior cannot be assured within the security establishment authorized to maintain law and order.
We are not in a position to assure safety to Tamils coming to Colombo from north and east. Therefore I call upon the Tamils to refrain from coming to Colombo until further notice. Nobody other than me, the Colombo district’s elected Tamil parliamentarian has more legitimacy to make this announcement said Mano Ganesan in a statement.
Member of Parliament for Colombo district Ganesan who is the Leader of Western Peoples Front and Convener of Civil Monitoring Commission said further in his statement, Numbers of persons have been reported arrested and gone missing immediately after the bomb blasts. We have come to a situation where it is difficult to differentiate between the acts of Abductions and Arrests.
The family members of the victims are pleading for relief at our offices and crowding at police stations. The plights of the elderly parents are awful. On the other hand the expressions of grief of the family members of the bus bomb victims in Moratuwa and Kandy are heart breaking. The cries of the civilians are haunting me. All these people are suffering due to the sins of power hungry politicians of both sides. These are chain actions to the bombings in Colombo and in Wanni. We have absolutely no controls over these activities.
Neither the government nor the LTTE have any control over blasts going on in the respective territories under their own control. So is the inactive parliamentary opposition. All civil society voices have drawn in the war drum beats. There are only empty rhetoric statements but the sufferings of the people are ascending from bad to worse.
Both the government and the LTTE are at war. The illogic and irrational pundits in the government and LTTE have stopped listening to the international community. Their actions have triggered acts of revenge over the innocent civilians of both sides.
We go to their assistance when people are at trouble. We make noises and take up the issue when civilians go missing due to extra judicial activities of the state. We are running campaigns on sharing political power as solutions for the national question. We are doing this in the name of peace in this country. We are committed to the just cause. We are risking our own personal lives yet we do not want to go down in the history as cowards. We are not running with the hares and hunting with the hounds. We face the pressure and the burden hence we have to inform the reality. Our limits have extended to the limits now. We are unable to cope up with the situation.
I therefore call upon the Tamil people of the north and east to refrain from coming to Colombo until further notice. This is the only way available for me to support the maintenance of some order in Colombo.
Posted by FEDERALiDEA on June 7, 2008 05:14 PM Permalink

GLOBAL VIEW By BRET STEPHENS
There Is a Military Solution to Terror
June 3, 2008; Page A19Sadr City in Baghdad, the northeastern districts of Sri Lanka and the Guaviare province of Colombia have little in common culturally, historically or politically. But they are crucial reference points on a global map in which long-running insurgencies suddenly find themselves on the verge of defeat.
For the week of May 16-23, there were 300 "violent incidents" in Iraq. That's down from 1,600 last June and the lowest recorded since March 2004. Al Qaeda has been crushed by a combination of U.S. arms and Sunni tribal resistance. On the Shiite side, Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army was routed by Iraqi troops in Basra and later crumbled in its Sadr City stronghold.
In Colombia, the 44-year-old FARC guerrilla movement is now at its lowest ebb. Three of its top commanders died in March, and the number of FARC attacks is down by more than two-thirds since 2002. In the face of a stepped-up campaign by the Colombian military (funded, equipped and trained by the U.S.), the group is now experiencing mass desertions. Former FARC leaders describe a movement that is losing any semblance of ideological coherence and operational effectiveness.
In Sri Lanka, a military offensive by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has wrested control of seven of the nine districts previously held by the rebel group LTTE, better known as the Tamil Tigers. Mr. Rajapaksa now promises victory by the end of the year, even as the Tigers continue to launch high-profile terrorist attacks.
All this is good news in its own right. Better yet, it explodes the mindless shibboleth that there is "no military solution" when it comes to dealing with insurgencies. On the contrary, it turns out that the best way to end an insurgency is, quite simply, to beat it.
Why was this not obvious before? When military strategies fail – as they did in Vietnam while the U.S. pursued the tactics of attrition, or in Iraq prior to the surge – the idea that there can be no military solution has a way of taking hold with civilians and generals eager to deflect blame. This is how we arrived at the notion that "political reconciliation" is a precondition of military success, not a result of it.
There's also a tendency to misjudge the aims and ambitions of the insurgents: To think they can be mollified via one political concession or another. Former Colombian president Andres Pastrana sought to appease the FARC by ceding to them a territory the size of Switzerland. The predictable result was to embolden the guerrillas, who were adept at sensing and exploiting weakness.
The deeper problem here is the belief that the best way to deal with insurgents is to address the "root causes" of the grievance that purportedly prompted them to take up arms. But what most of these insurgencies seek isn't social or moral redress: It's absolute power. Like other "liberation movements" (the PLO comes to mind), the Tigers are notorious for killing other Tamils seen as less than hard line in their views of the conflict. The failure to defeat these insurgencies thus becomes the primary obstacle to achieving a reasonable political settlement acceptable to both sides.
This isn't to say that political strategies shouldn't be pursued in tandem with military ones. Gen. David Petraeus was shrewd to exploit the growing enmity between al Qaeda and their Sunni hosts by offering former insurgents a place in the country's security forces as "Sons of Iraq." (The liberal use of "emergency funds," aka political bribes, also helped.) Colombian President Álvaro Uribe has more than just extended amnesty for "demobilized" guerrillas; he's also given them jobs in the army.
But these political approaches only work when the intended beneficiaries can be reasonably confident that they are joining the winning side. Nobody was abandoning the FARC when Mr. Pastrana lay prostrate before it. It was only after Mr. Uribe turned the guerrilla lifestyle into a day-and-night nightmare that the movement's luster finally started to fade.
Defeating an insurgency is never easy even with the best strategies and circumstances. Insurgents rarely declare surrender, and breakaway factions can create a perception of menace even when their actual strength is minuscule. It helps when the top insurgent leaders are killed or captured: Peru's Shining Path, for instance, mostly collapsed with the capture of Abimael Guzmán. Yet the Kurdish PKK is now resurgent nine years after the imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, thanks to the sanctuary it enjoys in Northern Iraq.
Still, it's no small thing that neither the PKK nor the Shining Path are capable of killing tens of thousands of people and terrorizing whole societies, as they were in the 1980s. Among other things, beating an insurgency allows a genuine process of reconciliation and redress to take place, and in a spirit of malice toward none. But those are words best spoken after the terrible swift sword has done its work.
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There is a military solution to terror - WSJ
Walter Jayawardhana
Very strongly arguing against what it called "the mindless"and irrelevant phrase that there is no "military solution" to an insurgency the influential Wall Street Journal (WSJ) said in an editorial that President Mahinda Rajapaksa of Sri Lanka now promises victory over terrorism by the end of year even as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue to launch high profile terrorist attacks.
Written by Bret Stephens the powerful editorial board member of the paper who was also the former Editor in Chief of the Jerusalem Post, the editorial said, "In Sri Lanka , a military offensive by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has wrested control of seven of the nine districts previously held by the rebel group LTTE, better known as the Tamil Tigers.
Mr. Rajapaksa now promises victory by the end of the year, even as the Tigers continue to launch high-profile terrorist attacks."
The editorial titled "There is a military Solution to Terror" said, that Tigers are notorious for killing other Tamils seen as less than hard line in their views of the conflict. The failure to defeat these insurgencies thus becomes the primary obstacle to achieving a reasonable political settlement acceptable to both sides.
The editorial strongly advocated: "the best way to end an insurgency is, quite simply, to beat it."
A timely call

Last modified on: 6/4/2008 12:54:22 PM
is a military solution to terror' says Wall Street Journal (By: Walter Jayawardhana)
"the best way to end an insurgency is, quite simply, to beat it."
Very strongly arguing against what it called "the mindless" and irrelevant phrase that there is no "military solution" to an insurgency the influential Wall Street Journal said in an editorial that President Mahinda Rajapksa of Sri Lanka now promises victory over terrorism by the end of year even as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continue to launch high profile terrorist attacks.
Written by Bret Stephens the powerful editorial board member of the paper who was also the former Editor in Chief of the Jerusalem Post, the editorial said, "In Sri Lanka , a military offensive by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has wrested control of seven of the nine districts previously held by the rebel group LTTE, better known as the Tamil Tigers. Mr. Rajapaksa now promises victory by the end of the year, even as the Tigers continue to launch high-profile terrorist attacks."
The editorial entitled "There is a military Solution to Terror" said, that Sadr City in Baghdad, Guviare Province of Colombia and the Northern Districts of Sri Lanka have become crucial reference points on a global map in which long running insurgencies suddenly find themselves on the verge of defeat.
The editorial categorically said, "Tigers are notorious for killing other Tamils seen as less than hard line in their views of the conflict. The failure to defeat these insurgencies thus becomes the primary obstacle to achieving a reasonable political settlement acceptable to both sides."
The editorial strongly advocated: "the best way to end an insurgency is, quite simply, to beat it."
The following is the full text of the editorial:
Sadr City in Baghdad , the northeastern districts of Sri Lanka and the Guaviare province of Colombia have little in common culturally, historically or politically. But they are crucial reference points on a global map in which long-running insurgencies suddenly find themselves on the verge of defeat.
For the week of May 16-23, there were 300 "violent incidents" in Iraq . That's down from 1,600 last June and the lowest recorded since March 2004. Al Qaeda has been crushed by a combination of U.S. arms and Sunni tribal resistance. On the Shiite side, Moqtada al Sadr's Mahdi Army was routed by Iraqi troops in Basra and later crumbled in its Sadr City stronghold.
In Colombia , the 44-year-old FARC guerrilla movement is now at its lowest ebb. Three of its top commanders died in March, and the number of FARC attacks is down by more than two-thirds since 2002. In the face of a stepped-up campaign by the Colombian military (funded, equipped and trained by the U.S. ), the group is now experiencing mass desertions. Former FARC leaders describe a movement that is losing any semblance of ideological coherence and operational effectiveness.
In Sri Lanka , a military offensive by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa has wrested control of seven of the nine districts previously held by the rebel group LTTE, better known as the Tamil Tigers. Mr. Rajapaksa now promises victory by the end of the year, even as the Tigers continue to launch high-profile terrorist attacks.
All this is good news in its own right. Better yet, it explodes the mindless shibboleth that there is "no military solution" when it comes to dealing with insurgencies. On the contrary, it turns out that the best way to end an insurgency is, quite simply, to beat it.
Why was this not obvious before? When military strategies fail -- as they did in Vietnam while the U.S. pursued the tactics of attrition, or in Iraq prior to the surge -- the idea that there can be no military solution has a way of taking hold with civilians and generals eager to deflect blame. This is how we arrived at the notion that "political reconciliation" is a precondition of military success, not a result of it.
There's also a tendency to misjudge the aims and ambitions of the insurgents: To think they can be mollified via one political concession or another. Former Colombian president Andres Pastrana sought to appease the FARC by ceding to them a territory the size of Switzerland . The predictable result was to embolden the guerrillas, who were adept at sensing and exploiting weakness.
The deeper problem here is the belief that the best way to deal with insurgents is to address the "root causes" of the grievance that purportedly prompted them to take up arms. But what most of these insurgencies seek isn't social or moral redress: It's absolute power. Like other "liberation movements" (the PLO comes to mind), the Tigers are notorious for killing other Tamils seen as less than hard line in their views of the conflict. The failure to defeat these insurgencies thus becomes the primary obstacle to achieving a reasonable political settlement acceptable to both sides.
This isn't to say that political strategies shouldn't be pursued in tandem with military ones. Gen. David Petraeus was shrewd to exploit the growing enmity between al Qaeda and their Sunni hosts by offering former insurgents a place in the country's security forces as "Sons of Iraq." (The liberal use of "emergency funds," aka political bribes, also helped.) Colombian President Alvaro Uribe has more than just extended amnesty for "demobilized" guerrillas; he's also given them jobs in the army.
But these political approaches only work when the intended beneficiaries can be reasonably confident that they are joining the winning side. Nobody was abandoning the FARC when Mr. Pastrana lay prostrate before it. It was only after Mr. Uribe turned the guerrilla lifestyle into a day-and-night nightmare that the movement's luster finally started to fade.
Defeating an insurgency is never easy even with the best strategies and circumstances. Insurgents rarely declare surrender, and breakaway factions can create a perception of menace even when their actual strength is minuscule. It helps when the top insurgent leaders are killed or captured: Peru 's Shining Path, for instance, mostly collapsed with the capture of Abimael Guzman. Yet the Kurdish PKK is now resurgent nine years after the imprisonment of Abdullah Ocalan, thanks to the sanctuary it enjoys in Northern Iraq .
Still, it's no small thing that neither the PKK nor the Shining Path are capable of killing tens of thousands of people and terrorizing whole societies, as they were in the 1980s. Among other things, beating an insurgency allows a genuine process of reconciliation and redress to take place, and in a spirit of malice toward none. But those are words best spoken after the terrible swift sword has done its work.