Bombs found in Sri Lankan capital

Sri Lankan police said Wednesday that they had found a dozen bombs hidden in a building in the capital Colombo and arrested two people in connection with the incident.

"We did a search operation in Kotahena Jampettah Street Tuesday night and found the bombs hidden in a building," a police spokesman said.

The police said that Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) rebels may have transported the bombs to the capital.

The police in the capital carry out sudden security operations in the city to ban suspected accomplices of LTTE rebels arriving from north and east.

Read more,
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/6266380.html

Bharti, China's Huawei signs deal for Sri Lanka operations

Bharti Airtel Ltd's Sri Lankan unit signed a $150 million contract with China's Huawei Technologies Co Ltd to build and manage mobile infrastructure in the island nation over three years.

Bharti, India's largest mobile services provider, had in January received an offer from the Sri Lankan telecom regulator to provide 2G and 3G mobile services in the country, the company's first foreign venture.

The deal will help Bharti to reduce its total cost of ownership, and deploy its network faster and more cost-effectively, the company said in a statement.

Extracted from,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/..

New Military Spokesman Assumes Office

New Military spokesman and Director, Directorate of Media, Sri Lanka Army Headquarters, Brigadier V.U.B. Nanayakkara USP Hdmc assumed duties this morning (18 September 2007) at his office after a brief ceremony.

Brigadier V.U.B. Nanayakkara, was the Commander Area Headquarters Kandy, before he took over as Military Spokesman cum Director, Directorate of Media Army Headquarters.

Photo and News,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=7908

Karunanidhi Insults Hindu God Rama

Furious about the Sethu Samudram project being put on hold by the New Delhi government over strong Hindu religious sentiments, Bharathiya Janatha Party Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Muthuvel Karunanidhi strongly came down on what he called communal forces and even neighboring Sri Lanka, which has raised environment concerns for stalling the project.

“Who is this Raman (as Lord Ram is referred to in Tamil)? In which engineering college did he study and become a civil engineer? When did he build this so-called bridge? Is there any evidence for this?” an apparently infuriated Karunanidhi asked at a function in Erode in Saturday night.

The leader of the Dravida Munnetra Kazagam (DMK) rejects any belief in the myriad of Hindu gods as of Aryan and non Tamil origin and ridicules them in his party ideology.

Read more,
http://www.tothecenter.com/news.php?readmore=3141

JVP leader says elections should be held in the east

The Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna (JVP) is of the firm view that the Mahinda Rajapaksa government in Sri Lanka should hold elections to the provincial council in the east as soon as possible, under the 13th Amendment to the Constitution, to consolidate the recent gains made by the military against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

In an interview to The Hindu, JVP leader Somawansa Amarasinghe said that though his party was opposed to the 13th Amendment, made as a follow up to the 1987 India-Sri Lanka Accord, it believed that elections in the east would encourage democracy and promote development....

...He said elections in the east would not only bring back democracy and equality, but also encourage people in the Wanni under the control of the LTTE to rise against the outfit and send the right signals for economic growth.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/2007/09/18/stories/2007091861211300.htm

JR-style satyagraha to topple government: Ranil

Opposition UNP Leader Ranil Wickremesinge yesterday called on all parties including the JVP and the LSSP to join hands with the UNP in its struggle to establish the sovereignty of the people.

Speaking at a ceremony held at party headquarters to mark the 101st birth anniversary of late President J.R. Jayewardene, Mr. Wickremesinghe said the UNP would launch a J.R. Jayewardene-style sathyagraha to topple the government.

`Any party can join in the struggle to force the government to resign and then campaign on their own at a future general election,` he said. Mr. Wickremesinghe said an organized struggle could force a government out of power any time. Citing examples, he said the people`s struggle in Ukraine compelled the government to hold an election and Philippines former President Ferdinand Marcos had to run away during the uprising of the people in that country.

Read more,
http://www.lankanewspapers.com/news/2007/9/19502.html

Nation Building Minister Basil?

Presidential Advisor Basil Rajapaksa is tipped to fill the vacant post created by the demise of non-Cabinet Irrigation Minister Anver Ismail, reliably government learns.

It is understood that several high-ranking government ministers have approached Minister A.L.M. Athaullah, hoping to secure the national list slot for Rajapaksa.

Read more,
http://lankaguardian.blogspot.com/2007/09/nation-building-minister-basil.html
and
http://www.lankaenews.com/Sinhala/news.php?id=3198
Photo,
http://www.lankaenews.com/Sinhala/news.php?id=3198

The Commander in Chief Salutes Heroic Sailors- Trincomalee

His Excellency the President and the Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces, Honourable Mahinda Rajapaksa today (September 17) saluted the brave sailors who returned home after winning an epic victory to Sri Lanka Navy. The Commander in Chief visited the Naval Base at Trincomalee this morning to welcome the crews of the six naval ships who destroyed three large arms-carrying ships belonged to the LTTE terrorists at high seas on 11th September 2007.

The Ministers, Douglas Devananda, Nimal Siripala De Silva, G.L. Peries, Milinda Moragoda, Mahindananda Aluthgamage and the Chief Minister of North-Central province Berty Premalal Dissanayake along with Secretary to the President Lalith Weeratunga and Secretary to the Ministry of Defence Gotabaya Rajapaksa accompanied the Commander in Chief.

The six ships; SLNS Sayura, SLNS Samudura, SLNS Suranimila, SLNS Shakthi , A 520, and A 521 arrived Trincomalee harbour this afternoon after having completed the longest tour of duty in the Navy's history. Sri Lanka Navy adhering to the oldest customs among the worriers at sea honoured the incoming ships by a glamorous "Man and Cheer Ship" ceremony.

Read more,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20070917_03

Indian spymaster speculates whether KP whisked away by FBI

Adding further confusion to the alleged arrest of top LTTE international operative Kumaran Pathmanathan (KP) in Thailand, a former head of the counter terrorism unit at the Indian intelligence agency RAW (Research and Analysis Wing) B. Raman has speculated whether KP had been whisked away by the FBI to be questioned by them on the LTTE's links with Al Qaeda.

Raman's speculation comes amidst reports that a top Sri Lankan defence and intelligence team that went to Thailand last week to secure KP's deportation to Sri Lanka had failed, with the Thai authorities denying that KP had been arrested by them. KP, who was believed to have been arrested by Interpol in Thailand a fortnight ago, was also wanted by India in connection with the assassination of former Indian prime minister Rajiv Gandhi.

B. Raman who was also a top Indian civil servant and known as a spymaster writing to a think tank called the South Asia Analysis Group said: "In September,2003, the Thai Police informally picked up Hambali, the then operational chief of Indonesia's Jemmah Islamiyah, at Ayuthya and handed him over to the FBI, which flew him out to Diego Garcia for questioning.

Read more,
http://www.dailymirror.lk/2007/09/17/front/04.asp

LTTE PAID 20 MILLION DOLLARS BRIBE TO THAILAND POLICE : politicsparty.com

politicsparty.com Bases this Analysis from highly placed sources in the Intelligence Community in Thailand,

The LTTE Logistics Mastermind of the Rajiv Gandhi Assasination Padmanathan was arrested by the Police in Thailand.

Padmanathan was interrogated thoroughly and highly classified details of the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination was obtained from the Thailand Authorities.

Padmanathan also gave enormous information about the Money Routes, Sources, Freighting, Procurement of Arms, Deployment of Arms and tones of other Data.

Padmanathan also revealed the names of several conspirators involved in the Rajiv Gandhi Assassination.

Padmanathan then struck a Deal with the Thailand Authorities to allow him to flee.
The Deal was finalized after Padmanathan arranged for 20 Million US Dollaras.

Read more,
http://politicsparty.com/terror_scoop.php

Arrest of LTTE’s KP: Goof up or Cover up?

Media broke the news about KP’s arrest in Bangkok on Sep 10 and later picked up by all news agencies around the world.

Sri Lanka took a sigh of relief and India desperately wanted to take him home for a trial. But all this euphoria died down when Thailand authority denied his arrest on the face of all media hype.

KP is Kumaran Padmanadan (also, Tharmalingam Shanmughan), LTTE's point man for international arms procurement/ trafficking and a senior cadre involved in many high profile operations, including financing the assassination of a former Prime Minister of India.

KP considered as the most important players within LTTE, next to chief V. Prabhakaran and Pottu Amman, head of its intelligence wing.

There is a possibility that Thai government is hiding something worthwhile now, even though they handed over three other Tamil Tigers to Lankan authority in August after they served jail terms for arms smuggling, since 2003.

Read more,
http://counterterrorismblog.org/2007/09/arrest_of_lttes_kp_goof_up_or.php
Photo,
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Kumaran_Pathmanadan.jpg

Sri Lankan Minister passed away

M.I. Anver Ismail, the non-cabinet Sri Lanka Minister of Irrigation passed away today early morning at a Colombo private hospital.

The 40 year old Minister was being treated for a stomach disease. His body was taken to his home town, Samanthurai and was buried there according to Muslim customs.

The Minister first entered into the parliament as a Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (Athavulla Faction ) MP in 2001. He was appointed as a Minister in 2004.

News extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_07/September14125127SL.html
Photo,
http://www.parliament.lk/directory_of_members/images_members/060.jpg

Sri Lanka romp to record victory

Records tumbled as Sri Lanka demolished minnows Kenya by 172 runs at the World Twenty20 tournament in South Africa.

Sri Lanka compiled a new highest total of 260-6 as veteran Sanath Jayasuriya made 88 off 44 balls, captain Mahela Jayawardene smashed 65 off 28 and Jehan Mubarak blasted an unbeaten 46 from 13 deliveries.

Mubarak took 29 runs off the 19th over bowled by seamer Lameck Ngoche as Sri Lanka surpassed the previous highest total of 221-5 by Australia against England in Sydney earlier this year.

Read more,
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/SPORT/09/14/srilanka.twenty/
Watch it,

Business Chambers condemn Ranil's statements

Representatives from several business chambers yesterday condemned statements made by Opposition Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe on the HSBC and business chambers.

Wickremesinghe recently said the HSBC's banking licence would be revoked and it would be sent back to Hong Kong if it plays a role in securing a US$ 500 million international bond for the Government of Sri Lanka.

The Opposition Leader's statements against the HSBC matter and the country's main business chambers are unbecoming of a responsible politician in the country, said the Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Sri Lanka (FCCISL) President Nawaz Rajabdeen.

He said that the HSBC, which has maintained a presence in Colombo since 1892, is one of the pioneer foreign banks in the country and this type of statement is detrimental to the country since its contribution to the economy is tremendous. "It also supports the SME sector in a big way and if they pulled out from the country it would adversely affect the entire business community," he said.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2007/09/14/news20.asp