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