Forty-Four LTTE Men/Aides Seek Rehabilitation in Jaffna

Forty four detainees, having confessed that they were either connected to LTTE or have directly or indirectly aided and abetted the terrorist cause in the JAFFNA peninsula consented to receive rehabilitation after they reached Security Forces Headquarters, JAFFNA prisons on Tuesday (26).

Those surrendees after formal registration at the Police are to be absorbed into a rehabilitation programme in the peninsula beginning tomorrow (27). They have sought the rehabilitation in writing, according to the military sources.

During January 2007- February 2008, a total of three hundred and seventeen men and women, some of who claimed themselves to be LTTE cadres have turned up at the Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission in JAFFNA and wanted to seek protection saying that they were very much harassed, disgusted with the LTTE or exposed to LTTE conscription attempts.

Extracted from,
http://army.lk/morenews.php?id=11056

The arrests that upset terror-supporting media

A local TV station in its evening news telecast yesterday (February 25), reported that an unidentified gang that had come in a white van abducted a person named Muththusami Ilankoowan alias Sami at Pettah, Colombo on the same day evening.

According to this TV station the person who was a holder of a Singaporean passport had been accommodated at a hotel on Kadireshan road before getting "disappeared".

Media personnel of this TV station who seemed to have got the first hand information on this "disappearance", quickly inquired from the police media spokesman who was only able inform them what he knew at the time.

Later, the police spokesperson informed relevant media station that the person that it was referring as disappeared was actually a suspect arrested by the police. However, the media station carried out the same story spinning it as an abduction that carried out by the government giving less prominence to the police spokesman's clarification.

A senior intelligence official speaking exclusively to defence.lk said that Muththusami Ilankoowan is a number one LTTE terrorist who is suspected to have a hand in many civilian massacres carried out by LTTE in the south. Muttusami, is a Sri Lankan born Tamil, who has strong connection with terror chief V.Prbhakaran, and also with LTTE's international wing leaders such as Castro , Kumaran Padmanadan, David and Iyyanna.

Security Forces about to reach Madhu Church!

Security Forces engaged in operations in Mannar Yodawewa area is only 1.5 km away from Madhu Church say security sources.

According to information from security sections, the 57th Brigade of S.L. Army engaged in operations from Mannar towards Wanni have seized a large territory in the jungle in Uilankulama area adjacent to Madhu Church after a fierce battle that continued from last evening to this morning.

6 terrorists were killed in the battle.

Madhu Church is only 1.5 km away from this jungle state troops engaged in the operation.

Read more,
http://www.lankatruth.com/full_story/

President-Ranil meeting backed by India?

A meeting between President Mahinda Rajapakse and Leader of the Opposition Ranil Wickremesinghe will take place today, Tuesday, at 7.30 p.m.

Sources said the meeting was due to persuasion by the international community, especially India, to use the opportunity to work out a minimum consensus on a political solution to the ethnic conflict in the country.

Earlier, the president and leader of the opposition met at the unveiling ceremony of a bust of former president, Ranasinghe Premadasa, where President Rajapakse had extended an invitation to the latter to discuss a solution to the ethnic problem in the country.

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http://outreachsl.com/en/?p=125

India continues to influence events in Sri Lanka

Since the government proposed and accepted the 13th amendment to Sri Lanka’s constitution as a means to devolve power within a unitary state, India’s interference in the affairs of its southern neighbour is becoming increasingly clear — and even coming under fire.

None would dispute the claim that India has a role to play in Sri Lanka’s ethnic crisis. After all, it was India which in the early 1980s trained, armed and financed several Tamil militant groups to fight the Sri Lankan government.

It was India which came to the rescue of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and other militant groups when the Sri Lankan security forces were about to capture the Tamil Tiger stronghold of Vadamarachchi in 1987.

It was India which imposed on Sri Lanka the 13th amendment to the constitution following a 1987 treaty.

Even after Rajiv Gandhi, the former Indian Prime Minister, who browbeat Sri Lanka into accepting the 13th amendment, was killed in a Tamil Tiger suicide attack, India continued to play its role of running with the hare and hunting with the hounds.

Though India banned the LTTE as a terrorist organisation, for strategic purposes, it maintains some secret links with the LTTE. A case in point was when the LTTE laid siege on Jaffna in 2000, India, responding to a plea from the then Sri Lankan government, asked the rebels not to capture Jaffna.

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http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?

Sri Lankan gov't hands over bodies of rebels

At least 14 dead bodies of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have been handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) in Sri Lanka's north central town of Anuradhapura, officials said Tuesday.

Sarath Weerabandara, the director of the General Hospital in Anuradhapura told the media that the bodies were handed over to the ICRC officials who called over at the hospital in the morning.

"We handed over the bodies after the post-mortems were conducted by Dr. Ajith Mendis (the Judicial Medical Officer for Anuradhapura)," Weerabandara said.

The bodies were of the LTTE members killed in fierce battles in the north and east border of Welioya over the last weekend, according to military sources.

Read more,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-02/26/content_7673938.htm

LTTE front outfit attempts to raise funds in London

Unfazed by two flopped attempts, a front organisation of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam is allegedly planning a new show in London to raise funds for the Tiger rebels.

The show called 'Illam Kaatru' (Wind of Eelam) is scheduled to be held in the Great Hall in Hatch End in Harrow on March 1 by the Tamil Youth Organisation, which allegedly has links with the banned LTTE, sources said in London on Tuesday.

The previous show at London's Alexandra Palace flopped as South Indian stars refused to come after adverse reports, sources said. Subsequently, a show scheduled at Paris was also called off.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/World/

Sri Lankan rice importers to be issued certificate

The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) will issue the “certificate of origin” for the export of long grain basmati rice to Sri Lanka under zero-duty facility on the first-come-first-serve basis, according to a TDAP official on Monday.

Sri Lankan public sector agency will import 500 tonnes of basmati rice duty-free. The official said that this certificate will be issued on submission of copies of “bill of lading” along with the commercial invoice and the original copy of quality certificate by the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) or Quality Review Committee (QRC) certifying that the consignment is long grain basmati rice.

He pointed out that TDAP will issue the certificate on post-shipment basis only. He said Sri Lankan Department of Commerce will not allocate any quota to the importers in Sri Lanka. He said that Sri Lankan importers will now apply for the issuance of letter of recommendation through their Commerce Department to the Ministry of Finance. The official said that these measures have been taken to fully utilise the available quota.

Extracted from,
http://www.thenews.com.pk/daily_detail.asp?id=98232

Former Foreign Minister Tyronne Fernando passed away

Former Foreign Minister and United National Party (UNP) parliamentarian Tyronne Fernando passed away today at a private hospital following a brief illness. He was 67 at the time of his death.

Tyronne Fernando was an advisor to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and recently served as the governor of North-East Province Council (NEPC) from December 2004 till January 2006. He was the Foreign Minister under the previous UNP government.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/February26124638CH.html