Now Entire Parappakandal With the Troops

PARAPPAKANDAL, one of the major town suburb to the north of UYILANKULAM was completely brought under the troops this morning (6), giving another severe setback and humiliation to the Tiger terrorists who had kept the whole area under siege.

Troops earlier had the control over south of PARAPPAKANDAL for a long time but the north of PARAPPAKANDAL and its surrounding areas were infested with Tiger terrorists who have been resisting fiercely the forward march of the troops for some months.

Today’s capture of the whole of PARAPPAKANDAL marks a turning point since the area has been of strategic importance to the troops.

Troops are consolidating their position.Casualties are yet to be reported.

Extracted from,
http://army.lk/morenews.php?id=11428

Sri Lankan legislator killed in explosion

A Tamil minority legislator from the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) was killed in an explosion in northern Sri Lanka Thursday afternoon, party and defense officials said.

K. Sivanesan and his driver were killed in a roadside bomb explosion around 1 p.m. local time (0730 GMT) at Kallarpuliyankulam area in the Tamil rebel held Wanni area, said TNA legislator Mavai Senathirajah.

Sivanesan, a native of the Vadamarachchi sector in the northern Jaffna peninsula, was elected to Sri Lanka's parliament from the TNA in the April 2004 parliamentary election.

TNA officials said he was traveling to Mallavi area in the Wanni district having left the capital Colombo at 4 a.m. local time (2230 GMT) Thursday.

Read more,
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90777/90851/6367981.html

LTTE spreading wings in Kerala?

A vessel being constructed for use by LTTE at a Kochi dock was seized by Kerala police on Wednesday. The boat was seized from a private entity, Sudhas Marine Engineering, during a joint inspection by the state police and cops from the 'Q' branch of Tamil Nadu, sources said.

The Q Branch had nabbed two LTTE sympathisers, both Sri Lankans, in Trichinappally on Tuesday.

Their interrogation led the police to Kochi and to the boat that was being made in Munambam. Construction of the vessel had begun five months ago but had not completed, Kochi Rural SP M Padmanabhan told TOI.

The boat-makers said they got the contract from one Ismail of Kozhikode and that he was previously unknown to them.
Police claimed Ismail did so under instructions from some LTTE sympathisers. Rs 12 lakh had been paid in advance for the boat, they said.

Read more,
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Cities/Thirupuram/

Navy detects LTTE underground Ammunition Dump in Silavathura

Naval troops conducting a search operation in the General Area in Silawathura located south of Mannar in the North, detected an LTTE sea tiger underground ammunition dump and recovered a large stock of ammunitions and anti-personal mines yesterday (5th March 2008).

13,357 ammunitions and 329 anti-personal mines along with 58 grenades and 314 anti-personal mine fuses were recovered by the naval troops from the underground ammunition dump. They are suspected to have been left behind by the LTTE sea tigers who had fled the area unable to confront the Security Forces.

LTTE sea tigers had dominated Silavathura for sometime until the Security Forces captured it last August. The LTTE had used Silavathura as one of their sea bases to launch attacks on the Wilpattu Wild Life Sanctuary, bordering villages and the Colombo Harbour.

The effective surveillance put in place by the Sri Lanka Navy in the Western and North-western seas, has blocked the LTTE’s smuggling activities and its cadre induction and evacuation attempts.

Read more,
http://www.navy.lk/index.php?id=721

Hinduism one of the great religions: Rajapakse

Describing Hinduism as one of the great religions of the world, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse on Friday asked people to follow its principles of unity and harmony for achieving a better tomorrow.

Greeting the people on the occasion of Maha Shivratri, the President called for peace and amity amongst the people of the Island nation.

"May their prayers and expectations for a better tomorrow be fulfilled, and may every lamp they light on this day enrich them spiritually, enhance their understanding and stronger unity among all our people," he said.

Rajapakse also said devotion aims at dispelling ignorance and to overcome anger and hatred.

"The aim of all this devotion is the dispelling of ignorance and the search for knowledge to overcome the evil tendencies of lust, anger, greed, infatuation, jealousy and hatred, and seek peace and harmony both in their lives and in society," he said.

The President said many rituals were associated with this festival, including fasting, night-long vigil at temples, making of offerings to Lord Shiva, the lighting of lamps and singing hymns.

Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200803061340.htm

Police raid LTTE suspect's house

Sleuths of the Q branch raided the rented house of V Premraj alias Duraikutti, a Sri Lankan Tamil, held for his alleged links with the LTTE, at K K Nagar here on Tuesday.

The police arrested Premraj (48) and his associate `Diesel' Kumar (44),another Sri Lankan Tamil residing at Rameswaram, when the two were moving around in a suspicious manner near Anna Stadium here on Monday.Subsequently, the police launched a raid at Premraj's house at Amman Nagar in K K Nagar, where he was residing for the past nine years.

They seized certain documents during the raid and interrogated his family members. Meanwhile, the duo were produced before the court and were remanded.

Premraj, with alleged links with a key `Sea Tiger' operative Susairaj, was planning to purchase a motor boat from Kerala and supply it to the LTTE.

Read more,
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?

Sri Lankan pilots up for grabs by Indian carriers

At least 28 pilots, whose contracts with Sri Lankan Airlines are nearing completion, may be hired by Indian carriers which are facing a shortage of airmen, media reports said here on Wednesday.

After the Dubai-based Emirates pulled out its 43 per cent equity stake from Sri Lankan Airlines, the pilots, whose contracts expire in April, will be available for recruitment by Indian carriers.

As per official statistics, India required 4,540 pilots for airline operations in the country against the availability of 3950 by August 2007, thereby facing a shortfall of 590 airmen who could be recruited from abroad.

"The initial 10-year contract between the two airlines expires in April this year and will not be renewed", the Daily Mirror quoted sources from the Emirates as saying.

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

Monitors give Batti polls clean bill of health

PAFFREL, the largest election monitoring body in Sri Lanka, releasing their final pre-election report on the Batticaloa local polls called it as one of the "best behaved elections" in comparison to the polls conducted in recent times.

After nominations were called, some political parties including the TMVP and UNP withdrew from the race, citing that the prevailing conditions were not conducive to hold elections in the district. The major concern attributed for the withdrawal was the presence of armed groups moving freely in the area.

However, according to PAFFREL and Police, complaints regarding carrying arms for election purposes has not been reported todate.

According to PAFFREL Chairman Kingsley Rodrigo, Police had played a critical role taking care to ensure that the environment for elections was as secure and safe as possible.

He said PAFFREL had recieved 26 complaints so far with the majority of them being minor. Non of the cases had resulted in court cases being filed nor arrests being made.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/03/06/pol04.asp

Airtel to use Singtel expertise for 3G services rollout in Lanka

Bharti Airtel will leverage the expertise of Singtel to roll out third generation services in Sri Lanka. This is because Singapore-based Asian telecom major Singtel, which owns a little over 30% in Bharti Airtel, is a major player in the 3G space as it has already third generation networks in several markets across Asia.

“We plan to launch second and third generation mobile services in the island nation by September 2008. This will be Bharti Airtel’s first ever 3G network rollout. We will use the expertise of Singtel,” Bharti Airtel’s president (mobile services) Sanjay Kapoor told ET.

In fact, industry watchers share the view that Bharti’s 3G launch in Lanka will also serve as a test bed for offering similar services in India when 3G spectrum is made available here.

Read more,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/