Politics keeping Lanka from helping Tibet

A FREEDOM fighter, he was known as Tibet Jathika S Mahinda, though his original name was Tasilmgal. He came to Sri Lanka from the Sikkim-Tibet region in 1912 as a 14-year-old destitute.

He preferred to identify with Tibet instead of Sikkim because Tibet was better known among Sri Lankans. Ordained as a Buddhist monk of the Theravada tradition after his arrival in Sri Lanka, he mastered the local language and woke the sleeping Sinhala masses up by his powerful poetry which promised them hope and galvanised them into action. This monk from Tibet saw how the Sri Lankan culture and tradition were being swallowed by the fast-spreading western way of life and how the Sinhala Buddhists being converted to Christianity by missionaries from the West.

With his poetic idiom, S Mahinda, a socialist at heart, told the Sri Lankans in general and the Buddhists in particular that the local culture and the tradition were much richer and more meaningful than what was being imposed on them by the colonialists.

Tibet Jathika S Mahinda – meaning S Mahinda the Tibet national – was indeed a true Sri Lankan national hero at a time when our efforts to gain freedom, not by violent means but by negotiations with the Brits, were led by the West-aping men in top hats and tailcoats.

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UNP Decide to contest for Eastern PC Polls

Sri Lanka's Main opposition United National Party (UNP) has decided to contest the Eastern Provincial Council Election to be held on May 10.

Working Committee of the party unanimously approved the party’s decision today. They also appointed a nomination board to coordinate the Eastern Provincial Council Election.

Ranil Wickranasinghe, the leader will discus with Sri Lanka Muslim Congress (SLMC) and other parties, General Secretory, Tissa Atthanayaka said.

Party has also decided to urge government and election commissioner to disarm armed groups before nominating, Atthanayaka said to media.

UNP did not contested for Batticaloa mini Election.

Extracted from,
http://news.nidahasa.com/news.php?go=fullnews&newsid=515

Showcasing a success

ON the evening of March 11, heads of foreign missions based in Colombo received an invitation from the Foreign Ministry to gather at the office of Foreign Minister Rohitha Bogollagama the following day at 11 a.m. for a briefing on the just-concluded local body elections in Batticaloa district. Similarly, members of the local and international press corps were called to his office for another briefing on the elections.

The invites raised several eyebrows. What has the Foreign Ministry got to do with the conduct of local body elections in just one of three eastern districts?

For the Mahinda Rajapaksa government and its Foreign Ministry, the Batticaloa elections constituted an extraordinary feat for more than one reason and deserved to be promoted as such.

The logic and objective of showcasing the Batticaloa elections to the international community is three-fold. First, the government succeeded in conducting the elections without any untoward incident in an area, parts of which were wrested from the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) less than a year ago. Secondly, the government can take credit for bringing a section of the LTTE, the breakaway faction led by Vigyanamurthy Muralitharan alias ‘Col’ Karuna, now led by Pillian, into the political mainstream.

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly, it is a reflection of the commitment of the government to usher in democracy in the erstwhile LTTE-dominated areas and provide an idea of the shape of things to come in the East and eventually in the North, parts of which continue to be under the control of the Tigers.

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LTTE has links with global terror groups: Lanka PM

Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka has alleged that the Tamil Tigers maintain links with international terror groups such as PKK and certain affiliates of Al-Qaida.

"According to some experts on terrorism, they maintain contacts with other terror groups such as PKK, Taliban, Islamic groups in the Philippines and even some affiliates of Al-Qaida," he said.

The Sri Lankan leader also said that certain reports mentioned about Tamil youths receiving training in Palestinian camps in Syria and Lebanon.

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India will never allow a separate Tamil state: Lanka PM

India will never allow a separate independent state for Tamils to be carved out from Sri Lanka, the island's Prime Minister Ratnasiri Wickremanayaka said.

"It should be borne in mind that India will never allow a separate independent state for Tamils in Sri Lanka because such a development will have a disastrous effect in India," Wickremanayaka, who is the first Sri Lankan Prime Minister to visit Israel, told a gathering.

"India has always been committed to Sri Lanka's territorial integrity," he added.

The Sri Lankan Prime Minister, who is on a four-day visit, claimed that LTTE leader V Prabhakaran wanted to create a Tamil state by "including certain parts of India as well".

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LTTE 'military storage facility' destroyed in air strikes- Mullaittivu

The SLAF fighter jets took fresh air strikes at a LTTE 'military storage facility' this morning (March 25) at Uddayarkattukulama, in Mullaittivu.

According to Air Force Spokesperson Wing Commander Andrew Wijesooriya, the air sorties were conducted following well established ground and air surveillance information, at around 9.20a.m. The target was known to be a main LTTE arms, ammunitions and equipment storage facility, he further said.

The air strikes have triggered a series of explosion while, pilots have also confirmed debris and flames rising in the area, sources said.

Defence analysts state that these strikes were launched as a measure to neutralize the LTTE Wanni logistic and arms supply network.

The LTTE is yet to release casualty figures, defence sources said.

Extracted from,
http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080325_04

India's Bharat Petroleum eyes wider Sri Lanka market share

India's Bharat Petroleum says it is looking for opportunities in Sri Lanka's aviation and retail fuel sectors after launching its 'MAK' brand lubricants partnering with a top auto dealer in the island.

"We hope that we will also be given an opportunity to enter the main product market which is the petrol and diesel trade," Bharat Petroleum marketing director S Radhakrishnan, told LBO.

"We are already here in a small way doing some bunkering and now lubricants."

Bharat Petroleum was one of the bidders for a third share in Sri Lanka's retail fuel market but the process was abandoned following a change in the country's economic policy after 2004, which ruled out privatization.

"Aviation, if we are given an opportunity, we would also like to start refueling in Colombo and other air ports," Radhakrishnan said

"We are waiting an opportunity from the government do that."

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C-4 Explosives Emerge From House in Modera

ACTING ON A tip-off provided by neighbors after they entertained suspicion about the movements of some people into a house on ALUTH MAWATHA in MODERA, GRAND PASS, COLOMBO 15, a Police team searched the house early Tuesday (25) morning and recovered 4 kgs of C-4 explosives, ten electric detonators and four timers while they had been kept hidden inside the house.

Five suspects in this connection were taken in for questioning by the Police after preliminary investigations pointed to their involvement in collection of those explosives.

MODERA, a COLOMBO suburb has been in focus for the last couple of months as more and more LTTE activities were reported. It was only a month ago, an LTTE suicide bomber blew himself up when the Police and the troops swooped on his hide-out in a two-storeyed building.

The GRAND PASS Police are conducting investigations.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=11862

Navy thwarts LTTE boat movement - Pulmoddai

Naval attack craft on patrol off Pulomoddai thwarted an LTTE boat movement from Nayaru to Pulmoddai this morning (March 25).

According to Naval Spokesperson Commander D.K.P Dassanyake, naval craft on sighting a cluster of LTTE boats at 1.a.m., making towards the Pulmoddai waters intercepted the vessels engaging in a seaborne fire attack forcing the LTTE vessels to retreat with damages.

Later, it was revealed through intercepted enemy communication that a LTTE boat has sustained damages and towed towards the Nayaru lagoon, the spokesperson further said.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080325_01

Govt. denies offering Chief Minister post to Pillaiyan

The government yesterday denied claims that it had offered to appoint TMVP leader Pillaiyan as the Chief Minister of East.

General Secretary of the United Peoples Freedom Alliance,

Minister Susil Premajayantha said "We have not offered the Chief Minister-ship to anyone. We will take a decision on it only after the elections to the Eastern Provincial council are completed."

He said at an SLFP Central Committee meeting presided over by President Mahinda Rajapaksa a decision had been taken that all political parties in the Alliance Government would contest under the single banner of the UPFA and the betel symbol. "I have written to several parties, including the JVP and the SLMC inviting them to join us and to contest under one banner and senior Advisor to the President Basil Rajapaksa had discussed this with the SLMC leader Rauf Hakeem a few days ago.

All the party leaders in the alliance, the Mahajhana Eksath Peramuna, Communist Party, Lanka Sama Samaja Party, Mahajhana Pakshaya, Jathika Hela Urumaya, National Unity Alliance and the All Ceylon Muslim Congress,were expected to meet yesterday afternoon to decide on the number of slots for each constituent party.

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Iran, Sri Lanka Discuss Expansion of Ties

Iran's ambassador to Colombo and Sri Lanka's minister of port and aviation discussed expansion of relations and mutual cooperation in a meeting in the Sri Lankan capital.

During the meeting, the two sides reviewed activities of the Uma Oya developmental program, and the Iranian diplomat offered Tehran's assistance with Colombo in providing the Sri Lankan employees with higher educational opportunities.

The envoy also proposed Sri Lankan port authorities with further training at institutions in Iran as well as implementation of an employee exchange program.

The two sides also discussed adoption of introductory measures to pave the way for a visit to Sri Lanka by the Iranian President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

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http://english.farsnews.com/newstext.php?nn=8701050152

'We are better off without the LTTE'

S C Chandrahasan is the son of Samuvel Selvnayagam, a Tamil leader who was known as the Mahatma Gandhi of Sri Lanka. After the island-nation's ethnic conflict began in 1983, Chandrahasan founded the Organisation For Eelam Refugees' Rehabilitation.

OFERR works in Sri Lanka and India, and has offices in all the 104 refugee camps in Tamil Nadu. It also works in the north and east of Sri Lanka, two regions badly affected in the conflict.

The soft-spoken leader slams both the Sri Lankan government and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam for the mess in the island state.

He spoke at length to rediff.com's Special Correspondent A Ganesh Nadar.

What was the position on the ground at the time of the ceasefire and peace talks in 2002?

At the time of the ceasefire some areas were controlled by the Sri Lankan government and others were under the control of the LTTE. There were some hazy areas where both the LTTE and government troops moved around.

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