Sri Lankan president arrived china for BFA

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse arrived in Sanya, a scenic city in south China's island province of Hainan, Wednesday for the annual meeting of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA).

He is the first foreign state leader arriving here for this international meeting, due to open on Saturday in Boao of Hainan Province.

During Rajapakse's stay in Sanya, Chinese President Hu Jintao will meet with him, and the two leaders will review the development of China-Sri Lanka relations and exchange views on facilitating bilateral win-win cooperation.

According to sources with the Chinese Foreign Ministry, Hu will deliver a key-note speech at the opening ceremony of BFA.

Read more,
http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6389214.html

LTTE's atrocities harden our resolved to eliminate terrorism: Prez

Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa has underlined the resolve of the government to fight the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)'s atrocities, saying 'the terrorists will be sadly mistaken if they think that we could be driven into submission'.

"LTTE's atrocities will only harden our resolve to eliminate terrorism," he said at a function in Colombo Wednesday, zeenews portal reported here.

Rajapaksa said the LTTE has been involved in killing of ministers and MPs this year, with the government's chief whip and Cabinet Minister Jeyaraj Fernandopulle being the latest victim.

Fernandopulle was killed during a suicide attack at a sports function in Colombo on Sunday.

"The terrorists will be sadly mistaken if they think that we could be driven into submission through these acts. Far from it, we will be even more determined to wipe out terrorism from this land," he said during the launch of Central Bank's 2007 annual report in Colombo.

"We will continue with the war against terrorism," he said adding that the fight should be seen in context with providing humanitarian assistance to the common people who lived in fear.

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http://www2.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-236/0804091770201818.htm

Heavy stock of explosives found in Central Sri Lanka

Police Terrorist Investigations Department (TID) yesterday uncovered a large stock of TNT explosives from Nilagammana area, in Digana, Kandy.

According to the TID officials the stock containing approximately 110 pounds of TNT explosive slabs were found on information obtained from a Tamil Tiger arrested recently.

The Tamil Tiger has swallowed a cyanide capsule following the arrest. He is presently undergoing treatments at the Peradeniya hospital.

Police believe that the Tamil Tigers had brought the explosives into the area with the intention of carrying out major terrorist attacks in the South.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/April9110630JR.html

Wimal Weerawansa confirms his suspension -Video of the special speech in parliment

Source,
Youtube

Wimal Weerawansa – An extraordinary leader among the ordinary

The marketing people can temporally blow up character of an ordinary person using well planned publicity campaigns on different themes. The white feather of a feeble clown may be presented to general public as a prince of peace. Licking of boots of colonial masters may well be presented as international diplomacy. However those are mere artificial boosting and dumb character will surface with time.

In the same time, there are extra ordinary people who are born gifted. They have personality that is unique and excel in multitude of disciplines. Wimal Weerawansa is clearly fallen into that rare category. He is a natural born leader with genuine attraction of common people of the country. He is not mere a politician or political activist, but a man with great visionary and aim. That is why he succeeds in all his social and political endeavors.

Wimal Weerawansa is undoubtedly the most eloquent speaker in contemporary politics. His speeches are not only expressive but also extremely logical and realistic. That is why he has become a genuine crowd puller in various political and social movements. He single handedly attracted large number of liberal youth in to the JVP vote bank.

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http://lankarising.blogspot.com/2008/04/

Our aim is to fulfil the national task-JVP MP

A group of MPs from the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna says so far they have not been enlightened regarding the party action pertaining to JVP propaganda secretary parliamentarian Wimal Weerawanse.

This was stated at a press conference held in Colombo this afternoon chaired by MP Piyasiri Wijenayake.

He said their aim is to fulfil the national task assigned by the people. He said the party has now fallen into the clutches of conspirators.

MP Achala Jagoda said Mr. Weerawanse has a clear stance for solving the national issue. He said imperialists and western forces are conspiring against the MP. 9 other JVP MPs participated at the press conference.

Extracted from,
http://www.lankaeverything.com/vinews/srilanka/20080408144605.php

Lankan envoy announces visa free entry for Pak traders

Sri Lankan High Commissioner to Pakistan Dr WB Dorakumbure, Sri Lankan High Commission Islamabad's Consul General Sidath Kumar and Pakistan Sri Lanka Business Council Chairman Rehmat Ullah Javaid visited some leading industrial units in Sambrial, Uggoki and Sialkot city, amid tight security.

Addressing a meeting of Sialkot business community held at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here Tuesday, they witnessed craftsmanship of Sialkot-based artisans and hailed the their culture.

Dorakumbure said both Sri Lanka and Pakistan had been enjoying good trade relationship, but the time was ripe for further strengthening the mutual and bilateral trade ties.

Sri Lankan High Commission Islamabad's Consul General Sidath Kumar, Chairman Pakistan Sri Lanka Business Council Karachi Rehmat Ullah Javaid, Chairman Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PSGMEA) Muhammad Akhtar and SCCI President Dr Khurram Anwar Khawaja were also present on this occasion.

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http://thepost.com.pk/CorpNews.aspx?dtlid=154383&catid=8

Wimal Weerawansa confirms his suspension

Wimal Weerawansa Leader of the Parliamentary Group of the Janatha Vimukthi Peramuna, in a speech to Parliament this morning said that his party has planned to remove him from the membership of the party amounts to assassinating him. He admitted that he has been suspended by the party.

He in his emotional speech added that the JVP had decided to officially announce his suspension after the conclusion of the Eastern Polls.

Speaking further, he alleged that a conspiracy within the party by
Western agents led him to be sidelined.

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http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/10447

Tamil rebels seek Norway help to stop Sri Lanka offensive

Tamil Tiger rebels asked peace-broker Norway on Tuesday to pressure Sri Lanka's government to stop a military offensive in the island's north, saying a venerated Catholic church was at risk.

Government forces backed by artillery are pushaing into territory held by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the Wanni region, and the guerrillas said the Roman Catholic church of Madhu was in the line of fire.

The Tigers asked Norway's International Development Minister, Erik Solheim, who was also the top envoy involved in the failed peace efforts, to pressure Colombo to halt the offensive.

"We would like to place a request through you ... to the Norwegian government to take steps to immediately end the military assault of the holy Madhu shrine," the LTTE's political wing leader, B. Nadesan, wrote to Solheim.

Sri Lanka's military has denied engaging in operations in the Madhu church area, but security forces have maintained that they want to push into the Wanni region where the guerrillas maintain a de facto mini state.

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http://afp.google.com/article/

Lankan maid commits suicide -Kuwait

A Sri Lankan housemaid, whose identity has not been given reportedly jumped to her death from the third floor domestic labor office in Jleeb Al-Shuyoukh, reports Arrouiah daily.

The remains of the victim have been referred to Forensics. Police are investigating the incident.

Extracted from,
http://www.arabtimesonline.com/kuwaitnews/

Lingering rebellion of Tamil Tigers

A SUICIDE Tamil Tiger bomber killed Sri Lankan Minister for Highways and Road Development and 14 others by targeting a road marathon organised in the Weliweriaya on Sunday. The Minister a vocal critic of the separatist Tamil Tiger rebels and a member of Sri Lanka’s failed peace talks with the guerrillas was the second to be killed by the rebels this year.

The LTTE, also known as the Tamil Tigers, has used conventional, guerrilla, and terror tactics, including some 200 suicide bombings, in a bloody civil war that has claimed more than 60,000 lives and displaced hundreds of thousands of Sri Lankans since it was founded in l972. It was involved in the assassinations of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi in May 1991 at a campaign rally in India and of Sri Lankan President Ranasinghe Premadasa in 1993.

Several rounds of peace talks between the Sri Lanka government and the LTTE have failed to produce any result. History is replete that such wars are supported by neighbouring countries otherwise no rebel group or separatist organisation can sustain its struggle. On the request of the Sri Lankan government US State Department and several West European countries declared the LTTE as a terrorist organisation and banned financial dealings with it.

However it is still continuing its war against the state for a separate home land for minority Tamils and surely it is receiving financial support and weapons smuggled into areas under its control through fast speed boats and several of them were destroyed by the Sri Lankan navy.

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http://pakobserver.net/200804/08/Editorial03.asp

Sri Lankan rebels set up U.S. branch

The Tamil Tigers, a terrorist organization whose suicide bombings and political assassinations have killed 4,000 people in the past two years, have quietly established a U.S. presence to help bankroll and equip its brutal secessionist campaign in Sri Lanka, authorities said.

Formally known as the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and designated as terrorists by the State Department in 1997, the group has sought for more than three decades to violently overthrow the Sri Lankan government and create an independent state for the Tamil minority.

To that end, its political wing has established "branches" in at least 12 countries, including the United States, as part of a global expansion in which the LTTE seeks to purchase millions of dollars worth of anti-aircraft weapons, automatic rifles, grenade launchers, ammunition, explosives and other military equipment, according to federal law-enforcement authorities.

That expansion has included operations in Maryland, New York and New Jersey in an effort to help raise cash and procure weapons.

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http://www.washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?

Sri Lanka's ABC radio to get back on air: official

Sri Lanka's ABC Radio network is hoping to get back on air shortly after authorities re-issued some of its licenses and frequencies, a top official said.

The network ran five radio channels which were shut down by the government over a report it broadcast about Tamil Tiger activity in the south of the island.

ABC managing director Reynor Silva said Hiru FM, Gold FM and Sooryan FM have been issued spectrum by the telecommunications regulator Monday.

Hiru is a Sinhalese language channel, Gold is English and Sooryan Tamil.

He says frequencies for Sha FM and Sun FM had not yet been issued but broadcast licenses have been issued for all its channels last month.

Silva's brother Duminda was a member of the opposition United National Party, but he crossed over after radio stations were shut down by the government.

Extracted from,
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?nid=1993069412

SLAF destroys black tiger base - Mankulam

Sri Lanka, Air Force supersonic fighter jets bombed at LTTE black tiger base located at Northwest of Mankulam this morning, (7 April).

Air force spokes person wing commander Andi Wijesoriya speaking to defence.lk said that their sorties were launched around 6.15 a.m. based on the information gathered through air surveillances and ground intelligence sources. The pilots confirm that the target was achieved accurately, he added.

Meanwhile, MI 24 helicopter gunships conducted air attack targeting LTTE bunker defences at south of Muhamalai in Jaffna around 6.30 a.m. today, (7 April).

The air attack were launched to assist ground troops who engaged in limited offensive operations in the area and to disrupt the LTTE formations, Air Force spokesperson further added.

Damages to the LTTE yet to be known.

Extracted from,
http://defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20080407_01