SRI LANKA AIR FORCE fighter craft conducted three air sorties this morning (12) in the north and east of MADHU at about 7.30 a.m. in support of the ground troops now inching forward.
Air targets centered on three Tiger terrorist camps in the area, from where Tiger terrorists were directing heavy fire on to the marching troops.
Air Force pilots confirmed the precision of the targets. Ground troop operations are under way.
The Sri Lankan authorities have filed indictment against the leader of the rebel Liberation Tigersof Tamil Eelam (LTTE) Velupillai Prabakaran for the murder of former foreign minister, officials said Tuesday.
Officials from the Attorney General's Department said that Prabakaran and five other rebels were charged on Tuesday for the August 2005 murder of then Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar.
A fellow Tamil, Kadirgamar was gunned down near the swimming pool of his Colombo home by a LTTE gunman. Kadirgamar had led an international campaign against the rebels which resulted in several countries banning the rebel outfit.
The Colombo High Court in October 2002 sentenced Prabakaran for 200 years imprisonment for bombing the country's Central Bank building and killing about 100 people in January 1996 in trial held in absentia.
Read more,
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2008-03/12/content_7769353.htm
Sri Lanka on Tuesday decided to shift the venue of the upcoming South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) summit from Kandy to Colombo due to inadequate facilities in the island nation's scenic tourist spot to accommodate the leaders and delegations from the member countries.
The 15th summit of the regional grouping and its preceding meetings are scheduled to be held from July 27 to August 3.
''Colombo city hotels have been identified to accommodate around 1200 delegates and media personnel associated with the event,'' an official statement said.
The shifting of the venue from Kandy to Colombo has been done due to inadequate infrastructure facilities to accommodate the seven heads of state, their respective delegations and the large international and regional media contingent, it said.
Read more,
http://www.ndtv.com/convergence/ndtv/
Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) extended gains Wednesday on expectations of a sale of stock by NTT to Malaysia's Usaha Tegas group following a court order permitting the sale, dealers said.
SLT share rose one rupee to 39.25 on top of a 1.50 rupee gain on Tuesday.
Meanwhile, SLT said in a regulatory filing that a proposed shareholder agreement between Sri Lanka's government and the UT group cannot go ahead, but a court ruling has allowed a separate management deal.
Japan's NTT Communications which now owns 35.2 percent of SLT has a shareholder agreement with the government which owns 49.5 percent of the company, giving NTT benefits including the right to appoint a chief executive.
NTT was originally proposing to sell a 25 percent stake in Sri Lanka Telecom to Global Communications NV, a UT group investment vehicle, retaining a 10 percent stake.
Read more,
http://www.lankabusinessonline.com/fullstory.php?
EITHER the world is ganging up against Sri Lanka or there is something wrong in the country where President Mahinda Rajapaksa is at the helm of affairs. In recent weeks, the International Commission of Jurists, the Amnesty International, the Human Rights Watch and top UN officials fired salvo after salvo on Sri Lanka, putting the government on the back-foot to defend itself.
The international human rights community’s attacks were too much for a government which is fighting a lone battle against what it calls a ruthless terrorist group which is waging a violent campaign to set up a separate state for Sri Lanka’s minority Tamils living in the north and the east.
While the security forces fight a valiant battle against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam and make slow but steady progress in their march towards the rebel heartland, government politicians and diplomats are also fighting an equally tough war to defend the country’s human rights record at world fora. While Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Minister Mahinda Samarasinghe last week went to Geneva to participate at the annual Human Rights Council sessions where he faced a series of allegations based on case studies and well-compiled reports, International Trade Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris left for Brussels and London on Sunday to plead for duty concessions for our exports.
The concessions granted under the European Union’s GSP+ (Generalised System of Preference) policy to Sri Lanka is up for review and it will be renewed only if the EU is satisfied that the Rajapaksa government is committed to good governance, which includes a commitment to respect human rights.
Read the full article,
http://www.khaleejtimes.com/DisplayArticleNew.asp?
In the past few weeks there have been many media reports that point to the prevalence of confusion and disarray among the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE/Tigers) in the face of heavy losses inflicted by the armed forces of the Government of Sri Lanka. Apart from many references to injury sustained by the LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran in the course of an aerial bombardment in November 2007, there was some speculation that he may even have died.
[Claims of Prabhakaran’s death may be set to rest after Prabhakaran’s ‘public appearance’ at the funeral of the pro-LTTE Tamil National Alliance Member of Parliament, P. Sivanesan, in the rebel-held Wanni area, of which the LTTE released photographs on March 9, 2008].
The specificities that embellish these reports, though ignored by spokesmen for the LTTE, have been refuted with disdain by several pro-LTTE writers. Given the questionable credibility of ‘news’ originating from either side of the great divide, it has seldom been possible to sort out the truth from fiction in the stories on the confrontational aspects of the Sri Lankan conflict.
What can, consequently, be attempted is, first, to contextualise the recent surge of media attention on turbulences in the shrinking Tiger habitat of the ‘Vanni’ in northern Sri Lanka, without speculating on whether its leader is dead or dying or hibernating prior to a deadly leap at the jugular, and then, to synthesise the information on what prevails at present, extractable from sources less contaminated by propaganda objectives.
Read the full article here,
http://www.ict.org.il/apage/1534.php
The LTTE has criticised India for hosting the Sri Lankan army chief despite the scrapping of a 2002 ceasefire by Colombo, saying such moves will "reinvigorate" the island's military which was carrying out "ethnic genocide" against Tamils.
In a statement circulated here, LTTE said it "strongly condemns" India extending a "state welcome" to the military chief Maj Gen Sarath Fonseka of the "Sinhala State" which has "unilaterally abrogated the ceasefire agreement and has launched widespread military offensives in Tamil homeland."
Despite condemnation of its attempt to seek a military solution, Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam alleged that Sri Lanka is continuing its "enormous human rights violations".
Many of the European countries now understand its "hidden motive" and have halted all assistance, it added.
"The Indian State also knows this truth. Yet, while pronouncing that a solution to the Tamil problem must be found through peaceful means, it is giving encouragement to the military approach of the Sinhala State. This can only lead to the intensification of the genocide of the Tamils," it said.
Read more,
http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/holnus/001200803111654.htm
The Tigers are on the prowl in Kerala backwaters. With the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) outsourcing its boat-building works to the obscure boat-building yards in Kerala, the state government has woken up to a new threat.
The recent incidents in Munambam near Kochi and Azheekkal in Thrissur district in which the authorities have `seized' two boats allegedly being built for the Tigers indicate that the outfit has its presence or agents in Kerala.
Cops from the `Q' Branch of Tamil Nadu with the assistance of the state police on March 6 had seized a halfbuilt boat at a yard in Munambam near Kochi. The boat was seized from Sudhas Marine Engineering, Munambam, a private boat-building yard. The investigation team got a tipoff about the boat building in Kochi when they interrogated the two LTTE sympathisers, both Sri Lankans.
Read more,
http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?
A breakaway group of the Tamil rebels won the first local elections held in 14 years in violence-plagued eastern Sri Lanka, election officials said Tuesday, as President Mahinda Rajapaksa hailed the conduct of the polls as a victory for democracy.
The government-backed Thamil Makkal Vidudal Puligal (Tamil People's Liberation Tigers, TMVP), won 72 of 101 seats on nine local councils, the officials said after Monday's voting, the first since the TMVP helped the government drive separatist Tamil guerrillas from the area last year.
The primary battle was for the municipal council in Batticaloa, 240 km east of Colombo, where the TMVP, contesting the elections there under the banner of the ruling United People's Freedom Alliance (UPFA), secured 11 of its 19 seats after obtaining 53.77 percent of the 26,331 valid votes, officials said.
Turnout, however, was low as 29,153 people cast ballots when 54,945 were registered to vote in a region that has continued to see violence and intimidation since the departure of the rebels.
Read more,
http://www.indiaenews.com/srilanka/20080311/103387.htm
Indian auto giant Bajaj is emerging as the leading motorcycle player in Sri Lanka amidst fierce competition from other global players, according to auto experts.
"Bajaj may be competing more fiercely in maintaining its supremacy in the motorbike segments in India than in Sri Lanka, where it is selling like hot cakes due to fuel efficiency and other factors", the experts said.
"Bajaj Motorcycles, which is catering to all segments of the Sri Lankan market is emerging as a favourite amongst buyers due to its powerful and stylist range of models vis--vis other global players", they added.
Total exports of Bajaj two wheelers to various countries during the first nine months of 2007-08 financial year stood at 3,58,136 vehicles, Bajaj said in a statement.
Read more,
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News_by_Industry/
The first ever local government elections in the Batticaloa district show Thamail Makkal Viduthalal Pulikal lead by Sivanesathurai Chanthirakanthan alias Pillaiyan, making a clean sweep in six of the pradeshiya sabhas where results were announced so far. The six sabhas including Batticoloa Municipality went TMVP way and they won them handily.
Contrary to speculation from some quarters, including certain media institutions, no election-related incidents had been reported by the time polls closed today, according to Kinsley Rodrigo of the election-monitoring outfit Peoples' Alliance for Free and Fair Elections - PAFFEREL.
The elections were eagerly awaited by the people of the Eastern Province as they went to the polls showing the country that the newly liberated areas were ready for full-blown democracy. Campaigning was brisk and participation high.
Read more,
http://www.asiantribune.com/?q=node/9986
Official Results,
http://www.news.lk/election_batticaloa/Batticaloa_main.html
Polling in the local body elections in the eastern Sri Lankan Tamil-speaking district of Batticaloa went off peacefully Monday, though there were some allegations of vote rigging, sources in the district said.
There were nine political parties and 22 independent groups fielding 831 candidates for 101 posts in nine Pradeshiya Sabhas and the Batticaloa town municipality.
Security was tight with 6,425 police and paramilitary personnel on duty in the 285 polling booths.
The elections had assumed importance because they were the first to be held after the Tamil areas of Batticaloa district were liberated from the clutches of the rebel Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in mid 2007.
The successful conclusion of the elections is expected to enthuse President Mahinda Rajapaksa to hold elections to an eastern provincial council. The Sri Lankan northeast has not had provincial council elections since 1990.
Read more,
http://newspostindia.com/report-41639
LTTE supremo Prabhakaran made his first public appearance, after it was claimed that he and two of his top aides were injured in a Sri Lankan Air Force strike that surfaced in November 2007. The occasion was to pay homage to pro-LTTE Lawmaker and Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP from Jaffna district -- Sivanesan -- in the rebel-held Wanni area in Sri Lanka's embattled north.
Prabhakaran was accompanied by his top aides Pottu Amman -- Intelligence Chief of LTTE and key accused in the Rajjiv Gandhi Assassination case, and Nadesan -- the newly appointed political head of the LTTE.
The LTTE claimed that Sivanesan was killed last Saturday (March 8, 2008) by Sri Lankan Army's -- Deep Penetration Unit -- near Mankulum area, but the Defence officials of Sri Lanka claimed that he died in a rebel-held Wanni.
Read more,
http://www.timesnow.tv/NewsDtls.aspx?NewsID=6382
Photos,
http://www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=24901
An explosion believed to have been triggered off by the LTTE occured around 6.50 am today (10) near the Roxy Theatre on Galle Road, Wellawatte.
Initial reports indicate that one person died and four school children (two boys and two girls) received injuries as a result. The injured were rushed to the Kalubowil Teaching Hospital. One of the injured is said to be in critical condition.
The LTTE, driven out of the East and driven deeper and deeper into the Wanni by the security forces has since of late reverted to strategies used two decades ago, focusing on 'soft targets'.
The LTTE has triggered off several IEDs (Improvised Explosive Devices) over the past several months while alert security and public have helped avert many more possible tragedies.
The Government has repeatedly urged the public to exercise utmost vigilance regarding their surroundings and all suspicious persons and objects.
News Extracted from,
http://news.lk/index.php?
Photos,
http://news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5169&Itemid=44
http://www.lankaenews.com/Sinhala/news.php?id=4668
http://www.nationalsecurity.lk/fullnews.php?id=11069
