PRO-LTTE REPORTS ON ATTACKS AGAINST CIVILIANS REFUTED

THE SRI LANKA ARMY flatly refutes and despises attempts of the pro-LTTE media to blame the Army over alleged explosions of claymore mines in un-cleared areas of Kilinochchi, targeting both an ambulance and a van during the course of the day (Friday,23rd, 2008). The areas alleged in those reports lie about 100 km away from the northern most Omanthai Entry/Exit point and defence lines under the government control in Vavuniya.

Those reports shamelessly claimed that an ambulance carrying an Assistant Director of the Fisheries Corporation, Mannar and a civilian was the target of the first claymore mine in Muzhangkaavil, Kilinochchi. Adding another dimension a few hours later, the same pro-LTTE mouthpiece alleged that one more van carrying sixteen civilians, including six children, four girls and two boys was attacked with a claymore mine at about 2.15 p.m. on Friday (23) in the same un-cleared Muzhangkaavil area while they all were allegedly returning from a hospital.

It is crystal clear that those LTTE reports have been attributed to the Army with a sinister move and the sheer intention of tarnishing the image of the Army unreservedly and also provoking the international community in order to win back the world sympathy for their lost cause. Many such reports carried in their media in the past provide ample evidence and examples to this effect. The Army categorically refuses such reports and appeals sensible readers to judge the motive behind such pro-LTTE allegations.

extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=13466

Dethroned for violations or...?

Sri Lanka has lost its seat in the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UNHRC) due mainly to a disrespecting of the world system, arrogance, complete lack of counter propaganda against LTTE and bungling and rantings by a group of theoreticians and technocrats.

International norms dealing with torture, disappearances, and political killings have emerged due mainly to the atrocities committed elsewhere. Human Rights groups, pioneered by the work of Amnesty International have used fact finding, consensus building, principled norm construction, norm application etc paving the way for HR standards and measures broadly described as 'principled norm emergence'.

In times of war, the principle Jus in Bello (Justice in War) is said to apply to regulate the conduct of military forces. The rules of warfare aim to safeguard human life and some other fundamental Human Rights, and to ensure that war is limited in its scope and level of violence. It is the premise that combatants have voluntarily forfeited some of their rights whilst civilians have not and carry at all times the full rights under the UN Charter.

Although international law suggests that the inhabitants of non-occupied territory, who take up arms on the approach of the enemy and resist the invading troops, even if they have not had time to organize themselves, count as armed forces, a guerrilla or insurgent force fighting mostly without uniforms are miles apart and cannot be easily distinguished from unarmed civilians.

Read more,
http://defencewire.blogspot.com/2008/05/dethroned-for-violations-or.html

President orders full investigation into attack on Keith Noyahr

President Mahinda Rajapaksa has directed IGP Victor Perera to launch a full investigation into the abduction and attack on senior journalist, Keith Noyahr who is the Deputy Editor of The Nation newspaper.

Noyahr went missing last night and his wife had lodged a complaint at the Dehiwala Police Station when his vehicle was found empty outside his house around 11.00 pm.
Noyahr had been released by his abductors early this morning (May 23) around 5.30 and had come home carrying severe injuries. He was hospitalized thereafter.

Police Spokesman N.K. Ilangakoon said that three police teams have been deployed to carrry out the investigation.

Extracted from,
http://www.news.lk/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5927&Itemid=44
Photos,
www.dailymirror.lk

Sri Lankan police impose curfew on Muslim town after 5 killed

Police imposed a curfew on a predominantly Muslim town in eastern Sri Lanka on Thursday after five people died in retaliatory killings.

Police spokesman N.K. Ilangakoon said the violence started when two men from a pro-government ethnic Tamil militia were shot to death in eastern Kattankudy town.

Later, men believed to be from the militia stormed the town and killed two Muslims and wounded four others, Ilangakoon said.

Police declared a curfew to prevent more violence, he said.

However, Dr. K. Murugananthan of the government hospital in nearby Batticaloa town said there were five bodies — three of them Muslims — in the morgue.

Read more,
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/22/asia/AS-GEN-Sri-Lanka-Violence.php

Political crisis in Lanka's Eastern Province ends

The political crisis in the newly-established Eastern Provincial Council ended on Thursday, when the dissident Muslim leader, MLA M Hisbullah, joined the government as Minister of Health, Youth and Women’s Affairs.

Hisbullah had threatened to walk out of the ruling United Peoples’ Freedom Alliance (UPFA) with two other councilors and reduce the government to a minority, if he was not made Chief Minister after the UPFA won the provincial elections on May 10.

But the head of the UPFA, President Mahinda Rajapaksa, stood firm on his decision to appoint TMVP leader Sivanesathurai Chandrakanthan, alias Pillayan, as the CM in order to help solve the long-standing Tamil problem.

Hisbullah was willing to reconsider his threat if he was offered important portfolios like Health, Education and Land, but Rajapaksa offered only Health and stuck to his stand. It is believed that Muslim religious leaders urged Hisbullah to accept the President’s offer and not precipitate a Muslim-Tamil communal problem.

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

LTTE accused of continuing to recruit child soldiers

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) continued to recruit and use children, despite repeated commitments not to do so, a global report on child soldiers released on Tuesday (May 20) said.

Child Soldiers Global Report 2008 published by the Coalition to Stop the Use of Child Soldiers, a non governmental organization based in London, UK said that the LTTE, which had recruited under-age fighters for many years, pledged on June 18 2007 to rid its ranks of all under-18s by the end of 2007.

Despite the pledges LTTE had not committed to the full release of children under 18, it said.

“The LTTE consistently denied that it knowingly recruited children and it claimed that children sought to join by disguising their age. However, there is overwhelming evidence of recruitment, often forced, throughout areas under LTTE control as well as from government-controlled areas in the north and east.

The recruitment of children typically followed a pattern of increased recruitment during the season of temple festivals and a fall during periods of international condemnation,” the report noted.

Read more,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/May2242537JV.html

SLT upgrades bandwidth, announces IPVPN system for schools

Sri Lanka Telecom (SLT) has upgraded its international internet backbone network, which now has 2.2Gbps of international IP broadband capacity, and plans to upgrade to 3.5Gbps or more within a year, the company said in a statement. SLT claims that its ISP unit SLTnet has a 60% share of the country’s residential and business internet user market.

In another announcement, SLT says that its IPVPN solutions will connect schools island-wide to a new IP network, named SchoolNet, providing voice, video, broadband internet access, other network services and web hosting. A total of 1,100 schools are to be connected under the first phase of the project, with 5,000 schools to be on the network by 2010.

SchoolNet has been designed as a secure and fully managed system. SLT’s IPVPN technology will allow all establishments to access a centralised IT network at any given time, which will enable them to communicate with a Network Operations Centre (NOC), located at the University of Moratuwa.

Extracted from,
http://www.telegeography.com/cu/article.php?article_id=23237

Desmond Tutu criticised by Church of England cleric for his comments on Sri Lanka

A well-respected Church of England priest and a British citizen told Archbishop Desmond Tutu in a hard hitting letter that it was matter for utmost regret that the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) described as the “the most evil terrorist organization in the world” was possible to secure the Archbishop’s apparent support to denigrate Sri Lanka.

Rev. Tony de Alwis of the Church of England Diocese of Southwell and Nottingham replying about Tutu’s alleged campaign against the re-election of Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council of the UN told the Archbishop that his action has become “a matter of the utmost regret that such an organization has found it possible to secure Your Grace’s apparent support in its unrelenting propaganda campaign to denigrate Sri Lanka on the international stage.”

Rev. De Alwis, an avowed campaigner against terrorism all over the world said that it had been a significant coup for the terrorists to be enabled to proclaim support for their demented cause from someone of the Archbishop’s undoubted stature and moral authority in the world.

So, he wondered in his letter whether Archbishop Tutu received information from independent sources or his sole source is the “very active cabal of supporters of this criminal organization, the LTTE, in South Africa. He said the unbalanced and unfair nature of his purported comments point to the latter. “If that is the case,” Rev. Alwis said, “then I wonder whether Your Grace would be open to learning the truth about Sri Lanka’s terrorist problem from less biased sources.”

Read more,
http://www.sinhalaya.com/news/english/wmview.php?ArtID=15311

Nobel Prize Winners misled by LTTE sympathisers

Three Nobel prize winners, in a coordinated act, has issued a statement regarding electing Sri Lanka to the UN Human Rights Council. The timing has left the friends of Sri Lanka with very little or no time to respond. I have seen the response of some, to the views expressed by the Nobel laureate Desmond Tutu. The comments are as follows:

How can a person who fought against racism and imperialism support Tamil racism and expansion ?

Another asked the following valid questions, which are relevant to all three Nobel Nobel laureates.

* What are the grounds and facts on which you make this claim. Are your information first hand, second hand, third or otherwise?
* Who are your informers in Sri Lanka ? Or do you have your sources in distant lands ?
* Are these sources ( here or abroad) remote- controlled by hidden hands or hidden and spotted tails ? Clearly if the secondary source of data is incorrect, corrupt or deliberate lies then the receiver of this incorrect data would come to incorrect deductions.

If the citizens of Sri Lanka are worried by the manner in which GoSL deals with human rights, they have a mechanism to get rid of the government. The recent election victory showed that even in the areas controlled by LTTE until recently, the Tamil people elected the Government lead coalition party. This surely must say something. Even the Tamil people have confidence in the Government lead coalition.

The most serious threat to human rights come from terrorists who have taken away the basic human right of right life of many innocent civilians. Sri Lanka is fighting for survival, against a vicious terrorist organisation that is carrying out an undeclared war.

Read more,
http://www.spur.asn.au/BS_20080520_Noble_Prize_winners_misled_by_the_LTTE_sympathisers.htm

Two more LTTE cadres arrested in Paris

French police detained two leaders of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) who evaded arrest last year and fled the country when police closed in on them during the major round up of top Tigers operating in Paris.

The Sous-Directorate Anti-Terrorism (SDAT) of France announced that two leading LTTE activists Subramanium Muhundan and Yogarasa Sivarasan were apprehended in Paris on May 13 after investigations lasting several months.

Muhundan and Sivarasan were the head of the LTTE political and finance since the arrest of 26 LTTE cadres including top most leaders of all the divisions of the terrorist organisation in April 01, 2007. After preliminary investigations, 11 were released but the top 14 leaders were remanded without bail. The detained include LTTE's French leader Nadaraja Mathinatharan alias Parithi and the Political Leader Aravindan Thuraiswamy alias Metha.

At that time, several LTTE cadres including Muhundan and Sivarasan crossed over to neighbouring countries through open border points.

After the arrest of the top two leaders, the LTTE appointed Stalin Sarvarimuthu alias Ranjan and Ravi Manikkam alias Utha Ravi to the top two posts. But within months, the SDAT arrested them together with three others taking the total LTTE detainees to 19.

Read more,
http://www.dailynews.lk/2008/05/22/sec01.asp

JVP’s branch in Japan ceases funding, more to follow "May have to rob petrol sheds again"

The JVP yesterday received a heavy blow to its fund raising on the international front as its branch in Japan, which had poured in billions of rupees, severed all connections with the party over the ousting of Wimal Weerawansa and ten other MPs along with a large number of party members.

"Our comrades in Japan had directed all money they earned to the party fund. They were under orders to send their pay-packets home and were allowed only to keep a meager sum for subsistence. We funded all elections except for the recent polls to the Eastern Provincial Council.

Other than this the Japanese branch had loaned a large sum of money on various occasions at the request of party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe. Not a cent of the loans was repaid and we did not even request that the loans be repaid as we were clear about our priorities. Now we understand that our sacrifices had been misused," organiser of the JVP’s Japan Branch Saman Priyankara said in a letter addressed to JVP General Secretary Tilvin Silva.

He said party leader Somawansa Amarasinghe had come under the grip of several top rankers acting like frogs in the well and he had mixed up the party’s priorities and had commenced to silence dissent against it.

"The leader of the party should have acted prudently and respected the opinion of the majority within the politburo and central committee. Instead he gave into several front liners. The end result was a major split in the party resulting in the loss of eleven MPs including Wimal Weerawansa, a large number of provincial and local government level representatives and full timers in almost all districts."

Read more,
http://www.island.lk/2008/05/22/news1.html

Sri Lanka to launch its own satellite

Sri Lanka will launch its own first satellite in the near future, an official told the media.

Director General of the Sri Lanka Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) Priyantha Kariyaperuma said a group of local engineers has already gone to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) based in Geneva for registration purposes. “The satellite would be named after science fiction guru, the late Sir Arthur C. Clarke,” he said.

He said the TRC is planning to launch a satellite network within the next two years, though no timeframe has been fixed for the project.

Extracted from,
http://www.colombopage.com/archive_08/May21151559JV.html

Palampiddy Falls to Army’s Hand

LTTE TERRORISTS met another humiliating defeat in their battle with the troops to defend PALAMPIDDY, one of LTTE major strongholds in MANNAR, which fell into the hands of the Army by Saturday (17) afternoon.

Army had to face severe resistance by the terrorists and inched forward nearly for six days to reach PALAMPIDDY, about 8 km north of MADHU. PALAMPIDDY junction connects VIDATTALTIVU in northwest, MADHU in south, MULLIKULAM in southeast and NEDUNKANDAL in northeast. Fall of this former LTTE stronghold cripples administrative work and supplies to the terrorists.

Troops have so far recovered thirteen LTTE dead bodies, eleven T-56 weapons, one MPMG (Multi Purpose Machine Gun) and four communication sets from the area.

Troops after consolidating their positions in and around PALAMPIDDY are now conducting search and clear operations.

Extracted from,
http://www.army.lk/morenews.php?id=13297

Lankan navy detains 19 Indian fishermen

The Sri Lankan Navy has arrested 19 Indian fishermen on charges of poaching in Sri Lanka’s territorial waters.

The authorities here suspect the fishermen have also “smuggled in something” for the Tamil Tigers, a military spokesperson said.

“We have arrested 19 Indian fishermen with three dhows off Thalaimannar on Thursday. This time the issue is very serious because they were arrested while returning from the LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) held territories such as Devil Point and Palaitivu,” said navy spokesperson Commander D K P Dassanayake.

Pointing out that India had banned fishing “during this breeding season”, he said the fishermen had “violated rules and regulations of their own land”.
“We strongly suspect that they might have smuggled in something for the LTTE,” Dassanayake told IANS.

Read more,
http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/article.asp?